Hangmen also die. (Brecht)

Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi | The dry and the wet burn together The war launched against Iran by the United States and Israel is a war of choice and of hubris. There is scarcely even...

Possibly the best text about the attack on Iran out there.

www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ma...

‘Dark, like our future’: Iranians describe scenes of catastrophe after Tehran’s oil depots bombed Residents report terror of smoke-filled city, from potentially toxic rain, air and water to food scarcity and difficulty of escape

“Tehran is burning. And smoke has filled the streets. It’s impossible to drive out of the city right now and even with the windows closed, heavy smoke is making its way inside."

Read every word.

"The Islamists oppose women getting an education," I mutter, as I aim my missile at the girls school

Poor Matt Goodwin. All he ever wanted was to be a hard working MP/academic/tv presenter/commentator/writer/pollster/wealth adviser/women’s health guru and you all ripped that away from him. A shame

Quote: “This disqualification should be deemed unlawful and raises key questions regarding the way in which the IOC regulates freedom of expression during the Olympics.”

Today, the IOC withdrew the Olympic accreditation of Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych over his “Helmet of Remembrance.”

ANTOINE DUVAL and MARK JAMES argue the disqualification is unlawful – and that the ban on athlete “expression” violates human rights.

verfassungsblog.de/disqualify-v...

"the creation of a fanbase and the corresponding generation of street violence that will evidence a national race or values crisis where previously there was none – these are some quite significant wins for vice-signalling."

The rise of vice-signalling: how hatred poisoned politics Over the last 10 years, the terms of political debate have changed completely – and week by week they seem to get worse

"So, from attention for the vice-signalling individual and the explosive dead-cat distraction from real problems and actual policies, to the Broken Windows degradation of the public sphere," [...]

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Lea Ypi: In conversation with Hannah Dawson at Hoxton Hall | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Lea Ypi: In conversation with Hannah Dawson at Hoxton Hall today.

Dear friends, INDIGNITY is coming out tomorrow and I will be discussing it with the brilliant Hannah Dawson. If you know anyone who wants to celebrate with us, hear the discussion & maybe a bit of reading, feel free to spread the word - still some tickets left!

www.waterstones.com/events/lea-y...

House Judiciary Committee Republicans

why do the US House Judiciary Committee hearings sound like podcast titles for some loony alt-right website?

'Entering the Golden Age: Ending the Weaponization of the Justice Department'

'How Leftist Nonprofit Networks Exploit Federal Tax Dollars to Advance a Radical Agenda'

judiciary.house.gov

However, for Caster Semenya, this court win will most likely be of little solace. It's no compensation for the fact that she has lost her whole career because of the DSD Regulations; as fans, we've missed out on some exceptional performances.

developments in the EU context suggest that states might need to take a lead in doing so. Perhaps by becoming more directly engaged in sports governance? Let's see.

While the judgment is disappointing from a non-discrimination perspective, it will serve as yet another argument for why the existing structure of sports governance might need a shake-up. The 'structural imbalance' which the ECtHR referred to needs to be remedied, and the GC judgment +recent/ongoing

the testosterone-lowering treatment; the arbitrary targeting of events by the DSD regulations in which Semenya was competitive; the 'outing' of DSD athletes through the application of the regulations. As a result, the Swiss court failed to carry out the 'in-depth judicial review' that was required.

and the GC highlights many examples where the Swiss court relies too heavily on the assessment of the CAS instead of carrying out its own examination (even on matters where the CAS itself expresses doubts about the proportionality of the DSD regulations!). This includes the potential inefficacy of

This is particularly an issue where arbitration concerns a dispute affecting the 'civil rights' of a party, as was the case in Semenya. In such situations, state courts are 'required to carry out a particularly rigorous examination' of an appeal. The Swiss Federal Tribunal failed to do so,

On the other hand, in finding a violation of Art. 6(1), the GC really puts pressure on the status quo of sports arbitration and the role exercised by Swiss courts in maintaining it. GC calls out the 'structural imbalance' of power between athletes and federations in which such arbitration occurs.

the GC mostly avoids a substantive discussion of the (thorny? politicised?) issue of discrimination of DSD athletes. This is very disappointing, especially as the Chamber judgment was an important counterweight to the growing body of sports rules that are ever more hostile to DSD & trans athletes.

