Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rob Mullins

@robertmullins.bsky.social

460 followers 580 following 1.5K posts

Law lecturer, University of Queensland. My views are not the views of my employer.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · Jun 16

My article "Does Nature Need Rights?" (coauthored with the wonderful Lulu Weis), forthcoming in the OJLS, is now available open access: academic.oup.com/ojls/advance...

Does Nature Need Rights?

Abstract. Rights of nature (RoN) appear to provide a promising alternative to anthropocentric environmental rights. But do they meet the demands of transfo

academic.oup.com

2 4 17

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 5h

"born at Harvard" this has triggered me. Born in Rome in the 13th century would be much more accurate!

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 5h

It's awful. Trans men (and nbs too) are so often just ignored.

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 6h

I remember talking to a friend who has followed this more clsoely than me and saying, "but surely they think that feminists should be speaking up for trans men--they're afab after all". She just stared at me sympathetically.

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 19h

I told some transphobes on here that they had pickled their brains in transphobia and then I felt awful all afternoon. I think some liberals just find it really unpleasant *not* to be nice.

1 8

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 19h

Throw this LLM bubble into the mix and we're cooking, baby. bsky.app/profile/fint...

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 20h

BANK OF ENGLAND FPC: RISK OF A SHARP MARKET CORRECTION HAS INCREASED || EQUITY MARKETS ARE PARTICULARLY EXPOSED SHOULD EXPECTATIONS AROUND AI BECOME LESS OPTIMISTIC

Reposted by Rob Mullins

Ed Morrish @edmorrish.bsky.social · Apr 25

new labour's approach to the fact that people who graduate from university have, on average, better lives - which was: get more people into university - had some flaws, but on the whole i prefer that to the current system of "destroy universities so no-one can benefit from them"

4 16 95

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 19h

Is Beccaria a big deal in Italian law faculties? He's unduly neglected in English language schools.

1 1

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 23h

*Except for those of them who are trans men. For some reason it is ok to ignore them.

1 3

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 23h

These folks are blowing up the spot. You are meant to say that you love trans people--dignity and respect etc--and that although it brings you significant sadness, it just so happens that the rights of "biological women"* trump the rights of trans people every time.

Jolyon Maugham KC @goodlawproject.org · 1d

Because of the unforgivably appalling decisions of the Charity Commission, these hate groups, Sex Matters and LGB Alliance, are funded from your taxes.

1 6

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 1d

Cheers!

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 1d

I'm curious as to why you think (c) would be unlawful. I am sort of inclined to think that if (b) is not permitted then (c) is the best of the bad options.

1 1

Reposted by Rob Mullins

Ashleeee 🌊🪭 @reactiveashley.bsky.social · 1d

1/🧵 In summary, I made a point that is likely to be unique in this consultation (unless my friends copy my answers).

First, having cis-only hours is wrong, even if that’s the safest move from an overly cautious legal standpoint. They should just take it to the court or perhaps table a local Act.

Ashleeee 🌊🪭 @reactiveashley.bsky.social · 1d

I just published My response to the Hampstead Heath Bathing Ponds consultation 🏳️‍⚧ - Ashleeee
medium.com/@notashley/m...

My response to the Hampstead Heath Bathing Ponds consultation 🏳️‍⚧️

Please state whether you agree or disagree with the following options for the future operation of the Highgate Men’s Pond and the Kenwood…

https://medium.com/@notashley/my-response-to-the-hampstead-heath-bathing-ponds-consultation-️-️-237f398bbf8f

1 4 16

Reposted by Rob Mullins

noam chompers @noamchompers.bsky.social · 1d

Went to high school with David. Hadn’t heard until now he was on the flotilla (though I have been aware of him doing good work for years). Good for him

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: David Adler—a Jewish American on the Gaza aid Flotilla—details Israeli detention.

At one point, he says, he was forced to his knees for a photo op with the Israeli flag, as Ben Gvir yelled in his face, calling him a terrorist.

Says US "hung up" on families of Americans, veterans seeking help.

EXCLUSIVE: Freed Flotilla Activist David Adler Details His ‘Violent Abduction’ by Israel

The Jewish American writer says Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir specifically targeted him, forcing a photo op with the Israeli flag and calling him a “terrorist.”

zeteo.com

2 4 24

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 1d

They are incredibly brave.

1 1

Reposted by Rob Mullins

Tim Lyons @picketer.bsky.social · 1d

I did collective bargaining negotiations as a job for a couple of decades, and the boss asking for a clause that says "but maybe we will not pay this" is what is called in the trade A Very, Very Bad Sign With Flashing Lights On It That's Also On Fire.

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 2d

'Staff at some institutions will not get even get the small rise due to them because of a clause in the negotiations that allows for a delay for up to 11 months if a university is facing financial difficulties.' So far, Dundee, Kent, Brunel, Coventry, Swansea.

Five UK universities tell staff they can’t afford pay rises

Negotiations over whether to honour 1.4 per cent increase ongoing at several other institutions amid financial crunch

www.timeshighereducation.com

2 3 25

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 1d

I hear very bad things about UCU.

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 2d

E.g. this in The Atlantic, which afaict, is just a straightforward inability to grasp the idea of statistical power.

“We often ask parents, ‘Would you rather have a dead son than a live daughter?’” Johanna Olson-Kennedy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles once explained to ABC News. Variations on the phrase crop up in innumerable media articles and public statements by influencers, activists, and LGBTQ groups. The same idea—that the choice is transition or death—appeared in the arguments made by Elizabeth Prelogar, the Biden administration’s solicitor general, before the Supreme Court last year. Tennessee’s law prohibiting the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to treat minors with gender dysphoria would, she said, “increase the risk of suicide.”

But there is a huge problem with this emotive formulation: It isn’t true. When Justice Samuel Alito challenged the ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio on such claims during oral arguments, Strangio made a startling admission. He conceded that there is no evidence to support the idea that medical transition reduces adolescent suicide rates."

1 1

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 2d

It's not a debate I know very well, but even if you understand basic statistics there have been a few tells more recently that the "skeptics" are overplaying their hand. I do think we should care more about evidence quality.

1 2

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 2d

Do you happen to know the evidence base with respect to use of blockers in e.g. precocious puberty? I'd be curious.

3 2

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 2d

I had no idea about this!

1 2

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 2d

I started thinking about this because it struck me how uncannily reminiscent of e.g. the me too era this is. These stories are more or less out in the open now, but because the only people reporting on it are survivors or trans they are ignored.

1 3

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 2d

We have lots of problems, but it does seem to help in Australia that no one city has all of the political and cultural power. Everything seems so London-centric and insular in the UK.

1 9

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 2d

If people are looking for a good entryway to this whole debate, to the extent that I had any doubts about what was happening with Cass etc, this guy's intervention settled them: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Trans health care "skeptics" lost a key ally—now they're having a meltdown

The godfather of evidence-based medicine on rejecting anti-trans "misuse" of his work.

www.motherjones.com

2 13 49

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 2d

The whole family were just wiped for a week. Without making it sound too dramatic: I was coughing up blood. I think the vaccine was based on the wrong strain this year.

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 2d

If I were an investigative journalist in the UK (are there any left?), I would be having a good look at the extent to which NHS leadership seems to have allied itself with a fringe medical movement that more or less condones conversion therapy. qnews.com.au/australian-r...

Australian report says UK’s Cass review should not guide transgender healthcare

QNews LGBTIQA+ News

qnews.com.au

12 190 530