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Tim Bale

Timothy Paul Bale is an English political scientist who is professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London.

Source: Wikipedia
H-index: 35
Political science 83%
Sociology 6%

by Will JenningsReposted by Tim Bale

drjennings.bsky.social
Aside from negating the point of elections, opinion polls can be wrong! What if a pollster, let’s call them PollingPeople, consistently showed big vote shares for Nigel Farage but Reform’s true support is actually much lower?
timbale.bsky.social
"Over the last year, Badenoch has asked c.200 questions, Davey around 70, Green MPs 9, and Farage just 6. If those questions had been distributed according to their share of the opinion polls, rather than the number of MPs, Farage would have asked 120 , and the others between 40 and 60 each."
PMQs should give more space to Nigel Farage
In a recent survey of young people by Onward, six out of 10 felt that “too many people are ignored” by democracy or, worse still, that “democracy i...
www.politicshome.com

Reposted by Tim Bale

huwcdavies.bsky.social
Excellent article. I wanted to focus on Marshall’s ideology for my analysis but to get into this journal I had to use a corpus (not 1 person). I found that ARC reflects different aspects of his ideology back at him. Much as his outlets & think tanks do. journals.sagepub.com/overview-met...

by Tim BaleReposted by Will Jennings

timbale.bsky.social
"Over the last year, Badenoch has asked c.200 questions, Davey around 70, Green MPs 9, and Farage just 6. If those questions had been distributed according to their share of the opinion polls, rather than the number of MPs, Farage would have asked 120 , and the others between 40 and 60 each."
PMQs should give more space to Nigel Farage
In a recent survey of young people by Onward, six out of 10 felt that “too many people are ignored” by democracy or, worse still, that “democracy i...
www.politicshome.com

Reposted by Tim Bale

ecasalicchio.bsky.social
Heartbreaking case I watched the summing up for while reporting this piece 👇
timbale.bsky.social
If you read one thread on Bluesky today, make it this - amazing!
oddthisday.bsky.social
It’s the 111th anniversary today of the birth of Harry Rée, who was a teacher and conscientious objector when the Second World War broke out, and by the time it ended, when he was 31, had invented ‘blackmail sabotage’ and got a DSO, an OBE, a Croix de Guerre, and a Medaille de la Resistance
b/w photo of a man in socks and sandals, jacket, short and jumper, in front of a wall with a bike leaning on it, and with a pipe in his mouth. If you wanted one image to sum up the word ‘nonchalant’, this would be it
timbale.bsky.social
Next up, the dog's bol......
timbale.bsky.social
I read it, agreed with it, and then forgot to post it, so glad you have!

by Steven FieldingReposted by Tim Bale

polprofsteve2024.bsky.social
But more seriously if you want Starmer gone then you should be honest with yourself & take a more direct route. A Powell victory will just made a bad situation just that bit worse without achieving your ends.

Reposted by Tim Bale

kiranstacey.bsky.social
This is fascinating by @chrisgiles.ft.com.

What if the massive rise in people claiming out of work benefits is actually because we've raised the state pension age?

www.ft.com/content/ee67...
jomichell.bsky.social
Completely forgot that I wrote to the FT a couple of weeks back, and just found this purely by chance while googling for something else that I've think I've written but currently can't find.
Letter: It’s black hole baloney
From Jo Michell, Professor of Economics, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

Published SEP 24 2025


I was disappointed to see the FT reporting warnings of “a new black hole in the public finances” (September 9). A black hole is an astronomical body so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping. It is not the difference between a relatively arbitrary target and an uncertain forecast. As the BBC has acknowledged, journalists have a responsibility to take particular care when reporting on the public finances. Misleading and emotive metaphors should not be used — at least without caveat or quotation marks — in a serious newspaper such as the FT.

Jo Michell
Professor of Economics, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
timbale.bsky.social
For those who are (fortunately!) too young to know what us old geezers **** are talking about, here's the lyrics (and here's the song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fznv...)
timbale.bsky.social
No-one's mentioned 'Saturday's Kids' - surely one of the stand outs in this respect!
oddthisday.bsky.social
It’s the 111th anniversary today of the birth of Harry Rée, who was a teacher and conscientious objector when the Second World War broke out, and by the time it ended, when he was 31, had invented ‘blackmail sabotage’ and got a DSO, an OBE, a Croix de Guerre, and a Medaille de la Resistance
b/w photo of a man in socks and sandals, jacket, short and jumper, in front of a wall with a bike leaning on it, and with a pipe in his mouth. If you wanted one image to sum up the word ‘nonchalant’, this would be it
timbale.bsky.social
A great illustration of the non-transferability of skills required in business and politics? The same guy had a stellar business career before trying and failing to help turn around the Tory Party in the Blair era, left politics and--what do you know--went back to having a stellar business career!
Archie Norman to stay at Marks and Spencer until 2029
Veteran retailer extends term as chair by three years amid ongoing turnaround plan
www.ft.com
timbale.bsky.social
tbh, in this policy area, maybe we should - but we don't anymore.
timbale.bsky.social
Huge opportunity costs for other patients - sitting on a waiting list for longer than they need to behind someone whose missed slot they would gladly have taken.

Reposted by Tim Bale

garjones.bsky.social
I went to school in Swansea in the 1980s. For RE we visited a mosque, synagogue and a Sikh temple as well as Christian churches. Nobody cared.

by Philip CowleyReposted by Tim Bale

philipjcowley.bsky.social
Latest article in @thehousemag.bsky.social - on opposition. What % of government bills do you think are opposed in full by the opposition? That is, what % see the opposition vote against at second and/or third reading?

www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...
The Professor Will See You Now: Opposition
Lessons in political science. This week: opposition
www.politicshome.com
timbale.bsky.social
Sorry. My bad. I just assume everyone knows it's him, so familiar with him am I!

Reposted by Tim Bale

andyatnanyuki.bsky.social
It was suggested years ago that each NHS prescription issued should have an indicative price on it to inform patients. Every prescription dispensed is individually priced so it would be technically easy and cheap. I never understood why politicians were persuaded it was not worth implementing. #NHS

Reposted by Tim Bale

kennystew.art
This already happens in Scotland, in some parts of the NHS anyway. Here’s part of a reminder text I got last week.
Missed appointments costs NHS Scotland 233 pounds approx. If you are unable to attend please call the number on your appointment letter.
timbale.bsky.social
A propos of nothing, I've often thought it would make sense for the NHS to include in its letters, be they appointments or discharge, to actually tell patients how much what they are getting or got (eg an MRI scan) costs. Might lessen the risk of 'you don't what you've got til it's gone' scenario.

Reposted by Tim Bale

davidheadviews.bsky.social
I imagine Tice's response would be to state that Reform UK's flood prevention strategy is to order the unwanted water to go back where it came from.

Reposted by Tim Bale

psapolpsychology.bsky.social
Our autumn online seminar series gets started in two days' time, with a fascinating presentation on the personalities of UK party members - work co-authored by Stavroula Chrona, @timbale.bsky.social and Paul Webb.

For more info, and to register: www.psa.ac.uk/specialist-g....

Reposted by Tim Bale

psurridge.bsky.social
Quite the subtitle - one for @timbale.bsky.social's series of Britpol essay questions.

References

Fields & subjects

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