🗳️It's election day in much of England and Wales tomorrow.

Behind the scenes, electoral officials will have been investing enormous amount of hard work and time preparing for the polls. Do they have sufficient resources?

A new policy report, just published by International IDEA,…

#VoterID requirements always mean that some eligible electors won't be able to on election day.

The numbers affected could be hugely problematic at a general election.

The evidence-based solution, we proposed to Parliament, is straight forward:

🗳️Extend the forms of ID

The rhetorical populism paper I was working on with Judi when she died is now finally out. Typical of Judi to be so dedicated that she keeps on publishing James Martin Alan Finlayson
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…….

Wrote about the Campaign Against Antisemitism and Gideon Falter, the questions over his account of the incident with a police officer at the Gaza march, and Alan Finlayson's thoughts on the wider rise of the ideological entrepreneur. theguardian.com/world/2024/apr…

In Britain, women are more undecided than men about their vote choice. Why?

In our new BJPIR article, Rosalind Shorrocks and I find this is partly explained by gender gaps in:

i) political engagement
ii) perceptions of representation
iii) conflict

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13…

“We pursued a deliberate strategy of trying to lower wage costs relative to each other – and, combine this with a procyclical fiscal policy, the net effect was only to weaken our own domestic demand and undermine our social model.”

I'll be in 'the big easy' later this month, taking part in this. I think it will be very interesting. If anyone I know is anywhere nearby - come along!

The University and the Cost Allocation Death Spiral...

looking forward to talking digital methods and extremism with the good people of C-REX & PERIL next week!

I'll be thinking through the methodological & ideological shifts since Alan Finlayson, Cassian Osborne-Carey and I published our 'trap of tracking' paper in 2021

A handy reference guide for Crypto critics:
'$72,527,347,088 has been lost to hacks, scams, fraud, and other disasters since January 1, 2021':
web3isgoinggreat.com/charts/top

What’s this? It’s a job! With us. In Politics and Public Policy. Check it out & get in touch if you want to know more.

jobs.ac.uk/job/DGX893/lec…

Morgan Jones morgan and David Klemperer David K explore the constraints and possibilities facing Labour's soft left, in response to John Denham:

renewal.org.uk/getting-organi…

My piece on what I think is a mental health crisis in academia seems to have caused a bit of a stir. So here it is again, do have a read: voicesofacademia.com/2024/04/05/its…

AI-generated sad girl with piano performs the text of the MIT License

What’s this? It’s a job! With us. In Politics and Public Policy. Check it out & get in touch if you want to know more.

jobs.ac.uk/job/DGX893/lec…

Corruption in the church in a 16th century style. the-fence.com/in-the-shadow-…

A deftly-written piece that ties together how customers and pension fund savers are getting bilked.

New theory: the last 20 years of GB politics are best explained as a bunch of men desperate to get back at mummy (& daddy & nanny as well as sir & matron from boarding school). They take such an excess pleasure from the most empty of transgressions.

telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/2…

I reviewed Jon Cruddas' 'Century of Labour' for the latest Renewal. On Cruddas' personal political journey, the utility of understanding Labour politics through 'traditions' - and a defence of boring, conventional social democracy. Read for free:
journals.lwbooks.co.uk/renewal/vol-32…