An important new paper from my talented, but BlueSky-less PHD Jose Lopes www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

From the Editorial Board: Neuroscientists have found that when people read, their brains don’t just process words — they simulate the story world. By contrast, social media rarely demands such deep simulation.

In the latest episode of On Politics, @piercepenniless.bsky.social is joined by Anthony Seldon and Henry Hill to consider what or who is to blame for the Conservative Party’s dire situation and whether it will still be around to celebrate its bicentennial in 2034. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...

"In 2012, 60 trans-related articles were published by Britain’s media. By 2022, it was more than 7,500, according to figures from Trans Media Watch. The media is not responding to public rage against vulnerable minorities; it is helping to create it." www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/709...

Talk about an opening paragraph. About sums it up!

Reframing tenure as a form of worker protection rather than promoting its benefits for academic freedom will help scholars win the debate around its merits, according to the author of a new book, writes Patrick Jack #academicsky https://ow.ly/ptJc50X3Lrl

Techno-Straussianism

** Job Opportunity ** The Center for Survey Research, Academia Sinica (Taiwan) invites applications for a full-time position at the rank of Assistant Research Specialist or above. Application deadline: October 31, 2025 (Taipei time) Details: survey.sinica.edu.tw/?p=19950&lan...

The word feminist has failed in the marketing campaign and has a lot of bad connections, even though it simply means believing that men and women are equal.

Today in Salzburg we are presenting our results from the EU funded Push*Back*Lash on gender equality and democracy. Results will be included in the upcoming recommendations of the EU on gender equality and the European Democracy Shield.

Now out in @cpsjournal.bsky.social. In our new article, @denis-cohen.bsky.social @thmskrr.bsky.social and I show that where local rent prices increase more, residents with lower incomes become more likely to support the radical right AfD. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

With students heading back to the classroom, a group of cognitive scientists and AI researchers has published one of the most forceful and evidence-backed calls yet to reject the "uncritical adoption of AI" in academia:

🚨 New working paper alert 🚨 Missing summer — and the Tour de France? Don’t worry, we got you covered. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️ In this paper, we show that being on the route of Tour de France reduces far-right voting. osf.io/preprints/so...

It is great news that the Government is proposing changes to the construction code for climate resilience. Our research showed the bogeyman of "red tape" has resulted in many Australian dwellings being poorly insulated and too cold in winter and/or too hot in summer. #auspol Read more in replies

📢 Call for applications! I’m looking for a 4-year PhD researcher (100%) in Political Science: focus on public opinion & the far right You’ll be part of the POLHYBRID project @sciencepoulb.bsky.social, working with me & @caterinafr.bsky.social Deadline: 9 11 2025 👉 Info & apply: shorturl.at/El2mW

The Nation pulls NO punches, from @espiers.bsky.social "There's no requirement to take part in this whitewashing campaign. Refusing to join in doesn’t make anyone a bad person. It’s a choice to write an obituary that begins “Joseph Goebbels was a gifted marketer and loving father to six children.”

So MUP claimed it was closing #Meanjin "on purely financial grounds" because it was "no longer viable" - but today it claimed that if a buyer offered cash to take ownership it would reject said cash ("The journal is not for sale"). This does NOT add up www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

It is really hard to imagine Edmund Burke would consider this man as a conservative.

Australian universities are in a governance crisis. VC pay blowouts, scandals, mission drift — these aren’t random, they’re structural. This new working paper with @marijataflaga.bsky.social & Keith Dowding digs into why the system is broken, and how to fix it. doi.org/10.25911/MWW... A thread:

Sure does seem to capture the vibe

Simon Wood, the GOAT of generalized additive models & creator of the mgcv #rstats package, has an Annual Review of Statistics essay on GAMs, available open access #statssky #mlsky www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Short summary in the working paper bsky thread: bsky.app/profile/mori...

This line about teaching to the course catalog description is such a pathetic cop out. Beyond academic freedom it's ignorant of how learning and knowledge creation work. "This class is supposed to be about Renaissance Italy but the professor talked about early modern Germany, I want them fired"

📘 64.4 How do welfare systems shape views on immigration? A 🇪🇺 study from @alinavranceanu.bsky.social & @bpetrova.bsky.social finds: Generous welfare → more positive attitudes toward immigrants Welfare cuts → increased hostility (evidence from 🇩🇰) Read more:

Are standards slipping on English language testing? www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/are-st... I do not think this is at all in question. Universities are dependent upon credential-seeking foreign students to subsidise domestic students who are increasingly addled by social media and AI.

🚨DATA RELEASE 🚨 The BES team are pleased to announce the release of Wave 30 of the British Election Study Internet Panel. Please follow the link below, and we look forward to seeing your research! www.britishelectionstudy.com/bes-resource...

It's not a college grads unemployment crisis, it's a young people unemployment crisis. 1/ The headlines have been dominated by how hard it is for recent college grads to find a job. But it's even harder for recent high school grads, and getting rapidly worse. Blame weak hiring.

Radical right accommodation really does not work. New paper out with this exceptionally talented team @katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk doi.org/10.31235/osf...

I am really happy that our @bjpols.bsky.social paper on party-system fragmentation and democratic quality has been awarded the Lawrence Longley Best Article Award from the Representation and Electoral Systems section of @apsa.bsky.social. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Schools and colleges have to adapt their AI policies quickly before even more students leave school with a diminished education. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

🚨New Research 🚨 Ahead of the release of Wave 30 of the BES Internet Panel, the team has examined Labour's decline since the 2024 GE. Labour's support has splintered into mostly indecision or left-liberal parties, but they've also lost their few right-wing voters. 🧵⬇️ tinyurl.com/3m62exph

OK, so curious what @patricksturg.bsky.social thinks of this. In the raw F2F @britishelectionstudy.com from 2024, the raw (unweighted) vote share is 44% Labour, 20% Conservatives. This seems a big over-statement of the actual lead?

“A racial reckoning?” New study by @amengel.bsky.social & Cindy Kam: “Challenging the conventional wisdom, our analyses demonstrate that racial attitudes changed following George Floyd’s murder, but in ways dependent upon attitude measure and population subgroup.” www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

🌅📙 64.3 Is #AffectivePolarization harming democratic support? 💭 @lisajanssen.bsky.social & @turkenburgemma.bsky.social instead suggest an inverted U-shape pattern of #ModeratrePolarization & #ExtremePolarization using data from 🇩🇪🇬🇧 & 🇺🇸 🔗

Preprint and the website by @dingdingpeng.the100.ci and @vincentab.bsky.social are great, and I got inspired to illustrate Bayesian workflow for model checking and comparison *before* model interpretation following their friendship importance example users.aalto.fi/~ave/casestu...

In poli sci, "the top 20% of departments produced 75% of all faculty and the bottom 50% accounted for less than 5% of all tenure track faculty members at a research university. 49 programs did not have a single graduate placed in a TT position at a PhD-granting department in the past 10 years."

The Fossil-Fueled Roots of Climate Inaction in Authoritarian Regimes The Fossil-Fueled Roots of Climate Inaction in Authoritarian Regimes By William Kakenmaster, University of Notre Dame Why do some authoritarian regimes contribute more to climate change than others? I suggest that climate…

Come join us at Dartmouth!

It's what you would expect, but first scientific evidence emerging: If students write an essay with the help of an LLM, their brains get less stimulated, hence less cognitive development. Students take note! www.brainonllm.com

A huge thank you to the good people who made the inaugural conference of the @ecpr-ead.bsky.social possible! #sged25

President Macron: We are talking about an imperialist and revisionist power that is today's Russia, which since 2008 has constantly sought to conquer new territories, has constantly revised international borders, and has never kept its promises of peace and non-aggression.

🚨NEW PAPER 🚨 Are police more right-wing and biased against marginalized groups than the general public? If so, why? My new article in @pnas.org w/ @tylerreny.bsky.social, Newman, and Sears provides some answers. 🧵1/n

Open access link here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Haven't posted this ditty in years, but folks used to find it helpful. Conference schedule/locations for communication, poli sci, and public opinion research, including AAPOR, AEJMC, APSA, ISPP, ICA, and NCA

It is ridiculous that Australia does not participate in Horizon Europe - squandering Australia's intellectual potential www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

In fairness, I, an actual PhD candidate, also sometimes misspell embarrassingly simple words.

Germany, after the Holocaust, has a special bond with Israel. But German public opinion has tilted steeply against Israel over the last year, and the hunger crisis in Gaza is creating a demand for Berlin to take bolder action.

Tristan's review discusses it alongside 'Democracy Erodes from the Top' by Bartels press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

James Tilley & Sara Hobolt's newest publication finds that narcissistic personalities fuel affective polarization in the UK. Narcissism predicts both loyalty to in-groups and hostility to out-groups, deepening political divides. #AffectivePolarization Read more: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The Independent report includes some data, including how perceptions of local cohesion vary www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crim...