Dear universities, I am begging you to stop requiring letters of recommendation for master's programmes. You and I both know you don't read them, so stop asking for them. Instead, have applicants list a name and get in touch if it's a borderline case. Signed, Everyone.

Great workshop yesterday at @ccc-research.bsky.social – we explored how strengths/limitations of English devolution might inform local/regional reform in Scotland. Thanks to all who joined, esp. @ariannagiovannini.bsky.social @paulanderson88.bsky.social & @sekip.bsky.social! @uoe-sps.bsky.social

Looking forward to reading @paulanderson88.bsky.social and Tom Arnold's report on intergovernmental relations in England Looks like a lot of common ground with our work on the Council of Nations & Regions, particularly the need for a clear purpose for new forums www.liverpool.ac.uk/heseltine-in...

On Thursday, @tjarnold.bsky.social and @paulanderson88.bsky.social are launching their new report: 📘 The State of Intergovernmental Relations in England Sign up to the launch event here (Thu 19th June, 1.30pm): www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/report-lau...

One week today! Join us online for the launch of a new report by @paulanderson88.bsky.social and @tjarnold.bsky.social on The State of Intergovernmental Relations in England. 🗓️ Thurs 19 June 2025 🕝 1:30–3:00pm | Online 📍 Register: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/report-lau...

Latest issue out now! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/1467923x... With John Connolly David Judge Matt Flinders; @sekip.bsky.social; @jimtomlinson45.bsky.social; Andrés Velasco @dbrieba.bsky.social; Coree Brown Swan @paulanderson88.bsky.social Judith Sijstermans; Stewart Lansley; Tom Wraight Kai Green

🗓️Save the date! 🗓️ 19 June, 13:30, Online. Tom Arnold and I will discuss our soon to be launched report: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 - 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗲𝗿𝗮 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽? Register in the Eventbrite below⬇️ Hope to see you there! 😃

📢‼️ JOB ADVERTS ‼️📢 As our undergraduate offer expands, International Relations & Politics at LJMU are recruiting 3 positions: 1: a 4 month (Sep- Jan 26) fixed post covering my sabbatical (British Politics): jobs.ljmu.ac.uk/vacancies/97...

📢 New Publication 📢 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐔 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞? 🇪🇺🤝🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 muse.jhu.edu/pub/423/arti...

PSA 2025 ✅ Had a great time in Birmingham. Great to catch and meet up with so many colleagues and friends and see and discuss so much brilliant research.

My first ever trip to Rome. Loved it! 🇮🇹 ☀️ 😎

Some very interesting insights in this blog from academics and practitioners responding to the English Devolution White Paper. I offered a few thoughts on mayoral-central government relations - ‘Promising Steps Forward, but Cultural Change is Crucial’ @ljmuimpact.bsky.social

Easing myself in to work this morning by finally reading the full White Paper.

Artistic snowman in Sefton Park. ⛄️

Happy New Year 🥳 You can take the boy out of 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 but you can’t take the Scottish traditions out of the boy 🥧 #LangMayYerLumReek

Fantastic few days in Edinburgh at a workshop discussing research on IGR and crisis with colleagues and practitioners from across the UK. Huge thanks to @davidevampa.bsky.social, Carolyn Rowe and Ed Turner for the invitation and hospitality.

Delighted to have been appointed an Honorary Fellow at the University of Liverpool’s Heseltine Institute @livuniheseltine.bsky.social Looking forward to seeing some of our collaborations come to fruition next year 🙌

My new piece with Patrick Diamond for the @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social blog Inequality and instability in the British State We argue long-term political stability can only be secured by more concerted attempts to tackle deeply-embedded and multi-faceted inequalities www.psa.ac.uk/psa/news/ine...

‘It’s no Catherine Cookson but the front cover is eye-catching’ First review in from my gran on my latest book: Territorial Politics in Catalonia and Scotland: Nations in Flux

Rounding off a busy week of teaching and assessments with a chat on BBC Merseyside analysing this week’s big stories, including Labour’s revamp, reset, refocus? 🌹 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Fantastic event organised by colleagues at the Heseltine Institute tonight with @andyburnham.bsky.social and @lcrmayor.bsky.social discussing the legacy of Hillsborough, the prevalence of place-based leadership and the need for a radical rewiring of the UK

Yesterday, the PSA Territorial Politics group held an online discussion: ‘Across Borders: A Comparative Look at 2024 Multilevel Elections’ We had a stellar panel who shared their insights from four fascinating cases 🇧🇪 🇫🇷 🇮🇳 🇬🇧 Thanks again to all panelists and guests for joining us.

Politics and the Pandemic: The UK Covid-19 Inquiry & Devolution Coree Brown Swan, @paulanderson88.bsky.social, Judith Sijstermans explore what they learned about IGR and devolution from the UK Covid-19 Inquiry onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #UKCovidInquiry #Devolution

New publication open access in The Political Quarterly In our latest article, Coree Brown Swan, Judith Sijstermans and I explore what we learned about intergovernmental relations and devolution from the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. 🧑‍⚖️ 🦠 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...