Big news in the wonderful world of constitutional nerdery:
Sad to see the excellent Meg Russell departing, but big congratulations to @alanrenwick.bsky.social on taking over. The Unit does great work, which is needed now more than ever.
Best wishes to Meg for the next chapter after a tour de force as Director! Thrilled to read her future work.
Meg Russell and Alan Renwick outside 10 Downing Street.
We are also looking forward to our next annual conference, which will be free to attend and take place online on 24 and 25 June.
We already have some brilliant speakers lined up and will publish a full programme in the following weeks.
In the meantime, save the dates in your diaries!
Dr Tom Fleming (incoming Deputy Director of the Constitution Unit): 'I am delighted to be taking on this new role at the Constitution Unit. The Unit’s reputation as an outstanding source of timely, rigorous, independent research is the fruit of many people’s hard work over more than thirty years. I look forward to building on and continuing that work in collaboration with Alan and our other excellent colleagues. I particularly look forward to continuing and developing the Unit’s research on parliament – a topic that will remain central to our work in the coming years.'
Tom Fleming will take over as our Deputy Director on 13 May.
He is an expert in parliamentary politics and a key member of our leadership team since 2021.
And we are very pleased to say that we have appointed a new lecturer, further information about which will be announced next year.
Congratulations and best of luck, Alan, this is so exciting!
Professor Meg Russell FBA (outgoing Director of the Constitution Unit): 'It has been a privilege to lead the UCL Constitution Unit for these last 10 ½ years, and to work with an amazing range of talented and committed people. This was an often challenging period, which saw significant upheaval in our politics, including the questioning of various constitutional fundamentals. I am very proud of what the Unit has achieved, to shed crucial light on constitutional questions, foster well-informed public debate, and encourage policymakers to adhere to high standards of democracy. I am really grateful to all of those inside the Unit, and with whom we have collaborated, who have made such important contributions to that. Those people include Alan and Tom, and I now wish them every success as a new leadership team.'
Meg Russell has been our Director since 2015, having originally joined the Unit in 1998.
She is recognised as a leading authority on parliaments, particularly the House of Lords.
From September, she will drop to a 50% contract and continue to teach, write and contribute to policy debates.
We are set to enter a new era on 13 May as @alanrenwick.bsky.social takes over from Meg Russell as our Director.
Tom Fleming will become Deputy Director and a new lecturer will join us next year.
We can also confirm that our annual conference will happen on 24 and 25 June.
Read all about it 👇
I'm thrilled to be taking over as Director of the Constitution Unit next month. Amid many challenges to democracy, our work remains vital.
But, gosh, it's daunting to try to fill Meg Russell's shoes! She has been a terrific Director for over a decade, and will be an incredibly hard act to follow.
We have the judgment in C-769/22, Commission v. Hungary (Values of the Union):
eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-conten...
Nada Homsi.. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult for civil defense crews to conduct rescue missions as massive air raids continue to pound Nabatieh (south Lebanon). Yesterday 4 paramedics were killed in a targeted triple-tap attack by Israel.
Due to the extensive fire belt likely few survived.”
‘Everything is gone’: Israel destroys entire villages in Lebanon
Rights groups fear tactic of ‘domicide’ trialled in Gaza, where entire areas are made uninhabitable, is being used again
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
How do you think Israel's govt would react if Iran crossed the threshold? (Is the answer different between the following? scenario A: Iran has warheads, but no delivery method or there is uncertainty about that, & scenario B: Iran unambiguously has a reliable delivery method too)
Shin Bet brass; (3) senior bureaucrats. (Plus (4) maybe similar ppl in businesses directly tied to the wars ?)
A tangential point re sanctions: the targets against whom it would be the most important & effective to have personal sanctions are obviously not IBG, Smotrich & settler militias but not even Netanyahu & other Likud leaders. It's (1) Bennett, Eisenkot, Gantz, Lapid, Lieberman etc. (2) IDF, Mossad &
The EU remains incredibly out of compliance with international legal standards.
Important for people to get the difference. Germany does not even enforce an already-existing EU rule that requires the accurate labeling of Israeli settler products like wine.
They will not sanction settlements to be clear but "violent settlers" akin to the extremely narrow Biden era or British regimen that targets a couple dozen people and nothing else. Still good to do that but it's distinct from a ban on settler goods.
Not really, sadly. Tisza's platform on refugees is horrific, and the party has consistently refused to resist the racism that is prevalent in public discourse here.
Nominations for the next ECtHR judge elected in respect of Hungary will not be made by an authoritarian government. No matter how things go domestically, at the supranational level it's already a good day for the integrity of the judiciary.
Les massacres du 8 Avril 🇱🇧
Boston Globe mock front page from April 9, 2016. Date says April 9, 2017, with giant headline “DEPORTATIONS TO BEGIN” and “Markets sink as trade war looms.”
Ten years ago today, in April 2016, the Boston Globe printed a satirical front page imagining a future Trump administration. The page was called "alarmist," "hyperbolic," "dystopian." But we’ve put up with so much since then it now looks like . . . a slow Thursday?
Israel has been carrying out summary executions for decades. But there is a thick new layer of darkness in ritualising murder as capital punishment. Exclusively for Palestinians (for now; give it a few years.) In military courts, rigged for 96% conviction.
Dark, dark, dark day.
Whereas: if this happens in 2030 under President Ocasio-Cortez, the response is probably PM Ben-Gvir declaring UDI, figuratively.
possible to force them acquiesce to Palestinian statehood.
buckle, because they think in terms of real-world material categories, and in that world the prospect of US disengagement or even hostility is untenable on the long term. They try to squeeze as much as possible from Israel's former advantage in DC (demilitarisation, WB-Gaza transits...), but it's
it an ultimatum along the lines of: get out of WB & lift Gaza siege within a year, otherwise all military, financial & diplomatic assistance stops. (Assume this policy looks too strong domestically for an attempt to just wait for next election.) I think the likes of Herzog, Lapid, Gantz, Livni
You know far more about these issues - do you agree with the following hypothetical? Sanders wins 2016 & does actually set ending the occupation as a major foreign policy goal. Path dependency strings things along for a while, but ca. 2019/2021 his admin fully breaks with deference to Israel & gives
Israel today (as opposed to even 6-7 years ago; on this I do think there is a difference) reminds me a lot of Ulster loyalists or the Rhodesian (rather than SA) apartheid state
Donald Trump is deranged. He must be impeached and removed from office.
Republicans who don’t stop him will have blood on their hands, and anyone who carries out an order to bomb civilian targets will be complicit in war crimes and will be held accountable.
No immunity at the ICC. Time to make Rome Statute ratification a demand for Dem politics