Sign in

John Cotter

@drjohncotter.bsky.social
2.6K followers 1.5K following 2.2K posts

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.

PostsRepliesMedia
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
That Portuguese national coaches continued to pick and start Ronaldo when an option as good as Gonçalo Ramos has existed for years now was frankly bewildering and wasn’t a good look for those coaches or the entire Portugal set-up.
040
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
On a serious note, there are so many great athletes whose self-belief and determination turn from being a superpower in their prime to a weakness that denies them a dignified retirement as they decline.
110
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Me, on hearing Ronaldo will probably never play for Portugal again.
Reporter in the Simpsons asking Krusty “but why now? why not 20 years ago?”, but adjusted to 5 years.
130
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The old lets-buy-property-in-the-soft-underbelly-of-regulation-and-buy-everyone-a-round-down-at-the-pub playbook.
020
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The worst parts of it are (a) it’s so utterly transparently cynical, and (b) €150k is the smallest large sounding sum of money.
130
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If you’re thinking, there’s no way that the people of rural Ireland will be so easily fooled by the “sound billionaire” act, I’m afraid there are multiple precedents that suggest otherwise.
161
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Dear sir, Please stop harping on about it. Yours, etc., A TD.
020
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The title of your current project would indicate to me that you’re probably doing it right. Not for me to say, of course.
110
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Not an isolated observation btw; it even seems to melt the minds of many highly intelligent people when they become so obsessed as to almost reside in the period.
220
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Ancient Greek and Roman history should come with government health warnings: “Enjoy in moderation; not to be consumed in absence of thought or context; not suitable for idiots”, etc.
150
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I’m afraid I am not all that shocked.
120
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A ‘cultural Roman’ is a man who has watched so many AI-generated YouTube shorts in that robotic narrator voice about the Roman Empire that he now identifies as ‘culturally Roman’.
180
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The ‘cultural Roman’ line. Racist, stupid, and not very original. Often used in the past in England to justify anti-Irish racism, since Ireland, unlike England, was never “civilised” by the Romans.
5154
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I’ll get to the rest of the 114 unopened emails in my inbox later.
041
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Congratulations to Man City on beating the charge.
231
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The thing is, as I’ve moved deeper into academia and away from practice, I’ve moved more and more away from the kind of nitty gritty work I used to actually enjoy quite a bit. I miss it at times. I like chewing over that kind of a problem.
120
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I am working from memory and the Act only lists retained Acts. I think the ones from William I’s era were proclamations which were later (and I can’t say why or by whom) were given status (in Ireland. at least) as legislation. The old retained Acts was from 1204.
020
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Or indeed they seem to forget that they are teaching a cohort that don’t have the basic knowledge in the subject that they take for granted and then teach on top of that assumed knowledge. Again, different rant for another day.
020
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Btw, I see this increasingly; a lot of law academics don’t like law very much or don’t see it as a worthy discipline and so try to teach something that is adjacent to it or is even becoming slowly detached from it, but that’s a different rant for another day.
120
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
And, look, I get that teaching statutes and statutory interpretation well and engagingly is not easy. However, we have to be careful not just to teach what we find interesting. /7
110
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
First, it makes the difference between common law and civil law systems appear much greater than it actually is (nowadays, in practice, major areas of law are regulated heavily by very detailed statutes); second, following my story above, it may leave law students ill-prepared… /7
120
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Instead, the medium through which law in most subjects is taught is cases. This is understandable in terms of bringing law alive and cases are very useful instructionally. They are naturally sources of law in our common law systems too. But, this can have a distorting effect in at least two ways: /6
120
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
They went all the way back to about 1070 if I recall correctly. My biggest claim to fame is that I discovered that technically Poyning’s Law (Irish history students will know) was still technically on the books.
160
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
But when you think about it, most law degrees (the ones I’ve known on these islands anyway) tend to teach some maxims of statutory interpretation in the early weeks of a legal systems or introductory course. Students are rarely if ever forced to engage with statutory interpretation again. /5
310
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
