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bymyong.bsky.social
Ben Yong
@bymyong.bsky.social
2.2K followers 1.4K following 940 posts
"Estimable" Sir Jonathan Jones KC

Associate Prof in Public Law, Durham Law School. Looks at how legislatures and govt works. https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/benjamin-y-yong/

Mastodon: @bymyong@mstdn.social
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Ben Yong
americalabs.org
Some thoughts on the CR/minibus.

1 The Dems negotiating with Rs were not freelancing. They coordinated with Sen Schumer. A few were ready to give in on day one, others worked to maximize appropriations wins.

Those voting for the 'deal' are the ones furthest away from electoral consequences.
November 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
bymyong.bsky.social
Amazing news!
houseoflords.parliament.uk House of Lords @houseoflords.parliament.uk · 17h
Chloe Mawson has been appointed the 66th Clerk of the Parliaments and is the first woman to take up the post.

The Clerk of the Parliaments is head of the House of Lords Administration and Chief Procedural Adviser to the House.
Chloe Mawson, appointed 66th Clerk of the Parliaments
November 10, 2025 at 4:36 PM
bymyong.bsky.social
A really good example of how the arts and humanities matter, and can "contribute"
eicathomefinn.bsky.social Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 22h
What's lost when we lose staff, departments, programmes and faculties in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and what's that got to do with organ donation?

Amid the looming losses faced by Cardiff, Edinburgh, Lancaster, Leicester and Nottingham (among many others), here's a worked example. 1/8
The organ donation ‘opt-out’ has been a fatal failure | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Reposted by Ben Yong
maynoothlaw.bsky.social
We are so glad to announce the new Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence @reveljmce.bsky.social funded by the European Union lead by @tobiaslock.bsky.social alongside some wonderful colleagues across @maynoothuniversity.ie

Make sure to follow @reveljmce.bsky.social for updates!!
November 10, 2025 at 9:43 AM
bymyong.bsky.social
Useless fact of the day: there used to be an Attorney-General of the County Palatine of Durham.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
List of attorneys-general of Durham - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 10, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by Ben Yong
fransplains.bsky.social
If you take a longer view then Anglofuturism is *already* mainstream

doi.org/10.1177/0263...
November 9, 2025 at 9:18 AM
bymyong.bsky.social
Worrying
jenwilliamsft.bsky.social Jennifer Williams @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 2d
Meanwhile the officer corps - upon whom inexperienced politicians heavily rely to make budget decisions, for eg - is depleted, with low morale and increasing difficulty recruiting to the top statutory positions that carry the can for financial/legal failure (why do that when you can be an interim)
November 8, 2025 at 3:41 PM
bymyong.bsky.social
Sake
ucflangs.bsky.social UCFL - University Council For Languages @ucflangs.bsky.social · 3d
The University of Nottingham has announced the suspension of all Modern Languages and Cultures (MLC) programmes from September 2026.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
November 8, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Ben Yong
sherrillstroschein.bsky.social
www.thetimes.com/uk/education...
UCL professor in academic freedom row speaks out on China
Michelle Shipworth compares Beijing’s influence on UK universities to ‘termites eating a house’ after she claims she was pressured to drop a teaching exercise
www.thetimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by Ben Yong
rostaylor.bsky.social
Wrote about this slow, miserable drift away from modern languages for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social last year.

