A busy week for constitutional commentary Some of my drivel On the Palestine Action court victory - at @prospectmagazine.co.uk within a couple of hours of judgment: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th... And later - further points on my own blog: emptycity.substack.com/p/what-the-p... / >

UK ban on Palestine Action ruled unlawful ft.trib.al/TKbvf6A

Pleased to be a signatory to this in defence of freedom of creative expression. Rushing to the conclusion that music is straightforwardly reflective or derivative of life misses its hugely transformative power in many people’s lives.

Today, the @houseoflords.parliament.uk debates limiting the use of art as evidence in criminal trials. Keir Monteith KC, co-founder of @artnotevidence.bsky.social, worked with JUSTICE to raise awareness of the issue. He spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live this morning. (1/3)

I’ve signed Art Not Evidence’s @artnotevidence.bsky.social letter to the Justice Secretary calling for limits on the use of art as criminal evidence. Failure to recognize musical & cultural conventions of the genre poses a threat to freedom of creative expression. www.justice.org.uk/news/rapper-...

I’ve signed Art Not Evidence’s @artnotevidence.bsky.social letter to the Justice Secretary calling for limits on the use of art as criminal evidence. Failure to recognize musical & cultural conventions of the genre poses a threat to freedom of creative expression. www.justice.org.uk/news/rapper-...

I’m a signatory to this letter in support of Shami Chakrabarti’s amendment and proud to be working on a project investigating the impacts of rap’s criminalization alongside @justicehq.bsky.social, members of @artnotevidence.bsky.social & United Borders. www.legalcheek.com/2026/02/top-...

Hold on, as part of the Mandelson debacle, we just found out the hollowness of the “bond vigilante” narrative — Mandelson and Dimon against Darling, remember? Don’t try and pull this one on us now.

There's no reason to accept this as normal, though. Much of Starmer and Labour's unpopularity is not misfortune but his own doing. Mandelson was a choice. Consistently pursuing policy positions designed to appeal to people who will not vote for you - and alienating core supporters - is a choice.

This morning, the second part of Sir Brian Leveson’s review into the criminal justice system was published. From quicker prisoner transport to better buildings, it offers many ways to reduce court backlogs without cutting one of the best trusted & proven parts of the system: juries. (1/6)

This is becoming a critical election for control of the left bloc samf.substack.com/p/whats-the-...

Coming to a UEB near you!

The correct letter-to-the-editor responding to a recent bad op-ed about how classical music is too unpopular. (by Brian Barone, faculty at Berklee)

This is what to get with privatization… exactly. Providers give exact instructions to paying consumers to get a 2.1. It’s a more and more a transaction, and less and less about education.. (Said as a university professor).

Depressing from Philip Augar in the FT on the massive shift in burden from state to student. Aside from his ultimately economistic reduction of value, it’s surely the very definition of the learning experience that you can’t know what it should be in advance. It saps education of critical challenge.

This

A carefully considered analysis with a cheering conclusion: “The route to victory for the Greens looks more straightforward—they are best placed to mobilise and unify the disparate voter groups unhappy with Labour… It is perhaps the most dangerous result of all for the current leadership.”

'New data from the Ministry of Justice show that studying with The Open University (OU) delivers “significant reductions” in reoffending amongst prison learners.' 'It also found that those studying committed 37 per cent fewer offences within a year of release.' 1/2

No chance now of my pol prof friends letting go their obsession with Goodwin. I truly feel for them. 😂

As a university professor, my heart sinks. Children from poorer backgrounds desire so much better than this—from a Labour government especially.

Young professionals are bitterly angry about the student loans system, protesting that agreements they were encouraged to sign up to as 18-year-old school pupils are blighting their financial futures. Do they have a point? ft.trib.al/vzP0xgI

“He can arguably no longer fulfil a prime minister’s core function…Given the alternatives, the best outcome for the UK might be not a change of PM but for Starmer to become a better one. Sadly, there is little sign that he knows how.” The FT knows he’s utterly incompetent, but—bond markets! 🙄

It was obvious that Trump’s political career was going to lead to this. A lot of people need to be apologising. There was never any doubt that sowing the seeds of hate was going to get people killed, it always does. The rest of us need to learn from this and use it to defeat our own fascists

Whatever else happens this makes a Labour defeat in the by-election much more likely and gives internal critics of the leadership, many of whom are now on the record saying they wanted a Burnham candidacy permitted, an obvious attack line.

