John Cotter
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drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter
@drjohncotter.bsky.social
2K followers 1.5K following 1.1K 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.

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John Lambert Cotter was an American archaeologist whose career spanned more than sixty years and included archaeological work with the Works Progress Administration, numerous posts with the National Park Service, and contributions to the development of historical archaeology in the United States. .. more

Political science 29%
Materials science 18%
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drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · Sep 8
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.
drjohncotter.bsky.social John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · Aug 28
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...
www.europeanpapers.eu

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 19h
Yes, but I’m being serious.

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 20h
Hand some civil servants one of those nostalgic jigsaw box covers of an English village and say, “there, you go boffins, make that; here’s £250m a week to do it.”

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 20h
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.
pickardje.bsky.social Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 1d
good to see people keeping a sense of perspective

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 1d
The gravest hazard that US Americans face to the functioning and endurance of their Republic is monarchy.
steadystatevets.bsky.social The Steady State @steadystatevets.bsky.social · 1d
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.

Reposted by Will Jennings, John L. Cotter, Justin Lewis

pickardje.bsky.social
Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 1d
good to see people keeping a sense of perspective

Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Steve Peers, John L. Cotter , and 1 more

steadystatevets.bsky.social
The Steady State @steadystatevets.bsky.social · 1d
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.

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 2d
Psychologically, again being charitable, he seems to be drawn to big characters who are ratings worthy and who he perceives to be winners. So there’s an affinity with Putin (even if there isn’t something more sinister underpinning it). It’s also why his gushing over Mamdani isn’t that shocking.

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 2d
As I say, that’s the most charitable view. The reality could be much more sinister than that.

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 2d
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.

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 4d
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.

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 9d
‘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.

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 11d
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…”

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 14d
I was kind of ahead of the curve on this, if I may say so myself.
drjohncotter.bsky.social John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22d
This is what happens when you stop reading books and published articles and are exposed only to X posts by Crusader1488 and the like.

Reposted by John L. Cotter, Laurent Pech

jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social
Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 15d
🇪🇺⚖️🇵🇱 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/
alemanno.bsky.social Alberto Alemanno @alemanno.bsky.social · 20d
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...
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

Reposted by Steve Peers, Tobias Lock, John L. Cotter

reveljmce.bsky.social
REVEL Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence @reveljmce.bsky.social · 15d
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/...
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

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 16d
Scraping that tacky crap off the wall will be the most therapeutic job in the world once Trump is out of office.
paleofuture.bsky.social Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 16d
Just a little more gold and it will be perfect
Trump in the Oval Office of the White House with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The walls are decorated with tacky gold bullshit https://flic.kr/p/2rE6s9j

Reposted by Timothy Snyder, Will Jennings, Christopher Wright , and 3 more

paleofuture.bsky.social
Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 16d
Just a little more gold and it will be perfect
Trump in the Oval Office of the White House with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The walls are decorated with tacky gold bullshit https://flic.kr/p/2rE6s9j

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 18d
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.”
rolandmcs.bsky.social Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 18d
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.

Reposted by Will Jennings, Steve Peers, John L. Cotter , and 1 more

rolandmcs.bsky.social
Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 18d
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.

Reposted by John L. Cotter, Laurent Pech

alemanno.bsky.social
Alberto Alemanno @alemanno.bsky.social · 20d
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...
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

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 20d
The second half was torture though. Watched it through my hands.

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 20d
FC Bayern just beat the European champions in Paris, while down to ten men for half of the game. Incredible stuff.

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22d
It’s a fair point. It seems to be from Rogan. Longer versions are on YouTube. But yes, it is difficult to trust anything anymore.

Reposted by John L. Cotter

joenoonan.bsky.social
Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 22d
Monday’s paper. @irishexaminer.bsky.social #housing #EU
Front page

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22d
This is what happens when you stop reading books and published articles and are exposed only to X posts by Crusader1488 and the like.

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22d
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.
implausibleblog.bsky.social Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 22d
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"

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Will Jennings, Brendan Nyhan , and 18 more

implausibleblog.bsky.social
Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 22d
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"

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 22d
Pep Guardiola finally recognising Graham Taylor for the visionary he was with this beautiful Christmas tree formation.
Man City Christmas tree formation

drjohncotter.bsky.social
John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 23d
The people have failed Brexit; it is time to dissolve the people and elect a new one.
rolandmcs.bsky.social Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 23d
A Brexiter writes...