🚨 New paper with Maria Grasso on generational shifts in political values. Despite talk of rising age polarisation, we show that gaps in attitudes are stable or even narrowing. Economic attitudes move in cycles, while social values have become more liberal – mainly due to generational replacement.

Human Geography at Leicester is facing closure. Staff contracts are to end in June 2026; students are to be relocated to other universities, or taught out by a maximum of two (!) teaching-only staff. Other departments and subjects are facing closure, too. Please join the demo!

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.

Elon Must won't stop. I wrote this for @theobserveruk.bsky.social.

This explains a lot (Source: www.ft.com/content/20d6... )

For those that weren't able to make our webinar with @patcollier.bsky.social and Jim Connolly, you can now catch up on YouTube! Learn more about the Everyday Life in Middletown archive as well as how the writers in archive write about comprehend crisis www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... 🗃

Latest on UK productivity crisis:

💡New! Nick Clarke and Will Jennings remind us that trust in politicians has never been high, and even though the global trend is towards people trusting governments less, not every single event of perceived corruption will further contribute to that trend. blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

A democracy isn’t (just) an electoral system. It’s also a culture of deliberation, debate, sensitivity to public concern, attention to social movements and community leaders, respect for civil rights and minority interests, free expression and association and due process. How’s your country doing?

New blogpost on trust in politicians and Westminster 'sleaze'. With @drjennings.bsky.social, @massobsarchive.bsky.social, @lsepoliticsblog.bsky.social blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

How are recent Westminster scandals likely to have impacted political trust in Britain? @nickclarkegeo.bsky.social and I reflect on (updated) insights from our research - with Gerry Stoker and Jonathan Moss - in the book The Good Politician.

Do we trust politicians less now than in previous years and decades? @nickclarkegeo.bsky.social and @drjennings.bsky.social make use of MO materials to consider the extent to which we trust politicians and the factors which influence our opinions. blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

New blogpost on trust in politicians and Westminster 'sleaze'. With @drjennings.bsky.social, @massobsarchive.bsky.social, @lsepoliticsblog.bsky.social blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

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/

There is no need for a moral panic about the UK's welfare system. Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts Spending is controlled, not spiralling Worklessness is near record lows My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...

Print and send this chart (from your newsletter on Tuesday) to every household in the country.

My latest on trust for The Big Issue... drawing on various research from our ESRC projects on anti-politics over the last decade.

Our next event, 'Everyday Life and the Crisis Ordinary in Middletown, U.S.A.' is now open for booking! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/everyday-l...

We’re delighted to publish a new Policy Paper today by Jonathan Moss & @emilyrobinson.bsky.social. They suggest that Mass Observation @massobsarchive.bsky.social - founded in the 1930s - can help us understand the reasons behind contemporary voter apathy. historyandpolicy.org/policy-paper...

Margaret Thatcher's interview with Woman's Own was this day in 1987 - the furore over the quote annoyed her, as she thought she was getting across subtle Hayekian ideas. These cut-through quotes are rare but interesting - we tested Starmer, Gove and Mandelson versions...

The Mass-Observation Critical Series documents and archives the everyday lives, thoughts and attitudes of ordinary Britons. Found out more https://bit.ly/4lPM60w

My book Understanding Policy Mobility is out this month, for anyone interested in my take on this literature that has emerged over the last 15 odd years www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/und...

The discourse is all around deradicalising young men and the crisis among young men. The discourse would be much better targeted if it was about deradicalising boomers (and increasingly Gen Xers).

Commentary on asylum hotels considering how govt can develop dignified community-based housing that meets multiple social needs. Warehousing people in camps and continuing a failed experiment in privatisation causes nothing but further harm @geogdurham.bsky.social theconversation.com/after-the-ep...

"public opinion should only be one consideration among many in policymaking and party strategy, and never the prime mover of politics." @philswatton.bsky.social on the pitfalls of poll-driven politics and the importance of political leadership. renewal.org.uk/blog/public-...

