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Ben O'Loughlin

@benoloughlin.bsky.social
3K followers 339 following 269 posts

Prof. of IR. Director, New Political Communication Unit, Royal Holloway | Co-Editor: Media, War and Conflict journal | Co-author: Strategic Narratives | Book series editor: AI Politics

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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Who decides if someone should try to get to the top of this mountain? blog.google/company-news...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
"Its not proof, its phenomenology, so believe it if it feels right ... but what does right mean?" Notes this morning reading in a cafe. #Levinas #breakfast #prophecy
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
What exactly is India's strategic narrative? New publication by @monikabd.bsky.social in a special issue @profmiskimmon.bsky.social and I edited. Congratulations Monika!: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Narrating order as resistance: India, the EU, and the ‘Russia-Ukraine conflict’
This article investigates how India resisted pressure from the European Union to condemn Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and align its overall response towards Russia with that of the EU. It argu...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
James Dennis has a neat little overview of the "private turn" young and especially marginalised people are taking in their news engagement - fits with what my students tell me about how they engage with politics: impactum-journals.uc.pt/mj/article/v...
impactum-journals.uc.pt
Visualização de De passivo a ativo e vice-versa?
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Tales We Were Told - on oral storytelling, remembrance, and inherited narratives. Bhavika Sachan's call for submissions to an edited eBook, which will be published by U Southampton Press: drive.google.com/file/d/1fxLI... Open to all PhD students, early career +independent creative writers/artists.
drive.google.com
Call for Submissions - TWWT - FINAL VERSION.pdf
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
If you're in Valencia tomorrow, I'll present work @profmiskimmon.bsky.social and I've been doing on the multiple world orders co-existing. Pluralist yet antagonistic, polycentric yet hemispheric ... makes my head hurt. In-person. Thanks hosts Mélany Barragán and Marco Guglielmo.
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
We're hiring! Permanent Lecturer in IR, esp. if can research one or two of: Russia, China, Race/Ethnicity, and Environment/Climate Change. Deadline 20 August. Details here: jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk
Job Opportunity at Royal Holloway University of London: Lecturer in International Relations
Full-Time, Permanent.The Department of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy at Royal Holloway seeks to appoint a Lecturer in International Relations (Teaching and Research focus). The succ...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Actors' use AI videos of speculative futures (Gaza as luxury resort) to justify, reward action (+investment) in the present, to commit mass violence = a big take on the #temporality of #media and #security. Its not #premediation. Well done Donatella Della Ratta: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Speculative violence and the future archive: Generative AI, memory and the visual politics of tomorrow | Cambridge Forum on AI: Culture and Society | Cambridge Core
Speculative violence and the future archive: Generative AI, memory and the visual politics of tomorrow - Volume 2
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Sten Hansson @stenhansson.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
New article out now on Russia's strategic narratives about its war against Ukraine www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... @europeansecurity.bsky.social
Discourses of legitimation in strategic narratives: the case of Russia’s war against Ukraine -- by 
Sten Hansson, Andreas Ventsel
& Mari-Liis Madisson. 
International security dynamics are increasingly studied within the analytical framework of strategic narratives. We offer a methodological contribution towards analysing the rhetorical mechanisms of legitimation and delegitimation in strategic narratives projected by perpetrators of wars of aggression. Building upon insights from critical discourse studies, we propose an analytical distinction between narratives that primarily function to legitimise the aggression and those that delegitimise the critics of the aggression. A further distinction is made between four kinds of identity narratives: those that primarily focus on either (1) the target of aggression, (2) the aggressor, (3) the allies of the target of the aggression or (4) the allies of the aggressor. We also suggest that legitimations in strategic narratives fall under three broad analytical categories: (1) authorisations, (2) moralisations and (3) rationalisations. These distinctions are useful as they help to think more systematically about how different strategic (de)legitimation narratives may target particular audiences – an idea that could be explored further by drawing on the concept of “Model Reader”. We illustrate this approach by analysing a specialised dataset of English language social media content published by the Russian government during its attack on Ukraine in 2022.
