A tale of two Spains https://correctiv.org/en/europe/2026/04/21/half-of-europes-towns-and-villages-have-fewer-residents-than-60-years-ago/

Things you can see from space: the well-known island of Madrid

Half of Europe’s towns and villages have fewer residents than 60 years ago A data analysis by CORRECTIV.Europe reveals for the first time that even as Europe’s overall population grows, half of its municipalities are losing inhabitants.

This is great!

Municipal population change 1961 - 2024 in 🇪🇺🇬🇧🇨🇭🇳🇴🇮🇸🇱🇮, courtesy of @correctiv.org @fridathurm.bsky.social @adahomolova.bsky.social

Brilliant, isn't it!

Having seen both seasons (continental privileges), will miss the characters until the next season rolls around

Budding blossom

Incoming 🚂

Screenshot from Den stora älgvandringen / Great Moose Migration broadcast, which started today

Outrageous SVT communication failure; also 😍😍😍

Den stora älgvandringen – Idag 00:00 I flera tusen år har älgarna vandrat samma leder för att ta sig till sommarens rika betesmarker. Följ årets vandring, som är den åttonde säsongen då vi får se älgarna vandra i rutan och på SVT Play.

Wait the Great Moose Migration is back, 5 days earlier than advertised?! Firing up the second screen 🇸🇪

I'm sure most of you recognize the signs of LinkedIn Brain... where everything is about work or tied into work and obsessive grind. The sort of post that starts "I saw a beautiful sunset..." and the immediately transitions into utter nonsense like "... and here's 5 ways it taught me to build data pipelines better".

The relentless grind types…

www.counting-stuff.com/avoiding-lin...

And were actively celebrating the increase in Starting Grant applications six months ago, which always seemed unwise

Still need to convince academics they are not human press releases and that it's possible to distribute information without using the dreaded "[adjective] to announce/ share" formula, but I accept that's a long-term project

Thing I wish I'd realised a while ago: you can just unfollow all the LinkedIn Brain people you've accumulated across the years

Turns out that names you don't recognise and obnoxious posting and responding correlate at ~0.9

New paper with Alexander Patzina (@patzinaalex.bsky.social) out now in @actasociologica.bsky.social! We investigate the connection between wages and institutional trust in Germany between 2019 and 2023 1/n

Why do Public Debates Escalate? Trigger Points and the Moral Dynamics of “Hot Politics” Escalating, emotionally charged, and moralized forms of controversy are a central feature of contemporary politics. Our study develops a framework for understanding how political debates between ordi...

Knife crime! Pronouns! Meat bans! Some political issues lead to "hotter", more emotional and polarizing debates than others. We show how these "trigger points" reveal a contested structure of moral expectations and how they get weaponized by polarization entrepreneurs. OA @bjsociology.bsky.social 🧵

Petition to start a @stockholm-uni.bsky.social cherry blossom timeseries? 16th April 2026: we are at exactly zero 🌸🌸🌸

Are Occupations “Bundles of Skills”? Identifying Latent Skill Profiles in the Labor Market Using Topic Modeling Article: Are Occupations “Bundles of Skills”? Identifying Latent Skill Profiles in the Labor Market Using Topic Modeling | Sociological Science | Posted April 13, 2026

🥁New paper!
People talk a lot about skills in relation to technological change, but how do we measure skills?
We show occupational classifications miss their complexity. Using millions of job ads, we model skill profiles and better explain wage inequality ⬇️
sociologicalscience.com/articles-v13...

Stratified scars: social inequality in the labour market consequences of apprenticeship dropout Abstract. While the association between apprenticeship dropout and negative labour market consequences is well documented, the causal link and social strat

New #OA at ESR 🌟

What is the income penalty of dropping out of #VET in Germany? With an IV strategy, @kostermann.bsky.social, @patzinaalex.bsky.social & @katymorris.bsky.social show that the causal effect is substantial and especially pronounced for lower SES individuals

doi.org/10.1093/esr/...

My favourite Swiss tax fact is that you can claim a tax deduction for not being able to go home for lunch every workday bsky.app/profile/mjru...

Peter Magyar has offered a template which can be used, without too much alteration, in defeating populists worldwide

open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...

You should steal David's line bsky.app/profile/davi...

Greggs, selling matcha

Will everyone please accordingly update their class takes, which will take effect from 5pm today

New article out in @ejprjournal.bsky.social:

Why do we see such strong backlashes against carbon taxes in rural areas? We find that when rural residents feel disadvantaged by the state, a carbon tax feels like a punishment on top of a punishment: a "double disadvantage."

👉 tinyurl.com/3rhmvar7

Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology The Swedish Institute for Social research (SOFI) is part of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Stockholm University. The institute is an internationally leading research institute in the field of socia

Last chance to apply for our Postdoc in Sociology at SOFI!
Deadline: 13 April 2026
Read more and apply: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

BJPolS abstract discussing the impact of technological change on social policy preferences. It examines dual vocational education and training (VET), suggesting that dual VET reduces the demand for compensatory social policy. The findings are based on data from the European Social Survey and material from education systems.

NEW -

The Missing Link: Technological Change, Dual VET, and Social Policy Preferences - https://cup.org/4sUzglE

- @mhaslberger.bsky.social, Patrick Emmenegger & @ndurazzi.bsky.social

#OpenAccess

A truly terrible social policy, finally consigned to history. Proof of the power of social security to lift huge numbers of people out of poverty.

A wonderful day for our whole society!

Another season, another Jimmy five-fer 🥰

The political power struggle behind the Bayeux Tapestry Carted across seas and along perilous wartime trails, dodging Calvinist mobs, rebels and Nazis, the embroidery has a rich story. Its next chapter will be written in London

Well this is an absolutely rollicking read, featuring multiple tapestry-cheats-death-and-destruction moments, by @georgewparker.bsky.social & Leila Abboud

(gift link x 3)

That's home. That's us.

This image of home just came down from the Artemis II crew.

Taken after their translunar injection burn, there are aurorae at top right and lower left, and zodiacal light at lower right.

Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

Good luck with that timeline, fellas

For the #spatial folks among you: we exploited random distances between residential locations and large firms within German local labor markets to identify the causal effect of #dropout due to attractive alternatives 🚙💸⬆️

🧺 Paper Picnic 2.0 is here! More journals. New features. An easier way to keep up with the latest research in political science and adjacent fields. 🧵👇

🤗

P.S. You won the bet, next beers are on me