Haroon Siddique
@Haroon_Siddique
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Legal Affairs Correspondent at the Guardian. The bald facts. [email protected] or (encrypted) [email protected] DMs open
Joined March 2010
What are the rules of war – and how do they apply to the Israel-Gaza conflict?
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Letter in today’s Guardian: “In recent years, the food bank has used grants from the national lottery to support its activities, but recent applications for funding have been unsuccessful. They have been told that much of the funding is going to events celebrating the coronation”
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Reporting by Observer & Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr on the “covert relationship” between the multimillionaire Brexit backer Arron Banks & the Russian government was of the greatest public interest imaginable, her lawyer has told the high court
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Family of UK citizen, Nnamdi Kanu, who was taken to Nigeria in alleged act of extraordinary rendition has been granted court hearing to challenge the UK government for not intervening in his case. Among those cited is Liz Truss for role while foreign sec
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Three UK foreign secretaries have failed to call for the release of a British national - Ipob leader Nnamdi Kanu - being held in Nigeria after falling victim to a “brazen and violent” act of extraordinary rendition, the high court has heard
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EXCL: Three former supreme court justices, including the court’s former president Lady Hale, are among more than 600 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges warning that the UK government is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel
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Delighted to be starting with immediate effect as the Guardian's new legal affairs correspondent. Please get in touch with any law-related stories/tips. Contact details in my bio. Hopefully will put my LLB Hons to good effect!.
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The Law Society & Bar Council have jointly criticised the treatment of immigration solicitor Jacqueline Mckenzie,by Conservative party HQ after she wrote in the Guardian about how the Tories sent a dossier of info about her to right-leaning newspapers
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The letter to the Society of Editors about racism within the media has been featured on the website of the Archewell Foundation, set up by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
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I wrote this about my amazing dad, who died last week after being hospitalised with coronavirus symptoms
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Excl: Afghans died because of Raab’s delay in reviewing documents, officials told
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Interview with @JolyonMaugham discussing what motivates him, what’s next for Good Law project & how the govt tried to get him to refer himself to his professional regulator
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Dismay over adviser chosen to set up UK race inequality commission: Munira Mirza has cast doubt on the existence of institutional racism and condemned previous inquiries for fostering a “culture of grievance”
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Carole Cadwalladr has told a court she believes the multimillionaire Brexit backer Arron Banks, who is suing her for libel, may have been “used and exploited” by the Russian government
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EXCL: Equality watchdog (EHRC) commissioner, who led Labour party antisemitism inquiry, has ‘liked’ or retweeted social media posts criticising Black Lives Matters protesters and describing misogynist and homophobe as “highly ideological propaganda terms”
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Here is what Charles Moore, reported to be Boris Johnson’s choice to be next BBC chair, wrote about black people
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Jeremy Corbyn speaking outside the international court of justice where he was supporting South Africa’s case against alleged genocide by Israel in Gaza (1/2)
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Prince Harry’s libel claim against Mail on Sunday boosted by high court ruling
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Tory peer Dido Harding personally intervened to add a former Sainsbury’s colleague to the shortlist to be head of Covid testing alongside candidates with a public health or health logistics background, a court has heard
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Helena Normanton, the first woman to practise as a barrister and lead murder trials in the English courts, has been honoured with a blue plaque at her former London home. Fittingly, it was unveiled by Lady Hale, the first female head of the supreme court
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Successful high court challenges to government policy and decisions by public bodies have fallen dramatically, prompting warnings that ministers’ attacks on lawyers could be having a chilling effect on judges
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Two black athletes trained by former Olympic champion Linford Christie who were stopped & handcuffed by police officers while with their three-month-old son are considering legal action
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Society of Editors withdraws claim that UK media is not racist
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EXCLUSIVE: The outgoing head of the Bar Council has labelled Dominic Raab “thin-skinned” for failing to meet him, claiming he was snubbed by the justice secretary for defending lawyers.
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A follow up letter to @EditorsUK from journalists of colour urging it to show moral leadership on the issue of race and urging member organisations to consider their position within the society while it fails to do so
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Criminal Bar Association chair Kirsty Brimelow QC: “This is not a ‘world-class justice system’ as set out as the vision of the Ministry of Justice. It is not even a functioning justice system.”
