Rob Ford

Turns out the "Your" referenced in "Your Party" was specifically "The Ulster Unionist Community"

a man in a white shirt says heavy sigh in front of a group of people ALT: a man in a white shirt says heavy sigh in front of a group of people

Except...somehow, racism returned.

But the good news is, by doing this, we defeated racism in the UK.

on the other hand, the other alternative Labour has had so far is "somehow, Andy Burnham returned"

Measurement error in everything, legislative studies edition

Broke: "Diet coke is unhealthy, studies show"

Woke: "Studies are unhealthy, diet coke fuelled researcher shows"

*small domino* my mum tells me not to drink diet coke because she read in the Guardian that it causes dementia

*BIG DOMINO* zoom meeting with the editor-in-chief of Neurology to discuss errors i found in multiple peer-reviewed papers

“The Matthew Effect applied to kebab shops”

Very kind thank you!

Now approaching 1,000 press ups in my 100 press ups a day challenge. I’ve done press ups in pubs, on pavements and in corridors. Tiring work bit the money we have raised has kept me going - we are at 80% of our target, please consider a donation to help us get there! www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-he...

The difference in tone (both in the wider political context and the literal texts of official guidance) between two countries which desperately need more dentists could not be starker or indicative of how we've ended up here immigration.ca/how-to-immig... vs www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-role...

Another example of the routine, sustained and systemic failure
bsky.app/profile/sund...

Triumph and Trauma: The British General Election of 2024 Join the Mile End Institute to look back on the 2024 general election, the historic Conservative collapse and Labour's “loveless landslide"!

6PM Wednesday, Mile End. @psurridge.bsky.social and I will be joined by @stephenkb.bsky.social, the Associate Editor of the @financialtimes.com, and @rmcunliffe.bsky.social, Associate Political Editor at the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

This statement appears to be untrue for 95-99% of British people convicted and imprisoned abroad

New from Michael Miller and me at @thejop.bsky.social: Evidence that, in most areas that were affected by the decision, the Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act in 2013 (Shelby County v Holder) increased the racial turnout gap. A thread...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

My excellent BGE colleague and co-author is hosting an outstanding event this Wednesday to discuss the book with an all star cast - well worth a look!

Still, the first goal for any Lib Dem campaign is to look credible and relevant, and in this they were definitely successful. Perhaps more leaders will be falling off paddleboards next time?

And while Davey secured a warm welcome from the electorate, this did not convert into many votes outside the core Lib Dem battlegrounds, whereas more radical parties on both the right (Reform) and the left (Greens) gained nationwide, despite more divisive (Farage) or obscure (Greens) leadership.

However, we may wonder how much of this was the campaign specifically. Pre-Coalition, the Lib Dems would often gain ground during the short campaign, attracting voters who dislike both main parties and typically pay the third party no mind, but warm to them as polling day approaches.

The bigger parties might be criticised for looking unserious for a strategy like this, but for the third party this turned weaknesses into strength: no one expected a Lib Dem govt, and they risked being ignored - they were able to pitch themselves as a positive alternative in a negative campaign

The fun and japes had a serious purpose though - giving the Lib Dems a rare opening to promote their core campaign messages, something Davey did with unrelenting discipline (even delivering a campaign talking point while plummetting through the air on his bungee rope)

...the Lib Dems also correctly anticipated that the Labour and Conservative campaigns would be dull and negative, while the Reform campaign would be polarising. Images of a middle aged man clearly enjoying himself doing silly things provided a welcome point of contrast for many voters

The BES data suggests the strategy was a resounding success - voters saw a lot of Davey, as broadcasters and newspaper editors found the stunt visuals irresistable - and they liked what they saw. Davey's initial obscurity likely helped, as voters didn't start with well formed views of him...

The steady and sustained improvement in Davey's ratings were a vindication of the Lib Dems' cheesy centrist dad campaign strategy, in which Davey was deployed in a series of lighthearted stunts - paddleboards, water slides, and a bungee jump - designed to win his party positive coverage

The British Election Study asked voters to rate the leaders of each of the four biggest Britain-wide parties on a 0-10 scale. All of the leaders started with average ratings below 4 (politicians aren't a popular bunch) but one leader saw his ratings rise through the whole campaign: Ed Davey

Time to open another window on the "British General Election of 2024" advent calender. Today we ask - which party leader won the 2024 campaign? Read on to open the window and find out!

- It’s very *moving* sir. Would you mind if I change just one tiny aspect of it?

- Which one?

- The words.

Starting to unrionically think private schools are good for social mobility in that most of them have less of a value add than fees + ROI over the period would.

From kellnerp.substack.com/p/the-majori...