Tim Bale
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timbale.bsky.social
Tim Bale
@timbale.bsky.social

Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London & author of The Conservative Party after Brexit: Turmoil and Transformation (now out in paperback). The bits and pieces I do for websites and newspapers turn up eventually at https://proftimbale.com .. more

Timothy Paul Bale is an English political scientist who is professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London.

Source: Wikipedia
Political science 83%
Sociology 6%

Reposted by Tim Bale

Looks like the UK has new competition for most bureaucratic course review process...
TX Tech has a flow chat for guidance on what can be taught in the university system. Two things:
1. Very little content seems to be permitted. This is partisan control of the curriculum.
2. I would not enjoy teaching under these conditions, but I really would not want to be a Chair or Dean.

"Addressing the issue of economic insecurity could stem the tide of Labour defections across the political spectrum. A hardline approach to immigration is likely to only appease the smaller group who are going to Reform (around 10% of 2024 Labour voters)."

Not sure it will even appease even them!
Why economic insecurity – not immigration – should be Labour’s top electoral priority
Feelings of economic insecurity serve as a signal of poor government performance.
theconversation.com
TX Tech has a flow chat for guidance on what can be taught in the university system. Two things:
1. Very little content seems to be permitted. This is partisan control of the curriculum.
2. I would not enjoy teaching under these conditions, but I really would not want to be a Chair or Dean.
On 10 December, 18:00, join @timbale.bsky.social @stephenkb.bsky.social @rmcunliffe.bsky.social & @psurridge.bsky.social to discuss "The British General Election of 2024".

Join us to explore how the election was won, where it was lost & what's changed since July 2024.
www.qmul.ac.uk/mei/events/m...

Reposted by Tim Bale

Reposted by Tim Bale

"We will have an economy in which the full-time work of some young people will pay less than the state pensions of retirees, and yet it is the young people who will be taxed."

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Rachel Reeves mugs the youth
Young workers are coughing up for state pensions
www.newstatesman.com

This is also Labour hoist with its own petard: Sunak in the 1st TV debate of 2024 majored on tax rises; Labour decided the best way to counter that attack was not detailed rebuttal but shouting 'lies'. As long as 'lies' & 'Reeves' are in the headlines for a few days, that's job done for the Tories.

Reposted by Tim Bale

🔴Trump Envoy Has Financial Ties With Former Adviser to Putin’s ‘Money Man’ Now Leading Kremlin Peace Talks

Steve Witkoff’s real-estate empire is bankrolled by a former adviser to Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and a key architect of Moscow’s Ukraine negotiations
Trump Envoy Has Financial Ties With Former Adviser to Putin’s ‘Money Man’ Now Leading Kremlin Peace Talks
Steve Witkoff’s real-estate empire is bankrolled by a former adviser to Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and a key architect of Moscow’s Ukraine negotiations
bylinetimes.com
Feel like I'm going mad. The Budget's 'headroom' is based on frankly irresponsible and wildly optimistic claims about what Labour will do in the final year of the forecast, and on ignoring a bunch of upward pressures on spending, and the claim is that she was being exaggeratedly *pessimistic*?
Suggestion Rachel Reeves exaggerated fiscal pressures is absurd
Chancellor was instead far too optimistic about public finances and government’s ability to secure cuts
www.ft.com

Nice bit of nominative determinism from the @financialtimes.com letters page.

Wake me up when a Tory or Reform UK politician does the same!

Vote in favour of a politburo model was, believe it not, the cursed ratio: 52-48!
Corbyn And Sultana Barred From Leading 'Your Party' As Members Will Front It Themselves
Members of 'Your Party' have stopped a potential leadership contest between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana after voting in favour of a 'collective...
www.politicshome.com
So... this just happened.

archive.ph/2025.11.29-1...

Reposted by Tim Bale

Chaos has engulfed the first 24 hours of the inaugural 'Your Party' conference in Liverpool, with Zarah Sultana boycotting the first day of the event, Jeremy Corbyn facing "witch-hunt" allegations, and an entryism row

@siennarodgers.bsky.social & @tomscotson.bsky.social report from Merseyside
“End The Witch-hunt”: The First 24 Hours At The Chaotic ‘Your Party’ Conference
Chaos has engulfed the first 24 hours of the inaugural conference of ‘Your Party’, the new political party being founded by Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Su...
www.politicshome.com

Proof of the pudding (and the pies) - if proof were needed.
(Source: www.ft.com/content/e255...)

"It’s not that previous generations were more engaged in their work because jobs back then were thrilling, it’s that applying oneself at work used to be a means to an end. With the reward of owning your own home yanked out of reach, the whole thing feels futile." Spot on, @jburnmurdoch.ft.com
The housing crisis is pushing Gen Z into crypto and economic nihilism
Locked out of home ownership, young adults are turning to risky financial behaviour
www.ft.com
Wow - this guy must be really, REALLY bad with money if an extra £208 per month will “ruin” his retirement.

Let’s take a look at his situation based on what he told the @Telegraph

Because this does NOT add up!

No, this is not a “poor pensioner” scrabbling around for pennies…

🧵1/9

Reposted by Lisa Tompson

Persuasive letter on populism as a cognitive short-cut in the @financialtimes.com

2 stars, surely? 😉
Reform UK Party Ltd spent £700,000 on a 2-page spread — one page being just an image of Farage and the other a letter, meaning he spent £350,000 on pictures of himself.

The average UK house price is £272,000.

Also, the ‘full English’ is badly photoshopped on — it's tiny!

Reposted by Tim Bale

"If the government is to have any hope of getting itself back into the driver’s seat of our political moment, of getting its future back, it must start arguing in terms of a bold and coherent vision for the future."

@mbarnfield.bsky.social on the budget and the government's empty long-termism
This Labour government lacks a future
You might be forgiven for thinking that the Labour government is focused on the future. Since before his government’s first Budget, the Prime Minister has repeatedly asked the British public to stomac...
renewal.org.uk

Me too.

"The institutional response to the problem has been instinctive, with most attention focused on punishment....Laws have been passed, offenders have been punished, there has been public condemnation and yet, racism has persisted and the cycle has simply been repeated."
Racism in European football – why a systems-based approach is needed to tackle discrimination
Attempts to reduce racism in football through punishment fail because they overlook the systemic, self-reinforcing dynamic that fuels discrimination.
blogs.lse.ac.uk

Crikey - eye-watering stat, that!
Agree with every word of this

We've gone from 9% of social care staff coming from outside the UK and EEA in 2021/22 to almost 25% in 2024/25

The govt has no near-term replacement

It means either:
1) staffing shortages or
2) councils spending far more to attract staff, with no extra funding

Reposted by Tim Bale

I see people are beginning to get into the Christmas spirit. But it's far too early to start celebrating.

It's not really Christmas until after publication of the first Christmas-attraction-so-poor-it-made-my-kiddies-cry story, surely.

Harsh but fair.
Kemi Badenoch - one of the many, many politicians since Margaret Thatcher to talk about learning from Margaret Thatcher who, IDK, maybe they saw a meme about her one time?

Reposted by Tim Bale

Glorious day on the South Downs

Reposted by Tim Bale

This is how the Mail has covered a 70% fall in net migration.

The Government should stop kidding itself it will ever get credit for being anti-migration. They could cut numbers to zero and there would still be front pages blasting them for making the UK a socialist wasteland no one wants to come to