Alexander was one of the people that, when I first joined the criminal law theory community, made me feel like I’d finally found my tribe. I will forever be grateful for having known him. He was a great friend and a wonderful colleague, and I will miss him deeply. www.surrey.ac.uk/news/memory-...

What do you learn at university? 1. The difference between considering an idea for purposes of evaluation and advocating it. 2. The distinction between evaluating an idea and evaluating the person who proposes it. 3. The tension between ‘big picture’ and ‘fine-grain’. Skills, not (only) facts

NEW from me today: ICYMI it earlier, I've written for @arguablymag.bsky.social about the quiet crisis destroying almost everything important about universities, and why no-one's talking about it. Take a look: www.arguably.uk/p/the-quiet-...

The quiet collapse of British universities

One of our great triumphs and economic advantages is fading away

arguably.uk

This Wednesday 27 May is our final Spring meeting, where we will discuss Chloë Kennedy's paper "Procuring ‘Gross Indecency’: Labouchère’s Overlooked Offence". Join us at 3pm UK time, hope to see you then!

I didn’t have “refuse to stop using my own cognitive skills as an academic” in my life bingo card, but here we are… Seems like a nice club 🤓

Charles Logan@charleswlogan.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Me! I am one of those academics and you can be one too!

Next Wednesday 13 May, we will be hosting Professor Ekow Yankah (University of Michigan) to discuss his paper "Taking Victims Seriously: Abolitionism, Minimalism and Punishment as Equality Affirming", at 3pm UK time. The draft paper has been circulated to our mailing list - we hope to see you then!

This is excellent from @samfr.bsky.social Why saving universities is far more than academic observer.co.uk/news/columni...

Why saving universities is far more than academic

Modern Britain needs young people with degrees – here’s how to make sure they still have somewhere to study them

observer.co.uk

Our CfA for the Autumn seminar series is open! If you’re interested, please email an abstract (maximum 500 words) to vclgscotland@gmail.com by Friday 8 May. We welcome submissions across topics related to criminal law theory and practice, criminal procedure, and criminal justice, broadly construed.

I'd like to thank the creators of GenAI for making me so paranoid about students using it in their essays, that I am now forced into the "is it AI or just shitty writing" game every time I'm marking... What progress! What a great tool!

The deadline for these posts is tomorrow, so if you were thinking of applying, now is the time! Any questions, let me know and I'll be happy to chat.

JP Fassnidge@drfassnidge.bsky.social · 7mo ago

2 lecturer posts have been advertised today, at the University of Aberdeen, for criminal law and criminal justice. Come and join a great law school, and a subject area that seeks to be a strong part of the school's profile! Happy to discuss with anyone interested! www.abdn.ac.uk/jobs/vacanci...

🔊 “adversaries have recognised the cheapest way to destabilise democracies is now not to breach our borders with tanks... the cheapest way is... through these wedge issues" Dr Kate Ferguson at this week's event on the perceptions, drivers & consequences of the UK's culture wars 🧵⬇️ Full video below

Looking forward to hosting the VCLG hybrid at Aberdeen next week. You can contact me if you're intending to come in person, and if not I look forward to seeing you online!

Virtual Criminal Law Group@vclg.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Next week, we will be having this term's hybrid session, at the University of Aberdeen and online as usual. We will be discussing Dr Clare Frances Moran's book chapter draft "The Concept of Shielding" on Wednesday 4 March, from 3.30pm UK time. Email us for further details, and hope to see you then!

I wouldn’t put it past our political class to draw the conclusion that, in the absence of an economy that creates graduate jobs, we will just have to cut back on graduates.

Tim Bale@timbale.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Turns out (says @jburnmurdoch.ft.com) it's not so much an oversupply of graduates in the UK (the same would be true of other similar countries but it's not) as an undersupply of the kind of jobs that a better-performing, more productive economy would supply.

2 lecturer posts have been advertised today, at the University of Aberdeen, for criminal law and criminal justice. Come and join a great law school, and a subject area that seeks to be a strong part of the school's profile! Happy to discuss with anyone interested! www.abdn.ac.uk/jobs/vacanci...

Join us tomorrow for a discussion of Gülce Ecem Uçar's paper, "The Digital Unperson: The Materiality of Nothingness and the Myth of Innocence in the New Oceania", at 3pm UK time. We hope to see you online!

Our 5th seminar is coming 🔜 🗣️ Federico La Vattiata: ‘Comparative Approaches to Normative Causation and the Limits of the But-For Test: Between Objective Attribution and Proximate Causation’. 🗓️ Wed 25 Feb, 15-16:30 📍Online & @universityofleeds.bsky.social ®️To join us: sites.google.com/view/yclf/

YCLF

Welcome to the YCLF

sites.google.com

New VCLG series coming up! Looking forward to the online discussions, and hope to see lots of you there!

