PIL, IHL, IHRL, Russian area studies PhD Liverpool Hope New Book: Russia and Human Rights: The USSR, Russian Federation and Change Amazon: https://xitter.cf/t.co/170nGKy4US

Liverpool, England.
Joined February 2024
'It is by doubting that we come to investigate, and by investigating that we recognize the truth.’ - Peter Abelard (c. 1079 – 1142)
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Britain added 3.7 million new payroll jobs since 2014. British workers got 734,000 of them. Workers from outside the EU got 2.5 million. EU citizens got another 408,000. That comes from payroll data analyzed by the Centre for Social Justice, Iain Duncan Smith’s think tank. In the same week, the same think tank put this year’s working-age benefit bill at £136.1 billion.
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Cal De Burgh retweeted
You know things aren’t going good in your country when the globe-trotting carbon neutral keffiyeh-clad justice for Hamas activist flies in to take selfies in your burning streets.
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Navi Pillay’s Nobel Peace Prize: A vote of confidence in international justice The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to distinguished South African jurist and human rights champion Navi Pillay is a historic moment for South Africa and a powerful affirmation of the importance of international law and accountability at a time when the global legal order faces mounting pressure. In this article, Professor Frans Viljoen of the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, reflects on Pillay’s extraordinary contribution to international justice, from her pioneering work at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court to her leadership as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Pillay’s connection with the Centre for Human Rights spans decades. In 2001, the Centre honoured her with its Women in Law Award, and in 2009, the University of Pretoria awarded her an honorary doctorate following a nomination by the Centre and Faculty of Law. Her influence extends beyond courtrooms and international institutions. She has consistently made time for students, sharing her knowledge and experience with the next generation of human rights advocates. She also supported initiatives to introduce young people to international human rights law, including the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition, launched in 2009 during her tenure as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Her enduring relationship with the Centre reflects a deep commitment to ensuring that future generations understand, defend and renew the institutions and principles on which international justice depends. Read Professor Viljoen’s reflection on Navi Pillay’s legacy and why her Nobel Peace Prize matters at a time when international justice needs to be defended. Read the full article: chr.up.ac.za/opinion-pieces/…
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Read his two plans side by side. Burnham’s government is looking at ID checks so you have to prove your age before using social media. The same government wants to scrap photo ID at British polling stations, with an early election on the cards. One rule protects the vote. The other tracks the voter. Guess which one they’re keeping.
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People need to understand clearly what is happening here. Andy Burnham has never been a fan of Britain’s democratic decision to leave the European Union in 2016. The referendum was one of the biggest democratic processes in modern Britain, with strong views on both sides. The Prime Minister now claims officials told him that Russia interfered in the referendum. Burnham used his first speech at the UN to announce the creation of the National Centre for Information Defence. He said it would tackle Russian misinformation that sows division, interferes in our democracy, spreads false narratives about Britain and pushes people towards the “far right”. But today, a Foreign Office minister slapped down that claim, saying Russia was not successful in influencing the Brexit referendum. It is clear that this new centre will almost certainly be used to clamp down on those who do not subscribe to Burnham’s vision of Britain or the progressive orthodoxies he promotes. It looks as if Andy Burnham is now spreading misinformation about misinformation — the very thing he claims threatens democracy.
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Cal De Burgh retweeted
“Navi Pillay has shown what courage, integrity and an unwavering belief in human rights and the law can achieve.” — @UNHumanRights chief @volker_turk says Navi Pillay’s #NobelPeacePrize is a collective win for human rights and all those seeking justice and accountability.
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Cal De Burgh retweeted
Warmest congratulations to my dear friend and former UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay on the Nobel Peace Prize! She has shown what courage, integrity and an unwavering belief in human rights and the law can achieve. Thank you, Navi, for inspiring us all.
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Cal De Burgh retweeted
“Navi Pillay has shown that the force of law must prevail over the law of force.” @antonioguterres congratulates our colleague Navi Pillay on winning this year’s #NobelPeacePrize, saying the award is a tribute to all those working to uphold and defend international law.
