Jonathan Hopkin
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jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin
@jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
7K followers 3.9K following 5.9K posts

Professor of the Political Economy of Europe at LSE. Interested in democratic representation and inequality, worried about the survival of democracy. Author of Anti-System Politics (OUP, 2020). Also random thoughts on football, cycling, the weather etc .. more

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Jonathan Hopkin is Professor in the European Institute and the Department of Government of the London School of Economics and Political Science. He obtained a PhD at the European University Institute in Florence, and lectured at the Universities of Bradford, Durham and Birmingham, joining LSE in 2004. He teaches comparative politics and political economy, and has published in the areas of political parties and elections, political economy, inequality and welfare states. .. more

Political science 69%
Economics 17%
Posts Replies Media Videos

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 1h
I still don’t see an alternative to democratic socialism that isn’t fascism but maybe that’s my lack of imagination

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 1h
The default theory of the economy is some form of liberalism, and the limits of that have been well understood for over a century but nobody has come up with anything new to replace it

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 1h
The economics of buying these kinds of properties is insane. We are talking serious wealth. The financial gap between new buyers and old in London is gigantic

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 1h
Planning was the democratic interpretation of communism…

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 1h
You would think! Of course they must have thought of that, right?
a woman wearing a headband and ear muffs is looking at a man .
ALT: a woman wearing a headband and ear muffs is looking at a man .
media.tenor.com

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 1h
It took me a while to get used to the fact that in Italy a judge’s sentence is just a starting gun

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 1h
The lack of a jury is compensated by infinite rounds of appeals which increase costs (at least in French legal origin countries)

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 2h
Yeah it’s bound to. Already 1.95 is a common asking price

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 2h
Say more?

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 2h
Ah now I need to

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 2h
A bit like crime. It’s been going down for decades but voters just need one anecdote to remind them how afraid they are
sundersays.bsky.social Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 2h
Only a sixth of the public know that immigration is now falling (significantly) from its peak levels. It is a challenge to the politicians and the media to do their distinct jobs more effectively by communicating this, so we can have a more informed debate
www.britishfuture.org/immigration-...
Immigration falling but public still thinks it is going up – new research - British Future
Findings from the British Future/Ipsos Immigration Attitudes Tracker into what the public thinks about immigration for work, study and asylum
www.britishfuture.org

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 2h
One thing worth considering is that we’re orphans of communism. The existence of an alternative idea underpinned debate on economics for over a century. We’re unanchored intellectually now

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 2h
The old system is dead and the new one has yet to be born etc etc

Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin

sundersays.bsky.social
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 2h
Only a sixth of the public know that immigration is now falling (significantly) from its peak levels. It is a challenge to the politicians and the media to do their distinct jobs more effectively by communicating this, so we can have a more informed debate
www.britishfuture.org/immigration-...
Immigration falling but public still thinks it is going up – new research - British Future
Findings from the British Future/Ipsos Immigration Attitudes Tracker into what the public thinks about immigration for work, study and asylum
www.britishfuture.org

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 2h
Great post. What is interesting is that the government has had to be cautious because of their posturing on migration, which has done nothing to win over Reform voters but has constrained their ability to do anything transformative which would pay off in the future. Very bad politics

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 2h
France in a nutshell

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 2h
Where people might be a bit concerned though is the recent trend for governments to use fiscal drag to raise taxes whilst pretending not to
a soccer game is being played on a field with fifa advertisements on the sidelines
ALT: a soccer game is being played on a field with fifa advertisements on the sidelines
media.tenor.com

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 2h
In leafy Crouch End it’s still only the biggest houses in the swankiest streets that are > 2 million

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 2h
I had a similar conversation with my mechanic yesterday. Although in his case it probably is true

Reposted by Will Jennings, Charles West, Jonathan Hopkin , and 2 more

duncanrobinson.bsky.social
Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 2h
Starmer and Reeves run probably the most economically left-wing government of past five decades and yet bleeding support to its left thanks to dumb strategy www.economist.com/britain/2025...

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 2h
Stop promising us a good time

Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin

crookedfootball.bsky.social
Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · 2h
Fantastic news!

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 3h
They want to cancel Christmas, pt 836

Reposted by David Hopkins, Jonathan Hopkin

timbale.bsky.social
Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 3h
Loved this characteristically thorough yuletide debunking by @monkemma.bsky.social
No, Tesco Hasn’t Cancelled Christmas
A myth-busting explainer on Tesco trees, ‘renamed’ cakes, and the real purpose behind these manufactured panics.
monkdebunks.substack.com

Reposted by Lawrence Freedman, Jonathan Hopkin, Christina Pagel

samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 3h
New post out:

"Survival - for now"

The five big risks hidden in the budget. And why the government has missed an opportunity to take control of its own destiny.

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/s...
Survival - for now
Five big risks hidden in the budget
open.substack.com

Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin

jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 4h
Serious howls of outrage in the media this morning at what is a relatively modest Budget from Labour that does nothing more than fiddle around the margins.

It does highlight the missed opportunity. If you’re going to get this reaction anyway, why not at least get it for attempting a big swing?

Reposted by Tim Bale, Jonathan Hopkin

jameschalmers.bsky.social
James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 12h
Mumsnet is already on the case.
My elderly mum lives in a London house worth about 2million. She's been there for over 50 years, and is physically and mentally fragile. There is no way she would EVER want to move, the house and her neighbours are her whole world. She has no spare money - at all. (Neither do I, before anyone suggests this!) How is she supposed to manage this? It's not exactly her fault that the value of the property increased so much since my parents bought it all that time ago. I also have a friend, also in London. Both parents sadly died in an accident about 15 years ago, and she used her inheritance to buy a family home which has also increased massively in value. It's probably also worth over 2 million now! She's a single mum on a lower income with 3 kids who very happy at their local school and within their community - what's she supposed to do? It's just not as simple as 'you live in a high-value house, you can obviously afford to pay several grand a year' as RR seems to think. And for anyone who is about to say 'oh tiny violin, their houses are worth two million' - both of these situations are complicated and quite sad in many ways. Neither my mum nor my friend can simply just sell up and move...anyone have any thoughts on this?

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 17h
Yessss. And now please a tax on standing right in front of the platform entrance! London mayor welcomes new 'tourist tax' powers www.bbc.com/news/article...
London mayor welcomes new tourist tax powers
Sir Sadiq Khan says the money will allow for greater investment in tourism infrastructure.
www.bbc.com

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 17h
I take back everything I said the other day 😂

jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 17h
Makes sense, but also weird cross-century valuation system