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Nick Anstead

@nickanstead.bsky.social
2K followers 4K following 1K posts

Associate Professor at LSE, researching political communications and the role of ideas in politics. More on me and my research: linktr.ee/NickAnstead

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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I fear we will be hearing a lot about “Kementum” in coming days, but before we attribute strategic genius to the Tories, it is worth asking why they have unveiled a load of polices aimed at LD-leaners in the South this week after months of messaging suggesting they were tacking right to ape Reform?
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The only Jeffrey Archer story I have: in sixth form we attended an economics conference which for some reason featured Archer as a speaker. At the end, he offered to sign autographs and one of my fellow students asked Archer to make it out to Mike Oxbigg.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
And, of course, the tapestry famously entirely omits any mention of the 3rd pretender to the throne, Harald Hadrada, which given the current state of the polls is a bit on the nose.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Or Harold and the Saxons, who are more romantic and have a kind of olde England energy, but they lost because they were ill-disciplined enough to charge off down a hill at Hastings (👋 backbench Tory MPs). 1066 makes is an historical dead end for them.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
For the past 24 hours I’ve been asking myself what are they actually trying to say?!?! (Maybe giving too much credit to CCHQ staff who knocked this up in 10 mins on AI). Who is Badenoch in this metaphor? William, who wins but makes the state bigger and also very much against levelling up the North?
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Oh I had assumed it was an actual 87 foot long narrative like the real one, and this was just a tableau. And just add… this is obviously enough by itself to draw conclusions about the health of their party.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Please tell me they have put the whole thing online somewhere????
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A bit like the 1990s Day Today sketch with Steve Coogan, where Sinn Fein spokespeople are legally required to inhale helium balloon before doing broadcast interviews, I can now make the people on podcasts I disagree with sound like deranged chipmunks.
Snipd podcast app now lets you select speed of individual speakers.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Burnham’s policy prescription is ambitious and far from perfect… the triple lock change doesn’t cover the cost social care of example. But it also feels vitally important he pulls this off. If he fails then the sense of inertia it will generate in British politics will be horrendous.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Time for a quick pre-panel coffee and Liverpool has bought its A game.
Albert Docks in Liverpool
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
In Liverpool for Labour Party conference, and really looking forward to speaking at the LSE / LabourList event tomorrow morning.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
But this passage explains why Andy Burnham is onto something, and to see it was warfare vs welfare is reductionist. The expansion of the welfare state in the 1940s was a key component of building the Cold War state.
From FT: It was not long before Nugee brought up the cold war and the secret state Britain fashioned from the late 1940s to meet the Soviet threat. Then, Britain's leadership class embarked on a project their successors would struggle to execute today.
Confronted with the pitiless Strangelovian logic of the nuclear age, these leaders built an egalitarian garrison state in the decades after the second world
war.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
There were limits on what people would accept (postwar rationing was deeply unpopular, for example). Now the building of resilience will necessarily involve moving resources away from consumption.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This is fascinating from the @financialtimes.com on the U.K.s preparation for crisis. The parrallel with the early Cold War is good but the key difference is that war state still appeared like a return to normality after WW2. — giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... How resilient is Britain?
giftarticle.ft.com
How resilient is Britain?
As climate and geopolitical risks cast doubt on the UK’s ability to cope in a crisis, leaders are turning from ‘just in time’ to ‘just in case’ as a governing philosophy
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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Happy Kicked In The Head By A Horse Day, to all who celebrate. It's the 7th anniversary of this absolute banger.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
They did a podcast version a year ago, which had a different cast (Ben Wallace, Jack Straw etc). It will be interesting to see if the individuals involved make any difference to how the scenarios play out.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
What I would say is that it’s built on historic data which necessarily has gaps or very limited case data (hence wide margins of error). Industry models run simulations and this is not how this works. It was more an exercise in using historic data to see what you could build.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Stats test for McFadden pseudo R2.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Hi David - with the caveat that I know a bit of statistics but it isn’t my normal field of research - I asked it to build a predictive model using historic data. I then tested it by sub-dividing the sample and running it on part of the dataset. I ran McFadden Pseudo R2, and the results were good.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I think a broader idea is evident here... constantly monitoring a car is way harder than just driving the damn car. Similarly, a world where humans just check things done by AIs is a pretty depressing place (vs the more enticing prospect of AI being harnessed to make our work easier).
