Ben Ansell
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benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell
@benansell.bsky.social

Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions, Nuffield & University of Oxford, FBA. http://benansell.substack.com. BBC Reith Lecturer 2023. Host BBC Radio 4 Rethink. Columnist for Prospect. Director, Centre for Advanced Social Science Methods (CASSM). .. more

Ben W. Ansell is Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, University of Oxford and, with David Samuels, editor of Comparative Political Studies.

Source: Wikipedia
Political science 47%
Economics 40%

Oh you shouldn't feel guilty - I'm actually an evil person who drives to Broadcasting House from Oxford when I do NN. Although now I am tempted to ask for a cab back to North Oxford rather than say Paddington

As a usual non cab-taker guest on Newsnight I can confirm that plenty of my fellow guests from erm right-leaning backgrounds hop straight into those cabs at 11:05... I guess it's just me who cares about "tax-payer value" 😢

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell

You’re right—swallowing the bird was a half-measure. The bird did eat the spider, as planned, but now you have a bird in you. It reminds you of swallowing the spider to catch the fly. You’re seeing the pattern.

Would you like me to suggest some animals which could eat the bird?

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell

The number of one-off structural changes that disadvantage young people vs their parents at the same age is pretty staggering

This was Adam Wharton through the looking glass today

There will be karate kicks at Selhurst again at this rate.

Tyler Cowen? Sanewashing a policy he would never remotely support under a different leader? Surely not?
Meanwhile, look at this subheader
Op-Ed in the National Catholic Reporter is not pulling any punches.

“The vice president's comments justifying the death of Renee Good are a moral stain on the collective witness of our Catholic faith”

Maybe Danny Kruger has a soft spot for the Conservatives after all and wants to keep them alive.

Can’t believe the Guehi and Wharton I saw at Selhurst on Wednesday were the same people I saw on TV today.

If you’re going to lose, do it properly IMO

All powered by storm-force resentment

Congrats. You smashed us. Deserved win

Guéhi and Wharton somehow contrived to be the worst two players on the pitch. I saw them at Selhurst on Wednesday when they looked like world-beaters! But not Macc-beaters…

Was going to say. Nixon remains always the most useful comparator (unless you want to go full Andrew Jackson)

One of many gestures of generosity today ;)

Please not Maurice Glasman to Man U…

Well done Macclesfield. You smashed us.

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell

🧵 This is a very useful piece from @shippersunbound.bsky.social providing an insight into the two policy main brains in Reform UK - Danny Kruger and Zia Yusuf and how they are thinking about their approach
Kruger says ‘It’s got to be Trump 2, not Trump 1.’
spectator.com/article/we-w...
‘We will use the power of democracy to blow you away’: Reform plots a path to No. 10
As he made his way to lunch on Monday, Danny Kruger, the former Tory MP who defected to Reform last year, could be seen clutching a well-thumbed copy of John Campbell’s biography of Lord Haldane, one ...
spectator.com

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell

who could have predicted that stopping international students, care workers and nurses from coming to the UK would damage the economy/public finances while yielding precisely no political benefits?

Oh. Me.

[& lots of others obviously]

♥️

Really feel like I’ve got my old Crystal Palace back
Meanwhile, look at this subheader

Notice received 🫡

There goes political commentary - fundamentally undermined on this the day of our Lord 10/1/25

Am largely with you on this but as someone who lived in Minneapolis for seven years and so does have a personal connection to this I do also appreciate seeing support on this outrage from around the world. But of course that would also be true for lots of other similar acts elsewhere.
Newly-released footage reveals Renee Nicole Good’s last words.

This feels very like a subplot about ATN in Succession, where Tom Wambsgans has to ask the show host whether the video really is exculpatory
i just watched this video and the fact that they believe this to be exculpatory is genuinely insane

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell

gotta say, the vice president saying "watch this" about a video that ends with a dead mother being called a "fucking bitch" is [unprintable]