Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

Last week, I was all excited about the release of the Downton Abbey film. I’m planning to see it this afternoon — I’ll let you know what I think!

The dramatic news in the US swamped equally dramatic news in the UK, at least on most American newscasts.

On Tuesday, the British Supreme Court ruled that the prorogation of Parliament was unlawlful and declared that it effectively hadn’t happen. On Wednesday, Parliament was back in session.

Here is the court president, Lady Hale, reading the unanimous decision of the court:

I’d heard that the decision might hinge on Prime Minister Johnson’s intent for proroguing Parliament — something which would be hard to prove. But the court made their decision by looking at the impact of proroguing Parliament. Basically, did prorogation prevent Parliament from doing its job? They determined that it did and therefore ruled that the prorogation was null and void.

Lady Hale’s stunning spider brooch was a sensation on the internet. The Guardian had a fun piece about brooches that made the news in recent years.

Parliament returned to work on Wednesday with a raucous session in the House of Commons, even by British standards. Everyone is mad at someone and some people are mad at everyone. This CNN article did a good job of explaining it in American terms.

Are you paying attention to Brexit news?