Ben Ansell
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benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell
@benansell.bsky.social
30K followers 990 following 5.8K posts

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

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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%
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benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 9h
Can't believe you go to LSE and Cambridge as a philosopher and then people have the absolute temerity to come to Soho from other countries and spoil your vision.

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 10h
Going to out on a limb and say Trump suing the BBC for a billion dollars may not poll well in the UK

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 10h
At this rate, by the end of his term Donald Trump will be suing four billion people around the world for insufficient fealty.

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 12h
This is absolutely begging for a @generalboles.bsky.social series of Starmer in Misery, in IT, in The Shining, etc

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Will Jennings, Steve Peers , and 5 more

jakemgrumbach.bsky.social
Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 12h
the hipsters, they’re ordering double frufru mocha soy frappuccino. doesn’t anybody order a black coffee anymore
Jarvis @jarvis_best -14h What's the mood on Bluesky? 236 t797 2.6K Ill 402K On the Edge Nate Silver Nate Silver v @NateSilver538 X.com They're too busy burning American Eagle jeans at socially distanced bonfires to have noticed that the shutdown ended. 6:43 PM • 11/9/25 • 402K Views

Reposted by Will Jennings

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 12h
Obviously I enjoyed using the Long Walk analogy for my new Prospect piece but I especially enjoy this fantastic Stephen King / Keir Starmer image mashup.
prospectmagazine.co.uk Prospect Magazine @prospectmagazine.co.uk · 13h
Despite the press’s salivation over the prospect of Farage becoming PM, we are a long, long way from the next general election. And a lot could change before then, writes @benansell.bsky.social.
Labour’s long, tortuous walk to 2029
There are more than three years of unease left until the next general election. What can we expect along the way?
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Michael A. Clemens, Hyun‐Jung Kim , and 3 more

filipecampante.bsky.social
Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · 12h
The evidence keeps accumulating that Brexit was an astonishing self-inflicted economic policy disaster. The fact that it is a slow-moving one bodes ill for those who think that populist economic mismanagement will translate into voters punishing populists. www.nber.org/system/files...

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell

prospectmagazine.co.uk
Prospect Magazine @prospectmagazine.co.uk · 13h
Despite the press’s salivation over the prospect of Farage becoming PM, we are a long, long way from the next general election. And a lot could change before then, writes @benansell.bsky.social.
Labour’s long, tortuous walk to 2029
There are more than three years of unease left until the next general election. What can we expect along the way?
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Steve Peers, Judith Jesch

davidallengreen.bsky.social
dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 13h
My post on President Trump threatening to sue the BBC will up tomorrow morning.

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Steve Peers, Tim Bale , and 1 more

roberthutton.co.uk
Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 14h
Michael Prescott's report makes vital points about the importance of being accurate, and also how difficult that is. For instance, he describes himself as having been Political Editor of the Sunday Times for 10 years, which is not what the Guardian reported when he left the job.
Prescott's BBC memo, saying "I served as the Political Editor of the Sunday Times for 10 years". Prescott's LinkedIn page, saying he was Political Editor of the Sunday Times for 10 years. A 2001 Guardian story saying he was leaving his job as Political Editor after four years. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/jun/28/pressandpublishing.marketingandpr

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Ben H. Ansell

migobs.bsky.social
Migration Observatory @migobs.bsky.social · 15h
A key recent discussion about UK migration has been people's rights to settle permanemently - or "indefinite leave to remain" - but how many people have this status? Our latest piece gives you the info (NB - doesn't include EU settlement scheme) migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/co...
How many migrants in the UK have settlement? - Migration Observatory
This commentary estimates the number of non-EU citizens who currently have settlement, also known as indefinite leave to remain (ILR).
migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Ben H. Ansell, Steve Peers , and 8 more

robertshrimsley.bsky.social
Robert Shrimsley @robertshrimsley.bsky.social · 16h
The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 17h
SW1-tastic

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Axel Bruns

eduardosuarez.bsky.social
Eduardo Suárez @eduardosuarez.bsky.social · 17h
We've just updated this piece on what academic research says about the BBC's role in the UK

So many datapoints relevant to this week's discussions. Perhaps of interest @benansell.bsky.social @stephenkb.bsky.social @michaelsavage.bsky.social
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/bbc-und...
The BBC is under scrutiny. Here’s what research tells about its role in the UK
The BBC is the most widely used source of news in the UK. It has lower reach among the young and the less formally educated.
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 17h
Ah well, that inopportune statement will probably never get reported… what’s that you say?

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 17h
😬

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 17h
I do slightly wonder how prepared Robbie Gibb was for this to now become Robbie Gibb week rather than Tim Davie week.

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell

pickardje.bsky.social
Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 17h
excoriating Observer editorial on the BBC departures

observer.co.uk/opinion-and-...
The Observer view: political interference at the BBC | The Observer
observer.co.uk

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 17h
<exasperated journalist hangs up>

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 17h
Good example to explain bias and validity I guess

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell

domw.bsky.social
Dom White @domw.bsky.social · 17h
It's crazy how much the answer to a simple question like 'how confident are American consumers feeling about their current situation?' varies depending on how you measure the concept.

Conference Board: "Not as good as a year ago, but still above average."

University of Michigan: "WORST EVER!"

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 17h
Yeh but now do it without BBC Radio 4 Rethink

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 17h
Going to enjoy how the BBC tries to cover this today!

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Colin Woodard

jacobtlevy.bsky.social
Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 17h
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Trump pardons top allies who aided bid to subvert the 2020 election
Pardon recipients include Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman and dozens more.
www.politico.com

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 18h
Good news for me that I will get even more journalists asking for comment about the massive yet strangely also non-existent turn of young people to Reform.

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 18h
Yes being unbiased is a by-product of other things, not usually something you can head directly towards.

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 18h
Multiple things can be true at once. BBC is imperfect and also under attack from right.

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Steve Peers, Steven H. Seggie

stephenkb.bsky.social
Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 18h
Robbie Gibb once suggested that reporters should reflect if they were getting more retweets from one side than the other - a braindead analysis that ignores that fair and impartial reporting of education might get more Tory retweets than say, criminal justice.
benansell.bsky.social Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 18h
Stephen really does have the best take on this. It’s not clear that the BBC Board or indeed the rest of the News team really understood the message of the previous reviews, which were about getting detail right. Instead they wanted to know what was ‘biased’ or not like they were blotting out stains.
stephenkb.bsky.social Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 19h
The impossible dream some people on the British right are chasing is that you can have a BBC News operation that retreats from detail and expertise, that takes dictation from the government, but this will only create incompetence and failure when it suits you:

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Paul Nightingale

duncanweldon.bsky.social
Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 18h
The BBC: quite a big deal.

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 18h
Exactly. Perhaps not the answer the board wanted. There is a question of whether the board has the necessary expertise to understand what the reviews were saying…