Emma Patchett
@eepwrites.bsky.social
Lecturer in Law at Northumbria- diaspora legal theory / law and literature/ critical border studies / law and film/ place, migration & human rights
Enjoyed presenting at the @rgs.org conference on loitering and PSPOs in the panel 'Geographies of Justice: mapping legal, carceral and civil societal notions of an elusive concept'. Thank you to Anna Schliehe @unibonn.bsky.social for organising!
September 4, 2026 at 7:48 AM
Enjoyed presenting at the @rgs.org conference on loitering and PSPOs in the panel 'Geographies of Justice: mapping legal, carceral and civil societal notions of an elusive concept'. Thank you to Anna Schliehe @unibonn.bsky.social for organising!
Critical Legal Pedagogies of Race and Empire Network Launch youtu.be/G405Pax_H28?...
Critical Legal Pedagogies of Race and Empire Network Launch
YouTube video by Foluke Ifejola
youtu.be
September 1, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Critical Legal Pedagogies of Race and Empire Network Launch youtu.be/G405Pax_H28?...
“Vagabonds rove. We travel about and pick up work wherever we go. We wander, drift, stagger, wink. Reluctant to be pinned down, we're enticed by risk, restless if we linger, fueled by curiosity and a sense of wonder” youtube.com/watch?v=SSZY...
August 26, 2026 at 9:12 PM
“Vagabonds rove. We travel about and pick up work wherever we go. We wander, drift, stagger, wink. Reluctant to be pinned down, we're enticed by risk, restless if we linger, fueled by curiosity and a sense of wonder” youtube.com/watch?v=SSZY...
'the engagement with time is different, involving repertoires of horizontal relations, affinities of place... neglected ecologies of urban inhabitation emerge as the ground of future-making' @xazaaradjame.bsky.social et al on urban resistance www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...
August 26, 2026 at 7:25 AM
'the engagement with time is different, involving repertoires of horizontal relations, affinities of place... neglected ecologies of urban inhabitation emerge as the ground of future-making' @xazaaradjame.bsky.social et al on urban resistance www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...
Reposted by Emma Patchett
Behold, the final episode of Season 2, “Borders and Airports,” featuring the brilliant Nasser Hussain, has now been published! Enjoy!
www.buzzsprout.com/2355740/epis...
www.buzzsprout.com/2355740/epis...
Borders and Airports - Borders Talk: Dots, Dashes & the Stories They Tell
For those who may be uninitiated in the world of cricket, there is another Nasser Hussain out there who is not known for either cake-baking or poetry. Order your very own copy of SKY WRI TEI NGS ...
www.buzzsprout.com
August 22, 2026 at 3:25 PM
Behold, the final episode of Season 2, “Borders and Airports,” featuring the brilliant Nasser Hussain, has now been published! Enjoy!
www.buzzsprout.com/2355740/epis...
www.buzzsprout.com/2355740/epis...
Reposted by Emma Patchett
It's time for a reset.
Our rights and liberties are under attack. The new government has an opportunity to stand up for human rights, now and in the future.
Add your name to our petition.
https://action.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/page/194941/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=bsky
Our rights and liberties are under attack. The new government has an opportunity to stand up for human rights, now and in the future.
Add your name to our petition.
https://action.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/page/194941/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=bsky
Add your name to our petition ✍️
It's time for a reset on rights. Send a message to the new PM.
action.libertyhumanrights.org.uk
July 25, 2026 at 8:50 AM
It's time for a reset.
Our rights and liberties are under attack. The new government has an opportunity to stand up for human rights, now and in the future.
Add your name to our petition.
https://action.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/page/194941/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=bsky
Our rights and liberties are under attack. The new government has an opportunity to stand up for human rights, now and in the future.
