My article on 'Displacement in the ICJ's Advisory Opinion on Climate Change' has now been published in Environmental Policy and Law - free access here journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10....

How the Trump administration is undermining legal immigrants The US has been targeting not only people who have violated the law but many who are in the country legally

How the Trump administration is undermining legal immigrants.
The US has been targeting not only people who have violated the law but many who are in the country legally.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Friendships, fishing and community clean-ups: the unseen kindness of life on the Bibby Stockholm barge Bibby Boys photo exhibition documents experiences of the men who lived on the former asylum seeker vessel in Dorset and the local community that rallied around them

Friendships, fishing and community clean-ups: the unseen kindness of life on the Bibby Stockholm barge.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Celebrated philosopher Jürgen Habermas dies aged 96 One of Germany's greatest postwar intellectuals, he continuously argued for a robust and inclusive democracy. His passing marks the end of an era.

Jurgen Habermas has left us:

amp.dw.com/en/celebrate...

There were two right wing parties standing yesterday and one got 10,578 votes and the other got 706 votes.
It’s the worst byelection result in history for the Conservatives.
While attention is on what Gorton and Denton means for Labour, it’s seismically bad for the Tories.

Labour’s message to us left voters was: “You have to vote for us or else Reform will get in. Meanwhile we will adopt a lot of Reform-like policies to win their supporters over. You will stick with us because you have no choice.”
They got that wrong.

According to the ONS in 2021 these were the percentages of foreign-born people living in these locations:
Boston -13%
Skegness Region (East Lindsay) – 1%
Clacton (Tendring Region) – 2%
Great Yarmouth – 4%
Basildon – 11%
Ashfield 5%
Seems that people who dislike foreigners haven't met any foreigners.

Trump’s next move:
Give me Greenland or I walk away from Ukraine.

Never mind Venezuala. Trump is attacking his own country. If he invokes the Insurrection Act it makes it far clearer that he is waging war against America.

Has any president seen international law as a restraint on American power?

And China also will be very pleased whatever they say publicly.

Although publicly Russia is deeply concerned about what is happening privately Putin must be laughing his head off.

41,000 people arrived in the UK by small boat in 2025. 46,000 people watched Sunderland play Manchester City on Friday this week.
So in a year, not enough people to fill The Stadium of Light for one game crossed the Channel irregularly .

Hundreds of Blackpool families to be evicted in ‘mass dispersion’ of vulnerable people Up to 400 homes face demolition under a £90m regeneration scheme that promises only 230 replacement properties

Forced displacement in the UK.

Hundreds of Blackpool families to be evicted in ‘mass dispersion’ of vulnerable people.
Up to 400 homes face demolition under a £90m regeneration scheme that promises only 230 replacement properties

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Happy new year and keep fighting.

Campaigner turned down MBE over ‘scapegoating’ of people with disabilities Exclusive: In letter declining proposed award, Tressa Burke, CEO of Glasgow Disability Alliance, accused government of ‘fuelling hatred’

Campaigner turned down MBE over ‘scapegoating’ of people with disabilities
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Why economic insecurity – not immigration – should be Labour’s top electoral priority Feelings of economic insecurity serve as a signal of poor government performance.

Why economic insecurity – not immigration – should be Labour’s top electoral priority
theconversation.com/why-economic...

UK to rejoin EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme Exclusive: British students will be able to participate in EU-wide scheme from January 2027, sources say

UK to rejoin EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme.
British students will be able to participate in EU-wide scheme from January 2027, sources say
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Temporary protection: the UK’s new policies on asylum and returns - Migration Observatory This commentary discusses the asylum and returns policy reforms, comparisons to other European countries, and whether they will be successful in reducing the number of asylum applications and small bo...

What is the potential impact of the proposed reforms to the UK's asylum system?

Some measures, like restricting family reunion, may plausibly deter some people from coming to the UK. Yet the evidence is mixed, and insufficient to say whether any effects will be particularly large.

‘It’s a breach of trust’: fear and frustration over countries’ push to return Syrians home Syrians who have rebuilt their lives abroad face uncertainty over their futures amid hardening of attitudes

It’s a breach of trust’: fear and frustration over countries’ push to return Syrians home.
Syrians who have rebuilt their lives abroad face uncertainty over their futures amid hardening of attitudes
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Tourists to US would have to reveal five years of social media activity under new Trump plan Proposed plan would apply to tourists of all countries, including those not required to get a visa to visit the US

Tourists to US would have to reveal five years of social media activity under new Trump plan.
Proposed plan would apply to tourists of all countries, including those not required to get a visa to visit the US www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

🚨 Vacancies at Maastricht in research programme "Europe: Society, Politics and Global Order" (do share!)

- Assistant Prof Political Philosophy in Euro Democracy
- Assistant Prof Euro Political History
- PostDoc Disinformation and Euro Democracy

vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/search/?crea...

Anyone know how this may proceed?

It is not clear to me what scope she has to insist on a "correct" interpretation that the courts have to comply with. Can she do it through primary legislation? She says she is in talks with other European states on this, but again what scope have they got to interpret this aspect of the Article?

… it is the "degrading treatment or punishment" element of the Article she doesn't like, but it is non-derogable so she is stuck with it - what she has proposed is changing what it means.

Shabana Mahmood has pointed to the prohibition on torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the ECHR as a problem when it comes to deporting people from the UK. She does not want to deport people if they are at risk of being tortured, but …

Step 1. Government promotes hostility towards asylum seekers.
Step 2. People grow more hostile towards asylum seekers.
Step 3. Government concludes that the solution to growing public hostility to asylum seekers is to be more hostile to asylum seekers.
Step 4. What do you think?

UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities

UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Government minister:
“It’s an operational issue for the police, and government doesn’t get involved in operational issues for the police.”
But: “[The decision] is just completely and utterly unacceptable.”
I think you are getting involved mate!