From Chip and PIN to “Payment Sovereignty”: Why Britain’s Card Revolution Is Entering a New Political Phase In February 2006, millions of Britons stood awkwardly at supermarket tills, unsure whether they remembered a four-digit code they had barely used before. Chip and PIN had arrived, replacing signatu…

cashlesssociety.wordpress.com/2026/02/19/f...

International Financial Institutions and Sustainable Development - ACIL Join us for the launch of Dr Johanna Lorenzo’s new book on the legal and sustainability implications of financing by multilateral development banks. With commentary from Professor Celine Tan (University of Warwick Law School) and Dr Olabisi D. Akinkugbe (Dalhousie University, Schulich School of Law). Professor Ingo Venzke (UvA) will moderate the discussion.

Join us for a discussion of @johannalorenzo.bsky.social new book on the legal and sustainability implications of financing by multilateral development banks.
W/@celinetan.bsky.social, @akinkugbe.bsky.social & @ingovenzke.bsky.social on 25 September. https://bit.ly/4nD6cfH @acil-uva.bsky.social

Looking forward to this 👇

Insurance in the Polycrisis | Kate Mackenzie & Tim Sahay The future is triage on an uninsurable earth.

A dramatic climate-insurance breakdown that shocks the financial system of entire national economies
.....is not going to happen.

Why not? NEW: @phenomenalworld.bsky.social @katemac.bsky.social
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ins...

Looking forward to discussing this excellent book !

Then it gives the authors of said paper more space & airtime to continue to defend their problematic position & allowed the rehashing of problematic & unethical arguments in the face of an ongoing genocide. This is as a colleague & friend observes is an eg of epistemic injustice. Shame on LJIL 3/3

The paper published did not meet the threshold of retraction under COPE guidelines (pls find guidance on publishing during genocide) plus the excuse of an editor not paying attention to world events due to high workload (maybe reconsider editing an IL journal) 1/3

This is a truly terrible response to an already flawed paper & even more flawed editorial process, a microcosm of what is problematic about western academia. The reliance on fomalities is an exercise in what Tania Li termed 'rendering technical', the technocratic depoliticisation of events 1/3

The 2nd webinar of our series "Illegal occupation, genocide, and business - reflections on the case of Palestine" is on 28 July, with reflections from @irenepietropaoli.bsky.social @chiaramacchi.bsky.social Francesca Albanese, Dr Michelle Staggs Kelsall, Dr Mark Taylor, and Andressa Soares. Reg 👇🏻👇🏻

We muse about the state of British catering & obsessions over the weather & collectively complain about the state of collapsing infrastructure & obscenely expensive train journeys. To my fellow strangers on this island, cheers 🍻 We are better than Starmer (& Powell) 2/2

I have made very good friends in this ‘island of strangers’. This is one the UK’s greatest strengths. It’s entire economy depends on such strangers working together & bonded by shared bafflement over separate hot & cold water taps, carpets in bathrooms & draughty buildings 1/2

Perhaps this is a good moment to say a few words about the EU’s so-called “trade bazooka”, the anti-coercion instrument.

What is it and how does it work? 👇

For a sneak preview of my forthcoming monograph, please join for the virtual book talk of 'The Pathology of Plenty' organised by the fabulous @juliadehm.bsky.social & Caitlin Murphy!
Details below 👇

Massive congrats to @bambosmp.bsky.social for an excellent debate in Parliament just now on debt cancellation and to the drafters of the bill @kpatricio.bsky.social, Stephen Connelly and @celinetan.bsky.social

Much more to be done, but justice is certainly around the corner.

#CancelTheDebt

Cardiff: University confirms plans to cut 400 jobs Vice-chancellor Wendy Larner says

This is a national scandal. When will the government wake up and realise they are presiding over the rapid implosion of the UK's world-renowned university sector?

