JUST PUBLISHED! Great to see my commentary published in Critical Social Policy today: "The resilience trap: Deepening the 'risk shift' in social policy via the crisis and resilience fund". journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... More in the following posts:

I'm immensely glad to share that my article with Matthew Donoghue @drdonoghue.bsky.social has just been published in Territory, Politics Governance! @rsa-tpg.bsky.social 🎉 Our findings transform how we think about minority nationalism and the welfare state 🧵 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

I really enjoyed working on this article, it was great to be a part of realizing Iñigo's idea! Read the thread below for more!

We could be using technology to live in an age of abundance. But given capitalism requires scarcity to drive surplus value, what we'll likely get is obscene profits for a few, and mass uncompensated unemployment for the rest.

This is more or less what I try to impart on my students. AI is here to stay and it's silly to not acknowledge that. So we must teach people how to use AI interfaces as tools to enhance -not replace - work. If you use AI to save time and cut corners, it WILL end badly for you - or someone else.

Campus looking alright in the sunshine

Only just started marking this semester. But a strong reflection already on AI use. I don't know if it's AI use settling in now it's been around a few years, or that I require a signed AI declaration with explanation/justification, but in the essays I've marked so far, there's a noticeable shift.

If you'd told me a month ago - let alone when I started off in academia - that I'd be using cloud computing to run a code an AI had written for me to analyse almost 4.5m words of text, I wouldn't have believed you. But here we are.

🚨I’m delighted to announce the launch of Arguably – a new publication for progressive ideas and debate – alongside @camvargas.bsky.social. Columnists include @benjudah.bsky.social, @davidlawrenceuk.bsky.social and @ZoeGrunewald.bsky.social. Subscribe now to receive our launch piece: Arguably.uk

Walking out of the lecture theatre realizing I've given my last proper lecture of the academic year, vs the realization that I have hundreds of essays landing on my desk soon

#academicsky people! Do I have any contacts who might be willing to chat to this dunce about Natural Language Processing #NLP, particularly as it pertains to multilingual Semantic Network Analysis? I have many questions!

Come and work with us! Happy to answer questions about the school etc.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a *reliable* and *accurate* programme/app that converts references into different styles (e.g. x/y/z/ to APA etc.)?

Another oil shock. *IF ONLY* we could generate energy without oil?! Mad, I know, but maybe huge windmills, or maybe even something that harnesses the sun? Waves move about a lot, maybe some Brainiac could invent something that turns moving water into energy?! One of those billionaire fellas maybe?

Happy ALCS day

To benefit from even a partial notion of "democratic capitalism" you would need to have been alive between ~1945-1979. Democratic capitalism in Liberal economies lasted about 34 years. It lasted longer (maybe still there) in the Nordic countries. As with everything, continental Europe is a mixed bag

Automating alienation. Fantastic.

For one of my modules this semester, I put a statement in my handbook to say that use of Generative AI to produce essays is not permitted. I decided I needed to give more specific guidance on what I will - and won't - accept.

From The Times last Saturday. Starmer's ministry provides empirical proof of the fact that (contrary to what the Labour leadership has believed for many years) you can't govern without an ideology: something organising your outlook and mobilising people to action. www.thetimes.com/article/2cb4...

Largely depressing reading. But the takeaway point is that something has to give at some point, some how.

Humanity is hurtling so quickly downhill. Lazy warmongering. I'm sure it helps that the targets had already been dehumanised.

I keep hearing the Green Party have been doing divisive and sectarian politics. Does anyone have any examples? Or is this Labour Party entitlement to a core vote they actively dislike?

The current argument of the British right is that Muslims turned out in "blocs" with "family voting" to cast their ballots for a party led by a gay Jewish man, and this shows that multiculturalism has failed, voting is "sectarian" and we are in a crisis. Hmmmmmm.

What Goodwin's reaction shows is that reactionaries claim to talk for "the people" but truly hate the people and them having a say in how things should be run It shouldn't surprise us that reactionaries are elitist and anti-democracy obviously and yet this has been obscured through skewed coverage

Imagine if Matt Goodwin's campaign strategy was to NOT tell people to vote Reform. Absolute galaxy brained genius of the far right. A brain too big for academia etc etc

Delighted to see the news in Gorton and Denton this morning - on multiple fronts.

Today marks the 15,000th day this year it has rained in Ireland.

What's the point of anything anymore

We’re hiring a Policy Engagement Manager! We’re seeking a Policy Engagement Manager to strengthen and enhance engagement with #PublicPolicy across the University of Bath’s research portfolio. 🔗 www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy... #PolicyJobs #HigherEducation #ResearchImpact #JobVacancy

Birthday present to myself arrived today. Giddy with excitement and can't wait to have it framed and in my office! It is a 1960s 'genuine reproduction' (as it were) of a poster from the Mai '68 protests. Absolutely love it.

Had a spate of high quality new followers recently, despite not posting all that much. Hi everyone! My pinned post tells you a little about me, although it's a bit out of date now. I should probably update it soon...

Just finished one of my Work and the Welfare State lectures, and once again mentioned the Reserve Army of Labour - and then I see this post.

Feeling very "pessimism of the intellect", not very "optimism of the will", today.

I thought for a millisecond this was about grindcore the musical genre. Which is also, some might say, absolute insanity...

On question time someone would say 'oh that's an important point' and move on without questioning it. Or the person questioning it would just get shouted down as a radical lefty

I will always remember, during his quasi-respectable period, an organisation committed to addressing inequality (yes, it's true) asking me how they might be able to court Goodwin to come to one of their events, so they could have 'both sides'. I politely declined. hopenothate.org.uk/state-of-hat...

Have adverts on journal websites always been a thing and I haven't noticed before, or is this a new level of hell we now get to enjoy?

"I’m going to pause here just to review: an institution that purports to be a university has told a philosophy professor he is forbidden from teaching Plato." surreal times dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...

Really, a remarkable statement from Colombia’s President.

Turns out a combination of not using That Other Site and the economic landscape at the moment in general does, in fact, makes fulfilling the whole "starving artist" stereotype a whole lot more achievable 😅

A new report for the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) with my colleague, Orla Dingley, on "Examining the Concept and Use of Just Resilience in Ireland and Internationally". It looks at how we can ensure climate adaptation is effective and fair. www.nesc.ie/publications...

Such lazy "journalism" from the BBC. Perpetuating all sorts of stereotypes, removing any historical context, and conveniently ignoring recent shifts.

I'd wager this is evidence that the furore over 'migration' isn't about migration but the presence of dark-skinned people in the UK... And yes, this was evident in the more sinister corners of the Brexit campaigns.

Very pleased to see UCD Master of Public Policy ranked within the top10 in Western Europe and no. 1 in Ireland. Thanks to co-director @drdonoghue.bsky.social faculty @ucdspswsj.bsky.social & @ucdsocscilaw.bsky.social You can apply for 2026 here: www.ucd.ie/publicpolicy

Just fyi: Streeting has spent his entire adolescent and adult life hitherto strategising about how he can become PM. It's all a game etc etc. A depressing one, at that.

There is a difference, but there can be a significant amount of overlap, and the differences can sometimes be context dependent. (not as catchy, but true)

Exactly. Unlimited (or continuous) growth is a damaging myth. It justifies all sorts of resource extraction and market fundamentalism. There have been no breaks or barriers because to now these have all been based on politics (i.e. agreements and fictions). Climate collapse is the first physical one