Steve Fisher

YouTube video by Cleaning Up Podcast The Truth About Renewables, EVs & Lab-Grown Meat | Ep223: Hannah Ritchie

This week on @cleaninguppod.bsky.social I was joined for a 2nd time by @hannahritchie.bsky.social. She's got a new book called Clearing the Air. 50 common questions about climate solutions? 50 little misinformation demons laid to rest! Hannah's is such a valuable voice. youtu.be/voLbbuPEWY4?...

The new TOC from academia dot edu. By creating an Account with Academia.edu, you grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent for Academia.edu to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness, city, institutional affiliations, citations, mentions, publications, and areas of interest) in any manner, including for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting the use or purchase of Academia.edu's Services.

If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.

Our survey of Green party members suggests Zack Polanski has the mandate to take his party in a more radical direction The new leader wants to be radical and a profile of his members suggests they will follow him.

If you can see past Angela Rayner, PMQs, that Father Ted bloke, and Kim and Vlad, etc. etc., this, just out in @theconversation.com, on @zackpolanski.bsky.social and @greenparty.org.uk and its membership, might be of interest. 1/n 🧵

The lovely people @britishelectionstudy.com released the random probaility data which means we can begin to unravel some unanswered questions about turnout in 2024.

A substack to follow but a starter of social class and vote/non-vote. Which party represents the working class? None of the above.

The 11 point drop in the first year of the 1992 to 1997 Major government comes close to the 12 point drop the current Labour government suffered in their first year. But Major's 1997 lost doesn't mean Labour can't recover. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion...

Yes, an incoming illiberal and radical UK government would have absolute constitutional power 27th August 2025 Only good fortune has prevented previous governments from misusing our constitutional arrangements more than they did * The constitution of the United Kingdom provides for two &#82…

NEW

Yes, an incoming illiberal and radical UK government would have absolute constitutional power

By me

Substack:
emptycity.substack.com/p/yes-an-inc...

Personal blog:
davidallengreen.com/2025/08/yes-...

Excited to share our new paper in Political Analysis co-authored with Neil Ketchley, @aasiegel.bsky.social and Mossaab Bagdouri! 📢

We introduce an open-source, computationally light method for measuring media criticism—a key marker of media freedom and democratization.

Get ready for fracking, Reform UK tells energy firms The party is serious about going after shale gas - but critics argue it's too difficult and costly.

Hundreds of words from the BBC attempting to provide context to Reform’s plans to revive fracking and not once does it mention greenhouse gas emissions or climate change.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Image of a poster to be presented at the Royal Statistical Society conference in Edinburgh, September 2025. The main point is to generalize the idea of a ternary plot to handle 4-part compositions, by showing views through the triangular faces of a tetrahedron. The data shown are vote counts from England, Scotland and Wales in the UK General Election of July 2024.

At next week's RSS conference I'll be presenting a poster (a first for me...it's about time!)

"Tetraplot displays of UK General Election results" shows how to graph GE 2024 vote shares across 4 parties in a useful way.

Full PDF poster at:
github.com/DavidFirth/t...

Local council by-elections, compiled by David Cowling docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Apropos of nothing, a reminder that German stock markets kept climbing in an almost uninterrupted fashion in the run-up to WW2. Investors are really, really bad at pricing serious institutional and political risks.

57% of Britons say immigration is one of the most important issues facing the country, the highest level recorded by YouGov's tracker since December 2015

Immigration: 57% (+3 from 16-18 August)
Economy: 51% (-2)
Health: 30% (-1)
Crime: 22% (-3)
Housing: 20% (+1)
Defence: 17% (-1)

If you like local by-elections (and if not, why not?) you should be following @andrewteale.me.uk and reading his Previews, including one on Cranford open.substack.com/pub/andrewsp...

Expert Comment: A property wealth tax is now politically feasible | John Muellbauer, Senior Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics, and Senior Fellow at the Institute for New Economic Thinking, University of

💷 'Council Tax is probably the most regressive property tax in the world.'

@inetoxford.bsky.social and @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social's Prof John Muellbauer proposes a two-part solution to the fairer taxation of property in the UK ⬇️

@sarahobolt.bsky.social is EPSS President & @simonhix.bsky.social is EPSS President-Elect.

👉🏽 Neither currently serves on the EPSA Council or holds any official position within EPSA.

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We believe there’s room for multiple poli sci conferences in Europe, just like in the US & other regions.

🔝 But if you’re looking to support a Europe-based not-for-profit member-led organization, submit your work to 1️⃣ EPSS conference:

📍 Belfast
📅 18–20 June 2026
📝 epssnet.org/belfast-2026/

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Join EPSS | Sign Up for Political Science Network Create your EPSS account to access events, connect with scholars, and stay updated on political science news and opportunities.

EPSS was founded by political scientists who believe that the European political science community deserves a:

▶️ member-driven
▶️ transparent
▶️ non-profit association
▶️ that reinvests surplus funds back into the community.

🙌🏽 Support that vision? Become a member: epssnet.org/sign-up/#join

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Padbury Brook Solar Farm brochure image

A solar farm at Stratton Audley, northeast of Bicester, is to go ahead after the developers won an appeal against Cherwell District Council. The Government’s Planning Inspectorate concluded the visual impact of Padbury Brook Solar Farm would not be enough to justify refusal.

The percentage of Americans who have perceived global warming as a threat to future generations has grown from 60% in 2008 to 72% in 2024.

Learn more: climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications...

The case for using "global majority" by institutions should be rejected unless + until it can be shown
- most people understand what it means (most don't)
- most people it is about would like it used (most don't)

I find it a deeply incoherent fiction + a highly regressive term in some many ways

Not sure how many people realize that battery storage already supplies 30% of California’s electricity demand at peak.

Batteries aren’t the future — they’re here now.

Thanks!

Reform UK and Green voters are the most likely to believe a government led by their party would make a "very positive difference" to the UK

Current Reform UK voters: 55% say very positive difference
Green: 49%
Conservative: 28%
Lib Dem: 27%
Labour: 22%

yougov.co.uk/politics/art...

Most Britons (57%) say a drastic change is needed to avert the worst impacts of climate change

For now Britons prioritise reducing consumption to combat climate change (45%) over trying to come up with technological solutions to try and combat its effects (35%)

yougov.co.uk/health/artic...

What geoengineering might Britons support to counter climate change?

Planting forests: 92%
Painting roads and roofs light colours: 62%
Adding carbon-capturing nutrients to the ocean: 43%
Making clouds whiter: 31%
Dimming the sun: 18%
Adding gases into stratosphere: 16%

yougov.co.uk/health/artic...

Reform's locals victory was no fluke To write up the election as a warped presentation of public opinion is more reach than reasoned analysis.

Reform's wins are not a consequence of low turnout.

@bwalker.uk writes 👉 www.newstatesman.com/politics/pol...

Multi Party Politics May Be Here To Stay The two-party system is creaking, and it is not just the doing of Reform UK.

Some slightly more digested thoughts from me for @politicshome.bsky.social on what the local results might mean for the future.

www.politicshome.com/news/article...

@findoutnow.bsky.social have consistently had higher Reform shares, they also tend to start with high don't knows which they then 'squeeze' with a follow up.The results are interesting

About 1 in 5 Labour voters say they DK but when squeezed more say LD or Green than Labour though half remain DKs.

Roughly as many Green voters think we should leave NATO as Reform voters think we should rejoin the EU.

Green voters would like a Lab-Lib and Libdem voters a Lab-Green coalition more than Con voters a Con-Reform coalition.

The Right in Britain can't even live with itself.