Philip Cowley

@philipjcowley.bsky.social

7.6K followers 450 following 640 posts

Professor of Politics.

Philip Cowley is a British political scientist and an academic at Queen Mary University of London in the School of Politics and International Relations. He previously held the same title at the University of Nottingham. Within academia he is particularly notable for his analysis of Parliamentary voting behaviour in the UK House of Commons and House of Lords and secondly his opposition to a lowering of the UK voting age below 18. .. more

Political science 86%

Sociology 5%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Philip Cowley, Steven Fielding

YouGov @yougov.co.uk · 3d

How good a year do Britons say 2025 was for...

Themselves personally
Good: 36%
Average: 35%
Bad: 27%

The UK
Good: 6%
Average: 24%
Bad: 66%

yougov.co.uk/society/arti...

Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 3d

Making news in the Netherlands...
www.demorgen.be/nieuws/de-ke...

De Kerstman is links-progressief, denken Britten

Als de Kerstman mocht stemmen bij de Britse verkiezingen, zou hij volgens kiezers in het land waarschijnlijk voor de links-progressieve Groene Partij gaan.

www.demorgen.be

Reposted by Philip Cowley

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 4d

Galaxy Quest - a perfect movie, just a wonderful love letter to actors, sci-fi, Star Trek in particular, and to fandom - really deserves a proper physical release with decent extras. Think Weaver's right that releasing a R-rated cut would be fun, too.

Sigourney Weaver Says She Wishes DreamWorks Released A Director’s Cut Of ‘Galaxy Quest,’ Reminisces On Sequel That Never Came To Pass

Sigourney Weaver reflected on cult classic Galaxy Quest and how she wishes the sci-fi satire had released an R-rated director's cut.

deadline.com

Reposted by Philip Cowley

Tilda Martin @matildamartin.bsky.social · 4d

🚗30 years after Yes Minister’s Jim Hacker ditched his chauffeur and ended up face down in the gutter, David Cameron also tried his hand at efficiency and attempted to reduce the use of chauffeur-driven cars across govt

But did it work?

www.politicshome.com/news/article...

'Economy Begins At Home': David Cameron's Attempt To Do Away With Government Cars

David Cameron, channelling Jim Hacker, tried to stop his ministers from using their cars in a bid to demonstrate thrift. Matilda Martin recalls how...

www.politicshome.com

Reposted by Catherine Baker, Philip Cowley

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 5d

“The last-minute christmas rush at the bookshop.” - my latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books

Title: The last-minute christmas rush at the bookshop.

Image: diagram of a small bookshop packed with coloured dots representing people. The various colours represent the following groups:

Contentedly browsing customer,
Frazzled staff member,
Can't find the book they want,
Can't remember what they came for,
Complete decision paralysis,
In the queue to pay,
Thinks they're in the queue but aren't,
Dozed off in a comfy chair,
Waiting to pounce on the comfy chair,
Crying child,
Crying adult,
Vortex of discombobulated shoppers.

Reposted by Philip Cowley

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 5d

An essay I wrote about the idea of building motorways in London. It is - I am not joking - nuanced. That’s my brand. I hope www.onlondon.co.uk/lewis-baston...

Lewis Baston: What if the London Ringways had been built?

Few regret plans for blasting circular motorways through the capital being abandoned, but the counterfactual is well worth pondering

www.onlondon.co.uk

Reposted by Philip Cowley

Mark Pack @markpackuk.bsky.social · 6d

Finally polished off a couple of stray chapters that had escaped me previously in this very good book from @philipjcowley.bsky.social - so good I did a podcast with him about it - www.markpack.org.uk/175771/the-s...

The Smallest Room in the House by Phil Cowley

Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 7d

Late to this, as always, but my TV recommendation is Death by Lightning on Netflix. You just need to persevere past the first episode.

The book on which it is (closely) based, Destiny of the Republic, is also really good.

Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 7d

19 December - and the email arrived from S E Water explaining why the hosepipe ban is still in place...

Reposted by Ben Worthy, Philip Cowley, Holger Nehring

QMCBS @qmcbs.bsky.social · 8d

Check out Colm Murphy's @colmpm.bsky.social latest article in Past and Present: academic.oup.com/past/advance...

The Political Crisis of British Keynesianism, 1973–1983*

Abstract. In histories of Western political economy in the 1970s–1980s, Keynesianism is conventionally depicted as a victim of neoliberal ascendancy. Build

academic.oup.com

Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 9d

I agree - but it does pose the question of how (and why) the original REF proposals got it wrong.

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 10d

Opinion: Restarted REF has the right mix of continuity and evolution.

Rule tweaks balance credibility and burden deftly, although questions on specialisation remain, says Chris Day.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

Restarted REF has the right mix of continuity and evolution - Research Professional News

Rule tweaks balance credibility and burden deftly, although questions on specialisation remain, says Chris Day

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

Reposted by Philip Cowley

The House magazine @thehousemag.bsky.social · 10d

🚨 The last issue of the House for 2025 is in Parliament now!