Across all ages, Reform UK and the Conservatives have increased their combined vote share by 8pts. Among the under 30s, they have only increased 5pts

Britain is now one of very few countries where Gen Z are firmly left-of-centre

The BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants scheme is now open for applications. This opportunity allows postdoctoral – or equivalent – scholars in the humanities and social sciences to apply for funding to support their research projects. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3K4kEyA

Radical right accommodation really does not work. New paper out with this exceptionally talented team @katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk doi.org/10.31235/osf...

IN NEW ISSUE: British attitudes to ‘Europe’ have been long characterised as ‘reluctant’. @jamesrdennison.bsky.social explores the exception between 1988–1992 - Britain’s Pro-European Moment: buff.ly/3D41PIx (OPEN ACCESS) @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @uoypolitics.bsky.social #ECRs @sagepub.com

Artists and designers are collaborating with craftspeople to revive dying craft heritage. How are these collaborations shaping the heritage-art-craft ecosystem? My latest paper @scgrg.bsky.social addresses this question by working on the concepts of distance and aura. Read👇 doi.org/10.1080/1464...

Book Launch for Listening to Landscape, King's College 21 Nov 1900. Hauntology/psychogeography/music: free event with music from The Hardy Tree @claypipemusic.bsky.social & Stonecirclesampler with @oldweirdalbion.bsky.social plus Jim Jupp & Oliver Cherer. Grab tickets from Eventbrite, going fast!

At RGS tomorrow? Come along to our session on Urban Politics, Crises and Conjunctures with @colinlorne.bsky.social @markushesse60.bsky.social @derek-ruez.bsky.social

To those attending the RGS conference this week: interested in authoritarianism and/or AI, do come and join us on Friday for this brilliant set of papers. It will be insightful, bleak, and much more. ✨ organised w/ @sophiamaalsen.bsky.social @casey-lynch.bsky.social

63% of people think net migration rose in the last 12 months 8% of people think it fell Yet it fell by 400,000 in 2024 vs 2023 [It is falling further in 2025] Public service broadcasters are doing a core part of their job on this topic badly if that 8% is not closer to 30% at least

Coming soon. The Citizen and the Vagabond. A Politics of Mobility.

Today is my first teaching day of Fall 2025. I'm teaching a grad course on Qualitative Methods, for the first time in almost 10 years. As several people have asked me to post my syllabus, here it is. Note that it can be, and often is, changed a bit during the semester.

Announcing my book, Techno-Negative! It will be out in Spring 2026, published with @uminnpress.bsky.social.

The delicate dance of revealing more or less of who we are for one another, as it happens at the café counter. Co-authored with Sylvaine Tuncer. #EMCA #geosky

One like, one Presses universitaires de France book cover from the 1990s

One for my physical geography colleagues

My latest, exploring with numbers how the millennial household budget is basically incomprehensible to retired boomers.

In this special episode, hosts Dr Emma Peplow and Dr Alex Lock were joined by three guests, including former MPs Anne Milton and Gisela, Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston. Together they spoke about political and historical interviewing, and the reality of being an MP. Listen to the episode now!

✈️ New paper published in Progress in Human Geography ✈️ 'Mobilities I: Crisis' by Cristina Temenos journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... @ctemenos.bsky.social

For those interested in the rise of anti-politics in Britain, check out our book The Good Politician (2018) which tracks public attitudes towards politics and politicians back to 1945.

At our Everyday Life in Middletown archive, volunteer writers post one-day diaries of specified days, recording their activities, thoughts, and feelings. A new diary set is up on the archive, along with this blog post offering an overview. bsudsl.org/edlmiddletow...

*call for papers* for a special issue on 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 Edited by me and @colinlorne.bsky.social in a geography or urban studies journal yet to be decided If you're interested in writing about conjunctural thinking and the conjuncture, in any domain or discipline, we'd love to hear from you!