Experimentation on TikTok, Standardisation on Reels? Party Short-Form Video Use in the 2024 UK General Election | Article | Media and Communication Rosalynd Southern, Niamh Cashell, Liam McLoughlin, Ploykamol Suwantawit

Brand new publication co-authored by faculty member @rosalynd.bsky.social!

www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcomm...

And recent PhD graduate @psuwantawit.bsky.social :)

I weirdly think he almost has to? No one else wants this surely. The two who are ambitious enough will almost certainly lose their seats next election and I think Rayner won't go for it now. He's sort of stuck with it

Final thought - if this is how they treat the best-performing REF unit of assessment at the university, nobody is safe.

15 minutes; no questions; government got the blame; my department to have 60% of us sacked. Apparently sacking us will lead to a ‘new, improved’ curriculum. No voluntary scheme, straight to selection and legal minimum redundancy payment.

They need a better phrase than 'plastic patriot' which just sounds stupid

Just thinking of Margaret Hamilton and her team who programmed Apollo 11's computers on hardware approximately the power of a Commodore 64

Kanye West being booked to headline Wireless Fest on all three nights feels like a major and utterly grim cultural shift. Ten years ago, a huge artist who recorded and released a tune called “Heil H*tler” would have gone to the wilderness and stayed there. But he has been welcomed back in through the front door. And this is on the heads of the festival organisers, each of whom should be publicly grilled about this choice. Indulgence of anti-Semitism is one of the early warning signs of the return of old horrors, and it doesn’t get more indulgent than this.

🥹🥰🙏🙏💓

😃 thank you! 🙏

😭 thank you!!!

Ros holding the book and smiling

Cover of book. It's purple with a picture of a woman's hand holding a smartphone with a black and white starburst behind it. The title and author name appear in white writing

In 2015, a story emerged alleging that then- Prime Minister David Cameron had placed 'a private part of his anatomy' into the mouth of a dead pig's head during an initiation ceremony at the University of Oxford. Upor this allegation breaking, social media eruptec with a plethora of memes and iokes about the incident, which became known as Piggate'. Although there had been a move towards iovial talk of politics on social media prior to this, the episode seemed to distil the practice and precipitate a new era of near- constant humorous online reaction to political events. Considering this context, this book assesses how memetic practices have shaped political communication and culture in the past decade-plus, and the consequences thereof. It does so from four perspectives, encompassing a focus or ordinary citizens, a group of online activists a key social media satirist and, finally, focusing on how elites have deployed these practices

"This landmark book is the first to fully explain how memes have become a critical part of UK politics. Through rich and convincing empirical analysis, Southern reveals how digital humour is transforming citizen participation, elite communication, and the very nature of political discourse. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the evolution of digital political culture and its profound impact on democracy." - James Dennis, Researcher at Lusófona University, Portuga "From 'shitposts' to 'Karen memes', political communication is changing and Rosalynd Southern is a lively guide to the pithy worlo of memes. A cutting-edge study that deserves to be read. - Stephen Coleman, Emeritus Professor of Political Communication, University of Leeds UK

Auspicious day to post this so here it is!

'Memes and politics in the UK: from piggate to partygate and beyond' is out now!

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

I loved writing this and I hope you'll all love reading it. Check out the cover, description and endorsements here! 📖 Buy it!! 😅

Dr Leicht presenting her work on late night comedy. The room has a fireplace and clock and the slides appear on a large screen on her left

Dr Leicht presenting her work on late night comedy. The room has a fireplace and clock and the slides appear on a large screen on her left

Fab presentation by @carolineleicht.bsky.social on late night comedy as a news source and attacks on late night comedians from the right. Timely and important work 🙌💪👏 @psampg.bsky.social

Ploy presenting her research at the front of a room with a clock, fireplace and stained glass window. The title of the presentation appears on a large screen by her and is from anger to solidarity. Emotional trajectories of Thailand's anti government protesters

Ploy presenting her research at the front of a room with a clock, fireplace and stained glass window. The title of the presentation appears on a large screen by her and is from anger to solidarity. Emotional trajectories of Thailand's anti government protesters

AMAZING presentation by @psuwantawit.bsky.social at the @psampg.bsky.social panel! Such important work based on her thesis which is brilliant. Can't wait to see this published 🙌

Starting day 2 with a fab panel on Fashion, Late Night Talk Shows and Memes :-)

@rosalynd.bsky.social is talking memes, and how parties and politicians deployed them in GE2014.

Ros has just published a book! link.springer.com/book/9783032...

Women and Politics events at PSA26. The full program is available on the PSA website.

🚨 #PSA26 is just around the corner and we couldn't be more excited!

We are thrilled to share that our group is sponsoring eight panels across all three conference days. We will also be hosting our AGM on Tuesday 👀

We can't wait to see you all in Oxford next week! ✨

@polstudiesassoc.bsky.social

@rosalynd.bsky.social just published her book, Memes and Politics in the UK: From Piggage to Partygate and Beyond! 👏 link.springer.com/book/9783032...

Opinion | Me, Myself and My A.I. Sloppelgänger

Grammarly's AI-fueled edits -- using my name - suggested making up sources and writing vague insinuations.

In my latest for @nytopinion.nytimes.com (gift link) I describe Grammarly's terrible edits in my name -- and call for a federal right of publicity.

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/o...

The "women safety" people at it again

Sadly no. Tories will throw in with Reform and i reckon the current iteration of Labour would rather not support a Green government. Not even sure about Lib Dems tbh

you are not prepared for the soundtrack

This sounds brilliant

This is a thread about UCU & what it has become over the last few years. But the first thing I want to say is I didn’t join a union to stay silent or turn my back on a single parent of three facing dismissal on the basis of their trade union activities. Marie Monaghan is the Unite UCU 1/12

Because we put... incels in charge of the Pentagon???

it’s, no joke, the Labour Party’s birthday today

Hope Beats Hate: Green Party Defeats Reform and Labour in Huge Gorton and Denton By-Election Victory A concerted political and media campaign to scare voters about a “Green Menace” winning this by-election failed, reports Adam Bienkov

Gorton and Denton was 127th on the list of Green Party target seats.

To win by such a margin there suggests there is much bigger potential for Green gains in May's local elections than most people expect

bylinetimes.com/2026/02/27/h...

🤷‍♀️🫠

Mate you calling him Badlose literally years ago is so vindicated lol

obviously today is a huge embarrassment for Matt Goodwin and for Reform, which is something that we absolutely ought to celebrate, but we must also remember it's a huge embarrassment for Morgan McSweeney and Maurice Glasman and all the Blue Labour weirdos, and that's important to celebrate too :)