Stephen H. Jones
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stphnhwrdjns.bsky.social
Stephen H. Jones
@stphnhwrdjns.bsky.social

Social scientist. Writes about religion and prejudice, society and politics. Teaches sociology and criminology. Rides bikes.

Political science 39%
Sociology 28%
the bushes were people 😂

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Morgan McSweeney's resignation means the Epstein files have claimed another scalp in Europe. In the US, meanwhile, crickets...

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While people who would probably qualify as liberals risk their lives in the frozen streets of Minneapolis (and do similar brilliantly organized solidarity work in New Orleans and Chicago and many other cities), not sure what this is supposed to mean.

I'm not especially sympathetic to Starmer but JF makes a pretty compelling point here.
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.

Great work everyone.

Excellent appointment. I've been thinking recently the BSA ought to be talking more loudly about the (possibly existential?) crisis in UK sociology, and the wider crisis in higher ed. Les is among the best communicators on both subjects IMO.

There was a definite uptick when he started working for PressTV and had a material incentive to be ragingly antisemitic.

(This is perhaps ironic given he made his name by analysing how material interests underpin prejudice.)

Apparently it's controversial and provocative to express hurt at innocent people dying.
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
‘Focus on football’: Guardiola criticised by Manchester Jewish group over Palestine comments
The JRC hit out at the Manchester City manager’s ‘controversial views’ after Pep Guardiola had referred to ‘genocide in Palestine’ on Tuesday
www.theguardian.com
I have yet to receive a reply to this from anyone in the Green Party - my image and quote appear under the title "Everyone Agrees, Labour Are Done!". As the excerpt from the same article quoted here I reproduce below makes clear, I do not "agree". This clearly misrepresents my views.
Just a quick note to @greenparty.org.uk and @greenpartyhan.bsky.social - I was not consulted on being quoted on your leaflets and I have not endorsed your campaign (or any campaign in this seat). I think this note, like the bar chart next to it, is misleading and out of context.

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a dish served ice cold
“Jaywalking is permitted in London. In 1966, the police tried to crack down on it, but gave up after three months.”

People walk and cycle on roads by right, people drive under licence.

Jaywalking is not a thing in English law and Waymo must not change that.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Self-driving taxis are coming to London – should we be worried? | Jack Stilgoe
Waymo’s cars were first rolled out in San Francisco, but the English capital’s old roads, pelican crossings and jaywalkers may pose issues for AI, says science and technology professor Jack Stilgoe
www.theguardian.com

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The most-common victim of homicide a young man killed during a brawl. But what about child homicide, elder abuse and domestic abuse? This thread summarises what we know about homicide vulnerability for those specific groups in society.

🧵

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Lag. The federal judiciary is catching up — this is a remarkable order, it's only three pages. I recommend reading it. I have, in all of my time practicing law, never seen a judge do anything like this:
:(

But I'll concede this is a problem:

bsky.app/profile/bens...
Trouble is, those advantages are gained at the price of making life easier for the dishonest social scientist.

And for the record: I do get the need to immerse yourself in qual data. But in this kind of project you also need a top-down view which is almost impossible to get by relying on the coding/notes of 20-odd researchers.

An apparently controversial view I have is that AI could be very useful for qual research too. I'm finishing an article based on 432 interviews in five languages. Just having the ability to derive quick summaries of interviewees, focusing on certain topics, would have been a huge help.

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Trouble is, those advantages are gained at the price of making life easier for the dishonest social scientist.
In which @tompepinsky.com suggests that #genAI may have is uses for social scientists (and social science?) after all
Agentic AI and Social Science Research Practice
I’ve been exploring AI tools of various forms for more than a year now, mostly from a critical perspective of identifying things that they cannot do (such as draw maps), but also so that I can unde…
tompepinsky.com

Or even: When people get wrongly arrested for tweets, that isn't really about NCHIs because arrests, by definition, involve suspicion of crime. (Or in other words, reform won't even placate the idiots whose tune you are dancing to.)

There is an argument for NCHI reform but just once I'd like a minister to frame the debate by saying something like: When police don't record NCHIs, we end up with disabled people burning themselves to death (real case) or being killed in mob attacks (also a real case).

This Labour government can always be relied on to shape its policy agenda around media gobshites who don't know what they are talking about, rather than experts who do. The idea of scrapping NCHIs is a case in point.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
‘A disaster for disabled people’: Shabana Mahmood urged not to scrap recording of non-crime hate incidents
Home secretary confirmed this week that police in England and Wales would be scrapping category in its current form
www.theguardian.com

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My take on the government's plan for police reform: a welcome attempt at ambitious, long-term change – but one that risks making police leadership and accountability too remote from local areas 🧵
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/poli...
A new national police force is the right move, but the case for merging local forces is much weaker | Institute for Government
There is much to welcome in the home secretary’s proposals on police reform.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk

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I think also this is a reflection of the fact this Labour leadership did very little intellectual renewal, in that the intellectual argument for 'a graduate contribution' IMO remains a strong argument for Plan A tuition fees. It's *also* a really poor one for the post-2012 tuition fees system.
When this bit of the party tries to imply that higher education is an elitist luxury rather than a public good, it's projection IMO.

Because their ideology – which is basically Fabianism on steroids – is incredibly elitist!
2026: Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves, "It is not right that people who don't go to university bear the cost for others to"

2020: That time Labour leader Keir Starmer said he would scrap university tuition fees

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Just finished writing a feature on Laurie Taylor @ 90 for a Sociological Review Magazine… what a life Laurie has led. Should be out in May. He is recording a new season of Thinking Allowed at the moment for BBC Radio 4. 28 years of putting socioligy on the airwaves. 👏👏👏
This is possibly my favourite quote about politics. paw.princeton.edu/article/stil...

This does make you think that, even if the BBC is opposing Trump's lawsuit, it has had a chilling effect.
I’m really quite surprised at the BBC website today. ‘Here is a video, some people say it does not show what it very obviously shows’ is not how you report this.
I’m really quite surprised at the BBC website today. ‘Here is a video, some people say it does not show what it very obviously shows’ is not how you report this.

The hell is the BBC doing?! Its summary of events not only makes zero mention of the fact that there are videos showing what happened, it leads with the administration's lies.