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Philip Cowley

@philipjcowley.bsky.social
8.6K followers 529 following 1K posts

Professor of Politics.

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Reposted by Philip Cowley
Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 28/09/2026
Good news for miners that they finally have the full attention of the Treasury!
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Emerging from column cocoon and catching up with the John Healey speech. Labour really do enjoy the sight of their own navel, don’t they?
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 28/09/2026
Hopeless Healey: my SKETCH of a Chancellor who's rather better at despair. thecritic.co.uk/the-...
“I’m a proud optimist,” John Healey told the Labour Party conference, unconvincingly. Perhaps he is. Let’s imagine that, away from the cameras, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is known as the cheeriest chap in the office, spotting the silver lining on every cloud and for ever detecting blessings beneath their disguises. Unfortunately, the Almighty, displaying once again the sense of humour that holds the universe together, has bestowed upon Healey the demeanour of an undertaker who’s just learned his business has burned down.
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 28/09/2026
Labour is a party disappointed by the people who vote for it and by the economy of the country it's running. thecritic.co.uk/the-...
And how will it do that? Healey, it turns out, has the kind of idea of work you’d expect from a man who has been active in politics since 1986. There were a lot of references to the coalmining heritage of his constituency, and even the more modern work he talked about was hard, manly toil like pipe-fitting, the sort of thing that involves bulging forearms and mucky overalls. Aside from his wife, the one woman he mentioned was Reeves, and she’s just lost her job.

It’s far from clear that the Chancellor has a handle on what the more modern bits of the economy look like. There are a million young people out of work, he said, and the solution he pointed to was shipbuilding apprenticeships. Do this year’s unemployed graduates actually want to go into shipbuilding? Are there enough ships for them to build? His first job, he said, was washing glasses at a pub, exactly the kind of work that has disappeared in the face of minimum wage and tax rises. On artificial intelligence, which has destro
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 28/09/2026
For the real sickos I've created a US version of the game called Congress Chain. Congress Chain 🏛️ · Senate I recognised 8️⃣ senators in a row. How long is your chain? toys.jamesomalley.co.uk/congresschain/
toys.jamesomalley.co.uk
Congress Chain — Senate and House recognition game
Pick the named senator or representative from two portraits. One wrong answer ends your chain.
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Jack Bailey @jack-bailey.co.uk · 28/09/2026
Sick of work this Monday lunchtime? Or perhaps hungover from one too many on the first night of Labour Conference? If so, distract yourself with ✨ 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱-𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗠𝗥𝗣 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 ✨ Full interactive at: jack-bailey.co.uk/ward2024
Screenshot showing interactive ward level MRP estimates at the 2024 UK general election.
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Quiz question for today...
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Daniel Gover @danielgover.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A blast from the constitutional past, but a new piece from me reviewing the UK parliament's experiment with EVEL. 'The operation and abolition of ‘English Votes for English Laws’ in the UK parliament: differentiated voting rights and English ‘legislative consent’' doi.org/10.1080/1357...
doi.org
The operation and abolition of ‘English Votes for English Laws’ in the UK parliament: differentiated voting rights and English ‘legislative consent’
In 2021 the UK House of Commons rescinded its short-lived ‘English Votes for English Laws’ (EVEL) procedures, which had delivered differentiated voting rights to MPs to compensate for asymmetric te...
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
As Labour conference begins, here’s my analysis for @news.sky.com on the progress so far under Burnham and the work still to do for the party to recover from the late Starmer collapse This Charming Man: Can Andy Burnham restore Labour's fortunes? news.sky.com/share/13591718
news.sky.com
This Charming Man: Can Andy Burnham restore Labour's fortunes?
This is the third in a series reviewing the polling and electoral performance of the parties as they gather for their annual conferences. How grim was Burnham's inheritance, and how much of a bounce d...
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jahodges69.bsky.social @jahodges69.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Fuck me is that a dagger....
