And to think some people are disdainful of quantitative political science... This brilliant piece of work comes from here: hardboardscrookedtimbers.org/yes-celebrit...

Inch by inch, things are getting worse not better? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

As far as I can tell, he did actually say the original version, which makes it a rare example of a really useful political quote that is actually genuine... See here for examples of ones that are not... www.markpack.org.uk/175674/beati...

“What problems are you actually interested in solving?” - a question that I’m not sure most of our current crop of politicians could answer.

Budget time saving pro-tip: anyone whose argument amounts to go “The fiscal mess is largely due to spending money on (people and things I don’t like) and can be solved by raising taxes on (people and things I don’t like)” is not a serious person and their views can be ignored.

Tax policy on the British left is pure "anti-bedtime left". Bizarre idea that you can have a big social democratic welfare state without everyone contributing properly www.economist.com/britain/2025...

University VCs:

We campaign in TikTok, we govern in Excel. As the older Cuomo didnt say.

We campaign in TikTok, we govern in Excel. As the older Cuomo didnt say.

I was lookin for the Hansard text of this exchange, which I think was the last time I saw someone - as today, a stand in - walk so obviously into a trap at PMQs. (I can't find it. Am sure it's not me hallucinating. But I wonder if it was Business of the House questions, rather than PMQs...)

Was searching for something else, and found the most on brand debate contribution from 1990...

Andrej Zaslove and I wrote down our thoughts on the recent Dutch election results, noting the continuing relevance of the far right and the hollowing of the (liberal) centre. 👇 @qmul-sse-cgd.bsky.social @qmulsse.bsky.social

🧵 Here’s why a left-wing Democrat winning in New York is proof that Keir Starmer needs to move further left to win in small red wall towns in Britain. (1/245)

How big are these coach and horses that they can be seen from space?

I liked this story more than most people on my timeline. The reasons I liked it are mostly to do with how it shows that much of the UK state exercises a purely notional control over anything. Trading Standards? Pfft. Companies House? Don't make me laugh. www.bbc.com/news/article...

I mean, I take his point, but “I don’t know the answer to who was the king [SIC] in 1856 or whatever." 🤦😱🙄 Really?

You wait months for an incoherent speech on the economy, and then two come along in the same morning! My SKETCH of Rachel Reeves vs Kemi Badenoch vs Reality.

Thank you to everyone who joined us on the night! You can watch the event on the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social's YouTube channel⬇️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLJK...

@robertsaunders.bsky.social was joined by @qmulsse.bsky.social's own @philipjcowley.bsky.social, Baroness Finn, the Conservative peer and deputy chief-of-staff to the prime minister from 2021 to 2022, and Baroness Shephard, a minister in the Thatcher government who is a Fellow of @qmul.bsky.social.

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works and 6-7.

Just started saying "oh no" at the second para.

fascinating use of the passive voice by Cambridgeshire police. Self-raising crime, perhaps

Re-reading @colmpm.bsky.social’s marvellous “Futures of Socialism”. A very different experience to reading the proof in 2023 and having a horrible feeling of dread, as opposed to now where you go “well, yeah, my worst fears have been realised and exceeded”.

Delighted to announce we are advertising our first academic post in the Centre for Advanced Social Science Methods (CASSM). The position is Associate Professor in Politics, Technology and Computational Social Science and is joint with Politics, the Oxford Internet Institute, and Reuben College 1/n

Wrote this shortly after the election, but OUP have - for some inexplicable reason - taken an aeon to publish it. Most of it holds up OK(ish), esp the stuff about inexperienced MPs... academic.oup.com/pa/article-a...

Well that’s the Danish Foreign Ministry’s budget emptied for the next quarter

Weird reporting, in which the person who actually found the grave is essentially ignored after the intro.

You, an unsophisticate: Rachel Reeves's landlord licence mess shows Britain has too many weird regulations and obscure taxes. Me, a genius, writing in The Times: No! We aren't regulated enough! These are the licences we really need... www.thetimes.com/com...

Between this and the Louvre prosecutor describing the suspects’ statements as “minimalist” while bragging that they had worked on the case over a weekend it’s an absolutely incredible week for Frenchness

The potential research agenda here is huge.

ft. our @qmulsse.bsky.social colleague Sofia Collignon.

🎙️ New episode out now! 🇬🇧 Why did Nigel Farage’s 10 Minute Rule Bill to pull Britain out of the ECHR fail? 🚨 Tackling abuse of MPs after the Speaker’s Conference 🏛️ Westminster Hall debates: the history of MPs' second chamber 🔗 Listen here: buff.ly/9mmSwv0

Everything you always wanted to know about the Bribery Act (but were afraid to ask)

My employer now has eleven, with more for people exercising some kind of management role.

It's that special, scary time of year -- the time of year when lots of academics grumble about having to complete innumerable training courses before the end of year

Have popped along to the community meeting organised against this in Crowborough. There is a massive queue outside the community centre...

This, and not the silly demand for her resignation, should be the attack line.

"You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.” Honestly. I'm giving you this stuff for free.

Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.

One observation re. the Dutch election is the enduring strength of the far right (I am not fully subscribing to the 'shift back to the centre' narrative). I should be on ABC Australia News channel at around 11 CET to talk about this and to show my plants (again). www.youtube.com/live/vOTiJkg...

Terrific yarn in London Centric, as per:

Please, join us tomorrow for Georg Löfflmann's book talk and discussion with Cora Lacatus (CGD Director) and Angelos Chryssogelos (London Metropolitan University) on the Trump presidency and the study of populism in IR.

Welcome to the brand-new Bluesky account of the Centre for Governance and Democracy (CGD, www.qmul.ac.uk/politics/res...), which is part of the Department of Sociology, Politics and International Relations (SPIR) in @qmulsse.bsky.social. Please, follow us here for research news, updates and events!

‘The Sign of Group 4’…

"You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.” Honestly. I'm giving you this stuff for free.

Judging by my local whattsapp groups and similar, the Crowborough decision has gone down so badly that I can't see local politicians can do anytbjng but oppose.

There should be a word - maybe the Germans have one? - for when politicians get caught up on pettifogging rules they happily imposed on the rest of the population.

That piece is the 50th article for that column, and the first time I have ever worried about the consequences of promoting a piece of academic work...