Peter Allen

On 9th December, I will be in conversation with Prof Peter Hall at @uniofbathipr.bsky.social to discuss his important new book, Governing Growth www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/prof-peter...

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Is British politics uniquely short-termist? Voters seem to think so. @philipjcowley.bsky.social @karlpike.bsky.social and I just released @mileendinstitute.bsky.social polling on political short/long-termism across Europe. The UK stands out from its neighbours. www.qmul.ac.uk/mei/research...

In just over two weeks, I’ll be discussing the excellent ‘Tribal Politics’ with @sarahobolt.bsky.social. If you are in the Bath/Bristol area, do consider joining us. Registration at the link below.

5 year postdoc going on the new BES✌️ jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

It's finally publication day for this decade-in-the-making book. @noamlupu.bsky.social and I explain why working-class jobs make up 70% of the average democracy's labor force, but only 2% of the average democracy's national lawmakers had working-class jobs when they got into politics.

For the last four weeks, I've been doing a slot on Matt Chorley's programme on Radio 5, in which we take an interesting or historic parliamentary vote and discuss its significance. So far we've done Norway (1940), the Shops Bill (1986), seatbelts (1981) and yesterday we did Iraq (2003).

Due out January...

I wrote this piece a year ago making the case for a National Commission on Electoral Reform (as initially by @appgfairelections.bsky.social). Delighted to see Andy Burnham announce plans for one today.

New article! I've written about Paddy Ashdown, 'third way' politics, and the Liberal Democrats' relationship with New Labour in @jbritishstudies.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/jbr....

I’m so happy to share that I’ve been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship at @uniofbath.bsky.social to study how the mental load—the invisible work of anticipating, planning and organizing family life—shapes parents’ political participation. 🤯 www.bath.ac.uk/announcement...

My latest Guardian long read is about the people trying to get their ideas into Britain’s new government and whether Burnham is really prepared to be that radical. Grateful to the many people who spoke to me for this - read it online or in Saturday’s paper: www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

To mark Progressive Review's relaunch, we've put together a collection of the greatest hits from @ippr.org's various journals since 1994 - all free to read. Including Jürgen Habermas, Thomas Piketty, Helen Thompson, David Runciman, Will Davies & Jean Seaton. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...

First time I am plugging one of my papers without being asked to: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... Weirdly still a niche topic* in polsci while it's becoming a new norm with potential political consequences *with the exception of work from @profjanegreen.bsky.social Z.Grant, and G. Evans

I had fun writing the Last Word in the latest (penultimate, I believe) issue of Political Insight. Read for free here: journals.sagepub.com/share/PUST6R... tl;dr: Burnham must continue to take easy short-term wins and keep banging the drum about the long-term vision those short-term wins serve.

🚨New paper🚨 Very pleased that “Using Gender to Choose: Voter Decision-Making in Low-Information Elections”, coauthored with Ellie Woodhouse, is now out at @jeppjournal.bsky.social. In it, we ask: when voters know very little about candidates, how do they use gender when deciding who to vote for? 🧵👇

Last month, my most recent book ‘How to Think About Politics’ was released in Portuguese with the title ‘Política na vida real’ (trans. Thais Entriel). It is extremely weird but also very cool to see it on sale, a first for me: www.travessa.pt/Artigo/Detal...

The sign up link for my book launch on 23 September can be found below. We have a fantastic panel with @timbale.bsky.social @benworthy.bsky.social and Giada Lagana due to contribute. Please join us online or in Bloomsbury :)

Latest article for the House magazine, in which I wonder if I have wasted my life learning about leadership elections rules... www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

The Rainbow Vote now has a cover & publication date. www.therainbowvote.com 🗳️🏳️‍🌈 Please consider pre-ordering, or asking your institution’s library to pre-order! Insufferable self-promotion to follow but I am dutifully celebrating every milestone along the way to publication day in February 😎

BLOG POST: Instead of obsessing over preserving old ones, why not just open new pubs if there's demand? Well... boakandbailey.com/2026/08/why-...

£6.3bn really is a huge gap for unis to fill on research each year It's sometimes said that's what QR is for, but QR is part of the calculation: without it the gap would be close to £9bn The biggest way that gap is filled is international student fees (yellow bar), but we all know how that's going

BLOG POST: “It was startling... to see various people on non-beer social media railing against this policy for reasons like…it’s for Reform voters; pubs are ‘Brexit coded’... it’s just encouraging drinking, a social ill...” boakandbailey.com/2026/08/outs...

