iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Iain Porter @iainkporter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The first benefit cap stats have been published since the 2-child limit was scrapped. 165,000 families - containing over 370,000 children - are now hit by the benefit cap. That’s 50,000 more families than before. 1/4

Chart from the DWP showing the number of benefit capped households in Great Britain over time. It shows that 164,000 families receiving Universal Credit were affected by the benefit cap in May 2026, up from 115,000 families in February 2026. (These figures are slightly different from those quoted in this post because we have added the separate benefit cap statistics for Northern Ireland into the DWP’s statistics for Great Britain.)

22526

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

It seems a good day to remind people that in the UK 3 times as many people work in Indian restaurants or for McDonalds as in the whole coal and steel industry. 5 times as many are academic staff at universities. If Labour does not understand its electorate, there is no way to appeal to it.

182127617

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Two of these panellists lost to the Greens after young voters did exactly the opposite of what this panel claims

1329681

Tom O'Grady @drtomdog.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

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

01921

Tom O'Grady @drtomdog.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

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

1160

Tom O'Grady @drtomdog.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

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...

sciencedirect.com

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…

13914

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

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.

321838

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

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

theguardian.com

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

14635258

Tom O'Grady @drtomdog.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

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)

070

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

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?

559421673

Tom O'Grady @drtomdog.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

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

1180

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 29/07/2025

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

open.substack.com

WASPInomics and the magic avocado tree

Why boomers struggle to make sense of the millennial world.

39432161

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Catherine E. de Vries @catherinedevries.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

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.

open.substack.com

You’ve Got the Ideas. What If It’s Your Voice That’s Not Landing?

The Hidden Curriculum of Academic Writing

26820

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

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...

theguardian.com

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

5506

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

The Policy Institute @policyatkings.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

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 🧵⬇️

27747335

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Tom Pepinsky @tompepinsky.com · 01/03/2025

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/

421391253

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

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/

17320

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Guillem Vidal @guillemvidal.me · 08/01/2025

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 👇

47745

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Miguel Pereira @miguelpereira.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

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)

414046

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte @turnbulldugarte.com · 29/11/2024

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

3422636

Tom O'Grady @drtomdog.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

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...

ucl.ac.uk

PhD Virtual Information Event

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

072

Reposted by Tom O'Grady

Gemma Buckland @doitjustice.bsky.social · 20/09/2024

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

041