From today, children under 16 are banned from social media in 🇦🇺. The responsibility for implementing this is on the social media companies. We can have long debates about whether it will work (cheating...) and whether more nuanced measures are better. I for one welcome that one govt decided to act!

Since AI slop is again all over Scientific Reports, a thread on the economics of grey-zone publishing. Why does slop keep getting published? What does it mean for science? How can we stop this? Background readings: Understand the strain: tinyurl.com/2b6wxx5r Stop the drain: tinyurl.com/3jfscscy

According to a report by the WSJ, the Trump administration plans to sell out Ucraine for the financial gain of private investors. At least according to the Italian summary, here: www.ilpost.it/2025/12/01/p... The original report is here, behind paywall: www.wsj.com/world/russia...

The arguably most horrendous humanitarian crisis is currently happening in Sudan. Nevertheless, the country has a resilient network of local grassroots organizations providing help, such as the Emergency Response Rooms. This seems to be a good way to donate to them: www.mutualaidsudan.org/donate

Guter Podcast zu Bürgerkrieg und humanitärer Krise im Sudan. www.zeit.de/politik/2025...

NEW! How should Labour respond to the two key issues to voters of the economy and immigration and what are the electoral stakes this week of the budget? Read on for our answer... @nprcoxford.bsky.social @jrf-uk.bsky.social

Another example of a growing phenomenon - wholesale replacement of the traditional two party competition ;Con vs Lab) by an entirely different 2 party competition (Ref vs Grn). We may see a lot of this kind of thing next May.

New publication 🚨 Happy to have a chapter in the new Handbook of Comparative Political Economy, which offers a great overview of the state of the field, edited by Marino Regini. doi.org/10.4337/9781... @sampol.bsky.social

Takk, @jilltxt.bsky.social , for at du sier tydelig ifra!

Immer gut, an die Amadeu Antonio Stiftung zu spenden: www.amadeu-antonio-stiftung.de Die lokalen Projekte, die von ihr unterstützt werden, können vor Ort wirklich einen Unterschied machen, gerade in Ostdeutschland und in ländlichen Regionen - gegen Rechtsextremismus, Rassismus und Antisemitismus.

Scheint mir ne sinnvolle Kampagne: aktion.campact.de/rechtsextrem...

A.I. could deprive students of “indispensable opportunities to develop their linguistic mastery, and with it their most elementary powers of thought,” Anastasia Berg writes. “This means they will lack the means to understand the world they live in or navigate it effectively.”

I love to see stuff like this because it helps explain to people trapped in tech-sponsored information bubbles the actually obvious fact that universities teach people to know & think things, and AI is a way to produce the effect of knowing & thinking things w/o actually knowing & thinking them.

The far right is corrupt to the core #Reform

"Évidemment" LOL Self-described "populist" repeatedly censured for using offshore accounts to enrich herself declares herself "obviously" opposed to a wealth tax. Won't someone get my smelling salts before I faint from shock?

Mange jøder i Norge tør ikke vise sin jødiske identitet. "Foreldre går flere runder med seg selv om hvorvidt det er trygt å la sin ivrige tredjeklassing fortelle om en jødisk høytid i klassen." 🙁 www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kro...

@dpzollinger.bsky.social and I are thrilled "Cleavage Politics in Western Democracies" is out as an SI at @wepsocial.bsky.social! Its papers explore the foundations of the cleavage pitting new left against radical right parties, and how it compares to the classic cleavages of Lipset & Rokkan: 🧵⬇️

On this day, 7th October, I honour those who keep hope alive, who continue to seek dialogue and peaceful coexistence in Israel and Palestine - the peace activists in Israel such as @standing-together.bsky.social and @peacenowisrael.bsky.social as well as the Gazans protesting against Hamas.

Crazy polls in the UK 😯 Reform UK biggest party and high level of fragmentation. Having a first-past-the-post electoral system with this distribution of party preferences is madness.

The discussion in this episode is quite specific to the US. But in general terms it's an extremely important discussion to have in an era of rising fascism: when to draw a line and when to reach out to the people we disagree with.

Rest in peace, Claus Offe! Great, critical, inspiring scholar. www.hertie-school.org/en/news/deta...

Herzlich willkommen, Steffen Mau! 👏 Der Soziologe wird als Direktor am Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung multireligiöser und multiethnischer Gesellschaften in Göttingen und unsere Forschung zu #Ungleichheit und Konflikten ausbauen. @steffenmau.bsky.social @mpimmg.bsky.social

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/...

Bra kommentar av Inga Strümke om KI, politikk og faren for kollektiv kognitiv svekkelse: www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kom...

