Whatever you might think of Maduro, the seizure and kidnapping of a head of state takes us to a very dark place. Vast, arbitrary, extra-legal power, which could be exercised almost anywhere, regardless of the character of the target government.
Professor Katharine Adeney
@katadeney.bsky.social
Prof Comparative Politics Nottingham. Researches (& loves) S Asia. India Pakistan Sri Lanka. CPEC, Federalism, Majoritarianisms, HE, EDI & SEN. Mum and wife of Long Covid sufferer. Cats 🐈⬛, Brompton 🚴, Gardening. Views expressed my own
This falls undet WTAF! What happened to international law? #venezuela www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Trump claims US has captured Venezuelan dictator and wife
US president says on social media that operation to capture Nicolás Maduro carried out with US law enforcement
theguardian.com
India's citizenship laws being effectively weaponised against Muslims. For several years I have not been able to tell my students that India is the world's largest democracy :( #India #Democracy #VotingLists #Ethnocracy #EthnicDemocracy www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
India’s electoral roll revision threatens democracy and Muslims, say critics
Opposition claims SIR process being used to disenfranchise minority groups to benefit Narendra Modi’s government
theguardian.com
Shame on China #freedomofthepress www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
Jimmy Lai: conviction of Hong Kong pro-democracy figure decried as attack on press freedom
Rights groups dismiss ‘sham conviction’ of media tycoon on national security offences in city’s most closely watched rulings in decades
theguardian.com
There is absolutely nothing left to the UK but bigotry and spite. A hateful place, you can almost taste it in the air, makes it hard to breathe.
Jess O'Thomson@jessothomson.co.uk · 8mo agoSeems there has been some co-ordination. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Completely crazy that anyone should be able to tradmark the word sabzi (cooked vegetables) in the UK www.theguardian.com/food/comment...
I called my recipe book Sabzi – vegetables. But the name was trademarked. And my legal ordeal began
The granting of patents and trademarks to foods and words from the global south is part of a long colonial grab. It’s time to realise we share what we cook, and what we call it
theguardian.com
My first thought listening to David Lammy on the Today programme as I cycled to work yesterday, was that this has horrific EDI implications. Glad to read that Diane Abbott called him out on this. #JuryReform #UKPolitics #EDI www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Is David Lammy persuaded by his own jury trials proposal? Not sure. But he said it anyway | John Crace
Investment was not enough to save the courts, said the justice secretary. At least, not the amounts he was prepared to put in
theguardian.com
C’mon folks, surely we can make an exception to the Russian sanctions for window safety catches…?
Patrick Dunleavy@patrickdunleavy.bsky.social · 10mo agoRussian newspaper head mysteriously falls 70ft to his death from a window | News World | Metro News metro.co.uk/2025/10/06/r...
Badenoch on Today—backing Jenrick’s “no white faces in Birmingham” comment & making a sharp distinction between multiracial & multicultural societies. Definitely using this in next semester’s teaching. Will she still be Tory leader by then? #Multiculturalism #Teaching #Conservatives
I won‘t claim to be an expert in Japanese politics but a radical right party doing well in elections and the mainstream right party shifting sharply to the right sounds awfully familiar. Let‘s just say good reasons to believe that this won‘t be great for Japan. www.independent.co.uk/asia/japan/j...
Hardline nationalist to become Japan’s first female prime minister
Takaichi is to succeed prime minister Shigeru Ishiba as she wins in run-off against Shinjiro Koizumi
independent.co.uk
When you’ve spent so long on the Parliament of Sri Lanka website that it thinks you’re a bot and locks you out 🤖😂 Just your average day in #Academia, chasing down elusive cabinet details one timeout at a time. #SriLanka #ComparativePolitics #ResearchLife #DigitalFieldwork
This, from a 19 year old in the UK. Heartbreaking. “I’ve experienced more racism in the last 12 months than the rest of my life put together.” #racism #UK www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I thought I was growing up in a racially tolerant Britain. I now realise I was wrong | Rohan Sathyamoorthy
I’ve experienced more racism in the past year than the rest of my life put together – the only answer is for young people to stand up to the far right, says writer Rohan Sathyamoorthy
theguardian.com
This is my big worry for a professional perspective - people need to learn the skills to do their own analysis/research so they can recognise what's wrong. If junior roles get replaced by AI (or even if juniors lean too heavily on it) how do we train the future leaders?
I agree. But this has to be a collaboration. And for it to be a true collaboration, students need a solid foundation of knowledge first. The real challenge? Motivating students to build that foundation before they turn to AI tools. #Academia #HigherEd #AIinEducation
Dismissing the academic merits of ChatGPT is intellectually dishonest
Portraying ChatGPT as a playground for plagiarists is a timid response to AI’s ability to enhance research in all subjects, argues Agnieszka Piotrowska
timeshighereducation.com
It's time. After decades as a Labour voter and supporter I've taken the plunge into Green waters.
The Green Party of England & Wales@greenparty.org.uk · 11mo agoDraw the line. Join the Green Party today ⤵️ join.greenparty.org.uk?utm_source=s...
Unwelcome realisation: standing desk season = cold legs season. Autumn’s creeping in and the home office heating’s not on yet. Might be time for leg warmers to make a comeback? #AcademicSky #PoliSky
🔁 A gentle reminder to ECRs: never throw away your old notes or drafts. That overlong chapter or article draft—yes, the one that’s 5,000 words too long—might just hold the key to your next project. Save it. Archive it. You never know when you’ll return to it with fresh eyes or a new angle.
A plague on publishers who still don’t offer citation files for their books. Yes, Stanford University Press, I’m glaring in your direction. #Publishers #Citations #Academics #MetadataMadness
When a populist increases the size of the military / worry #Indonesia #polisky www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
In Prabowo’s Indonesia, the military is quietly creeping back into civilian life
The retired general who is now president has established 100 new army battalions and plans more – and critics say the move has echoes of the country’s authoritarian past
theguardian.com
“For some senior UN figures, the only conclusion to be drawn from these attacks is that Israel is killing the world’s only available witnesses to the starvation it has visited on Gaza through its policies.” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Israel’s attack on hospital in Gaza may constitute a war crime on many fronts
Double-tap strike suggests killing of civilians, rescue workers and journalists deliberate and not a mistake
theguardian.com
What struck me about this article is how this reflects what happened in India with the BJP mastering the new way of politics #SouthAsiaSky
Professor Katharine Adeney@katadeney.bsky.social · 12mo ago“as …voters are lost, the lion’s share of the windfall goes to those on the…extreme right who have already mastered the gamification of politics…the ability to summon fever dreams of threats (to) be dealt with & prosperity that is just around the corner” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
“as …voters are lost, the lion’s share of the windfall goes to those on the…extreme right who have already mastered the gamification of politics…the ability to summon fever dreams of threats (to) be dealt with & prosperity that is just around the corner” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Democrats are in deep trouble in the US – and Labour is on the way to joining them | Nesrine Malik
When millions of once-loyal supporters become disillusioned with a party, there can only be one result: electoral disaster, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
theguardian.com
In global conflicts tracked by UCDP since 1989, civilians made up a greater proportion of the dead only in Srebenica – although not the Bosnian war overall – in the Rwandan genocide, and during the Russian siege of Mariupol in 2022 www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
Revealed: Israeli military’s own data indicates civilian death rate of 83% in Gaza war
Figures from classified IDF database listed 8,900 named fighters as dead or probably dead in May, as overall death toll reached 53,000
theguardian.com