Kevin Hjortshøj O’Rourke

Careful now.

Also a President of the @resmedia.bsky.social , first and very long-standing editor of the @theeconjournal.bsky.social , and included in the first batch of Fellows of the @britishacademy.bsky.social

That was just so that it was spelled the way that it is pronounced by the people living there....

Also a textbook case of how people need to coordinate before issuing statements. Putting all 27 (and the UK would have been useful here also) into a room to discuss things would probably have avoided some of the more embarrassing solo runs we have seen in the past few days.

European citizens are longing for principled leadership on this. If it could be combined with a strong commitment to effectively help Ukraine and deter further anti-European aggression (not a difficult thing to accomplish intellectually) leaders would be on to a winner you'd think.

His grave can be found close to the Economics Department and is worth a visit: a corner of an English field that is forever Ireland.

Francis Edgeworth died 100 years ago on 13 February 1926. I gave a little paper about him at a very jolly event held in Oxford to mark the occasion, available here:

www.sciencespo.fr/department-e...

#EconSky #econhist

There's a lot to be said for respecting international law.

"Queens University Belfast…on departing posted: 'We are currently not using X (formerly Twitter). This decision reflects our commitment to ensuring that our communications take place in spaces that are respectful, inclusive and aligned with the University’s values.'"

The majority of UK academic institutions now no longer post on X - LSE Impact For the first time, more UK universities and associated organisations are inactive on X than active.

"When I last updated this data, more than 50% of UK universities were still posting on X. However, a tipping point has now been reached with more institutions now off X than on it."

I think that would have to be decided as a matter of policy by the Society running the journal in question. I would be in favour of such a policy.

Presumably

Why should anyone put any effort into any of this if cheaters can game the system in this way? The entire academic publishing model is under threat and it doesn't seem to me that we are dealing with this behaviour with anything like the required degree of urgency.

I have just come across a case of academic fraud -- a paper with citations to non-existing papers. I know that this is happening elsewhere but I am furious. Too many people -- editors & referees -- put in too much time (often unpaid) trying to ensure quality for this to be even remotely acceptable.

A democratically elected veto player that sees things from a pan-EU perspective can only strengthen European bargaining power. It needs to be clear to everyone, including foreign interlocutors, that the EU Commission can't just sign up to any old thing and expect it to sail through the Parliament.

At what stage does the EU demand vaccination certificates from Americans seeking to enter our countries?

To state the obvious they are making it up as they go along. And you'd be mad to agree a trade deal with them.

Donald Trump’s global tariff takes effect at 10% US president had said he would raise levy to 15%

The benefits of trade deals entered into in a world without MFN can always be eroded by subsequent bilateral trade deals or across the board tariff policies. One of the many reasons why countries in the past adopted MFN and why we should respect Article 1 of the GATT

www.ft.com/content/61c2...

The US ambassador to France has failed to show up to a diplomatic summons - now banned from meeting French government officials

Jared Kushner's dad was called in after comments regarding the death in Lyon of radical far-right student Quentin Deranque

The EU Parliament has paused the US trade deal ratification process. A vote tomorrow morning of the trade committee hass been postponed.

Anna Cavazzini , trade policy spokesperson for the Greens/EFA group, said: “. Given the current enormous uncertainty, a vote would be unjustifiable."

Pure tariff chaos from the US administration. No one can make sense of it anymore — only open questions and growing uncertainty for the EU and other US trading partners (1/3)

How far back in time can you understand English? An experiment in language change

Really enjoyed this.
www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/how-far-ba...

And there are so many others!

Rather than telling ourselves that we have to “catch up” to some imagined goal of normalized AI use in higher education, Columbia should take advantage of its prominence as a university to propose something better, like classrooms free of screens, oral examinations, and an end to slippery, relativistic standards on AI use from university administrators. Our response to AI is an opportunity to distinguish Columbia as a reservation where minds are developed without the crutch of a chatbot. As incoming University President Mnookin begins to navigate Columbia’s many financial and political threats, she should reassert the true value of a liberal arts education: learning for learning’s sake

The administrators might have been conned by the AI hucksters, but the students, my friends, are all right.

(The author is a history and economics major, I'll note.)

www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2026...

If the EU believed that this ‘deal’ would prevent the US from raising tariffs when the fancy next struck it then it was pretty naive. But in any event the fact that you can’t trust Trump to stick to any deal he signs was always a good reason for the European Parliament to refuse to ratify Turnberry

Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin speaking in the Wren Library in Trinity College, Cambridge,

Taoiseach Micheál Martin speaking at Trinity College, Cambridge, to mark the announcement of Professor Alvin Jackson as the first holder of the Childers Professorship in Modern Irish History, a new university chair endowed by a donation from the government of Ireland.

Only one week left to propose a paper for the joint economic history-Indigenous economics meeting August 21-23 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
Send 1-2 page extended abstract to David Rosé (darose@wlu.ca) & Rob Gillezeau (rob.gillezeau@rotman.utoronto.ca) by February 27!
economichistory.ca

SCOTUS have just given the EU the opportunity to wriggle off the hook and the European Parliament should seize the opportunity with both hands.

The Turnberry deal violated the most basic principle of the GATT, MFN. It rewarded the US for breaking the law. It confirmed the impression that the EU is weak which leaves us vulnerable to further coercion. It was made with a partner whose word means very little and who is hostile to the EU.

Hopefully today’s SCOTUS decision on tariffs will mean the end of the preposterous EU-US trade ‘deal’. And hopefully the EU will be more respectful of the fundamental principles governing international trade, in particular MFN. Let the US exit the system if they want, let’s not help them destroy it.