In his recent essay in the London Review of Books Conor Gearty has taken a close and critical look at the direction of travel in the UK Supreme Court in the two years since Lord Reed succeeded Lady Hale as president. He finds a court that is occasionally strong in the support of civil liberties but at the same time fairly sceptical of its power to affect social and economic policy. It is also a body that is increasingly committed to quite a formalistic approach to judicial law-making.