Alex Blair

Articles

Garden Court North Chambers •

Garden Court North stands in solidarity with Hillsborough victims and families on 36th anniversary

Fans pay tribute to the 97 Hillsborough victims before Liverpool FC’s Premier League match against West Ham United on 13 April, 2025, at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool. Credit: Liverpool FC.

On the 36th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, Garden Court North Chambers expresses support and solidarity for the bereaved families of the 97 Liverpool FC fans who were unlawfully killed.

A minute’s silence will be held across Liverpool today (15 April, 2025) at 3:06pm, the exact time at which the fat...
Garden Court North Chambers •

Charlotte Parry’s death contributed to by neglect on part of Greater Manchester Mental Health trust, inquest jury finds

The jury’s findings brought an end to an emotional two-week inquest at Manchester Coroner’s Court (pictured). Credit: Alex Blair / Garden Court North Chambers.

Earlier today (11 April), an inquest jury found that neglect on the part of Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) NHS Foundation contributed to the tragic death of Charlotte Parry on 6 February, 2022.

Charlotte was detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 on the Bronte Ward of Wythenshawe Hospital due to her high risk to self and dia...
Garden Court North Chambers •

Families demand “all or nothing” Hillsborough Law at INQUEST’s ‘Family Listening Day’

A 2016 vigil for the Hillsborough families outside St George’s Hall, Liverpool, following the inquest ruling that the 97 fans were unlawfully killed. Credit: St George’s Hall.

In 2022, Keir Starmer publicly promised to enact ‘Hillsborough Law’ as one of his first actions on being elected to Government.

INQUEST, which supports bereaved families in state-related deaths, has today (8 April) published a new report following a Family Listening Day, which brought together bereaved families, survivor...
DSEI 2025 •

Norwegian Navy Chief calls on NATO and private sector to protect critical undersea infrastructure

RADM Berdal’s calls come amid a growing number of sabotage attacks on CUI in the Baltics.

As sabotage of critical undersea infrastructure (CUI) continues to rise, Norway’s local authorities, NATO partners and private sector companies must collaborate to maximise its protection, Rear Admiral (RADM) Oliver Berdal, Chief of the Royal Norwegian Navy, told DSEI on 3 March.

“One of the most important things when it comes to protecting our critical underwater infrastructure is working very closely...
DSEI 2025 •

The end nears for Germany’s ‘special defence fund’. New Chancellor, new investment?

Radical defence investment and SME integration has topped the political agenda in Germany since Friedrich Merz won the 23 February elections.
 
As Germans across the country return from voting for their new Chancellor on 23 February, a ‘day after’ plan for the looming end of the government’s special defence fund remains front and centre for the German – and European – defence industry.
Previous German Chancellor Olaf Scholz earmarked EUR100 billion for this ‘special fund’, or ‘Sondervermögen’...
DSEI 2025 •

Exercise Steadfast Dart marks first deployment of NATO’s new Allied Reaction Force

UK soldiers taking part in NATO’s Exercise Steadfast Dart 25 say they are ready to deploy to Ukraine.

The first large-scale deployment of NATO’s Allied Reaction Force (ARF) is drawing to a close in below-freezing conditions at a training base in Smardan, Romania, 16 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Exercise Steadfast Dart 25, which ran from 10 to 21 February, saw more than 10,000 troops from nine European nations conduct joint drills across Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania. US forces were not...
DSEI 2025 •

EU injects EUR192 million into next-gen ground combat proposals

Ground combat capabilities are the top priority in the EDF’s latest call for military proposals.

The European Commission announced a fresh investment of EUR1.065 billion into projects for “tomorrow’s defence capabilities” on 30 January.

Under the European Defence Fund (EDF), the investment will support nine competitive calls for proposals across 31 topics, from rotorcraft propulsion systems to space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).
DSEI 2025 •

German officials rebuff Trump dig at insufficient NATO spending

Next month’s German elections will dictate the priority and investment towards defence spending over the coming year.

German government officials have rebuked US President-elect Donald Trump’s demands to spend more on defence spending, as attention homes in on Germany’s quickly shrinking EUR100 billion ‘Sondervermögen’ (‘special fund’) for defence spending.

Trump singled out Germany during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on 7 January, claiming that “Europe is in [NATO] for a tiny f...
DSEI 2025 •

Rolls-Royce awarded its largest-ever UK MoD contract

SMEs are poised for involvement in Rolls-Royce’s GBP9bn contract to deliver Dreadnought-class SSBNs for the Royal Navy.

Rolls-Royce Submarines’ largest-ever Ministry of Defence (MoD) contract has caused a ripple across the UK naval sector.

The eight-year ‘Unity’ contract, worth approximately GBP9 billion, will see Rolls-Royce maintain the Royal Navy’s submarine fleet and build four new Dreadnought-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs).
DSEI 2025 •

UK military unveils first “fully British-made” Boxer vehicle

The first of 623 Boxer armoured fighting vehicles has been unveiled in the UK, part of a long-awaited GBP2.8 billion programme.

