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Joe Hodson

@joehodson.bsky.social

11K followers 64K following 1.2K posts

Paralegal with masters in international maritime law, interested in languages, ethics, governance, environmental protection and human rights. Mythology-loving humanist.

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Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · Aug 11

Greetings to all my new legal bluesky contacts! Allow me to introduce myself:

I have been the paralegal at the small but formidable London shipping disputes firm Sach Solicitors since just before the pandemic.

I am also slowly preparing to take the SQE.

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Reposted by Joe Hodson

ShropsFidgetPie 🇭🇰🇪🇺♿️Trans ally. @shropsfidgetpie.bsky.social · 1h

Please, if you use AI, don't.

This is the horrendous environmental impact it has, regardless of where it's situated. Not to mention the unethical use of artistic copyright breaches the companies have used to train these systems.

Scottish data centres powering AI already using enough water to fill 27 million bottles a year

The volume of tap water used by Scotland's data centres has quadrupled since 2021, figures show.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Joe Hodson

Jewish Voice for Liberation @jvl.org.uk · 13h

The climate promoted by Starmer, Cooper and Mahmood is designed to shut their political opponents out of civil life
Pro-Palestine activist couple have UK bank account closed without explanation
John Nicholson and Norma Turner’s joint retirement savings account was shut by Yorkshire BS
is.gd/ETCPAW

Pro-Palestine activist couple have UK bank account closed without explanation

John Nicholson and Norma Turner’s joint retirement savings account was shut by Yorkshire Building Society

www.theguardian.com

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Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 18h

Unanimity is the political threshold from Hel.

It's why Baldr's still there, after all...

Jorge Liboreiro @jorgeliboreiro.bsky.social · 19h

🚨 Robert Fico confirms he will veto the 19th package of EU sanctions on Russia until he obtains concessions on "how to address the crisis in the automotive industry and the high energy prices that are making the European economy completely uncompetitive."

Reposted by Joe Hodson

Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 23h

The thing about solar geoengineering is that once you start you cannot stop *ever* unless somehow you have already removed all the multi-billions of tons of carbon emitted since the day you started.

If you stop at the higher CO2 concentration you get virtually instantaneous catastrophic heating.

Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 1d

"If geoengineering works well initially & you see this temperature drop, the tempempation to keep going & extracting fossil fuels will be greater than ever, because it will seem that you have a technologically that can cut off the link between temperature rises & fossil fuel combustion."

Overshoot & Climate Breakdown - Wim Carton & Andreas Malm | #39

YouTube video by Jesse Damiani

youtu.be

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Alex Partridge @alexpartridge87.bsky.social · 1d

Aylesbury having a Labour MP is one of those things that still surprises, a year on

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Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 2d

Another field day for Polanski...

Jane Bradley @bradleyjane.bsky.social · 3d

NEW: How a U.S. anti-abortion group has quietly positioned itself as a powerbroker between the Trump administration and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Latest investigation w Elizabeth Dias.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...

They Helped Topple Roe v. Wade. Now Their Sights Are Set on Britain.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Joe Hodson

Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 2d

This is the inevitable outcome of relentless anti-immigration political rhetoric and a media environment which disproportionately amplifies the voices of racists, giving the indication that they are the "voice of the public" rather than the minority they are.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

‘Frightened to get out of their cars’: Britain’s toxic race debates threaten overseas care workers

Staff are being advised to travel in mixed groups and carry panic alarms as incidents of intimidation spread

www.theguardian.com

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Rei Takver @rtakver.bsky.social · 2d

OpenAI *really* isn't hiding its intention to power the AI boom with fossil fuels.

New from me @desmog.com

www.desmog.com/2025/10/13/o...

OpenAI’s New Energy Chief Is a Trump Administration Natural Gas Evangelist

The ChatGPT creator hired John McCarrick, a gas-loving former Trump energy official, to guide how the company will source huge quantities of power for its colossal supercomputers.

www.desmog.com

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Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 3d

Is this the calibre of our reasoning today?

Just start with "done right" without clarifying what that means, garnish with a word salad of vague platitudes about "safeguards", "ethics" and "humility", and let people project what they want those things to mean onto your power-concentrating policy?

LabourList @labourlist.bsky.social · 9d

'Done right, digital ID could restore trust in the state' argues Dan Howl

‘Done right, digital ID could restore trust in the state’ – LabourList

Trust is the lifeblood of any modern democracy, and the foundation of every successful digital system. And so, in the case of Digital ID, Government…

labourlist.org

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Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 3d

The thing about René Girard's theory that sacrificing a scapegoat placates society's bloodlust is that you'd think it would have worked by now.

Hadn't this theory already been falsified by the, erm, aftermath of the Munich Agreement?

Or am I missing something?

Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 3d

Hard to see a satisfactory solution for students or professors short of decommissioning data centres.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 3d

Like a piece of shit eating itself.

University Using AI to Falsely Accuse Students of Cheating With AI

Australian Catholic University used an AI tool to falsely accuse students of cheating us an AI, taking months to clear their name.

futurism.com

Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 3d

And conflating the roles of lawyers and the opposition is further constitutional illiteracy. They are there to uphold the rule of law and help their clients, in that order - not to compete for votes and prepare a viable alternative programme of government.

Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 4d

I would actually prefer it if Parliament made provision that human rights etc. automatically supersede incompatible statutes because they are what it values most highly, but that's not where we're at.

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Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 4d

The illustration is constitutionally illiterate, misleading conspiratorialism.

Parliament is free to overturn case law. Judicial review doesn't overturn statutes.

If any law firms are undermining democracy, it's the ones bringing extortionate ISDS claims, not Leigh Day and the like.

Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 6d

Wrote about Leigh Day, the law firm behind every other case against the British state right now. From equal pay to polluted rivers to alleged war crimes www.economist.com/britain/2025...

Meet the real opposition

From ambulance chaser to ministerial Range Rover chaser

www.economist.com

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Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 6d

I had not watched Question Time for aeons and the best part of that was the pleasant surprise of a panel of (mostly) xenophobes being made to squirm by a much more reasonable audience, to the point where Yusuf accused the audience of being unrepresentative.

How typical is that these days?

Anita R @venividiverily.bsky.social · 6d

I could watch Zack Polanski utterly wreck Zia Yusuf ALL DAY LONG.

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Meg @prayingmantis.bsky.social · 6d

An outspoken antifascist US-born citizen was stopped from leaving the US. This should terrify you.

(BTW, this is not to imply this is ok for non-citizens or naturalized citizens.)

US anti-fascism expert blocked from flying to Spain at airport

Rutgers University professor who published book on antifa was informed at boarding gate that his trip was cancelled

www.theguardian.com

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Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 6d

Thame.

Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 6d

... finally, the upwardly biased ESG ratings are less informative of future ESG news. Overall, the business incentives of rating providers appear to engender ESG rating bias".

Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 6d

"after their acquisitions by the credit rating agencies (CRAs), ESG rating agencies issue higher ratings to existing paying clients of the CRAs... the upwardly biased ESG ratings help client firms issue more green bonds and enable the CRAs to maintain credit rating business...

John Hogan Morris @johnhoganmorris.bsky.social · 6d

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Do Commercial Ties Influence ESG Ratings? Evidence from Moody's and S&P

We provide the first evidence that conflicts of interest arising from commercial ties lead to bias in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings. Using the acquisitions of Vigeo Eiris and Ro...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 6d

*being sortition

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Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 6d

Wait, what?

I'd agree that the current House of Lords reforms are too timid (the most principled method of upper chamber composition bring sortition imo) but getting all misty-eyed about the good old days of aristocratic power is just ludicrous, especially for leftists.

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LittleGravitas, →EU immigrant, UK→ emigrant, anti-Brexit @catanonim.me · 7d

~ Brexit has done nothing to stem sharp decline of UK fish populations, shows study | Fishing | The Guardian ~

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/08/brexit-nothing-stem-decline-uk-fish-populations-study

Brexit has done nothing to stem sharp decline of UK fish populations, shows study | Fishing | The Guardian

Experts call for urgent strategy to end overfishing as report shows just 41% of stocks of species such as cod and mackerel considered healthy

www.theguardian.com

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Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 6d

σχέτλιος ὀβριμοεργὸς ὃς οὐκ ὄθετ' αἴσυλα ῥέζων

(Rash man, worker of violence, that recked not of his evil deeds - Iliad 5.403)

Hettie O’Brien @hettieobrien.bsky.social · 7d

“Blair may be creating new realities, but few would want to inhabit them.” - excellent piece from Oliver Eagleton on Tony Blair’s imperial fantasies www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Why Tony Blair just can’t kick the habit of imperial interference in the Middle East | Oliver Eagleton

The Blair-Trump fantasy for postwar Gaza shows the former PM still thinks that free enterprise can solve all the world’s ills, says associate editor at the New Left Review Oliver Eagleton

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Joe Hodson

Opportunity Green @opportunitygreen.org · 8d

📢 NEW BRIEFING 📢 Europe's ports are pollution hotspots – and it's a human rights issue.

Our new briefing reveals why port pollution could land governments and companies in legal trouble.

🧵 1/5

#ClimateSky #GreenSky #LawSky

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Joe Hodson @joehodson.bsky.social · 8d

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten these little hands...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9d

Trump: "I want to be good because you want to prove to God so you go to that next step, right? So that's very important to me."