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Our CfP: AI, War, Conflict, and Political Violence, 21 July London, with @akilnawan.bsky.social . Abstract deadline 1 July. How to submit here: www.newpolcom.rhul.ac.uk/npcu-blog/20...
newpolcom.rhul.ac.uk
CfP Artificial Intelligence, War, Conflict, and Political Violence 21 July 2026 London — newpolcom
Artificial intelligence is increasingly central to the organization, mediation, and execution of contemporary violence. Across military, political, economic, and informational domains, algorithmic sys...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Trump =first non-hypocritical president because he doesn't hide his selfish agenda behind a cloak of universal values? Does the world like his amorality? #Flailing: physically (coercion) + figuratively (confusion). Matias Spektor & @kevcomms.bsky.social: www.carnegiecouncil.org/media/series...
carnegiecouncil.org
Amoral American Power, with Professor Matias Spektor
From Caracas to Tehran, U.S. power is no longer justified through a narrative of liberal internationalism. Matias Spektor examines the consequences of this shift.
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
If you work on AI + war/violence, do submit an abstract to us:
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
South-to-North Dialogues on AI: Launch of the Favel IA Report (A Global Classroom Event), 18 June from 2pm UK time, w/ @andreamedrado.bsky.social - join online, register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/south-to-n...
eventbrite.com
South-to-North Dialogues on AI: Launch of the Favel IA Report
A Global Classroom Event. How are favela communities engaging with AI? Exeter students and participants of project exchanging ideas.
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Q: Shrimp Jesus was two years ago taken as a sign AI was killing the version of the internet of humans interacting with humans. In what ways is the internet more dead or alive in 2026? www.sciencealert.com/is-the-dead-...
sciencealert.com
Is The 'Dead Internet Theory' True? Shrimp Jesus Phenomenon Explained
If you search "shrimp Jesus" on Facebook, you might encounter dozens of images of artificial intelligence (AI) generated crustaceans meshed in various forms with a stereotypical image of Jesus Christ.
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
If we look past Trump and notice the consistent statements by Vance, Rubio and Hegseth, we get a reliable indicator of roughly where Trump stands on foreign policy. New by @kevcomms.bsky.social: theconversation.com/trumps-cabin...
theconversation.com
Trump’s Cabinet dramatically changed American foreign policy while the president made noise – a scholar of presidential rhetoric explains
The president’s barrage of pronouncements on foreign policy mean his Cabinet members’ statements on foreign policy have become more reliable indicators of administration positions.
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Just found a folder of acknowledgements footnotes I drafted for articles that then got rejected 😕
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
The programme is out for our Media, War and Conflict ICA preconference: www.newpolcom.rhul.ac.uk/npcu-blog/2026/5/8/media-war-and-conflict-ica-preconference-programme-is-out
newpolcom.rhul.ac.uk
Media, War and Conflict ICA preconference programme is out — newpolcom
In June 2026 the Media, War and Conflict journal will host a preconference at the International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. We are delighted to host a...
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Nina C. Krickel-Choi @nckc.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
So happy that a paper from the special issue I edited on "Grappling with the climate crisis in IR" won the journal's best article award! Check it out!👇
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
New in our MWC journal!: Nataliya Roman @nataliialaba.com & John H. Parmelee, with “The architect of the invasion” vs. “a symbol of resilience”: How AI chatbots frame Zelenskyy, Putin and the Russia–Ukraine war - they struggle making sense of Russian propaganda: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
☺️@paulinesophieh.bsky.social and I won a prize for this article: www.ceeol.com/search/artic... Thanks to @michelpoiccard.bsky.social and the editorial team! Are you seeing actors use bad faith, for what, and do they get away with it?