This week's curriculum review won't help either.

www.thenewworld.co.uk/losing-the-p...
November 6, 2025 at 11:58 AM
bymyong.bsky.social
well, this is where we are
November 6, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Reposted by Ben Yong
edzitron.com
I need to be very explicit: there is not enough money in the world to fund OpenAI's $1 Trillion in commitments, and that's across the top 10 private equity firms, all US venture capital, and both Goldman and JPMorgan's direct lending funds. This is very bad.
www.wheresyoured.at/the-case-aga...
The World’s Private Credit and Venture Capital Cannot Afford OpenAI Here’s some alarmism for you: the longer it takes for OpenAI to die, the more damage it will cause to the tech industry. On Friday, when I put out my piece on OpenAI needing a trillion dollars, I asked analyst Gil Luria if the capital was there to build the 17 Gigawatts that OpenAI had allegedly planned to build. He said the following: No of course there isn't enough capital for all of this. Having said that, there is enough capital to do this for at least a little while longer. That doesn’t sound good! Anyway, as I discussed earlier, venture capital could run out in six quarters, with investor and researcher Jon Sakoda estimating that there will only be around $164 billion of dry powder (available capital) in US VC firms by the end of 2025. In July, The French Tech Journal reported (using Pitchbook data) that global venture capital deal activity reached its lowest first-half total since 2018, with $139.4 billion in deal value in the first half of 2025, down from $183.4 billion in the first half of 2024, meaning that any further expansion or demands for venture capital from OpenAI will likely sap the dwindling funds available from other startups. Things get worse when you narrow things to US venture capital. In a piece from April, EY reported that VC-backed investment in US companies hit $80 billion in Q1 2025, but “one $40 billion deal” accounted for half of the investment — OpenAI’s $40 billion deal of which only $10 billion has actually closed, and that didn’t happen until fucking June. Without the imaginary money from OpenAI, US venture would have declined by 36%. The longer that OpenAI survives, the longer it will sap the remaining billions from the tech ecosystem, and I expect it to extend its tendrils to private credit too. The $325 billion it needs just to fulfil its NVIDIA contract, albeit over 4 years, is an egregious sum that I believe exceeds the available private capital in the … Let’s get specific, and check out the top 10 private equity firms’ available capital! Blackstone, as of writing this sentence, has about $39 billion available to invest. An article from the Wall Street Journal from April said it had $177 billion available, which means it’s approaching the point where they just don’t have the cash to issue. KKR has, as of writing this sentence, has $55 billion available to invest. Carlyle Group has, as of August 2025, has $89 billion available to invest. Swedish PE firm EQT had around €50 billion as of July available to invest, or around $59 billion. It’s not clear how much Thoma Bravo has, but this release suggests it’s recently raised $34.4 billion. As of August, TPG had $63 billion available to invest. As of March 2025, CVC Capital partners had around 40 billion euro ($47 billion) in available capital to invest. It’s unclear how much HG Capital has available, but reports suggest it’s been trying to raise €24 billion (or $28.35 billion). It’s unclear how much Hellman & Friedman have available to invest, but it raised a $24.4 billion fund last year. It’s unclear how much Clayton, Dubilier & Rice have available to invest, but it raised a $26 billion fund in August 2023. Insight Partners closed a $12.5 billion fund in January 2025. It is otherwise unclear how much they have to invest. Assuming that all of this capital is currently available, the top 10 private equity firms in the world have around $477 billion of available capital. We can, of course, include investment banks — Goldman Sachs had around $520 billion cash in hand available at the end of its last quarter, and JPMorgan over $1.7 trillion, but JP Morgan has only dedicated $50 billion in direct lending commitments as of February 2025, and while Goldman Sachs expanded its direct private credit lending by $15 billion back in June, that appears to be an extension of its “more than $20 billion” direct lending close from mid-2024. Include both of those, and that brings us up …
September 29, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Ben Yong
colinyeo.bsky.social
In case you missed it: Job ad: Work Rights Centre are recruiting a Trainee Solicitor | Free Movement
Job ad: Work Rights Centre are recruiting a Trainee Solicitor - Free Movement
We’re recruiting a Trainee Solicitor (Immigration and Employment)
freemovement.org.uk
November 5, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by Ben Yong
ukcivilservant.bsky.social
Constitutional guardrails depend on politicians & others adhering to settled standards of behaviour & other norms. These guardrails seem weaker these days. So would public law help c/servants restrain an anti-democratic government? Ben Yong thinks not:
ukcivilservant.substack.com/p/could-the-...
Could the Civil Service Restrain a Populist, Anti-Democratic Government?
I recently recommended Ben Yong’s 16 October UCL lecture about the civil service’s constitutional foundations and how it might respond to a populist government.
ukcivilservant.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Ben Yong
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/geoffmul...
A lot of very important points in a short post
Hollowed out: can the centre hold?
Can the centre hold and resist the far right?
open.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:58 PM
bymyong.bsky.social
A good thread on how social media can normalise abhorrent behaviour
gabyhinsliff.bsky.social Gaby Hinsliff @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social · 6d
So a weird thing happened to me in Aldi that I cdn't quite place until I was listening to Gabby Bertin talking about choking in porn on the radio this am. (NB: this is 100% not a sex thing). Having the usual polite chitchat with the cashier who is tired from working extra shifts to make £ for xmas..
November 4, 2025 at 9:48 AM
bymyong.bsky.social
Lord Dyson also spent a fair amount of his 2024 Birkenhead lecture at Gray's Inn criticising our paper. We still think we're right. See here: www.graysinn.org.uk/app/uploads/...
November 3, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Ben Yong
foundationsofthedigitalstate.com
The next part of my book proposal covers the transition from the analogue to the digital state - from a constitutional and process perspective - how we make state administration in digital systems