Both of the other leadership front runners, and the woman who out organised and defeated team Starmer to take the deputy leadership have said publicly they want Burnham on the ballot. Not letting him run won’t make a challenge to Starmer harder, it will make it easier

While I do still think Burnham blockers would have a strong substantive argument to make, the politics has changed a lot in last 48 hours - with the deputy leader, the former deputy leader and the Health Sec all saying Burnham should run, blocking him has become much more hazardous to team Starmer

Burnham must have thought of the plan B leadership candidate in the likelihood of this outcome. Yes, his opponents will say his heart is no longer in the mayoralty, but that presumably seemed like a small price to pay for forcing greater disquiet when the NEC’s rationale exposes such weaknesses.

Why is it that Andy Burnham is an over-ambitious saboteur but Starmer represented stability and competence when he was pretty openly fundraising for his own leadership campaign exactly when he was supposed to be trying to help his party win the 2019 election? (This isn’t an endorsement of AB.)

New post just out: What's the Greens' Ceiling? Can they do to Labour what Reform has done to the Conseratives? I look at a lot of data to assess whether the Greens can get into first place in the "left bloc" - and what's holding them back. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/w...

I have today written to the Chair of Labour’s National Executive Committee seeking permission to enter the selection process for a candidate for the forthcoming Gorton and Denton by-election. Read my letter here.👇🏻

That all the other potential candidates have backed Burnham tells you they expect a contest soon.

@financialtimes.com reporting on graduate labour market conditions has been far better than most: It observes that economic uncertainty is affecting all new labour market entrants, but it’s still tougher for those without a degree. It’s also far more nuanced on sector- & role-specific impacts of AI.

FT reporting that the gilt market is scared of Burnham, though not as scared as Starmer is.

As I've said before this is the only seat I could see Burnham winning. Tory/Reform vote is less than half the 2024 Labour one. And it's in an area where Burnham has high approval ratings. But NEC would have to let him stand.

Interesting article on the changing role of the public intellectual: novaramedia.com/2026/01/15/t...

He might want to read: academic.oup.com/restud/artic...

The depth of denial about the impacts of austerity on the UK’s post-crash productivity crisis is astounding. Better to blame the workers.

I fear we are going to have to say this a lot again: Int law prohibits bombing countries for the sake of democracy. FOR VERY GOOD REASON. It tends not to work. Attacking a country because its leader lacks legitimacy - whether as pretext or sincerely held rationale - is still just an aggression.

He’s correct that coffee shops aren’t a productive part of the economy and not wrong to speak about graduate woes head on, but please educate VCs on demand-side economics course before they blame the power imbalance between capital and labour on the expansion of HE.

Zack Polanski: I would be open to working with Labour if Andy Burnham was leader ft.trib.al/km35Wsh

What is driving this from the @uclpolicylab.bsky.social @moreincommonuk.bsky.social report? Simply a case of defending a relative advantage they feel HE expansion is eroding? (Given overall positive views of HE among grads yet almost as many worried about low-quality courses as non-grads).

Important letter from an actual expert

In thinking about what you can do this year, keep this in mind: Showing up at protests has real impact!

Those observing Christmas are celebrating a family of asylum seekers. If there is indeed a "War on Christmas," it's being waged by those trying to make our country less safe for the poor, for the marginalized, and for refugees.

Some edible Christmas treats at Hide yesterday and home today

Will world leaders listen to Pope Leo’s exhortations in his Christmas homilies and Urbi et Orbi message to end war, oppression and exploitation?

Good list @jimdickinson.bsky.social! Deaf President Now! is really the film the OfS FS Director needs to watch ☺️

The case at Bristol of disruption to a talk by trans rights protestors will test the OfS’s ability to show that a proportionality analysis must be conducted recognizing both sets of A10 rights, as well as A11 rights. The guidance as it stands tackles such scenarios inadequately in my view. 1/6