Islandscape with blue sky and turquoise sea

A change is as good as a rest

donald trump is giving a speech at a podium in front of american flags and saying `` you are fake news '' . Alt: donald trump is giving a speech at a podium in front of american flags and saying `` you are fake news '' .

Ever wonder how the #media influences #populism? I mean, beyond the tiring enemy-of-the-people shtick. Well, @preciouschatd.bsky.social and @rhyscrilley.bsky.social have got you covered. In chapter 4 of our book, they dig into the media ecology that makes populism go transnational. #MediaStudies

If you’re on a permanent contract, are hiring postdocs or fellows on the basis of a shiny new grant (hello ERC or UKRI FLF!), advise PhD students, and/or have any sort of say on hiring within your department, you should attend our report launch examining the UK politics/IR job market #psa26

I wrote about why this report is not business as usual in the current political moment

open.substack.com/pub/wicziped...

What if they opened their mouths and killer wasps came out but also the wasps were robots and the robots had nuclear bombs in them? What then?

Some entertaining solutions for a stupid problem.

Exhibit A

Public Opinion & National Security in the UK: A People-Centred Approach Global Challenges and Social Justice seminar series - Public Opinion & National Security in the UK: A People-Centred Approach

Event link tinyurl.com/39zsat6y

Feel free to share with your networks @gunjans.bsky.social @timbale.bsky.social @preciouschatd.bsky.social @drdonnasmith.bsky.social
@filippoboni.bsky.social
@jamiegaskarth.bsky.social
@simonusherwood.bsky.social
@drgholmes.bsky.social
@oupolitics.bsky.social

a man in a suit and tie is dancing in front of a crowd Alt: Ridiculous guy with a tie that's way to long dances like an idiot

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑: #𝑷𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑷𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔

Folks, I’ve got some tremendous news. The second edition of my co-edited volume—alongside the great David B. Macdonald and Dirk Nabers—is out now: 𝘗𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴.

How Putin turned Russia’s post-Soviet ‘national humiliation’ into military aggression in Ukraine James Rodgers talks to The Conversation Weekly podcast about why Russia turned its back on the west.

My latest media interview based on my research for my new book, 'The Return of Russia' (@yalebooks.bsky.social) is this podcast, recorded with Gemma Ware for @uk.theconversation.com

theconversation.com/how-putin-tu...

‘Is university still worth it?’ is the wrong question The graduate earnings premium isn’t really measuring what most people think

Turns out (says @jburnmurdoch.ft.com) it's not so much an oversupply of graduates in the UK (the same would be true of other similar countries but it's not) as an undersupply of the kind of jobs that a better-performing, more productive economy would supply.

Political Trust - RECSM Research and Expertise Centre for Survey Methodology - UPF

Political Trust Network: Call for papers (Barcelona, October 2026)

The young and fast growing academic 'Political Trust Network' organizes yearly workshops, where scholars of trust can meet up, present papers, and exchange ideas. These workshop have been brilliant, socially and professionally!

Populism and Contemporary Global Media: Populist Communication Logics and the Co-Construction of Transnational Identities The study of populism increasingly recognises how important the online environment is for the spread of populist messaging, but engages relatively weakly with how the creation, dissemination and inter...

Including a revised chapter from me and @rhyscrilley.bsky.social about populist communication logics and transnational identity formation

link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

Populism and World Politics Populism reshaped global politics, as shown by President Trump's threats to U.S. allies and broad tariffs, which affected both domestic and foreign policy

Publication day for the 2nd edition of Populism and World Politics, edited by @frankstengel.com @dbmacdonald.bsky.social and Dirk Nabers

link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Russia, Disinformation, and the Liberal Order by Stephen Hutchings, Vera Tolz, Precious Chatterje-Doody, Rhys Crilley, and Marie Gillespie | Hardcover | Cornell University Press Through the prism of the first comprehensive account of RT, the Kremlin's primary tool of foreign propaganda, Russia, Disinformation and the Liberal Order sheds new light on the provenance and nature....

Similar findings to what @stevhutch.bsky.social Tolz @preciouschatd.bsky.social @rhyscrilley.bsky.social Gillespie found with RT in: www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Do Western diplomats and embassies need to learn how to navigate ambient parapolitics?

The counter-hegemonic hegemon: A cross-platform analysis of a Kremlin-backed strategic narrative - Boris Noordenbos, Marc Tuters, 2026 This article examines how, following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has adapted its digital diplomacy strategy to promote anti-Western narrativ...

1/2 Great article by Noordenbos & Tuters: Russia is v.good at using digital platforms to narrate resistance to the West across the Global South. Its not just narrative content but how narrative elements circulate that creates effects - #ambient #parapolitics: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

🤔Worried you don't have the experience to be a peer reviewer?

🧠 The MOST important requirement is that you’re knowledgeable on the specific topic of the paper

🙌 ECR use the methods they will be reviewing daily & are THE BEST placed to identify strengths & weaknesses!

Any questions? 📧 prx@ecpr.eu

Freshly baked cheese pastries, cooling on a rack

Feeling pretty darn smug about tomorrow’s lunchbox game #poliscibakes

OVD-Info Prize 2026—Call for Submissions | ОВД-Инфо International Award for Master’s and PhD Research on Repression, Surveillance and Censorship in Contemporary RussiaРусская версия

Master’s students and PhD candidates, your favorite Russian human rights media project, OVD-Info, is taking submissions for an award recognizing scholarly research on state repression, surveillance mechanisms, and censorship in contemporary Russia. ovd.info/en/oi-prize-...

A propos, well, everything these days

@simonusherwood.bsky.social

Iced Christmas cake topped with blue snowflakes, pink hearts, purple flowers, yellow stars and tiny gingerbread figures

Here’s a close-up of the big cake. The 4yo cut out most of those shapes and was very proud of the design choices :)

Square Christmas cake, topped with glazed almonds, cashews and glacé cherries

And this one was my first attempt at a glazed nut topping…. Recipient doesn’t like marzipan and icing

Square iced Christmas cake with Christmas tree design

This one was decorated by the 12yo, with no help whatsoever (sadly no boards of the right size in the local shop)

Three iced Christmas cakes in pastel colours

This year’s Christmas cakes are complete! The 4yo chose colours and design for the big round cake, and the ‘heart’ cake

Look who it is @caitlinlawson.bsky.social

Black cat on someone’s knee behind an office desk

I can tell it’s gonna be a productive day today since I have a research assistant on hand :)

Congratulations to @preciouschatd.bsky.social and @maudinet.bsky.social on their fantastic blog on RT India being published on @uk.theconversation.com last week!

Researchers trust The Conversation.

Because our only agenda is to rebuild trust and serve the public by making knowledge available to everyone.

All our work is completely free to read, we have no paywall.

Donate to The Conversation: tcnv.link/aYR8yr1

Re-upping this funded PhD - please share widely!

RT India: how the Kremlin is spreading its ‘west v the rest’ narrative to a global audience RT has targeted non-western audiences for years.

Short blog from me and @maudinet.bsky.social about last week’s launch of the new RT India channel and what to expect from it, written for @uk.theconversation.com

@oupolitics.bsky.social @ou-gcsj.bsky.social

theconversation.com/rt-india-how...