So, @mahonen.bsky.social will be the next Helsinki Law Faculty Dean. We were lucky because we could choose between two excellent candidates. My only complain is that Jukka is a Savonian. There is a saying that when a Savonian speaks, the responsibility is shifted to the person listening. 😉

Over the years in academia one learns survival strategies. For instance, even if you find a monograph boring you may flâneur through the footnotes and be entertained.

Got a new webcam, it works great and shows a really clear picture of my face. The first is a good thing, but the second is mostly a matter of regret.

I miss Twitter pre 2022. #JustSaying

When you see your favourite toy on the other side.

Doing interdisciplinary comparative law

There are actually colleagues who do not read or reply their emails during the weekend.

In February 1995 I defended my doctoral thesis publicly. After the defence, my mother-in-law (she was in the audience) said that she 'Didn't understand any of it'. In all fairness, much of the time I had exactly the same feeling.

Doing interdisciplinary comparative law

I received an email that asks me to evaluate a course in which I teach. Threat or opportunity?

Overheard on the airport train today. Two guys are chugging beer from a can. A little child sitting opposite them says in a loud voice: "Those men are drinking adult juice."

Stepping out of the hotel in Norway and I see this.

A doctoral course at a spa hotel. Is that even legal?

I like flying but I don't like airports, crowds, queues, security checks, other passangers, airplane seats, bad airplane coffee, delays, turbulence, take offs, landings, and the pollution air travel produces. Otherwise it's just fine.

The stuff that horrible nightmares are made of...

The stuff that horrible nightmares are made of...

Blessings of AI: A postgraduate student applied to the doctoral programme at the University of Turku requesting to be supervised by a professor from whom she had copied her research topic, including the title. Proposal's text was modified by using AI. Source: Helsingin Sanomat

The way our world is today makes me think that perhaps living in the woods and talking to squirrels is a viable option after all.

Oh no 😔

Tomorrow going to Norway (Os, near Bergen) to teach PhD course in Comparative Law and Comparative Legal Methods. I have a good feeling about this.

When I visit universities websites, I notice that they are often full of pictures of smiling joyful people. Reminds me of "Shiny Happy People" by R.E.M. Where are all the anxious and grumpy ones? Asking for a friend, of course.

I can't possibly imagine why we wouldn't want to look like Zuckerberg. A true style icon indeed. 😂

I'm transforming into an old fool. I watched the latest Downton Abbey movie and I enjoyed it.

Aristotle argued that "All men by nature desire knowledge" (πάντες ἄνθρωποι τοῦ εἰδέναι ὀρέγονται φύσει). Sorry to say but social media proves otherwise.

What if, just if, the US has revealed its true face in this year. Extremely depressing thought, but hard to fully avoid. Sigh.

When your friend tells you that they don't like a book that happens to be one of your favourites.

Achievement unlocked

Reluctantly I am forced to admit that the Finnish summer of 2025 is over.

This is great news.

I still not quite understand why the present rulers of America are Putin's bitches.

So, let me get this straight, Utah State University is a hotbed of leftist radicalism. Yeah, right...

Rocks on the beach exposed by the receding water (Helsinki).

Fragment from the 1970s Finnish legal academia Professor's successor was his former student, who he characterised as a psychopath and pathologically self-centered. Luckily the professor did not see that as he died of a heart attack on the university steps almost immediately after retiring.

What if, just if, corporatisation of higher education was a bad idea to begin with?

Fragment from the 1970s Finnish legal academia Professor's successor was his former student, who he characterised as a psychopath and pathologically self-centered. Luckily the professor did not see that as he died of a heart attack on the university steps almost immediately after retiring.

The law of nature prevailing in the academy The more senior a scholar becomes, the more they refer to themselves.

I freely admit that I, a European, have never been a fan of any American president. However, only the present one makes me feel repulsion. I wonder why.

Public Law is looking make several appointments to its Editorial Committee - details etc ⬇️ - expressions of interest to [email protected] by 31 October 2025.

EVENT: Tracing Colonialism in Modern Law: Lessons from the Past? What remains of colonial law in today’s world? What kinds of challenges do the remnants of colonial law pose for the nation States? At 17.00-19.00 (EEST) link to stream here: tapahtumat.helsinki.fi/en-FI/page/6...

Not that it would be of interest to anyone but in my view the number of American gun deaths is way too big in order to justify an antiquated amendment.

Don't get me wrong. I still love my job. Despite all...

I’ve set up a group on LinkedIn for retired academics (any discipline) who are still research / scholarship active and would like to discuss their work with others in a supportive space. It’s called Retired Academics. If you’re on LinkedIn, and are retired, and academic, why not join? #AcademicSky

Academia of today: budget cuts, redundancies, mergers, free speech on campuses on decline, ever-growing managerialism etc.

Did we, the humanity, really learn from the Nuremberg trials? Perhaps not, alas.

Some scholars are like people who are great singers but have, unfortunately, horrible singing voice.

Finland is preparing for war? Yes, we are preparing for defensive war. We have done so for decades. As the recent years have shown our eastern neighbour is what it has always been: aggressive and expansive. Si vis pacem, para bellum.

If *your department head and your dean* can be removed for supporting your colleague in teaching in their area of expertise, then you have no academic freedom. In a functional sense, you don't work at a university at all.

With a gavel?

I am not complaining or anything but +23°C in this time of the year in Helsinki does feel a bit strange.

This afternoon I am giving a lecture on comparative approach in legal research to our Global Governance Law students. Two hours is a bit too little to make them believers, but that does not stop me trying.