In this fourth and final episode of our special series, ‘Equal under the Law?’, our expert panel of inspiring activists and lawyers from across the UK come together to reflect on their journeys to this very moment, and offer advice to young activists.

Davie Donaldson encourages young activists to draw on their own experiences to pursue justice for their communities. Sandy Brindley highlights volunteering in frontline activism as a powerful way to find purpose and direction, while Talat Yaqoob urges listeners to embrace new and unexpected opportunities.

Andy Sirel speaks about seeking opportunity where others see difficulty and treating everyone with dignity, while Lily Greenan reflects on courage and the importance of recording and learning from your journey. Amanda Amaeshi and Satwat Rehman address resilience in the face of criticism and self-doubt, emphasising the need to stay rooted in your values and remember why you campaign. 

Pheona Matovu underscores authenticity and integrity, Heather Fisken champions collectivising with others, and Tressa Burke reminds us to rise again after setbacks. Alison Pickup closes with a call for patience, encouraging young activists to take time to understand their skills, motivations and networks of solidarity.

Join us as we close this series with encouragement for aspiring changemakers. What does it take not only to fight for justice, but to sustain that fight over time? And how can activists carve out a path that is both principled and personally fulfilling? 

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Resources:

Young Leaders: Everyone has a role to play to make the world a better place | 30 October 2024 | Amanda Amaeshi  

[https://thewowfoundation.com/news/young-leaders-everyone-has-a-role-to-play-to-make-the-world-a-better-place/](https://thewowfoundation.com/news/young-leaders-everyone-has-a-role-to-play-to-make-the-world-a-better-place/ "https://thewowfoundation.com/news/young-leaders-everyone-has-a-role-to-play-to-make-the-world-a-better-place/")

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In this third and final episode of our special series, ‘Equal under the Law?’, we delve into the complex relationship between law and social justice through the voices of inspiring activists from Scotland. We explore the pivotal question: “What does justice look like?"

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In this second episode of our special series, ‘Equal under the Law?’, we explore whether the law serves as a barrier or a tool for marginalised communities striving for equality, with a little help our expert panel of 11 inspiring activist leaders from Scotland.

(Content warning: This episode discusses experiences of discrimination, violence, and trauma. Please take care while listening.)

Our guests, including Talat Yaqoob, Pinar Aksu, and Tim Hopkins, critically examine how the law and the legal system can both empower and hinder progress. While they recognise the law's potential to secure safety and protection, they also highlight its role in perpetuating systemic inequalities. As we hear from Pheona Matovu and Satwat Rehman, the design and implementation of laws often reflect societal biases that exclude marginalised voices.

Throughout the episode, we confront the barriers faced by individuals seeking justice, including access to legal advice and representation and the emotional toll of pursuing legal remedies, as highlighted by Heather Fisken. Amanda Amaeshi and Tressa Burke shed light on the practical challenges within the legal system, while Sandy Brindley underscores the importance of legal reform as both a necessity for safety and an educative tool for societal change.

Join us as we navigate these critical discussions, seeking to better understand the role of law in the ongoing fight for equality and justice. Can the law truly be a force for good, or does it remain an obstacle for those in need?

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In this first episode of our special series, “Equal under the Law?," we delve into the complex relationship between law and social justice through the voices of inspiring activists from Scotland. We explore the pivotal question: "Does the law treat you and your community equally?" Our guests, including Pheona Matovu, Satwat Rehman, and Pinar Aksu, share their experiences and insights on how the legal system often perpetuates systemic inequalities rather than addressing them.

(Content warning: This episode discusses experiences of discrimination, violence, and trauma. Please take care while listening.)

Pheona Matovu, founder of Radiant and Brighter, discusses the inherent biases in the law that disproportionately affect racialised communities, while Satwat Rehman highlights the exclusionary practices faced by single-parent families. Pinar Aksu reflects on the historical roots of immigration laws and their ongoing impact on asylum seekers, revealing a troubling disconnect between legislation and the lived experiences of those it is meant to serve.

Throughout the episode, we hear from a range of activists, including Tim Hopkins, who reflects on the progress made for LGBT+ rights, and Sandy Brindley, who addresses the ongoing challenges faced by survivors of sexual violence. The conversations reveal a consensus: while some progress has been made, the law often fails to provide equitable treatment for marginalised groups.

As we navigate these critical discussions, we also consider the emotional toll of engaging with a legal system that can feel alien and intimidating. Activist Davie Donaldson shares poignant stories of families struggling to claim their rights within a bureaucratic legal system designed without their input.

Join us as we question whether the law can ever truly treat everyone equally and whether it can be wielded with the humanity that our society desperately needs.

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This week's, we talk to activist lawyer, Maria McCloskey, former director of Public Interest Litigation Support in Belfast, NI about how she worked with grassroots climate justice activists - the Stop Whitehead Oil Terminal (SWOT) campaign - to bring a successful legal challenge to plans to develop a major fossil fuel terminal in a quiet seaside town near Belfast.

