We're now over halfway through our @sotonpolitics.bsky.social department seminars! It's been such a good line-up and very grateful for all those who've joined us - today @dafnoukos.bsky.social and last week Peter Dinesen.

🚨 EPSS Belfast 2026 Call for Papers - One week to go! 🚨 Don't forget to submit your paper or panel proposal to the European Political Science Society @epssnet.bsky.social 2026 conference - just one week to go before the deadline: epssnet.org/belfast-2026...

Are you, or do you know, someone who wants to do a PhD? Applications are open for full funding (scholarship + maintenance) @sotonpolitics.bsky.social through the @scdtp.bsky.social Get in touch if you're interested southcoastdtp.ac.uk/apply/

What a complete failure of the Labour Party.

Unrelated to this post, but: talking about 'class' is the single most effective, cost-free change Labour could make to improve their support.

Happy, alongside @emiliabelknap.bsky.social, to make my debut contribution with the fantastic folks at @ukandeu.bsky.social Emilia & I use data from @britishelectionstudy.com to correct the atomistic fallacy in people's understanding the Reform UK gender gap ukandeu.ac.uk/most-british...

Our findings suggest that, even though working-class backgrounds have always been underrepresented, not only the level but also the nature of this underrepresentation has changed. Today's working-class politicians are much more likely to have exited the working class before entering politics.

One key result is that, among Social Democratic ministers with a working-class background, there has been a shift: Today, most of those individuals experienced upward class mobility *before* entering politics, whereas the picture was much more balanced in the early post-war era:

🚨New paper out in @jeppjournal.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1080/1350... @manuelwagner.bsky.social & I re-conceptualize class representation to take into account social mobility between classes and variation in how individuals enter politics.

Another great @jeppjournal.bsky.social paper I'm happy to have edited is out here, on workers' descriptive representation, by @manuelwagner.bsky.social and @laurenzennser.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In Southampton yesterday there was a national call (via Turning Point, Tommy Robinson, etc) for an anti-migrant rally. Very happy that even at short notice that march was outnumbered by about 50%.

The last week has been *long* but I'm happy to be reflecting on such great questions and hospitality @uu-polisci.bsky.social - thanks again!

In Southampton yesterday there was a national call (via Turning Point, Tommy Robinson, etc) for an anti-migrant rally. Very happy that even at short notice that march was outnumbered by about 50%.

Many studies attribute the success of right-wing parties to sexism. What is sexism? How is it measured? How does it influence elections? My systematic review of studies on sexism as a predictor of political behavior and attitudes is about to appear in @poqjournal.bsky.social! 1/7

A day in my life as an MP (with my beautiful wife) 👇

🆕 Is representation out of touch? 🤔 Nino Junius & Stefaan Walgrave comment on a #RepresentationGap between high and low SES backgrounds in politics, suggesting that those who benefit the most from inclusion in their personal networks often lack it the most. 🤝 #OA 📖

Would you trust politicians to use AI to help them with their work? What about a robot making decisions for them? My colleagues Martin Ejnar Hansen, Yosuke Sunahara and I find out in Parliamentary Affairs! doi.org/10.1093/pa/g... @hansardsociety.bsky.social @ukparliament.parliament.uk

This is at a time when universities are turning more to grant capture as the primary currency for promotion etc (usually regardless of what you do with it)

Found this (from @yougov.co.uk polling a year ago) fascinating. Politicians love to do the 'prolier than thou' thing (eg Badenoch 'becoming working class' by working in McDonalds 😂 and Starmer's dad being a toolmaker🙄), yet the electorate still tends to think they want to be seen as middle class.

Pleased to see this out in print - detailing MAIHDA's desirable statistical properties. "MAIHDA is especially valuable when inequalities are subtle or data for marginalised intersections are sparse - conditions common in practice" journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... @clarerevans.bsky.social

Today’s @sotonpolitics.bsky.social seminar will include these vegan birthday biscuit bars: dark chocolate, pecan, sea salt. #poliskybakes

I dunno, guys, but apart from the total moral, ethical, and policy void that is the Labour Party, surely all they need to do is look at the polling to know it isn't working?

A stellar line-up of editors and contributors that should become the marker for empirical studies involving political trust! Tagging in @isabel-ruiz.bsky.social @cvar-sil.bsky.social

Although not yet available to read (January 2026!), very happy to see our book on political trust online. Co-edited with @mfair.bsky.social and available open access, we think it'll be a useful addition to the field. www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/a-r...

