This is an informal talk I gave at a 2-day conference on 26-27 June 2026 in honour of my partner, Costas Douzinas. Talks and eulogies were given by critical legal scholars, philosophers, political theorists, and political researchers – all very erudite and serious. But I had the task of speaking about the ‘personal Costas’, as well as embarrassing him. I did my best. The first thing Costas sees when he wakes from sleep in our Bloomsbury flat, is Sophia Kalogeropoulou’s Od

What does it mean to be human? We inhabit a world that is commonly, and lazily, dubbed ‘post-human’. Indeed, in recent decades, an anti...

God, the source of natural law is dead: long live international law, with its hallowed spectre, human rights. State-sponsored terror,...

Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s ‘Girl Making a Dog Dance on Her Bed’ was painted in the late 1760s. The painting is typical of his decadent...