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Loving the people having a go at me for correcting the pronunciation of my name at the Downing St briefing & yet completely silent about the fact that one part of my question was completely ignored & my mic was cut so I couldn’t ask a follow up (unlike some other journalists).
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Helena Kennedy KC: “The first thing that authoritarians do is they go after judges that make decisions that they don’t like.”
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EXCLUSIVE: Dominic Raab is planning to curb judges’ powers in a move likely to make it harder to bring successful legal challenges against the government, according to a leaked document seen by the Guardian
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The Lord Chief Justice giving evidence at Justice Committee is asked about a minister saying the backlog in crown court cases should fall by 7,000 - to 53,000 - by March 2025. "That doesn't seem like an immense hit," says Maria Eagle MP. Lord Burnett simply replies: "I agree".
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Proposed judicial review reforms will undermine rule of law & restrict access to justice, the Law Society warns. Liberty says they they are part of a bigger attempt by government “to put itself beyond scrutiny in the courts, in parliament & on the streets”
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Asked if there is shortage of lawyers, the Lord Chief Justice says: "There is a problem in the criminal legal profession. And the likely reason is the relentless reduction in real rates of remuneration over the last 15 years.".
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“Together, these changes would make it much harder for people to put things right when mistakes are made or governments overstep their bounds. They would undermine the rule of law and the crucial principles of fairness and accountability.”
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This picture of a whiteboard from a hospital in northern Gaza was shown at the ICJ. The message was written by Dr Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, a Doctors Without Borders medic, who was killed a month later. Another photo was shown of the crumpled board post-bombing
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Max Hill KC, director of public prosecutions, tells parliament's Justice Committee that any cuts to its budget as the government seeks way to reduce Britain's debt would have a "catastrophic" impact on the backlog in the criminal courts.
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Exclusive: UK research finds levels of discrimination in labour market unchanged since late 1960s, - non-white candidates had to make 80% more applications to get a positive response than a white person of British origin.
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Dame Vera Baird's resignation letter cites "catastrophic backlog" in the courts, bill of rights, which she says will return in some form & "severely threatens victims’ human rights," & Dominic Raab's failure to meet her
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April Fool! . oh no, sorry, this was published yesterday
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Mexican farmers have travelled to London to demand that a FTSE 100 company compensates them for illegal mining on their land and explain violence against anti-mining activists.
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In the wake of the acquittal of 4 people over the toppling of the Edward Colston statue I looked at other cases in which juries have cleared protesters despite there being no question of their having carried out the actions for which they were tried
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Lawyers sound alarm at Tory ‘meddling’ over Colston case
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A police force breached its duty of care to a woman by failing to warn her that her abusive ex-partner was outside her house minutes before he stabbed her seven times in front of her children, the high court has found
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Replacing Human Rights Act will weaken protections, say peers and MPs
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Exclusive: The former director of public prosecutions (DPP) for England and Wales, Max Hill KC, has warned against the risk of creating “thought crimes” amid the recent clampdown on protesters and demonisation of demonstrators by politicians
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Also liked a tweet decrying “offence-taking zealots” who accused Roger Scruton of antisemitism, Islamophobia and homophobia, and one by Douglas Murray, who once called for Muslim immigration to Europe to be banned.
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Over 1,800 offenders to have IPP sentences terminated, says MoJ. But campaigners say it doesn’t go far enough: “It is crucial for the government & the public to keep in mind that, despite these licence reforms, numerous IPP’s remain unreleased.”
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Too hostile for the architect of the hostile environment.
Ouch. @theresa_may tells Priti Patel: “I do not support the removal to Rwanda policy, on the grounds of legality, practicality and efficacy.”.
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An 82-year-old Jewish woman, who is being investigated by Labour for alleged antisemitism for 3rd time in less than 3 years, is threatening legal action against the party, claiming unlawful discrimination against her based on her belief in anti-Zionism
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The EHRC report he led, published last month, stated: “The Labour party failed to investigate antisemitism complaints based on likes, retweets and shares on social media.”.After being contacted by Guardian, the commission said it would look into Henderson’s use of social media.
