Very interesting paper. Confirms what we knew from cross-country studies - large, rapid effects. The really interesting part is the firm-level analysis, which shows similar, if somewhat lower, magnitudes. www.nber.org/papers/w3445...

"Fedora man" is a 15yo boy who takes sartorial inspiration from Poirot and other mid-20th century detectives. “When something unusual happens, you don’t imagine a normal detective,” he said. “You imagine someone different.” Gem of an interview by AP's Thomas Adamson, who's also a fashion writer

🚨 Job Alert! Postdoc in POLITICAL TEXT ANALYSIS in the MULTIREP project You do quant text analysis? You are interested in political representation? Enjoy working in teams? Would like to live in a great city? Consider joining us in Vienna! ⏱️ Apply by 15/12/2025 wratil.eu/files/MULTIR... 1/4 🧵

Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...

AI could end scarcity, end humanity - or boost trend growth by 0.2 percentage points

Fascinating looking @cam.ac.uk research on the link between neighbourhood deprivation and dementia risk. bit.ly/4osWEVo

This really the cracking of speeches: a banger. Worth reading in full.

If I was a GOP strategist, I’d be pretty worried about diluting my safe +15 districts into a bunch of +5 gerrymandered districts after tonight.

I didn’t sign up to get a Radiohead ticket code, and now I’m seriously regretting it. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...

First we take Manhattan.

ANES Data Release! electionstudies.org/data-center/... The 3-wave ANES panel is now available. It merges data from 3 election studies (2016-2020-2024), the first time the ANES has collected interviews of the same respondents across 3 presidential elections.

Notable in today's YouGov that the centre/left bloc - Lab/Green/LD/SNP are on 54%. With Reform/Tories on 43%. That's the biggest differential in a long time. I think useful to track blocs given instability between parties at the moment.

interesting paper on difference between synthetic contol method and historical counterfactual method www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Loving the cumbia on 6Music while making arepas with perico (scrambled eggs with onions / tomatoes). A very late Sunday breakfast!

Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term www.gov.uk/government/p...

When in the woods, best beware of dead man's fingers lurking there. Reaching up above the ground, a creepy fungi to be found. Happy Halloween everyone. Photo: Sheringham Park by Rob Coleman

Bit of a long shot, but looking for someone who is living on a new housing estate and would be prepared to speak to a journalist about poor local access to fresh food.

Very interesting article on Jane Bown, one of the best portrait photographers, with some great examples of her work observer.co.uk/culture/phot...

Portland dance group offers free Latin dance lessons at ICE facility 💃🏽

“In its first formal review of UK trade policy since Brexit, the WTO found that UK trade performance had weakened since the 2008 financial crisis, with Brexit named among the chief causes of a marked slump in goods trade since 2018” God, failure is tedious… www.ft.com/content/8f4d...

I suspect one byproduct of this "crackdown" will be that it will reveal that illegal working is significantly less of an issue than most people think... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Wonderful interview with Don McCullin, where he talks about his best work, including detailed background on his most iconic photographs. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

NEW: Republicans are targeting the census -- again. This time, they're going after a little-known algorithmic process called “differential privacy” that helps keep census data anonymous. This would impact a number of vulnerable people, immigrants included. read @telliotter.bsky.social:

Analysis of German elections shows female candidates underperform mainly because parties nominate them in less favorable districts, not due to voter bias or candidate traits, from Thomas Fujiwara, Hanno Hilbig, and Pia Raffler www.nber.org/papers/w34396

Meisenbadetag. #Birds🪶

The amount is meaningless — less than one day of salary. But the principle is important: once the armed services are paid by the oligarchs, they become a private militia, and we no longer have a country. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

Let's make it a #birds day. This black crowned night heron was sitting in an old dead tree waiting for the fish to show up in the water below. It was being illuminated by the rising sun. #photography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #EastCoastKin #herons #ornithology #birdwatching

"The implications of opening Horizon Europe to dual-use and military research are wide and deep. Researchers and their institutions need cast-iron assurances...it will remain a civilian research programme," says Jan Palmowski of @guildeu.bsky.social. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...

We have just advertised a Full Prof position in the Political and Social Sciences department at the EUI (@eui-sps.bsky.social). Here are the details. Please spread the word, and get in touch if you have any questions. www.eui.eu/Documents/Se...

Hard to overstate how extreme this is. It would allow the government to deport someone at any time after ILR is granted if they claim any state benefit at all (including the state pension), or if their annual income drops below £38,700 for six months before *or after* IDL is granted.

Via @sundersays.bsky.social the Conservatives' draft legislation - absolutely clear that it applies to (and is intended to apply to) legal permanent residents claiming state pension (on the basis of their contributions) or child benefit for British kids. publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbi...

This looks wonderful. The exhibition is at the Architectural Association Gallery in London until 6th December.

New from Free Movement: Job ad: Ukrainian adviser at Settled | Free Movement

Finally! A California Quail that didn’t launch itself into chaos at the mere sight of my camera. Miracles do happen! #birds #nature #wildlife #photography

Via Press Gazette: "The Daily Star’s livestream of the Liz Truss lettuce has been acquired by the British Film Institute’s National Archive for a collection of significant pieces of online video. The BFI’s curator said it was “a seminal moment in British political history”"

Just a ridiculous joke of a country proclaiming it's "going for growth" and spending every waking moment instead focussed on vindictive cruelty to migrants. What a waste of everyone's time.

“We welcome those who come to this country, legally, and give more than they take. We believe the right to stay here must not be automatic, but that those who play their part should be able to earn that right."

Pls share: Applications open for Summer Institute in Economic Geography, Toronto, 5-10 July 2026 Featuring: Lars Coenen, Karen Lai, Devika Narayan and Stefan Ouma Early career economic geographers (broadly defined) are welcome to apply. Stipends available. www.econgeog.net/Toronto2026

I'm just a lowly art historian, but in moments like these I always think back to one early sign of Trump's wanton, pointless destructiveness: his demolition of the priceless & irreplaceable Art Deco relief sculptures on facade of the Bonwit Teller building, which he tore down to build Trump Tower

Please join us for the next Regional Studies Women’s Network workshop! Participation is free, and we have online and in person (including free lunch!) options. A great opportunity to catch up with friends and meet new faces ahead of the Winter Conference ☺️

Amazing sign being held by a small child

People think there are no Roman history emergencies, right up to the day a sitting president proposes a triumphal arch. Now suddenly everyone needs a good handle on Titus and Constantine.

This looks really interesting!

We are hiring 🚨 The Cambridge Department of Sociology @camsociology.bsky.social, together with the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science, is looking for an Assistant Professor in the Social Studies of Medicine. It's a unique joint post! More details here: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...

6 council by-elections in Surrey last night, 6 Lib Dem wins. www.markpack.org.uk/175784/lib-d...

Superb

CMAT should win it, this is her year.

In his forthcoming book Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World, @drodrik.bsky.social offers new, practical approaches to confronting today’s most daunting global issues. Out November 4. Preorder yours: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...