James Breckwoldt
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jamesbreckwoldt.bsky.social
James Breckwoldt
@jamesbreckwoldt.bsky.social
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
Do any people who study German politics have a postal code to Bundestag constituency look-up file?

Hat jemand, der sich mit deutscher Politik beschäftigt, eine Zuordnungstabelle von Postleitzahlen zu Bundestagswahlkreisen?

#polisky
November 27, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
New from my phd student @joshgoddard98.bsky.social: he shows, using many election and panel studies across the advanced democracies, that housing status has replaced occupational class as a key predictor of voting. Class voting is now about assets, not income www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Housing and electoral behaviour: The changing face of class voting in advanced democracies
Scholarship on the relationship between social structure and electoral behaviour has traditionally operationalised voters’ economic or class situation…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Do any people who study German politics have a postal code to Bundestag constituency look-up file?

Hat jemand, der sich mit deutscher Politik beschäftigt, eine Zuordnungstabelle von Postleitzahlen zu Bundestagswahlkreisen?

#polisky
November 27, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
In anticipation of the Budget, here is my Glazer-era Manchester United theory of Britain's economic decline

Both started out in a great position and then blew it with a serious of bad decisions, whilst ignoring what had made them great before
Britain's Economic Decline is Just Like Glazer-Era Manchester United
How to Destroy Your Advantages in 7 Easy Steps
jamesbreckwoldt.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
The second year of magical thinking: this evening's newsletter on the Budget:
Rachel Reeves doubles down on wishful thinking
A government that can’t make tough choices now is unlikely to do so on the eve of an election
www.ft.com
November 26, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
🚨 LSE Assistant Professor in Political Science 🚨

We’re hiring a tenure-track assistant professor - any area of empirical political science - to join our wonderful Government Dept @lsegovernment.bsky.social

Any questions, please reach out to me

📣 Please share! 📣

jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
November 25, 2025 at 8:38 AM
In anticipation of the Budget, here is my Glazer-era Manchester United theory of Britain's economic decline

Both started out in a great position and then blew it with a serious of bad decisions, whilst ignoring what had made them great before
Britain's Economic Decline is Just Like Glazer-Era Manchester United
How to Destroy Your Advantages in 7 Easy Steps
jamesbreckwoldt.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Promises, promises, promises

Rhetoric, rhetoric, rhetoric

Blah, blah, blah

Why I think nothing will change if nothing actually changes 👇
What Explains the Rise and Rise of Reform UK?
The who, what, when, how and huh of why Reform has gained so much support in such a short period of time
jamesbreckwoldt.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
Seconded (non-paywalled version here: proftimbale.com/tag/vox-pops/)!
November 17, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
November 14, 2025 at 9:31 AM
November 14, 2025 at 9:31 AM
I wrote this in September and it's holding up better with each passing day
You Can't Govern a Country in the Passive Voice
The case for active voice government is made by me
jamesbreckwoldt.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
"If something's hard, then it's not worth doing..."

m.youtube.com/watch?v=1G8X...
If Something's Hard To Do Then It's Not Worth Doing (The Simpsons)
YouTube video by ThingsICantFindOtherwise
m.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
🚨 New paper with Maria Grasso on generational shifts in political values. Despite talk of rising age polarisation, we show that gaps in attitudes are stable or even narrowing. Economic attitudes move in cycles, while social values have become more liberal – mainly due to generational replacement.
Political Socialisation in the UK: Describing Generational Changes of Values - International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society
A growing bulk of research examines intergenerational shifts in attitudes and the extent to which they are attributable to new cohorts of voters being socialised under different socioeconomic and cult...
link.springer.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
New article from me on importance of charisma and attention seeking in elections

Includes:
- A short history of "charisma"
- How different mediums (radio, TV, social media etc.) require different types of charisma
- Why you need to be Everything Everywhere All at Once in today’s political landscape
Political Leaders Need To Be Charismatic Attention-Seekers (And That's a Good Thing)
It ain't no mystery, if it's politics or history. The thing you gotta know is, everything is showbiz!
jamesbreckwoldt.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
The re-election path for this govt has always involved betting an early period of unpopular budgets on hopefully delivering the improvements asked for by Labour voters by the next election. The problem is the leadership, and internal critics, favour combos that avoid one side of the equation.
November 11, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
Like, you can debate how much Starmer is directly responsible for Labour's current unpopularity, but I can absolutely guarantee that a replacement will also be really unpopular if they don't substantively improve cost of living or public services, which will require politically difficult budgets.
November 11, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
If MPs defected at the same rates as their voters, the Commons would look like:

Labour: 212 (-199)
Lib Dems: 110 (+38)
Conservatives: 99 (-22)
Greens: 87 (+83)
Reform UK: 86 (+81)
SNP/PC: 25 (+12)
Others: 31 (+7)
November 12, 2025 at 10:37 AM
November 12, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
TLDR: buy shares in Zack Polanski

Let The Rock explain:
November 12, 2025 at 7:58 AM
TLDR: buy shares in Zack Polanski

Let The Rock explain:
November 12, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
🚨 NEW in @bjpols.bsky.social : When Partygate hit Westminster, trust in Scottish politicians increased. Our experiments reveal a "contrast effect" - scandals at one level can make the other look better by comparison. Who lost most trust in Westminster? Scottish unionists. Read now #OpenAccess 👇
November 11, 2025 at 9:00 AM
New article from me on importance of charisma and attention seeking in elections

Includes:
- A short history of "charisma"
- How different mediums (radio, TV, social media etc.) require different types of charisma
- Why you need to be Everything Everywhere All at Once in today’s political landscape
Political Leaders Need To Be Charismatic Attention-Seekers (And That's a Good Thing)
It ain't no mystery, if it's politics or history. The thing you gotta know is, everything is showbiz!
jamesbreckwoldt.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:33 AM
For more on the strange language that politicians use to describe the average voter that Phil and Armando talk about here, I wrote a short history of the weird and wonderful world of voter segmentation names in September
November 10, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Reposted by James Breckwoldt
While going through the proofs for "The British General Election of 2024" (out very soon!) I came across this - Paul Johnson of the IFS's verdict on Labour's manifesto last year. Labour's current attempts to claim the need to break their tax pledges was impossible to forsee don't stack up
November 10, 2025 at 8:28 AM