Tim Bale | Lightnews

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1h

🤣

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1h

🤣👏

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1h

🤣

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1h

🤣

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1h

🤬 How old does this academic journal publisher think I am? Five? And they're actually paying someone to come up with the idea and then someone else to execute it. I despair.

To express our gratitude for your valuable contributions, we've crafted a Reviewer Certificate for the journal(s) to which you contributed. This certificate is a symbol of your pivotal role in promoting academic excellence. Each journal has a unique certificate and the following journals have opted to provide a certificate to recognize your reviews. To access and download your certificate, click on the "Download your certificate" link next to the respective journal.

We've also provided social media images for each journal so that you can share your accomplishments!

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 2h

A straw for Keir and co. to clutch at?

Data suggests Labour would be making a mistake if it ousted Keir Starmer after May elections

Voters tend to think about prime ministers less than we might assume when elections roll around.

theconversation.com

Chris Addison @mrchrisaddison.bsky.social · 2h

🎶 Any evenin’, any day
If you’re down Korea way
You’ll find us aaalll
Doin’ the Pyongyang Walk!
Oi!🎶

A bunch of North Korean generals so covered in medals that they’ve run out of room on their jackets and had to start putting them on their trouser legs.

Vicente Valentim @valentimvicente.bsky.social · 3h

It is central to the process of far-right normalization that, as these parties grow, they are able to attract more politicians with political experience and skill—often at the expense of mainstream right parties.

Excerpt from "The Normalization of the Radical Right" (OUP 2024):

"At the politician level, surfacing affects the calculus that politicians make when deciding whether to run for election. Under the latency equilibrium, potential radical-right candidates often refrained from running on a radical- right platform because they perceived that it was not very electorally viable. As the radical right becomes successful, however, they are likely to update these perceptions. They may realize that, unlike what they had thought, one can be electorally successful while running for election on a radical-right platform. The consequence is that, after skilled political entrepreneurs enter the political arena on a radical-right platform, other (often lower-ranked) politicians will be willing to follow suit.

A final implication of the surfacing phase concerns the skill of radical-right politicians. The difficulty in recruiting under the latency equilibrium reduces the average skill of radical-right politicians. After surfacing, however, more politicians are willing to join the radical right. In the previous phase in the process (activation), the skilled political entrepreneur joined a party whose politicians were typically less skilled. Now, in the surfacing phase, it becomes easier for the radical right to recruit more politicians even outside of leadership positions. More mid-level elites join the party, which increases their average skill, and also makes it easier to subsequently recruit skilled leaders again."

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 5h

"Hoping that...Farage might die before the next election is the closest thing I've heard from a Tory MP that is a remotely serious answer as to why the...Party’s current approach of offering a more abrasive echo to Reform might work out for them. But that is not a strategy." @stephenkb.bsky.social

Financial Times

www.ft.com

Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 6h

They won't in any circumstances. Hence Kissinger. www.nobelpeaceprize.org/articles/is-...

Is it possible to revoke a Nobel Peace Prize? - Nobel Peace Prize

It is not possible to revoke a Nobel Peace Prize. Neither Alfred Nobel’s will nor the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation mention any such possibility.

www.nobelpeaceprize.org

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 6h

Am I right to assume that the Nobel Committee can't/won't strip her of the prize since, technically, she's only giving away the medal?

Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 7h

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has given her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump during a meeting at the White House, saying it was a recognition of his commitment to her country's freedom

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Machado presents Trump with her Nobel award at White House meeting

Trump thanked Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, calling it "a wonderful gesture of mutual respect".

www.bbc.com

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 6h

It is simply a lie to claim that the Conservative government (or any other UK government in recent history) oversaw 'an open borders experiment".

No excuse for the PM or Reed repeating this lie or for media not describing it as such.

Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 7h

“Robert Jenrick is the man who as Immigration Minister oversaw the open borders experiment that led to the biggest increase in illegal immigration in our country”

Labour's Steve Reed reacts to Robert Jenrick's decision to defect from the Conservatives to Reform UK

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 7h

So much in here that's so fascinating. But this, for me at least, really stood out:

"Nigel Farage, meanwhile, has stood – consistently, and often alone – for what’s needed. Ending mass migration. Cheap energy. Cutting waste and taxes and red tape."

Not a single solitary mention of #Brexit....

I’ve joined Reform, and you should too

The Conservative Party is broken. Nigel Farage is building a team of people that can finally deliver change to Britain

www.telegraph.co.uk

Kai Arzheimer @kai-arzheimer.com · 7h

A) lists of social generations are rubbish and b) Gen X is the best generation, ever. These are the Twin Peaks I will die on.

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 7h

From FT letters today: "The parallels [between the churn of PMs and Man Utd managers] are striking, with the exception being that United fans still have a chance of seeing their team in Europe again soon, while the rest of us can only dream of a similar future for our benighted country."

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 7h

Brilliant by @bjennings90.bsky.social (www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...)

Cartoon showing Robert Jenrick stuck with a Union Flag at the top of a lamppost as Kemi Badenoch walks away with the ladder that got him up there.

Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 7h

“Robert Jenrick is the man who as Immigration Minister oversaw the open borders experiment that led to the biggest increase in illegal immigration in our country”

Labour's Steve Reed reacts to Robert Jenrick's decision to defect from the Conservatives to Reform UK

Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 7h

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has given her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump during a meeting at the White House, saying it was a recognition of his commitment to her country's freedom

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Machado presents Trump with her Nobel award at White House meeting

Trump thanked Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, calling it "a wonderful gesture of mutual respect".

www.bbc.com

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 20h

Just in case @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com is too modest to repost it, the best portrait of Robert Jenrick you'll read is the one she wrote for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social back in October. Might be paywalled, but, hey, good journalism has to be financed somehow.

Robert Jenrick, the hollow man

This opportunistic ‘saviour’ could kill off the Tories completely

www.thenewworld.co.uk

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 20h

But most of all, he's let himself down....😆

Jenrick’s own local Conservative Association in backed the decision to boot him from the party, with chairman Councillor Keith Girling adding: “Jenrick has let down his party, let down the activists who campaigned for him as a Conservative MP, and let down the voters of Newark who re-elected him in 2024.”

Laura Phillips @lauraphillips.bsky.social · 21h

Matt Cartoons: 'The Tories shouldn't be allowed to occupy a building in London. You never know what any of them are up to'