The Vacancy is being written. @paulisci.bsky.social and I have caffeine and words to write.

A lovely MSc graduation day is over, and lovely to hear who has started PhDs elsewhere and to meet the parents who help it all happen. They also waived the one drink per person rule so some of them were very happy.

My article on #mythology is now open access. Carter, Porter, Herrera: Overcoming Mythology to Achieve Agency (Sometimes) Effectively. Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

PhD opportunity in Memory Studies: granduniondtp.web.ox.ac.uk/contested-hi...

I took my MSc students for a festive lunch. Much to talk about in the world 🎅 🤶 🎄

The new US National Security Strategy fits a lot of what I described just beforehand here: blogs.gwu.edu/ipdgcsmartpo...

In cellophane, a new issue arrives, a special issue Narrating War edited by @adamblerner.bsky.social @profmiskimmon.bsky.social & I, with great authors, available here: journals.sagepub.com/toc/mwc// cc @alexhlar.bsky.social @paulinesophieh.bsky.social @minseonku.bsky.social @jarrodhayes.bsky.social

The new US National Security Strategy mentions #softpower, a surprise. But I am not sure these paragraphs signal soft power in the eyes of much of humanity. www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

Students have bought pizza 🍕 to give to staff on my department corridor. This is a first, and should happen every day. They are lovely students.

I was asked to give a keynote on the future of soft power and strategic narrative, in a room in DC in 2025 where the intensity and stakes could not be higher. Please read here: blogs.gwu.edu/ipdgcsmartpo...

My MSc students today: “COP30 isn’t in the news because climate is a topic for peaceful times.” Discuss.

Excited our department seminar tomorrow is @duncanbell.bsky.social on #Socialism and #Telepathy: Group Minds and Freedom in Interwar British Political Thought. The talk takes place 1-2pm in McCrea 2-01, all welcome.

Who has control of the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings if survivors are now dead? AI #memorybots? Should there be moral worth for forgetting rather than assuming all memory is valuable? New by Luli van der Does and @andrewhoskins.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Big CfP: ICA preconference in Cape Town, 3 June 2026, for our Media, War and Conflict journal. Theme: Challenges to Contemporary Conflict Reporting bit.ly/mwcpreconfer... - any questions can be emailed to the organisers at: [email protected]. Thanks to @icahdq.bsky.social!

Big CfP: ICA preconference in Cape Town, 3 June 2026, for our Media, War and Conflict journal. Theme: Challenges to Contemporary Conflict Reporting bit.ly/mwcpreconfer... - any questions can be emailed to the organisers at: [email protected]. Thanks to @icahdq.bsky.social!

New book by @jamessloam.bsky.social: young people and politics ‘involves a move from citizens as simply voters, volunteers and consumers, to citizens as problem-solvers and cocreators of public goods’ (Boyte 2005: 536). Read intro for free: bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/turning-yout...

Three PhD studentships available if you want to work-study with @andrewhoskins.bsky.social on his brilliant new WARSHARE project on Telegram and the Russia-Ukraine war: www.sps.ed.ac.uk/study/prospe... #memory #trauma #participation

"Delusion is the solution. Be delulu." One of my students today.

Empire of AI by @karenhao.bsky.social. I'm fortunate to be leading a seminar on power next week, and this will be in it, as this basic, fundamental question has been bubbling under the surface with my students all term; it can go in many directions: www.penguin.co.uk/books/460331...

New by @nataliejester.bsky.social in Media, War and Conflict: Great Britain? Constructing great power status through online news reporting of foreign conflict -- our news thinks the UK has a duty to intervene, despite its hard power declining. Read here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Thread:

@andrewhoskins.bsky.social has a sense #AI won't be good for #memory, collective or otherwise. We are sharded and swimming alone in slop: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New special issue by @luissimonn.bsky.social and @danielfiott.bsky.social very much gets at the complexities over time of how great powers do wedging or binding, to themselves and others. Here: China, EU, US. A great analytical framework I hope others use: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Very much enjoyed talking to the smart folks @cvtrc.bsky.social. Was grateful to @benoloughlin.bsky.social for chairing & @akilnawan.bsky.social for inviting me. Was very pleased to get questions from distinguished scholars like @lizzypearson.bsky.social as well several undergrads.

