Germany’s government is set to make major social security cuts, and replace the only recently-created “Citizen’s Income” with a more punitive “New Income for Jobseekers”. These plans will increase poverty. Human rights can help guide the debate back to what matters. www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

Thank you @koldocasla.bsky.social and University of Essex and Barcelona colleagues, for the opportunity to discuss strategic litigation and other avenues to make progress in realizing ESC rights. Great to meet and work with @observadesca.bsky.social @rightohousing.bsky.social @gentium.bsky.social

What if the hallucinations are intrinsic to the AI business model? theconversation.com/why-openais-...

The decline remains shocking. The UK shed public wealth at 7.4% of national income per year from 1981 to 1996. Gross public wealth fell from the highest in the G7 to the lowest, where it has stayed ever since.

Its scale was unprecedented. Post-1980, the only advanced economies that experienced a faster and deeper decline in public wealth were those affected by the “shock therapy” of the post-Soviet transition. Britain’s public wealth collapsed.

Misinformation and myth: the UK’s phoney war over human rights - Rachel Sylvester @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

"Waltzian neorealists see a bipolar world as being more stable than a multipolar one. But for rising states with expanding ambitions, three great powers are preferable to two." foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/01/g...

Yesterday Basque people managed to stop La Vuelta (the Spanish cycling tour) in protest for the whitewashing of the Palestinian genocide with the participation of an Israeli team.🚴‍♂️ 🍉 Hope the organisers and others (FIBA, UEFA…) learn their lesson and apply the Russia rule.

Authorities could issue Empty Dwelling Management Orders. But they are reluctant. Only 66 EDMOs were approved by the competent first-tier residential property tribunal between 2004-12. In response to a FOI request from me, the Gov said they do not hold more recent data. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Has extreme poverty really plunged since the 1980s? New analysis suggests not. By ‪@jasonhickel.bsky.social, Dylan Sullivan & Michail Moatsos on @uk.theconversation.com theconversation.com/has-extreme-...

Between rigid respect for international law and judicial deference: Front Polisario I and Front Polisario II - Marek Szydło - Modern Law Review 🇪🇺 🇪🇭 doi.org/10.1111/1468...

The erosion of democracy in an age of wealth inequality: Unravelling the impact of subjective socioeconomic stratification | Seungwoo Han | British Journal of Politics and International Relations journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Do not even try, “for U-speakers never make mistakes”. unherd.com/2025/08/lang...

Gaza isn’t the first time US officials have downplayed atrocities by American-backed regimes – genocide scholars found similar strategies used from East Timor to Guatemala to Yemen theconversation.com/gaza-isnt-th...

NEW RESEARCH: The richest households in England will be eight times more likely to benefit from the government’s expanded programme of funded childcare hours. 1/8

💰 How much public wealth do you think was given away for free via Right to Buy?  1bn? 10bn? 100bn?  Try 200 BILLION pounds.  🧵 Here's how Britain’s most infamous housing policy became its biggest housing disaster — and near the largest privatisation in British history.

The number of English youth centres run by local authorities almost halved between 2012 and 2023. Youth centres are vital for young people's life chances, especially in the poorest areas. Reversing this damaging legacy of 2010s austerity can't come soon enough!

“the Private Rented Sector database represents a rare opportunity to introduce a national, consistent framework to support local enforcement while raising expectations of landlord behaviour.” @neweconomics.bsky.social research neweconomics.org/2025/07/deta...

🎲 NEW REPORT | Fairer gambling taxes could raise £3.2bn to scrap the two-child limit & benefit cap, lifting 500,000 children out of poverty. The plan targets the most harmful, least-taxed parts of the industry. Find out more: www.ippr.org/articles/reforming-gambling-taxation

🗣️ Gordon Brown: “If gambling firms can afford sky-high pay-outs and sponsorships, they can afford to help fund the war on child poverty.” Our latest report lays out exactly how we can make that happen: www.ippr.org/articles/reforming-gambling-taxation www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

AI is too intellectually predigested to be the Second Enlightenment. By David A. Bell www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/o...

Climate change on trial: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ opinion on global warming | César Rodríguez-Garavito | OpenGlobalRights www.openglobalrights.org/climate-chan...

📣We are thrilled to share the 4th edition of YRMA Voices, where we highlight the inspiring journeys of Dr. Koldo Casla(universityofessex.bsky.social) and Dr. Jingjing Wu (University of Southern Denmark). 🔍Read the full edition and get inspired👇 yerun.eu/2025/05/yrma...

