Roland Barthes has a handy cut-and-pastable statement for anyone applying for research leave, submitting a grant application, or just planning to write a book:

That's also what they indicated in their IPO S1 form back in 2020: "We are working towards becoming the default operating system across the U.S. government. Our victory in federal court now makes that possible." This has been the growth strategy (p.7). www.sec.gov/Archives/edg...

Watch his victory speech for how it gives zero time to the nonsense binary of "idpol" vs "class politics". The stars of that speech are the *multi-ethnic* working class. It's a speech grounded in the rich complexity of material reality, not two dimensional caricatures and facile abstractions.

wow it's the first time since don't remember when to feel a sliver of hope

The way Mamdani drew on history in his campaign is obviously super satisfying to me from a professional perspective, but it's also extremely good politics, activating historical memory in the service of illuminating possibilities rather than attempting to repress it.

Most of us have ancestors who were immigrants. Most of us--even/especially the ones who pass as white now--have family histories of marginalisation. We know how integration works; the costs are carved into our flesh and written on our bones, but we also know that it does work.

“London and New York, two of the west’s largest, richest, and most diverse cities are now run by Muslim men, both of them elected on the ticket of left wing, pro-LGBT, pro-multicultural parties…The victory is a reminder of the fundamental weakness of Trumpism, Faragism, and the politics of hate.”

me arriving at mamdani's new york

my students are really great (on repeat every week this term and I haven’t jinxed yet)

the… politics… of attention…? bsky.app/profile/kevi...

Some great resources here thinking about the political limits of "rights" discourses

“It is also November. The noons are more laconic and the sundowns sterner...November always seemed to me the Norway of the year.” -Emily Dickinson, letter to Elizabeth Holland (Nov 1865) #everynightapoem #november

someone i don't know just saying hello to me in the corridor and: "I'm a student of yours in IP law. I love IP law" (don't want anyone to love it, but this made my depressing Monday)

Thinking of teaching law of confidential information and trade secrets as a love story that turns out to be a farce

Always surprised when I hear myself languages I hadn’t spoken in a long time without thinking - where was it dormant

So excited to return to my alma mater as a Pritzker Fellow with University of Chicago Institute of Politics. Among a long list of activities, I will host a seminar series on "The Development of Science & Technology Within Shifting U.S.-China Relations." Details: politics.uchicago.edu/fellows/curr...

Eminently reasonable proposed principles for professors’ use of AI, from a student refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/08/29/a...

no more peer review requests pls it’s just not possible until end of year

This is super interesting. Hopeful for the US long-term, depressing about the UK, and London is a bubble and safe haven - so far.

sitting in a train with a group of teen girls giggling nonstop for hours for no reason... strangely annoying, but then again was no different at their age, okay - an old person

The university is not a skills machine and neither should politicians think of themselves of oiling the gears of economic performance. Politics is not just about adapting populations to fit labour market demands.

what is the status of private providers' provision of university level degrees in the UK or elsewhere, like pearson? do they (have to) adhere to the principle of academic freedom? (my sense is not but may be wrong)

we'd be really curious to hear from other journals what they're seeing @econsocjournal.bsky.social @thesociologicalreview.org @finandsoc.bsky.social @bigdatasoc.bsky.social @societyandspace.bsky.social @dialogueshg.bsky.social @sthv.bsky.social

U(rh)gg boots

We should try to live out of one suitcase

Today’s fashion tip: no more slab hands while gesturing. Separate & articulate your fingers. Fan them out. Relax. Go full Balanchine. Some people would be nervous to do this. But not you, secure in your self as you are. #MJMfashionGuide

was resisting but it was futile

"Developing our linguistic capacities — to master diverse concepts, to follow an intricate argument, to form judgments, to communicate those to others — is the development of our capacity to think. Cognitive degradation threatens democratic processes." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...

No Kings

I'm pro-union because I think workers should organize to balance the power that business owners have in various negotiations. It's true that unions have been weakened, but it's not because of multiculturalism. I would argue, it's because people seek to exploit divisions for their material interests.

You in fact can't talk about the history of the labor movement without talking about multi-ethnic coalitions. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union was initially composed of Jewish and Italian immigrants, but later grew to Black, Puerto Rican, Chinese, and Filipino workers.

Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.

not sure if redesigning academic essay/assessment questions in light of "AI", we are dumbing down to its level, or lift up

investment in telerobotics is primarily driven by immigration policy

Can pedal again

Talks of rebuilding Gaza hide a colonial logic: those who helped erase it now decide how – and whether – it can be rebuilt. Reconstruction risks turning into an instrument of Israeli control. My latest on Substack. hannohauenstein.substack.com/p/is-the-gen...

my first driving lesson, my instructor said to me when passing by a school: "never forget, a car is a killing machine"

so the physio and osteo are giving me incompatible advice re ankles rehab. what to do.

"Trump administration quietly pays overdue WTO fees" www.ft.com/content/e87a... I'll take any kind of payment, whatever the noise level! h/t @bobwolfe.bsky.social

Hans Kelsen vs the FBI

The university is threatening cuts on a massive scale with little to no justification. Truly surreal moment in HE.

Excited about this. ISHTIP goes to Brazil 🙌

1st Circuit in Stand with Us v. MIT: "[O]ur Constitution bars the government from forcing a private university to prohibit students from voicing vehement support for, or opposition to, the policies and conduct of the United States and its allies." www.ca1.uscourts.gov/sites/ca1/fi...

Excited about this. ISHTIP goes to Brazil 🙌

what on earth are you talking about 48 hours without AI: THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE IN MY GENERATION WHO HAVE MANAGED NOT TO OWN SMARTPHONES AND WE WILL REJOIN THEM AGAIN AFTER THE BURNOUT

i mean years rather

originality as peer review norm and novelty and non obviousness as patent law requirements require the ability to recognise what one doesn't know. LLMs only know. they don't know what they don't know. there is a categorical incompatibility.

academic publishing industry hellbent on destroying academic knowledge (and knowledge generally)

if resentment was the idea which fuelled the far right's rise, it seems the concepts which (imo) characterises 2025 most are alienation and violence.

that's me