Every year around this time, I get requests from students doing their Baccalauréat Francais International for help with their projects on sport and soft power. All started from a conversation with @jamesdgriffiths.bsky.social which led to me quickly writing this short blog a few years ago.

What Chris said (Also what one of my thesis chapters eventually said)

Many countries have IDs, and have done for a long time without issue. UK though seems to piss itself with faux rage whenever anyone mentions anything relating to them. Should have been introduced to tackle disenfranchisement and address electoral fraud years ago.

I'm looking for someone UK-based with web-scraping skills who can scrape a substantial amount of data for me from the French parliamentary website in exchange for a fixed (negotiable) one-off fee.  French language skills are not essential as full instructions will be provided. 1/2

Godspeed to anyone else about to embark on a semester of teaching British politics.

My whole life has been pretty much based around music and politics. I owe it almost entirely to Manic Street Preachers. Only just started the new book on them, but it is excellent so far.

It is because voters associate anti-racism with Labour that Labour has a central responsibility to uphold anti-racism norms. Shirking that responsibility erodes those norms. It is a choice with consequences.

🚨DATA RELEASE 🚨 The BES team are pleased to announce the release of Wave 30 of the British Election Study Internet Panel. Please follow the link below, and we look forward to seeing your research! www.britishelectionstudy.com/bes-resource...

Training here is not exactly helpful

The wonderful @jamesdgriffiths.bsky.social and the @britishelectionstudy.com team have just released this great write up on where Labour's lost voters are going www.britishelectionstudy.com/uncategorize...

Interested in Labour's lost voters since the 2024 UK GE? Want to get a sneak peak at some of the results from wave 30 of the BESIP before it is released? Then we have a new blog for you! 👇👇

Job stuff: I will be the Comparative and British Politics lecturer at Liverpool John Moores for the upcoming semester. Looking forward to the challenge. (Sadly, all my lectures will not be in this converted chapel)

You have to scan your face to access messaging on this app? Getting ridiculous this

Starmer Stans should listen to what their own MPs like Clive Lewis are saying about their beloved leader who is very much in danger of becoming the British Giolitti unless he starts attacking the far right and racist anti migrant rhetoric instead of parroting it

The 3 subjects Non-western (especially non US) Foreign Policy/War/Security Studies including not limited to IR and Cold War history Political theory, including not limited to the history of political thought History & theory of colonialism and its legacies in politics and international relations

You've been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. I'm watching Twisted Metal (as a tonal shift from rewatching all of Twin Peaks last week). It is fun, but I would not be rescued.

I agree with this rabbit

I collect footy shirts, but I have found one I will skip. We had the brownshirts and the blackshirts, so is this the start of the blueshirts?

Signs of a system that's working very well indeed

In the Elections Crew group chat (don't deny that you are also in one), we have finally allowed ourselves to turn our attention to the Dutch election as a treat. How many parties will make up the next coalition?

I have a new article out at @polstudies.bsky.social. In "Electoral Hope", I make the case that supposedly irrational "wishful thinking" is actually a crucial part of how voters make rational sense of their role in democracies. OA link: doi.org/10.1177/0032...

Is the Junior Colleague Cup coming back for another season on Fantasy Premier League? Can't remember who league admin is - I'll make a new one if needs be

Seeing this in the church my family go to/run. Apologists for the likes of Anderson just because he speaks about his "faith". More and more of that church are vocally leaning towards Reform. This follows some UK churches being influenced by and involved with Right wing (Trump supporting) US churches

Saying farewell to me desk today. I was sat here for the majority of my PhD and time TAing here. It was here in Quad D on the 4th floor of the ALB, that I've, oddly, felt happiest in the past few years. Time to let someone else enjoy it and time for me to find work beyond being a TA.

"Location: Preferred location is London as this is where majority of the team and stakeholders are based." I hate seeing this on applications. Some of us are rational human beings and do not want to be in London.

Great work by @tobysjames.bsky.social It is essential that we push for automatic registration now! It also references mine and @profsob.bsky.social recent article (which I will link below this) theconversation.com/automatic-vo...

So many job ads start with: "Are you interested in advancing AI?" No, I am absolutely am not.

Why racist CTs have widely circulated as scientific truth? In this video I explain this phenomenon and the factor mentioned at the beginning is the commodification of our affects promoted by contemporary capitalism.