New publication: my co-author, Trond Holmen Erlien, and I provide a historical case study of the introduction of statutory extensions of collective bargaining in Norway. doi.org/10.1111/1467... @sampol.bsky.social 1/4

På 10 år er det tatt ut 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟕𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥. 𝐤𝐫 i utbytte og lønn fra Overhalla Betongbygg. Likevel klager eier på formuesskatten. 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑: 𝟏𝟕𝟓 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐤𝐫 𝐋ø𝐧𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑: 𝟑,𝟐 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥. 𝐤𝐫 𝐔𝐭𝐛𝐲𝐭𝐭𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒: 𝟑𝟓 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥. 𝐤𝐫 www.faktaomformuesskatt.no/start/bedrif... #faktaomformuesskatt #valg2025 #Formuesskatt

Can states extend collective wage agreements through the force of law, thus propping up dwindling collective bargaining? Trond Holmen Erlien and Georg Picot @gpicot.bsky.social examine this feature in Norwegian labour market politics and the appears to be positive. doi.org/10.1111/1467....

Pengegavene i årets stortingsvalg kommer fra både privatpersoner, bedrifter og organisasjoner. Høyresiden får mest fra bedrifter mens venstresiden får mest fra fagbevegelsen. (Tall per 15. august, 2024+2025)

New semester, new students - looking forward to teaching my course on labour market policies in comparative perspective 😊 #sampol216 @sampol.bsky.social

💰Partienes Pengegaver: Del 2 Jeg går gjennom hvert parti sine pengegaver over tid. I dag er det FRP. Til årets valg får FRP langt mer pengegaver enn tidligere (x7 av hva de fikk i 2021). Pengene kommer i hovedsak fra selskaper og individer. Imorgen: Arbeiderpartiet

More evidence that we lose cognitive skills when we rely on AI. According to this Lancet article, endoscopists find fewer tumors without help of AI after having used AI for a couple of months. doi.org/10.1016/S246...

This article by Christian Schemmel and myself is now published in a journal issue (APSR). It also received my department's annual publication prize. @sampol.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/S000...

Proper thread after the summer break– but if you were looking for a beach read about political reasoning in today's working class, look no further: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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

Reminder: Great job opportunities at Aarhus University! Please help spread the word before everyone disappears for summer break! 🏖️

We wrote about the US ruling class taking the reins to manage its own decline. What do the Trumpist factions of capital want? Can that be squared with the interests of the MAGA base? Capable state managers could potentially thread the needle, but that's all gone. With @cedricdurand.bsky.social.

If you want to understand Trump's crypto business better as well as the horrendous conflicts of interest and shocking potential for corruption, listen to this podcast.

This should be seen as evidence of the crisis: federal judges fear that Trump will order U.S. Marshals to stand down on securing the safety of judges whose decision they don’t like. This is just devastating. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

A long long time ago, in a far away galaxy... the US used to tax the rich

People who say the Republicans' “big beautiful bill” (which includes massive tax cuts for the rich) will add trillions to the federal deficit: ✅ CBO ✅ CRFB ✅ The Joint Committee on Taxation ✅ Countless analysts People who say it won’t: 🔴 The Trump Administration Who should we believe?

Are you writing a Master's thesis on Europe, the EU or Norway's relation to the EU? We offer student grants to two students submitting their thesis in the spring of 2026. Read more and apply by 16 June 2025: www.sv.uio.no/arena/englis... #studentgrant #europeanstudies @unioslo-svfak.bsky.social

On May 22–23, @franzknappik.bsky.social & I are hosting a conference on The Philosophy of Angela Davis. Davis has shaped debates on freedom, abolition, race, class & history — yet remains overlooked in both mainstream political philosophy & critical theory. This conference seeks to change that.

This is what a rigged economy looks like: In the 1970s, CEOs made 27 times more than the average worker. In the 1980s, CEOs made 48 times more than the average worker. This decade, CEOs are making 354 times more than the average worker. That has got to change.

“In all, according to the two sources, less than 10 minutes elapsed between [CENTCOM commander] Kurilla’s giving Hegseth the information [on a secure communication system] and Hegseth’s sending it to the two group chats” [on his personal phone]

I AM HIRING 2 postdocs (5 years) in my @erc.europa.eu project "The Politics of the Latent Educational Cleavage" at @goetheuni.bsky.social @infer-frankfurt.bsky.social! German call: www.fb03.uni-frankfurt.de/170856927.pdf English call: www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/170858269.pdf Please share

Was der Koalitionsvertrag zum Mindestlohn verspricht, entspricht eigentlich nur der geltenden Geschäftsordnung der Mindestlohnkommission. www.tagesschau.de/inland/innen...

Strong moment from AOC’s speech in Utah

Trump slapped a big tariff on the uninhabited Heard Islands and Macdonald Islands because they were in the dataset of countries used to calculate the tariffs. It's in the US census dataset of US trade in goods by country. Are their registered exports data errors? www.census.gov/foreign-trad...