This is one of those days where the combined effect of UK and US politics - in this case Shabana Mahmood's cruel asylum policy and Larry Summers's Epstein emails - is incredibly depressing. Sadly there have been far too many days like today since 2016.

Isn't this exactly the same argument that Priti Patel made while Home Secretary in 2020 - 'I couldn't possibly be racist because someone called me a racial slur when I was younger'?

Spotted outside Goldhawk Road underground station

The only people who make fun of goat meat are those who've never tried it. It is far superior to lamb in taste and texture!

So why does the BBC label the academic and economist Faiza Shaheen an "activist" but refuse to do the same for the former academic, turned anti-migrant activist Matt Goodwin?

Just to make this clear for those who don't know African history, Amin's expulsion of the Asians is possibly the greatest act of self-harm in the history of Uganda. Uganda had one of the sharpest declines in GDP/capita in modern world history from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s.

One can only imagine the chances of RJ showing up in a 100% white community (say in SW England, where this is not uncommon) and similarly complaining that there was a lack of integration as he didn't see a single non-white face

One of the key changes over the past several decades that so many have not completely understood - including myself at times - is how the old mainstream media sources have been completely hollowed out. Newsweek/Time/NYT/WP/etc. still exist but are a hollow shell of their former selves

Swalwell: There’s going to be a Democratic majority in just over a year. To the FCC chairperson and anyone in involved in these dirty deals: get a lawyer and save your records because you’re going to be in this room answering questions

I find it incredibly disturbing that both the PM and FS have taken to social media to condemn the killing in a foreign country of a foreign national who had no relationship with the UK. This now sets a precedent whereby silence on other such killings abroad indicates political bias from the govt.

There have been a number of recent articles on statistical power in quantitative political science. This is something that I think deserves more attention and discussion. A short thread of the articles I have read. 🧵

Set up by a friend of a friend to bring Palestinian children to London for treatment. www.justgiving.com/page/project...

With the recent diff-in-diffs upheaval, you may have asked: When can I get away with using two-way fixed effects? If so, check out this new working paper! It proposes tests for differences in dynamic treatment effects over cohorts, which allows you to explore when TWFE is likely to be biased.

Mahmood Mamdani is a huge figure in Ugandan academia & politics for half a century now. His family has deep roots in Uganda. Zohran was born there, & remained connected to UG after moving. It’s not some scandal that on a form w/set choices, he chose the one item w/African, a key part of his identity

📣 If you’re in London on 7 July, join us at our mini workshop on Global South Politics! The programme is below. If interested, please email me!

This is remarkably stupid, even by MG standards. If anything, the English are 'allowed' more of an identity than almost any other non-state identity in the world. Where is the Catalan football team? The Tamil cricket team? The Afrikaner rugby team? Only England gets to enjoy this separate status.

My letter to the editor in today's Guardian, on the Senegalese fishing industry. In short, there will always be winners and losers with economic change and industrialization, but any reporting that only focusses on the latter and not the former is irresponsible. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

We are delighted to host Macartan Humphrey @macartan.bsky.social at our next @lsegovernment.bsky.social APEG Seminar this Thursday, April 3 (12:00-1:30 PM GMT). Please join us. @carlmc.bsky.social

DUI hire 👇🏼

Believe it or not, many people who complain about the DC metro have been to metros in other developed countries which are far superior - i.e., they actually connect a large number of people and don't leave massive huge gaps in their coverage.

I disagree - I always start all of my academic work with the same sentence about how because "I am a [social] scientist at a prestigious university you should believe what I say because of who I am." The sentence works like a charm in all major political science journals.

That was the most shameful performance by any American president in a century. I want to fucking throw up.

🚨 please share! We will be running our annual workshop on the political economy of development in Berlin @wzb.bsky.social in June. This is a really fun workshop doing deep reads of a small number of new papers. Call for papers / participants below! ⬇️ www.wzb.eu/en/events/mo...

Merete Bech Seeberg will present "How Electoral Campaigning Hurts Women Candidates in Africa" at our next APEG seminar this Thursday, February 13 (12:00-1.30 GMT). Please join us. @mbechseeberg.bsky.social

You can watch the event back here: youtube.com/live/Kh7TIYu...

📢Join Ali Allawi, Shiping Tang and Mahvish Shami for a thought-provoking debate on Economic Development in the 21st Century. All welcome – no registration needed! 📅Thu 23 Jan, 6 PM in AUD, Centre Building LSE (Please note venue change) More info: www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2025/...

A new review of my book Industrialization and Assimilation (CUP, 2023) from Henry Hale in the latest Perspectives on Politics, who writes: that it is "one of the most important recent additions to the canon of grand theories of ethnic politics and nationalism." (www.cambridge.org/core/journal...)

Please come along tomorrow if you're in London to hear Shiping Tang from Fudan University and former Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq Ali Allawi discuss Development in the 21st Century at the LSE

🛎️Job Alert!!🛎️ We're hiring a permanent Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Global Development & Environment! More information on the post and how to apply here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLL735/l...

New publication alert: 'Explaining Ethno-Regional Favouritism in Sub-Saharan Africa,' with @sanghamitrab.bsky.social (www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...). There is large and growing literature on how African Presidents favour their co-ethnics in the provision of public and private goods. 1/

My two favourite novels I read this year were Paul Lynch's Prophet Song (2023) and Georgi Gospodinov's Time Shelter (2020). What the two have in common is the depiction of a fictional European future, the former where Ireland turns into an authoritarian state and the latter where... (1/2)

I've travelled enough in India to fully agree with TC on this point. The problem is that Indian food is all too often cooked poorly (=unhygienically), thus generating its reputation for 'Delhi belly.' But when it is cooked well it is absolutely sublime. marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...

Response to coups by elected leaders: - South Korea: blocked by mass mobilization of citizens - Brazil: coup leader indicted, barred from politics - United States: coup leader re-elected with majorities in the legislature and a compliant Supreme Court

Applications for “Politics, Markets, and Governance in Africa”, a conference in honor of Nicolas van de Walle. Abstracts due March 1. Please join @cornellupress.bsky.social w the Center on Global Democracy, the Institute of African Development, & Govt Dept new.express.adobe.com/webpage/VYps...

This is an interesting topic on ex-colonies becoming richer than their former colonial power but the author completely misunderstands the meaning of the word 'colony' by referring to Romania and the Baltics as Hungarian and Russian colonies, respectively. (crookedtimber.org/2024/11/24/t...)

Sharing a starter pack for African politics for those who would find it useful. I tried my best to find everybody on Bluesky but may have missed some folks. Happy to add more people to the list. #polisky go.bsky.app/5CAmg4o

Amartya Sen's fake news 'death' is the final straw for me as regards Twitter. Ever since Musk took over there has been a huge increase in fake news and BS more generally. I have no interest in contributing to conversations there anymore.