I'll have more to say on Reform's proposals to scrap ILR at some point but for now I'll just note this - anyone telling you this is a popular idea doesn't know the polling. Overwhelming majority of public back giving people who work and pay taxes most or all rights after 5 years or less

One really hard thing when you're a head of department is hiring people from outside the UK. You tell them, "congrats, you've got the job", and you wait to tell them, "by the way, the university doesn't cover the cost of your visa, or the cost of your NHS surcharge"

Contrast this with the fact that major UK news outlets keep using "hard right" for the far right despite basically every single expert on the topic telling them that it is wrong and potentially dangerous terminology...

Reform's plans to end indefinite leave to remain go to the post I wrote last week on their slide towards chaotic authoritarianism. The British constitution would allow them to do it if they had a majority but at vast cost to our society and way of life. samf.substack.com/p/the-route-...

𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸! #3 1. The Forum: Global Challenges to Democracy? Perspectives on Democratic Backsliding (2023) by Larry Bartels, Ursula Daxecker, @sdhyde.bsky.social, @silindberg.bsky.social and Irfan Nooroding. (academic.oup.com/isr/article/...)

Too little, too late. But I'll still give it my 👍 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

When a centre-left government panders to anti-immigration rhetoric, it normalises actions like this. And I bet that the vast majority of those marching won't vote Labour, regardless of how much the government tries to cater to them.

𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸! Week 2 1. "Pathways of Democratic Backsliding, Resistance, and (Partial) Recoveries" by @beattyriedl.bsky.social , @jennifermccoy.bsky.social, Ken Roberts and @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

The 8am panel at APSA is clearly the "European slot"

I've just realised it's been 10 years since my last APSA.

SICK OF IT by @profsophieharman.bsky.social, a powerful investigation into how global politics is jeopardising women's health. www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/sick-o...

Tribuna | "Ante el avance de la extrema derecha, y llegado el caso, el PSOE debería ofrecer algún entendimiento al PP para que no dependa de Vox y opte por gobernar en solitario" Por Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca social.elpais.com/fp22b5

Elon Musk is a global purveyor of hate and disinformation and governments should treat him and his companies as such.

𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸! I am on sabbatical this semester and I'm catching up with reading and writing. This is part public service and part commitment device. I will be posting three articles I have read the past week, without any particular order. They can be old or new. Have fun! 1/

Stacey Abrams and I sound the alarm - the time to act to stop autocracy is now. time.com/7312340/stop...

En route to #ecprsg25!

This moment never ceases to excite. Out in shops on 9 Sept...

New job opportunity! Come work with me at @qmpoliticsir.bsky.social on my major project on the political representation of men. You: PhD in relevant area, strong quantitative methods skills, interest in representation. The job: 18 months full-time, London or remote qmul-jobs.tal.net/vx/appcentre...

I have a new article out at @polstudies.bsky.social. In "Electoral Hope", I make the case that supposedly irrational "wishful thinking" is actually a crucial part of how voters make rational sense of their role in democracies. OA link: doi.org/10.1177/0032...

Ezra Klein loves to overintellectualize the far right, giving them mainstream coverage and legitimacy, while pretending to just wanting to "understand the other side." #usefulfools

One of our latest articles explores the varieties of citizen engagement and the institutional design of deliberative innovations in Europe by João Moniz, Roberto Falanga & José Duarte Ribeiro Go check it out! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

This is England!

To all the weirdos marching around with clipboards, deciding who is and isn't English based on where their grandparents were living... THIS is England! ⬇️

Immigrants. They get the job done.

The #Lionesses did it again! Wow, they are truly amazing.

This is England!

OMG! So proud of the #Lionesses! These players are unreal, pure grit and talent.

I know that proving intent to destroy is often the hardest element in defining genocide — but at this point, in Gaza, hasn’t that threshold clearly been crossed? It shouldn’t be this difficult to call it what it is.

Wow, that was an incredible match. Truly impressed by Germany.

Columna de esta semana en La Tercera: Perplejidad y Desolación

Could you be prouder than the James' siblings parents tonight? I just wonder which match they are watching.

"Reich citizenship will not be laid in the cradle of every one born in Germany, but will be ceremoniously conferred on him after he has shown himself worthy of it through special accomplishments, through loyal services to the State." NY Times, July 6, 1933.

Very happy to see this paper by my PhD student Leonard Häfner published in @repjournal.bsky.social Using data from legislator surveys we conducted in Germany and the US, he shows how legislators' conceptions of democracy affect their representation styles. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Hot off the press! Check out our new article by Keith Dowding & Adriano Giuliani @ouranu.bsky.social From reviewing 51 different terms, they find "most conceptions of #representation are logically & empirically compatible with each other" Go take a look! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Brb, reinventing myself as a conservative. Do they need full blown racists or will rehashed Thatcherism suffice?

Our Founders’ Day event celebrated our research and teaching excellence and the 240-year history that cultivated this success. We also presented honorary degrees to alumni Navjot Sawhney, Dr Nighat Arif, Simon Borrows and Jamie Crummie. Find out more: www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2...

The NSS results are and I'm, for once, relieved/happy.

However: voters in the right field with less particularistic group identities continue to opt for the mainstream right, suggesting that accommodating the far right would likely entail additional losses for mainstream right parties. 6/7

Well, that was a lot of shit #ENGFRA

Matthew Goodwin tells Michael Gove that he believes that Englishness depends on several generations, though he does accept Rishi Sunak 'can choose to identify as English if he views himself that way' but has less of a linkage (because the ethnic group matters) than Starmer or Goodwin himself.

I would question if people believe the statements or not.

This column, by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, raises key issues about the ongoing war between Israel and Iran. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

So many genuine problems facing the UK - neither the government nor individuals have enough money, poor public services, threats from hostile foreign powers. That parts of the right obssess about "too many brown people in London" speaks volumes about their lack of solutions to the real problems.

David Goodhart out there trying to argue for the ethnic composition of London in the 1970s when it was in a state of seemingly terminal decay.

Very pleased to see my co-authored piece with Patrick Diamond for @bjpir.bsky.social published! We use the case of the UK since 1945 to show that fiscal orthodoxy, macroeconomic prudence, and even 'austerity' can, in certain conditions, be pursued by the left as well as right. But... (1/2)

The posturing over this is so tedious. It is a near certainty that in a year the freedom of speech czar will be protesting 'I didn't mean those views!'

What better way to celebrate Big Dog Boris Johnson's birthday today than by signing up to hear @nigelfletcher.bsky.social and the @newstatesman.com's @rmcunliffe.bsky.social and me discuss the death (sorry, future) of the Tory Party this coming Monday? www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/does-the-c...

Our book is out and available to read open access online: academic.oup.com/book/60532. It is dedicated to Niko.