digitalpolicy.substack.com/p/the-metamo...
The Metamorphosis
When the Government woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, they found themself changed in their bed into a monstrous vermin.
digitalpolicy.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Reposted by Ben Yong
patrickcobrien.bsky.social
V pleased that my Public Law article on judicial retirement (written with @bymyong.bsky.social) is now open access - see the link in Peter's post below. For those interested, some highlights of our research in this thread:
bsky.app/profile/did:...
edge-law.bsky.social Peter Edge @edge-law.bsky.social · 8d
OBLS is committed to making our research available as widely as possible. So a pleasure to share that @patrickcobrien.bsky.social article on "The decline of the judicial retirement convention, 1950-2020" is now available open access here:

radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/...
radar.brookes.ac.uk
November 3, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by Ben Yong
cmboulanger.bsky.social
Over at the JLS-Blog, we published some thoughts on our recently published edited volume on "Socio-legal Trajectories Across Europe" @naomialderman.bsky.social @jenhendry.bsky.social

journaloflawandsociety.co.uk/blog/meet-th...
Meet the book editors - Socio-legal trajectories across Europe: comparative perspectives | Journal of Law and Society
Christian Boulanger, Naomi Creutzfeldt and Jen Hendry (L-R) Christian Boulanger, Naomi Creutzfeldt and Jen Hendry Socio-legal trajectories across Europe: co ...
journaloflawandsociety.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Reposted by Ben Yong
jobmaynooth.bsky.social
How can academic freedom be maintained when universities have commercial relationships with totalitarian countries like China?

This is a chilling example.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Reposted by Ben Yong
curtbradley.bsky.social
My article on Sovereign Power Constitutionalism is finally out! As I explain, it is difficult to understand the U.S. Constitution’s allocations of authority without understanding the international law backdrop against which the Constitution was written.
lawreview.uchicago.edu/sites/defaul...
lawreview.uchicago.edu
November 2, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by Ben Yong
ukcivilservant.bsky.social
Could the civil service restrain a Reform government?
TL:DR No!
A brilliant recent lecture by @bymyong.bsky.social is here:
ukcivilservant.substack.com/p/could-the-...
Could the Civil Service Restrain a Populist, Anti-Democratic Government?
I recently recommended Ben Yong’s 16 October UCL lecture about the civil service’s constitutional foundations and how it might respond to a populist government.
ukcivilservant.substack.com
November 2, 2025 at 4:32 PM
bymyong.bsky.social
Brass side pond, Durham
November 1, 2025 at 1:58 PM