Ben Cowdock National Crime Agency (NCA) Is the Economic Crime Plan definition of enabler good enough to empower them to do so? Does 'negligence' include acts of technical compliance which are wilfully unwitting of criminality? ie. Where a google search would have revealed red flags?

lawsociety.org.uk/topics/anti-mo…

Great to see the CEO of UUK being more strident as this dismal govt comes to its end. We're all hopeful that Lab will draw a line under the anti-uni bashing. But would UUK/VCs have had more authority to do so earlier if they hadn't bowed to bureaucratic & market logics so deeply?

Cases from the new UK property register give us new data points for our analysis of post-Soviet kleptocracy. Good transparency.👋

But what about enforcement? Will National Crime Agency (NCA) use UWOs/AFOs/POCA tools to investigate whether or not they were bought with legitimate (non-klepto) wealth?

So familiar. “Not alive to”/“not aware of” any evidence is the legalese gaslighting of these pre action letters, where the evidence is, in fact, well established. In our cases and many other SLAPPs, SRA have failed to call it out. Congrats Dan Neidle for your victory.

Good news for the weekend and a bad day for the many lawyers in the UK engaging in abusive conduct.

'It is the first time a solicitor has been referred to a tribunal over an alleged ‘Slapp’ — a strategic lawsuit against public participation'.

ft.com/content/aa538d…

'Victory day cult' is apt and mirrors the war.

Stalin discarded many of the best officers, ignored intelligence, and routinely used poorly trained conscripts as canon fodder. Post-Soviet autocrats also treat their citizens as dispensable & prosecute war inhumanely. eg. 🇷🇺 in 🇺🇦

We had the pleasure of hosting Bakhytzhan Kurmanov at Exeter Politics Exeter Central Asia today.

In fact, the US has had counter-terrorism partners in the CA Republics for more than 20 years. Back then, there were few jihadists travelling from the region to commit attacks elsewhere. Now, there are more. What is the evidence that these partnerships are effective?

Allowed to be corrupt or required to be corrupt?
In a kleptocracy, corruption is a property of the system. It enriches those individuals who are in favour and is used against those being ousted.

'Christian hope for a world in crisis'  baptist.org.uk/Articles/68718… via Baptist Times

Excellent article by Aksana Ismailbekova The Diplomat on the sophisticated evolution of the Japarov-Tashiev kleptocracy and the criminal enterprises it has subordinated to the state.
magazine.thediplomat.com/#/issues/-Nw8Z…

SEMINAR
“Digital Activism and Authoritarian Legitimation in Post-Soviet Central Asia”, with Bakhytzhan Kurmanov University of Central Asia.
Thursday 9 May, 1.30-3.00pm, Amory 239C University of Exeter Exeter Politics.
Those outside of Exeter may attend virtually.
DM me for the link.

Grateful for the opportunity to speak to Treasury Committee on Britain's Russia sanctions. My top 3 asks to strengthen the regime:
🏘️Publish ownership info on trusts owning UK property
🌴Public company ownership registers in the UK's offshore secrecy havens
🚓Resourcing enforcement

Working with R Soares de Oliveira and excellent colleagues.

You can access this Index on Censorship event on #TransnationalRepression at 2pm (UK) tomorrow by signing up via the eventbrite. Looking forward to welcoming Simon Cheng Hanna Komar Jemimah Steinfeld to University of Exeter.

This is tomorrow, at 2pm UK time with Prof Morwenna Ludlow @gregoriobettiza.bsky.social Exeter Politics colleagues.

Online participants can join via this link:
Universityofexeter.zoom.us/j/99890331186?…

But if you attend in person you get tea and biscuits!

We can be proud of our world-leading universities. But reporting from openDemocracy shows how this reputation can be damaged by secretive donors.

That's why Robert Buckland & I wrote to Gillian Keegan MP calling for total transparency and due diligence on the source of donations.