Links I liked
An important part of my job is dealing with stuff that is both unpleasant and weird (no, I’m not talking about teaching evaluations). Much of what goes on in far-right politics these days used to be called “the lunatic fringe” but has stealthily moved into the political mainstream. The “manosphere”, a network of unabashedly anti-feminist…
Back in 2001, the British General Election Study contained a (presumably open-ended) question asking Britons to name the “ most important problem facing the country”. A whopping 0.4 per cent of the sample came up with something along the lines of “Britain’s relationship with Europe”. So much for the eternal struggle going all the way…
It is a warm but grey and gloomy weekend in Germany, so here are three links I enjoyed: In case you were wondering whether Trump is a) evil, b) senile or c) a master strategist: here is a piece arguing that c) is unlikely, though a) and b) could easily be true at the same…
An Economist study finds that the quality of democracy is highest in Australia, Canada, and Scandinavia. No big surprise here. Time to move? You may have heard that a prominent member of the AfD was physically attacked in Bremen, which the AfD managed to put all over social media. The police say the initial account…
Brexit is depressing, but the the #LiteraryBrexit tag on twitter is hilariousThere are scientists who use the scientific method to study how science journals work. And their work is actually relevant.Interesting, yet depressing reading: a fact-file on right-wing terrorism in GermanyToday’s AI is not intelligent. Thought so
Probably it’s never been away. Equally probably, I’m overgeneralising from personal experience (can you see what I’m doing here?): within less than 48 hours: I heard this podcast featuring the excellent John Hibbing (the research discussed in the show was published a while ago) on brain differences and political preferences (red brain / blue brain)…
I know that definitions are so 1996, but here are some that bear repeating: Migrant “A person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national” (UN Convention on the rights of Migrants) Refugee “someone who has…
Why did the Italian President use a half-forgotten constitutional power to veto Paolo Savona’s appointment as finance minister? Here is why. FAZ: Russia paid 25,000 Euro charter for a private plane for former leader Petry & two other AfD politicians’ visit An unnamed EU official said that the UK’s Brexit negotiators are chasing a fantasy.…
Brexit-hit British EU staff ditch UK passports. As it turns out, the others still see them as Brits. The POP blog published an interesting article in 2017: “The 5 Star Movement is Neither Left-Wing nor Antifascist”, which is currently trending on Twitter (you wonder why). Still worth reading. Good advice on the LSE Impact Blog:…
German media report that about 10 per cent of all MPs for the Radical Right AfD (state and federal level) are currently investigated by the police. Allegations range from incitement to fraud and tax evasion. In dubio pro and all that, but it’s not exactly what you normally mean by a law & order party,…