Add your name to our petition.
https://action.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/page/194941/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=bsky
"It is revealed that the Life in the UK test is an artificial simulation. Idir is lying unconscious in a medical suite nearby, fed the environment through some sci-fi tech. He does not know that he is not a test attendee, but a ‘subject’" - James Ritchie freemovement.org.uk/life-in-the-...
Life in the UK Test – stranger than fiction? - Free Movement
When I am lawyering, I am reading. When I am not lawyering, I am also usually reading. Away from the office I am not, as a rule, reading about immigration
freemovement.org.uk
July 25, 2026 at 10:18 AM
"It is revealed that the Life in the UK test is an artificial simulation. Idir is lying unconscious in a medical suite nearby, fed the environment through some sci-fi tech. He does not know that he is not a test attendee, but a ‘subject’" - James Ritchie freemovement.org.uk/life-in-the-...
"Migration has been the historical norm across the Mediterranean, in all directions, before Europe decided to turn the sea into a heavily policed border" - Federico De Blasi on "the edible proof of this ancient network". www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Tracing one delicious snack around the Mediterranean showed me that modern borders are absurd | Federico De Blasi
Migration and cultural exchange have always been the norm between coastal European and African nations. We should celebrate this shared history, says Federico De Blasi, an Italian food writer based in...
www.theguardian.com
June 26, 2026 at 10:58 AM
"Migration has been the historical norm across the Mediterranean, in all directions, before Europe decided to turn the sea into a heavily policed border" - Federico De Blasi on "the edible proof of this ancient network". www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Emma Patchett
This is absolutely damning.
The Independent Chief Inspector's report on ‘An inspection of asylum casework’ has been published and is available on the ICIBI website:
Inspection report published: An inspection of asylum casework (June – December 2025)
The Independent Chief Inspector comments on the asylum casework inspection report following its publication.
www.gov.uk
June 25, 2026 at 3:10 PM
This is absolutely damning.
'the Israeli govt & security forces have deliberately carried out acts inflicting death & severe harm on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children, irreparably destroying the sanctity of childhood, innocence, safety & future' Independent Int'l Commission of Inquiry
www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...
www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...
www.ohchr.org
June 25, 2026 at 1:14 PM
'the Israeli govt & security forces have deliberately carried out acts inflicting death & severe harm on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children, irreparably destroying the sanctity of childhood, innocence, safety & future' Independent Int'l Commission of Inquiry
www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...
www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...
"These people are not the architects of dangerous crossings, but participants in a situation created by a lack of safe, legal routes to the UK and hardened by ever-increasing border enforcement" @vickytaylor.bsky.social www.opendemocracy.net/a-cruel-new-...
A cruel new law is scapegoating refugees for UK’s harmful border policies
In court, I saw two refugees jailed for ‘endangering life at sea’ – a new offence that punishes those it claims to protect
www.opendemocracy.net
June 24, 2026 at 11:29 AM
"These people are not the architects of dangerous crossings, but participants in a situation created by a lack of safe, legal routes to the UK and hardened by ever-increasing border enforcement" @vickytaylor.bsky.social www.opendemocracy.net/a-cruel-new-...
Reposted by Emma Patchett
I came to the concept of decolonisation out of a dissatisfaction with the promises of legal education that do not lead to justice. This exemplifies what I believe law schools owe to students – hope that legal education can help us do justice in an unjust world.
folukeafrica.com/what-is-the-...
folukeafrica.com/what-is-the-...
What is the Role of Law Schools in the Project of Decolonisation? Some Reflections on Power and Possibility
How do law schools respond to the colonial ever-present?
folukeafrica.com
June 24, 2026 at 11:04 AM
I came to the concept of decolonisation out of a dissatisfaction with the promises of legal education that do not lead to justice. This exemplifies what I believe law schools owe to students – hope that legal education can help us do justice in an unjust world.
folukeafrica.com/what-is-the-...
folukeafrica.com/what-is-the-...
Reposted by Emma Patchett
The Court of Appeal upholds the UK's ban on Palestine Action.