Virtual Criminal Law Group@vclg.bsky.social · 8mo ago

The VCLG is back for the new term! We begin our series with a paper from Lindsay Farmer, 'Climate protest, political dissent and the criminal law: The rise and fall (and rise again) of conspiracy'. The session will be on Wed 28 Jan, 3.30-5.00pm UK time (for this session only). Hope to see you then!

Missing from the coverage of redundancies at Edinburgh: this was done in such a haphazard, uncoordinated way, there are now core teams who have gone from 5 people to 1 with no change in workload or pressure and huge loss in knowledge of institutional process. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2576321...

Hundreds of staff leave Edinburgh University amid cuts drive

According to the university, 345 of these departures were the result of a targeted voluntary severance (VS) scheme run by the institution in 2025.

heraldscotland.com

Please re-share this - there aren't many permanent law jobs available in the UK right now! #academicjobfairy

University of Leeds - School of Law@lawatleeds.bsky.social · 8mo ago

📣Come join our successful, dynamic law school! These two wonderful roles for Lecturer in Law are closing soon on the 17 January 2026. Check out the Candidate Brief and apply below! 👇

The only positive thing that’s come out of this horrifying “review” is that the responses feel like old academic Twitter, which I am happy to now see on BlueSky. Like James, I couldn’t get past the first footnote, and every snapshot I’ve seen makes this one of the worst things I’ve ever read.

James Chalmers@jameschalmers.bsky.social · 9mo ago

An academic disliked an Oxford Very Short Introduction (145 pages) in his field so much that he wrote a 200 page book review attacking it. www.pierre-legrand.com/ewExternalFi...

This is today! Come and join us at 3pm, we look forward to discussing!

Virtual Criminal Law Group@vclg.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Next week, Wednesday 10 December, we will discuss the recent Scots Law decisions - Daly v HM Advocate and Keir v HM Advocate - which change the position on the admissibility of sexual history and character evidence. We hope to see you then!

Next week, Wednesday 10 December, we will discuss the recent Scots Law decisions - Daly v HM Advocate and Keir v HM Advocate - which change the position on the admissibility of sexual history and character evidence. We hope to see you then!

🔴 NEW: The University of Edinburgh has quietly paid more than £750,000 to a controversial consulting firm amid job cuts - staff say bosses ignored "repeated" questions about its role. Read more about 'Nousferatu' 👉 www.theferret.scot/p...

Join us thus Wednesday at 3pm, to discuss Ellens Nowell’s paper “Narratives of Criminal Justice and Sexual History Evidence Rules”. Link for seminar has been sent out this morning to our mailing list. We hope to see you then!

Of all the things we could copy from Denmark, we choose this????????? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

UK seeks inspiration from Denmark to shake up immigration system

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is taking cues from some of the toughest migration laws in Europe.

bbc.co.uk

📣Join us today for the first #YCLF 2025-26 Seminar, we'll discuss @drfassnidge.bsky.social's paper 'The Deliberative Stage of Criminalisation and Political Turn: Theories of Criminalisation' 📅 Today, 3-4:30 pm online & @sheffielduni.bsky.social To attend, visit sites.google.com/view/yclf/

YCLF

Welcome to the YCLF

sites.google.com

We’re delighted to share the details of this Workshop in Legal Epistemology, co-organised by Tsampika Taralli (UoE) and Alex Houghton (Stirling). The event will take place at the University of Stirling on Oct 27th, 2-7 pm. Further info & a registration link at: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/workshop-o....

Workshop on Legal Epistemology

Let's dive deep into the world of legal epistemology and explore the fascinating intersection of law and knowledge in this hands-on workshop

eventbrite.co.uk

Yay. Priceless. The right column at the right time. And a gleefully English two fingers to the haters.

Just when one thinks things can’t get much worse and something’s got to give, we get things like this…

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 11mo ago

So I've been reading the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper. There's some good things in there. But when it comes to universities there's very little to cheer. The situation is very tough and will get worse. The last chance to preserve what we've got has passed. Let me explain why. (1/?)

Very much looking forward to this, and to getting a chance to discuss with colleagues in the YCLF. Should be a blast!

Yorkshire Criminal Law Forum@yclf.bsky.social · 11mo ago

For the first YCLF 2025-26 Seminar, we'll discuss @drfassnidge.bsky.social chapter: The Deliberative Stage of Criminalisation and "Political Turn" Theories of Criminalisation 📅 30 Oct, 3-4:30 pm online & @sheffielduni.bsky.social To attend join our mailing list. Info on sites.google.com/view/yclf/