Professor Adrian Blau

2026 KCL Political Theory Conference We invite submissions from graduate students in political theory and adjacent disciplines, including but not limited to political philosophy, social and critical theory, history of political thought, ...

📢 Call for Papers
KCL Political Theory Graduate Conference | 22 May 2026 (in person, London)

We invite submissions in political theory & related fields from Graduate students.

🎤Keynote: Prof. Bernardo Zacka (MIT)
⏰ Deadline: 2 Feb 2026 (11:59pm GMT)

🔗 For more info: philevents.org/event/show/1...

CFA for the LSE Graduate conference, 28-29 May 2026. Submit your abstracts by 22 February here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Even in the AI era, learning to quickly "read" an academic article is an essential skill.

When I started grad school, I thought I had to read every word, in order, for every article I "read".

I don’t do that anymore.

Here’s how I "read" most academic articles:

DHS post: Today, Border Patrol agents who were in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area as part of a targeted enforcement operation were repeatedly harassed and blocked by hostile crowds while simply trying to take bathroom breaks. At each gas station where the agents stopped to use the restroom, groups of agitators appeared, yelled at them, stalked them, and even tried to prevent law enforcement vehicles from leaving, creating unsafe conditions. At one stop, individuals in the crowd threw food at the agents. At their final gas station stop, someone spit on an agent. When an agent moved to detain the person who spit on him, the crowed tackled and attacked the agents while surrounding them.

As a transsexual I can't tell you how thrilled I am that fascists are feeling unsafe in bathrooms.

Disabled son of ICE detainee dies after 30 days of hospitalization It had been months since Wael Tarabishi seen his father. The family is calling on ICE to release Maher Tarabishi so he may attend his son's funeral.

In October, ICE grabbed Maher Tarabishi.

He was a 24/7 caregiver for his disabled son Wael.

At the time of Maher’s detention, disability advocates warned that taking away Wael’s caregiver put his life at risk.

Wael died on Friday at age 30.

ICE caused his death.

They didn’t get to say goodbye.

2 Postdoctoral positions in Intellectual History at the Department of History - Ledig stilling på Aarhus Universitet Ledig stilling ved Institut for Kultur og Samfund - Historie, fag, Aarhus Universitet

2 Postdoc positions in Intellectual History at Aarhus!
www.au.dk/om/stillinge...

Rescuing Socialism from Equality Abstract. Karl Marx rejected the ideal of equality as bourgeois. And yet the most significant attempt in recent years to distinguish socialist theory from

academic.oup.com/mind/advance...

NEW: A lost portrait of Robert Burns has been found after more than 200 years 🖌️

The painting, by Sir Henry Raeburn, was found during a house clearance and was consigned to auction with a starting price of £300-£500

It is now on display at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh

A screenshot of Lala and Po from the teletubbies. The screenshot is clearly taken from someone's phone, as the borders of the tv can be seen, as well as glimpses into the apartment behind them. Po is in bed wrapped up in a blanket. The text below them reads "I know you were high at my mother-in-laws funeral..."

More screenshots from the Teletubbies. Lala seems to be upset with a terrified Po. the text below reads "Did you kill the dog? Why would you do that?!"

A third screenshot from the Teletubbies, this time the same scene as before. Po is wearing an apron while Lala seems to still be upset at him. The text below reads "You're nothing but a failure of a man."

In the 2010s, the Icelandic tv station Channel 2 accidentally added subtitles from a gritty crime drama to an episode of Teletubbies.

