UCL shows its colours.
04.03.2026 14:54
👍 3
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
UCL shows its colours.
Full text of the speech. The deployment of nuclear armed aircraft to other Europeans is quite something.
legrandcontinent.eu/fr/2026/03/0...
*Representation of the People Bill update*
Steve Reed has just announced: 'We will repeal in full the power for government to impose a strategy and policy statement on the Electoral Commission'.
A very welcome change. I set out last week why it was needed.
constitution-unit.com/2026/02/26/t...
Well OK but does party membership mean anything much these days other than just a tracker of support. We already know from the polls that Greens close to overhauling Labour.
Poland has asked the European Parliament to strip far-right leader Grzegorz Braun of immunity so that he can be charged with denying Nazi crimes, an offence carrying a potential three-year jail term.
The case relates to his claims that gas chambers were not used at the Auschwitz and Majdanek camps.
People who don’t understand that we are about to witness a massive attempt to corrupt American democracy by Trump, are living in a dream land.
Foreign Minister Sikorski:
Contrary to what Russian propaganda says, NATO did not expand into Central European countries. It was us - our countries, the countries of our region, including Poland - that sought membership.
Firm but fair criticism from @alanrenwick.bsky.social of the "glaring omission" in the Representation of the People Bill.
The independence of the Electoral Commission has been seriously undermined. The government must act to restore it.
Read in full @conunitucl.bsky.social 👇
buff.ly/qhmruE3
Hungarian analysts and several EU diplomats in Budapest fear Orbán may be triggering a long-rumored worst-case scenario: using a fabricated national security threat to crack down on the opposition or even cancel the election. This military deployment puts that scenario into play.
America welcomes well-connected criminals
#OTD 40 years ago, Mikhail Gorbachev announced glasnost (openness) at the 27th CPSU Party Conference. (Image from #TwilightStruggle @jasondcmatthews.bsky.social @gmtgames.bsky.social) Read more: cliosboardgames.wordpress.com/2026/02/22/g...
🇬🇧🇺🇦 British actor Ian McKellen read a poem by Ukrainian veteran Artur Dron, “First to the Corinthians,” on the anniversary of the full-scale invasion.
X’s algorithms are not neutral tools, but an editorial force, shaping real worldviews. And unlike much of what you read on X, this finding is based on rigorous research.
👉 Read the full story: tcnv.link/CSXfxg6
Event poster for 'Film screening: That Boy: conversation about hate and healing (2025). TRIGGER WARNING: This film contains accounts of violence, violence against women and racist talk.
🎬 Film screening: That Boy: conversation about hate and healing (2025).
This film documents the encounter between former victim and oppressor, which probes the healing potential of restorative justice in cases of hate crimes and violent racism.
🗓️ 10 March at 5pm
➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
Looks really interesting - also commendable that there isn’t a dreadful pun about pirates in the title:)
🚨Excited to see my two new publications in a special issue on 🏴☠️ parties, co-edited with Vladimír Naxera, now out in Comparative European Politics. The first is the SI introduction (with Vladimír) and a reflection on two decades of 🏴☠️ politics in Europe. This was fun!
link.springer.com/content/pdf/...
A graffitied defence of evidence based policy-making and enquiry…
.. although populists and conspiracists have long hijacked the idea of “doing your own research”
A colleague just spotted this on the M1. Either there are some real Royal Society stans, or organised scepticism is becoming a bit messy. Can anyone explain the subtext here?
“While Russia still possesses nuclear weapons and a large military, it does not measure up as a great power in virtually any category of military, economic, or science and technology indicators.”
More on Russia’s declining power by CSIS's Defense and Security Department: https://bit.ly/4rQdYoD
Jason Brennan rather rudely describes many citizens as “Hobbits” - he has doubts about them capacities for political engagement as I remember press.princeton.edu/books/paperb... - but personally am convinced that Bilbo Baggins would never vote for Farage or use X
Teamed up with the excellent Jan Hruška ( Masaryk Uni 🇨🇿 / Adam Mickiewicz Uni Poznań 🇵🇱) to explore how upper chambers can guard against democratic backsliding. A neglected topic.Our new piece in Democratization:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Free eprints: www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
Yes, it’s slightly akin asking for a tax rebate because your kids couldn’t go to school in person during the pandemic, although I can see that too is a flawed analogy.
Perhaps a good time to bring up again our proposal with @dimitrispieker.bsky.social and Ulrich Karpenstein on how to suspend Hungary’s voting rights based on a breach of solidarity in CFSP: www.delorscentre.eu/en/publicati...
Reform UK’s unsurprising Hungarian connection goodlawproject.org/orbans-pay-c...
It’s a rainy day at UCL.
🇵🇱⚖️President Nawrocki vetoes the law reforming the National Council of Judiciary, dispelling any hopes the Polish government had of reforming the rule of law through new legislation. Major, but expected, defeat for the new MoJ Waldemark Żurek and his plans. 1/
Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.
Just to put this in context for you, this would nearly double the deficits posted by the big unis in deepest trouble if they had to pay in a one-shot. Now no doubt they will try another Heath Robinson financial vehicle to do so if needs must, but some simply won't be able to pay if on this scale.
Foreign Minister Sikorski:
In Poland, we think that if Putin succeeded in conquering Ukraine, we would be next, and the cost of deterring him on the Polish border would be much higher.
We are paying for Ukraine's sustenance both as a state and in the defensive war.
📹: DW
The strange unforeseen consequences of Brexit - it can be a disadvantage to be a British citizen if you want to enter the U.K.. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
