Ian O'Flynn

"The joke did not go down well in China, where Mao is revered by the Communist Party, despite his chaotic and often violent rule that left millions dead." www.bbc.com/news/article... He's no Colin Kaepernick, is he?!

PolCom early view: Gelovani et al. on "Enhancing Democratic Listening in Online Discussions: The Role of Reaction Buttons, Discussion Moderation, and Large Language Models." www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Given what's just happened, this one should be more than timely. link.springer.com/book/9783032...

Guernica, powerful, monumental antiwar masterpiece, oil on canvas, painted in 1937 by Pablo Picasso, most influential artist of 20th Century; born #OTD 1881. Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid

Two postdocs at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at UCanberra. This is a fab opportunity: a great project team and a vitally important topic. uctalent.canberra.edu.au/cw/en/job/50...

The interesting story here is not the use of racist and sexist language (surely that's perfectly consistent?) but the fact that some of their employees were allegedly uncomfortable with it. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Global Constitutionalism early view: El Maslouhi on "Majority rule and the aporia of constitutional heteronomy: A critical inquiry into republican and deliberative perspectives." www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Open access book. Definitely worth a read.

This won't go anywhere, obviously, but it's still a useful indication of how they'd act if they ever get into Government. Locking up journalists would just be the start

Sickening.

Bioethics early view: Eyal on "The Scaleup Costs, Size, and Statistics Challenge to Democratic Deliberation on Health Policy." onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Nature Climate Change early view: Pfeffer et al. on "Citizens’ assemblies propose ambitious climate policy but impacts remain limited." www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Just re-read this wonderful essay by @albertpweale.bsky.social. It not only tackles the curse of populism from a deliberative perspective, but does so in a way that differs strikingly from the statistical view of public opinion common to mini-publics. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The School of Athens, with Plato & Aristotle discussing philosophy under central arch, fresco of 1509-11, by Raphael (1483-1520). High Renaissance masterpiece, admired for harmonious architectural framework, composition of figures, and informed use of perspective. Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican

CPT early view: Rountable on Lafont and Urbinati's recent book, Lottery: Friend or Foe to Democracy? (OUP 2024) link.springer.com/article/10.1...

”Falsehood flies & truth comes limping after it.” Jonathan Swift, Anglo-Irish satirist, Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral Dublin, author of A Tale of a Tub, Gulliver's Travels, died #OTD 1745; champion of liberty, whose Saeva Indignatio inspired Voltaire, Yeats, Joyce, Orwell. Trinity College Dublin

Your regular reminder that "deliberative negotiation" remains badly under-explored.

For a while, the right regularly complained about being cancelled by the left. We don't hear so much about that these days.

Did you know that there are many collective nouns for penguins? They can for example be a ‘waddle’ on land, or a ‘raft’ in the water. I’ve written about a few of my favourites here. Let me know yours!

EJPS early view: Cooper and Long on "Professionalizing deliberation: a Social Network Analysis of UK climate mini-publics." www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

This is grim, but excellent. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

www.rte.ie/entertainmen...

I've extended the deadline for this position (since the project website was down) until 20 October. So, still one week to apply to join @sotonpolitics.bsky.social for a three-year research postdoc on my ERC project: jobs.soton.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx... #polisky

Very insightful discussion. Just watched this @conunitucl.bsky.social

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🗞️ October's Citizen Participation Network newsletter is out! 🌐 ✅ Research, practice guides, open access books and events on democratic innovation, participatory governance and more Read here 👉🏼 www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-j...

Performative signalling is such a prominent feature of British politics these days. The alternative -- a serious attempt to explain, to deliberate, to learn -- is in seriously short supply.

Nationalism really is an infantile disease, as Einstein put it. It turns brains to mush and precludes any meaningful deliberation. Deliberation in deeply divided societies is possible, but these institutions are in dire need of reform. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

As a good friend put it to me: "The whole thing is ridiculous. Both sides are nuts and those who threaten to do most damage win." Couldn't agree more. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This a loss to UK policy. Wake up funding agencies to the fact that Europe is our future but we need to behave with intelligence and insight. Bring back UKICE!

New edited collection: Deliberative Peacemaking, ed Levy, McCulloch, and O'Flynn, forthcoming OUP global.oup.com/academic/pro...

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

"In this building lived and worked journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Killed 7 October 2006"

20 years ago today Anna Politkovskaya, one of Russia’s most prominent investigative journalists, was murdered. I found no mention of the anniversary in today's Russian newspapers. #ReadingRussia

From the new Private Eye

The utter shamelessness of Kemi Badenoch boasting at Conservative party conference about 'defending press freedom' and berating Reform for banning critical journalists from their conference, just days after banning Byline Times journalists from her own

Latest Climate Change: Kuhla et al. on "Different norms, different impacts? Testing the effects of deliberative norms on climate deliberation." link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Was just on LBC with @mrjamesob.bsky.social to discuss Kemi Badenoch's banning of @bylinetimes.bsky.social from attending Conservative conference after calling such bans by Reform "authoritarian" and an assault on free speech bylinetimes.com/2026/09/30/k...

There's no bend here at all on the nationalist side -- no possibility of deliberation or compromise. And they wonder why unionists are so resistant to a united Ireland. Silly, wrong, and self-defeating. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

If political parties are to serve a deliberative function (for too long sorely overlooked), the key to understanding that function is surely the principle of accountability. (There's a very interesting project to be done here, imo.)

New variant on the Kinsley definition of gaffe: a public figure complains when his remarks are used entirely in context by people inconvenient to him.

Good point, this.

english.elpais.com/internationa...

Perhaps*the* challenge for deliberative democracy today.

NI's First Minister just refused to come to the Assembly to answer questions because apparently last night she was at Garvaghy as SF vice president not First Minister. Just in case you were wondering, here's the sectarian rabble responsible for instilling fear in the residents. Father Ted, anyone?

How can you have meaningful deliberation under these conditions? Or any possibility of compromise? No mention of the rule of law. Sympathy for the residents. No mention of the lodge who are also residents of the town. www.gov.ie/en/departmen...

This is a good example of why this issue is unlikely to be solved. When one side thinks that the problem lies entirely with the other, a dialogue of the deaf is the best that can be hoped for.

Obviously a sensitive topic. But 28 years on, I'm not sure I see the problem in allowing a small group of old men to walk quietly down a road at 8am on a Sunday morning to collect a banner. Deliberative democracy in deeply divided societies remains a challenge. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...