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Lucy Delap @lucydelap.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Anyone working in history of comedy/satire, television, modern British politics - there's a fully funded PhD to research the Spitting Image archive @theul.bsky.social, with supervision at Exeter Uni. All disciplines considered, pls do share widely. www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
exeter.ac.uk
PhD: AHRC CDP Studentship | University of Exeter
The University of Exeter (UoE) alongside University of Cambridge Libraries and Archives (CULA) are pleased to announce a fully-funded Collaborative doctoral studentship, from 1 October 2026, under the...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Please complete this v.brief survey about news and crime, for my brilliant dissertation student Alex Land. Thank you! 🙏https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfDd9wTnwSrrjcXRSmYE01VJoguaA6e44S8DbD43BpKEzKeCg/viewform
docs.google.com
Dissertation Survey
Preliminary Questions
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Free registration 13 April panel: How strategic narratives transformed the study of public diplomacy, 4pm UK time: www.newpolcom.rhul.ac.uk/npcu-blog/2026/4/7/join-13-april-panel-how-strategic-narratives-transformed-the-study-of-public-diplomacy
newpolcom.rhul.ac.uk
Join 13 April panel: How strategic narratives transformed the study of public diplomacy — newpolcom
SIX DAYS TO GO‼️ Delighted to announce that on April 13th, Place Branding & Public Diplomacy will host a Special Webinar on "How Strategic Narratives have Transformed the Study of Public Diplomacy...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Have we already entered a 'new influence domain' through the intersection of emotional AI, social media and behavioural targeting? Are you being targeted? h/t @andrewhoskins.bsky.social information-professionals.org/ai-companion...
information-professionals.org
AI Companion Bots: The ATHENA Kill Chain for Anthropomorphized Influence – Information Professionals Association
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Media as #fatal to thinking about and feeling for human beings? Re AI + Iran war, Malik writes: 'When the true and false jostle constantly in the content slipstream, nothing feels real.' Its hard to care about the unreal: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... #compassionfatigue #compassionprevention
theguardian.com
Trump’s video game war: AI, memes and a simplistic narrative have flattened the conflict | Nesrine Malik
What was supposed to be a quick win has become a quagmire, so it now must be reduced to a dopamine hit, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Great new article by Bradley Ward and Christian Sherrington: why the AI-based #technosolutionism of the #Starmer government won't rescue UK governance ➡️ more public alienation ➡️ open goal for the populist right: link.springer.com/article/10.1... #doomspiral #cyclesofinsecurity #vacancy #AIpolitics
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
New in Media, War and Conflict: From laughing to learning: How TikTok genres influence American youth understanding and sentiments about the war in Ukraine, by Kateryna Bystrytska: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
In a research seminar now: if corruption will never end, what would be a more inclusive, democratic corruption?
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Conference CfP: My friends are convening Urban Elites, Rural Margins? Comparative Perspectives on Urban-Rural Divisions from Post-Socialist Europe and Latin America, at UCL on 15-16 June. How to apply: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
ucl.ac.uk
Call for Papers: PIMs Annual Research Conference 2026
Urban elites, rural margins? Comparative perspectives on urban-rural divisions from post-socialist Europe and Latin America
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
CCTV is really having fun with Trump, the dollar as global currency, and the US economy, in a little film about the Iran war. Captions are fast but its worth the 5 minutes. What do cats and eagles mean in China? Are cats cool and eagles idiots? What do red eyes mean? www.youtube.com/watch?v=As0r...
youtube.com
US-Iran war explained by Chinese AI animation: Legend of the Valley of Gold
YouTube video by Taipology
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Our Media, War and Conflict journal has gone from 8 articles per issue to suddenly double. A sign of today’s wars prompting a lot of quality research? journals.sagepub.com/home/mwc
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
On April 13, the journal Place Branding and Public Diplomacy will host a webinar focusing on the topic: Shaping the Discipline: How #StrategicNarratives Transformed the Study of #PublicDiplomacy. Kindly convened by Ilan Manor. Free registration here: www.eventbrite.com/e/panel-and-...
eventbrite.com
Panel and Q&A: Shaping the Discipline- How Strategic Narratives Transformed
Assessing the impact of "Strategic Narrative" on the study of public diplomacy
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Let me explain our new article in International Journal of Communication. We ask who can create meaning in discourse in human-AI interactions, and the impact on power relations broadly.