I have written a short essay for the IPPR called A Liberalism of Public Things: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

How Place-Based Policy Could Counter Populist Discontent New article in @politicalquarterly.bsky.social with Gerry Stoker, @daisyblackburn.bsky.social and @drjennings.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I've written an essay for @ippr.org about why democratic reformers need to expand their horizons beyond trying to finish the work of Charter 88, and should now shift their focus towards rebuilding the public sphere and confronting private power 1/4

To quote Mark Blyth, the climate crisis is ‘a giant non-linear outcome generator with wicked convexities. In plain English, there is no mean, there is no average, there is no return to normal. It’s one way traffic into the unknown’. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This is devastating news. I can't quite believe it. RIP Glen Hansard. www.independent.ie/irish-news/o...

If they were skilled political operators perhaps they wouldn’t be on the backbenches, along with their chief, two years into a Parliament which began with a landslide election win?

This point is coming up a lot today. Last year, I argued that failure to recognise this would be the downfall of Starmer's "decade of national renewal": theconversation.com/keir-starmer...

Instead of a newsletter for July 2026... Notes from a heatwave, where fans, air-conditioning and cold beer are the topics of the day in pubs, bars and taprooms. boakandbailey.com/2026/07/inst...

As an ex media report I can't help looking at the BBC Annual Report, it's a habit I cannot kick, I'm going to stick some things I've noticed in a thread. The tldr to my mind is if you're at the BBC and you're not panicking and trying new stuff and tuning out low level moans you're screwed. 🧵

🧵 Progressives need to think much more ambitiously about citizenship: it can't only be a debate about the "who" - the boundaries of citizenship. Our new @ippr.org report today makes the case for a new politics of "democratic citizenship": www.ippr.org/articles/the...

🚨New paper out in JEPP @jeppjournal.bsky.social 🎉 Women are underrepresented in local politics, and the problem isn't only their election but retention. In a survey experiment with 500+ English councillors, we find that family-friendly council policies increase women's static ambition. 🧵

New article on the MAGA counter-movement against ESG and DEI www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Look out for "Let's Save Water" - a major new campaign to get water demand to a level that future infrastructure can cope with. I'm one of the behavioural scientists involved, and am quoted in this article discussing the various forms of action people can take www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Me, in the FT on the St Augustine transition in premiers. Also ft Harold Macmillan reading Pride and Prejudice and a reluctant Lord Melbourne. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Democratic politics can't be sustained with this level of disinformation and misinformation. Action needs to be taken.

Remember that FOUR week turn around for a £40M call @ukri.org. Turns out it was actually a £60M call. How does this meet the Nolan Principles of Openess? UK invests £60m in two university-led AI research labs www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

Interested in rebellions during the first session of the parliament - which, helpfully, almost perfectly coincides with the Starmer premiership? Here's a piece I wrote for @robfordmancs.bsky.social's substack, giving rebellion rates, lists of rebels, etc. swingometer.substack.com/p/rebel-rebel

I have a provocatively titled piece in the latest issue of @renewaljournal.bsky.social, in which I propose that among the lessons of the “Epstein files” revelations is the value of a properly directly, healthy paranoia suited to an age of opaque networks, dark money, and unaccountable elites. (1/2)

"It is one of the accepted hypocrisies of modern British politics that when your side changes PM midterm, it is part of our distinguished constitutional heritage as a parliamentary democracy. When the other lot do it, it is an outrage." @philipjcowley.bsky.social

Discussed ongoing research with @mbarnfield.bsky.social and @philipjcowley.bsky.social on the BBC’s Moral Maze yesterday evening - about what the ‘short term’ and the ‘long term’ mean in politics and policymaking. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

A rare chance to join the @britishacademy.bsky.social public policy team to lead on our environmental programme, working closely with academic specialists from our Fellowship and research community. £52k www.prospect-us.co.uk/job/195013-p...

Latest piece for @thehousemag.bsky.social, in which I reveal an unknown letter from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, find another letter from Churchill, discover when Sir John Rodgers went to the dentist, and praise the kindness of two former Streatham MPs: www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...