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Dr. Rob Cronin

@robcronin.bsky.social
386 followers 762 following 59 posts

UK-based early career researcher (politics) - specialising in online propaganda, campaign videos, and British populism. (Politics/work account. For my personal account, see: @cronnyberg.bsky.social)

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Starmer - [Farage is] A state-slashing, NHS-privatising, Putin apologist. “Without a single patriotic bone in his body. We will take to fight to him. We will fight as Labour.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Tracey @2300.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Going round & round with this immigration white paper stuff. It is what it is, & hysterical arson attacks are simply deplorable. I'll leave you with a quote from Starmer today:
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
If there has indeed been three separate fires overnight linked to Starmer, that is really quite bonkers news, no matter your political persuasion. Coordinated arson against the Prime Minister. No wonder counter-terrorist squads are investigating! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Keir Starmer house fire: Police investigate links to two other fires
Police are investigating a fire at another property and a vehicle fire to see if they are connected.
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
For no particular reason at all, here is some excellent Turkish punk music: youtu.be/1LXNQQ9V8pE?...
youtu.be
THE RINGO JETS - Spring of War (Official Video)
YouTube video by THE RINGO JETS
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
After the Atlantic published the texts this morning, Tulsi Gabbard is confronted today on why she lied in her testimony to the Senate yesterday. She says she misremembered.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
singletrack @singletrack.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Left out guy at the party meme with caption “They don’t know I’m the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.”
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Adam Payne @adampayne26.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Starmer phone call with Zelenskyy: “The Prime Minister expressed his support for President Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader and said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War II.”
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
A dictatorship hosting another dictatorship to negotiate with an aspiring dictatorship about the future of a democracy that’s not represented.
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Bumping for relevance.
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Watch him get confirmed, and then draw conclusions about those guardrails you think are there in the American system…..
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
This is a very good read, and chimes with what I’ve been seeing since Labour came to power. The govt has not been without scandal, but the scale of some of the reporting has not matched the scale of some of the stories. Some stories need hounding down, but not every story is Starmer’s watergate.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Chenchen Zhang 🤦🏻‍♀️ @chenchenzhang.net · 26/01/2025
kinda curious how deepseek decides when to use "can't answer" and when to give propaganda
deepseek screenshot
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
I was debating trying the new Chinese 'Deepseek' generative AI, but the official app lets you know that it collects key-strokes etc...; you need an account to try it on the web, and according to Newsweek, it refuses to talk about Tiananmen square. Yeah, no thanks. www.newsweek.com/deepseek-ai-...
newsweek.com
DeepSeek AI refuses to criticize Xi Jinping: "Talk about something else"
Chinese-owned DeepSeek AI was also unable to provide any information on Tiananmen Square when asked by Newsweek.
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
It’d be nice if you could sort Bluesky lists by number of subscribers. I’d like to see the most used lists.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 20/01/2025
Trump confirms that the US is again withdrawing from the Paris climate accords. "We're not going to do the wind thing" says Trump, saying wind turbines are ugly. Reaffirms that the policy is to "drill baby drill."
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 20/01/2025
"It was a Roman Salute" the Elon Musk/Paolo Di Canio crossover we didn't know we needed (because we didn't)
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
I do like video, but… Am I the only one who experiences this consistently? Occasionally a video will work, but it’s the exception not the rule.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19/01/2025
Vivek's involvement with DOGE lasted negative Scaramuccis
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
A day later...
FTSE stock exchange reaches record highsIMF upgrades UK growth forecasts
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Would be nice to have some breathless media coverage about what this tells up about market perceptions of the state of the UK economy..
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
A pol comms side note - I’m sick of seeing news reports like: “100 killed, including 31 women & 27 children.” When it should be: “100 killed: 42 men, 31 women, & 27 children.” The former infantilises women, removes their agency, and at the same time acts like the deaths of men aren’t a concern.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Biden: Good afternoon. It's a very good afternoon, because at long last I can announce a cease fire. And a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Please let it hold. Please to all that is holy let it hold.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
With the rise of AI, I imagine we will see a decline of political cartoons in news media: because they don't have to imagine or imply ideas now, they can just commission pictures that show exactly what they mean. And this has consequences (beyond annoying historians, who love political cartoons)...
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
This is utterly heinous. I can’t believe people act like Mogg has any pretence of civility. Childish, stupid, dangerous, and with a sexist undertone. Don’t people realise EVERY major female politician will already be in deep-fake/AI porn? Where is the concern over using this technology in politics?
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
It’s going to take me a while to get over the idea of “unconditional discharge.” Quite hard to rationalise such an abject failure with the types of systems I usually put my faith in.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Institute for Public Policy Research @ippr.org · 08/01/2025
