Think you can understand a lot about British politics from the ONS survey reporting that 56% of people said they voted in the last local elections, when turnout in those elections was about 36%.

A Brief History of Lunatic Asylums in South Wales 🧠 youtube.com/watch?v=mcX7... #histmed #Wales

👇👇Upcoming Senedd elections look set to break the mould of Welsh party politics and rock UK Labour. To understand the ‘made in Wales’ and UK influences on this ‘within bloc’ realignment read @jaclarner.bsky.social & @jamesdgriffiths.bsky.social 👇👇 blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/thinking-wal...

Our #AccidentalJourney will also show some of the potential of the Railway Work, Life & Death project database - now including over 115,000 cases. We hope it'll encourage you to explore it for yourselves, in the #Railway200 year - & beyond! www.railwayaccidents.port.ac.uk /4

Why Did Ulster Patients Travel to Scottish Asylums for Mental Health Care? 🧠 Scotland’s nineteenth-century chartered asylums had philanthropic roots and developed very differently from the Irish district asylum system. epidemic-belfast.com/ulster-patie... #histmed #Scotland

I've never met an ex-miner who wanted their children to go underground. The ones I have spoken to wanted better opportunities for them.

“It’s very important history, but above all, it’s very readable and enjoyable history.” bit.ly/43yzlS9 Histories of news in the news: surviving editions of the 'Belfast News Letter', the world’s oldest, continuously published English-language daily, can now be accessed free #Skystorians

#OTD 1791 • Rev Dr Richard Price died aged 68. He was an influential Welsh moral philosopher and theologian, well-known for his influence on both the French and American Revolutions 🇫🇷 🇺🇸 hellohistoria.substack.com/p/a-friend-o... #Wales #History

A list of current public inquires. Why are public inquiries now so commonly created and what does this say about the changing nature of British politics? And how might a ‘new’ politics of public inquiries be emerging? By Matthew Flinders

The German defence ministry, army and foreign ministry are no longer using Twitter. The Foreign Ministry will use BlueSky. Defence Ministry on WhatsApp. Might occasionally post on X to challenge specific misinformation, but not using it for public communication www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Inflation is running at 2.6%. It was 16% in 1974.

I keep reminding myself when it comes to Trump/Musk announcements: keep one eye on the weather but focus on the changing climate.

Latest X/Twitter update: Eastenders end credits drumroll.

BlueSky 26.2 million users, globally, up from 6 million in last 4 months 2024 Rough estimate 5% UK. Could roughly mean 250k UK users to 1.25 million since Sept. Would like a UK total and daily UK stat Twitter had 23m UK accounts. Daily UK users from 8 million 2023 down to 5 million in Sept24

If I was a GOP supporter in the Midwest, I would be getting increasingly bored with Musk posting about the statutory functions of Oldham country council. I assume his eye will shift to more homegrown concerns after Jan 20th.

If you are (or know) a student interested in politics, elections, public opinion & quant methods and are looking for a sandwich placement for 2025-2026, we're currently recruiting for our student placement in the YouGov political team boards.eu.greenhouse.io/yougov/jobs/...

The striking thing is how marginal the Parliament would be. 271 seats would be won by a party getting under a third of the vote. 221 seats have a lead of less than 5%, 87 are within 2%. So very small shifts under first past the post could lead to radically different outcomes

Look who I found… Alban Arthan Hapus pawb, Happy Winter Solstice! The shortest day is upon us, now the light will start to be returned to the sky 🌌

With the "Stormont Brake" in the Windsor Framework being used for the first time, here's my earlier detailed legal analysis of that process eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2023/03/just...

It's striking how much Tory members differ from the public on these qs: "It's important for leaders to be able to manipulate...to get their way"(+15/-21) "I like self-confident leaders who regard themselves as exceptional"(+32/-32) "Britain needs strong leaders...prepared to break rules" (+1/-65)

If you've ever wondered why parliamentary oratory isn't what it was, I've been reading about Lord Brougham's "superhuman" speech ("the best ever made") on the Reform Bill in 1831. He drank two bottles of port while speaking, ending up so drunk he needed help to put the question to the House.

I suspect we are a few short days away from the 'Greg Wallace cookery hour' on GB News. With branded merchandise: the Woke Wok

But another theory behind crime’s growing importance may have little to do with total numbers at all For reasons I explain in the piece, Britain appears to have lost faith in the ability of police to solve crime. Trust in police is plummeting - a pattern seen more starkly among women… 7/8

Overperception of outrage is stronger for people who spend more time online discussing politics. So if you’re mainly consuming political content on Twitter, you’re getting an even more distorted view of the world.

Fascinating history of the Welsh Not. I’d never considered that a driving force would have been local teachers looking to help children advance by becoming bilingual. I’d always assumed it was solely an attack on Welsh identity open.spotify.com/episode/47jP... . Well done @hiraethpod.bsky.social

Commons majority of 75 for the second reading of the assisted dying bill

Heidi Alexander’s appointment as transport secretary means the cabinet is now 100% state-educated for the first time in history - great stat from @georgeeaton.bsky.social

The Reform 14% are outliers - a vocal minority, not a silent majority saying what most people really think - on just about everything we ask the public about choices on immigration

EXC - The former president of the supreme court who ruled on the most high-profile assisted dying cases has declared his support for the law change. MPs backing the bill say they believe they have the numbers for Friday’s historic vote to pass.

Ireland's political leaders hold their final TV debate tonight ahead of Friday's General Election. Irish Times poll today

The richest guy in the world seems to have an obsession with UK parliamentary petition rules, meanwhile only about 75% of the students on my British politics module turn up to lectures...if only they were all billionaires

⚠️ Pontypridd has been hit by devastating floods and our wonderful independent bookshop, Storyville Books, has seen much of its stock destroyed. If you’re able to buy a book from them, this would go such a long way to help support them rebuild in the aftermath. 👉 uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyvi...

Extract from interview with John Prescott: Prezza talking to Tony Blair... TB: 'Hi John. How are you?' JP: Listen you, you little shit. I'm going to ask you a question and you'd better get the answer right. Did you take all the shadow cabinet to bloody Brighton and I wasn't invited?'..1/2

The longterm salience of immigration includes significant spikes and drops. The 2010-2016 spike shows that David Cameron's efforts in government certainly did not reassure the public

RIP John Prescott. I interviewed him as part of a research project in 2018. He had a wonderful turn of phrase. Describing meeting up with Tony Blair on the train travelling to down to London the day after the 1997 election, 'Tony came down the carriage, all teeth and handshakes'.

The Wildlife Trusts have bought the Rothbury Estate in Northumbria, in the largest land sale in England for 30 years. Alex Thomson spoke with some locals on how they feel about the plan. www.channel4.com/news/wildlif...

So far, this site feels like a house party where the first few guests are standing awkwardly in the kitchen with the first beer and some nibbles....but the doorbell keeps ringing and you get the feeling it's going to be a good night.

This chart is pretty insane. More of an overnight social/political-type shift than typical tech adoption imo: techcrunch.com/2024/11/19/b...