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Simon Usherwood

@simonusherwood

Researcher of UK-EU relations, euroscepticism and learning & teaching. Open University and formerly UK in a Changing Europe. Renowned for my bubbly personality, I imagine.

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Latest posts by Simon Usherwood @simonusherwood

Actions have (largely predictable) consequences

v.good thread

06.03.2026 16:48 ๐Ÿ‘ 5 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Who produces hate speech? And how does that matter for content moderation?

We show that across different countries and platforms, a relatively small share of users are responsible for a very large share of hate - overall, 5% write 83-100% of hateful content.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

06.03.2026 13:21 ๐Ÿ‘ 29 ๐Ÿ” 13 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
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Iceland locks in on date for EU referendum | Euractiv As a member of the European Economic Area, Iceland is already aligned with much of the bloc's legislation

The Iceland referendum on EU accession is now slated for 29 August this year.

Note: The referendum will first only be on restarting the negotiations, but clearly a sign of shifting geopolitical thinking.

06.03.2026 12:40 ๐Ÿ‘ 157 ๐Ÿ” 63 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 4 ๐Ÿ“Œ 7

Sobolewska et al

05.03.2026 14:56 ๐Ÿ‘ 9 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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At a time of significant global instability, how does the public understand national security โ€” and what role should citizens play in shaping it?
๐Ÿ‘‰๏ธ GCSJ seminar "Public Opinion & National Security in the UK: A People-Centred Approach" with
๐ŸŽ™๏ธThomas Martin
๐Ÿ“† Fri 13 March
โฐ 12:00โ€“13:00
๐Ÿ”— in comments

05.03.2026 08:36 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 2 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Exactly, which is why it's not surprising

05.03.2026 08:17 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Ra8l lines, Guildford

Ra8l lines, Guildford

Today's constitutional

05.03.2026 07:31 ๐Ÿ‘ 18 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Sadly unsurprising: benefit of pulling UKR into EU outweighed by costs of losing leverage for reforms, precedent-setting and the question of how this affects the conduct of the war

05.03.2026 06:12 ๐Ÿ‘ 12 ๐Ÿ” 7 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
a woman holds a cup of coffee in front of a starbucks window Alt: a woman holds a cup of coffee in front of a starbucks window

Passed the periodic IT dept phishing test email...

04.03.2026 11:29 ๐Ÿ‘ 14 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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New report on UK-EU reset from Cmns Foreign Affairs Cte: would be good to have clear strategic goals

committees.parliament.uk/work/8993/th...

04.03.2026 07:42 ๐Ÿ‘ 6 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Westminster bridge

Westminster bridge

Today's constitutional

03.03.2026 08:24 ๐Ÿ‘ 5 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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๐Ÿ“ฃ ๐—–๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ข๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป: ๐—จ๐—”๐—–๐—˜๐—ฆ ๐—š๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—™๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—บ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฒ

๐ŸŽ“ ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ: ๐—˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐—–๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜€: ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป, ๐—œ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฎ ๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ช๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ฑ

You can find out more on the UACES Website: www.uaces.org/gf26

#uaces #uacesgf2026

02.03.2026 13:40 ๐Ÿ‘ 4 ๐Ÿ” 3 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
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Wie der luxemburgische Staat klammheimlich Trumps Willen vollstreckt Die Spuerkeess hat aus Angst vor US-Repressalien die Konten des von Trump sanktionierten Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs geschlossen โ€“ und die Regierung sah tatenlos zu.

Exclusive revelations: The Luxembourg state bank has closed the ICC's institutional bank accounts in the aftermath of Trump's sanctions against the court.

full story via @wort.lu

www.wort.lu/politik/wie-...

