Seriously people come (online unless you are near Cambridge) listen to me talk about how we can read international law as stories this Friday. It'll be midnight when I'm giving the talk so y'all have no excuses
A picture of two paperback copies of The Rise and Fall of Critical Legal Studies by James Gilchrist Stewart in front of a bookshelf.
Comrades, if you want to read about CLS at a more accessible price, the good people at @edinburghup.bsky.social have released my book The Rise and Fall of Critical Legal Studies in paperback - edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-ris...
"Ending the housing crisis requires attacking one of the foundations of neoliberal capitalism: the idea that we are all little, budding capitalists just waiting for the opportunity to invest in financial markets."
graceblakeley.substack.com/p/building-m...
THE MEME IS REAL
= THE NEW YORKER ICO In terms of human rights, I've always found it a little bit puzzling, given what you write, and given who your wife is, that you two were so close to Henry Kissinger. Of all the pre-Trump political figures in America, he is the one I think of as in some ways the opposite of liberal, given his behavior toward the rest of the world. I'll tell you a story. I wrote a book a few years ago on Star Wars. We invited Dr. Kissinger to my Star Wars book party, and he said, "You wrote a book about Star Wars? Why'd you write a book about Star Wars?" He was puzzled and courteous, but really confused. And then he came to the book party, which was quite generous. He was a busy person. But, despite his busyness, he came to the book party. Yeah, and then I gave a talk on Star Wars, and he came up to me afterward and he said, "Oh, I see why you wrote a book on Star Wars. There's a lot there. It's, like, about families and it's about governments and freedom." The amount of curiosity and generosity that he showed was incomparable. I don't know anyone who showed that level of curiosity and generosity. And we really got into Star Wars. He just wanted to think about it. I know there are strong views about his career, and I'm hardly an expert on his career.
But your wife is one of the great human-rights experts in the world. I asked you about him being anti-liberal, and your response was that he was very nice to you about your book. About Star Wars. It is certainly a touching story. But that's not totally an answer to the question. Yeah. Well, I don't know. What he would think of this book I'd love to know. But no second thoughts about being friends with him or anything? I feel generally very grateful for friendship, and he was, when I knew him, a person of immense kindness. Those who think of him as someone who was something horrible or worse, 1 don't know what to say about that.
But you could have an opinion on it. You have an opinion on all kinds of things, right? Well, on him and his role in government, that's not something I've particularly studied, so I don't know. I know some people who think he was a horrible historic figure. They would say, "Would you be friends with Genghis Khan? Would you be friends with Stalin?" And I wouldn't be friends with Stalin, so I concede that. Well, the next time someone brings up a terrible anecdote about Cambodia or Vietnam, I will definitely drop the Star Wars story to show that people have two sides. Yeah. And I get those who think you shouldn't be friends with someone who did terrible things. I hear that. I can just say that he was, as a very large number of people would say, though many fewer would say it publicly, an extraordinarily generous friend. Professor, thank you so much for doing this. Great, thanks. If we go light on the Kissinger part, I wouldn't complain, because it could dwarf everything else. *
Isaac Chotiner interviews Cass Sunstein. www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
The Transnational Association of Legal Scholars has reopened its Academy - this is a week-long, intensive, online training for a selected 16 grad students. criticallegalthinking.com/2025/07/14/c...
Comrades! Friends! Nemeses! The CfP for the annual meeting of Australian Progressive Legal Studies is open until next Friday, 11th of July. Send us your abstracts on all things law, political economy and modern authoritarianism.
The one and only Melinda Cooper (!!!) will deliver the keynote.
Plenty studies showing that your postcode is a better predictor of your health outcomes than your genome.
The Fair Work Commission’s decision to increase the minimum wage from $24.10 to $24.94 an hour could have the unintended consequence of providing workers with the necessary money to buy food and water, business leaders have cautioned.
The problems in our society are not caused by migrants or refugees.
They are caused by an economic system rigged in favour of corporations and billionaires.
If the government wanted to improve people’s lives, it would tax the rich and build an economy that works for us all.
I made it through all of The Ranch, but this may be too much.
@osmanfaruqi.bsky.social - what TV show did you “recommend” at the cancelling culture talk on Friday?
@scotinoz.bsky.social
Thoroughly enjoying Bill Shorten’s live sighs and eye-rolls.
image of watchmen's doctor manhattan, a superhero who is entirely blue and nude, sitting on a rock, small in frame, on what is depicted to be a very pink version of the surface of the planet mars. he looks pensive.
It is 2002. I am 18 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2008. I am 24 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2020. I am 36 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2025. I am 41 years old. We are in a—
Hi all, Harry Hobbs, Yasmin Olsen and I are hosting a workshop on the intersection of Indigenous Sovereignty and Sovereign Citizens in November 2025. Please share our CFP and consider submitting an abstract! Thanks.
Chart showing that in 2023-24 Australians paid $5,103m in HECS/HELP while gas companies paid $1,144m in PRRT
Want to talk about tax? Ok here's a starting point
Let's go. All things on the table.
a young, brown-haired, clean-shaven american man in a green army uniform. he looks stern.
On 16th March, 1968 Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jnr was flying helicopter recon for a US attack on My Lai, an alleged Viet Cong-controlled village in Vietnam.
But as the attack developed below, Thompson realised he was witnessing something something else:
A massacre.
He decided to act. 1/28
If someone on an income better than 80% of Australians is unable to save for a median-priced house, then something is very, very wrong. But that's exactly the situation we're in.
@grogsgamut.bsky.social column is a sobering read for anyone trying to buy a home. #auspol
I have 2…maybe one was meant to be yours? Apologies for the greed.
Part of capitalism's necessary viciousness is that it is a system that it is simultaneously a system that happens behind the backs of its participants, but creates social forms which continualy attributes conscious responsibility to those same participants.
Next month, UNSW Law and UNSW Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law will be hosting a book launch for Queer Judgments. It will take place in person on Tuesday 15th April at 4pm. Please share and join us if you’re around!
Register here: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/queer-judg...
#LawSky #AcademicSky 🌈🎓
Why capitalism and democracy don’t mix…
Me on @oxfamgb.bsky.social Equals Podcast
Folks from across the LPE landscape are coming together to create an LPE Association (democratic, membership-based, dues-paying), which will launch at the first ever NATIONAL LPE CONFERENCE!!
Save the date Sept 11-13!!
law.richmond.edu/faculty/Inau...
If you missed tonight’s town hall with @naomiaklein.bsky.social, @chenjerai.bsky.social, @astra.bsky.social, and @keeanga.bsky.social on resisting the shock and awe politics of the far right and their billionaire enthusiasts, you can watch the video here:
Today, Jedediah Britton-Purdy reflects on the relationship between the rule of law, democracy, and constitutionalism.
Corporate Coup in Global Context
Join @naomiaklein.bsky.social, @chenjerai.bsky.social, @astra.bsky.social, & @keeanga.bsky.social for an emergency town hall on the accelerating corporate dominance of our societies
Mon., Feb. 17 at 5:00 pm ET
RSVP to attend: www.tickettailor.com/events/hayma...
Work from home.