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Kirsty Brimelow, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, surrounded by striking barristers outside the Supreme Court opposite parliament. “The criminal justice system now is shameful, it’s a disgrace.”
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EXCLUSIVE: Met police have been using software supplied by Trevor Phillips' consultancy which can be used to help identify whether different ethnic groups “specialise” in particular types of crime.
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One of Britain's most notorious prisoners, Charles Bronson, is asked at his public parole board hearing whether he intends to give evidence. "Oh yes, certainly yes" is the reply.
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All 85,000-plus Covid fines issued in England during the pandemic should be reviewed, MPs and peers have said, after 26% of prosecutions in the first two months of the year for breaching the regulations were shown to have been wrongly brought.
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Southampton University & the Cabinet Office have fought a 4-year battle to block publication of diaries & letters of the Mountbattens, which the university bought pledging to “preserve the collection in its entirety for future generations to use and enjoy”
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It is the latest in a series of controversies to hit the EHRC
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The availability of legal aid for immigration and asylum in England and Wales is so poor that the lord chancellor is in breach of his duty to provide access to justice, according to a letter from Public Law Project threatening him with legal action
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Very honoured to have made the longlist for the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils for my reporting on the Met’s policing of black people
Understanding what is needed to fix the society Covid-19 has revealed demands hard-won investigative work, personal commitment, and reporting which keeps the public constantly in mind: all qualities demonstrated by the 2021 @jrf_uk Exposing Britain's Social Evils Prize longlist.
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The Nationality and Borders Bill, including clause 9, which gives powers to remove British citizenship without notice in loosely defined circumstances, has been passed in the House of Commons
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I’m very honoured to have been appointed journalist director of The Scott Trust after the backing of my colleagues (I will still be doing my day job!)
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Exclusive: Israeli embassy officials in London attempted to get the attorney general’s office to intervene in UK court cases relating to the prosecution of protesters, documents seen by the Guardian suggest
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Families & prisoners affected, welcome prospect of IPP sentences ending but say everyone should be given an end date. “To see light at the end of the tunnel after such a long, very dark journey to get there is progress. But it still isn’t going far enough”
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Delivery drivers making a lot of noise in protest outside parliament against violence directed at them
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“If I was doing solely crime I would not be able to earn a living. It’s unsustainable …You don’t get paid well & you’re constantly having to work within a system that is just completely dysfunctional.”
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Society of Editors' claim that UK media not racist labelled 'laughable'
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EXCL Judiciary in England and Wales ‘institutionally racist’, says report. "Our judiciary as an institution is just as racist as our police forces, our education system and our health service – this is something that cannot be ignored for any longer.”
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Jabed Hussain (white shirt in centre), who was victim of acid attack last week, leads delivery drivers' protest outside parliament
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Phil Kingston, 83, was arrested during Extinction Rebellion protests for this graffiti on the Treasury
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Full story here: Two men who were framed by a racist and corrupt detective for the same offence he was later jailed for have had their convictions posthumously quashed by the court of appeal 46 years later
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Broken heating, sewage, mould, asbestos and leaking toilets and roofs are among the problems encountered by solicitors in courts in England and Wales, a survey by the Law Society has found
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A single mother and domestic abuse survivor is taking the Ministry of Justice to court tomorrow after being refused legal aid because she was deemed to have no dependents, even though she had applied for the funding to enforce a child custody arrangement
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Forcing people to show photo ID to take part in UK elections will be catastrophic for ethnic minority communities, increasing barriers to access & in effect disenfranchising them, campaigners including @RunnymedeTrust & @GypsyTravellerM warn.
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The policing of the Sarah Everard vigil in London and “kill the bill” demonstrations in Bristol breached fundamental rights to protest and involved unnecessary and disproportionate use of force, a parliamentary inquiry has found
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Charles Bronson, asked about when he took prison art teacher Phil Danielson hostage in 1999, says: "When that siege ended after 2 days I actually said to him. you've been my best hostage, you're the only one who didn't shit himself.".