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Exit, pursued by a fucking bear
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Jack Tindale @jacktindale.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
About ten years ago, my "Britain Stronger In Europe" mug broke off at the handle as I was drinking from it, smashed onto the kitchen worksurface, and splashed tea all over my biography of Edward Heath. It was the most perfect metaphor for the Remain campaign imaginable.
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Again. I want v much.
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
These mugs are awful - and I want one very much. ("Are you going to reform social care?" "Definitely Maybe")
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Quiz question for today...
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Chris Terry-Enescu @cjterry.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
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Sienna Rodgers @siennarodgers.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
EXCL: My interview with Ed Miliband — why Keir Starmer had to go and “we were right to make the change” — ex-PM’s future in foreign policy — Burnham’s culture reset in govt — David Miliband’s advice — Falklands, sanctions and more www.politicshome.com/news/article...
politicshome.com
Ed Miliband: “Andy Has Given Us The Permission To Be Heard Again”
Ed Miliband has landed a Great Office of State – not as Chancellor but as the new Foreign Secretary. He talks to Sienna Rodgers about why Keir Star...
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Patrick Hurley @patrickhurley.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Harry Hill's TV Burp is better than almost all of these.
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Beestonbaggie @beestonbaggie.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Season 1: promising idea, 2: consolidates potential 3,4,5: flogging a dead horse for money
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
And poor incentive alignment. Bad Sisters - superb first season, telling a complete story over several hours. Clearly did well, so the broadcasters ask ‘can you make another one?’. The better answer would have been no.
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Pete Morgan @mobymooby.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I was thinking the same thing. It needs a tick box for “Watched Season 1 and gave up”
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
My problem with this list - apart from all the other problems - is that it doesnt differentiate by season. Some of them start brilliantly, but soon turn into dross.
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James Butler @piercepenniless.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
When was the last time our Secretary of State for Culture displayed anything approaching this degree of public enthusiasm for our world-class arts industry? Has she been seen anywhere? Given impending charter renewal... did she even bother to visit a single prom?
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Two MRPs show Labour losing 100 plus seats and their majority and still everyone is going “DOES THIS MEAN EARLY ELECTION???”
static.klipy.com
Life of Brian: He Is the Messiah!
ALT: Life of Brian: He Is the Messiah!
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
As niche academic arguments go, this one is very niche (but it is at least very short). A response article by me and young @timbl.bsky.social to a piece in Party Politics... journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com
Different articles, similar arguments: A response to Rosenberg - Philip Cowley, Tim Bale, 2026
In this short response to Rosenberg (2026), we focus on three points. First, we note that there is now agreement that intra-party sortition is unlikely to deliv...
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Black Bag is a completely unrealistic campus novel - in which someone gets paid by a university on time and in cash...
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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This is absolutely spot-on. I’m increasingly convinced that our revealed sense of what we expect MPs to do (be good legislators, scrutineers, and deal with ever-increasing amounts of casework and correspondence) is, with current resources, unsustainable.
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Steve Fisher @stevefisher.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
New post from me at @deltapoll.bsky.social on declining support for the net zero by 2050 law: deltapoll.co.uk/net-zero-los...
deltapoll.co.uk
Net Zero by 2050 law loses majority support | Deltapoll
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Kevin Hjortshøj O’Rourke @kevinhorourke.eurosky.social · 23/09/2026
This is a great rant and indicates the degree of alarm felt by journal editors who do not have the resources at present to deal with industrial scale fraud: www.markkoyama.com/p/the-new-ag...
markkoyama.com
The New Age of Academic Fraud
Or the Ottoman Election that Never was
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
When Squid Game was broadcast, one primary school decided to tell the kids in assembly that it was not suitable viewing - with inevitable results.
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Black Bag is a completely unrealistic campus novel - in which someone gets paid by a university on time and in cash...
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Andrew R @excelpope.net · 20/09/2026
I was looking something up on Google Maps, and I think I might have found out why successive governments have been so bad at delivery.
