Hong Kong / AFP Hong Kong’s legislature again descended into chaos on Wednesday as pro-Beijing politicians blocked the swearing in of two new lawmakers who want a split from China, in an increasingly divided parliament. It comes as fears grow in the semi-autonomous city that Beijing is tightening its grip, fuelling an independence movement in Hong Kong. Wednesday saw rival …

  Is Brexit unconstitutional? That’s the key issue in a suit argued this week before the High Court in London. What makes the question especially piquant is that Britain doesn’t have a single written constitution, but rather a complex tradition of constitutional law made up of principles, precedents and practices accrued over generations. Under those principles, the answer to whether …

  A specter is haunting academia, the specter of specters — ghosts, goblins and “cultural appropriation” through insensitive Halloween costumes. Institutions of higher education are engaged in the low comedy of avoiding the agonies of Yale. Last October, the university was rocked to its 315-year-old foundations by the wife of a residential college master (a title subsequently expunged from Yale’s …