Learn more:

• The Stop Whitehead Oil Terminal campaign: https://stopwhiteheadoilterminal.org/
• Public Interest Litigation Support (PILS): BLOG: Whitehead, the oil terminal and what happens next - The PILS Project
• The PILS Toolkit also covers some legal concepts that Maria mentions in her interview (judicial review, public interest litigation) and explains them in an NI context: pilsni.org/toolkit/
• Also check out the PILS glossary of legal terms
• And finally, here is the full ITV clip (30 June 2025) featured in the episode: https://www.itv.com/watch/news/climate-time-bomb/3203hv8

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This week, we’re  speaking to Andy Sirel, Legal Director at JustRight Scotland, about a legal challenge that secured access to further and higher education for potentially thousands of young people in Scotland.  Tune in to hear how an aspiring doctor, and a student-led campaign successfully established a right to education in human rights law for migrant young people in Scotland and expanded access to further education for everyone who follows in their footsteps.  

Further resources:

• STV interview: 'Talent is being wasted' by tuition fee residency rules in Scotland | STV News 
• JustRight Scotland blog post: Access to Higher Education for migrant students is now a real right 
• JustRight Scotland factsheet: Access to Education Factsheet July 2023
• Migrant Women Press article: Education for all: The right for asylum seekers to access education in Scotland. - Migrant Women Press

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This week, we’re talking to feminist lawyer and activist, Harriet Wistrich, about her decades-long commitment to seeking justice for women who kill their abusive partners, and her determined fight for justice for women, in a system designed for men.

Harriet talks about her journey to becoming an activist lawyer, why she founded the charity Centre for Women’s Justice in 2016, and many of her high-profile cases from over 25 years’ at the frontline of legal practice - also covered in her stunning 2024 debut book: “Sister in Law”.

Buy the book here:

• Sister in Law (paperback):

https://housmans.com/product/sister-in-law-fighting-for-justice-in-a-system-designed-by-men/?noamp=mobile

• Sister In Law (hardback):

https://lighthousebookshop.com/book/9781911709268

Learn more about these organisations::

• The Centre for Women's Justice: https://www.centreforwomensjustice.org.uk
• The Justice for Women Campaign: https://www.justiceforwomen.org.uk
• Read the CWJ’s Women who Kill: How the state criminalises women we might otherwise be burying report here: https://www.centreforwomensjustice.org.uk/women-who-kill

This episode contains an audio clip from an ITN news story following the release of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, from custody at the Old Bailey (BBC creative archive licence)

• Watch the video clip here:

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/freed-after-being-jailed-for-killing-violent-husband-news-footage/816069584?adppopup=true

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This week, we sit down with legendary LBGT+ activist Tim Hopkins, to explore how campaigners used the law to achieve equality for LGBT+ people in Scotland, from the 1980s to the present. Tim shares his insights and wisdom from over thirty years of campaigning - against the notorious Section 28 law in the 1980s, to organising the first Pride March in Scotland in the 1990s, to leading the Equality Network for 14+ years, and finishing with the modern day struggles of trans and non-binary people to achieve equal dignity under the law. 

Additional resources for this episode are linked below:

Legislation

Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980, Section 80(1) Equality Act 2010 Gender Recognition Act 2004  Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill  Historic Sexual Offences (Pardons and Disregards)(Scotland) Act 2018 Local Government Act 1988

Legal Cases

For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers [2023] CSIH 37 For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers [2022] CSIH 4

Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza [2004] UKHL 30 Goodwin v United Kingdom (Application no. 28957/95) P v S and Cornwall County Council, Case C-13/94 [1996] Smith and Grady v United Kingdom (Application nos. 33985/96 and 33986/96) Sutherland v United Kingdom  (Application no. 25186/94) Wilde, Greenhalgh, Parry v United Kingdon (Application no. 22382/93)

Media Clips Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Party Speech, 9 October 1987 Rishi Sunak, Speech, 5 October 2023

Other Resources

Equality Network  LGBT Youth Scotland Scottish Trans Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) TransActual - Critiques of the Cass Review

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We’re here today to help listeners understand how the law can be used to achieve really significant change by looking at how Alison Pickup and colleagues led a successful campaign to challenge the UK Government's Rwanda policy, her role as a lawyer and activist in that campaign and your reflections now … a year on from that significant legal change, as the current UK Government prepares to repeal the Safety of Rwanda Act in the Border Security Asylum and Immigration Bill currently before Parliament. The legal win that her team secured after taking a case all the way to the UK Supreme Court that resulted in the court confirming that Rwanda was not a safe place to send refugees. Alison describes what the UK Government responded to that judgement, and how her team stepped in, again, to protect asylum seekers. We end the episode with some reflections from Alison on what more needs to be done to secure justice for refugees, and also her very wise advice for aspiring human rights lawyers and activists.

Resources:

• Rwanda – all is not lost: Asylum Aid's arguments on why the Home Office must still consider the real risk of people being sent into danger from Rwanda - Free Movement
• Rwanda: procedural fairness and extensions of time - Free Movement Fairness in safe third country removals: the Court of Appeal’s judgment in Asylum Aid’s case - Free Movement
• Press release: Home Secretary informs Asylum Aid about her intentions to repeal the Safety of Rwanda Act 2024 in this Parliamentary session | Asylum Aid
• Rwanda – all is not lost: Asylum Aid's arguments on why the Home Office must still consider the real risk of people being sent into danger from Rwanda - Free Movement
• Rwanda: procedural fairness and extensions of time - Free Movement
• Fairness in safe third country removals: the Court of Appeal’s judgment in Asylum Aid’s case - Free Movement
• Press release: Home Secretary informs Asylum Aid about her intentions to repeal the Safety of Rwanda Act 2024 in this Parliamentary session | Asylum Aid

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