The lie of the Thatcherite 'economic miracle' has to be nailed. It has imprisoned UK politics & public life for four decades. FACT: UK economic growth: 1970-79: 2.7%pa 1980-89: 2.6%pa The Thatcherite economic miracle was a mirage based on North Sea Oil, privatisation & debt.

Madness. Utter madness. Badenoch is quietly turning what used to be a broad church into an even narrower sect.

Kemi begins her purge of the wets | Conservative Home

Every functioning party has red lines. Positions which are so central to its identity that abandoning them means abandoning what the party is for. For Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives, net zero and...

conservativehome.com

Do you wonder about how women in the UK are known to be ‘more traditionalist’ and yet vote more progressive? Well, wonder no more! @cerifowler.bsky.social and I have a new paper in @electoralstudies.bsky.social on how this supposed paradox is a measurement artefact 1/ 8

Theories and measurement of political values and under-represented groups: the case of women in the UK

This paper argues that the primary divide in values (Inglehart, 1977; 1990) between safety and self-expression lies in a different place for discrimin…

sciencedirect.com

Scottish Conservatives defeat SNP in Aberdeen South with historic by-election win www.holyrood.com/news/view,sc...

Scottish Conservatives defeat SNP in Aberdeen South with historic by-election win

The Scottish Conservatives won a by-election for the first time in almost 60 years as they defeated the SNP.

holyrood.com

Latest piece for the @financialtimes.com, on who gets to vote for a new Labour Prime Minister www.ft.com/content/d2d9...

The strange case of who chooses the next Labour prime minister

Around three-quarters of those who can vote in any contest on who succeeds Starmer are not Labour Party members

ft.com

Young people overwhelmingly backed the Scottish Greens at last month's historic Holyrood election. 💚Help us build a kinder, greener country. Join the movement. greens.scot/join

🚨 [ZOOM ATELIER] SFEE Responsables : Elisabeth GIBSON-MORGAN (Université de Poitiers), Alice LEMER FLEURY (Université de Limoges) & Claire BRENIAUX (Université Marie et Louis Pasteur) 🔗Abstracts et titres entiers : congres2026.saesfrance.org/atelier-sfee/. [1/2]

CFP: NTS at 20 – Culture, Democracy, & the Stateless Nation: an Unconference 23 October 2026, Edinburgh This one-day Unconference will explore the role of theatre, literature, & cultural institutions in shaping democratic life in Scotland as a stateless nation www.iash.ed.ac.uk/news/call-pa...

BREAKING: First Minister John Swinney will bring a motion on Scottish independence to a Holyrood vote on Tuesday, he has confirmed

A new train service between London and central Scotland will launch on May 25, operator Lumo has announced

New budget trains between Scotland and London to launch this month

thenational.scot

The next IASSL webinar is going to be the first session in the new series 'Narratives of Illness and Dis/ability in Scottish Literature', featuring talks by Holly Faith Nelson & Graham Morgan. 15 May 2026, 8:30 pm UK time on MS Teams, all welcome!

Narratives of Illness and Dis/ability in Scottish Literature I: Holly Faith Nelson & Graham Morgan

The Dis/ability and Scottish Studies Working Group has formed to encourage critical engagement with narratives of illness and dis/ability in cross-period Scottish literature and culture. It aims to…

scotlit-iassl.org

A "voluntary" union is not where one party is essentially trapped.

Following recent debates about drinking in Parliament, @emmapeplow.bsky.social has delved into the oral history archive to find out what former MPs thought of Westminster's drinking culture, and how it has changed since the 1960s. historyofparliament.com/2026/04/28/d...

‘You could drink to your heart’s content’: Drinking in Parliament, a hangover from the 1970s? - The History of Parliament

In a recent interview, the newly elected MP for Gorton and Denton, Hannah Spencer, has criticised fellow-MPs drinking whilst in Westminster. For Emma Peplow,

historyofparliament.com

Britain should rejoin EU, says man who led Brexit department Philip Rycroft, who oversaw the Department for Exiting the European Union from 2017 to 2019, said none of Leave’s ‘heady promises’ had materialised www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Britain should rejoin EU, says man who led Brexit department

Philip Rycroft, who oversaw the Department for Exiting the European Union from 2017 to 2019, said none of Leave’s ‘heady promises’ had materialised

thetimes.com

Just finished reading this excellent new work from @sarahobolt.bsky.social & James Tilley: very worth your time

St Magnus International Festival 2026 19–28 June 2026 marks the 50th St Magnus International Festival, Orkney’s annual midsummer celebration of the arts, featuring a variety of events in literature, music, theatre, dance, & more Programme & tickets now available #Orkney stmagnusfestival.com

Très heureuse d’avoir contribué à ce numéro !

