At a loose end on the evening of Wednesday 20th May? In or around Birmingham? Wondering why politics is in a right state and where it's heading? This is the talk for you.

Declassified photos of Stasi agents modeling undercover disguises.

This morning we took a 43 minute cycle from Longbridge to the City Centre. We wanted to show what the current end-to-end @a38cycleway.bsky.social cycle route experience is like. Note that it includes section on pavements, which are shared paths, indicated by the circular blue signs.

This is a great opportunity for someone with research expertise in processes of autocratisation and democratic resilience to work on a cool project with nice people. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQY811/r...

New substack: income inequality has fallen slightly, but inequalities of power are a big problem: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/one-cheer-...

🚨 NEW REPORT! 🚨 What is the state of the UK academic job market in politics, and what does this mean for the field and #highered? In a new @psaecn.bsky.social report, @lawrencemckay.bsky.social @williamlallen.bsky.social and I find worrying trends in job adverts and HESA data from 2012-25 #PSA26

🎉 Our first #PSA26 panel, “What is Parliament?”, was a fantastic start to our programme! Thank you @stephenholdenbates.bsky.social, @alyssamartin.bsky.social, James Strong, Shirin Rai and @pandapoliticus.bsky.social 😊

This article reminded me of this @psa-parliaments.bsky.social blog that we had in draft form for some years and which I eventually found behind the sofa: psaparliaments.org/2026/03/25/e...

The dismal tide accelerates, sweeping from Coventry through Sheffield Hallam to London South Bank. 1/2

Many thanks to Andy Street for coming to speak to our @unibirmingham.bsky.social students yesterday! A great way to end our guest speaker sessions on our new POLSIS module "UK Politics in Times of Crisis".

UK Parliamentary Studies 2026 beano.

Very pleased to see our article on backbench roles in the HoC published in @hansardsociety.bsky.social Parliamentary Affairs. @carolinebha.bsky.social @socialpolicy.bsky.social & I group MPs by activity across 26 measures, identifying 7 roles. It's free to read! academic.oup.com/pa/advance-a...

NEW ANALYSIS: UK emissions fell 2.4% in 2025 as coal fell to a 400-year low. Incredibly, we used less coal last year than than in 1600, when Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne and Shakespeare was writing Hamlet. All the details in our article: www.carbonbrief.org/...

106 people will be killed on Birmingham's roads next council term. Along with 15 organisations, we're calling for Birmingham's future leaders to adopt 10 practical steps to prevent these deaths and many more serious injuries. Who will make Birmingham's roads safer?

“When I began teaching, I joined UCU because the people in the union seemed cool – and because I quickly realised I needed to organise with my peers. If you’re feeling isolated or precarious at UoB, BUCU is where you’ll find your people.” Betsy Porritt - BUCU Anti-casualisation officer ​

The Spectator published this attack on me & colleagues just as the High Court is considering Sussex’s request for review of the Office for Students fine. It accuses us of ‘repressing’ our students. The magazine ignored my request for to reply. Please disseminate. alanlester.co.uk/blog/smearin...

UoB Professional Services - you make student success happen. Join Birmingham UCU to fight for fair workload and recognition.

Remembering David Judge (1950 - 2026). I first met David in 1999. He was such an incredible person, we could do with more Davids in academia. Here is something I wrote when I heard the news last week, published by @psa-parliaments.bsky.social: psaparliaments.org/2026/02/17/r...

Kinder Scout is nice.

Look mum, I’m cited!

Scrapping REF should be “serious’ option”, says Manchester VC. Duncan Ivison questions “usefulness” of “massive, bureaucratic” research assessment exercise. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

NEW BLOG: Why we need to strengthen and codify small party rights in the House of Commons Louise Thompson explains the obstacles facing small parties and calls on parliamentary institutions to formalise informal arrangements and consider ways to increase equalities of opportunity for all parties

Monday and the start of a second week of being prevented from working by my employer, the University of Sheffield. Management has decided that massive damage to staff morale, student experience and the university’s reputation is worth it in a futile attempt to break the union. Shame on them.

HSE found UoB failed to follow its own stress policy, had inadequate stress risk assessments and no effective monitoring of stress. This is about legal duties, not ‘wellbeing extras’.

