S Korea’s former PM found guilty of insurrection, given 23 years in prison https://aje.news/plnhoe

Friends: how’s the weather been on holiday? Me: … Variable. (Pictured: Tathra headland; Bar Beach, Merimbula)

It's so exhausting to to be constantly told by American leaders that the defining policy of the 80 odd years during which the US became the most wealthy and powerful country in the history of the world was a grossly unfair failure for them.

Little note in the new Bill on Hate Speech Good thing there will never be a Minister who acts in bad faith when they go about banning groups.

This year I've done an op-ed on the UN with @drnajimagi.bsky.social, finished a monograph and sent it to publishers with @djag2.bsky.social, dealt with assessments and taught 3 subjects with @hollycullenfreo.bsky.social, sent a manuscript to co-authors to finish, and I'm about to examine a PhD

#CalledToTheBar, the official host’s mug! Can confirm it is rated for coffee. Will provide updates on its capacity to hold wine.

38°C at 6 pm today in Canberra!

One week into 2026, and this is as fitting as ever.

You knew it was coming!

We were meant to be taking a break but nobody knows how to behave anymore so we are back with an episode on Venezuela!

An unplanned episode in our summer hiatus... please world let us get through the rest of January without needing to do another one!

I won't say this was fun to record because honestly I wish world leaders would behave better, but it was cathartic to join @drnajimagi.bsky.social @ntinatzouvala.bsky.social @imogenmarjorie.bsky.social and @djag2.bsky.social to discuss the state of things

New Called to the Bar episode: the full crew unpacks the US bombing of Venezuela and the abduction of Nicolás Maduro. UN Charter violations, head of state immunity, and why Washington no longer seems troubled by illegality. Bleak, sharp, and very 2026. #CalledToTheBar soundcloud.com/calledtotheb...

what happens when @pagingdrpaige.bsky.social and i are tired and cranky about the state of the world theconversation.com/venezuela-ga...

'Despite persistent myths, employment rates for humanities graduates are comparable to those of STEM graduates, as Humanities Indicators data shows. Early earnings differ but the salary gap narrows significantly mid-career, particularly for graduates who pursue further study'. 1/2

Doing this challenge called “January” where I try to make it through the whole month of January

New jacket nearly complete. (Another Ilford jacket from Friday Pattern Company.) #sewing

Oh good, unseasonable hail. That’s never gone wrong in Canberra.

I get the basic sentiment. But the problem here is in the final sentence. We dont go "blatant violation of domestic law" = no domestic law. We say rule of law imperilled for now, short cut to autocracy got some work to do. International law is not so fragile. But by damn there is work to do

Marco Rubio is reportedly saying Maduro will stand trial in US courts. Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.

Thunder rolling in over Canberra at about 0.4 of a standard Lovecraft/Hammer Horror unit. Which seems understated given world events.

Well done to the US for heroically deterring Russia and China from considering regime change abroad by doing it themselves and suffering absolutely no consequences whatsoever up to and including having their allies fall short of actually criticizing them for it.

I think this feels particularly shocking because no matter how much you stretch the law this has absolutely no basis of legality whatsoever. No terrorists, no "threat" requiring anticipatory self defence. Nothing.

Article I, Section 8 "The Congress shall have power... To declare war" and United Nations Charter, Article 2(4) "All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State"

If this doesn't come with a UNGA Uniting for Peace resolution and global condemnation then the prohibition on the use of force is finished and the UN will go the way of the League of Nations. Ask the international lawyers in your life how they are because right now I wish I weren't 10 years sober

First academic selfie of 2026. Lunch in Bega with my sister, wearing the waistcoat and trousers I made for myself. Unrelatedly, got my first “are you a pensioner or do you have a concession” in a barbershop today. (The cheek!)

First academic selfie of 2026. Lunch in Bega with my sister, wearing the waistcoat and trousers I made for myself. Unrelatedly, got my first “are you a pensioner or do you have a concession” in a barbershop today. (The cheek!)

I once had someone describe my argument in a paper as “facile” but they appeared to mean it as a complement (as in, executed with great facility, I suppose). Again, an American.

It's a crime we never got Muppet Hunt for Red October where the only humans are Connery and Tim Curry.

My sister, modelling the Friday Pattern Co Ilford jacket I made her for her birthday. Plus shots of the details on collar, pockets and cuffs. #sewing

Have a listen to me chatting with a bunch of scholars at the @anzsilgsil.bsky.social workshop on Feminist Approaches to International Law in the age of anthroposcene and authoritarian capitalism

We took #CalledTotheBar on the road to the ANZSIL Gender, Sexuality & International Law workshop! @pagingdrpaige.bsky.social chats with a wide range of scholars about feminist approaches to international law in an age of authoritarian capitalism.🎙️ soundcloud.com/calledtotheb...

Wondering what it might be like to work as a mid-career or senior researcher in Australia? UNSW's Green Fellowships are 1 or 2 year positions, open to those at least 8 years post-PhD, with the possibility of converting to permanent UNSW employment. www.unsw.edu.au/research/gre...

They missed one: Check out Called to the Bar - International Law over Drinks on #SoundCloud on.soundcloud.com/V2xUizacbYlE...

Happy to share my review (that was well late, sorry) of @glexareen.bsky.social's book "Statehood as Political Community" He may be a moral philosophy bro but his outcomes and ethics are sound in spite of that. The book is excellent and well worth your time www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Grading and googling hallucinated citations, as one does nowadays, and now that LLMs have been around for a while, I've discovered new horrors: hallucinated journals are now appearing in Google Scholar with dozens of citations bc so many people are citing these fake things

if you fancy listening to some (rather tipsy) doom and gloom chats about international law, look no further! Our end of year drinks with @djag2.bsky.social @imogenmarjorie.bsky.social @pagingdrpaige.bsky.social @drnajimagi.bsky.social are now out soundcloud.com/calledtotheb...

End-of-year drinks with the whole Called to the Bar crew 🍸 We grade 2025 in international law (spoiler: some marks dip below an F), talk “gangsterism as international law”, advisory opinions, Gaza, Ukraine, climate, and whether the UN era is ending. soundcloud.com/calledtotheb...

The ANZSIL/Australian yearbook of international law student paper prize is open! anzsil.org/student-pape....

🚨🚨 Call for papers!!! 🚨🚨 Together with @jenhendry.bsky.social, I am excited to ask for contributions to a special issue of the Journal of Comparative Law, dedicated to the legacy of the late and wonderful William Twining. Full details to follow:

“All of the strikes constitute unlawful killing." Here’s everything you need to know about the attacks taking place in the Caribbean: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Countdown until someone calls this piracy and @pagingdrpaige.bsky.social and I both lose our minds ... Nine ... eight ... seven ...

Well, new law of the sea dispute just dropped, I guess … www.reuters.com/world/americ...

Graduation day at UNSW Canberra

Another outing for Maritime Domain Awareness: The Board Game at a @bluesecprogram.bsky.social ECR workshop!

Everyone imitates Tolkien all the time except when it comes to the one way it would really matter: making the protagonist of your novel for children a short, fat, 50-year-old man who doesn't want to do anything.

my great-grandparents arrived in the UK in the 1890s with nothing. they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors. their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen. their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.

What a title! Up there with @andrewmueller.bsky.social ‘s description of her as “Britain’s most former prime minister”.

Television. The best British satire was “yes, minister“ and “yes, Prime Minister“. The best mainstream American dark comedy was “Don’t Trust the B**** in apartment 23”. The decision of the adjudicators is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

if you see this, repost with your model of positive masculinity.