Digging into how the UK’s political landscape has shifted — and what that means for the unfinished project of queer citizenship. #IDAHOBIT 🌈 The UK’s Fall from Grace and the Unfinished Business of Queer Citizenship sites.google.com/view/lee-gre...

Stark from @jrf_uk: HH in lowest 1/3 of incomes in their 30s, between 1978-89 & 2018-19: - Homeownership rates fell from 52% to 28% - Proportion of social renters fell from 41% to 29% - Proportion of private renters increased from 7% to 43%. Housing driving hunger. www.jrf.org.uk/housing/unde...

Trans people are being abused on social media simply for existing as their affirmed selves. This breaks down why it essential trans people have a voice. rejserin.medium.com/defending-tr...

The damage that austerity has done to people - and the strain it has shifted onto the NHS, social security system and councils - is probably the most under-discussed phenomenon of British politics ... because it disproportionately affects working class people. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

New book! Housing Inequality in the 21st Century is now published. The book explores how policy, markets and wider social change are reshaping housing inequality—and why this matters for wellbeing and justice. policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/housing-ineq... #Housing #Inequality #PublicPolicy

More than a fifth of UK’s ‘austerity children’ scarred by poverty, study says

Morning 😂

Another paper showing that family poverty is more important than psychosocial adversities Parental socioeconomic resources and adverse childhood experiences as predictors of not in education, employment, or training: a Finnish register-based longitudinal study: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Child poverty isn't just bad, it results in an enduring earnings gap. This gap between graduates who grew up in poverty and those who didn't persists even for people who go to the same university, get the same degree and work for the same firm ⤵️ buff.ly/5VfX2Fi

Translation: "I started something I can't finish and broke something I can't fix so I'm going to walk away and pretend it's your fault"

What will it take to build a future where no one needs a food bank? Our Social Change Advisor, @heather-buckingham.bsky.social asks this in her new book, A Taste for Change. Available for pre-order now. From 17-20 Feb, Waterstones are offering 25% off with the code FEB26: https://bit.ly/4kKgc6r

Suella Braverman says Reform would scrap the Equality Act 2010. Law prevents discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender, marital status, race, religion and sexual orientation. Reform taking us back to Victorian era, removing hope. Our predecessors fought hard for social rights.

April 2026 will mark a true milestone for the UK benefits system: the end of the thirteen-year rollout of Universal Credit that has brought together all means-tested working-age benefits. But there are still further improvements to be made ⤵️ buff.ly/TjrE4OW

Labour is creating a vulnerable migrant underclass @zoejardiniere.bsky.social

Late lecture today means I'm only now just getting home

Do homophobia and sexual prejudice still exist in tolerant societies? In POQ, Ortega & Bosco's new study reveals how non-traditional relationships continue to be stigmatised in parenting contexts, even in seemingly liberal societies. Read now: doi.org/10.1093/poq/...

8 hours apart ...

UK Universities cut 13,300 jobs, paid £300m+ in redundancy. Economic contribution of the HE sector, £265bn. Systematically destroyed by govts - foreign students not welcome, cut real-term grants, fees, students burdened with debts, low staff pay/morale. Govt want skilled labour. archive.ph/favYt

"Congratulations, we are cutting migration. But we have persistently high NHS waiting lists, a shortage of social care, collapsing universities, missed housebuilding targets, lower economic growth and higher taxes." My new column for @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/opinion/fall...

Trump orders special forces commanders to draw up a plan to invade Greenland. This would deflect attention from the economic crisis and killing of citizens at home. Europe won't resist. What next? New age of imperial emperors will create insecurity. Europe must make new alliances.

Christmas presents once again contribute to the ongoing success of parkrun. Only 15 runs this year and I think about 69 volunteer stints (5k and juniors).

Poorest Britons lose right to financial privacy. The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025 empowers the state to 24/7 snoop on the bank accounts of recipients of universal credit; employment and support allowance; state pension credit. No court order needed. No right of appeal.

In our first paper on instrumental inclusion we showed that people update their views on LGBTQ+ rights in response to out-group threat. Here we extend the theory to test diverse cases of selective inclusion doi.org/10.1017/psrm...

NEW report from @nehaldavison.bsky.social and I. Why have successive governments failed to tackle persistent inequalities in early years outcomes? We set out 5 systemic policy making failures that lead to some children being 'left behind'. 🧵⬇️ www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

New on the Social Policy Blog: "Amsterdam and the New Frontiers of Welfare State Change: How Cities are Shaping the Social Investment State” by David Bokhorst, Meike Bokhorst, and Tijn Croon. socialpolicyblog.co.uk/2025/12/18/a...