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
“It’s to early to say” – predictive analytics five games into the football season The one possibility that really intrigues with AI is the ability to talk to computers...
hardboardscrookedtimbers.org
“It’s to early to say” – predictive analytics five games into the football season
The one possibility that really intrigues with AI is the ability to talk to computers in natural language and get them to executive tasks that would otherwise be impossible to...
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LabourList @labourlist.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
We have a whole host of excellent speakers, chaired by Prof. Tony Travers CBE, including: 🔴 @nickanstead.bsky.social, LSE 🔴 @johnmct.bsky.social, Burson Global 🔴 Scarlett Maguire, Merlin Strategy 🔴 Charlotte Beeden, 411 🔴 Gordon McKee MP, Member of Parliament for Glasgow South
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
One the one hand, 🇬🇧 Youth Parliament sitting in the Commons & reducing a certain type of (normally Con) MP to apoplectic spluttering was probably worth every penny. But maybe these resources are better spent on wider initiatives for more people, eg school councils? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
UK Youth Parliament looks set to be axed
Some say scrapping the parliament for 11 to 18-year-olds would be a blow for democracy, while others say it is overdue.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Wowser… this is cool a job for someone. ⬇️
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Communicating the response to these is vital, but comms strategies have to layered on top of effective and coherent ideological and policy responses. I'm going to be at Labour conference in a couple of weeks talking about these ideas at the LabourList/ LSE panel on the fringe (details below!)[2/2]
Details of panel at Labour conference, 11:15, Atlantic Pavilion, Albert Docks, 28th Sept.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I've just had this piece published on the @labourlist blog about the political communication challenges facing Andy Burnham's government. The big argument is that the government faces deep structural challenges [1/2] labourlist.org/2026/09/spon...
labourlist.org
SPONSORED: ‘Communicating in an age of political crisis’ – LabourList
SPONSORED Developing an effective political communication strategy is core to any attempt to renew the fortunes of the Labour government in office. But for that…
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Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Burns.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
FWIW, I’m surprised that the conquest has such a positive response, given the long-embedded idea of a Norman yoke in English culture, so maybe that is an interesting finding.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Perhaps the sneering is aimed more at deploying a polling method for this, which necessitates categorical responses to questions that defy catergorical answers?
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Best polling question I've seen in a while.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Interesting. But also true to say that #bluesky has not replaced it (still more traffic on X, even in its reduced form). Would be interesting to see LinkedIn numbers, but maybe we are just less social now than we were previously.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
It might also act as a corrective. One Burnham counterfactual is if he had stood in Gorton and Denton (a more left-leaning constituency) whether it would have changed his political brand? Now he will, quite quickly after assuming office, have to pivot to protecting his left flank.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
This by-election is obviously a potential banana skin for Burnham, but also a massive opportunity. If he sees off Polanski, he can then claim (in combo with his Makerfield win) to have secured both flanks of Labour’s coalition. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
This very much opens up the possibility of “impact, but evil impact”.
static.klipy.com
Kermit and Dark Kermit Meme
Alt: Kermit and Dark Kermit Meme
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
A good, time saving use of AI at the start of term: screen capturing my timetables from the LSE servers, then asking Claude to create the ICS file, which I can then drop straight into my calendar.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Is the implication of this answer that Burnham believes a manifesto commitment and an parliamentary majority is a sufficient mandate for electoral reform? Eg. No referendum required? (Obviously this was always the position in the past, at least pre-2010).