Good article if you're curious about container ships.
Great article if you're curious about traveling as a passenger on a container ship. Lots of fascinating smaller details about Filipino crew members, Russian officers, political tension, and more.
Still looking for ethnographies on all this.

US bank exodus from NZBA raises questions about voluntary climate commitments The departure of US financial institutions from the Net Zero Banking Alliance and other net-zero commitment groups raises questions about the effectiveness of voluntary associations.

Six major US banks, including JP Morgan, have recently left the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA).

Banks in other countries have also followed, with four Canadian banks announcing on Friday that they were also leaving the NZBA.

greencentralbanking.com/2025/01/20/u...

Big Tech’s false solution to ever increasing greenhouse gas emissions? You guessed it, carbon credits “It’s problematic to trade forest carbon for fossil fuel emissions.”

Another great post by @reddmonitor.bsky.social showing the tight web of links between pro-offsetting conservationists, big finance & big polluters: a timber company owned by a bank founded by a Conservation Int'l board member is selling Microsoft offsets from covering savanna with eucalypts

Carbon Markets and the New Scramble for African Land The global carbon offset market, projected to grow a hundredfold by 2050, exacerbates neocolonial exploitation under the guise of climate solutions.

The global carbon offset market, projected to grow a hundredfold by 2050, exacerbates neocolonial exploitation under the guise of climate solutions. Available in EN, ES, PT-BR, DE, FR, IT and AR.

Israel’s assault on the foundations of international law must have consequences: UN experts GENEVA – Israel must face the consequences of its campaign to undermine the legal framework for the protection of civilians in armed conflicts, a group of independent human rights experts* said today,...

“We are disturbed that this siege, coupled with expanding evacuation orders, appears intended to permanently displace the local population as a precursor to Gaza’s annexation in further violation of international law.”

UN experts on Israel's annihilation of Gaza

www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

My heart breaks for all these children who had hopes and dreams and their future stolen from them. 💔

Inspiring presentation by Nauru ICJ highlighting that no single treaty or regime from which polluting states could withdraw can replace the general rules of international responsibility for climate change.

Summary report 11–22 November 2024

Reflecting on these words today:

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell: 'climate finance is not charity,' 'If two-thirds of the world’s nations cannot afford to cut emissions, every nation pays the price.'

Source: ENB COP29 Summary report enb.iisd.org/baku-un-clim...

World Bank: Poor nations spend more money paying off debts to the countries that impoverished them ($1.4tn) than the amount of money they've asked for to combat climate change ($1.3tn).

And remember: the paltry $300bn in finance announced at COP29 comes with strings attached.

COP29’s “Get out of jail free” card: Article 6 carbon trading mechanisms “Countries have little incentive not to game the system.”

🚨 Article 6, the Paris Agreement's carbon trading mechanism was agreed at COP29.

🚨 It's a "get out of jail free card" for Big Polluters.

🚨 Carbon markets are about profit and have nothing to do with addressing the climate crisis.

reddmonitor.substack.com/p/cop29s-get...

PS: they also keep me in my job. Maybe those academics moaning about int students who pay their wages should think about reframing their pedagogical lens to accommodate the diversity of their cohorts. This is where (for the left), the theory of decolonising the curriculum should come into practice.

And my last point on this is to say that I am privileged & humbled to be part of my migrant students’ learning journey every year. They rise up to the challenge, push themselves outside their comfort zones & engage with me with dedication & respect & I learn a lot from them & their perspectives too.

For those unfamiliar with Mutua’s classic paper, here it is: digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/journal_arti... I find myself returning to this metaphor a lot lately to describe many a phenomena.

I am definitely not the first person to bat for the UUK but their rep did a better job at defending us migrants than our own union general secretary.

It failed to account for the heterogeneity of the int student experience & was a classic liberal ‘savage, victim, saviour’ (credit Makau Mutua) take. The non-English speaking migrants are savages or victims of the system & the saviour is the white trades union person challenging the evil uni bosses.