Nick Clarke

A flow chart shows 17.4 million leave voters in 2016, vs 16.1m remain. In 2025, 5 million of those people have died, and 3 million new voters have come of age. The result (plus some people changing their mind) is 19.8 million voters now back rejoin, versus just 11.7 million wanting to stay out.

Absolutely amazing chart from @peterkellner.bsky.social's piece in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social today:
www.thenewworld.co.uk/peter-kellne...

Migrant Creative Enterprises and Post-Growth Futures in the UK at University of Southampton on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Migrant Creative Enterprises and Post-Growth Futures in the UK at University of Southampton, listed on FindAPhD.com

Interested in starting your PhD on migrant enterprises with Maria Villares-Varela,@silkeroth.bsky.social & me? See below opportunity @unisouthampton.bsky.social supported by Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Programme for Interdisciplinary Resilience Studies. Pl Share www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Harvey at 90: A Verso Series From the Verso website: This month, in honour of David Harvey’s ninetieth birthday, we’re publishing a series of short essays on David’s unparalleled contribution on urban ge…

Harvey at 90: A @versobooks.bsky.social series of short essays

davidharvey.org/2025/11/harv...

The chart shows where spending on social security is shown as a share of GDP. As this makes plain, total welfare spending in Britain in 2025-26 is estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP. This is 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than it stood on the eve of the global financial crisis in 2007-08. But since 2012-13 (the peak in the post-GFC recession), total welfare spending has fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP. Added to this, welfare spending is expected to rise by just 0.1 per cent of GDP across the forecast period until 2029-30 (after U-turns and before any decisions made at the Budget).

Is welfare spending ''out of control''?

Total welfare spending in Britain in 2025-26 is estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP.

That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️

buff.ly/s5mz97u

It's only out in March 2026, but I heard pre-orders are now possible 😏 it's a theoretical history of technological refusal that starts in ancient Greece with the earliest machine breakers, and ends in 1980s France with anarchists bombing computer companies.

www.upress.umn.edu/978151791773...

I'm still incredibly proud of this book. The idea to do an edited collection came when I was still a baby PhD student and I pushed a group of six colleagues to join me at a (now sadly defunct) ECPR Research Sessions in Essex in 2014. The final book was published 4 years later.

Cover of Culture Wars in Britain: The Myth of Exceptionalism and the Reality of Division by Nick Hubble. This is in Emerald Press's Society Now series. Cover is red with white circle in middle and black lettering. There is a repeating motif of masks, which is a symbol for culture.

Cover reveal. Culture Wars in Britain. Coming out May 2026 (but the kindle edition will be available earlier). Currently £16.99 to preorder on Amazon.

Cash ISA limit cut to £12,000 as expected - though only for under 65s! A new bias in the tax system towards pensioners is introduced....

That’s the right way round for a labour budget.

V happy to see this paper out with @chrisclaassen.bsky.social at @bjpols.bsky.social .

We argue that nostalgia for Britain's past is an important, distinct opinion dimension which has meaningful consequences for party evaluations and vote choice.

💥 New publication out on the alignment of AI & authoritarianism 💥

We argue that AI is not simply extending, but actively modulating, key dynamics of authoritarianism, and present a flexible analytical framework to account for these changes.

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I am inviting applications for PhD projects at Uni of Southampton, focused on: politics of refusal, digital tech, urban interventions and/or geographical theory. Funding app's would be made to the South Coast DTP.

Please check out my work to ensure a fit!

www.thomasdekeyser.com/phd-supervis...

Do you feel lucky? Why acknowledging our own good fortune would make the world a better place | Julian Richer I have been fortunate, and I know it. Now I’d like more successful people to admit that meritocracy is a myth, says Julian Richer, founder of Richer Sounds

A welcome & wise intervention from Julian Richer, making the simple & important point: success in life is often down to sheer good fortune. Those who have found success in their own lives should acknowledge this, and what follows from it. @fairness.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Political Socialisation in the UK: Describing Generational Changes of Values - International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society A growing bulk of research examines intergenerational shifts in attitudes and the extent to which they are attributable to new cohorts of voters being socialised under different socioeconomic and cult...