The first “fully British-made” Boxer vehicle has been unveiled on 21 January at the International Armoured Vehicle Conference in Farnborough, according to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

This eight-by-eight, all-terrain armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is the first of 623 Boxers due to be delivered over the next few years. It marks the initial delivery stage of a GBP...
DSEI 2025 •

Lithuania pledges 5-6% of GDP for defence in NATO first

Lithuania will seek European funding to surpass Poland as NATO’s highest defence spender by percentage of GDP.

Lithuania has pledged to allocate between 5% and 6% of GDP for defence spending from 2026 until 2030, pointing to the threat of Russian military aggression as the full-scale conflict with Ukraine nears the three-year mark.

The State Defence Council (VGT), made up of Lithuania’s top political and military brass, announced the hike in funding after a meeting on 17 January. Newly inaugur...
DSEI 2025 •

Sweden to buy Leopard tanks for USD2bn

The Swedish Defence Ministry follows Lithuania, Germany and the Netherlands for Leopard 2 A8 MBTs.

Sweden has agreed a deal worth SEK22 billion (USD1.97 billion) to procure 44 Leopard 2 A8 main battle tanks (MBTs) from German-French manufacturer KNDS, the Swedish Defence Ministry confirmed to DSEI on 9 January. 

KNDS will also upgrade 66 of Sweden’s existing Leopard tanks. Deliveries are set to begin in 2028 and conclude in 2031.
Medical Device Network •

Argentina’s largest healthcare providers charged with ‘cartelisation’. What next?

The landscape of Argentina’s medical industry looks set for a seismic shake-up, as the national government charges seven healthcare providers with forming a “cartel” to coordinate astronomical price hikes earlier this year.

In December 2024, the Argentinean Government’s anti-competitive watchdog, the National Commission for the Defence of Competition (CNDC, by its Spanish acronym), said its investigation into “cartelisation” had “found elements that constitute a collusive agreement between a...
Medical Device Network •

Venezuela’s migration crisis and a Colombian ‘Smart Clinic’

“If one of my children gets sick, all three get sick. Sometimes, my boy would cry, asking for food but there was none. It was despair. There was not enough money.”

Yelimar’s story is one of 7.7 million. A Venezuelan migrant and mother of three, Yelimar was forced to flee her homeland on foot with her partner Víctor and children Abraham (one-year-old), Mia (three) and Víctor (four) – a perilous journey documented by the Interagency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants (R4V)
New Internationalist •

Political power play leaves Bolivians short of food and fuel

‘The never-ending queues for fuel, the waste and scarcity of food, the rising prices — the bloqueos are affecting the lives of all Bolivians,’ says Carla Torres, a café worker from the capital city of La Paz. Torres' words reflect the increasingly dire situation across the Andean country marred by economic decline and disruptive bloqueos (blockades) of crucial supplies in recent weeks. Devotees of ex-President Evo Morales, who is under investigation for alleged statutory rape and human trafficking, have threatened to paralyze the country with bloqueos should he be arrested.
Airforce Technology •

South Korea removes military headshots amid deepfake porn ‘epidemic’

South Korea has removed all intranet images of military and defence ministry officials in a bid to prevent deepfake porn, which is reportedly flooding the controversial social media platform Telegram.

Republic of Korea (ROK) Armed Forces officials said all ID photos have been made invisible on the military’s Onnara System intranet, the Korea Times reported.Artificial intelligence (AI) has increased the online prominence of deepfakes, which combine a real person’s face with a fake, sexualised...
Army Technology •

‘Guns for gold’: who is complicit in Sudan’s brutal war?

After nearly 18 months of displacement, starvation and genocidal violence, minimal attention has been paid to the bloody conflict still raging across Sudan – nor to the powers fuelling it.

An overarching narrative of ‘just another Sub-Saharan civil war’, this time between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries, has set in. Those arming both sides have largely avoided scrutiny for the inhumane conditions imposed on the Sudanese people, now the “lar...
Verdict •

Arms deals and sexual abuse material: why was Telegram’s co-founder arrested?

Whether it be the EU charging Elon Musk for letting disinformation run wild on X or Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s data-sharing scandal hearing in front of the US Senate, social media moguls are no strangers to confrontations with governments.

Until now, however, none had faced serious legal action – let alone law enforcement officers at an airport.On Saturday (24 August), French authorities bucked this trend and arrested Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov at Paris’ Le Bourget Airport.
Verdict •

37 countries have blocked X access since 2015. Will Brazil follow suit?

Elon Musk’s X currently finds itself in the crosshairs of an unprecedented number of governments.

Caught between the restrictions of authoritarian regimes and the investigations of democratic countries, X has found itself blocked to some extent or other by 37 countries since 2015.Unperturbed, Musk continues to clash with heads of state, from Venezuela’s ‘digital authoritarian’ election-fraud President Nicolás Maduro, to recently elected UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer amid a surge of far-right...
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