Social Justice Warriors, sir. Thousands of them.

New releases from the National Archives of government records from 2005 show how ministers and officials reacted uneasily to the implementation of FOI, and how they handled some initial cases - "This is becoming a real problem". What I found in the files: rosenbaum6.substack.com/p/tony-we-ha...

I never knew Brian Epstein wanted to manage the Velvet Underground. Now I do.

I just got this. Looks great.

*PSA PUBLICATIONS* 📚Political Insight December issue is out now!📚 Featuring #OpenAccess article 'Freedom of Information at 20' by @benworthy.bsky.social ➡️ Read for FREE buff.ly/LMYdW3U @sagepub.com

On 15 Jan, we'll be launching our latest report. 'Leaky Pipes: Better Election Donation Data' uncovers the gaps, inconsistencies, and missed opportunities in how the UK records and discloses election donations. Sign up to come along and discuss the findings: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mysociety-...

Something I want to use this to build on is how we reconcile "casework as individual problem solving" with better data that informs collective solutions.

There is much to applaud in Labour's new inquiry into foreign interference in British politics But it needs to go much further if it's to tackle how foreign influence really works - and properly protect British democracy New by me on Democracy for Sale democracyforsale.substack.com/p/labours-fo...

📚New 'Political Insight' issue📚 Featuring #OpenAccess article 'The #British #GeneralElection of 2024: A #Labour Landslide Built on Fragile Foundations' by @robfordmancs.bsky.social, @timbale.bsky.social, @drjennings.bsky.social & @psurridge.bsky.social ➡️ buff.ly/LMYdW3U

Check out Colm Murphy's @colmpm.bsky.social latest article in Past and Present: academic.oup.com/past/advance...

Stop getting Maginot wrong. Great article by @alanallport.bsky.social

very pleased to publish @alanallport.bsky.social on 1940. foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/18/f...

The Covid Inquiry revealed that there were ‘substantive discussions’ of important policy decisions via texts. Frequent use of WhatsApp undermines transparency, and decreases the quality of decisions. By @benworthy.bsky.social & @mrosenbaum.bsky.social

There's been a massive jump in FOI requests to the Home Office in particular, but increases across other departments too

Good. This was such a great opportunity for students to take part in. Great to see we will be part of it again!

*PSA PUBLICATIONS* 📚Political Insight December issue is out now!📚 Featuring #OpenAccess article 'Freedom of Information at 20' by @benworthy.bsky.social ➡️ Read for FREE buff.ly/LMYdW3U @sagepub.com

Praise retweeting

10 nuggets from the new "British General Election of 2024" book, courtesy of @timbale.bsky.social theconversation.com/the-ten-most...

The Covid Inquiry revealed that there were ‘substantive discussions’ of important policy decisions via texts. Frequent use of WhatsApp undermines transparency, and decreases the quality of decisions. By @benworthy.bsky.social & @mrosenbaum.bsky.social

The Covid Inquiry revealed how the use of chat apps in gov't created an unprecedented document trail, along with a temptation to avoid record keeping or to lose/delete records. By @benworthy.bsky.social & me, for @politicalquarterly.bsky.social - thepoliticalquarterly.substack.com/p/government...

We've just published a new Substack. The Covid Inquiry revealed there were ‘substantive discussions’ of important policy decisions through texts and messages. Is this ever acceptable? By @benworthy.bsky.social & @mrosenbaum.bsky.social Read: thepoliticalquarterly.substack.com/p/government...

Time to look behind another "British General Election of 2024" advent calander window. As is tradition in every post 2016 Christmas, Brexit is in the air, with speculation about whether Labour might push to move closer to the EU. But what role did Brexit play in last July's election? Read on!