How will advanced AI systems impact democracy? @summerfieldlab.bsky.social et al. 'AI may provide an opportunity to update the social contract underlying rep. democracy, by expanding the role of citizen input... including the design of democratic institutions and processes' arxiv.org/abs/2409.06729

If #AI develops values, will it realise some people don't value it, so it will commit suicide? James Meek in the LRB: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4... h/t @profmiskimmon.bsky.social

Hear me now! Well, soon...

Our article on the politics of AI prompts is out now @econsocjournal.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 1/n

My polcomm class today said emojis are what the previous generation used. They have a different comms toolkit. They are kissing bricks. A genuinely hilarious hour.

The insightful @andreamedrado.bsky.social is launching the Critical AI Centre @exeter.ac.uk - join for the launch debate here, Oct 8 2pm GMT: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-critic...

Want to do a PhD in social media and politics? We have a studentship here:

Generative AI might end up being worthless — and that could be a good thing, by Fenwick McKelvey: theconversation.com/generative-a...

Upcoming conference, Shifting Allegiances, Story-Telling, and the #Narrative of Values in the Black Sea Region. Date and Location: 1-3 May 2026, Batumi, Georgia. Organized by: Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University. Info here: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-j...

⚠️ For us, accessing platform data is central in enhancing online political safety research, particularly its credibility, validity and ethical standards! 📑 In fact, we have already produced a report on this topic! ➡️ osf.io/preprints/so... 🧵[2/3]

Our PhD student @katosborne5.bsky.social published a first book review! 🎉 The politics of preventing violent extremism: liberal democracy, civil society and countering radicalization, by Charlotte Heath-Kelly & Sadi Shanaah: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... cc co-supe @lizzypearson.bsky.social

New special issue: Can the European Union (EU) strive for Strategic Autonomy in an age of intensifying Sino-American competition? A mixed picture is found, led by @luissimonn.bsky.social and Daniel Fiott. Opening article here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

EAT THEIR FRAMES

New by @profmiskimmon.bsky.social and I: Our thoughts on how political leaders use ambiguity. Not all #narratives are clear and simple, for good reasons. [message if you want a copy] www.emerald.com/books/edited...

anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/h... h/t @johana.bsky.social

📣 Congratulations to @andreucasas.bsky.social on winning a Future Leaders Fellowship from @ukri.org! As part of the project, Andreu launches the London Social Media Observatory @ldnsocmedobs.bsky.social, a multidisciplinary research centre for cutting-edge research on social media and politics!

Great to see papers emerging from our new journal special issue, "What Matters? The Politics of Narrating War", I edited with @adamblerner.bsky.social and @benoloughlin.bsky.social

We have a rather exciting new development at our university…

This is very good, on how vampires are subverting then sucking the life out of liberalism. By Sarah Banet-Weiser and @jillybkay.bsky.social: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Will AI twins or avatars of human representatives make better decisions and create better governance? Or just a straight parliament of non-corruptible bots? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

This AI workshop is losing will and needing coffee.

At the University of Valencia to explore AI and agency in politics, convened by Marco Guglielmo:

UK Ambassador to the US Mandleson on making a deal: 'at its core will be new agreements that ... ensure that British and American ingenuity continues to lead the world'. h/t @profmiskimmon.bsky.social #narrative #identity #order #interests #wildhorses 🐎 www.ditchley.com/sites/defaul...

Our video: What is AI Politics - our book series and a thing out there in the world? @andrewhoskins.bsky.social and I mull it over: Watch: ow.ly/EQFC50WQin8 CFP: ow.ly/M43J50WQin7 Thanks to James @intellectbooks.bsky.social and do consider writing a book on this!

Funded PhD in Politics or Sociology, Aston University. On the symbolic representation of women politician’s parental status in the media. A plus: experience studying gender and politics and/or media analysis. Deadline 15 Sept. Ad under Law & Social Sciences tab here: www.aston.ac.uk/postgraduate...

James Campbell is joined by Andrew Hoskins and Ben O'Loughlin. They discuss their new book series, AI Politics, which will interrogate and shape debate on the artificial intelligence. Watch👉ow.ly/EQFC50WQin8 CFP👉ow.ly/M43J50WQin7 @benoloughlin.bsky.social @andrewhoskins.bsky.social