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Cal De Burgh retweeted
Dans 50 ans, les livres d'histoire diront qu'Elon Musk a gagné une guerre que personne ne savait qu'on était en train de perdre. Une guerre commencée il y a 100 ans, dans une cellule de prison italienne. En 1926, Mussolini fait arrêter un intellectuel sarde de 35 ans. Au procès, le procureur aurait dit : « Nous devons empêcher ce cerveau de fonctionner pendant vingt ans. » Il s'appelait Antonio Gramsci. Son cerveau n'a jamais cessé de fonctionner. En prison, il a rempli des milliers de pages qui sont devenues l'un des textes politiques les plus influents du XXe siècle. Je pense qu'on est en train de vivre le moment où sa théorie s'effondre. Laissez-moi vous expliquer. Gramsci se posait une question simple. Pourquoi la révolution communiste a-t-elle réussi en Russie mais échoué partout en Occident ? Sa réponse : en Occident, le pouvoir ne tient pas seulement par l'État, la police et l'armée. Il tient par la culture. Par ce que les gens trouvent normal, évident, « de bon sens ». Il appelle ça l'hégémonie culturelle. Donc, pour prendre le pouvoir, il ne faut pas d'abord prendre le palais. Il faut d'abord prendre les esprits. Les écoles. Les universités. Les journaux. Le théâtre. L'édition. Les tribunaux. C'est la « guerre de position » : une conquête lente, institution par institution. Quand la culture a basculé, la politique suit toute seule. Quarante ans plus tard, l'activiste allemand Rudi Dutschke en fera un slogan : la longue marche à travers les institutions. Pendant des décennies, on a vécu avec une énigme que personne n'arrivait vraiment à expliquer. Pourquoi presque tous les artistes sont-ils de gauche ? Les acteurs, les chanteurs, les profs, les journalistes, une bonne partie de la magistrature. Pourquoi un pays pouvait voter à droite élection après élection et voir quand même sa culture parler d'une seule voix ? On nous répondait : « c'est parce que les gens éduqués sont de gauche. » Je crois que la réponse est plus simple. Gramsci avait écrit la recette, et elle a été appliquée. Quand tu contrôles qui obtient la subvention, le poste, la bonne critique, le prix, l'invitation sur le plateau, tu contrôles ce qui devient « la culture ». La même énigme existait à l'échelle du monde. Pourquoi tant de pays en développement, notamment en Amérique latine, revotaient-ils encore et encore pour des gouvernements socialistes ou de gauche radicale ? Venezuela, Bolivie, Nicaragua, l'Argentine des Kirchner, la Colombie de Petro. L'économie s'effondrait, les cartels prospéraient, le chaos s'installait. Et pourtant le même vote revenait. Ma conviction : la pauvreté n'était pas un accident du système. C'était un électorat. Et autour, il y avait tout un écosystème d'ONG, de médias « indépendants » et de programmes de « société civile », financé en grande partie par l'argent occidental. Puis, début 2025, il s'est passé quelque chose que personne n'avait jamais osé faire. Elon et DOGE ont ouvert les livres de USAID. Une agence quasi intouchable depuis 1961, des dizaines de milliards de dollars par an. La grande majorité des programmes ont été coupés, et l'agence a été absorbée par le Département d'État. Le robinet a été fermé. Et regardez ce qui s'est passé depuis. Bolivie : le MAS perd le pouvoir après presque vingt ans. Équateur : Noboa réélu. Honduras : la droite reprend le pays. Chili : Kast élu. Argentine : Milei remporte largement les élections de mi-mandat. Et il y a deux jours, le Brésil. Jair Bolsonaro est inéligible, condamné à 27 ans de prison. La gauche pensait avoir refermé le chapitre. Lula, 80 ans, briguait un quatrième mandat face à un pays qu'on disait acquis. Dimanche, son fils Flávio est arrivé en tête du premier tour. Plus de 47 % contre près de 45 % pour Lula. Lula lui-même a reconnu un résultat « inattendu ». Le plus grand pays d'Amérique latine est à un second tour de basculer. Le plus grand virage à droite du continent depuis des décennies. Coïncidence ? Je ne crois pas. Quand le financement disparaît, le récit perd ses haut-parleurs. Il reste un dernier vrai bastion. L'Europe. Bruxelles finance ses propres réseaux d'ONG, avec une opacité que même la Cour des comptes européenne a pointée. Les grandes fondations comme l'Open Society de Soros. Les entités supranationales qui produisent de la norme sans jamais passer devant un électeur. C'est la dernière forteresse de l'hégémonie culturelle. Et elle commence à se fissurer. Je suis convaincu que tout ça va s'effondrer, et plus vite qu'on ne le pense. Gramsci avait raison sur un point essentiel : la culture précède la politique. Mais il avait oublié que ça marche dans les deux sens. Quand une culture artificielle perd ses perfusions, ce qu'il y a de vrai en dessous remonte à la surface. Ce qui vient après, je crois que c'est une renaissance. Une culture qui recommence à aimer la beauté, l'ambition, la science, la civilisation qui l'a fait naître. Et dans les livres d'histoire, on se souviendra que tout a commencé quand un homme a décidé de regarder les comptes. Il fallait quelqu'un d'assez riche pour ne dépendre de personne, d'assez fou pour s'y attaquer et d'assez libre pour encaisser la haine qui allait suivre. Merci Elon.
