Dr Patrick O’Brien
@patrickcobrien.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer in Public Law at Oxford Brookes. Research: judges, judging, public law and constitutional theory.
The best thing you can say about this is that it’s going to be impossible to implement with the education system and economy the UK currently has. There are of course lots of less kind things that could be said about it. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Burnham to tell schools in England to adapt teaching to local business needs
PM wants curriculums for students aged 14 and above to be more responsive to local jobs market
theguardian.com
Always remember the first rule of judicial independence: which litigant do we like? www.thetimes.com/comment/the-...
Prince Harry should lose his title as a counsellor of state
The Duke of Sussex’s attack on the judiciary is part of a regrettable pattern
thetimes.com
In years to come, AI and search is going to offer a fascinating case study of just how and why Google et al built a product that worked really well and made them a shedload of money, and then proceeded to demolish the functionality of that original product because they got bored or something.
Daniel Knowles@dlknowles.bsky.social · 4w agoThis is why I ultimately think AI will get much less useful pretty soon as a general purpose research tool. That is, it won't actually have access to most of the web any more. You'll have to upload your own information to it
What is fascinating about the debate over whether the Chancellor can refuse Farage’s resignation is the marginalisation of Parliament on a decision affecting one of its own members. 1/4
"Electric bikes are just unregulated motorbikes" is one of my (hopefully) few grumpy old man opinions. Either speed limit them or require riders to pay tax and insurance. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
‘I felt my spine and body split’: the woman who was hit by a child on a Lime bike – and denied compensation
The collision was catastrophic. Jane Ouartsi suffered a fractured collarbone, two spinal fractures, a broken femur that took three operations to fix, and she had to learn to walk again like a baby. Wh...
theguardian.com
New impassioned rule of law defence emerges from, um, UEFA and Sepp Blatter. www.rte.ie/sport/soccer...
FIFA's Balogun decision 'crossed a red line' says UEFA
UEFA says FIFA's decision to suspend a red card shown to United States striker Folarin Balogun "crossed a red line".
rte.ie
OSCOLA wants us to reject the Latin cites. Join me, fellow schismatics, in rejecting this rejection of the authority of Rome.
Dr Patrick O’Brien@patrickcobrien.bsky.social · last mo.Have been radicalised by OSCOLA 5 and now contemplating a future as an ibid truther.
Have been radicalised by OSCOLA 5 and now contemplating a future as an ibid truther.
You could annoy the entire internet at once by renaming air conditioning “a/cky bits”
Recently diverted some old All ER reports from the bin. This Lexis thing sounds interesting, hope it works out for them.
Call me crazy, but what if we run universities out of former mines? Will they care then?
Twlldun@twlldun.bsky.social · 2mo agoGoing to say that if you use a chisel down t’pit, it’s going to take you *fucking ages* to get any coal out
“By ignoring the chickens who had NO CHOICE but to cross the road, your so-called joke contributes to the exclusion of poultry narratives from our shared consciousness“, I explain to my young son, in one of our classic social interactions.
News Eye@newseye.bsky.social · 2mo agoBREAKING: The UK Government confirms that Bluesky will be INCLUDED in the ban on social media for under 16s. The government said it will be BANNED because it is a “user-to-user platform who purpose is to enable social interaction.”
I don't know what this means to anyone, but my kids have come home from school delighted about the social media ban, and are only disappointed that it doesn't include WhatsApp.
What if the enforceability of a ban on social media is not actually the point? Kids and tech is a massive social coordination problem that has been left unresolved. A ban is a social signal and if nothing else gives parents, schools and kids themselves a starting point.
Bluesky probably not the audience for this, but if you are still on X and wavering, just have a think about who will have sole control of your legacy account, content, and personal data if and when access to the website is finally blocked from the UK/Europe.