This week Mon - Job interview / watch train videos with nephew Tue - Write Civil Service application / wait for phone call Wed - Navigate Deftones ticket pre-sale Thu - Graduation / fight weather Fri - Send Civil Service application / get Kneecap tickets All equally important, I'm sure you'll agree

You can find the full paper (open access) here: doi.org/10.1080/0140... Hope you find it interesting/useful, and let me know of any comments or questions!

Great paper and interesting research by @ralphscott.bsky.social @nspmartin.bsky.social and @rolandkappe.bsky.social

Any Dyslexic scholars feel nauseous before they start reading an article or chapter? Any reading tips that I may have missed over the years, welcomed (Aware the best way to overcome is to simply just get on with it) Seriously tho, we've landed robots on comets but no one has cured my dyslexia yet?!

Seeing the term "micro-retirement" appearing recently and I would like it to stop "Micro-retirements mean quitting your job & taking a break before starting a new job, or taking a few weeks of unpaid leave every 6 months to recharge as agreed with your employer." Whoinfucksname can afford this?

I might actually start preventing people from mentioning the 1966 world cup, sounds fun. You're all now only allowed to mention the 1977, '78, '81, '84, 2005, & '19 European Cup finals. No reason, I chose those years entirely at random. And no, you can't dance Nobby's dance whilst mentioning them!

Watched Threads. Not often you get an insight into local government and nuclear apocalypse in one film. But MY WORD, the film is bleak!

Academic (& adjacent) job market is soul-crushing. I've never been this unhappy regarding future prospects (which is odd considering I had no a-levels or job in my 20s) Between applying and not finding time to write papers (which jobs are based on), anyone else barely find energy to get out of bed?

What do women’s parties want? And how do their platforms differ? Very happy to share the first paper from my PhD out now in @politicsgenderj.bsky.social! In it, I present a comparative empirical analysis of European women’s parties’ issue concerns in 30yrs of party manifestos. 🧵⬇️

I’m petrified about today’s science news. Genetically modifying crabs to have cheetah genes? This could go sideways fast.

20 years on from surviving 7/7 - my experience as a British Muslim @uk.theconversation.com With thanks to my editor @averyanapol.bsky.social theconversation.com/i-survived-t...

Finally out! If you want to know exactly how the UK compares on how easy or difficult is for voters to register to vote, give this a read Takeout- it is extremely difficult! And there are few other liberal democracies that compare. We’re ready for change!

Giving this a bump. Mine and @profsob.bsky.social work analysing the comparative level of difficulty British people face when registering to vote and what UK can do to change this, is out now. More detail in quoted post.

Got a conference fee waived, which is great! Then you look up the train to the conference and it is more expensive than a flight to Tbilisi!

I think trying to wind up James Milner so he gets fined just sounds like the most Diogo Jota thing I can think of. I still use his 'whats happening' gif on the regular. It just immediately captured the personality of the man on day one. Nice tribute from Hendo.

Featuring new analysis of the local elections - I find that areas in ill health are switching to Reform, and argue that the PIP U-turn must be the start of a wider reckoning with health inequalities:

Mine and @profsob.bsky.social paper Comparing registration systems using the International Difficulty of Registration Index (IDORI). How difficult is electoral registration in the UK? has been published. Please read it here, url: academic.oup.com/pa/article/d...

Mine and @profsob.bsky.social paper Comparing registration systems using the International Difficulty of Registration Index (IDORI). How difficult is electoral registration in the UK? has been published. Please read it here, url: academic.oup.com/pa/article/d...

Who wants to see how 81 different census variables correlate with this May's local election results? Of course you do: www.datawrapper.de/_/avuui/?v=4

Both Diogo and his brother André. Absolutely heartbreaking.

This was my first, and it turns out everyone's last, EPSA. Saw some great presentations, got some helpful feedback, and met some lovely people. Such large conferences are good for helping you realise the sort of academic you do (and don't) want to be. It was a useful (and sweaty) experience.

Saying all British Jews are associated with the IDF is textbook antisemitism. But, before that, this is a weak analogy anyway. Although, I suppose managing to be both transphobic and antisemitic in basically 1 sentence is sort of skilful for the 'path not taken'