🚨 New paper with Maria Grasso on generational shifts in political values. Despite talk of rising age polarisation, we show that gaps in attitudes are stable or even narrowing. Economic attitudes move in cycles, while social values have become more liberal – mainly due to generational replacement.

Human Geography at Leicester is facing closure. Staff contracts are to end in June 2026; students are to be relocated to other universities, or taught out by a maximum of two (!) teaching-only staff. Other departments and subjects are facing closure, too. Please join the demo!

We're now over halfway through our @sotonpolitics.bsky.social department seminars!

It's been such a good line-up and very grateful for all those who've joined us - today @dafnoukos.bsky.social and last week Peter Dinesen.

‘Elon Musk won’t stop. It’s time the British government g... The platform has become a swamp of disinformation. Politicians should lead the way out of it

Elon Must won't stop.

I wrote this for @theobserveruk.bsky.social.

Bar chart showing big reductions in growth rates in advanced economies between 1950 and 2025.

This explains a lot (Source: www.ft.com/content/20d6... )

Everyday life in Middletown - YouTube Find out more about the Everyday Life in Middletown project here: https://bsudsl.org/edlmiddletown/. Cover image: A photo submitted to the Everyday Life in M...

For those that weren't able to make our webinar with @patcollier.bsky.social and Jim Connolly, you can now catch up on YouTube!

Learn more about the Everyday Life in Middletown archive as well as how the writers in archive write about comprehend crisis

www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

🗃

Latest on UK productivity crisis:

Do incidents of Westminster “sleaze” damage trust in politicians? | British Politics and Policy at LSE Trust in politicians has never been high, and even though the global trend is towards people trusting governments less, not every event of corruption will contribute to that trend.

💡New! Nick Clarke and Will Jennings remind us that trust in politicians has never been high, and even though the global trend is towards people trusting governments less, not every single event of perceived corruption will further contribute to that trend.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

A democracy isn’t (just) an electoral system. It’s also a culture of deliberation, debate, sensitivity to public concern, attention to social movements and community leaders, respect for civil rights and minority interests, free expression and association and due process. How’s your country doing?

Do incidents of Westminster “sleaze” damage trust in politicians? | British Politics and Policy at LSE Trust in politicians has never been high, and even though the global trend is towards people trusting governments less, not every event of corruption will contribute to that trend.

New blogpost on trust in politicians and Westminster 'sleaze'.

With @drjennings.bsky.social, @massobsarchive.bsky.social, @lsepoliticsblog.bsky.social

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

Do incidents of Westminster “sleaze” damage trust in politicians? | British Politics and Policy at LSE Trust in politicians has never been high, and even though the global trend is towards people trusting governments less, not every event of corruption will contribute to that trend.

How are recent Westminster scandals likely to have impacted political trust in Britain? @nickclarkegeo.bsky.social and I reflect on (updated) insights from our research - with Gerry Stoker and Jonathan Moss - in the book The Good Politician.

Do incidents of Westminster “sleaze” damage trust in politicians? | British Politics and Policy at LSE Trust in politicians has never been high, and even though the global trend is towards people trusting governments less, not every event of corruption will contribute to that trend.

Do we trust politicians less now than in previous years and decades? @nickclarkegeo.bsky.social and @drjennings.bsky.social make use of MO materials to consider the extent to which we trust politicians and the factors which influence our opinions.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

Do incidents of Westminster “sleaze” damage trust in politicians? | British Politics and Policy at LSE Trust in politicians has never been high, and even though the global trend is towards people trusting governments less, not every event of corruption will contribute to that trend.

New blogpost on trust in politicians and Westminster 'sleaze'.

With @drjennings.bsky.social, @massobsarchive.bsky.social, @lsepoliticsblog.bsky.social

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

Are you, or do you know, someone who wants to do a PhD?

Applications are open for full funding (scholarship + maintenance) @sotonpolitics.bsky.social through the @scdtp.bsky.social

Get in touch if you're interested

southcoastdtp.ac.uk/apply/

There is no need for a moral panic about the UK's welfare system.

Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts

Spending is controlled, not spiralling

Worklessness is near record lows

My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...

Harvey at 90: A Verso Series Last year, we celebrated Fredric Jameson's ninetieth birthday with a month long series commemorating his impact on literary criticism, critical theory and philosophy.  This month, in honour of David H...

www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/...