This is the weird thing I'm having to check myself for in the tone of tomorrow's newsletter, is conveying my sense of 'yeah, I mean...I'm not *surprised*!' We have to have extra security for book festivals!' sense of despair rather than accidentally seeming bored.

Common good constitutionalism.

Warmest congratulations to the entire @cambridgelaw.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk team - please consider applying for next academic year.

🥳 We're delighted with our strong performance in the most recent round of university league tables, where we continue to be recognised as a top-tier institution for legal education both in the UK and globally: 🔗http://bit.ly/46BORfZ

If he calls it a Ship Money levy nobody will mind. Oh.

Fox demands farmer scraps chicken wire

"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply." me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

Because why bother engaging with and studying all the thoughtful (and cautionary) research around LLMs when you can just run your University admin, teaching, and research like a giant social experiment... 🙄

Am 24.11.2015 flog eine russische Suchoi SU 24 aus Syrien für wenige Sekunden in den türkischen Luftraum. Danach lag sie in Trümmern am Boden. Passiert ist danach nichts.

My brilliant colleauge Vladislava is organising a workshop on Postive Obligations and Discrimination under the ECHR at Lund University together with Karin de Vries (Utrecht). Apply by submitting a 1500 word outline by 8 November 2025. More information here: www.law.lu.se/calendar/wor...

A new paper from Philip Murray and me: 'In Defence of Classical Administrative Law'. We argue that the voidness of unlawful administrative acts is central to the rule of law and that recent challenges to that view can and should be resisted. publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/09/16/i...

A new Explainer out from @aoifemod.bsky.social and me detailing the UK's ECHR commitments under the 1998 Agreement in response to recent speculation. It is short, because there is very little to say - the UK's obligations are evident on the B/GFA's plain text: caj.org.uk/wp-content/u...

No substitute for reading the Murray/O’Donoghue paper, but this is my way of summarising some key flaws in the PE paper. open.substack.com/pub/societyo...

Labour wants to speak for "ordinary working people". It wants to be the party of patriotism & "national renewal". It badly needs a purpose & a moral mission. Well here it is. It is way past time to "speak for Britain" against billionaire-backed movements that want to terrorise ordinary Britons.

Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Hard to believe that putting a couple of demented podcasters in charge of the FBI would cause problems.

Enjoying another great @animalrightslaw.bsky.social Law Lecturers‘ Workshop - where we teach how to teach animal rights law - this time in Cambridge itself @jesuscollegecam.bsky.social

Questions about who funded Farage constituency home purchase www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

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

Yes. Sitting judges (and even retired ones) should not do TV interviews and late night shows. They shouldn't be part of the pop culture or objects of adulation. Period.

Correcting the reports. UK withdrawal from the ECHR absolutely breaches the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. ukandeu.ac.uk/explainers/t...

🥳 Many congratulations to @cbarnard.bsky.social, @fionacostello.bsky.social and @sarahfraserbutlin.bsky.social - their book 'Low-Paid EU Migrant Workers: The House, The Street, The Town' won the @uaces.bsky.social Best Book Prize at the annual conference last week. More: bit.ly/4nrPb8e

UK government report based on internal civil service trial finds Copilot doesn’t increase productivity, and indeed makes Excel take longer and with more errors, and requires Powerpoint users to have ‘corrective action’ applied to their outputs. www.theregister.com/2025/09/04/m...

Will Angela Rayner have to pay penalties to HMRC? if so, how much? I've run through the analysis, and conclude that she will very likely receive "careless" penalties of around 20%: buff.ly/PRD99Tt

The European Convention on Human Rights entered into force on this day in 1953. The convention has improved people’s lives, in many different ways, across the continent. Here are more than 200 examples: www.coe.int/ECHR There are thousands more. #ECHR #OurRightsAndFreedoms

A key question to ask Ms Rayner: when she obtained the stamp duty advice, did she tell the adviser about the trust? It’s an easy yes/no question.

@alicedonald.bsky.social & I on Reform's plans for the ECHR (and others) and what it will mean for everyone.

Loch Ness is not a sealoch Stefan.

Can't wait until we start clamping down on unicorns and prehistoric sea monsters in Scottish fjords too. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cv...

