David Kenny

Just in time for the Christmas, you can preorder the paperback edition of my book! It won’t arrive until after Christmas, which I know will disappoint many, but a printout of a preorder is often an even better stocking filler than a book. 20% off w/ code below, link in next tweet

In December, 2018, while visiting St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, David Kenny became hypnotized by an epitaph. Near the south door, he gazed up at a marble plaque bearing the epitaph for Jonathan Swift, the redoubtable novelist, poet, satirist, and former Dean of St. Patrick’s who died in 1745, and who was buried beneath the cathedral floor. The text of the monument was in Latin and stipulated by Swift himself, in his will. Translations vary, but the most enduring was published in 1933, by William Butler Yeats: SWIFT has sailed into his rest; Savage indignation there Cannot lacerate his breast. Imitate him if you dare, World-besotted traveller; he Served human liberty. Kenny had read Swift’s epitaph before, but on that day the lines caught him anew. “I had the strongest sense that there was something going on here that I couldn’t quite understand, and that wasn’t captured by Yeats,” Kenny told Ed Caesar. “The interpretive materials in the cathedral didn’t suggest the possibility of any other reading. The rousing, earnest interpretation taken up by Yeats was clearly the accepted understanding. But, to my ear, it was discordant. . . . Swift had never struck me as boastful. Something felt wrong.” After seven years of research, Kenny thinks he’s cracked Swift’s true meaning: newyorkermag.visitlink.me/CGC7a4

A college professor spent seven years decoding the inscription on the grave of the writer Jonathan Swift. He thinks he’s finally cracked it. newyorker.com/culture/the-we…

This is one of the most fun things that has happened to me: Ed Caesar, one of my favourite writers, wrote an article for the @NewYorker about my long-running quest to find a hidden meaning in Jonathan Swift’s epitaph. Thanks to Ed’s storytelling skills, it’s great fun! Link below

Thrilled to have arrived in Dublin to speak on freedom of speech at @tcddublin (very soon). @AileenFKavanagh tcd.ie/law/news--even…

A reminder to come to see Cass’ lecture on Campus Free Speech at Trinity tomorrow! Register at the link in his tweet!

So honored (and excited) to be speaking in Dublin TOMORROW - hope to see Irish friends there. @tcddublin @AileenFKavanagh @BeckettSociety tcd.ie/law/news--even…

This is what I always wonder. If you verify properly, you don’t save much time (and have a worse understanding of the law on the matter you’re handling than if you’d done it yourself). If it’s saving lots of time, verification is not good enough and big mistakes will happen, no?

The great Cass Sunstein delivering a public lecture on campus free speech at Trinity next Thursday. Should be hugely worthwhile. All welcome, booking essential at the form in the next tweet!

Have any legal practitioner friends in Ireland had courtroom encounters (criminal or civil) with people using the methods of the Freemen on the Land? Would love to chat quickly at some stage if so.

@mrkocnnll Fact checker???

This might be the worst writing advice I’ve ever seen

@conoraon My bat signal!

🚨 Salient Rulings of the Chair mentioned on Primetime radio klaxon @dkennytcd

@eoinmauricedaly Do you think this is true in law? I have not found this aversion!!

*Hot take incoming* a lot of academics themselves also resist closed book exams largely because of snobbery and projection (writing papers is what we do ourselves, after all)

@CorribEconomics @mcmnorris Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

@dkennytcd @mcmnorris In our case, the no. on course A fell, but by less than the no. on Course B. So fee incomes up, plus B has four years vs. 3yrs. No new modules to teach, but yes, admin costs for 4th year.

Philip Nolan is correct that the proliferation of small 'niche' degrees inflate CAO points. I also think large multi subject degrees in arts, science etc are better for students who can trial new subjects in 1st year & make an informed choice of specialism rte.ie/news/education…

@CorribEconomics @mcmnorris If in this scenario it’s an expansion, and alternative is to 300/320 in course A, I can see why you might want to differentiate it/keep cohort smaller. We did soemthing like that when adding Law and Bus/Pol/History, but certainly not with a desire to have higher points for them.

@dkennytcd @mcmnorris Course A is well established, with 250 students. Uni creates course B, which uses most/all the modules from course A, plus adds work placement and/or study abroad. It has 50-70 places, with much higher points. They are different, but you could cynically say it's all marketing.

@kvallier Well I was being hyperbolic rather than questioning his competence as a researcher, but I think one is allowed to judge his idea of what makes a good lit review from his ringing endorsement of a tool that I know from experience is an incredibly bad substitute for a lit review.

@dkennytcd He's one of the most important polarization researchers ever, and has done many reviews of that literature himself. Disagree with him, but you cannot credibly question his competence.

From a political science academic: “AI does lit reviews better”. Spectacular way to announce you are really, really incredibly bad at a very basic aspect of your job.