Released on this day in 1975: Marcus Garvey (album) #BurningSpear youtu.be/oV8QWVph4f0?si…

If anyone remembers that list which said historians were second in line to be replaced by AI, I've had some thoughts about it... and how it relates to some aspects of public history and the current climate facing historians. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

OMG we only went and bloody won!! 🎉🎉 In barely two years Democracy for Sale has gone from nothing to winning a British journalism award Am absolutely blown away!! Thanks to everyone who reads D4S and supports us. Couldn’t do it without you all 😊

absolute bargain if any of yous have a use for 7,949,020,598 wasps

Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252: Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email. Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk

My favourite of my own papers is on this exact topic (should be free to read) www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

This paper, now out at QJPS, was a labor of love, and Geoff, @alexanderfurnas.com and I are pleased to share it--and the data! Appreciate the opportunity to write up for @lseusablog.bsky.social, and very thankful for the Center for Effective Lawmaking in helping to improve the project!

Christian von Sikorski and Michael Hameleers have curated a timely and excellent special issue on 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 👏 Check it out here: journals.sagepub.com/toc/JMQ/curr.... @profdimitrova.bsky.social @cvsikorski.bsky.social #commsky

🚨Excited to share our new paper published in PNAS (joint with @yamilrvelez.bsky.social and Don Green)! AI can enhance political knowledge and provide balanced information about politics with proper guardrails and vetted sources (e.g., party platforms). www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:

This is amazing, and explains a lot about US politics. Thanks for writing this up @adambonica.bsky.social

Miroslav Holub 1923 - 1998 A Boy's Head (1963) In it there is a space-ship and a project for doing away with piano lessons

An #FOI win can make future requests much easier. The ICO ruled the value of council-bought shopping centres should be revealed. A request for updated figures was answered much quicker:

Here are links to their full UK in a changing Europe blog: ukandeu.ac.uk/brexits-impa... and to their @nber.org paper: www.nber.org/papers/w34459

🚨 New in Nature+Science!🚨 AI chatbots can shift voter attitudes on candidates & policies, often by 10+pp 🔹Exps in US Canada Poland & UK 🔹More “facts”→more persuasion (not psych tricks) 🔹Increasing persuasiveness reduces "fact" accuracy 🔹Right-leaning bots=more inaccurate

"Keir Starmer did not create this problem — the damage done by the Conservatives cannot be overstated — but it is making matters worse." Fantastic column by @robertshrimsley.bsky.social on the malaise in our politics and the road that we're on without a major change in approach:

Another boffo release of #openaddresses from our friends in local government: Brighton & Hove City Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad... Thx @brighton-hove.gov.uk! Geocoded by yours truly #FOI #localgov #UKhousing #proptech #opendata

Political communication research overwhelmingly relies on text. But parliamentary speech is multimodal! In our new @psrm.bsky.social article, Mathias Rask and I show that legislators also signal partisan conflict nonverbally— through changes in vocal pitch during floor speeches. 🧵 1/11 #polisky

This man may be the most racist president this country has ever had, and twelve presidents owned slaves

We have written a special report looking at the people behind Reform in Wales. This was a bizarre piece to write. willhaywardwales.substack.com/p/special-re...

For Welsh politicos or those who have recently developed an interest in next year’s Senedd election, this is an interesting read from @willhaycardiff.bsky.social on a party that is challenging for first place in the polls & looks set to be a major presence in the next #Senedd: Reform #devolution

Issuing a very rare explanatory note here to say that, while I do consider this a fun and quite odd fact about Tom Stoppard, I also believe his script for Last Crusade is a genuine masterpiece. And I'm not just saying that because it might be my favourite film of all time. It's damn near perfect.

Yes, I only found this out recently

Thinking of George today, I made a mix of Beware of Darkness highlighting with just strings and vocals (and a bit of Hammond organ) youtu.be/BI_k6x2lY64

Our intro to the 2026 Ethnopolitics special issue on Protest & Power-Sharing is out. It brings together great scholars & cases — Lebanon, Bosnia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Northern Ireland — on how protest & power-sharing interact. Grateful to contributors: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

George Harrison's ' It's All Too Much' youtu.be/2zc3idF_IZ0?...

Every single congressional Democrat needs to be out there, right now, insisting that Pete Hegseth resign right now and announcing that he will be held accountable for committing war crimes. If you do not demand accountability here and now, they will only become more emboldened.

New report today from @britishfuture.bsky.social