This is almost inverse to the Chamber ruling, where the Court found a violation of Art. 8 (right to private life) in conjunction with Arts. 14 and 13 (non-discrimination and right to remedy) but did not examine Art. 6(1) separately. A finding of no jurisdiction re 8, 14 and 13 means that

Caster Semenya: South African double Olympic champion wins partial victory at European Court of Human Rights in her long legal battle over athletics' sex eligibility rules. Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya wins a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights in her long legal battle over athletics' sex eligibility rules.

Caster #Semenya wins her ECtHR case - but with a GC decision that is VERY different from the Chamber ruling. Court rules (very oddly, IMHO) that Switzerland has no jurisdiction in relation to Art. 8, 14 and 13 ECHR; finds violation of Art. 6(1). Lots of scrutiny of compulsory sport arbitration.

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. La Cour eur...

It's #Semenya day!

Today, the Grand Chamber of the #ECtHR will deliver its judgment in the case #Semenya v. Switzerland (live on YouTube at youtube.com/@EuropeanCou...).

Some thoughts before the tempest👇👇👇

#Sportslaw #DSD #Eligibility #ECtHR #CAS #SFT #Arbitration #HumanRights

Join the team of the Center for Totalitarian Studies! - Instytut Pileckiego The Center for Totalitarian Studies has announced competitions for positions in the humanities. We are looking for professors, adjuncts and assistants.

🚨 Academic job alert!

We are hiring 12 people at graduate, assistant professor, and full prof level in the 20th century history of Central/Eastern Europe.

Our institute is growing, Warsaw is brilliant, and we want young and enthusiastic people. Join us!

"Israeli soldiers opened fire on Tuesday morning near crowds of Palestinians walking toward a . food distribution site in southern Gaza, the Israeli military said."

"Dr. al-Farra said . most of the victims were children [aged 10-13] many with gunshot wounds to the head or chest."

Selma Dabbagh | In Gaza Nothing’s Impossible ‘Can you believe this has been going on for six hundred days?’ one of my fellow panellists asked the audience at...

‘What Israel has created in Gaza is an environment so toxic to human life that the unnaturally high level of deaths (at least 54,000 since October 2023) would continue even if the bombing were to stop immediately.’

@selmadabbagh.bsky.social on Gaza, from the blog: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ju...

Funny! Jokes! Until they’re not.

A Law Letter on FWS v Scottish Ministers A coalition of legal academics have drafted a letter setting out our support for trans rights and our concerns about the FWS v Scottish Ministers UKSC ruling. We are opening it up for signature to ev...

A group of us law academics put together a letter on FWS v Scottish Ministers UK Supreme Court ruling & we are asking other *UK based law folk* (academic activist practitioner etc) to sign

More details 👇

#transrights #trans #transgender #lawsky #academicsky #UKlaw

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Polycritical Law | Day 1 - LSE Law School Events "Polycrisis" captures our era of overlapping, relentless crises—pandemic, war, inflation, climate chaos—each triggering new disruptions. For law and governance, it demands adaptive tools, not just pre...

I'll be speaking on revolution and #Polycritical Law @lselaw.bsky.social w many incredible folk incl Ingo Venzke, @dimitrivdm.bsky.social, Andrew Lang, @minorjurisprudent.bsky.social, Mike Wilkinson, @ohailes.bsky.social, Sofia Stolk, Lea Ypi many others! #Polycrisis
lselaw.events/event/polycr...

Israel’s Total Blockade of Gaza Has Created ‘Catastrophic’ Conditions, Doctors Say The effect of Israel’s total siege has become “catastrophic,” doctors say. Food, water and medicine shortages are prompting a surge of preventable illnesses, and deaths.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/w...

@endresdo.bsky.social, in her #PhDThesis in #InternationalLaw, analyses how #HumanRights are mobilised as tools for domination and resistance, using a Foucauldian understanding of power.

Read more 👉 shorturl.at/cPzZ0

With professors @sundhya.bsky.social &
@jannenijman.bsky.social.

#Foucault

Stellenausschreibung: leitenden wissenschaftlichen Mitarbeitenden (Senior Researcher) (m/w/d) Das FAU Forschungszentrum Center for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU CHREN) besetzt ab dem 1.10.2025 oder früher die Stelle einer bzw. eines leitenden wissenschaftlichen Mitarbeitenden (Senior…

@fau.de Center for Human Rights invites applications for a senior researcher (postdoc with research and teaching experience) in #HumanRights
Deadline: 15 May 2025
www.humanrights.fau.de/2025/04/11/s...