Dr Nick Dickinson
Political Scientist | British Politics and History | PhD on political salaries (Exeter) | Mst. Modern British and European History (Oxford) | DMs closed, email me @n.dickinson3@exeter.ac.uk
- Never mess with a Magdalen lawyer
- teaching intro to data science be like
- YouTube gets weirder every year
- Also *Lib Dems* would prefer he stay by 1pt more than Labour voters
- I see we're finally moving from the "token fines" to "the CEO is personally unable to travel to certain countries without threat of arrest" era in social media regulation
- War. War never changes.
- De Gaulle would in your quote tweets, Talleyrand in your replies, and Mitterrand in your DMs.
- I have an idea for an updated version of A Muppet’s Christmas Carol
- Not only is this obviously a better system for mayoralties, but also… …might break the logjam in thinking where else electoral reform could be good idea. You know. The place with the big clock 🕰️ 👀
- Labour should introduce the alternative vote system for mayoral elections Multi-party politics makes the AV the best choice, say @akashpaun.bsky.social and @jillongovt.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/mayo...
- Oh my god it happened again
- Fun fact: she was really into the Albanian separatist movement in Kosovo before she got married.
- It’s a very odd show. Structured like a series of “tough questions” and differing views but the only vaguely oppositional guest they’ve had on recently was Hasan Piker, who was obviously selected on the grounds that he’s a moron with a foot perpetually in his mouth
- If you're wondering what this endorsement is worth, ask yourself why Robinson has never run in an election. Aside from confusion about what name would be on the ballot
- Lemon specifically. Picking on relative unknowns is the smart way. Arresting Don Lemon is what you do when the network TV obsessed boss demands you do something stupid because he recognises the name
- 15 minute cities is the ultimate example of how you can't predict, and shouldn't bother anticipating, when the unhinged or the malicious will take issue with your innocuous local public policy
- Outstanding outfits. From left to right: straight off the set of Morse, 1950s rocker, regular 2020s guy, and actual Blackshirt.
- A fun thought experiment is imagining the UK voting system is SNTV and seeing if any party has the institutional capacity to co-ordinate their vote efficiently. Guess would be all terrible but *maybe* whoever had the better local machines and/or really good social media microtargeting would win.
- A lesser noticed part of what's going on is agencies having to sub in for each other, partially or entirely, when someone says no. Ditto having to get Border Patrol to do ICE jobs because the former, somehow, is even less concerned with the rule of law.
- Recently spotted on my campus. Although it’s rarely top of mind for students of this generation as it was five years ago, Brexit is a millstone around the neck of Reform and the Tories alike for under-25s. They lost that argument hard and irrecoverably 2016-2020.
- 🚨🚨 NEW BLOGPOST 🚨🚨 The right wing should be worried about young men. Unlike Europe and the US, British young men are swinging wildly behind progressive parties. Some thoughts on why, and why most of the right are ignoring it. open.substack.com/pub/joxleywr...
- Reposted by Dr Nick DickinsonI am saddened to hear of the passing of Lord Wallace. Jim was a lovely man who welcomed me to his home in Orkney, and with whom I drank too much whisky several times, while putting the world to rights. Jim's wise reflections on being a minister: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-re...
- To have to eat one book could be considered unfortunate, to have to eat two looks like carelessness
- Reposted by Dr Nick Dickinson[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Dr Nick DickinsonMy Centre is a unique place to do a PhD in Philosophy, because you can be in constant contact with experts in veterinary medicine, psychology, zoology and policy and be part of a team united by a shared interest in animal minds. We now have our 1st ever PhD scholarship: www.lse.ac.uk/sentience/phd
- Reposted by Dr Nick DickinsonNew personal piece: Why does regulation often feel so toothless? The news is full of businesses behaving badly and seeming to get off very lightly. Why? As someone who used to work for a regulator, I wanted to set out some of the very simple reasons regulators struggle…
- Enjoyed this, especially the link to 1900s yellow journalism. Would only add that (as in this great photo) the other old-world thing about Shirley is the aesthetic of 1970s shoe-leather journalist. Sticking a camera in someone's face was a classic post-Watergate thing, often justified but often not.
- The violent occupation of Minneapolis started with a vlog. I've wanted to find a framework to describe Nick Shirley & others like him: "Influencer" is too quaint. "Journalist" is obviously wrong. I landed on "slopagandist." Gift link (open in a web browser) www.theverge.com/news/869824/...
- Just *miles* from your doorstep, hundreds of politicians are preparing to overturn a vote. The government calls it "the Parliament Act". But a more alarmist name would be a "a century-old Act" that's "rarely used".
- Fascinating from @robfordmancs.bsky.social. I don't think I realised how much this seat is the perfect microcosm for the strategic issues facing every party. As Rob points out, every outcome will have (likely outsized) narrative effects. The cog which turns the wheel?
- New Swingometer post now out - my look at the Gorton and Denton by-election, taking place down the road from me swingometer.substack.com/p/the-gorton...
- Reposted by Dr Nick Dickinson[Not loaded yet]
- The most bizarre thing about these polls is like 1/3rd of people don't rate themselves against the rodent option. I assume what people mean is they couldn't bring themselves to stomp the boot down for moral reasons, not that the rat literally wins.
- Not all heroes wear capes
- These guys are cracking
- "You raise your voice, I erase your voice." ICE in Minneapolis are erasing your rights. Please share our new video of what's happening in our city. youtu.be/W1dyNcRGRXY
- Reposted by Dr Nick Dickinson
[Not loaded yet] - Well this just screams "we're confident in the current leadership" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- And this was all just because a guy didn't want to pay his rent
- A useful pressure point on this Supreme Court might be to start the ball rolling on some 2nd amendment cases, seeing as the 4th, 14th, and even the 1st don’t seem particularly important to them rn
- Just yesterday he said this deal was totally fine
- Although in some ways - given NATO exists because the US was convinced (and partially tricked) by a British socialist who made his career in union organising - it's surprising you don't encounter this attitude more.
- Is this the Gumtree version of getting the hostage to hold up today's newspaper as proof of life?