UGA Éditions@ugaeditions.bsky.social · 4mo ago

“Études écossaises’ n° 25 /2026 Territoires et mémoires d’Écosse Dirigé par Mélanie Cournil, Jeanne Schaaf En ligne et en libre accès sur OpenEdition Journals journals.openedition.org/etudesecossa... @ugrenoblealpes.bsky.social @openedition.bsky.social

An 80 seat pro-independence Scottish Parliament 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫. It would be historically significant. Not just a majority but 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨-𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧. Roughly a 62% 𝐯𝐬 38% 𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨-𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, a clear and sizeable majority in parliamentary terms.

European Movement in Scotland webinar: “The Transatlantic Relationship Reimagined”. Former White House Europe adviser to President Joe Biden, Prof. Amanda Sloat; interviewed by John Edward of Scottish Council for Global Affairs. Wed 8 April 2026, 7pm. Register via Eventbrite bit.ly/EMiS-webinar

Centre for Anglophone Studies: une des plus grosses équipes anglicistes au cœur de la recherche toulousaine. doi.org/10.71909/q2g... @saesfrance.org @afea.bsky.social @lerma.bsky.social #étudesanglophones #HEPISTEA #Caliban #Miranda

In honour of #WorldBookDay today, @jhdavey.bsky.social searched through the (digital) pages of Hansard to see which fictional characters have made an appearance in the House of Commons chamber... Read all about it via our substack:

World Book Day

Down the rabbit hole in Parliament...

open.substack.com

Proud to announce the publication of the latest issue of Parliaments, Estates and Representation on 25 years of devolution in the UK, edited by myself & Marie-Violaine Louvet. Enjoy reading the articles! www.tandfonline.com/toc/rper20/c...

Parliaments, Estates and Representation

Taking stock of twenty-five years of devolution in the United Kingdom. Guest editors: Nathalie Duclos and Marie-Violaine Louvet. Volume 46, Issue 1 of Parliaments, Estates and Representation

tandfonline.com

What happens at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in each sitting Wednesday? I chair the session to ensure the government is held to account and all members have a fair chance to ask questions. This short video explains it. Watch live today at 12pm parliamentlive.tv/commons

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer directly about proposals for a multilateral defense bank as pressure builds for the U.K. to take part in the set-up.

Carney lobbies Starmer over defense bank

Canadian leader pitched British counterpart on nascent Defense Security and Resilience Bank, as industry and backbench calls mount for the U.K. to take part.

politico.eu

Multiple European countries are publicly backing talks on a homegrown nuclear deterrent to complement American atomic weapons following an erosion of trust in a Donald Trump-led U.S.

Nuke-talk is heating up among Europeans in Munich

‘Nuclear deterrence can give us new opportunities. Why not?’ Latvian PM tells POLITICO.

politico.eu

The latest issue of European Political Science Research is out now! With work from our authors covering #MiniPublics, #Trust, #Attitudes and more! Keep an eye out 👀 for more of 18.1💡

European Political Science Review: Volume 18 - Issue 1 | Cambridge Core

Cambridge Core - European Political Science Review - Volume 18 - Issue 1

buff.ly

🚨BREAKING: Parliament is going to debate the petition – BY-ELECTIONS TO BE CALLED AUTOMATICALLY WHEN MP’S DEFECT TO ANOTHER PARTY on 16 March 2026! Contact/Tag your MP now and ask them to attend the debate and speak out in support

Does Hard Propaganda (Also) Work in Democracies? Evidence from the United States Does Hard Propaganda (Also) Work in Democracies? Evidence from the United States By Philipp M. Lutscher, University of Oslo, and Karsten Donnay, University of Zurich In authoritarian regimes, governments regularly use…

Does Hard Propaganda (Also) Work in Democracies? Evidence from the United States

Does Hard Propaganda (Also) Work in Democracies? Evidence from the United States By Philipp M. Lutscher, University of Oslo, and Karsten Donnay, University of Zurich In authoritarian regimes, governments regularly use overt and heavy-handed visual propaganda to effectively signal regime strength and deter protests. Can democratic leaders also use this so-called hard propaganda to project strength, or does this kind of authoritarian-style messaging potentially backfire because of societal norms for leaders’ behavior?

politicalsciencenow.com

Left behind ? La gauche états-unienne à l'heure de Trump 2.0 le 5 février 2026 à 13h00 au CRL. bibliotheques.univ-tlse2.fr/accueil-bibl...