One of my favourite lines in one of my favourite books: "you nobody from Hell, you whore-spawn, you cluster of evil, you lawyer" — Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (Norfolk's line to Cromwell)

I thought that academic Twitter was the worst: never ending stream of new publications, top jobs, big grants, prestigious awards, great conferences etc. Lives of those truly successful! Now that I am on LinkedIn I have realised something: Twitter was a rookie platform when it comes to smugness.

Still making comparisons only between common law and civil law? Are you sure that you are in the right century?

I am reading R.F. Kuang's "Katabasis". I expected it to be full fantasy but it seems disturbingly realistic about academia. "She would sacrifice her firstborn for a professorial post. She would sever a limb." I have seen people with this mindset...

This movie is really good. Finally we see the story of the "monster". Thank you Guillermo del Toro.

Today I read a piece (decent piece actually!) published in the leading Finnish law journal. The piece in question cites my doctoral thesis from 1995. There were many citations. I should be happy but here is the thing: I do not like my thesis. Not a bit. So...

I remember well that in the early 1990s, we considered older professors to be the Old Guard. By and large, they were worth avoiding. Now that I am part of the Old Guard myself, it feels strange that young scholars seem to be avoiding me. What goes around comes around, eh?

At the beginning of this millennium, some prominent comparative law scholars augured that the 21st century would be the century of comparative law. Well, there are still 75 years left...

Question to those who are familiar with French legal system: where can one find one preparatory works of legislation?

Just saying that "getting things done" and "putting in hours" is not necessarily the same thing.

Brilliant. Just bloody brilliant. 🙄

So, humanity has reached the endpoint of its ideological evolution. Western liberal democracy has been universalised as the final form of human government. Right?

This does not look good. Not at all.

Here's the thing, I come to the university early on Monday morning so I can read the students' papers before the seminar. The papers are on Moodle. However... "A service disruption has occurred in the Moodle learning environment."

The Revising (2025)

😱

Perhaps our Yorkie is not a dog but an Ewok?

Callum needs your vote!

Almost all day in online meetings... 🥺

This is pure Nazi uniform aesthetics. Why I am not surprised, I wonder...

Email: "Are you in a leadership position at the University or aiming toward that?" Me: "Who in their mind would aim toward that? I mean, who wants to herd cats?"

Who would not love unboxing especially, if it's an interesting book.

Just saying that if you echo Russian propaganda, then, I'll block you.

Why some leftists align with Russia remains mystery for me. What on earth Putin's Russia has to do with leftist politics?

There is no shame in shameless self-promotion in social media.

Perfectly curled up sulking Yorkie.

Sometimes I find myself thinking too fondly about university and academia. When this happens I turn to the cure which is reading Stoner by John Williams. The existential sadness of the book brings me back to reality, quickly and mercilessly.

I have been working in academia for more than 30 years and there are some, not many, things that I have learned. This is one: When they say "senior", they actually mean "old".

The rise of comparative constitutional law is a thing to be happy about However, the manner how they disregard comparative law theory and seek to reinvent the wheel is quite disappointing.

Finally I started to work on a paper that combines doctrine on sources of law, conception of democracy, and Nordic law. I have been thinking about this for a long time. Let's see if comes out as paper.

Finally I started to work on a paper that combines doctrine on sources of law, conception of democracy, and Nordic law. I have been thinking about this for a long time. Let's see if comes out as paper.

"Contrarian Jurists — The Story of Comparative Law and How Collisions Shaped It" is now in the hands of Hart Publishing. A peek into the book's content:

Gray clouds are hanging low on this gloomy meaningless day. This is going to be a long week. Sigh.

My social media experiences Twitter 🤬 Bluesky 🤗 LinkedIn 😏

France’s Sorbonne University about to leave Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings: "These rankings are...black boxes that operate in a closed system” sciencebusiness.net/news/univers...

Monday morning... This morning I went berserk because laptop kept saying "Wrong password". I was absolutely sure that I was entering the right password. So, I had a tantrum. Then I saw it "Caps Lock is On". Sigh.

I still don't get it why the idiot sides with Putin. It makes no sense at all unless he really is Russia's bitch. Unfuckingbelievable!

I started to work at uni in June -92. I've been a full professor for the whole current century. Still, I don't really know what I want to do when I grow up. So, what would I say to my 20-year-old self? Absolutely nothing, because I would not listen to anyone - not even myself.

Colleague: "Your paper was rejected 6 times, surely it's dead" Me: "No no, it's just resting"

Colleague: "Your paper was rejected 6 times, surely it's dead" Me: "No no, it's just resting"

Alan Watson said in a text published in 2004 that "Comparative legal history is largely an unexplored field". Today we can safely say that this is not the case anymore.

I was able to enjoy live music on the tram today when a drunk man played the guitar and sang loudly. Unfortunately, he couldn't play or sing at all.

Taking a trip down memory lane. When I worked in Lapland at Arctic Circle (Rovaniemi), I organised a symposium. An American professor managed to get lost in that small town. He found a place of refuge and called to me: "Can someone pick me up from McDonalds, please?" McDonalds, of course. 🙄

Taking a trip down memory lane. When I worked in Lapland at Arctic Circle (Rovaniemi), I organised a symposium. An American professor managed to get lost in that small town. He found a place of refuge and called to me: "Can someone pick me up from McDonalds, please?" McDonalds, of course. 🙄

Editors: "We use Springer's house style and reference system" Me:

That's one scary turnip 😱

Perhaps it's just me but this makes me wait for Nazgûls to appear...

Why I used AI explained by AI. You can't make this shit up. 😂😂😂