"Free-riding off of earnest politics by having others do it and then, as if floating above it all, putting your finger on the median and going "there" can be very psychologically satisfying. But what it really does is turn yourself into a non-factor." mattbruenig.com/2026/07/29/y...

Tracing note in my chocolate: chocolate.

Asking how people can partake in joyful acts during a period of immense suffering leads me to believe this is your first time at the suffering rodeo.

Our department is hiring a two-year fixed-term Lecturer in Public Policy and Ethics. Please spread the word, and happy to answer any questions about our department and political philosophy in London. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSC917/a...

AEP Lecturer in Public Policy and Ethics at King's College London

Apply now for the AEP Lecturer in Public Policy and Ethics role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

jobs.ac.uk

This paper grew out of a short public piece I wrote for Prindle Post in 2023. We explore the phenomenon of e.g. using an LLM to write an apology or a love letter. What, if anything, has the agent done wrong in outsourcing this kind of communicative work? www.prindleinstitute.org/2023/03/chat...

ChatGPT and Emotional Outsourcing - The Prindle Institute for Ethics

What's the harm?

prindleinstitute.org

This is finally out! I fixed multiple typos and added all the literature that came out during the unusually lengthy production process. Very apt that it comes out on the first day of EPPSE! Here’s a free link to the published version: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...

Pilar Lopez-Cantero@lopezcantero.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Just accepted: my Phil Compass article on affective injustice! It synthesizes the debate into an overarching definition ('the unjust interference w people’s affective lives, w regard to their own affective practices or through those of others') & brings out many connections between existing views/1

The EU now allows member states to transfer migrants to third countries, including potentially Libya, where migrants held under a previous EU-Libya agreement faced enslavement and torture. This new policy, like the old, is unconscionable. www.infomigrants.net/en/post/7167...

What the new EU migrant 'return hubs' deal means in practice

The European Union has reached a deal to set up "return hubs" in third countries for people whose asylum claims have been denied. The new stricter migration rules could have significant consequences f...

infomigrants.net

AI look down. LOOK DOWN.

www.ft.com/content/ebb7... The duke said he hosted the dinner, and would also host one with Conservatives, to raise “awareness about the protection of nature” and would support “any party that championed protection of nature.” Hmmm, I wonder what other party cares about nature.

Duke of Norfolk to host Reform UK donors as Farage seeks to widen appeal

Luncheon event at 11th-century castle comes after anti-immigration party made gains in local elections

ft.com

I’m looking for literature by philosophers distinguishing between making correct judgments and expressing these judgments. In others, people who claim that sometimes a correct judgment should not/ought not to be expressed. Any ideas?

Many people have little choice in what they devote half their waking hours to for years. And the assumption that people do have choice, combined with the fact that having less money is predictive of less choice, might be why many feel uncomfortable being asked and saying what they do for a living.

Julian Sanchez@normative.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I’ve always thought this was an extremely silly dichotomy. What is the thing you’ve chosen to devote half your waking hours to for years, if not decades? That DOES tell me who you are. A hell of a lot more than what’s your favorite sports team or whether you knit in your spare time.

“Writing is hard.” Thrilled to share that this simple idea led to a new paper in Political Analysis! Where most text methods focus on content, I test if expression is also effortful action. I find simple measures like character counts reveal attitudes and predict voting. cup.org/4cUmoXi 1/

My review of @alanmanning4.bsky.social’s Why Immigration Policy is Hard, an extremely comprehensive book, covering reasons for migration, the effects of migration on high-income receiving countries, what we know about the effects of various policies, and much more.

LSE Review of Books@lsereviewofbooks.bsky.social · 3mo ago

NEW: The challenge of immigration policymaking. Alan Manning’s Why Immigration Policy is Hard @politybooks.bsky.social dissects how misleading statistics, policy failure and public perception fuel polarised immigration debates. Review by @mgerver.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social

Visiting Germany from London and I wonder how a society can be so prosperous with such high water pressure, such vigorously flushing toilets, and such effectively shutting windows.