🚅 Heidi Alexander interview

🚗 The taxman v electric cars

🚯 Illegal waste dumping and crime bosses

📱 Laura Trott on phone-free schools

🎅 Is Santa a left winger?

Read a sample and subscribe here: www.politicshome.com/house-magazi...

Reposted by Philip Cowley

Paula Surridge @psurridge.bsky.social · 10d

You'd think we could devise a way of flagging student work for AI use that didn't require the marker to put in more effort than the student did on the original submission *and* still write constructive feedback on that submission #grumpymarkingday

Reposted by Philip Cowley, Margot C. Finn

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 10d

Restarted REF has the right mix of continuity and evolution - Research Professional News

Rule tweaks balance credibility and burden deftly, although questions on specialisation remain, says Chris Day

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

Reposted by Philip Cowley

Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 11d

Absolute brilliant christmas cracker from @philipjcowley.bsky.social here looking at who voters think Santa and Scrooge (and Postman Pat) would support, and what this tells us about party images and partisan projection (and dubious poll headlines)

www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

Santa votes Green, Scrooge votes Reform

Who do you think Santa votes for? Chances are it's whichever is your preference. But once that bias is discounted, it turns out Father Christmas is...

www.politicshome.com

Reposted by Tim Bale, Philip Cowley

Mile End Institute @mileendinstitute.bsky.social · 11d

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the final @mileendinstitute.bsky.social event of 2025 last week, where we marked the publication of "The British General Election of 2024" with own very own @timbale.bsky.social, @psurridge.bsky.social, @stephenkb.bsky.social and @rmcunliffe.bsky.social!

Reposted by Philip Cowley

John Peters @johnthejack.bsky.social · 11d

Two things are going on: First, voters tend to think ‘good’ characters would do the same thing they would do.
Second, even some of these voters thought Santa would vote Green which must say something about the party’s image.
(£) www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
@philipjcowley.bsky.social on his poll

Santa would vote Green and Scrooge would go for Reform, poll finds

Many voters see Father Christmas as a left-wing progressive who would back Zack Polanski’s party — although people tend to think he would share their own views

www.thetimes.com

Reposted by Philip Cowley

Alan White @aljwhite.bsky.social · 11d

A very merry bit of political science from @philipjcowley.bsky.social www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

Santa votes Green, Scrooge votes Reform

Who do you think Santa votes for? Chances are it's whichever is your preference. But once that bias is discounted, it turns out Father Christmas is...

www.politicshome.com

Reposted by Tim Bale

Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 11d

Article for the House magazine, in which I get a bit Scrooge-like about my Santa poll

www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 12d

Photo caption writer on good form

Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 12d

Oh...

Reposted by Tim Bale, Markus Wagner

Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 12d

What sort of shameless headline-seeking shyster would do a poll like this...?

www.thetimes.com/article/8653...

Santa would vote Green and Scrooge would go for Reform, poll finds

Many voters see Father Christmas as a left-wing progressive who would back Zack Polanski’s party — although people tend to think he would share their own views

www.thetimes.com

Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 13d

Ten league defeats in a row...

Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 13d

It's an end of civilisation moment.

Reposted by Philip Cowley

Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 13d

Going to do a full culture war pivot over whoever decided we can’t have cling film on rolls of Christmas wrapping paper.

Reposted by Philip Cowley

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 14d

One of our @qmulsse.bsky.social students writing for @brightblueuk.bsky.social 👏

Lowering the voting age won’t fix political apathy

Just 18% of this newly enfranchised group would actually vote if there was an election tomorrow

centrewrite.brightblue.org.uk

Reposted by Steve Peers, Philip Cowley, James Goodwin , and 1 more Steve Peers, Philip Cowley, James Goodwin, Brian L. Frye

Zach Everson @zacheverson.com · 15d

Yikes!

"Olivia Nuzzi’s ‘Canto’ Sells Just 1,200 Print Copies In First Week"

Mary Whitfill Roeloffs for @forbes.com

Olivia Nuzzi’s Much-Hyped Book—With RFK Revelation—Sells Just Over 1,000 Copies

“American Canto,” one of the most hyped political books of the year, flopped in bookstores.

www.forbes.com

Reposted by Philip Cowley

Ben Yong @bymyong.bsky.social · 15d

Everyone using a Durham university toilet is confronted with this exhortation #inspirational

Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 15d

Two weeks to go and the book they are all* calling "the perfect Christmas present for that difficult relative in your life who likes politics" is 23% off at Amazon.**

* Well, me.
* Other bookstores are available.

www.amazon.co.uk/Smallest-Roo...

The Smallest Room in the House: 50 political oddities to read in more than one sitting

Buy The Smallest Room in the House: 50 political oddities to read in more than one sitting by Philip Cowley (ISBN: 9781785909702) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

Reposted by John Foot, Philip Cowley

Chairman Moët @chairmanmoet.bsky.social · 15d

Imagine the poor immigration officer who has to read 5 whole years of your social media posts. You may not kill them but surely you've diminished their capacity to truly love again

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