ALAN GREENE, DANIELLA LOCK & COLIN MURRAY argue that the margin of appreciation granted to the Home Secretary leaves judicial oversight with little more than nominal force.
verfassungsblog.de/palestine-ac...
ALAN GREENE, DANIELLA LOCK & COLIN MURRAY argue that the margin of appreciation granted to the Home Secretary leaves judicial oversight with little more than nominal force.
verfassungsblog.de/palestine-ac...
June 18, 2026 at 9:15 AM
The Court of Appeal upholds the UK's ban on Palestine Action.
ALAN GREENE, DANIELLA LOCK & COLIN MURRAY argue that the margin of appreciation granted to the Home Secretary leaves judicial oversight with little more than nominal force.
verfassungsblog.de/palestine-ac...
ALAN GREENE, DANIELLA LOCK & COLIN MURRAY argue that the margin of appreciation granted to the Home Secretary leaves judicial oversight with little more than nominal force.
verfassungsblog.de/palestine-ac...
Reposted by Emma Patchett
NEW: The Home Office is ploughing ahead with using AI to conduct asylum seeker age assessments despite knowing it's wildly inaccurate
Its own internal report & our audit of public data find the tech often predicts kids to be adults, & performs worst on the top nationalities arriving on small boats
Its own internal report & our audit of public data find the tech often predicts kids to be adults, & performs worst on the top nationalities arriving on small boats
Britain will use AI to assess ages of asylum seekers in a world-first, with other countries likely to follow suit
But our investigation, based on a leaked report and our own algorithmic audit, finds the technology is deeply unreliable
But our investigation, based on a leaked report and our own algorithmic audit, finds the technology is deeply unreliable
Asylum by Algorithm
The UK has turned to AI to determine the age of asylum seekers, and other countries are likely to follow suit. Our investigation finds the technology is deeply unreliable.
www.lighthousereports.com
June 18, 2026 at 7:22 AM
NEW: The Home Office is ploughing ahead with using AI to conduct asylum seeker age assessments despite knowing it's wildly inaccurate
Its own internal report & our audit of public data find the tech often predicts kids to be adults, & performs worst on the top nationalities arriving on small boats
Its own internal report & our audit of public data find the tech often predicts kids to be adults, & performs worst on the top nationalities arriving on small boats
"The crisis of the British university system is directly linked to the marketisation of the sector...this crisis was entirely avoidable" @phaisie.bsky.social aje.news/3cfpqz
The slow death of Goldsmiths is a warning to British universities
The crisis at the London university shows how marketisation has pushed UK higher education to the brink.
aje.news
June 17, 2026 at 12:55 PM
"The crisis of the British university system is directly linked to the marketisation of the sector...this crisis was entirely avoidable" @phaisie.bsky.social aje.news/3cfpqz
Reposted by Emma Patchett
Grenfell is not the exception, it is the rule.
Our latest report hears from residents across London, who describe housing circumstances that have had devastating effects on their lives.
Our latest report hears from residents across London, who describe housing circumstances that have had devastating effects on their lives.
June 16, 2026 at 6:02 AM
Grenfell is not the exception, it is the rule.
Our latest report hears from residents across London, who describe housing circumstances that have had devastating effects on their lives.
Our latest report hears from residents across London, who describe housing circumstances that have had devastating effects on their lives.
Reposted by Emma Patchett
The Court of Appeal judgement on Palestine Action is frankly bonkers. It says PA is not "a direct action civil disobedience protest group like the suffragettes operating transparently in the open."
Right: the arson, bombings, slashings etc were all planned in open meetings in Parliament Square 🙄🧵
Right: the arson, bombings, slashings etc were all planned in open meetings in Parliament Square 🙄🧵
June 16, 2026 at 6:04 AM
The Court of Appeal judgement on Palestine Action is frankly bonkers. It says PA is not "a direct action civil disobedience protest group like the suffragettes operating transparently in the open."
