Mollie Gerver

Opposition to ICE violence is consistent with studies conducted over the years: people opposing immigration still oppose very violent enforcement. They oppose violent enforcement even when it’s necessary to force migrants to leave. See our studies here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

We are looking for adult research participants who grew up hearing with migrant Deaf parents. Can you help us by sharing the recruitment ad? Research participation is fun and easy and mostly involves online interviews with @empacheco.bsky.social languageonthemove.com/hearing-chil...

When the UN doubled cash Afghan refugees received to repatriate, the Taliban needed to pay returnees more money to be recruited. That sounds good, but the Taliban then shifted to bombs, killing more civilians. See research by @chriswblair.bsky.social and David Van Dijcke: voxdev.org/topic/migrat...

This reminds of what many studies are finding: people say they don’t want a policy which lets a range of immigrants remain, but if you ask people if they support deporting them to harm, they say “no.” It is one thing to be anti-immigrant; another to support harming the immigrants one does not want.

Few articles present Cofnas’s worst statements. He didn’t just abstractly discuss race. He said almost no black professors would exist in a meritocracy. That’s direct racism against his black colleagues. Just like saying “F**k you” to colleagues is grounds for being fired, direct racism is as well.

@victorkumar.bsky.social

The difficult truth about Jason Arday ft.trib.al/uhAne6X | opinion

Parents of young kids throughout the UK trying to get their kids to sleep and then BLRAABLRAABLRAA!!! BLRAABLRAABLRAA!!! BLRAABLRAABLRAA!!! BLRAABLRAABLRAA!!!

The BBC should read this by @ellawhiteley.bsky.social: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

Happy eclipse everyone! My daughter added holes through a leaf to see the eclipse through.

"Free-riding off of earnest politics by having others do it and then, as if floating above it all, putting your finger on the median and going "there" can be very psychologically satisfying. But what it really does is turn yourself into a non-factor." mattbruenig.com/2026/07/29/y...

Our department is hiring a two-year fixed-term Lecturer in Public Policy and Ethics. Please spread the word, and happy to answer any questions about our department and political philosophy in London. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSC917/a...

This paper grew out of a short public piece I wrote for Prindle Post in 2023. We explore the phenomenon of e.g. using an LLM to write an apology or a love letter. What, if anything, has the agent done wrong in outsourcing this kind of communicative work? www.prindleinstitute.org/2023/03/chat...

This is finally out! I fixed multiple typos and added all the literature that came out during the unusually lengthy production process. Very apt that it comes out on the first day of EPPSE! Here’s a free link to the published version: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...

The EU now allows member states to transfer migrants to third countries, including potentially Libya, where migrants held under a previous EU-Libya agreement faced enslavement and torture. This new policy, like the old, is unconscionable. www.infomigrants.net/en/post/7167...

AI look down. LOOK DOWN.

www.ft.com/content/ebb7... The duke said he hosted the dinner, and would also host one with Conservatives, to raise “awareness about the protection of nature” and would support “any party that championed protection of nature.” Hmmm, I wonder what other party cares about nature.

I’m looking for literature by philosophers distinguishing between making correct judgments and expressing these judgments. In others, people who claim that sometimes a correct judgment should not/ought not to be expressed. Any ideas?

Many people have little choice in what they devote half their waking hours to for years. And the assumption that people do have choice, combined with the fact that having less money is predictive of less choice, might be why many feel uncomfortable being asked and saying what they do for a living.

“Writing is hard.” Thrilled to share that this simple idea led to a new paper in Political Analysis! Where most text methods focus on content, I test if expression is also effortful action. I find simple measures like character counts reveal attitudes and predict voting. cup.org/4cUmoXi 1/

My review of @alanmanning4.bsky.social’s Why Immigration Policy is Hard, an extremely comprehensive book, covering reasons for migration, the effects of migration on high-income receiving countries, what we know about the effects of various policies, and much more.

Visiting Germany from London and I wonder how a society can be so prosperous with such high water pressure, such vigorously flushing toilets, and such effectively shutting windows.

“How might an eight-episode Netflix series involving a small business owner unfold as she is selected randomly to be a legislator? What would she do with her business? What team of lobbyists would suddenly descend on her…? Does she meet the…other people selected? Does she get drunk with power?“

Also if you see they’ve been hanging around for a long time doesn’t that mean *you’ve* been hanging around for a long time?

Unimprovable opening to Private Eye’s review of Matt Goodwin’s ‘book’

Especially intrigued to hear that spending more than 3 weeks on something counts as perfectionism

I wonder how widespread this is? I’m a US citizen and applied for US citizenship for my daughter four years ago, which she has a right to obtain via my parents. I paid over $1,000, got a letter confirming receipt shortly after, and then nothing. I just assumed this is super widespread.

This same policy was suggested in 2010 by the openly racist BNP, though they offered the equivalent of £78,000. Globally, money can encourage return, but usually for those facing inhumane conditions, or safe conditions at home. I’ve written about this here: repository.essex.ac.uk/23016/

Many countries of origin have shifted from concerns about "brain drain" to actively promoting emigration. New @cgdev.org paper by @charlesjkenny.bsky.social outlines how emigration *can* contribute to growth, but only if the right policies are in place. www.cgdev.org/publication/...

There is extensive evidence that nationalists who don’t like migration in general like migrants who will contribute to improving health outcomes. Labour needs to start reading far more peer-reviewed studies on attitudes towards immigration, and not rely so heavily on its own polling.

What does an abusive chef of the world’s top-rated restaurant have to do with immigration? He was accused not only of punching employees, but threatening to get their families deported of they didn’t do what he said. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/d...

YAAAAY

This from @colinyeo.bsky.social is useful, but I’m not sure this includes migrants who are threatened with deportation if they remain, who then return via the voluntary returns service. www.gov.uk/return-home-...

People who judge the quality of AI based on how much it can write should read this:

Important analysis by @robfordmancs.bsky.social and others. One thing noted is that “The Brexit referendum appeared to defuse the immigration debate” - a point excellently demonstrated in work by @mirandasimon.bsky.social in this article: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

“If the policy you are proposing would not have let the president bring his own wife to the country, maybe it is time to revisit the policy.”

Excellent point by @negsaunders.bsky.social: if you want to decrease the number of immigrants without legal status you shouldn’t increase the number of immigrants without legal status. That’s what Reform would do by arbitrarily cancelling ILR.

NEW: JD Vance flew to Rome to formally invite Pope Leo XIV to join America’s 250th anniversary celebration. The first American pope has declined — days after rejecting President Trump’s “Board of Peace” invitation. On July 4, he’ll be in Lampedusa, standing with migrants.

News agencies often only cite Gaza’s health ministry when stating the number of deaths, and these numbers are then refuted by those who don’t trust the ministry because it’s run by Hamas. Now news agencies can cite the Lancet - I hope they do. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

I’m glad this is written, but we need to also address ethics and morality: a lot of Americans support ending birthright citizenship by ignoring or changing the law, or they don’t care either way. To persuade them, it’s not enough to say what the law says; we need to address what the law should say.

The BBC World Service, unlike BBC’s national news coverage, is excellent: relatively impartial, rigorous, and covering stories not covered by other outlets. It’s also going to run out of funding in seven months. You can help save it by filling out this questionnaire: