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AbstractThis article considers the results of the 2019 general election with reference to the Dagenham and Rainham constituency in outer East London. It was a key target for the Conservatives with a 70 per cent leave voting electorate. It did not change hands and might therefore provide insights into the wider debate regarding future coalitions and strategy within the modern left. This article considers these results with reference to arguments about a 'Brexit realignment' on the left and whether Labour should rethink the nature of its political 'base'. It argues for a more nuanced debate than that which currently exists, built around simple binaries organised around Brexit, class, age, education and geography.

There is one area that political theory has barely begun to probe: what makes political thought political? Not ethical, not philosophical, not historical, but political. What kind of everyday thinking is entitled to be called political thinking, and how should we, as scholars, try and make sense of such thinking? I take the political concept as the basic unit of political thinking—and by "concept" I mean a unit of meaning and of understanding that is incorporated in a unit of language, a signifier. The meeting of "concept" and of "politics" creates two dynamics in opposite directions. The first dynamic infuses thinking with the inescapable characteristics of concepts in general. Concepts are ambiguous, indeterminate, vague, and inconclusive. Ipso facto, political thought will necessarily display those components as well, and I have dealt with that question recently. The second, addressed here, identifies central features of the political, and then explores the manner in which language—as thought, text, speech, and non-verbal expression—discharges those features, and the manner in which concepts carry specifically political import. They do so in two ways: either through special attributes that are plainly political, or through the substantive issues they address. Because human interaction and thought always have a political dimension, whether significant or trivial, some fundamental features of political concepts are universal in a macro sense, while at the same time having particular manifestations at different times and places.

Does gender matter in the way in which we 'perform' academia? Drawing on the results of a practitioner survey, we argue that gender does matter, culturally and structurally, and can be institutionalised so that women are disadvantaged. This is not to deny women's agency or the advances that they have made. Rather, we highlight the inequality of the playing field in which the academic endeavour is conducted. Uniquely, we ask UK political scientists about their perceptions of the impact of gender in their working lives and explore their views on recommendations for change.

Does gender matter in the way in which we 'perform' academia? Drawing on the results of a practitioner survey, we argue that gender does matter, culturally and structurally, and can be institutionalised so that women are disadvantaged. This is not to deny women's agency or the advances that they have made. Rather, we highlight the inequality of the playing field in which the academic endeavour is conducted. Uniquely, we ask UK political scientists about their perceptions of the impact of gender in their working lives and explore their views on recommendations for change.

The Qualitative Election Study of Britain (qesb) is the first (and only) qualitative longitudinal dataset to investigate political attitudes and voting behaviour over multiple elections and referendums in the United Kingdom. During the 2015ukgeneral election over 90 voters participated in 23 focus groups across England, Scotland, and Wales before and after polling day. These participants represented a range of political party supporters and independent voters, age groups, and economic backgrounds. They discussed a range of political issues including their vote choice in the election, their impressions of the major party leaders, why they would consider voting (or never voting) for a political party, and their expectations for the country moving forward. Special focus groups were also held around the three leaders' debates. The 2015qesbalso brought back participants who had participated in the 2010qesbfocus groups and the 2014 Scottish referendum focus groups. The 2015qesbhas created a unique panel of participants whose political opinions can be tracked across multiple elections. The project also includes questions that were asked in prior election focus groups and has replicated, with some modifications, the research design of the previous wave of the study.

THIS ARTICLE CRITIQUES DENNIS GOLDFORD'S ATTEMPT TO ADVANCE THE CURRENT DEBATE OVER ACCEPTABLE MODES OF CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION. THE AUTHOR FINDS THAT GOLDFORD'S LACK OF SYMPATHY FOR DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTIONALISM AS A FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND CONSEQUENT FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND THE PERMISSIBLE ROLE OF A CONSTITUTIONAL COURT WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF THAT FORM.