Ketan Joshi@ketanjoshi.co · 2mo agoI've been a broken record on this for three years and I'll be a broken record for as long as that fucking website exists: X is a viciously racist far-right organising platform that ONLY WORKS because a huge number of centrists, lefties and progressivs cannot stop propping it up
The UK needs a formal written constitution. Ok, ok, but hear me out: the last decade has shown with absolute clarity and consistency that the unwritten constitution is dead. No more good chaps, no more quiet dignity, and fewer civil servants quietly smoothing things out in the background.
Alexander Clarkson@aphclarkson.bsky.social · 2mo agoThis is how you start the ball rolling on legitimising self-destructive policy outcomes you never wanted in the first place
We can't look away from the images of families fleeing burning houses without calling this out as a pogrom, whipped up by influential actors who care nothing for the people of Belfast: www.irishnews.com/news/norther...
All policy advice on the internet now takes the form ”you can solve X with this one weird AI trick, says guy selling AI”. And honestly I preferred it when the one weird trick was about doctors hating it when people eat bananas.
Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · 2mo agoPeer-reviewed papers are ‘old hat science’, says millionaire investor. Candy Crush businessman Mel Morris says universities “must embrace AI” to transform into economic powerhouses. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-i...
Hailstones the size of marbles in 30 degree heat is quite the meteorological curveball
If we’re honest, who amongst us *hasn‘t* urged our successor to repeat the same profound strategic errors that we made, that shaped the multifactorial geopolitical crises we face, that have gradually become the only thing we’re remembered for, that mean we can’t look at ourselves in the mirror…
Tim Bale@timbale.bsky.social · 2mo agoHe’s fully and finally turned into the caricature that the Labour left had of him when he was in government, hasn’t he?
www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/m... "They let a bunch of athletes take whatever drug they wanted and it basically made no difference" is the funniest possible outcome to this.
Enhanced Games claim ‘we changed the world’ but only one record broken and three clean athletes win
Gkolomeev’s 50m freestyle record in 20.81sec brings relief for Enhanced Games organisers amid glitzy hyperbole in Las Vegas
theguardian.com
About time. Looking forward to philosophy students being sent down into the philosophy mines, with strict instructions to reconcile the dialectic.
Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · 2mo agoUniversities must provide more of the types of experiences that would once have been gained during first graduate job, says Manchester vice-chancellor
Love that the high concept placeholder name for the Aldi Brewdog clone clearly made it through a marketing meeting completely unscathed, and someone just ran with it
Look, ok, on the one hand successive govts have deliberately collapsed international student numbers for no apparent reason, but, on the other hand, they’re also doing everything they can to discourage domestic students from going to university too.
Giles Wilkes@gilesyb.bsky.social · 2mo agoUK universities cut jobs, research and teaching amid squeeze in overseas students - www.ft.com/content/ded7... I don't really understand why any administration would not try to reverse the fall in overseas student numbers, but I guess I'm a naive liberal
There is the parallel disease of performative policy (observed often in universities): initiatives designed primarily to advance the career of the proponent, who will typically have advanced to the next level of management/another university before their name becomes a curse word for colleagues.
David Henig@davidheniguk.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe curse of performance management. The mistaken belief that you can measure high performance. In both public and private sector I've seen nothing more likely to damage staff morale. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Given the amount of emails I now get containing the phrase "I kindly request", I have to conclude that either AI is not what it's cracked up to be, or ChatGPT hangs out with some really passive aggressive lawyers.
But what if I need to wear my glasses to be able to see the tiny screws that need to be tightened on my glasses? What then?
Hot of the electronic press by me in Verfassungblog: a personal take on the symbolism of the Irish fuel protests in April.
Verfassungsblog@verfassungsblog.de · 3mo agoA rejoinder to Suryapratim Roy’s take on the Irish fuel protests as a marriage of fossil and racial capital. PATRICK O’BRIEN argues that the far-right hijacked a real national archetype – the Men with Tractors. verfassungsblog.de/on-men-and-t...
