New article: Mark Elliott and Nicholas Kilford, "The Relational Principle of Parliamentary Sovereignty" SSRN draft available to download; forthcoming in Public Law publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/07/21/t... @nearlydoctornick.bsky.social

"The big question now is not just how to win power, but how to wield it in a way that restores trust, dignity, and agency to communities long left behind." First published in 2025, @andyburnham.bsky.social reflects on place-based governing. www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

Examined a good PhD this week which made extensive use of the BWA (@ukandeu.bsky.social's Brexit Witness Archive). If you know any researchers (or even ug students doing disso's) who are working on British politics, do let them know about it. It's an absolute treasure trove. This one's esp. fab.

Some thoughtful person provided a link to a non-paywalled version of this article: gcaptain.com/drowning/

Join the Constitution Unit! We are welcoming British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme applications for September 2027 entry. If you are interested, contact your proposed mentor by 25 May. Applicants must have had their PhD viva between 1 April 2024 and 1 April 2027. Find out more 👇

Oxford museum sees 47% decline in swift numbers www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Thought this was a model response from @celiarichardson.bsky.social to a pretty harsh article in the Spectator about the National Trust

My paper “Bureaucracy and Distrust: the Civil Service in the Constitution” has been published in Current Legal Problems. It looks at the UK civil service’s constitutional foundations, and how it might respond to a populist govt. It's open access. currentlegalproblems.org/article/bure...

Build-a-voter is back! @fransham.bsky.social's creation is now updated for 2026 with data from More in Common. www.economist.com/interactive/... My profile is predictably Labour-leaning...

How do we govern the moon? Our topical discussion paper www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/60...

Absolute cinema watching that jar of Nutella escape contain behind the backs of the astronauts after packing other things away

When ads came to ChatGPT, users were mad — those who had been using it as an editor or therapist suddenly saw ChatGPT as vulnerable to manipulation by brands and marketers. The reality is that it was happening the whole time. I wrote about the new SEO gold rush: www.theverge.com/tech/900302/...

🚨 NEW REPORT! 🚨 What is the state of the UK academic job market in politics, and what does this mean for the field and #highered? In a new @psaecn.bsky.social report, @lawrencemckay.bsky.social @williamlallen.bsky.social and I find worrying trends in job adverts and HESA data from 2012-25 #PSA26

Errors present in 45% of AI generated reports of news stories 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...

right now the astronauts are calling houston because the computer on the spaceship is running two instances of microsoft outlook and they can't figure out why. nasa is about to remote into the computer

"I’m pretty sure technological progress is a law of nature, like gravity or death. The power loom, as we know, is inevitable, preordained by God, who works His miracles through the hands of rich and wise inventors. It’s foolish to resist it."

We're hiring! We're looking for a freelance magazine designer to join our small and dedicated team as an Art Director. This is an exciting opportunity to join an award-winning magazine with a growing readership and an exceptional reputation for its design. Apply now:

The danger to my job from AI isn't that AI can do my job, it's that my job is made even more precarious by the way AI is shaping ideas of the value of work. It can't do my job, but it can be part of convincing people (incorrectly) that my job isn't necessary.

Good words of warning here. AI models are generally designed to read and incorporate (and, in a sense, believe) virtually everything they find online, with very few guardrails. The information can get divorced from its original source, context, & rebuttals or retractions. That's a really big problem

"Free Time isn’t just a new product—it’s a total wellness optimization platform. It’s not an app but rather a mind-blowing vessel of unstructured time where you can do anything your heart desires, or nothing at all." www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/int...

www.gov.scot/publications... - published today

it can't tell if the output is true because *it has no concept of truth*. The only thing it "knows" is "this output is correlated" It is structurally indifferent to truth

❗New date for greyhound rally: Wednesday 18th March❗ 👉 We're sorry for the inconvenience, but unfortunately this is the nature of parliamentary business so close to the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament ahead of the May elections. 🙌We really hope you can still make it. Please share, thank you

And another bites the dust? The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

New report out today on the impact of the Supreme Court's s.28(7) jurisprudence, with @profnicolamcewen.bsky.social, @chrismccork.bsky.social and Jo Hunt. www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

1/2 Here’s a 1 min trailer for Advanced Issues in Public Law, a 2nd yr module I’m teaching late 2026 at @durham.ac.uk with @aileenmcharg.bsky.social and @rogermasterman.bsky.social. I just used iMovie. No AI. I&S = individual and the state; UK Con = UK constitutional law—both 1st yr modules.

