Peter Allen

@peterallen.bsky.social

1986 Followers 641 Following

Professor of Politics & Co-Director of the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Bath, U.K. / British politics, representation, public sphere / author of How to Think About Politics (2025) and The Political Class (2018)

The Moe and Barney Simpson’s meme where Moe throws Barney out of his bar but Barney immediately appears behind him once more, labelled “Labour” and “Morgan McSweeney”.
The door of the shuttered BrewDog bar in Bath, England. Next to the official logo is a sticker saying “Prick IPA, Scabby Tory Beer”.
A very eighties Christmas card that has a picture of a candle and reads “Season’s Greetings”
A card that reads: Dear Name and Name, How are you both? I are still in Shropshire , inspite of one valiant attempt fo get back to Oxfordshire , my parents’ home county. Name and I finally parted for good and all last July (1982) He met someone in the Psychology Dept at Keele and they are now living together in Sussex. I was very upset, as you can imagine, and I am still not properly back to my old self. Such is life though and I try to make my life useful in other respects. I am once again involned in the L.P. and C.N.D. I would love to hear from you and hear how life treats you in South Wales. Have a lovely time at Christmas. Take care, Name XX
A graph from the FT showing government spending by age cohort. Over-70s have more spent on them than any other age cohort.
A photo of the exterior of a Middle Eastern and Egyptian restaurant called “toot and come in” in Bristol.
Photograph of the King of Spain in military dress.
A bar chart showing the Big Five personality traits and whether or not someone had considered running for political office. Those higher in emotional stability and openness to experience were more likely to have done so.
A pile of paperback copies of a book titled “How to Think about Politics” by Peter Allen. The cover shows individuals in a town square from above.
Promotional flyer for book HOW TO THINK ABOUT POLITICS: A GUIDE IN FIVE PARTS. Includes a photograph of the book cover and information about where to pre-order the book.
Book cover for HOW TO THINK ABOUT POLITICS: A GUIDE IN FIVE PARTS.
Abstract for journal article titled New Labour and political myth — The 1997 UK General Election preceded 13 years of New Labour government. It would be a further 14 years until the Labour Party next held office. Following the initial disavowal of New Labour by many in the wake of the 2010 General Election, these 14 years saw the emergence of a positive narrative regarding New Labour and its time in office – in addition to the reestablishment of what can be seen as ‘New Labour people’ reproducing this narrative – in the mainstream of British political life. In this paper, we use the concept of political myth to explore the persistence of the ideas, strategy, and personnel of New Labour. We begin by defining the concept of political myth in greater detail, drawing out its key features as outlined in the existing literature. We then introduce the case of New Labour, giving an account of the emergence of what we term the New Labour Myth. We then demonstrate how this case falls under the concept of political myth using evidence drawn from a variety of sources across the post-2010 period. Taken together, we argue that the New Labour Myth constitutes an important strain of thought in contemporary British politics.
Cover of slow horses by mick herron
Cover of wolf hall by Hilary Mantel.
Still from film, La chimera.