John Cotter

A quick look at Judge Jakab’s academic career and his work would demonstrate how unfair the piece is.

I’m not imagining this: even the Punctuation of Ems in which German bishops attempted to assert more control over the Church within Germany was eventually rendered ineffectual and is described by the author as the dog that did not bark.

Actually, it’s more like Gallicanism versus papal supremacy with the people who suggest some kind of extra judicial body to mediate differences between the CJEU and national constitutional courts being conciliarists.

I am reading a book by Ambrogio A. Caiani on the history of the Catholic Church in the Enlightenment (excellent so far, btw), and I can’t help but see parallels between the debates on the primacy of EU law in the whole conciliarism versus papal supremacy debate that existed in the Church.

We’re mostly to be found in Co. Cork. To the extent that there are people in Tipperary Town that have never heard the surname.

This is actually a new form of Trump golf called golf entertainment. It isn’t fake; the outcomes are just pre-determined.

To counteract the Soviet threat, the imperial presidency went into overdrive and the fiscal-military state many of the founders had feared (see the Second Amendment, for instance) became a permanent fixture.

I suspect when looking through the long lens of history we’ll see that the Cold War was the slow destruction of the Soviet economy and an even slower destruction of US democracy.

Nowadays, they’ve got a social media bubble, algorithms, mainstream media commentators, as well as major political figures from almost all parties to assure them their racism is actually legitimate concerns about immigration.

People used to be made to feel a bit thick and ignorant about their racism. We need to bring that back.

In jurisprudence, Karl Llewellyn. Very turgid prose. Interestingly, a much better writer in his non-native German.

“Great Minds Discuss Ideas. Average Minds Discuss Events. Small Minds Discuss People.” - Eleanor Roosevelt.

I can’t remember the last time I heard the BBC politics team discuss ideas; it’s basically that comment about politics being show business for ugly people.

It is a problem that the BBC politics team believe themselves to be nerds and observably are not, they're just gossips.

But seriously, let’s listen to the guy with the golden toilet on the aesthetics of energy generators.

Wasn’t Simon Jenkins over at the Guardian only saying a few days ago that Trump has an eye for beauty? At this point, they should let generative AI write the silly season opinion pieces.

Next thing you know numbers will be woke and Trump will be demanding Count von Count is fired from Sesame Street.

That was a great watch. The idea to demolish the Bank of Ireland is the most impressive one.

Trump: “Do you think AI can create the extra jobs we need?”

Aide: “Yes, I believe AI can make up jobs.”

The Nordics are on to something.

Subconscious calculation? Hmm. Unreflective selfishness. You know what I mean.

And before you say, “just ask/tell them to move their bag”. Sure, and then I’ve got to sit in the aura of a deeply unpleasant person for the rest of the journey. Which is a conscious or subconscious part of their calculation of course.

There’s a special place in hell for people who on crowded trains with available bag space, plonk their bag down on the seat beside them. For them and their bag.

All because they don’t trust themselves to book the Four Seasons.

“… [T]he White House is currently unable to host major functions honoring world leaders and other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building entrance.”

Genghis Khan: “What’s wrong with a large tent?”

Is it even parody though? He’d do it if it crossed his desk.

If Trump visited the Liberty Bell, he’d come away saying: “And we’re going to fix the Liberty Bell. It’s terrible what happened to the Bell under previous administrations. We’re going to fix that crack and ring it on Liberation Day. It’s going to be so beautiful. Maybe we’ll coat it in gold.”

While the rooms are similar, their surroundings and how they are treated, curated and how they are received by visitors or non-visitors are quite different and quite revealing (I think) about what these constitutions mean to their publics.

Today I visited the building in which the German constitutional convention of 1948 took place (Herrenchiemsee) and in June I visited Independence Hall, where the US Constitutional Convention took place in 1787. A lot of thoughts occur, which I’ll try to commit to paper in the near future.

In small doses being the operative. Twain is a bit like Wilde; entertaining, but I’d imagine if you spent a good deal of time with him, you’d be saying “not the f—king time, Mark” more than once.

Grainne de Burca of @eui-eu.bsky.social announces her alma mater @ucdschooloflaw.bsky.social as the host of the 2026 annual conference of ICON-S #ICONS2026 @icon-s.bsky.social