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More than 230 people of colour working for UK media organisations have now signed the letter rejecting & criticising the Society of Editors' denial of racism/bigotry in the British press
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7/7 memorial in Tavistock Square this morning on 10 year anniversary http://t.co/OQMeJ79x4q.
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A new criminal offence of intentionally deceiving a person into engaging in sexual activity should be created to address confusion in the law around consent, legal experts and lawyers have said
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Academic sues Leeds Beckett University after she was dropped from her advisory role over tweets calling a mixed-race man a “house negro”, alleging the decision was discriminatory because of her belief in critical race theory and Black radicalism.
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Charles Moore in the Telegraph criticising potential BBC appointment of Jess Brammar. A reminder of what Moore said about black people (1/3):
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Trevor Phillips' firm's Origins software, being used in the inquiry into disproportionate BAME Covid-19 deaths, was previously used to help police forces link different ethnic groups to particular types of crime
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Peers say no to stripping British citizenship without notice.
#HouseofLords votes to remove clause 9 from #NationalityBordersBill. See full text of the clause Members vote 209 for, 173 against, so the change is made
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The libel action brought by the multimillionaire Brexit backer Arron Banks against the Observer and Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr should concern “anyone who cares about freedom of speech in this country”, a court has been told
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Dubai ruler hacked ex-wife using NSO Pegasus spyware, high court judge finds. “The findings represent a total abuse of trust, and indeed an abuse of power, to a significant extent,” Sir Andrew McFarlane said in his judgement.
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"Should you and your government be genuinely committed to acknowledging and addressing the issue of racial equity in the UK, we would call on you to repudiate the commission’s findings immediately and withdraw its report."
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Jeremy Corbyn speaking outside the international court of justice where he was supporting South Africa’s case against alleged genocide by Israel in Gaza (2/2)
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Blaming a black female journalist who wrote a true story for "fanning racial tensions" is scraping the bottom of the barrel.
I will be requesting payment from The Mail on Sunday for using my photo without consent and without offering a right of reply before publication, which I intend to donate to support families disproportionately affected by coronavirus:
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Failure to tackle disproportionate number of deaths of black, Asian and minority ethnic people from coronavirus risks fuelling simmering tensions over racial injustice in Britain, BAME MPs warn
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Looking to speak (on the record) to a junior barrister joining next week's criminal bar strike. Please DM me.
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“Whether by putting up more barriers to bringing cases, overturning judgments they don’t like or blocking off more and more actions from challenge, the government’s attempts to avoid accountability set a very dangerous precedent for all future governments of all stripes.”.
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People who do not ‘look like’ typical judge have lowest trust in judiciary
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Sir Andrew McFarlane, president of the family division, has said, in his transparency review published today, that journalists & legal bloggers should be able to report proceedings in the family courts (while keeping identity of parties anonymous) to “enhance public confidence”
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Parents of disabled child win fight against UK hotel quarantine. Their solicitor, Theodora Middleton, urged the health secretary to “ensure that his newly created and draconian powers to curtail liberty are being exercised with utmost care and scrutiny”
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The justice secretary, Dominic Raab, has today announced proposals for a costs cap and three-stage test to tackle at an early stage intimidatory legal actions (Slapps) against reporters and publishers
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Just before the comfort break, Charles Bronson's prison offender manager was asked about an allegation that he had attempted to get someone outside prison to place a bet on a football match. Bronson interjected: "We all love a bet, guv, come on.”.
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Asked about why he didn't always use his techniques to stay calm, Charles Bronson says: "Sometimes in life . people push push push, take the piss, it's blatant piss taking and some people need a slap. It's simple as that.".
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This is lovely. Just over a year since my dad died. I know he would have been chuffed.
A massive congratulations to everyone on the longlist but especially @Haroon_Siddique . Haroon lost his father to Covid-19 early in March last year and has broken vital stories throughout the pandemic. One of the many colleagues that make me proud to work for the @guardian .
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Students are demonstrating in solidarity with their lecturers outside Sussex University
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Asked at human rights committee whether it's true he blocked reappointment of victims commissioner, Dame Vera Baird, Dominic Raab says he "refreshed the competition"
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