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Rob Ford

@robfordmancs.bsky.social

50K followers 3.2K following 5.2K posts

Politics Professor, University of Manchester. Author of "The British General Election of 2024", "The British General Election of 2019" & "Brexitland" My Substack, "The Swingometer", is here: https://swingometer.substack.com/ https://www.robertford.net/

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · Jul 29

I have some good news for election nerds - "The British General Election of 2024" will be out this autumn, and if you're quick you can grab a 25% pre-order discount from Waterstone's by ordering your copy by 31st July, just enter code SUMMER25 www.waterstones.com/book/the-bri...

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The Nerve @thenerve.news · 13h

‘It feels good – and quite strange – to think I could vote for what I believe in…’

@natashawalter.bsky.social reports on why young women are flocking to @greenparty.org.uk, won over by @zackpolanski.bsky.social’s stance on topics such as Palestine, refugee rights and economic injustice 🌱

Photo of Zack Polanski. Text: Natasha Walter: why young women are flocking to the Greens

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 14h

Interesting and troubling report/thread here on vulnerability of scientific bodies to politicisation, something the public do not want and is not in there interest but could happen nonetheless if politicians with selective or hostile views on science and evidence were in charge

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 15h

🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

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UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation

Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1d

I’m gonna defend Liz Truss, because I like to be blocked by two or so people every day, and say that her plans were 100 times more reasonable than these, in that she thought she would have enough time to bounce Tory MPs into backing spending cuts. Much less daft than anything Badenoch has said.

Chairman Moët @chairmanmoet.bsky.social · 1d

There's a touch of the Liz Truss about Kemi Badenoch. Both in the tax cut paid for by fantasy figures and also a belief there's This One Special Trick The British State Doesn't Want You To Know About! that will somehow solve everything.
Be rude to some civil servants and the UK's problems vanish!

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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 23h

One reason Tories lost in 2024 was the awful state of the NHS. They badly need to fess up & say how they plan not to f*ck it up next time.

All we got yesterday:

"In the NHS, industrial action has kept waiting lists high for far too long. Enough is enough. We will ban doctors from going on strike."

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

Congratulations! Well deserved.

Reposted by Rob Ford

UCL Social Research Institute @sriucl.bsky.social · 8d

Our very own @profalices.bsky.social has been shortlisted for the Maddox Prize. We couldn`t be more proud!

Professor Alice Sullivan @profalices.bsky.social · 9d

I am honoured to be shortlisted for the Maddox Prize. The prize recognises researchers for standing up for science and showing courage and integrity in the face of challenges and hostility.

Sense about Science @senseaboutsci.bsky.social · 9d

The 2025 #MaddoxPrize shortlist is here! This year, 6 researchers from around the world are recognised for standing up for science and evidence-based policy in the face of adversity.

Read their stories here ➡️ senseaboutscience.org/activities/2...

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Levente (Levi) Littvay @littvay.bsky.social · 2d

NEW! The public opinion effects of antisemitic elite cues: a survey experiment on the Hungarian Soros campaign in @eepolitics.bsky.social w/ @bencehamrak.bsky.social @erinjenne.bsky.social G.Simonovits. Soros cues worked through partisan motivated reasoning & not antisemitism doi.org/10.1080/2159...

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1d

Something grimly predictable about the way that the conversation about 'ripoff degrees' in the UK is always about degrees that aren't rip-offs, but are instead fairly obvious 'this student has chosen something unlikely to pay off economically' rather than the short tail of crap business degrees:

Everyone needs educating in the fight over university degrees

Political confusion over the purpose of these institutions means the obvious fixes are being neglected

www.ft.com

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

I just dangled from the end of the rope and swung back and forth like a pendulum. Kids who could climb to the top were like weird aliens to me.

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Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 1d

For one, the federal government cannot constitutionally commandeer state officials to do its bidding.

But more importantly, the president does not see his political opposition as legitimate but rather as a target for a carceral and militaristic state. It is deeply undemocratic and authoritarian.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 1d

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

Sure I have no issues with that. As I said before I am not claiming Thatcher as a race liberal.

Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

And it does I think matter that the framing and messaging from the Conservatives in this period was about downplaying race and emphasising broad civic national identity, whereas now it is about playing up race (and religion) and emphasising narrow ethnic identity. Elite messaging matters a lot!

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

Oh, I certainly would not claim Mrs Thatcher as any sort of impeccable race liberal. But I think it matters that the Tory party of the Heath-Thatcher era regarded Powell as beyond the pale after Rivers of Blood, while the Tory party of today would probably make him a leadership front runner.

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

Troubling in terms of elite behaviour - obviously a positive development that racial prejudice has declined a great deal since Powell’s time (and I agree it has on many measures)

Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

Yes it is a surprising and troubling inversion

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James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 1d

There is I think a sort of liberal comfort belief that the system is self-correcting; if the right does something bad then there will be an equal and opposite reaction restoring order. You see this a lot as a reaction to lots of things Trump does or proposes and… the belief just isn’t true!

Jenrick being the loudest member of the Conservative party has already been a huge contributor to the poisoning of our politics. We really don't need any four-dimensional chess about him becoming leader. When it happens, it will be a terrible day for our country.

[quoting the post below]

A Tory party under Jenrick might take a few of the racist votes from Reform, but they’d haemorrhage bucketloads to the Lib Dems.

So, on balance…

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

Anyone in any doubt that Robert Jenrick has been using skin colour to judge people "not British" should read these forensic critiques from @stephenkb.bsky.social & @sathnam.bsky.social

www.ft.com/content/f588...

www.thetimes.com/life-style/c...

Thank the Tories for keeping Robert Jenrick out of high office

Shadow justice secretary’s comment about not seeing a ‘white face’ shows he does not understand integration

www.ft.com

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

PS reposted after deleting previous post on this which erroneously dated the posted as 1978. My thanks to @philipjcowley.bsky.social for spotting and alerting me to the error - never trust the first date on a google search!!

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

Thatcher Conservatives, 1983: "To the Labour party you're a black person. To the Conservative party you're a British citizen."

Jenrick Conservatives 2025? "To the Labour party (and vast majority of the public) you're a British citizen. To the Conservatives, you're a black person".

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

A reminder of how Mrs Thatcher's Conservative party in 1983, an era featuring much more widespread racial prejudice in the public, approached the issue of race and national identity:

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

Were you awake in May Rich? Reform won large majorities on multiple councils based on 30-35% of the vote, ie what they are polling now. FPP is now Farage’s best friend. If more Reform MPs is something you want to avoid you should support change to basically any other system

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

Brilliant riposte to the narrow mindedness of a small man with big ambitions stoking old hatred.

Sathnam Sanghera @sathnam.bsky.social · 2d

I've responded to Robert Jenrick's vile comments in @thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/life-style/c...

I sang Jerusalem with Robert Jenrick at school — he’s wrong about race

The Conservative MP has complained that, visiting Handsworth in Birmingham, he didn’t see ‘another white face’. You can’t judge whether someone is integrated by skin colour, argues fellow Wulfrunian S...

www.thetimes.com

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

I don’t believe they are a panacea but I have entirely lost patience with people who engage in knee jerk opposition to electoral reform based on totally spurious “random thing I saw in the news this week” type nonsense. And I’m sorry Rich that’s you (alongside many others)

Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

On the whole yes, I would. They also lead to better policy outcomes, greater public trust in politics and greater voter satisfaction with election outcomes.

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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

True except Australia doesn’t have PR either. AV is a better system than FPP in many respects but it isn’t proportional