The latest episode of ‘what sort of a mandate is enough of a mandate for opening independence negotiations’. Some brief thoughts 🧵 1/6 www.ft.com/content/3136...

I‘m giving a public talk at UCL on Thurs 16 Oct. The title is “Bureaucracy and distrust: the civil service in the constitution” looking at the civil service’s constitutional foundations, and how it might respond to a populist govt. @sirJJkc.bsky.social will chair! www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...

📢ICON GBIE, TRICON, QUB Webinar: Familiarity, Culture & Expertise: The Future of Referendums in Ireland & the UK Oct 17th 10:00-13:00 Online To register follow the link below: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/0d55a0... 1/3 👇

The news of Conor Gearty's death has just been announced and I'm not coping. He was a mentor and the pole star in my constitutional thinking. He was also a great friend and fantastic fun to be around. I'm heartbroken for Aoife and the children.

Very sad to hear this terrible news - Conor was not just an inspirational teacher whilst I was at the LSE and an exceptional scholar, but so warm and generous as LLM Director, remembering us years later. Thoughts go out to all his family.

Really interesting data on support for the major parties from last year to this year - and provides some colour to the 2025 local election results in England. 1/2 🧵

Very interesting perspective on some of the ongoing grievances. Open question how England can better be represented politically, but it seems there’s a wider problem of identity to tackle irrespective of tinkering with devolution.

Considered and informative the thread on the history of parliamentary sovereignty, from Professor @robertsaunders.bsky.social

Some thoughts on the UK Govt’s recent ‘Votes at 16’ announcement - in short, we need much better citizenship education for voters (or all ages) that is practical as well as theoretical for this to be a success. icfs.org.uk/votes-at-16-...

One does not simply... rewrite the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. 😅😅😅😅😅...😭

I have a piece in the Times Higher Education today on the problems AI is causing for university assessments. www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/have-c...

"Under first-past-the-post, because there are more people wanting Special Brew than cappuccino, lattes or flat whites respectively, you are all condemned to go out on the piss." Brilliant from @willhaycardiff.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Happy publication day to me! Here’s a little celebratory thread🧵 to explain what the book is about: One of the everlasting questions in constituional theory and practice is what makes a constitution difficult to amend?

It’s quite possible to advocate for the reforms mentioned in this article - citizenship education, media literacy and more real-world skills - and not conclude that education should better equip children for the workplace. 1/5 🧵

Worth reading this piece for the stats quoted as much as anything else - a shift in electoral system will happen once the party in govt is incentivised to do it. Lib Dem/Green gains from Lab being greater than potential Reform gains might well be what provides that.

A blog version of this article is now on the @politicalquarterly.bsky.social website. #LoughNeagh

A core feature of the Trump regime is its embrace of "authoritarian democracy", as a battering ram with which to demolish any obstacle to its power. The very notion of "authoritarian democracy" can sound contradictory. But it's an old & dangerous idea, that needs to be better understood. [THREAD]

A complex switch of votes in various direction. Aggregate numbers suggest a limited number of direct Labour/Reform switchers In this contest, Reform consolidated the right-of-centre anti-Labour vote, while Labour lost voters to non-voting, and could not squeeze Greens as Reform did Tories

✍️I visited British Steel last week - just as workers were discovering that the plant's Chinese owners were effectively planning to starve the blast furnaces to death. It was a strange, unsettling experience. With deep ramifications. Some thoughts: edconway.substack.com/p/the-strang...

Pleased to share my book review of Leah Trueblood’s Referendums as Representative Democracy, now published in Public Law Review. A short thread on some key points I make 🧵1/ papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Great discussion @mileendinstitute.bsky.social yesterday on options for electoral reform in the UK. Pleased to see territorial issues also addressed - the asymmetry of representative systems across the UK means that reform will impact different areas in different ways. @unlockdemocracy.bsky.social

We're hosting this year's @ukcla.bsky.social early career workshop in constitutional law and theory. The panel includes @daniellalock.bsky.social. CfP below, apply now and please share to anyone who you think might be interested. @livunilawsj.bsky.social @livunislsj.bsky.social

Perhaps a return to the Supplementary Vote - or some other system - for mayoral elections? Whilst there’s increasing interest in PR-STV, I don’t see that being on the table this early in this Parliament.

A key question for the next decade in UK politics is "how does discontent among 18-35s express itself?" Does it accelerate democratic disengagement, which can be ignored in the short-term but is catastrophic for democracy over time, or will new radical forces emerge - some on the radical right?