Right: the arson, bombings, slashings etc were all planned in open meetings in Parliament Square 🙄🧵
Right: the arson, bombings, slashings etc were all planned in open meetings in Parliament Square 🙄🧵
Reposted by Emma Patchett
New issue marks 100 years since first publication of Kafka's brilliant unfinished novel 'The Castle': guest editorial (Ekaterina Yahyaoui Krivenko) and all research articles, essays, arts and book reviews now available on the website: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
June 9, 2026 at 12:48 PM
New issue marks 100 years since first publication of Kafka's brilliant unfinished novel 'The Castle': guest editorial (Ekaterina Yahyaoui Krivenko) and all research articles, essays, arts and book reviews now available on the website: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
"If law is always and inescapably violent and political, what pathways to action or justice remain?"
Fantastic special issue
@law-and-humanities.bsky.social
on Kafka's work, life and creative legacy -
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Fantastic special issue
@law-and-humanities.bsky.social
on Kafka's work, life and creative legacy -
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The Castle at 100 and The Trial at 101: a century of Kafka and legal humanities
Published in Law and Humanities (Vol. 20, No. 1, 2026)
www.tandfonline.com
June 16, 2026 at 10:17 AM
"If law is always and inescapably violent and political, what pathways to action or justice remain?"
Fantastic special issue
@law-and-humanities.bsky.social
on Kafka's work, life and creative legacy -
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Fantastic special issue
@law-and-humanities.bsky.social
on Kafka's work, life and creative legacy -
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
"Students aren’t being taught to think more deeply but to prompt more effectively. .. Critical pedagogy is out; productivity hacks are in. What’s sold as innovation is really surrender" www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
June 16, 2026 at 10:10 AM
"Students aren’t being taught to think more deeply but to prompt more effectively. .. Critical pedagogy is out; productivity hacks are in. What’s sold as innovation is really surrender" www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
Reposted by Emma Patchett
There is a legal term for gov agents detaining someone and refusing to provide info on their fate or whereabouts: enforced disappearance. Enforced disappearance has long been used as a tool of border management in the US, but this administration has pushed this strategy into hyper drive.
Earlier this week, Aala Abdullahi and I published a story about the impact of rapid transfers on people that ICE has locked away in detention facilities. www.themarshallproject.org/2026/06/01/i...
ICE Detained Them, and Then They Vanished
Under Trump, the U.S. increasingly sends immigrants all over the nation with little warning, leaving families and attorneys unsure where they are.
www.themarshallproject.org
June 3, 2026 at 5:28 PM
There is a legal term for gov agents detaining someone and refusing to provide info on their fate or whereabouts: enforced disappearance. Enforced disappearance has long been used as a tool of border management in the US, but this administration has pushed this strategy into hyper drive.
Reposted by Emma Patchett
The point is to subject immigrants to enforced disappearance for long enough to either execute a deportation or make it easier to deport someone. Cutting victims off from advocates prevents people from getting timely or timelier legal relief.
June 3, 2026 at 5:30 PM
The point is to subject immigrants to enforced disappearance for long enough to either execute a deportation or make it easier to deport someone. Cutting victims off from advocates prevents people from getting timely or timelier legal relief.
Reposted by Emma Patchett
You can read my and Dr. Leal’s article, which lays out a typology of the different ways that DHS forcibly disappears immigrants, here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Enforced Disappearance as a Border Management Tool: The Case of Border Patrol Detentions of Immigrant and Asylum-Seeking Families in the United States1 - Diego F. Leal, Natalie L. Cadwalader, 2025
Executive Summary This study examines the experiences of international migrants and asylum-seeker families recently released from the custody of the United Stat...
journals.sagepub.com
June 3, 2026 at 5:31 PM
You can read my and Dr. Leal’s article, which lays out a typology of the different ways that DHS forcibly disappears immigrants, here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...