Just 15 more sleeps until people stop calling it ‘sleeps’

🚨New research published today🚨 Reforms to Scottish disability payments suggest that the system can be kinder without being costlier. Full story 👉 buff.ly/OAMzq06

Time to register for our January seminar at @qpapinfo.bsky.social with @kevinguyan.bsky.social presenting on the Rainbow Trap. You don't want to miss this one!

📢 Call for Submissions UK-based early career researchers in political science, political economy & public policy: apply to our January Early Career Workshop at LSE. 🗓️ Deadline: 28 Dec 2025 🔗 forms.gle/HXU4DnBq9HmX...

New on the Social Policy Blog: "How robust is support for education spending? Attitudes on trade-offs in a cross-country analysis" by Isik Özel, Salvador Parrado and Kerem Yildirim. socialpolicyblog.co.uk/2025/12/02/h...

New on the Social Policy Blog: "Rethinking vulnerability in climate adaptation" by Nasar Meer (@nasarmeer.bsky.social). @socialpolicyuk.bsky.social @universitypress.cambridge.org @alessiodangelo.bsky.social @enricoreuter.bsky.social socialpolicyblog.co.uk/2025/11/27/r...

New blog post with @drdavebeck.bsky.social and Vanessa Boon making the case for the socio-economic duty to be embedded in the Budget. www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2025/11/24/a...

We’re now live on Bluesky! And we're back online and preparing for a full re-launch next week! We’re the companion blog to the SPA's journals — Journal of Social Policy, Social Policy & Society, and Journal of International & Comparative Social Policy. Follow us here and at socialpolicyblog.co.uk

Really interesting listening to @jamesbloodworth.bsky.social talk about his book. Unexpectedly generated thoughts linking to the monograph on time/temporality and welfare (off to the publisher's soon) and a paper I've been working on regarding social security. Need to find time for further thinking

New post on Transforming Society with @drdavebeck.bsky.social and @VanessaBoon - our argument regarding the socio-economic duty and how it should be drawn upon in developing the child poverty strategy by the UK government. www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2025/10/21/a... Three key take-aways:

Working in #PublicPolicy? Discover how to craft and publish effective #PolicyBriefings that make an impact. 🔗

junior parkrun marshal duties today had a temporary course obstruction...

1,611 homeless Britons died last yr, including 11 children & babies under the age of one. Contrary to Suella Braverman, homelessness isn't a lifestyle. It is a failure of society. Yet govts cut wages/benefits, public services, local council funding; no curbs on profiteering. How civilised are we?

Keeping people in poverty is an expensive luxury. My column on the false economies of austerity, which costs us all a fortune. Despite the government's claims, austerity continues under Labour. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Providing a progressive social democratic alternative to the far right & being a social democratic party in power are not mutually exclusive, despite what Starmer might currently think. In a world full of Keirs, be a Pedro.

Wasn't this on Black Mirror?

Poverty rates in the UK are higher than at any point in the 20th century. The government is once again being urged to scrap the two-child benefit limit, this time by the cross-party Poverty Strategy Commission. Eliminating child poverty is a moral obligation for our party.

It’s out! An article by @clemmiehilloconnor.bsky.social and I about lived experience as a form of evidence in anti-poverty policymaking. Published in Policy & Politics journal bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

I can’t help but wonder that if proposing a nationwide bathroom ban for trans people isn’t enough to get supposed trans allies to leave the Labour Party, what will actually do it? You should campaign for parties that align with your beliefs. If you don’t believe in bathroom bans, resign.

There are decades and more of research into how damaging the social security system is. But governments just remain wedded to an economic ideology that punishes the poor in a misguided belief it's the right thing to do.

Cuts to the health element of universal credit will push tens of thousands of people into poverty despite the increase in the standard rate.

Since publishing Rainbow Trap in June, I've been sharing ideas from the book across the UK and getting a feel for what ideas about LGBTQ data resonate with audiences and what ideas fall flat. Here's my list of 10 things I've learnt when talking about LGBTQ data 👇 📝 kevinguyan.com/2025/08/07/1...

19th July was my last visit as an event ambassador to one of the events I supported and one of several I set up. I'm stepping away from the Event Ambassador role now and stepping into the Regional Event Ambassador for Birmingham and the Black Country - with some big shoes to fill!

Govt dropped cuts to PIP, but today's Committee report highlights MPs' concerns that many disabled people will be pushed into poverty by remaining cuts to Universal Credit's health element. In evidence to the inquiry I warned of the hardship this will cause. 1/5 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...