“How might an eight-episode Netflix series involving a small business owner unfold as she is selected randomly to be a legislator? What would she do with her business? What team of lobbyists would suddenly descend on her…? Does she meet the…other people selected? Does she get drunk with power?“

Barry Lam@hiphination.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I've been up for six hours with jet lag, so I wrote a post lobbying political philosophers to invent and develop a new genre of fiction. If you get a Netflix deal, I want residuals. open.substack.com/pub/hiphinat...

Also if you see they’ve been hanging around for a long time doesn’t that mean *you’ve* been hanging around for a long time?

Unimprovable opening to Private Eye’s review of Matt Goodwin’s ‘book’

Especially intrigued to hear that spending more than 3 weeks on something counts as perfectionism

I wonder how widespread this is? I’m a US citizen and applied for US citizenship for my daughter four years ago, which she has a right to obtain via my parents. I paid over $1,000, got a letter confirming receipt shortly after, and then nothing. I just assumed this is super widespread.

Austin Kocher, PhD@austinkocher.com · 4mo ago

The US government collected over $1 billion in immigration fees then refused to process the applications. No denials. No refunds. Just silence. This is the largest fee fraud in the history of the American immigration system. Here's what's happening. 🧵

This same policy was suggested in 2010 by the openly racist BNP, though they offered the equivalent of £78,000. Globally, money can encourage return, but usually for those facing inhumane conditions, or safe conditions at home. I’ve written about this here: repository.essex.ac.uk/23016/

Immigration Bot@immigrationbot.bsky.social · 5mo ago

"Danish immigration experts said a similar offer in their country has been accepted by very few migrants" — The i

Many countries of origin have shifted from concerns about "brain drain" to actively promoting emigration. New @cgdev.org paper by @charlesjkenny.bsky.social outlines how emigration *can* contribute to growth, but only if the right policies are in place. www.cgdev.org/publication/...

Emigration as a Growth Strategy

The model of manufacturing export-led growth followed by a number of countries in East Asia and beyond is becoming ever more complex to emulate. But new pathways to rapid growth for developing countri...

cgdev.org

There is extensive evidence that nationalists who don’t like migration in general like migrants who will contribute to improving health outcomes. Labour needs to start reading far more peer-reviewed studies on attitudes towards immigration, and not rely so heavily on its own polling.

Oliver Bullough@oliverbullough.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I'm trying to think who this idiocy is for, who would say: I wasn't going to vote Labour but now they've blocked a clearly exceptionally bright Sudanese woman from doing a postgraduate course in computational biology at Cambridge, I'm all in? www.ft.com/content/4493...

What does an abusive chef of the world’s top-rated restaurant have to do with immigration? He was accused not only of punching employees, but threatening to get their families deported of they didn’t do what he said. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/d...

Punching, Slamming, Screaming: A Chef’s Past Abuse Haunts Noma, the World’s Top-Rated Restaurant

nytimes.com

YAAAAY

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan@london.gov.uk · 5mo ago

Delighted to announce that following the consultation, I'm giving the green light to make Oxford Street traffic-free.

This from @colinyeo.bsky.social is useful, but I’m not sure this includes migrants who are threatened with deportation if they remain, who then return via the voluntary returns service. www.gov.uk/return-home-...

Get help to return home if you’re a migrant in the UK

Make arrangements to return home voluntarily if you're in the UK illegally or have claimed asylum by assisted return, voluntary return, AVR, VRS

gov.uk

Colin Yeo@colinyeo.bsky.social · 5mo ago

This chart shows that enforced returns are overwhelmingly to five countries: Albania, Romania, Brazil, India and Poland.

People who judge the quality of AI based on how much it can write should read this:

Important analysis by @robfordmancs.bsky.social and others. One thing noted is that “The Brexit referendum appeared to defuse the immigration debate” - a point excellently demonstrated in work by @mirandasimon.bsky.social in this article: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The Guardian/UCL have conducted an in-depth study of all of the immigration debates in parliament over a century. It shows sentiment more mixed, more negative today than in the past. (Though also that parliamentary sentiment historically is more pro than con) www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...

“If the policy you are proposing would not have let the president bring his own wife to the country, maybe it is time to revisit the policy.”

Alexander Kustov@akoustov.bsky.social · 6mo ago

That's the whole argument: no country needs immigration, but the countries that choose it wisely end up stronger. alexanderkustov.substack.com/p/western-co...