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Matthew Barnfield @mbarnfield.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I had fun writing the Last Word in the latest (penultimate, I believe) issue of Political Insight. Read for free here: journals.sagepub.com/share/PUST6R... tl;dr: Burnham must continue to take easy short-term wins and keep banging the drum about the long-term vision those short-term wins serve.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Why are Gen Z more anxious and less workplace ready? It’s a mystery.
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Karl Pike @karlpike.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I have a short essay in this relaunched Progressive Review from @ippr.org, called ‘A Liberalism of Public Things’. Open access link below: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
A Liberalism of Public Things
The social democratic ideological tradition - including the liberalism within it - should be described more accurately and defended. Liberalism within social democracy is the liberalism of public thi...
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
It was great to welcome the "Parliament Matters" podcast to "the political studies powerhouse that is Queen Mary University of London". Featuring the brilliant @ruthfox.bsky.social @darcyxtip.bsky.social @cathhaddon.bsky.social & @danielgover.bsky.social, plus me going tonto on billionaire donors.
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Tom Chidwick @tomchidwick.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I've (finally) made it to Bluesky so I thought I'd start as I mean to go on with some shameless self-promotion ... On 12 November, my new book on the first Scottish devolution referendum will be published by @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social, thanks to @atifajiwa.bsky.social! t.co/Rkv3VRWp29
Front cover of "Now or Never! A History of the First Scottish Devolution Referendum" by Tom Chidwick, which will be published by Bloomsbury in November 2026. It shows the delightfully eccentric "Sheriff" Peter Thomson with his "Last Chance for Scotland" against a Saltire background.
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Lotte Hargrave @lottehargrave.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
🚨New paper🚨 Very pleased that “Using Gender to Choose: Voter Decision-Making in Low-Information Elections”, coauthored with Ellie Woodhouse, is now out at @jeppjournal.bsky.social. In it, we ask: when voters know very little about candidates, how do they use gender when deciding who to vote for? 🧵👇
static.klipy.com
Happy
ALT: Happy
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Daniel Devine @danjdevine.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
On the way to #epop2026 @psaepop.bsky.social in one of the few English cities I haven't been to yet - Liverpool! It's like research Christmas! Unwrap the gift of knowledge by looking at the programme: www.liverpool.ac.uk/politics/eve...
liverpool.ac.uk
EPOP 2026 | Department of Politics | University of Liverpool
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Chris Prosser @caprosser.com · 17/09/2026
I’m at @psaepop.bsky.social #EPOP2026 in Liverpool for the next few days, presenting papers on: 1. The bloc structure of British voting behaviour (Friday 14:10-15:40, LT 3) 2. The urban-rural divide in British politics (16:00-17:30, Flex 1) Quick summaries of both below ⬇️
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Danny Fearns @dannyfearns.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I don't follow Formula One, but good on them for using subtitles for the hard of hearing… 
F1 track with numerous Zoom signs on the advertising billboards
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I have been on Eurostar twice in the last couple of years, and on both occasions they have cancelled my return train. Either they are useless or I am very unlucky (or both).
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French.” - PG Wodehouse, The Luck of the Bodkins
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British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Free until the end of September 2026 - Legislator Dissent Does Not Affect Electoral Outcomes - cup.org/46iLfA3 "results call into question the degree to which voters know and/or care about legislative dissent in parliament" - @philipjcowley.bsky.social & @resulumit.bsky.social #epop2026
Logo of the British Journal of Political Science with the text "#OpenAccess" below.
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Bookshop at St Pancras has a decent sized poetry section - but no Larkin. Country has fallen.
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Morgan Jones @morganj0nes.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
a real "baby shoes never worn" energy to this
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Rob Johns @robjohns75.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Now topical! @psaepop.bsky.social
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
For political scientists headed to Liverpool for EPOP this week (and anyone else interested!), @bjpols.bsky.social has made a collection of articles available on elections, public opinion and parties free to read...
cambridge.org
EPOP collection
EPOP collection
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Alex Hern @hern.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
So many people with aviation psychosis claiming that the Wrights’ invention is going to reshape global geography when it can’t even go more than 25 yards
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Dan is THE expert on the parliamentary politics of this car crash.
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