📢 last day to submit your abstract to be part of our #PoliticalTrust panels at @epssnet.bsky.social You'll be in good company 😎 @annakern.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social @cvalebeek.bsky.social @hannesbey.bsky.social

Or do different countries represent different groups? We compare Norway and the US and see that Norway has had a fair share of ministers who had working class occupations before joining politics, while this is not the case in the United States.

Last Saturday, I had the privilege to present our project’s work at the CSS section of the @psaireland.bsky.social in Galway: “Between presence and absence: social classes and vulnerable groups in parliamentary debates.” - I’d like to thank @alonadolinsky.com for her amazing feedback on the paper!

"There is no more important topic for scholars to confront. This volume is invaluable because it provides important insights on trust from every angle and lays out avenues for new research. Readers will find lots of inspiration to develop their own ideas through these pages." - Marc J. Hetherington

Although not yet available to read (January 2026!), very happy to see our book on political trust online. Co-edited with @mfair.bsky.social and available open access, we think it'll be a useful addition to the field. www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/a-r...

'Becoming' !

Well, the acceptance rate is going under 10%, but that's still higher than most of the domestic UK grants. So, I guess that's a silver lining. Of sorts.

After a great first session today, our @psapolpsychology.bsky.social autumn seminar series continues next week with what promises to be a fascinating talk by @klaramueller.bsky.social! Sign up here: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/5edb84...

Shout-out to all #PoliticalTrust researchers interested in attending the first @epssnet.bsky.social conference in #Belfast @annakern.bsky.social, @danjdevine.bsky.social, @cvalebeek.bsky.social, @hannesbey.bsky.social and I are coordinating 3 trust panels!

💰 @danjdevine.bsky.social: "Political trust and redistribution preferences" 🖇️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Happy ERC submission date for all those that celebrate. May your reviewers be fair and scores generous!

Tariffs might be the word of 2025. Given the state of *looks around* we asked: is there demand for tariffs in Europe? @grahn.bsky.social @katharinalawall.bsky.social @sophiemainz.bsky.social Maria Nordbrandt & I show the answer is a resolute no @jeppjournal.bsky.social doi.org/10.1080/1350...

📰 Our October issue is out and in your inbox 👉 www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjpp20/3...

Not to mention, be required to explain how the Very Serious And Important Degrees will be funded without the cheap-to-run ones.

🚨 We have a cool new ESRC PhD studentship opportunity on the topic of political persuasion for someone interested in campaigning, field experiments and/or computational methods @lsegovernment.bsky.social, in collaboration with @campaign-lab.bsky.social. All info 👇 www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse...

Happy to publish today in the @ejprjournal.bsky.social Pop culture (think Netflix's Sex Education) make us think that emerging cohorts are happy to socially incorporate partners with sexually modern backgrounds and experiences 🏳️‍🌈 But is this really the case? doi.org/10.1017/S147...

Always happy to receive and publish great papers especially from ECRs 👇

🤝 @jochemvanagt.bsky.social, Katrin Praprotnik, @luanarusso.bsky.social, and @markuswagner.bsky.social show that when the mainstream right signals openness to govern with the far right, it eases tensions on the right but amplifies antipathy on the left 👇 🔗 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Are you, or do you know, someone who wants to do a PhD? Applications are open for full funding (scholarship + maintenance) @sotonpolitics.bsky.social through the @scdtp.bsky.social Get in touch if you're interested southcoastdtp.ac.uk/apply/

It was a pleasure to visit the University of Amsterdam last week, a final trip before term starts... Thanks for having me @tomwgvdmeer.bsky.social @cvalebeek.bsky.social @hannesbey.bsky.social @twanhuijsmans.bsky.social and others without Bluesky!

Really interesting paper. One issue that complicates interpretation is that they their treatment is exposure to a human-centric AI assistant (ChatGPT) not an autonomous AI agent. Creates a false sense of security rather than a more accurate subjective risk perception? @mhaslberger.bsky.social ‬

Happy to see another great paper out at @jeppjournal.bsky.social .

What Happened to Labour's 2024 Voters? Using the recent wave of the @britishelectionstudy.com I look at people who voted Labour in 2024: - How many are still with the party? - How many have left? - Why might that be? TLDR: they've left because of economic issues/concerns, probably.