Hi everyone,

Some of you will have noticed that my promised overview of Peggie v RCN hasn’t happened yet. I fully intend to organise a time for that, but I have had to slow down a bit lately due to unexpected health issues cropping up over the last few weeks. I’m doing very well now and expect to be back to full form in the near future.

Thankfully, I have some good news to share as well. A paper I’ve written analysing the Court of Appeal decision in Bailey v Stonewall has been accepted for publication in the UK’s leading employment law journal, The Industrial Law Journal.

Allison Bailey, as many of you will know, was unlawfully discriminated against by her barristers’ chambers, Garden Court Chambers, for holding and expressing protected gender critical beliefs. When she brought a legal challenge to this discrimination, she also sued Stonewall for instructing, inducing, or causing her chambers to discriminate against her. In response to tweets from Bailey expressing criticism of Stonewall’s advocacy for self-ID in law, Kirrin Medcalf, head of trans inclusion at Stonewall, sent the following to her chambers:

Garden Court barristers have always been allies to trans people and to Stonewall, which is something we are very proud and grateful for. However, for Garden Court Chambers to continue associating with a barrister who is actively campaigning for a reduction in trans rights and equality, while also specifically targeting members of our staff with transphobic abuse on a public platform, puts us in a difficult position with yourselves: the safety of our staff and community will always be Stonewalls first priority.

I trust that you will do what is right and stand in solidarity with trans people.

Bailey argued that this letter caused Garden Court Chambers to discriminate against her, thereby constituting a tort under s.111 of the Equality Act 2010. In the Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal, she has been unsuccessful on this point. In March of next year, the Supreme Court will hear her appeal.

This paper examines the Court of Appeal judgment and argues that it has erred in its legal analysis. Here is the abstract:

In Bailey v Stonewall and Garden Court Chambers, the Court of Appeal considered the torts of instructing, inducing and causing another to discriminate contrary to the Equality Act 2010. It made significant and unorthodox findings as to how questions of causation in relation to discrimination torts must be determined. These rulings fail to recognise the full implication of the fact that the tort of causing another to discriminate is a primary wrong, with questions of causation in relation to it falling to be assessed by reference to the tort itself, not some other contravention of the Act. This is the first time the Supreme Court will consider the s. 111 torts. It provides an opportunity to set down a clear test that recognises these torts as primary wrongs in their own right and that they should be informed by a robust understanding of the EA's aim to eliminate wrongful discrimination in the areas the Act regulates. The Court of Appeal’s decision in Bailey rests on a premise that the Supreme Court should reject: that the question of liability under s.111 can be answered by asking who bears responsibility for a basic contravention of the EA. Section 111 creates primary wrongs. They can be made out where no basic contravention occurs, and they attract their own measure of damages, so they cannot be treated as parasitic on the contravention they concern.

Here is a recording of the lecture and the Q&A session afterwards.

PS Those of you following Peggie v RCN, I managed to catch some of the proceedings and will give a run down of this on my next live, probably tomorrow or Wednesday.

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The paper I mentioned that’s forthcoming in the Industrial Law Journal is ‘Single-Sex Spaces in the Workplace Following For Women Scotland’ and can be read here.

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I’m looking forward to catching up with you all at 4 pm today.

On the live, I’ll be going through the grounds of appeal in Peggie v NHS Fife.

If you’d like to read along, please follow this link.

See you shortly!

Hi everyone,

I’ve had a thoroughly restful break the last few weeks. Thank you to everyone who sent me kind messages.

Many of you will know that Sandie Peggie has been granted permission to appeal parts of the Tribunal judgment in her case.

I’m grateful to Sandie and her legal team for sharing the grounds of appeal with me. This means I’ll be able to do a deep dive into the nature of the appeal for people interested in following the case.

I’ll do a live this coming Sunday 30th of August at 4pm.

Looking forward to seeing some of you then!

Many of you will be aware that the last few weeks have been pretty intense for me. I’ve decided to take a short break from Substack over the summer to decompress.

I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who has sent me messages of support and to everyone who has supported me over the years.

I’m hoping that taking a little time away from everything will help me to recharge my batteries and swing back into things in the Autumn.

As ever,

Michael

Before this lecture, protesters disrupted the event for about 10 minutes. I’ve chosen not to include the recording of this disruption because it is my view that it distracts from the academic nature of the lecture series.

I have made the decision to cancel the remaining lectures in the series as I cannot guarantee for attendees, including students, that further disruption won’t occur..

The next lecture will be at 17.00 on Friday 5 June 2026 at Crisp Hollamby Lecture Theatre, H B Allen Centre, Keble College. The topic of Lecture 2 will be Single-Sex Spaces. All welcome!

The Panel:

Dr Julius Grower is Associate Professor of Law, University of Oxford and Ann Smart Tut…

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Forgive the hoarse voice! I’ve been recovering from the flu.

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Do we have a right to suicide? Is it good for us? Is it merciful? What happens when being alive itself becomes a choice?

Kathleen Stock needs no introduction. Her book, Do Not Go Gentle is an absolutely essential read for a…

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If you’re in Oxford next Thursday, 14 May, come along to the book launch event. I’m delighted to be joined by Akua Reindorf KC, Sarah Vine KC, Margaret Gribbon, and Dr Julius Grower for what promises to be a great conversation about the book.

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be releasing a video with the inimitable Doc Stock here at 5PM on Monday. We’ll be discussing her new book, Do Not Go Gentle: The Case Against Assisted Death, which you can buy here on Amazon. I really encourage you all to read it. And, if you haven’t already, grab Material Girls too. It’s essential for a good understanding of issues relating to sex and gender identity.

I thought it might be fun if we could get a bit of a conversation going afterwards, at 6PM. I’m going to start using more of our Chat feature. Obviously, we’ll have a thread on my conversation with Kathleen, but I also want to hear from you guys more broadly.

In case you’re wondering how Chat differs from Notes: I’ve been using Notes to talk to everyone on Substack, but Chat will just be for Knowing Ius paid subscribers. I’ll leave it open to free subscribers for a short while, but eventually I want it to be a rather more private forum. It’s where we can all talk to each other without the wider world watching us.

I want to hear what you’re reading, what you’re thinking about, what you’re writing. I also want your ideas about my future ideas and videos! It’s just going to be my go-to place for deciding what to do with this platform and our little ragtag community.

See you Monday!

To celebrate the imminent publication of my next book Sex, Gender Identity and the Law, I have the pleasure of sitting down with Akua Reindorf KC, specialist in equality and human rights law and former commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. We’re going to be answering subscriber questions, so please post questions in the comments below and like any of the questions you’d like us to answer. We’ve not pinned down a final recording date yet, but this should be published in the next few weeks and available for subscribers to view.

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I strongly encourage you all to read his new book, The End of the Gay Rights Revolution: How Hubris and Overreach Threaten Gay Freedom.

Please enjoy the first part of our conversation. The second part will be made available tomorrow to paid subscribers only.