So grim, for these colleagues, for the ecology of education in the region and at this institution. And apparently with no transparency about the basis for the decision.

Perhaps this is the place for a preliminary shout out for this, especially for those interested in introducing Plutarch to their students. Available in August 2026! www.cambridge.org/core/books/p...

There is a good deal to mine in Plutarch reception. Schliesser suggests that we need to approach the analysis of the reception of some of his writings differently, depending on their genre or form. With such a large opus, it is not always clear what Plutarch was doing in each work.

Now out in OA: "Can Democracy be Rehabilitated?" by John Dunn (@thecambridgeschool.bsky.social): "[It] will be a heroic challenge... The stakes in meeting it are the possibility of democracy itself, a citizenry that has recovered the capacity to keep itself free" www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

Ontario groundhog (Wiarton Willy) has died. Six more years of winter?

Orange alert- actually it has been a while now... www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Not so faithful I would suggest. The doctor never meant for his creature to be immortal for one...

Canadian government now seeking to cut international student visas from a target of 305,900 a year (already lowered from before) to 155,000 in 2026 and dropping further in 2027 and 2028. Yet they also want to attract foreign talent. Why deny these students a good education? Where can they go?

Now why can't Elon Musk use his brains and technology for some good in the world now? (ok, I know the answer) Starlink would be a great solution here....https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/29/afghanistan-communications-blackout-taliban-shuts-internet

'tough it out'? Yeah, right....

As long as we are talking about Afghanistan...

Amazingly enough I am on this list *multiple times* because of scholarly articles I coauthored. You should really check and see if you’re on it too.

When I teach about Atlantic Slavery one of the key things I try to communicate is that it was a *resisted condition*. People were bound in servitude *by force* because only force could hold them to it. Their resistances forged entire cultures.

This is helpful framing and might be relevant to those currently drafting syllabi, i.e. suggesting student use of AI to write papers amounts to 'deskilling'. If I taught in a different field I might ask students to draft their c.v. but stressing the number of skills they had lost recently.

My book 'Plutarch's Prism' is reviewed by Katherine East in Vol. 45, no. 4, 2024 of 'History of Political Thought' journal. Nice review!

These are great suggestions!

how sinister....can we turn back time and send him to Philosophy 101?

Some limited highlights from a recent fabulous rafting trip on the Nahanni River NWT. Should be on everyone's bucket list. #nahanni.com

So secret even he himself does not know it.... NYT "Trump Says ‘Nobody Knows’ His Plans on Iran"

Bear, dall sheep with babies, moose and bison (latter pics not included) #nahanni.com

Some limited highlights from a recent fabulous rafting trip on the Nahanni River NWT. Should be on everyone's bucket list. #nahanni.com

Wow, yes. An amazing glimpse of the LLM Lie Machine at work. Anyone whose students are bring tempted by LLMs, sharing this could be very helpful showing how it lies, and how it fails.

six months open mayonnaise in the pantry?! no thanks!

Congrats to Stefan Eich @stefeich.bsky.social‬ on winning the 2024 David and Elaine Spitz Prize from the International Conference for the Study of Political Thought (CSPT)! press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

First line of an exam answer that you know will not go well: "This quotation is from Hegel's 'The Element of Right'."

I don't think I have ever heard anything so contemptible of humanity...

PM Carney in his winning election speech heralds the values of humility, ambition and unity.

I thought all truckers spoke Convoy...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd5ZLJWQmss

Wondering if Rousseauian freedom lasts the full 12 or so hours of the voting day (15 if taken through all time zones) or merely the 2-3 minutes one stands in the voting booth...Hard to say by just a phenomenological description of my own experience...

I know that this is the least of our concerns. But the failure of political science to in any way anticipate the breakdown of democracy in the United States is truly astounding.

4/7 Now reviews! We begin with an article by Charles C. H. Lee (Academia Sinica, Taipei), "Towards a Universal History of Democracy", on the six-volume "A Cultural History of Democracy" (@bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social, 2021) edited by Eugenio F. Biagini (et. al.) www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

surprisingly timely!

Time to info ourselves about how best to protect our personal data when travelling....especially those in university circles...

un chercheur du CNRS dans le domaine spatial en route pour un colloque à Houston a été refoulé par les autorités américaines et son matériel informatique confisqué, parce que des propos critiques envers Trump ont été retrouvés dans son téléphone et son ordinateur www.lemonde.fr/internationa...

Blue sky is anything but these days...Call it the new Emergency Alert System...Not that I'm complaining. Essential to be informed in this climate.

one thing i keep thinking about is how there is simply no way to design a constitutional system that can resist authoritarian incursion if participants in that system do not actually care that much

If you missed it live, you can now catch my in-depth conversation with @preetbharara.bsky.social about The Presidents and The People and the urgent challenges facing democracy today. Grateful to Preet for his insightful reading of the book and a truly engaging discussion. cafe.com/stay-tuned/h...

What to understand about our patrimonial president. New rules of the game.My latest co-authored piece. www.persuasion.community/p/sins-of-th...

Our front page today. Happy 181st birthday to Canada's national newspaper.

Always will be.

Hey, Kara Swisher is trying to put a group together to buy the Washington Post! Cancel your subscriptions now and burn a hole in Jeff Bozo's pocket!! Maybe we can get advertisers to boycott as well.

"However and by whomever this was organized, the intention of these appointments is clear: to create American horror." Reposting "Decapitation Strike" from November because that is indeed what these cabinet members represent. snyder.substack.com/p/decapitati...

We're hiring a Fellow in Political Theory! @lsegovernment.bsky.social : jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

Starting to thing this is a weird intentional move to get the liberals re-elected? www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/...

Want to help women's education in Afghanistan in the wake of the shutdown of these US AID programs? Support AFSO.

We are looking to appoint 2 Lecturers in Political Theory. The positions are open to all subfields of political theory (please note: you need only apply for one of the advertised posts to be considered for both): www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/108445-...