Apprehensive about this evening’s crunch match for Aston Villa, to see if we can get the points to secure us from relegation. Defeating the league leaders and going joint-top on points will just be a happy bonus. #AVFC

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 187: Small details often speak loudest. Don't focus on the car crash: look for the child's shoe in the road.

My #follow of the year is @joannechocolat.bsky.social. Her regular tips here on writing are invaluable, and she did sterling work for the @societyofauthors.bsky.social which will benefit anyone seeking to earn money from their writing. (She also happens to be one of my favourite authors.)

One of the strongest justifications for the ECHR and the Human Rights Act is that they provide (some) protection when a government wants to take punitive action against people it decides it doesn’t like - including for politically expedient, even irrational, capricious or ephemeral reasons

This, from @aloner.bsky.social - one of my editors at Prospect - is typically preceptive and thought-provoking. She really is an excellent follow.

Politicians are terrified of an electorate they think is far more authoritarian and angry and right wing than it actually is, because they are out of touch because the literal media - the thing that mediates between public and polity - is corrupted

Reflections on a year of far-right mass deportation policies and the scapegoating of migrants going mainstream (Full disclosure: I am an immigrant!) www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/pol...

One week they're crying about people getting visits from the police because of tweets, the next week they're calling for inquiries into tweets.

Roz is absolutely correct. Deprivation of citizenship should not be a matter for mere ministerial discretion (with light touch judicial review). In the extreme circumstances when it can happen, the determination should be made by a tribunal, where government and citizen can make their cases.

Jess is absolutely right. The Court of Appeal’s decision in the Begum deprivation of citizenship case, and the Supreme Courts reasons for not hearing an appeal, are two of the worst legal judgments of recent years. There are other bad decision, but these were awful.

The revocation of citizenship is a fundamental and brutal discretionary power of the state. One of the more depressing themes in recent judgments is how the courts nod-along and shrug when faced with this brute exercise of fundamental power, rather than subjecting this power to anxious scrutiny.

Jess is absolutely right. The Court of Appeal’s decision in the Begum deprivation of citizenship case, and the Supreme Courts reasons for not hearing an appeal, are two of the worst legal judgments of recent years. There are other bad decision, but these were awful.

Being patted as a bump in my Mom by Pat Roach.

It should never be possible for any minister to revoke citizenship with a stroke of the pen. #checks #balances Jenrick - like Farage - wants to be an unaccountable tyrant like Trump.

Roz is absolutely correct. Deprivation of citizenship should not be a matter for mere ministerial discretion (with light touch judicial review). In the extreme circumstances when it can happen, the determination should be made by a tribunal, where government and citizen can make their cases.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... I fundamentally beleive that it can be done, it is just we lack the political will or logistical competence as a country to do it.

Begum was one of the worst legal decisions ever made.

The revocation of citizenship is a fundamental and brutal discretionary power of the state. One of the more depressing themes in recent judgments is how the courts nod-along and shrug when faced with this brute exercise of fundamental power, rather than subjecting this power to anxious scrutiny.

Sort of ironic that the Trump administration are improvising a legal remedy to a cancelled jazz concert.

That sounds excellent. Mr Shepherd is an underrated figure, and you’re right that it’s his skill in persuasion — rather than authority — that really moves the plot. I’d be very interested to see this developed.

Perfection.

Seeing @davidallengreen.bsky.social asking for opinions on him doing an Austen close read from a legal point of view makes me yearn for less pointless reprints and adaptations/fan fiction of her literature and more ACTUAL READING OF THE TEXT from a more critical standpoint...

This is exactly why Mr Shepherd is such an excellently drawn character. Even many Austen readers would be hard-pressed to remember his name. Unlike Dickens' caricatures like Mr Tulkinghorn, a good practical lawyer should not even be noticeable.

May do a new year’s post on Jane Austen and lawyers - and, in particular, why Mr Shepherd in Persuasion is an under-rated and fascinating character. Indeed it his, well, skill in persuasion which drives the story forward. Let me know if you’d like this.

NEW Jane Austen as a writer about law Some notes on Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, by me (And also why there is only one good adaptation of her works.) emptycity.substack.com/p/jane-auste...

#avfc I appreciate this is a novel idea; but in future away matches can we just kick off already 1-0 down? The opponents will have the same false sense of security and well play better reducing all fans stress! Win-win-win #utv

A wonderful article to round off a year of celebration of the works and life of Jane Austen. Delighted to hear @davidallengreen.bsky.social describe himself as a Janeite - I had assumed reading his writings before!

My special Boxing Day post, which seems to have gone down well.

I’m currently studying equity and trusts, concerned with many of the issues that form the legal spine of Austen’s plots. Austen does a better job of setting out the issues than some judgments I’ve read!

This is terrific ⬇️

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that anyone in possession of good sense, must be in want of a fascinating DAG blog post on Austen's writing about law

NEW Jane Austen as a writer about law Some notes on Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, by me (And also why there is only one good adaptation of her works.) emptycity.substack.com/p/jane-auste...

So I am doing this, and there is nothing like quoting Austen to remind you of your deficiencies as a writer. Oh well, at least there will be some decent prose on my blog for once, just not mine.

When the clock strikes midnight on January 1, creative works from 1930 & sound recordings from 1925 will enter the public domain in the US, like: 💄 Dizzy Dishes, first Betty Boop cartoon 🕵️♀️ First 4 Nancy Drew novels 🚂 The Little Engine That Could 🎩 Morocco 🍑 Georgia on My Mind and many more! 🧵👇

The banality of evil.

This was exactly Adolf Eichmann's job.

Kind of wild how the take that some of Trump's supporters were "deplorable" was some huge scandal, but regularly screaming about "radical left scum" is just a thing he'll say with no media backlash.

A (non-militant) republican here, but that was a fine King’s Speech. If we are to have a monarchy that is what they should say.

Just as Clueless is the best adaptation of a Jane Austen novel, Muppet Christmas Carol is the best adaptation of anything by Charles Dickens.

A government that can officially declare that Jesus is your savior can just as easily declare the opposite.

Sir Terry Pratchett is best understood as one of the most interesting, deeply ethical practical (I would say Pragmatist but I cede to actual experts) philosophers of the late 20th Century who just happened to work in deconstructed fantasy literature as his medium.

A wonderful Christmas tale, well worth your time. Now with an unexpected epilogue!

White Christmas is such a beautiful film to look at, let alone it being a musical To listen to. Every scene is gorgeous.

Kyiv is celebrating Christmas. Residents of the capital gathered for caroling on St. Michael’s Square. I’m genuinely so happy that at least part of our country can gather like this - all thanks to the people defending us this Christmas.

Scum, all you faithful.

Gods rest you merry, gentlefolk.

"Twelfth Night Till Candlemas" The story of a forty-year book-quest and of its remarkable ending My popular seasonal post from last year: emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni... Now with a couple of footnotes one year on: emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...

Gods rest you merry, gentlefolk.

Funny how that works, huh? [Cartoon by Joe Heller]