“The quality of mercy is not strain'd.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven”

After the storm…

Even after 11 years @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social, there are still mystery further buildings to discover!

Dreaming spires, inspiring dreams

“Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends”

Never did sun more beautifully steep…

New Personal Best of 1:22:01 in #GreatNorthRun! Thanks to all the staff and supporters along the route!

Congratulations, David!

Today marks the start of the 20th academic year of my career! Looking back with gratitude for all colleagues and students from whom I have learnt, and forward to many more collaborations!

Or “The Life and Adventures of Charles Dickens”

Sunday Salmon!

‘A legal rule forbids you to take a vehicle into the public park. Plainly this forbids an automobile, but what about bicycles, roller skates, toy automobiles? What about airplanes? Are these, as we say, to be called "vehicles" for the purpose of the rule or not?’

“I don’t like to characterize any great profession, but I think the profession of law teacher… does not always exercise the best judgment in keeping out of fields in which they are apt to make egregious mistakes.”
William Howard Taft (as US Chief Justice)

“How’s research going?”

I’m currently working on Nuisance, and this view shows the sites of two important cases - Fearn v Tate, and then just round the corner is the location of this new decision of Fancourt J on nuisance and rights of light!

www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...

“When the rain falls, they talk of Manchester; but when the triumphant rain falls, we think of rainbows; it’s the Mancunian way.”
Lemn Sissay poem

I have often in admissions interviews given the hypothetical example of my toaster blowing up as a starting point for a discussion on liability.

This week, my toaster blew up.

I am now worried I have nice mutant superpower.

Thanks!

Thank you Colm!

Always!

Inaugural Lecture with Professor James Lee Inaugural Lectures are a celebration of our Professors, as they present an overview of their contribution to their field.

My Inaugural Lecture, "Pure Imagination: Stories, Institutions and Law Reform", will be held on 17th November at King's. Do join if you can!
(In-person only, but it will be recorded)

www.kcl.ac.uk/events/inaug...

Enjoyed watching Darkest Hour for the first time tonight, and especially powerful after the events to mark the anniversary of VE Day today.

Surprised that there wasn’t an end credits sequence pointing towards the October 1951 General Election though…

per ardua ad astra

Pope Francis led the Church with grace, courage and wisdom: as he wrote, “we should feel indignant, challenged to emerge from our comfortable isolation and to be changed by our contact with human suffering. That is the meaning of dignity.”

May perpetual light shine upon him.

On Chesil Beach

Call for Papers! "Fresh Perspectives on Judging", a Symposium for emerging scholars in the field of judicial studies. We celebrate 5 years of our book series, Hart Studies on Judging & the Courts
Full details:
www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/call-pr...

Last lecture of the year done!

Handing Back the Past: Cultural Repatriation | The Inner Temple

On Tuesday, I was very pleased to host a panel @innertemple.org.uk on "Handing Back the Past: Cultural Repatriation", with expert and insightful contributions from Mona Yapova of Mishcon de Reya and Gus Casely-Hayford OBE of V&A East.
Here is the recording:

www.innertemple.org.uk/education/ed...

For anyone who missed this very important news, Jennie the guide dog crossed the floor of the House of Commons yesterday to be stroked by Labour MPs

She was then summoned by the Lib Dem Chief Whip for a very stern word

Prison population: weekly estate figures 2025 Weekly prison population figures for 2025.

The prison population is creeping up again. It was 87,556 last week.
While that is lower than this time last year (88,081), it is up nearly 2,000 in just two months from January (85,853).

www.gov.uk/government/p...