I’d add two pretty obviously dubious claims in the PE report (read it carefully and you’ll see weasel words creeping in to hide the weaknesses): (1) that the (express) agreement to incorporate the ECHR into NI law with access to courts and remedies doesn’t mean “ECHR as interpreted by the ECtHR);

Apparently “leading” lawyers and “experts” say that the Good Friday Agreement is no obstacle to UK leaving ECHR. Me, being neither, merely sets out what the Good Friday Agreement expressly says. davidallengreen.com/2023/07/why-...

"Asylum seekers should not be allowed to work!" "Asylum workers should not be subsidised at the public expense!" - and loop.

“She advocated violence at a moment of national disorder, when the threat of migrant hotels being burned down was very real. How else should the state respond?" Why Lucy Connolly is no 'political prisoner' – despite what she claims

Third and final thread on main takewawy from my paper 'Carefully tailored' - if you missed the first two, they are here: bsky.app/profile/sthe.... Now that we understand doctrinal methods and where empirical research fits in, we can appreciate the limitations of legal AI for doctrine. 1/17

The second thread on my paper 'Carefully tailored' - out now in the OJLS. If you missed the first thread you can find it here: bsky.app/profile/sthe.... Now that we understand doctrinal methods, it becomes easier to explain when and how empirical research is helpful - a thread. 1/7

The problem with uncritical reporting such as this is that it focuses on AI sentience, which is far from real, while ignoring the ecological and human cost of AI, which is very real. And I say this as someone who favours granting rights to sentient non-humans. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

My paper 'Carefully tailored' is now out in the OJLS: doi.org/10.1093/ojls.... It defines the core assumptions of doctrinal research, explains where empirical observations help and how to avoid some common pitfalls. A thread on doctrinal methods 👇 I'll do the same for the other two later 1/n

An increasingly dictatorial president is deploying the military and police against their enemies, and is using ‘emergency’ powers across the board. This is a common phenomenon, the world over. If you think it is somehow different because it is the US, then you have fallen for exceptionalism.

Incitements to violence, especially with a realistic prospect of success, are well established exceptions to free expression rights. She was duly sentenced by an impartial and independent court. Garden variety criminal, about as far from political prisoner as can be. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I am delighted that my book 'More Equal Than Others: Humans and the Rights of Other Animals' is featured in Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com and has been made an essential read in their Philosophy section. Many thanks to Marc Bekoff for interviewing me! www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anim...

ChatGPT vs Crtl+F - an occassional series where I pit the cutting edge of artificial 'intelligence' against old school full text search. Let's see who wins. 1/n

Great (and quick!) analysis as usual from Mark. UK courts using the terminology of the margin of appreciation (MoA) is also a pet peeve of mine: MoA is judicial self restraint from an int'l court in favour of domestic legal order as a whole, given variety of possible policy responses. 1/2

David Erdos: The UK Information Commissioner’s Annual Report 2024/25: Surveying a Systematic Trend Away from Adequate Enforcement ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/07/22/d...

Durham Law is hiring a 3yr career development fellow in public law! Some lovely ppl here: @jessieblackbourn.bsky.social @lizaoloughlin.bsky.social @seshauna.bsky.social @rogermasterman.bsky.social @dkagiaros.bsky.social @nataliesedacca.bsky.social ... and @aileenmcharg.bsky.social rb.gy/ybcbpf

Group of Israeli international law scholars send urgent letter to Israel’s Minister of Defense, IDF Chief of Staff, and Attorney General On plan to "concentrate" Palestinian population in South Gaza via @eliavl.bsky.social and @tamarmegiddo.bsky.social

Alan is doing some really important work here - not just connecting many academic disciplines on the topic of Disinformation at his annual Summit in Cambridge but also doing excellent research and public engagement work from his financial accounting background!

I testified in EU Parliament today on financial risks to democracy. I was asked how one can tell when democracy might be in trouble. I recommended that getting a sense of the level of societal grievance, and who is influencing that sentiment, is one key barometer. www.youtube.com/watch?v=O35i...

I was pleased to speak to Times Radio this morning about the legal powers and constitutional role that the House of Lords will play now that the House of Commons has approved the Assisted Dying Bill. Link to the programme below; my interview begins at 2h:23mins. www.thetimes.com/radio/show/2...

A new blogpost which considers the role the House of Lords will play in the passage of the Assisted Dying Bill now that it has been approved by the Commons — and asking whether it would be constitutionally improper for the Lords not to approve the Bill. publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/06/20/w...