However, that did not prepare me for the mammoth task of getting through a monster like the Customs Consolidation Act of 1828 (I worked on that alone for days and days). /4
110
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
There are plenty of anecdotes from this time, but one of my biggest takeaways was how ill-prepared legal education had made me for this job. At this point, I had two academic law degrees and was a qualified barrister. /3
230
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
We were reading the statutes to determine whether they were still in force, what parts were still in force, and whether they should be retained or repealed. Eventually led to the enactment of the Statute Law Revision Act 2007, which repealed 75% of all pre-1922 legislation. /2
110
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
My first post-education full-time job was as a research assistant on the statute law revision project at the Office of Attorney General of Ireland. I was part of a team that was charged with finding and reading all pre-independence English, Irish, British, and UK statutes. /1
351
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
And if you think that’s escapism it’s not; escapism is continuing to attend the circus and attach significance to whatever nonsense he spouts off the cuff to get a reaction.
030
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Just saw a headline, “Trump about to address UN General Assembly”. In other words, that’s me logging off for the rest of the day.
2162
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It’s odd that dictators (or would-be dictators) are often called strongmen when ‘thin-skinned babies’ would be far more accurate. Trump being a case in point.
050
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
MAGA loves America so much that it actually actively hates America and wants it to be Putin’s Russia but with hotdogs.
030
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
As I always say, many hands make light work of spoiling the broth.
020
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I wonder will Man Utd bring their show to the Edinburgh Fringe next year.
030
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It’ll be like ‘words by Ryan Tubridy, music by the Black-Eyed Peas’.
020
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It’s all fun and games until Ed Sheeran starts writing songs about his recent experiences.
291
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Me, whenever post from Germany addressed to ‘Herrn dr. John Cotter’ arrives…
Paulie from the Sopranos in Naples saying, “Commendatori, like a Commander, I like that, that’s respect.”
060
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It’s the constitutional equivalent of ‘dog bites man’ versus ‘man bites dog’ perhaps.
0104
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Maybe Piddington can get the band back together to negotiate its exit arrangements from and future relationship with the UK…
David Frost lurking, arms folded, looking truculent over the shoulder of a slightly out-of-focus Boris Johnson in the foreground, who while trying to affect a pensive, slightly bemused look actually appears slightly perplexed.
1212
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
In the latest from normal island, an English village’s meaningless stunt vote to leave the UK receives more coverage than an agreement of the leading parties of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales calling for independence referendums. We live in a theme park.
05018
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
As I always say, the “don’t tinker with the constitution” arguments I hear from well-meaning liberals in England are from a position of English privilege.
091
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The fact that all constituent countries and a province could be dragged out of the EU on the basis of an English majority also illustrated how fundamentally unfair and unsuitable the UK and its constitutional arrangements are.
151
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
It is still a matter of wonder to me how ignorant or arrogant or indifferent Brexiters and leave voters were to the impact on the Union Brexit would have.
151
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“We believe the future of our nations belong in the European Union. We want to work together to rebuild and strengthen those European relationships, creating greater opportunities for trade, investment, culture and cooperation.” From yesterday’s agreement of the leaders of the SNP, Plaid, and SF.
1156
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Tbh, I don’t doubt that Trump will send everyone a cheque for $5,000. Right after he gets inflation to Weimar/Mugabe levels.
070
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The great thing about the internet is that everyone is expertly versed on irony and sarcasm.
370
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
But as soon as someone questions it, it’s regarded as an affront. It’s doubly odd because even the GFA regards British sovereignty as changeable or conditional, so it’s evidently not as integral as [insert English county here]. 2/2
020
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I’m always a little confused by more liberal/left British people regarding a preference for a united Ireland as some kind of attack on Britain. The same people are generally almost apologetic about Northern Ireland, portraying British sovereignty as something almost reluctant or embarrassing… /1
440
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
A United Ireland would be renamed Greenland by executive order.
021
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Donald Trump will undoubtedly be applying his considerable intellectual heft and Stakhanovite work ethic to the achievement of a united Ireland.
193