USAID sounds nice. US AID. As in the US is aiding the poor in need. That’s not what USAID was. It was the US Agency for International Development. Which funded regime changes and far Left causes. It spread Communism. It wasn’t about feeding the poor. It created the poor.
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The police will literally beat you unconscious to make sure that illegal immigrants have the right to rape your kids
Gosport shows they are governing by brute force. They aren’t hiding it or pretending anymore. They know we know and they don’t care.
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Notice how those who are telling you that burning a bystander’s face constitutes protesting against insufficient funding for schools are also repeatedly scaremongering about the rise of the ‘far right’ in Europe.
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The power to define your own ethnos is a mark of autonomy. Having outsiders define it for you is a mark of subjugation. Every ethnos is both real and constructed. Construction and inheritance are not opposites. “Constructed” becomes a criticism only when it’s politically useful.
How come other countries get to enjoy the sovereignty of… you know… being a country. Yet as an American, my country is just an “idea”? After all, it’s a lot easier to justify invading idea. Isn’t it?
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Cal De Burgh retweeted
You keep using the word 'nonsensical' while trying to define a people through bureacratic mandate. My family are my family because of blood, not because of paperwork. Institutions and legal documents do not create reality. An Afghan does not become my kin because a document says so.
What makes someone English?
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“If misinformation really were the threat ministers describe, one would expect its footprint to be visible in what people believe.” Labour are planning to build the most restrictive apparatus of speech control since Charles I. The evidence it relies on does not survive contact with reality. In July, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy flounced off X, taking her government department with her, blaming mis- and disinformation for her departure. Weeks earlier, her department had published its green paper, Watch this Space, which suggests platforms be compelled by law to give prominence to “regulated public service media” such as the BBC. Meanwhile, Lucy Powell, Labour’s Deputy Leader, wants platforms brought under “some of the same requirements” of accuracy and balance as licensed broadcasters during election campaigns. Beneath this sits a single document: a 136-page “evidence review”, commissioned by the Government Office for Science (GO-Science) from a seven-person team at Sheffield University. Its authors made no attempt to establish what was actually true or false online. Instead, by their own account, they relied on summaries generated by large language models of 228 academic papers they had not read. More significant is what the review missed. A Nature paper by Budak and her colleagues states that “public intellectuals and journalists frequently make sweeping claims about the effects of exposure to false content online that are inconsistent with much of the current empirical evidence”. Visits to 490 websites deemed “untrustworthy” made up just 5.9 per cent of Americans’ clicks on news sites; with television included, “fake news” accounts for roughly 0.1 per cent of the average media diet. “This reality,” the authors observed, “is not reflected in public discourse about social media.” Britain has been here before. In July 1637, the Star Chamber of Charles I decreed that nothing might be published without a licence from approved authorities. The Government’s case rests on a review that read nothing, measured nothing, and ignored the research that contradicted it. The case for the most far-reaching apparatus to restrict peacetime speech since the ousted Stuart king amounts to misinformation about misinformation. Read more from FSU Director of Policy and Research @DavidRoseUK in The Critic and his report below 👇
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The UN mask slips.