Making voting easier is the right call 👍 Our latest report on voter turnout recommended expanding accepted photo IDs or removing ID requirements entirely. This step from Angela Rayner is a welcome move in the right direction. www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...
telegraph.co.uk
Labour could scrap voter ID rules, says Rayner
Deputy Prime Minister tells MPs that reports suggest ‘electoral fraud is very minor’
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
If 29 deaths in 3 years is enough to outright ban a form of transport, maybe these people should be looking at motor death numbers….. Do we need to get the E-scooter stuff right? Absolutely. Do I regularly encounter older people who have an irrational hatred for them with no introspection? Also yes.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Victoria Derbyshire @vicderbyshire.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
The Prime minister hits back at Elon Musk ‘Those that are spreading lies and misinformation…are not interested in victims’
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
This is, to put it mildly, the punchiest statement I think Starmer has ever come out with. Musk has completely and totally embarrassed himself, and I think most people see that.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
Welcome to the new political mainstream.
A racist screed by a leading Tory politician.
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
A sentiment I whole-heartedly agree with, given what I’ve just been working on for the last 5 years!
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
Just the three weeks between these posts. This right wing business is a fickle game.
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 05/01/2025
It’s not an exact parallel, but Elon Musk abandoning Nigel Farage for not supporting Tommy Robinson would be roughly akin to him ditching Donald Trump for failing to endorse Nick Fuentes.
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
The triangle of political incentive around Musk/Farage/Robinson is fascinating. Farage designed the Brexit Party (now Reform) from the ground up to be a ‘palatable’ right, especially re: the red wall. He’s never going to be comfortable endorsing Robinson. Whereas Musk has gone all in on him. Mad!
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
It’s been a month since I’ve posted this, and I have now had a grand total of two videos load correctly on Bluesky. All I ever usually get is a pinwheel. I’m curious if this is a common experience?
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
If I would be dictator for a day, I would mandate that you are only allowed to published graphs that show the full range of the y-axis.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Karabekir Akkoyunlu @karabekir.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
"I just found out that my PhD student, Assad Hassan, has become Syria's new foreign minister. And here I was asking his Indonesian and Palestinian friends why he hadn't been attending classes for the past two weeks." 😅
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
It is VERY interesting that the tweet Hank references here is flagged as misleading by the Bluesky mod team. It makes me wonder what their decision-making process is for what order to tackle these things. I suspect they would prioritise the most viral posts first, but clarity would be welcome…..
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Matt Kane @mk.gg · 10/12/2024
The UK parliament has joined Bluesky, with proper verified domains and everything: • @houseofcommons.parliament.uk • @houseoflords.parliament.uk • @ukparliament.parliament.uk • @commonsspeaker.parliament.uk
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
Surprise!
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
He was a technocrat in so far as he performed a technocratic style of politics - he had a technocratic vibe, but not much technocratic delivery. This is actually something I’d maybe like to write about in the future, since it relates to my work on populist performance.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Prof Nisreen Alwan @nisreenalwan.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
I wish all the best for Syria and I hope from the bottom of my heart recent events bring Syrians justice, freedom & peace after so many years of suffering, but I can’t help feeling worried about the possibility of another Taliban style regime. Who are HTS? 👇 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Who are Syrian rebels Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS?
The Islamist militant group HTS has a long and involved history in the Syrian conflict.
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
It’s crazy how quick this is happening. Assad seems to have lost every major city but Damascus, and Damascus could now be cut off from the sea. With little help coming, I don’t really know the scenario that allows him to turn this around.
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
I’m reaching the point now where I clearly have more followers on Bluesky, none of them seem to be bots, and my discover feed is dramatically better than on X. However, it’s not all roses. I literally haven’t once had a video load correctly on here. Still definitely some kinks to iron out.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Lee Jae-myung, Leader of South Korea's Democratic Party, live-streamed himself scaling the walls of the National Assembly to bypass military barricades so that he could vote to overturn the President's martial law.
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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
I know nothing about South Korean politics, but that presidential statement sounded absolutely mental. Some vague threat of communism, and he’s trying to block lawmakers from voting?! Sounds like sensible heads have prevailed, at least in the short term. Will be interested to learn more.
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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin
Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Went back on X to post a couple of stories… the entire timeline, literally 90% of posts I saw, were about some poor woman’s PhD topic. Pure brain rot.
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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Excellent short piece about "anti-woke publics" in an overall excellent Political Communication symposium on various aspects of far-right politics. 👍
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