John Cotter
@drjohncotter.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer in Law at Keele University, England. Research in EU constitutional law, especially defence of democracy, and impeachment. Irishman living in Cheshire. Views are my own.
Pinned
John Cotter
@drjohncotter.bsky.social
· Sep 8
My latest article ‘Democracy Manifest? Ensuring the EU Legislature’s Democratic Legitimacy
in the Face of National-Level Autocratisation’ has just been published online and open access in European Papers: www.europeanpapers.eu/en/system/fi...
in the Face of National-Level Autocratisation’ has just been published online and open access in European Papers: www.europeanpapers.eu/en/system/fi...
www.europeanpapers.eu
Last mention of my most recent article on how - as a last resort - EU law can be (re-)-interpreted to protect the democratic legitimacy of its legislature in the face of Member State autocratisation.
British discourse is degenerating to the point that in a decade all criminal trials will be tried by judges and sentencing will be done by the comment section of the courts service YouTube live stream.
November 25, 2025 at 10:55 PM
British discourse is degenerating to the point that in a decade all criminal trials will be tried by judges and sentencing will be done by the comment section of the courts service YouTube live stream.
We could just take one of the uninhabited British Overseas Territory islands (like Inaccessible Island) and convert it into some kind of Daily Mail/Spectator/Telegraph readers’ Disneyland.
November 24, 2025 at 8:21 PM
We could just take one of the uninhabited British Overseas Territory islands (like Inaccessible Island) and convert it into some kind of Daily Mail/Spectator/Telegraph readers’ Disneyland.
The gravest hazard that US Americans face to the functioning and endurance of their Republic is monarchy.
A federal judge didn’t “steal” the Commander-in-Chief’s powers—she ruled that DoD exceeded the limits Congress set. That is the rule of law working as designed. What threatens the Republic isn’t judicial review, but officials who insist they’re above it.
November 24, 2025 at 11:21 AM
The gravest hazard that US Americans face to the functioning and endurance of their Republic is monarchy.
Part of Trump’s problem with international relations (to be very charitable) is that he is an unsophisticated real estate man with no understanding of statecraft. He wants Ukraine out of his in-tray and doesn’t have the patience to do any real thinking about what follows.
November 23, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Part of Trump’s problem with international relations (to be very charitable) is that he is an unsophisticated real estate man with no understanding of statecraft. He wants Ukraine out of his in-tray and doesn’t have the patience to do any real thinking about what follows.
Reposted by John Cotter
Delighted to announce that we are the REVEL Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence @maynoothuniversity.ie. We will be organising a host of activities over the next 3 years on "Realising European Values and European Law" (REVEL). Stay tuned (follow us) for more.
www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/...
www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/...
School of Law and Criminology awarded Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence
Maynooth University’s School of Law and Criminology has just opened the new Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, entitled “Realising European Values through European Law” (REVEL). Following a
www.maynoothuniversity.ie
November 10, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Delighted to announce that we are the REVEL Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence @maynoothuniversity.ie. We will be organising a host of activities over the next 3 years on "Realising European Values and European Law" (REVEL). Stay tuned (follow us) for more.
www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/...
www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/...
Some people clearly think they have the luxury of electing clowns like Boris Johnson or Donald Trump. And then something serious like Covid happens which directly and undeniably affects them.
November 20, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Some people clearly think they have the luxury of electing clowns like Boris Johnson or Donald Trump. And then something serious like Covid happens which directly and undeniably affects them.
‘Racists have feelings too’ has been the mantra of ‘sensible’ politics for well over a decade now. And in making a racist omelette, sometimes you have to break the odd vulnerable minority group or fundamental international human rights norm, they remind us, as if we’re being unreasonable children.
November 16, 2025 at 10:54 AM
‘Racists have feelings too’ has been the mantra of ‘sensible’ politics for well over a decade now. And in making a racist omelette, sometimes you have to break the odd vulnerable minority group or fundamental international human rights norm, they remind us, as if we’re being unreasonable children.
I spent the whole afternoon listening to Celtic mysticism music (Clannad, Fainne Lasta, those kind of artistes) trying to get in touch with my ancestral voices, when a Druid appeared to me on a vision of the Cliffs of Moher and said, “Lo behold, that Dan Hannan is an awful feckin’ eejit…”
November 13, 2025 at 9:28 PM
I spent the whole afternoon listening to Celtic mysticism music (Clannad, Fainne Lasta, those kind of artistes) trying to get in touch with my ancestral voices, when a Druid appeared to me on a vision of the Cliffs of Moher and said, “Lo behold, that Dan Hannan is an awful feckin’ eejit…”
I was kind of ahead of the curve on this, if I may say so myself.
This is what happens when you stop reading books and published articles and are exposed only to X posts by Crusader1488 and the like.
November 10, 2025 at 8:59 PM
I was kind of ahead of the curve on this, if I may say so myself.
Reposted by John Cotter
🇪🇺⚖️🇵🇱 I keep thinking about this story, how the rule of law gladiator @profpech.bsky.social pushed back against the composition of a rule of law seminar organised by AFCO and, in the end, in a very Laurent Pech fashion, withdrew entirely. What kind of "bad people" do we want to talk to? 1/
How is the EU Parliament selecting experts to its public hearings and seminars?
AFCO first disinvited me from a public hearing on EU electoral law, and then created the conditions for @profpech.bsky.social to step back seminar thegoodlobby.eu/how-the-eu-p...
AFCO first disinvited me from a public hearing on EU electoral law, and then created the conditions for @profpech.bsky.social to step back seminar thegoodlobby.eu/how-the-eu-p...
