😮

Nice things to remember about the UK. I am not myself a UK doomer, I think there are plenty of good things about the country and our present state of affairs, and this well captures some of them. adamcorlett.com/2025/11/30/d...

2025 has been a rotten year for most early career postdoctoral researchers, especially in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. For a better 2026, check out (or repost) this short thread on a free resource for UK-based SHAPE PhDs within 10 years (excluding career breaks) of the doctorate. 1/3

A huge thank you to the authors who contributed to Volume 55, our first year of continuous publication. If you're logged into @bsky.app, our 2025 authors on Bluesky can be found here - https://cup.org/4oLdTRR If you are on Bluesky and we have missed you, let us know. 🎈 All the best for 2026! 🎈

My wish for 2026 is that politicians and political analysts realize that public opinion is endogenous to elite behavior, that polling single issues tells us nothing about electorally successful strategies, that politics means shaping public opinion and that popularism is the death of progressivism.

Private detective, snore. So narrowly missed being a Scholar, amateur adventurer and alethiometer reader

One of my favourite papers from this past year!

Bravo! As deserved as it gets. Wendy Carlin is a treasure.

@carotorreblanca.bsky.social , Will Dinneen, and my paper entitled "Political Science Under Pressure: Competition and Collaboration in a Growing Discipline, 2003-2023" has been (conditionally) accepted at @poppublicsphere.bsky.social. This paper has been a labor of love. osf.io/preprints/os...

good news is also a thing in the world

For those who believe that the Commons should fairly represent the nation it serves, this is a story of remarkable progress. Those who would deny full and equal rights to people based on the race and religion natually don't see it that way, but thankfully they are a small (if noisy) minority.

This image highlights that one of the most important perks of the job is working with @alanrenwick.bsky.social

Not a drill - there's a Britain-focused lectureship (FT, permanent) available. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPQ588/l...

Overall, housing is a central and growing cleavage in politics, challenging class dealignment story. Relying on occupation risks mischaracterising the class basis of politics - we must update how we think about this to reflect era of asset-based capitalism 7/7 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Happy to see the first paper from @joshgoddard98.bsky.social ’s PhD project published today! 🙌 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Class voting is alive and well, once we recognise the importance of asset (housing) ownership as well as labour market position as a class marker

We'll have to go back to studying history and institutions don't we. Even elites, Lord help us. Like in the Dark Ages.

100% correct response

'Fewer graduates regret going to university than is widely assumed and the public have a more favourable view of universities than people imagine, according to new research.' 1/3

Almost: some of us got lucky and own it

yes, next question

This, but also for research

Want people to understand your academic work better? Answer these questions in your writing: What are the motivations of this project? (Why do it?) Who are you arguing against? What alternatives are you rejecting and why? What follows if you’re right? These are also good questions for Q&A.

Gender neutral spaces have existed for years, we all know that. It isn't trans and non-binary individuals attacking women without any repercussions, that's men. Nothing about demonising trans and non-binary individuals makes women safer. It does make people more vulnerable though. 3/5

📣 New BJPIR article out now! 'The political effects of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone' by Andrew McNeil and Frieder Mitsch ⬇️ Find the full article in #OpenAccess here: buff.ly/QIn8Bm9 @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social

“define a woman” fine ok, so you know when shania twain says “let’s go girls”? if you go then you’re a woman

Really excited that our @politicsjournal.bsky.social article on the Joy of the Teaching Track ✨ is out! Co-authored with the brilliant @ellenfelicity.bsky.social, Keith Smith, Kalina Zhekova, @rosegann.bsky.social @mlebourdon.bsky.social – we advocate for enjoying our jobs! Polisky SoTLsky

I love this but my personal vibe is a mixtape

The core trilma here remains the same - the govt needs to accept one of three things: high student migration, higher domestic student fees (or higher taxes to fund universities) or university bankruptcies. Those are the only options, given where we are. Pick one.

Maybe if there were better news 🙁

writing books is so easy, i just type out all of the true and original ideas i have about a topic in the correct order but also to exactly the right length without any digressions or mistakes and then bask in the well earned acclaim from my very reasonable peers who recognize pure truths when they s

I’m fairly confident that “The Economist”, not the mention the economists, is the answer to this question

If, like me, you are a UCU member and agree the union should stop wasting time and effort on a fruitless round of pay strikes at a time when tens of thousands of academic jobs are at risk, then please consider signing this open letter (link early on the document): ucucommons.org/2025/02/13/m...

Super interesting! But/and: do politicians understand “what the public want” to be the same as “what surveys of citizens show”? Cf: Fastenrath and Marx: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

This is good, but surely a role for sector leadership in this mess. Top uni mgmt: dogs that didn’t bark; union leadership: often barking up the wrong tree www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What do we want “inflation” to mean? The price profile (but of what?) before behavioural changes, or the change-inclusive impact on consumer payments?

#OpenAccess from our latest issue - Public Preferences Over Changes to the Composition of Government Tax Revenue - cup.org/3E8Avcx - @lucy-barnes.bsky.social, Julia de Romémont & @benlauderdale.bsky.social

🚨Job alert 🚨 I am looking for two PhD students to work on (comparative) economic inequalities, broadly defined 💰📈💸 The positions are fully funded (E13, 100%), 4 years (with possibility of a 1y extension), and in beautiful Heidelberg! 🏰 adb.zuv.uni-heidelberg.de/info/INFO_FD... Deadline is Feb 28!

And that x3 doesn’t even include re-reviewing revisions!

#OpenAccess from our new issue - Public Preferences Over Changes to the Composition of Government Tax Revenue - cup.org/3E8Avcx "there is a ‘hidden consensus’ regarding different tax levers across income levels..." - @lucy-barnes.bsky.social, Julia de Romémont & @benlauderdale.bsky.social

A new British Academy report on Politics and International Relations provision in UK higher education has found that it remains a popular subject, with graduates out-earning national averages. Read the report in full: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/new-rep...

Many interesting data points in the report. This one shows the "stark inflection point for EU student numbers in 2021/22, the first year that changes to their eligibility for student finance came into effect. Since 2021/22, EU student numbers have declined by 36%."

It's happening!

New paper! Do the (British) public believe there’s a trade-off btwn economic growth and protecting the environment? Does this belief matter for which they prioritise? Not strongly, and no. Environmental protection remains a priority even with costs to growth authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

If you care about the study of power and inequality (and include the US in your cases) then this is the dream postdoc 👇 @cape-team.bsky.social postdoc (eJobs ID#15342) (due February 28th) Perfect for those who obsess over how to combine big picture thinking with hard data.

we've all heard the "10,000" rule gladwell popularized based ericsson's study of conservatory violinists, but did you know one of the secondary findings was that top violinists slept ~8.5 hrs a night, napped regularly, and listed sleep as a high priority? graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs...

PSA to job market candidates: if you didn't get a particular flyout, it may have had nothing to do with the quality of your interview. Departments have a myriad of internal constraints and goals that are unobservable to you, and the process is a lot more complex than you think.

the amount of effort and psychological discomfort involved in evaluation - for the evaluators - is an under-emphasised cost of meritocracy #PrivilegedProfProblems

Case in point for the above: majorities think the economic system in their country needs major changes or a complete overhaul www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...

NEW – Analysis: UK newspaper editorials attacked Ed Miliband relentlessly throughout 2024 | @joshgabbatiss.bsky.social @sylviahayes.bsky.social Read here: https://buff.ly/3WfFpL3