I have translated some of the highlights

From Senator Chris McDaniel: “Lately, some folks have taken to calling ICE “the Gestapo.” It sounds fierce. It feels righteous. But it isn’t true, and it isn’t harmless. The Gestapo was a secret police force. No warrants. No courts. No lawyers. And no appeals. People vanished in the night, not because they broke the law, but because the law no longer meant anything. The knock on the door was the sentence. ICE isn’t that. Not even close. ICE is a public agency enforcing laws passed by elected officials. Its agents file reports. They seek warrants. They lose cases. Judges stop them. Lawyers challenge them. Some detainees go home. That’s not tyranny. That’s bureaucracy, for better and worse. You can hate immigration policy. You can argue enforcement is too harsh, too sloppy, or too broad. You can work to have the law changed if you wish. That’s a republic doing what it’s supposed to do. But when you call ordinary law enforcement “the Gestapo,” you cheapen real evil. You turn history into a slogan and suffering into a metaphor. And once every badge is tyranny, no tyranny is left to recognize. In Mississippi, I was raised to believe words should earn their weight. This one hasn't yet. It throws around the language of dictatorship while living under a system where courts still rule, lawyers still argue, and the government still loses. That difference matters. Because the day enforcement becomes secret, unchecked, and answerable to no one, we won’t need to borrow names from history. We’ll know exactly what we’re dealing with. And we’ll wish we’d kept our words honest.”

“ICE isn’t the Gestapo. The Gestapo was…” (proceeds to describe qualities that apply to what ICE is currently doing)

Agree. And not just students!

Ditto Hobbes.

"No, Hobbes didn't actually say that."

"No, Hobbes didn't actually think that."

"No, Hobbes wasn't actually that stupid."

I don’t think people quite understand that the occupation by ICE in the Twin Cities has more or less erased non-white people from public life. They cannot safely exist in any space accessible to the public and moving between private places leaves folks vulnerable to kidnapping by armed masked goons.

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When a reviewer "invites" you to cite their papers:

Don't be fooled by the name, the Oxford Comma is American and used to hide poor writing. Just ask JFK, Stalin and the strippers.

Politicians: don't use AI to make your maps.

Amid Iran's internet blackout, there are concerning reports of large scale killings by security forces.

Hear from HRW's Executive Director Philippe Bolopion on the emergency situation in Iran:

🔔The University of Vienna invites applications for at least 40 funded doctoral positions across the Social Sciences & Humanities to do your own research project and choose your preferred supervisor.
❗Application deadline: March 2, 2026
👇Check eligibility here:
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Farage, who had previously said mass deportations were a "political impossibility", said his party had now come up with "a credible plan, so that we can deport hundreds of thousands of people over the five years of a Reform government". During the news conference, Farage asked Reform UK chair Zia Yusuf whether it was realistic to deport 500,000-600,000 people within the lifetime of the first Parliament under a Reform UK government, to which he replied "totally, yeah".

A sobering thought: were Nigel Farage to become Prime Minister then the terrifying scenes from Minneapolis would become terrifying scenes here.

🔔 We're launching our Bluesky account today! Can you help us spread the word by retweeting this post? 😀

#Theoria #diamondopenaccessjournal

This is the largest uprising in the 47-year history of the Islamic Republic.

- protests in 100+ cities in 31 provinces
- mass strikes in 50+ cities
- millions on the streets in protest
- 35 universities have student protests
- 45 protestors killed

In Tehran, security forces’ vehicles are ablaze 👇

A friendly reminder that no ICE officer has ever been killed in the line of duty in a hostile incident.

Being an elementary schoolchild in America is far more deadly and dangerous than being an ICE officer.

An email from Martin Peterson to university administrators.

Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).

Andy Borowitz referring to infected Nazi testicle Stephen Miller as “Pee-Wee German” has made my evening.

A book sits on a wooden shelf with a vase behind it. On the red cover three Doric columns are topped by the texts Plato: A civic life: Carol Atack

The paperback of my 'Plato: a civic life' will be published on March 1st. I'll be doing some more talks and podcasts in support, and will add details to this thread as they're confirmed. More info and a pre-order link here: reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/plato

Andor seasons 1 and 2. Very clever writing.

With this regime anything is possible…

Ah, I understand - thank you!

In that case, I wonder if it would be more helpful for students if you explain when such phrases are pap and when they can be made meaningful. A mere list won't teach them as much!

I don't have a problem with any of these phrases. What am I missing?

"In comparison to Rorty, Rawls provides a nuanced understanding of how to model impartiality."

"Fricker adds theoretical depth to an old idea."

"Tommy Shelby gives a balanced view of Rawls on race, in contrast to Charles Mills."