How the EU Parliament Selects its Experts? | The Good Lobby
Recent incidents involving the EU Parliament's AFCO Committee have raised questions about the instrumentalisation of parliamentary procedures.
thegoodlobby.eu
November 10, 2025 at 10:40 AM
🇪🇺⚖️🇵🇱 I keep thinking about this story, how the rule of law gladiator @profpech.bsky.social pushed back against the composition of a rule of law seminar organised by AFCO and, in the end, in a very Laurent Pech fashion, withdrew entirely. What kind of "bad people" do we want to talk to? 1/
Scraping that tacky crap off the wall will be the most therapeutic job in the world once Trump is out of office.
November 8, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Scraping that tacky crap off the wall will be the most therapeutic job in the world once Trump is out of office.
In the David Frost biopic, the next part would be a cheesy montage in which Frost leafs through library books at night, skips stones across a canal, types frantically, stares at an ideas board, before bursting into a meeting out of breath and saying, “we need to rejoin the European Single Market.”
He's going to 'make the case for markets' despite screwing up Britain's place in a very large one, and putting up trade barriers.
November 6, 2025 at 10:28 PM
In the David Frost biopic, the next part would be a cheesy montage in which Frost leafs through library books at night, skips stones across a canal, types frantically, stares at an ideas board, before bursting into a meeting out of breath and saying, “we need to rejoin the European Single Market.”
FC Bayern just beat the European champions in Paris, while down to ten men for half of the game. Incredible stuff.
November 4, 2025 at 10:04 PM
FC Bayern just beat the European champions in Paris, while down to ten men for half of the game. Incredible stuff.
They used to warn about believing your own press; now they need to warn about believing the replies to your posts on the social media platform you bought. The man’s brain is fried.
Elon Musk, "These lovely small towns in England, Scotland and Ireland, they've been living their lives quietly. They're like hobbits"
"And so one day, 1,000 people show up in your village of 500 and start raping the kids"
"This has now happened, God knows how many times in Britain"
"And so one day, 1,000 people show up in your village of 500 and start raping the kids"
"This has now happened, God knows how many times in Britain"
November 2, 2025 at 8:49 PM
They used to warn about believing your own press; now they need to warn about believing the replies to your posts on the social media platform you bought. The man’s brain is fried.
Pep Guardiola finally recognising Graham Taylor for the visionary he was with this beautiful Christmas tree formation.
November 2, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Pep Guardiola finally recognising Graham Taylor for the visionary he was with this beautiful Christmas tree formation.
The people have failed Brexit; it is time to dissolve the people and elect a new one.
November 1, 2025 at 8:29 PM
The people have failed Brexit; it is time to dissolve the people and elect a new one.
Business idea: subscription app for politicians which does live comparisons of how performatively evil their party and others are being and automatically switches membership to the most evil. Would take care of correspondence, direct debits, social media posts, comms, etc. Called ‘direct defect’.
October 31, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Business idea: subscription app for politicians which does live comparisons of how performatively evil their party and others are being and automatically switches membership to the most evil. Would take care of correspondence, direct debits, social media posts, comms, etc. Called ‘direct defect’.
If history had gone differently, he’d just be plain old Mr Battenberg Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
October 30, 2025 at 8:10 PM
If history had gone differently, he’d just be plain old Mr Battenberg Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
In my experience when someone says “no pun intended”, the pun was almost certainly intended.
October 30, 2025 at 8:08 PM
In my experience when someone says “no pun intended”, the pun was almost certainly intended.
Reposted by John Cotter
I'm saddened to learn that the reactionary legal project launched by Adrian Vermeule overseas has now found an official home in the UK at Surrey Law School (as if some of the stuff coming out of Oxford Law wasn't enough). Unsurprisingly, their first 'research project' is to attack the ECHR system /1
October 28, 2025 at 9:25 PM
I'm saddened to learn that the reactionary legal project launched by Adrian Vermeule overseas has now found an official home in the UK at Surrey Law School (as if some of the stuff coming out of Oxford Law wasn't enough). Unsurprisingly, their first 'research project' is to attack the ECHR system /1
Could be Trump’s cabinet.
Tonight's classic documentary is The World at War, and the talking head descriptions are something else
October 28, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Could be Trump’s cabinet.
It’s a sign of the unseriousness of our times that men like Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson can get reputations as straight talkers while rarely saying anything sufficiently specific to pin down while winking at their audience.
October 27, 2025 at 7:42 PM
It’s a sign of the unseriousness of our times that men like Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson can get reputations as straight talkers while rarely saying anything sufficiently specific to pin down while winking at their audience.
Reposted by John Cotter
Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
October 27, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
Unfortunately, this is quite fitting in an age in which entertainment has become more important than the business of governing. Or perhaps, government has become entertainment, would be to put it better. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
How Trump’s ballroom will dwarf the White House
Trump’s new 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom would be almost as large as the rest of the complex.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 26, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Unfortunately, this is quite fitting in an age in which entertainment has become more important than the business of governing. Or perhaps, government has become entertainment, would be to put it better. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
There’s this really annoying thing where if you don’t listen to the Beatles for a year and then put on Revolver one day it sounds *absolutely amazing* and you want to tell everyone how absolutely amazing Revolver is but there’s no way of doing that without sounding absolutely nuts.
October 24, 2025 at 9:15 PM
There’s this really annoying thing where if you don’t listen to the Beatles for a year and then put on Revolver one day it sounds *absolutely amazing* and you want to tell everyone how absolutely amazing Revolver is but there’s no way of doing that without sounding absolutely nuts.