02.03.2026 13:05 ๐Ÿ‘ 40 ๐Ÿ” 35 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 8

Talking #Iran with BBC Surrey shortly

@oupolitics.bsky.social

02.03.2026 09:13 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Blossom

Blossom

Today's constitutional

02.03.2026 07:39 ๐Ÿ‘ 12 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Devil's Punchbowl

Devil's Punchbowl

Today's constitutional
#Spring

01.03.2026 10:53 ๐Ÿ‘ 6 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

It's all 'leave the EU to rebuild our Commonwealth ties' when there's a referendum on, but a different tune when it comes to Commonwealth citizens exercising their 112-year old right to vote in a parliamentary by-election.

28.02.2026 23:29 ๐Ÿ‘ 85 ๐Ÿ” 19 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Post a pic you took, no context, to bring some zen to the feed

28.02.2026 07:27 ๐Ÿ‘ 12 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Things ain't what they used to be

27.02.2026 15:35 ๐Ÿ‘ 8 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Draft UKโ€“EU Agreement in respect of Gibraltar The draft Agreement reached between the UK and the European Union in respect of Gibraltar, with accompanying summary.

Will also note that the gov.uk website talks about this version needing further legal review

www.gov.uk/government/p...

27.02.2026 15:21 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

On the back of @stevepeers.bsky.social excellent thread, a graphic of the border arrangements under the Gibraltar Agt

PDF: bit.ly/UshGraphic145
@ukandeu.bsky.social @davidheniguk.bsky.social

27.02.2026 15:18 ๐Ÿ‘ 12 ๐Ÿ” 6 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Over the past eighteen months, the political science consensus on the nature of Labour's vote has been absolutely correct - and yet also completely ignored by pundits and strategists who continue to get it wrong.

27.02.2026 11:46 ๐Ÿ‘ 160 ๐Ÿ” 70 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 4 ๐Ÿ“Œ 4
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Gorton and Denton first thoughts - incredible result for the Greens who won the long battle to be the best placed anti-Reform candidate - helped by being the obvious anti-Labour candidate for disappointed progressives. As I noted in the Observer last month, a Revolt on the Left is growing

27.02.2026 06:06 ๐Ÿ‘ 326 ๐Ÿ” 96 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 17 ๐Ÿ“Œ 12

Going to have a go at the border movements elements presently*


* a word here which means "at some point2

27.02.2026 09:50 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Checks to see if he took it graci... oh

27.02.2026 07:05 ๐Ÿ‘ 30 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Impressively, not asingle mention of the Gibraltar treaty in this afternoon's playbook (or this morning's)

26.02.2026 17:27 ๐Ÿ‘ 6 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Now that us peasants are allowed to see this treaty, here's some thoughts as I read through it.

The summary states that there is no effect on sovereignty and 'no direct application of EU law to Gibraltar through the Agreement or enforcement role for the [CJEU] in Gibraltar'

26.02.2026 09:53 ๐Ÿ‘ 200 ๐Ÿ” 85 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 10 ๐Ÿ“Œ 9

Draft Gibraltar treaty now published, all 1000+ pages of it

www.gibraltar.gov.gi/uploads/_Pre...

26.02.2026 12:01 ๐Ÿ‘ 3 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
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The Representation of the People Bill: contours of the debates to come The governmentโ€™s long-awaited proposals for electoral reforms, published last month, will receive their first scrutiny in the House of Commons next Monday. Ahead of that debate, Alan Renwick analyses which of the billโ€™s proposals โ€“ and omissions โ€“ are likely to spark most contention. He suggests that pressure to strengthen the bill will be intense on multiple fronts.

NEW BLOG: The Representation of the People Bill: contours of the debates to come

Ahead of the bill's second reading on Monday, @alanrenwick.bsky.social covers 'astonishing weaknesses', an idea that is 'indefensible in a democracy' and another 'breach of such a basic democratic principle'.

26.02.2026 06:00 ๐Ÿ‘ 37 ๐Ÿ” 22 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 13
Blossom

Blossom

Today's constitutional

26.02.2026 07:23 ๐Ÿ‘ 10 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0