Peter Allen

This article is refreshing not least because it starts from the point of thinking about voters as they actually are, not as we might wish them to be. The key idea — that voters aren’t pundits and political science shouldn’t expect them to be — is crucial.

Yes, aiming for PSA so see you there!

🚨New book alert!🚨

Thrilled to announce that my @britishacademy.bsky.social Monograph, 'Capital, Privilege, and Political Participation,' will be published via @livunipress.bsky.social later this month.

Find details and pre-order (with discount) here: liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

This looks great, congratulations.

Title page of article "Electoral Hope" in journal Political Studies.

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...

Fewer emails.

Bluesky is my side hustle.

Professor Nick Pearce appointed to Pensions Commission Professor Nick Pearce has been appointed to the revived Pensions Commission, which will examine the barriers stopping people from saving enough for retirement.

The UK government has announced the revival of the landmark Pensions Commission, with Professor @iprnickp.bsky.social (Director of the University of Bath’s Institute for Policy Research) as one of its three members.

Read more here 🔗 buff.ly/7tL3CN3

This is Feeder Rd? I had noticed a bit of this on the St Philips Greenway nearby but hadn’t considered the possibility it was deliberate. Ugh.

Get copies of 20th Century Pub We’re not very good at remembering to mention this: we’ve got copies of 20th Century Pub for sale. And if you haven’t read it, you really should.

It's been a while since we said this but... you should buy our books, especially '20th Century Pub', which you can get direct from us for £13, delivered in the UK. 📚

boakandbailey.com/2025/07/get-...

He Could Be the Next Lionel Messi. If Anyone Can Find Him. (Published 2024)

Godwin by Joseph O’Neill (author of Netherland) is the best contemporary novel I’ve read in ages www.nytimes.com/2024/06/01/b...

Compulsory voting can save British democracy Our political crisis is grave. Muscular measures can solve it.

I’m in the @newstatesman.com making the case for compulsory voting as a response to Peter Mair’s “void”

Sitting in a 28C living room, hallucinating about a second referendum.

Universal Suffrage? The problem of low and unequal turnout and the case for compulsory voting  - The Constitution Society An authoritative new report from Dr David Klemperer advocates for the introduction of compulsory voting at UK general elections.

My new Constitution Society report on compulsory voting has now been published.

I argue that low turnout has left the UK with an unrepresentative electorate. This is creating warped incentives for politicians, and contributing to low growth, high inequality, and rising democratic discontent.

I’m so cool I thought he meant Michael Rush.

@drfraserking.bsky.social

I survived the 7/7 London bombings, but as a British Muslim I still grew up being called a terrorist Four years on from the attacks on 9/11 - this was a time when, in the minds of many, Muslims were already associated with terrorism.

20 years on from surviving 7/7 - my experience as a British Muslim
@uk.theconversation.com

With thanks to my editor @averyanapol.bsky.social

theconversation.com/i-survived-t...

'One year on, Labour still hasn't reckoned with collapsing trust in politics' - LabourList I spent the general election campaign travelling the country for LabourList, visiting marginal seats, talking to candidates and knocking…

I wrote about my often fairly miserable time on the doorstep last summer hearing just how much the public hates politicians, and how Labour hasn't – and maybe can't – deal with the anti-politics that feeds Reform:

labourlist.org/2025/07/labo...

The Smallest Room in the House The best politics “loo” book you will ever buy! Based on Philip Cowley’s fascinating column in The House magazine, this is a book perfect for multiple sittings, discussing the politi...

I may mention this, occasionally, over the next few months.

Christopher Nguyen, Value Capture - PhilPapers Value capture occurs when an agent’s values are rich and subtle; they enter a social environment that presents simplified — typically quantified — versions of those values; and those simplified articu...

There is a great paper on this by the philosopher C Thi Nguyen philpapers.org/rec/NGUVCH

The recent history and future prospects of the UK welfare state Abstract. This article examines how the UK welfare state was significantly retrenched, reshaped, and selectively expanded in the era of austerity and Covid

New piece on the UK welfare state by me & @gavin-kelly.bsky.social for a special edition of @oxrepjournal.bsky.social We examine the economic, political & demographic forces reshaping our welfare state. academic.oup.com/oxrep/articl...

The Professor Will See You Now: The Limits Of Prime Ministerial Power As memories of Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher fade, so perceptions of the limitations of prime ministerial power increase

Latest piece for @thehousemag.bsky.social - on perceptions of prime ministerial power. With added marking.

www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

Thanks, Dion!

Insert Zizek trashcan meme

“Morning boys, how’s the shit?”
“What the hell is shit?”

It was great to talk to Dave about this book which, following distributional issues that went forever, is now available in paperback amzn.eu/d/6GsDjKl

Title and abstract. Title: Long-Term Time Horizons and Support for Public Investment. Abstract: Generating public support for long term public investment may require understanding what citizens perceive as the “long term” in politics and how these perceptions shape their preferences. Across two studies, we find that UK citizens generally understand “long term” as 5–10 years. These perceptions appear to shape support for a real, salient, recent case of large-scale public investment: the October 2024 UK budget. Study 1 shows that stating the economic effects of the budget's public investment measures will come “in 50 years' time" rather than “over the longer term” reduces support—with some evidence the effect may be driven by those with the shortest perceived time horizons. Study 2 reveals that when the 5-year benefits of investment—within voters' typical long-term time horizon—are known, highlighting its 50-year benefits lowers support for public investment. But across the board, we find that a majority supports public investment when made aware of its economic effects over any time frame. These findings improve understandings of voters' purported short-termism in a contingent real-world context, with implications for the communication of long-term public policy.

Our paper “Long-Term Time Horizons and Support for Public Investment” is open access @psjeditor.bsky.social (w/ @karlpike.bsky.social @philipjcowley.bsky.social).

Whether the public supports policy that pays off in the long term depends on what “long term” means.

doi.org/10.1111/psj.70040

UK needs compulsory voting to tackle worsening inequality Older, wealthier and whiter people are far more likely to vote – meaning politicians pay more attention to them

I'm in @opendemocracy.net explaining why unequal turnout reinforces socio-economic inequalities, and why we need compulsory voting to counteract them.

In short: unequal turnout skews politics against the young, poor, and insecure; only compulsory voting boosts turnout enough to change this.

It’s not far off.

I’ve enjoyed the recent addition of announcements on the U1 (also surprising to hear what the roads are actually called after years of referring to them as “that road across from Tesco”, etc.)