Knowing Ius Podcast

I’m grateful to the Open University for inviting me to speak about the Supreme Court decision in For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers, and its impact on Higher Education.

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.

This is the second lecture in the series I had planned discussing the themes of my new book, Sex, Gender Identity and the Law (CUP 2026).

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..

Knowing Ius is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Thanks for reading Knowing Ius! This post is public so feel free to share it.

This is the first in a series of lectures I am giving at Keble College, Oxford to coincide with the publication of my new book, Sex, Gender Identity and the Law (CUP 2026). This lecture traces the history of the law relating to sex status, up to and including the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16.

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!

Knowing Ius is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Thanks for reading Knowing Ius! This post is public so feel free to share it.

The UK Government has laid the EHRC Code of Practice before Parliament this week. In this short video, I hope to give a bit of an overview of the Code and its relationship to the underlying law as it relates to sex and gender identity.

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

Knowing Ius is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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…

Today is the publication day of Sex, Gender Identity and the Law. To coincide with this, the Faculty of Law and Keble College, Oxford, have put together videos exploring themes from the book. This is the final video on the law relating to gender-critical belief.

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.

Knowing Ius is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Thanks for reading Knowing Ius! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Ronan McCrea is a professor of constitutional law at UCL. He’s also a perceptive thinker with an electrifying thesis: Some radical elements of the LGBTQ+ movement have rendered gay rights so dislikable to Western society’s straight majority that the entire project is in peril. Today we look at external threats to gay rights and the complicated relations…

Ronan McCrea is a professor of constitutional law at UCL. He’s also a perceptive thinker with an electrifying thesis: Some radical elements of the LGBTQ+ movement have rendered gay rights so dislikable to Western society’s straight majority that the entire project is in peril.

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.

Knowing Ius is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a teaser of a bonus episode for paid subscribers. If you’d like to listen to the full episode, please consider subscribing.

One of the central issues that has arisen in terms of the relationship between trans rights and women’s rights is whether trans people have a legal entitlement to keep information about their biological sex at birth private.

In this episode, I’m joined by Tim Pitt-Payne KC, one of the UK’s leading privacy and information law barristers to discuss the law in this area. This is a bonus episode that discusses the privacy issues that arose in the case of Adams v Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre where a member of staff who identified as non-binary claimed a right to keep facts about their biological sex private and that Roz Adams had engaged in misconduct when she emailed her manager asking how to respond to a request from a rape victim to know whether her counsellor was female.

Music: The Cobblestone by Hans Johnson

Special thanks to Oscar Kinross for excellent editing work.