Climate consensus communication probably isn't a gamechanger Why I don't think the best available evidence supports the story that is being told about it

I just published something on my Substack about one reason, among many, why I don't think communicating public consensus on climate change is anything like as powerful a climate policy tool as people make it out to be.

open.substack.com/pub/drmatthe...

I took (and passed) my driving test on Thursday and the number and size and variety of potholes on the test route provided me and the examiner with a solid 20 minutes of conversational material, to be fair. So that’s one benefit.

Saw him at Cheltenham last year, which was great. I should make it along to the Lancs game, will keep an eye out for you!

If there’s one man who could bowl through anything, it’s Jimmy.

Want to know capitalism’s endgame? Just look at private equity – it has captured our everyday lives | Hettie O'Brien These companies now own everything from nurseries to care homes, squeezing vital services for profit while we foot the bill, says Hettie O’Brien, author of The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned C...

The more I’ve learned about private equity, the more I’ve come to see it as a metaphor for how power and wealth now operate in Britain. I wrote about it for @theguardian.com - two days before THE ASSET CLASS publishes: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Though I notice that the link description I just shared includes “expenses” which isn’t even on the page. Needs updating.

I think it no longer is, it’s “MPs’ staffing and business costs” according to IPSA. Though obviously the press continue to use the old argot — www.theipsa.org.uk/mp-staffing-...

A third inflationary shock in less than a decade is coming: who will pay the price this time around? | Aditya Chakrabortty Brutal past experience has taught us that a cost of living crisis doesn’t affect us all the same, because we don’t all go into it with the same income or wealth, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrab...

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Britain faces its third national crisis in half a decade: who will pay the price this time?
My column

Academic Job Market Trends in Politics and International Relations - Political Studies Association Academic Job Market Trends in Politics and International Relations: Evidence from the UK, 2012-25 Authored by: Dr Ralph Scott, Dr Lawrence McKay, and Dr William Allen Read the full report here   Execu...

🚨 NEW REPORT! 🚨

What is the state of the UK academic job market in politics, and what does this mean for the field and #highered?

In a new @psaecn.bsky.social report, @lawrencemckay.bsky.social @williamlallen.bsky.social and I find worrying trends in job adverts and HESA data from 2012-25

#PSA26

Interesting piece. I have a slightly different take in that I suspect properly writing and reading books rather than relying on AI will become a status badge and thus preserve the habit for now at least.

The great care home cash grab: how private equity turned vulnerable elderly people into human ATMs When did care homes come to be seen as recession-proof investments? And who pays the price?

I’m thrilled that the Guardian Saturday magazine has excerpted one of my favourite chapters from THE ASSET CLASS this weekend: www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

News, nuggets and longreads 28 March 2026: Vigil Every Saturday we round up the best writing about beer from the past week. This time, we’ve got Bass, barley wine, and bambini.

GOOD MORNING! Here's our regular round-up of good writing about beer and pubs with notes on the popularity of Bass, a very special barley wine, and the ever-controversial topic of kids in pubs. 🍺🍻

boakandbailey.com/2026/03/news...

My department @uniofbath.bsky.social is looking to appoint a Lecturer in Environmental Politics on an open-ended teaching and research contract. I and other colleagues will be at PSA next week if anybody wants to chat informally about the position. Deadline is 14/4.

www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy...

We're launching this report at PSA conference next Tuesday!

Come along if you're in Oxford and want to hear more/vent about just how bad the current academic job market in politics is

A brief history of The Kings Head – the handsomest pub in Bristol Bristol is not oversupplied with historic pubs and those it has have not generally been well preserved. The Kings Head on Victoria Street is very much an exception.

BLOG POST: An attempt to pull together what we know about the history of The Kings Head in Bristol, a (wonderful) pub that maybe *feels* older than it is. 🍻🍺

boakandbailey.com/2026/03/a-br...

It’s a superb spot.

Topsham Brewery?

Jürgen Habermas, master thinker of postwar Germany, 1929-2026 [FREE TO READ] The philosopher and social theorist thought deeply about the foundations of liberal democracy

Fine FT obituary of Habermas by @iprnickp.bsky.social as.ft.com/r/92bbb72b-6...

And when that person goes to the loo you can often hear the collective exhalation of breath, everybody else at the table luxuriating in the silence but bracing for their return.

Carry that Weight

Fair point.

Oh for there to be a sort of inverted Polymarket where you could invest in how badly the predictions of various columnists will age.

Mass Observing British politics - British Politics British Politics - The current political moment in Britain is characterised by disaffection, affective polarisation, and populist mobilisation of these (dis)affections. How best to research these...

Very useful piece by Nick Clarke, Alex Hill and Jonathan Moss on an archive heavily used by historians of modern Britain - and underutilised by scholars of British politics.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

A review I did for the FT recently

How does the American public react to events like this? Brush them off as a price worth paying or as deaths of religious/racial outgroups?

Well, some do, but overall there is a clear negative effect of civilian casualties on public support for war.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

It’ll have been a pretty fruity landing going in to Cork in today’s wind.

Electoral reformers should look beyond proportionality The UK’s political landscape means the electoral system is increasingly in need of review. Dr David Klemperer, IPR Research Assistant, explains why proportional representation isn’t the only …

I've written for the @uniofbathipr.bsky.social blog about why de-alignment and party system breakdown poses challenges for PR as well as FPTP, and why a French-style two-round electoral system might therefore now be optimal for the UK

Historical(ish) fiction: anything by Alan Hollinghurst

Novelistic NF: Red Plenty by Francis Spufford.

Amazing! Congratulations.

Equally surprised and delighted to win this!