Very concerning. I have an idea. Two, in fact. Give asylum seekers the right to work. And increase the restrictions to betting shops. (Or close them down, ideally.)

And here's the Advisory Opinion www.icj-cij.org/sites/defaul...

Previous judgments as narrative constraint: how the European Court of Human Rights narrates departures. Really interesting Law and Literature analysis of Strasbourg's case-law by dr Yuliia Khyzhniak. strasbourgobservers.com/2025/07/22/p...

Barcelona & Madrid, 18th & 25th Sept. Discussing strategic litigation on the progressive realisation of economic, social & cultural rights. Barcelona, English, info here www.ub.edu/portal/web/d... Madrid, castellano, regístrate aquí forms.office.com/pages/respon... cc @universityofessex.bsky.social

"In the original conception of privatisation, companies would borrow to invest, [like a mortgage]. In reality, however, their borrowing has been more like maxing out a credit card, then taking out new credit cards to pay it off." www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/enviro...

"Resisting the destruction of human life and the perpetuation of a genocide against the Palestinian people is not wrong. It is the law, and this government, that is wrong." Huw Lemmey @lrb.co.uk www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

What’s in a Joke? Assessing Humour in Free Speech Jurisprudence. #ECtHR strasbourgobservers.com/2025/07/18/h...

Schools should be places of learning, not surveillance. But for some students, police are teaching & patrolling hallways. There’s no strong evidence that this improves safety. That’s why we’ve launched our NEW report: Policing the Playground. www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/polici...

The UK-France migration deal: is it legal? @stevepeers.bsky.social asks and answers. ukandeu.ac.uk/the-uk-franc...

How 1860s Mexico offered an alternative vision for a liberal republican international order. @tomlongphd.bsky.social & Carsten-Andreas Schulz. theconversation.com/how-1860s-me...

If you are interested in socio-economic inequality and class issues, you will want to follow Geraldine van Bueren on Bluesky.

The story about how the BBC refused to broadcast a documentary they had initially commissioned about the genocide in Gaza, and how they tried to silence the producers, as told by the producers themselves. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Seeking bulldozer drivers to demolish Gaza: how a genocide is being outsourced. Arwa Mahdawi. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Se buscan conductores de excavadora para demoler Gaza: cómo se externaliza un genocidio www.eldiario.es/129_be12a0?u...

They are right.

"The goal of the international community shouldn’t be to make life under the blockade liveable, but to challenge the illegal and immoral blockade itself." Tareq Baconi @lrb.co.uk www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

“The landlord”: “a gentleman who does not earn his wealth” whose “day of reckoning is at hand”. David Lloyd George, 1909. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/econom...

Five words about #PalestineAction could get me arrested. By Ronan Bennett. @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/fre...

“An injury to democracy, once inflicted, cannot be contained. It becomes immediately infected, and the sickness spreads.” Powerful must-read column by @owenjones.bsky.social

The #UK should do more to tackle child poverty and step up efforts in other areas too. See my statement⬇️ www.coe.int/en/web/commi...

How the UK became dependent on asylum hotels @jonnydarling.bsky.social theconversation.com/how-the-uk-b...

"Jueces y fiscales convocan una huelga sin respaldo legal ni control institucional. Sin servicios mínimos ni descuentos salariales, la protesta revela una posición de privilegio inédita frente al resto de trabajadores." @agendapublica.es agendapublica.es/noticia/1997...

The £2 bus fare cap in 2023 contributed to an 5% increase in bus usage but did not address other barriers, such as poor frequency or reliability. 46% of local authorities rated their capacity to deliver local transport as very or fairly poor. @nao.org.uk report www.nao.org.uk/reports/loca...

I recommend this insightful questioning of the uncritical reliance on moral psychology & values-speak to explain political motivation. "The Vices of Values: Matthew Goodwin and the Politics of Motivation" Jeremy Gilbert & Alex Williams, The Political Quarterly onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Why Real Democracy Needs Conflict, Not Consensus. Justus Seuferle www.socialeurope.eu/why-real-dem...

It's not death. It's only that international law is not an independent variable in global politics. We should keep our expectations real. www.theguardian.com/law/2025/jun...

Yeah, well, the problem is everyone else. Money does NOT grow on trees, austerity leaders like NATO’s Rutte used to say.