Tom O'Grady

@drtomdog.bsky.social

Associate Professor of Political Science, UCL. Studying political economy, welfare reforms, public opinion, European and British politics. He/him 🏳️‍🌈

It seems a good day to remind people that in the UK 3 times as many people work in Indian restaurants or for McDonalds as in the whole coal and steel industry. 5 times as many are academic staff at universities. If Labour does not understand its electorate, there is no way to appeal to it.

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We have a vacancy at UCL for a new permanent lecturer in British and Comparative politics, working as part of the Constitution Unit

UCL Constitution Unit@conunitucl.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Join and help to lead the Constitution Unit! @uclspp.bsky.social is looking for a Lecturer in British and Comparative Politics who will also join our senior team and contribute to our research and impact activities. Applicants must have, or be near to finishing, a PhD. Apply 👇

These "gotcha" replications do little to advance knowledge: replications should be about settling a research question, not proving that authors were wrong. Very disappointing that the original authors were not given a chance to respond, and their request for a collaborative replication was ignored

Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte@turnbulldugarte.com · 8mo ago

A critique of our (w/ @bertous.bsky.social) paper “Instrumentally inclusive” has just been published. Our response is under review (see below on process) but we feel obliged to share our draft for balance since the comment has been released without the response. osf.io/rn6h3/files/...

And the two child benefit limit is abolished. An enormous victory for those who have campaigned tirelessly for eight long years through successive governments. This will lift at least 450,000 children out of poverty. Fewer kids will be hungry. No more women forced to disclose their rape.

After more than 10 years of “the Danish Model”, nativism is hegemonic in the country, the far right polls near level highs again, and the Social Democrats lost Copenhagen and poll at historic low. European Social Democrats should look at the facts, not the myths! Me in @theguardian.com

The ‘Danish model’ is the darling of centre-left parties like Labour. The problem is, it doesn’t even work in Denmark | Cas Mudde

This week’s local elections are the latest reminder that when social democrats move rightwards, they’re making a mistake, says academic and author Cas Mudde

theguardian.com

Fascinating evidence of a clear way that AI directly lowers productivity. With troubling implications for the way we do hiring and student recruitment in academia (heavily weighting written materials like cover letters, research statements, personal statements etc)

Sarah O'Connor@sarahoconnorft.ft.com · 9mo ago

Is AI making job recruitment less meritocratic? We're getting some v interesting research studies on this question now, and the news is... not good. @jburnmurdoch.ft.com & I dive in, in the latest edition of our newsletter The AI Shift www.ft.com/content/e5b7...

To be clear: deportations to increase cultural homogeneity is the text book definition of ethnic cleansing. Demands that come even close to this are so far outside any democratic norm and the rule of law. What has happened to a country when this is not condemned in the strongest possible terms?

Marking a student essay today that is a joy to read, that makes me proud as a teacher, that reminds me how much I value teaching writing. But I cannot know, will never again know, whether it was written by AI. Hard not to feel a massive sense of loss, as I prepare to use oral vivas this year instead

Voice is one of the most talked-about, and least explained, aspects of academic writing. We’re told to “find it,” but rarely taught how to build it. I wrote up some reflections here: 👉 open.substack.com/pub/catherin... A 🧵 about why so much academic writing feels voiceless & what to do about it.

You’ve Got the Ideas. What If It’s Your Voice That’s Not Landing?

The Hidden Curriculum of Academic Writing

open.substack.com

Labour should try and learn some lessons from Germany. Unfortunately, this rather speaks for a deep misunderstanding of what causes the success of the AfD and other far-right parties. Labour is set to repeat the mistakes of many other social democratic parites. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Labour MP warns party of ‘uncanny’ parallels with Germany’s defeated SPD

Exclusive: Jake Richards says government needs to focus on issues such as immigration and welfare to fight off Reform

theguardian.com

NEW: Just 6% of Gen Z say they actually want a dictator – not over half, as has been recently claimed. Our study finds only a very small minority of 13-27-yr-olds really feel this way, when their views and interpretations are tested with different questioning approaches 🧵⬇️

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Zuckerberg exposes a big problem with our ideas about authoritarian populism as backlash. Backlash as counterfactual means “if we had not had progressive thing X, we would not see that much support for this ideology“. It should have become clear that authoritarianism is nothing reactive 1/