Tom O'Grady

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

Sure, I do have some ideas and would be very happy to discuss them. I can do it by email, or we could meet up on wednesday when you’re at ucl?

Yes I agree! There are obviously differing views what replication is for. I genuinely think these processes could work better if there was a norm that replicators ask authors “why did you make these choices?” Then it becomes a collaborative endeavour to achieve understanding, not a battle

Broadly, yes - i think it would be a much better model for advancing understanding of research questions. I would love to see a journal like the apsr putting resources into collaborative replication efforts that are about finding better ways to answer a question

Approaching replications with the assumption that original authors were "wrong", or even malfeasant, helps nobody. I'd like academia to be open, collaborative, and respectful. If I were doing this, I might start by talking to the original authors, and asking them why they made certain choices.

This debacle is also a chance to reflect on what replication is for: to prove that people are wrong or advance understanding of a research question? Perhaps the APSR could think of innovative ways to do the latter that avoid the "critique-rejoinder-critique" format, which never settles questions.

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

Key finding is here: housing especially structures voting for the centre-right and radical left, and has become much much more important than occupational class in the last decade

Housing and electoral behaviour: The changing face of class voting in advanced democracies Scholarship on the relationship between social structure and electoral behaviour has traditionally operationalised voters’ economic or class situation…

New from my phd student @joshgoddard98.bsky.social: he shows, using many election and panel studies across the advanced democracies, that housing status has replaced occupational class as a key predictor of voting. Class voting is now about assets, not income www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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.

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

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

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)

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?

Happy to follow up with more details by email if you like? We have a pretty well-organised departmental template for them now and they were used last academic year with some success.

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

WASPInomics and the magic avocado tree Why boomers struggle to make sense of the millennial world.

My latest, exploring with numbers how the millennial household budget is basically incomprehensible to retired boomers.

You’ve Got the Ideas. What If It’s Your Voice That’s Not Landing? The Hidden Curriculum of Academic Writing

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.

Agree with lots of what others have said. Another part of it I think is a belief that voters on the left will vote tactically/come home to labour in 2029, when the threat of a reform government becomes real and until then they have nothing to lose from trying to win over reform voters. Very risky!

omg

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

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...

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 🧵⬇️

A fundamental problem is the Democrats are utterly committed to the fallacy that public opinion polls are politics. This has destroyed their ability to actually do politics. 1/

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/

Can a public wealth transfer to young people reduce inequality?

New article out in the Journal of European Social Policy with Andreas Thiemann, Leire Salazar and @josenoguerauab.bsky.social!

🧵 Thread 👇

APSR will start inviting replications for a random subset of accepted papers. I really like this as well as the constructive tone around it 👏 (from the latest Notes from the Editors)

A good news day :)
"The Rainbow Vote" 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ is now under contract with @princetonupress.bsky.social

Building on observational data & six original experiments, the book explores & explains the distinctiveness of queer voters in Europe and demonstrates how this has both social & political consequences

PhD Virtual Information Event Explore our PhD programme! Join a Q&A with the PhD Programme Manager, Programme Director and PhD Rep.

Interested in doing a PhD in political science at UCL (or know a student that is)? On Friday 22nd November I am running an online information event all about our programme and how to apply: www.ucl.ac.uk/political-sc...

Listen to the latest Transform Justice podcast with @drtomdog.bsky.social discussing our recent research with former justice ministers and advisors, along with other matters with @nacro.bsky.social CEO Campbell Robb