Tom O'Grady
drtomdog.bsky.social
Tom O'Grady
@drtomdog.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Political Science, UCL. Studying political economy, welfare reforms, public opinion, European and British politics. He/him 🏳️‍🌈
Fascinating evidence of a clear way that AI directly lowers productivity. With troubling implications for the way we do hiring and student recruitment in academia (heavily weighting written materials like cover letters, research statements, personal statements etc)
Is AI making job recruitment less meritocratic? We're getting some v interesting research studies on this question now, and the news is... not good. @jburnmurdoch.ft.com & I dive in, in the latest edition of our newsletter The AI Shift www.ft.com/content/e5b7...
November 14, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Tom O'Grady
To be clear: deportations to increase cultural homogeneity is the text book definition of ethnic cleansing. Demands that come even close to this are so far outside any democratic norm and the rule of law. What has happened to a country when this is not condemned in the strongest possible terms?
October 21, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Marking a student essay today that is a joy to read, that makes me proud as a teacher, that reminds me how much I value teaching writing. But I cannot know, will never again know, whether it was written by AI. Hard not to feel a massive sense of loss, as I prepare to use oral vivas this year instead
September 18, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Reposted by Tom O'Grady
My latest, exploring with numbers how the millennial household budget is basically incomprehensible to retired boomers.
WASPInomics and the magic avocado tree
Why boomers struggle to make sense of the millennial world.
open.substack.com
July 29, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Reposted by Tom O'Grady
Voice is one of the most talked-about, and least explained, aspects of academic writing.

We’re told to “find it,” but rarely taught how to build it.

I wrote up some reflections here:

👉 open.substack.com/pub/catherin...

A 🧵 about why so much academic writing feels voiceless & what to do about it.
You’ve Got the Ideas. What If It’s Your Voice That’s Not Landing?
The Hidden Curriculum of Academic Writing
open.substack.com
July 15, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Reposted by Tom O'Grady
April 3, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by Tom O'Grady
Labour should try and learn some lessons from Germany. Unfortunately, this rather speaks for a deep misunderstanding of what causes the success of the AfD and other far-right parties. Labour is set to repeat the mistakes of many other social democratic parites.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Labour MP warns party of ‘uncanny’ parallels with Germany’s defeated SPD
Exclusive: Jake Richards says government needs to focus on issues such as immigration and welfare to fight off Reform
www.theguardian.com
March 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Tom O'Grady
NEW: Just 6% of Gen Z say they actually want a dictator – not over half, as has been recently claimed.

Our study finds only a very small minority of 13-27-yr-olds really feel this way, when their views and interpretations are tested with different questioning approaches 🧵⬇️
February 27, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Reposted by Tom O'Grady
A fundamental problem is the Democrats are utterly committed to the fallacy that public opinion polls are politics. This has destroyed their ability to actually do politics. 1/
The Democratic Party has no idea how angry its base is. Lead, right now, or get out of the way.
March 1, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Tom O'Grady
Zuckerberg exposes a big problem with our ideas about authoritarian populism as backlash. Backlash as counterfactual means “if we had not had progressive thing X, we would not see that much support for this ideology“. It should have become clear that authoritarianism is nothing reactive 1/
January 8, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Reposted by Tom O'Grady
Can a public wealth transfer to young people reduce inequality?

New article out in the Journal of European Social Policy with Andreas Thiemann, Leire Salazar and @josenoguerauab.bsky.social!

🧵 Thread 👇
January 8, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Tom O'Grady
APSR will start inviting replications for a random subset of accepted papers. I really like this as well as the constructive tone around it 👏 (from the latest Notes from the Editors)
December 5, 2024 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Tom O'Grady
A good news day :)
"The Rainbow Vote" 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ is now under contract with @princetonupress.bsky.social

Building on observational data & six original experiments, the book explores & explains the distinctiveness of queer voters in Europe and demonstrates how this has both social & political consequences
November 29, 2024 at 10:28 AM
Interested in doing a PhD in political science at UCL (or know a student that is)? On Friday 22nd November I am running an online information event all about our programme and how to apply: www.ucl.ac.uk/political-sc...
PhD Virtual Information Event
Explore our PhD programme! Join a Q&A with the PhD Programme Manager, Programme Director and PhD Rep.
www.ucl.ac.uk
November 13, 2024 at 7:43 AM
Reposted by Tom O'Grady
Listen to the latest Transform Justice podcast with @drtomdog.bsky.social discussing our recent research with former justice ministers and advisors, along with other matters with @nacro.bsky.social CEO Campbell Robb
The research conducted by @doitjustice.bsky.social and @drtomdog.bsky.social can be read here: bit.ly/3XP61DI
bit.ly
September 20, 2024 at 2:37 PM