Stephen Holden Bates

Thanks to @houseofcommons.parliament.uk and @houseoflords.parliament.uk for another brilliant visit!

University of Birmingham ftw!

Traditional photo of traditional early start for @unibirmingham.bsky.social visit to @houseofcommons.parliament.uk and @houseoflords.parliament.uk.

Given that people is asking me for the numbers, here the table provided by UKRI:

After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:

- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%

22 October 2025 - Elections within the House of Commons - Oral evidence - Committees - UK Parliament 14:30 - Room 16, Palace of Westminster

Meg Russell is now giving oral evidence to @commonsproccom.parliament.uk with @marcgeddes.uk and @stephenholdenbates.bsky.social about elections within the House of Commons.

Read Meg, @alanrenwick.bsky.social and Tom Fleming's written evidence 👉 committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide....

Watch it 👇

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN 🎉

The PSA Parliaments Annual Conference 2025 will be hosted by the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of York in conjunction with The White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership on the 27th-28th November!

Michael Rush and the Database - The History of Parliament We were sad to hear recently of the death of Professor Michael Rush of the University of Exeter. Michael was a pioneering and indefatigable scholar of

Michael Rush and the Database historyofparliament.com/2025/10/15/m...

book cover of 'shaping for mediocrity': The cancellation of critical thinking at our universities.

The VC of Leicester has been announced as the new Chair of UCEA.

He's been VC of Leicester since 2019. He's the one responsible for forcing out scholars in ways that employment tribunals showed was not permitted.

The the kind of guy UCEA values.
www.collectiveinkbooks.com/zer0-books/o... #UKHE

With thanks to @pressfuturist for remembering that it was Littlejohn v Self, not Bushell v Self, a literary conversation of the ages.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1390...

@socialpolicy.bsky.social I thought you'd enjoy this...

This. The Tories, Reform UK Ltd & even Labour hate the actually-existing British economy, whose comparative advantage lies in higher education & the creative industries.

🚨 Job Opportunity! 🚨 Applications are now open for a new 2.5-year postdoc at @edinburghpir.bsky.social to examine how parliaments gather, analyse and use different types of knowledge - see the full job listing here: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

YouTube video by Stephen Holden Bates Parliamentary Studies

It's that time of year again. 🦉

www.youtube.com/watch?v=alSM...

Bloomsbury Set hangout.

Nice venue for the Birkbeck / Birmingham / @psa-parliaments.bsky.social sponsored workshop on what is a parliament.

this is ridiculous

That’s sad news. He was very generous towards me in my brief interactions with him.

Here are his answers to the PSA Parliaments’ Urgent Questions which give a brief introduction to his life and career: psaparliaments.org/2021/02/24/p...

Very sorry to hear of the death of Prof Michael Rush, formerly of Exeter University. He was both an excellent scholar and a lovely kind man, always supportive of his colleagues and fellow academics.

📢📢📢 First systematic study of House of Commons specialisation in 40 years. 📢📢📢

Our typology is not perfect but we think it’s a pretty good start…

I saw a small flock of linnets on this cricket pitch and have very happy memories of scrambling round the rocks with my dad.

#SkyStorians One day workshop on oaths/oath-taking in Britain/Ireland/British Empire, 1600-present in London, 11 Sept.

Supported by @socialhistsoc.bsky.social @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social & @hisjournalha.bsky.social.

Sign up here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/oaths-and-...

See image for programme.

Seven properties raided as police investigate ‘serious allegations of fraud and bribery’ at the University of Greater Manchester University officials say the institution remains “fully operational” and is cooperating in inquiries

Wow. The police have searched seven properties in relation to ‘bribery and fraud’ at the University of Bolton (sorry, GM). The latest shockwave from @molliesimpson.bsky.social’s brilliant investigation for @manchestermill.bsky.social.

manchestermill.co.uk/university-b...

I’m really pleased that the @psa-parliaments.bsky.social conference will be at @uoypolitics.bsky.social this November!

If you work in the field of parliaments or legislative studies please consider applying

More details on the website: psaparliaments.org/annual-confe...

I've been working on something on this and here's a sneak peek of recent trends in Politics job adverts on jobs.ac.uk

Here's a scatterplot and (GAM) trendline showing that the number of advertised politics jobs has pretty much halved since 2021.

NEW: Getting to net-zero will be much cheaper than thought for the UK – and unchecked global warming far more costly, says OBR

Quick piece / thread with 4 key charts showing, yet again, why climate action is far less costly than inaction

🧵

www.carbonbrief.org/...
1/6

London’s low-traffic zones ‘cut deaths and injuries by more than a third’ Exclusive: Study also finds no change in number of casualties on roads just outside low-traffic neighbourhoods

NEW: Big study of low-traffic neighbourhoods in London suggest they cut road injuries and deaths by more than a third within their boundaries with no apparent negative safety effect on nearby roads. This feels a *major* boost for proponents of such schemes.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Last day to submit!

What is a parliament?

This workshop aims to start a fresh conversation on this classic question in legislative studies.

⏰ You have two more days (deadline Friday 4 July) to submit a brief paper proposal.

Sign up details below ⬇️

3 days left to submit an abstract to our "What is a Parliament?" workshop!

OK but we'd be very happy to receive an abstract if you change your mind.

I need to check with the other convenors (e.g. in terms of how many people the room holds, etc.) but I would hope so.