NEW REPORT: Authoritarian collaboration fueled #transnationalrepression in 2025, with at least 30 governments reaching beyond their borders—using tactics from assassinations to detentions—to intimidate or otherwise silence their critics. Read the full report: freedomhouse.org/report/speci...
I gave a short keynote at the Association of Law Teachers Annual Conference last week. Why law degrees need to take lawyering more seriously... substack.com/home/post/p-...
Japan scraps a ban on lethal weapons exports in a change of its postwar pacifist policy
apnews.com/article/japa...
English version of today’s judgment now available on Eur-Lex: eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-conten...
The key point from Olly Robbins is that, in his view, Mandelson did *not* technically fail vetting - the vetting outcome was the FCDO decision on whether to grant, not any UKSV recommendation as part of that process...
In these troubling geopolitical times, what role can memory play in upholding the international rule of law?
Delighted to share a short essay out today on @justsecurity.org. A version of this was originally prepared for a forthcoming Law Commission of Canada series on the rule of law.
Bulgarian voters are going to the polls for the eighth time in five years. A new left-leaning, pro-Russian party under former President Radev is the favorite to win
p.dw.com/p/5CRCf
a deep dive into many bad predictions, and a few good ones, and what they mean for thinking about future conflict
The day when a quantum computer manages to break common encryption, or Q-Day, is fast approaching, and the world is not close to being ready
This paper represents a small but deeply impressive and genuinely important achievement by the much maligned British state in what is probably the most important global issue of our era.
Hear me out ( 🧵) 1/
www.aisi.gov.uk/blog/our-eva...
In the latest article from our Seventh Edition, Martin Fitches and @michaelleger.bsky.social say history teaches important lessons for today’s policymakers.
Read the full article here: heywoodquarterly.com/how-pragmati...
#CivilService #History #GlobalEconomicOrder @blavatnikschool.bsky.social
There’s a lot of confusion right now among journalists and MP about secondary legislation and what a possible EU deal would mean.
A quick thread to clear a few things up on votes, Henry VIII powers & parliamentary scrutiny. 🧵
1/ First: what is a “normal parliamentary vote”?
The Ethics and Integrity Commission has today published a report by Dr Rebecca Dobson Phillips on the institutions that regulate standards in public life in the UK.
Read the full report here: eic.independent-commission.uk/publication-...
This looks like a return to section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972, under which for decades successive governments implemented EU law by secondary legislation. The scope of the power & level of parliamentary scrutiny will be important www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Zach gets it exactly right. Orban was an authoritarian who built a rigged election system for his own gain. But Peter Magyar cracked the code - realizing that every vote in the countryside was worth two to three votes in the cities and so racked up countryside support, winning 2/3rds of the seats.
How reforms under Patrice Talon have reshaped the electoral competition in Benin
via @africa.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/how-reforms-...
Fears over West Africa's Islamist insurgency dominate Benin's election campaign
Sunday's presidential election comes about four months after outgoing President Patrice Talon survived a coup attempt..
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
This is my assessment of why Trump’s war went so badly wrong. Underestimating an enemy and a belief in a quick victory are familiar sources of failure, compounded in this sense by incredible ultimatums and delusional claims. (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...?
Peruvians head to the polls on Sunday 12th April to elect a new president and Congress
#Peru Elects 2026: Ongoing Coverage of the Presidential Race by @ascoa.bsky.social
www.as-coa.org/articles/per...
Scary experiment: create a FAKE disease & upload FAKE studies to preprint servers to support and PRESTO AI thinks real.
Ugh. Good example of how easily AI can warp knowledge base...
Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🗳️🇭🇺 Since the outcome will have immediate consequences for Europe and beyond, it is a vote that Washington, Moscow, Kyiv and Brussels all want to win.
A primer on Hungary’s electoral system.
Hungary has a mixed-member pseudo proportional electoral system.
106 elected in first past the post constituencies
93 by proportional representation in closed lists
1/
Timeline cleanse
"The dispute cannot be reduced to a single branch of law. Any assessment of a Strait of Hormuz Closure must consider the law of the sea, the prohibition on the use of force, self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, and the rules governing military operations at sea."
FRAGMENTATION
🚀 2026 Global Counterspace Capabilities Report — Now Available
SWF is proud to release the 9th version of its Global Counterspace Capabilities: An Open Source Assessment report, edited by @vsamsondc.bsky.social and Kathleen Brett, with support from Emily Kunasek.
Thread below 🧵
Take your mind off other stuff… with something positive happening in the civil service
Antonia Romeo has set out her objectives, and they’re good!
Tl; dr - to lead a civil service of curious, confident, high performing stewards of the system
If Trump bombs power plants in Iran, the humanitarian crisis will be horrific. Experts tell me to expect water shortages, closed hospitals, many deaths.
“We’ve never had a US president so proudly promise to commit war crimes," Sen Chris Murphy says. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2087...
🗳️🇪🇺 Our work is not just the rule of law (well, we have 'Democracy' in our name after all), our EU-funded projects Nets4Dem which is about building a network of networks of practitioners for innovative democracy just released it's annual report for 2025.
Important analysis on U.S. slide to "total war" with Iran.
Background:
UN Commission on Inquiry: “Russian armed forces’ waves of attacks ... on Ukraine’s energy-related infrastructure ... may amount to crimes against humanity.”
The authors are former military lawyers.
“Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.”
Geneva Convention Additional Protocol I
and
Department of Defense Law of War Manual, § 5.2.2