TRUMP: honk honk honk, I'm a big goose. everyone tells me whenever I enter a room, that's the biggest goose I've ever seen and I say yes. I'm a big goose. in a good way. a lot of Somalians are small stupid gooses but I'm a big goose BBC NEWS: a disciplined Trump sticks to the script on the economy

'Several universities’ undergraduate student intakes fell by between 20 and 30 per cent for this academic year, as many elite institutions reported record numbers.' Sector as a whole accepted 2% more students. Russell Group up 9% (29% of all UK enrolments). 1/3

I'm a bit late to the game on this, but this is exacting overview of the problems with US-style political science is compelling and well-worth reading. But rather than a lack of interpretation, I'd say the major issue is a lack of history (or historicism). harpers.org/archive/2026...

It's Blue Monday Like a stopped clock PR companies are sometimes right. Also like a stopped clock, they need two AA batteries shoved up them and the knob twisted until their hands point in the right direction. Birmingham: It’s Not Shit, Reason No 12: Mr Blue Sky paradisecircus.com/2024/11/19/b...

Ninety UK universities to have posted accounts so far cut 13,300 jobs last year, spending £303 million on severance pay - sector-wide total clearly going to be well in excess of predicted 10,000. Great reporting by @patrickjack.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/news/pay-spe...

The average salary among Russell Group leaders increased above £350,000 last year, despite these universities losing almost 7,000 staff members due to cost-cutting. Patrick Jack crunches the numbers #highered #academicsky https://ow.ly/gJK850XU77K

Very pleased to have presented on this panel, although disappointed that I couldn't be there in person because of the snow...

'An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the Russell Group university “does not have appropriate arrangements in place” for managing workplace stress and was unable to demonstrate that it is managing the risks associated with excessive workloads.' 1/2

Thanks to @philbc3.bsky.social for a very interesting talk on the crisis of right-wing political reproduction at @unibirmingham.bsky.social yesterday!

“The whole system is near-criminal in its ability to harvest public money so that exploitative providers can provide inadequate housing & support to vulnerable people" For our last Naked Week-Observer investigation of the year, we delve into exempt accommodation observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Excellent article on landlords exploiting lack of robust regulations on supported exempt accommodation and causing misery for tenants and wider communities. A real problem in Birmingham! observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Thanks to @houseofcommons.parliament.uk and @houseoflords.parliament.uk for another brilliant visit! University of Birmingham ftw!

Traditional photo of traditional early start for @unibirmingham.bsky.social visit to @houseofcommons.parliament.uk and @houseoflords.parliament.uk.

Given that people is asking me for the numbers, here the table provided by UKRI:

After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results: - AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2% - ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1% - ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%

Meg Russell is now giving oral evidence to @commonsproccom.parliament.uk with @marcgeddes.uk and @stephenholdenbates.bsky.social about elections within the House of Commons. Read Meg, @alanrenwick.bsky.social and Tom Fleming's written evidence 👉 committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide.... Watch it 👇

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN 🎉 The PSA Parliaments Annual Conference 2025 will be hosted by the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of York in conjunction with The White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership on the 27th-28th November!

Michael Rush and the Database historyofparliament.com/2025/10/15/m...

The VC of Leicester has been announced as the new Chair of UCEA. He's been VC of Leicester since 2019. He's the one responsible for forcing out scholars in ways that employment tribunals showed was not permitted. The the kind of guy UCEA values. www.collectiveinkbooks.com/zer0-books/o... #UKHE

With thanks to @pressfuturist for remembering that it was Littlejohn v Self, not Bushell v Self, a literary conversation of the ages. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1390...

This. The Tories, Reform UK Ltd & even Labour hate the actually-existing British economy, whose comparative advantage lies in higher education & the creative industries.

🚨 Job Opportunity! 🚨 Applications are now open for a new 2.5-year postdoc at @edinburghpir.bsky.social to examine how parliaments gather, analyse and use different types of knowledge - see the full job listing here: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

It's that time of year again. 🦉 www.youtube.com/watch?v=alSM...

Bloomsbury Set hangout. Nice venue for the Birkbeck / Birmingham / @psa-parliaments.bsky.social sponsored workshop on what is a parliament.

this is ridiculous

Very sorry to hear of the death of Prof Michael Rush, formerly of Exeter University. He was both an excellent scholar and a lovely kind man, always supportive of his colleagues and fellow academics.