Barely Legal, Morally Wrong?

For Episode 10 of Barely Legal, Morally Wrong, Alix Meekison and Mandy Laurie are joined by their first special guest, Neil Hutchison from Room for Growth. This episode explores one of the most common phrases in modern workplace culture: bring your whole self to work. It sounds positive. It sounds progressive. It sounds like the kind of thing every good employer should want to encourage. But what...

In this episode of Barely Legal, Morally Wrong , Alix and Mandy discuss Holidays and ask whether the traditional way we think about working time is still fit for purpose. From annual leave and burnout to flexible working, childcare, public holidays and the reality of being constantly available, this is a thoughtful conversation about how modern working life has outgrown the systems designed to reg...

In this episode of Barely Legal, Morally Wrong, Alix and Mandy explore the realities of single parenting and the assumptions that still surround it. Following on from their recent discussion on grief, they turn their attention to a topic that is often part of everyday life but rarely discussed openly. From the language used to describe single parents, to the judgement and stigma that can still exi...

In this episode of Barely Legal, Morally Wrong , Alix and Mandy explore one of the most personal and difficult issues any workplace will face: grief. Prompted by the sad loss of Jen Hardy, founder of Cancer Card, they discuss how employers respond when someone is dealing with bereavement and whether workplace policies truly reflect the reality of loss. From time off after a death to delayed funera...

In this episode of Barely Legal, Morally Wrong we use International Women’s Day as a springboard to ask a tougher question: are we making progress, or are we starting to slide backwards? We talk equal pay and the realities that still sit behind the headlines, the wider rollback of women’s rights in the US and what that signals culturally, and the quiet retreat from equality and diversity commitmen...

In this episode of Barely Legal, Morally Wrong we unpack the difference between NDAs and FOIs and why they often work in opposite directions. We look at how FOI requests promote transparency for public bodies, when a subject access request can be used in the private sector, and the role of the Information Commissioner when disclosure is disputed. We discuss whistleblowing protections, proposed lim...

In this episode of Barely Legal, Morally Wrong, Alix Meekison and Mandy Laurie unpack clashing rights at work and beyond. They look at how the courts balance protected characteristics, why no single right automatically wins, and how disability and belief are assessed in practice. Along the way they revisit headline cases, from a guest house room refusal and the Northern Ireland cake dispute to the...

In this episode of Barely Legal, Morally Wrong we ask a simple question: does HR need a glow up? We look at how HR moved from the heroes of the COVID years to a function pulled in every direction. We talk about line managers off-loading people issues, the rise of D and I and whether the spend delivers, AI-written grievances, DSARs and FOIs that drain time, and the pressure to meet every need for e...

In this special episode of Barely Legal, Morally Wrong , recorded live at the launch night of Meekison MacKinnon & McGhee, Alix and Mandy take the stage at Burness Paull LLP’s Edinburgh office for a conversation that goes back to where it all began. They look at what inspired the creation of Barely Legal, Morally Wrong , the journey that led to Alix starting her own company, and the themes tha...

In our first episode of Barely Legal, Morally Wrong, Alix Meekison and Mandy Laurie unpack the Astronomer CEO scandal. Mandy, head of the employment team at Scottish law firm Burness Paull LLP, looks at the legal side in plain English what the rules actually say about consensual relationships at work, disclosure duties and conflicts of interest. Alix coming from her decades of experience in HR, di...