Burnham says government needs mandate for electoral reform, but it could happen in next parliament Lisa Smart (Lib Dem) said her party would strongly back Burnham if he brought in changes to the voting system ahead of the next election.
Burnham said, standing as election for mayor of Greater Manchester under the supplementary vote system (where second preferences are taken into account), he was struck by how that changed they behaviour of candidates. They had to look for agreement with opponents, he said.
He went on:
14 Where I will disagree with [Smart] is in saying that we do that ahead of any general election, because I do believe there needs to be a mandate to make that change.
There are different views in this house, but I believe we will need to get a consensus at the next election.
And if there is that consensus, then a change can be made in the next parliament.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Andrew Roberts must have done something to really upset the headline writers at @telegraph.co.uk to get lumbered with this one.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Obviously everyone is most worried about the Skynet scenario but has anyone considered the possibility of societal breakdown triggered by AI instigating non-stop petty and socially awkward slights? Let’s call it the Larry David singularity. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This month it emerged that a personal AI agent, called OpenClaw, in use by an Australian gym member, conspired without his knowledge to remove another member from a waiting list for a coveted morning class to help him get a slot. It apologised but could not reinstate the member it kicked out.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I’m calling it now… we need a less brooding Bond reboot and more of this…
static.klipy.com
Roger Moore James Bond Smirk
Alt: Roger Moore James Bond Smirk
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Smiths nostalgia isn’t just for the 1980s, but also for late 90s/ early 00s indie clubs with sticky dance floors. This phenomenon goes a long way to explaining the continued resonance of WW2 in 🇬🇧 politics, even though you’d need to be in your 90s to remember 1945.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
This is a great article from Zoe Williams in the Guardian. I think she hits on something important, which is nostalgia is not only for those who lived through things, but also for those who just missed them. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Bigmouth strums again: was Andy Burnham’s Smiths jam in Kyiv the perfect soundtrack to a Britain in freefall?
The UK prime minister clearly still adores the band. Perhaps he’s attracted to songs about sham justice and murderous meat factories, shot through with nihilism and exquisite despair
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Tangerine Twit Troll @tangerinetwittroll.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Who knew the Canadians could play the same game?
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Alex Zalben @azalben.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Dolly Parton, among a thousand other amazing things she did in her life, gifted over 330 million books to kids through her Imagination Library program. Her passing is a tremendous loss to the world, but you can support the program today to keep it going imaginationlibrary.com
imaginationlibrary.com
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library | USA, UK, IE, CA, AU
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth until they begin school in participating areas.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
This is a huge blind spot, as it is surely this institutional architecture, far more than any individual academic, which decides what research is done and which is not.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Whether you regard the debate about academic freedom as sincere or not (and there clearly is a real debate to be had about it as a topic), it is a big wrinkle that we tend to ignore the institutional dimension - there is a lot of talk about individuals but not much about departments or centres.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
One of the core puzzles of Trumpism is that he has somehow maintained a coalition which must include a large number of moderate Republicans (whatever that now means in practice). Pesumably one issue is they only have the Dems as an alternative, unlike the UK where such voters can go Tory or LD.
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
If you haven’t heard of it - I hadn’t before it appeared on the BFI schedule - this is Privilege, a kind of weird combination of Hard Day’s Night, If and Farenheit 451. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privile...
en.wikipedia.org
Privilege (film) - Wikipedia
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Nick Anstead @nickanstead.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I saw 1967 film Privilege at the #BFI last night, which encouraged me to look into the acting credits of Paul Jones. And, with all due respect to Christopher Nolan, this is surely the Ancient Greek adaption we need in our lives right now.
From Wikipedia: Jones had previously worked with Covington in the 1975 Christmas production Great Big Groovy Horse, a rock opera based on the story of the Trojan Horse shown on BBC2.
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Chris Hanretty @chanret.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I have signed this petition. If you're a UK resident, I think you should do so too
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