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Our new article is out! When we interact with ChatGPT and other Generative AI systems, who is shaping whom? Does the machine gradually substitute our interpretive capacities, or can it extend them? Thanks @ijoc-usc.bsky.social: ijoc.org/index.php/ij...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
In autocratic contexts, 'Visibility becomes vulnerability. Silence becomes rational.' But AI can speak. Great new piece by @michalmaly.bsky.social and Asker Bryld Staunæs theloop.ecpr.eu/synthetic-di...
theloop.ecpr.eu
Synthetic dissidents: how AI protects dissent under repression
Michal Malý and Asker Bryld Staunæs argue that synthetic dissidents mark a new form of opposition politics. In authoritarian regimes, AI avatars and chatbots can propagate risky speech without exposin...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
1/2 Great article by Noordenbos & Tuters: Russia is v.good at using digital platforms to narrate resistance to the West across the Global South. Its not just narrative content but how narrative elements circulate that creates effects - #ambient #parapolitics: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com
The counter-hegemonic hegemon: A cross-platform analysis of a Kremlin-backed strategic narrative - Boris Noordenbos, Marc Tuters, 2026
This article examines how, following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has adapted its digital diplomacy strategy to promote anti-Western narrativ...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Wonderful that my friend and collaborator @profvaccari.bsky.social's #inaugural lecture will happen 11th March, Edinburgh, in-person. A great moment for Cristian and an urgent topic he addresses: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inaugural-...
eventbrite.co.uk
Inaugural lecture: Professor Cristian Vaccari
Join us to celebrate Cristian Vaccari's professorship at his inaugural lecture.
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Kate Knibbs @knibbs.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
X is hiring a creative writing specialist at $40 an hour to make Grok better at writing and a true LOL at the qualifications
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
I had a chat about what @profmiskimmon.bsky.social and I wrote recently about how many narratives used in politics are deliberately ambiguous - watch here, responses appreciated:
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Today’s topic: spiritual warfare.
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
This sums a lot of what AI offers, some blurry vibes, and how its promise is part of a longer history of dealing with some pretty big dilemmas. By @tomdivon.bsky.social + Christian Pentzold: AI can make the dead talk – why this doesn’t comfort us: theconversation.com/ai-can-make-...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Thread 👇 on a new article by @profmiskimmon.bsky.social and I, Strategic narrative: its origins and evolution, its connection to public diplomacy, and some future paths. Read here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Strategic narrative: its origins and evolution, its connection to public diplomacy, and some future paths - Place Branding and Public Diplomacy
Place Branding and Public Diplomacy -
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Researching how and why journalists are being targeted and killed in huge numbers today? Apply to attend our journal's event in Cape Town in June. 31 Jan abstract deadline: link.icahdq.org/discussion/c...
link.icahdq.org
CFP: Media War & Conflict ICA Pre-conference Call: Challenges to Contemporary Conflict Reporting | Public Channel
Dear colleagues,A reminder that the deadline (31 Jan) is approaching for this ICA pre-conference.Please find below a Call for Abstracts for the Media, War & Con
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
New book by @maydinger.bsky.social - Discourse, Voice, and the Politics of Participation in the Scottish Independence Referendum - important on the difficulty of creating inclusive #participation: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
link.springer.com
Client Challenge
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
New online: A PhD thesis exploring how Russia does #strategic #narrative work against the West, by @christierns.bsky.social [bias: I examined it ✋]. Adds historical perspective re: why certain actions to address Russia's efforts will or won't work today. Read here: cadmus.eui.eu/server/api/c...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Great time at the @psampg.bsky.social annual conference in Bournemouth. #AI #theory #discourse and #moderation discussed by our team me, Marco Guglielmo and @andreucasas.bsky.social. Thanks Dan Jackson and all the organisers.
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
2026 Statistic of the Year is already decided 🤷 Very interesting analysis here of how #Trump uses #shrugs to communicate several different things, by @chrishartlinguist.bsky.social and Steve Strudwick, here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
How to help young people become full political agents? They want to be. The new 'civic mentoring model' from @jamessloam.bsky.social, based on what works or doesn't, in various cities. How to help local authorities make this pathway happen? Read in detail at: www.google.co.uk/books/editio...
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
The Vacancy is being written. @paulisci.bsky.social and I have caffeine and words to write.
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Ben O'Loughlin @benoloughlin.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
A lovely MSc graduation day is over, and lovely to hear who has started PhDs elsewhere and to meet the parents who help it all happen. They also waived the one drink per person rule so some of them were very happy.
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