Policies and choices that perpetuate poverty and inequality are a form of oppression. We need a fundamental rethink of our economic systems to turn them towards fairness, equal participation, and human rights. ohchr.org/en/statements-and-…
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I see post after post saying, “Imagine if the roles were reversed.” But who are they appealing to? You were scammed into seeing Western civilization as morally tainted, then finessed into surrendering it as “justice.” Now you’re asking the scammers to be fair to you? Look at the scam. Over decades, left theory subverted the institutions and it recoded the structures of Western civilization one by one as forms of oppression trapping real human potential. Property became exploitation. Family became patriarchy. Nation became exclusion. Western history became colonialism. Inherited institutions became privilege. Traditional norms became hierarchy reproducing itself. The vocabulary changed, but the move stayed the same: locate domination inside the inherited form, then make liberation mean overcoming it. There's no manifesto saying “Western civilization must disappear;” that would have given away the game. The attack arrived concealed and piecemeal: tear down patriarchy, expand diversity, equity, and inclusion, deconstruct the norm, decolonize the curriculum, redistribute the power, abolish the hierarchy. Each demand looked local. Together, they taught you that the recognizable parts of Western civilization were the things humanity needed to get past. Eventually the conclusion formed in your own head: maybe the problem is that my civilization still exists in recognizable form. Maybe humanity reaches something freer and more genuinely human only after it moves beyond the institutions, boundaries, norms, and inheritances that made Western civilization what it was. Then came the scam that closed the deal: the good things were detachable from the civilization that had produced and carried them. Freedom, prosperity, science, cooperation, technology, social trust. These became universal human goods trapped inside bad historical forms. Western civilization was recast as the shell. The goodies were inside it. Break the oppressive shell. Keep the goodies. That was the scam. You were taught to surrender Western civilization because you were promised that everything worth keeping would somehow improve after its destruction. You aren't going to get anywhere by appealing to the people who scammed you.
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Cardinal Ernest Simoni was clandestinely ordained a Catholic priest in Communist Albania, the first country to officially ban religion. On Christmas Eve 1963, after celebrating Mass for the repose of the soul of President John F. Kennedy, Simoni was arrested and sentenced to death for his "crime" of refusing to bow before the false altar of communism. His sentence was later commuted to 25 years of forced labor in the notorious Spaç Prison camp. Powered by his faith, Simoni endured his sentence, secretly celebrating Mass and hearing the confessions of fellow prisoners, risking execution if caught. VOC was truly honored to host Cardinal Simoni, a living martyr, at the Victims of Communism Museum.
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Cal De Burgh retweeted
Just so we're clear... We've had years and years of Islamist thugs roaming our streets masked up, Muslim women in burqas and left wing mobs hiding their identities. That's acceptable. A few words of mild concern, but generally nobody cared. But now is when the establishment acts? After just ONE protest of concerned patriots who were looking to highlight the invasion of our country. One protest from them, and the entire political establishment jumps into action. Where was that passion before? Labour, Reform, Tories. The police, the media. Now is when they all passionately agree that face coverings are unacceptable and must be banned? Our establishment is rotten to the core and must be replaced.
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