Our annual Call for Abstracts is out! We really look forward to reading about your fascinating research as we select the speakers for our 2025/2026 Seminar Series. Also, feel free to share this call with your friends and colleagues. You can find more details (including deadlines) below:

There's only one week left to apply for a fully funded PhD position on the project "Taming the Dark Energy of EU Law: The European Union’s Unwritten Constitution". Deadline - 28 February Find out more: www.law.ed.ac.uk/study/resear...

Looking forward to being part of this hybrid panel discussion on 11 March exploring participatory democracy, systems thinking and Higher Ed reform across the UK, USA and India. Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/interlinki...

Proper policy making for a piece of legislation with the seismic consequences that assisted suicide legislation has would have had extensive pre legislative consultation to test the various approaches rather than make policy on the hoof during the legislative process.

Looking forward to this talk on the UK’s role in a disrupted world in a couple of weeks’ time in central London - register below for tickets!

Our call for papers for June 2026 Pontignano Conference on#sustainability is out!!! Please come and present!!! Deadline March 15 @sirigloppen.bsky.social @iureamicorum.bsky.social @itziargomez.bsky.social @veroniqueboillet.bsky.social @giacomogiorgini.bsky.social blog-iacl-aidc.org/cfp/2025/2/4...

Looking ahead to the start of a new year at the IACL-AIDC Blog, with some excellent symposia coming up. Delighted to continue to contribute to the work we’re doing as Co-Editor! blog-iacl-aidc.org/2025-posts/2...

Paolo Sandro: The Rule of Guidance? Blog Series Introduction ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/01/27/p...

Interesting to see advocacy for the sort of ‘strategic autonomy’ usually used to describe India’s foreign policy - and raises questions about where a more values-based approach to international relations goes from here. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

After Justin Trudeau's announcement that 🇨🇦 Parliament would be prorogued until March 24, a judicial review application was filed challenging the prorogation. VANESSA MACDONNELL (vanessamacdonnell.bsky.social) on what we know about the legal challenge so far. verfassungsblog.de/canada-proro...

Found this incredibly useful when looking at constituent power in devolved contexts in the UK - well worth reading!

Thought this was a great discussion of the history behind party members’ involvement in leadership elections - with some very considered views on how to move forwards. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/p...

ON THE BLOG: How to improve parliamentary scrutiny of the assisted dying bill @danielgover.bsky.social makes four suggestions for how parliamentary scrutiny of the assisted dying bill could be improved.

A few thoughts around participatory democracy, the need for tech to scale this up and the need for tech regulation, based on a recent discussion on the subject. icfs.org.uk/evolving-dem...

Ignoring the title, this is perhaps one of the better made cases for greater public consultation on the assisted dying Bill - which in this case would help to bring diverse perspectives into the debate. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Our Class of 2024 is graduating today! 🎉 Congratulations to all of you on this achievement. We hope you have a wonderful time celebrating with friends and family. #EdinburghGrad

Very good thread by @rolandmcs.bsky.social on the history of opposition to the ECHR. His conclusion is a call to arms: defenders of the ECHR/HRA - & judicial review more generally - need to explain to all our fellow citizens why they are essential to democracy and the accountability of state power.

Universities themselves have internalised the language of "employable skills" and "average starting salaries", and have stopped making the case that we are humans and citizens, not just future inputs into GDP. I've had a go at that case here: threadreaderapp.com/thread/11807...

Join us on Nov 22, 17:00 (GMT) for our next Legal Philosophy seminar! Sara Canduzzi @saracanduzzi.bsky.social (PhD candidate, Univ. of Edinburgh) will present "Situating Authority within Theories of Legitimacy beyond the State." Register to receive the paper + meeting link: forms.gle/bf3ccyEk4UhW...

"what about the head of the Department of Government Efficiency?" "you already have one" "we have one, yes. what about SECOND head of the Department of Government Efficiency?"

Great to be back in Edinburgh yesterday to talk about my PhD research on constituent power in the UK at the Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law! www.law.ed.ac.uk/news-events/...

Very interesting piece on how the practical impact of s28(7) of the Scotland Act has been altered by the courts.

Progressive politics seems to have lost its faith in the people, and its ability to make moral arguments for the things in which it believes. As the rough beast of Trumpism slouches to Washington to be reborn, that despair - and the temptation either to accommodate or mimic populism - will grow.

This buys HE some time, but the whole funding model needs a rethink. That should include restoring the "cap" for individual unis, proper maintenance grants (so students can be students), & an end to soaring interest rates that drive up debt long after students graduate. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

New UK Constitution Monitoring Group report out today consoc.org.uk/publications...