(Nervously) excited to say that I'll be leaving legal practice after almost 12 years to join the NI Assembly as a research officer in European Affairs. Out with briefing counsel and in with briefing committees + legislators.

Looking for a new challenge in 2026? Join SUP and support not-for-profit academic publishing. We have three vacancies for editorial board members. Submit your application by Monday 2 February 2026 https://www.sup.ac.uk/news/editorial-board-vacancies

Very bad news for all other road users in the UK, especially those on foot and on bikes.

How likely is ‘likely’? Does ‘likely’ have a higher probability than ‘probable’? I put together a quick quiz so you can see how you interpret probability phrases, then see how you compare with others: probability.kucharski.io

New post: Tyranny, anarchy and the rule of law: Reflections on a major report by the Constitution Committee publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/11/20/t...

As part of my Parliamentary Fellowship, I've co-authored with David Torrance a short research briefing on parliamentary sovereignty. I'm working on a (much) longer piece, which will be out in 2026! @policyleeds.bsky.social @lawatleeds.bsky.social commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...

H/t to @nearlydoctornick.bsky.social for highlighting this hauntingly beautiful collab between the late Talos and Ólafur Arnalds: youtu.be/nEBbhgMp8Ok?...

Museum at Castleton Visitor Centre in the Peak District, Derbyshire, is to close after 20 years. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Call for papers for a workshop on Economic Aspects of the Constitution: www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_...

Really enjoyed this piece. "Lawyers and academics therefore find themselves in the difficult position of ... trying to reason people away from a view or belief they never reasoned themselves into to begin with. We are bringing facts to a vibes fight."

AG of Northern Ireland's Reference (on DOLS) will be heard on 20 October 2025; the case will be heard by a panel of seven members (Reed, Hodge, Lloyd Jones, Sales, Stephens, Rose, Simler) presumably because the Court will be invited to overrule Cheshire West: supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2...

Wrote a piece - with Matt Nicholson - on whether dualism provides an effective guide to, or description of, the UK's relationship with international laws (tl;dr summary: not really). It will be coming out in the CLJ in due course, but you can read it *now* here: www.cambridge.org/core/service...

Here, Nick and I take a wider lens on devolution: its history, underlying policies & principles to expand on our point in part 1 (share.google/reJPFVN4Uqp3...). The UKSC's concept of parliamentary power vis-à-vis devolved lawmaking is problematic, impractical & should be abandoned asap.

The first challenge under the NI Climate Change Act was a watershed moment in how NI deals with climate change. Here (part 1/2), @nearlydoctornick.bsky.social and I explore another side to the Act: one drawn from some problematic decisions of the UKSC with debilitating consequences for devolution.

Happy 99th birthday to the man who gave voice to the wild. 🎉 Sir David Attenborough, thank you for a lifetime dedicated to the natural world, and for sharing its story with wisdom, wonder, and grace. You've inspired generations to fall in love with nature.

On 2 June, the @houseofcommons.parliament.uk will collaborate with scholars incl our members @ucllaws.bsky.social, @durham-university.bsky.social & @uodroitpublaw.bsky.social on a workshop on the role of politicians & parliamentary personnel in sustaining the unwritten dimension of constitutionalism

Couldn't have decided to partner with better people for the first big output of my Parliamentary Academic Fellowship, especially given that one of its objectives is to strengthen the dialogue between parliamentarians, academics, and other stakeholders. With @bricksilk.bsky.social opening!

The April 2025 issue of Public Law is now avail. on Westlaw feat. a themed analysis section - Race and Public Law - compiled by @vidyakumar.bsky.social. Papers are by Vidya, on "Race and the UK Constitution"; Shreya Atrey "A Common Law principle of racial equality?"; Tom Frost ...

In the PUBLIC LAW volume we have contributions from Ed Bates, Joanna Bell, Nicole Busby, Kenny Chng, Paul Craig, Anurag Deb, Brice Dickson, Hasan Dindjer, Mark Elliott, Eleni Frantziou, Tom Frost, Ariella Gordon, Daniella Lock, Kacper Majewski, Conall Mallory, Lee Marsons, Stevie Martin... [1/2]

This looks like it will be an excellent conference — 25 years of the Human Rights Act.

Latest briefing from Transport for Quality of Life looks at how to tackle the issue of oversized cars & benefits this would bring. “Reversing the trend towards heavier, longer, wider and higher cars… would make our streets healthier, safer and more people-friendly.“