Randomized controlled trials are a key tool to study cause and effect. Why do they matter and how do they work?

I was a boy in the 1970s and I thought it was brilliant. As long as I got fed, could play with my mates down the woods, and watch TOTP and the occasional war film, I was happy. But I was looking at my (very narrow) world through a child's eyes. You'd think this point was obvious to everyone else.

I'll have more to say on Reform's proposals to scrap ILR at some point but for now I'll just note this - anyone telling you this is a popular idea doesn't know the polling. Overwhelming majority of public back giving people who work and pay taxes most or all rights after 5 years or less

Most people working in this area have known for years that DWP's figures on trends in out-of-work benefit caseloads are complete junk but have struggled to find more accurate figures. Ben has now produced an estimated time series and the discrepancy is huge. Nobody should be using these stats!

Are out-of-work benefit claims at a record high? My new post open.substack.com/pub/inequali... , and also my take on More or Less this morning at www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Fantastic column by @stephenkb.bsky.social "Racism in the UK remains the preserve of an extreme minority — but one that is emboldened and growing louder. It is the result of a year in which neither the government nor the opposition have been willing to draw red lines." www.ft.com/content/fbbd...

Watch @ageingbetter.bsky.social's Experts by Experience share their stories and offer ways for employers to build more inclusive workplaces ⬇️ 📺 See the full film: youtu.be/oAdLiry9CKA

NEW: Disabled older workers are almost twice as likely to experience negative treatment when applying for jobs or promotions than their peers without disabilities, according to our new report with @ageingbetter.bsky.social. ➡️ ageing-better.org.uk/resources/su...

I'm not sure Kent was even this bad in my 80s-90s childhood (and I can tell you, it was pretty bad). The trajectory is absolutely chilling. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What is a distinctive pattern in the UK (the young are more leftwing) is treated in the UK as what seems natural. This has the consequence that the reasons why it happens in the UK but not in most of western Europe are missed, because it's thought to be a law of nature

For the ALMP and social policy nerds. This seems important 👇🏻

Angela Rayner's statement about her divorce & parenting 'nesting' arrangements of living part-time in the home her children live in. The personal details about her son's disability and trust show why it was not a straightforward case re taxation www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

For more than 16 years, Disability News Service has broken important stories about the discrimination disabled people face every day across the UK. Now DNS is looking for new subscribers to help fund its work. www.disabilitynewsservice.com/disability-n...

The Government is doing its best at the moment to imply it has no problem with the ethnonationalism now rearing its ugly head. And I don't understand why. 1/5

Fab job opportunity below 👇

This is excellent. There's now broad consensus that the current benefits system isn't doing a good enough job at supporting disabled people into employment, but until now there hasn't been much good evidence about what 'better employment support' actually looks like.

Big moment - all PIP claimants in Scotland have been transferred to Adult Disability Payment. Why does this matter? 1) UC (incl UC-health) is reserved to the UK Gov, while disability benefits are devolved. This makes the UK Gov's upcoming health benefit reform tricky www.gov.scot/news/adult-d...

Mental health problems are real. But they’re rarely people’s only barrier to work. People with experience of mental distress describe a wide range of social, economic, relational and structural barriers to work – in addition to the challenges posed by symptoms. It’s more than a mental health issue 🧵

This chart from @smfthinktank.bsky.social shows the problem. The most selective unis are hoovering up students to manage their finances, leaving others at risk of closure. The market needs managing.

The state spends billions every year trying to fix people with health conditions & disabilities for jobs that simply don’t exist. Our response to the Keep Britain Working Review argues for a paradigm shift away from fixing the worker to fixing the workplace: timewise.co.uk/article/bett...

We are looking for a postdoc to work for the @soc-misc.bsky.social project. The post is based at the University of At Andrews in Scotland and focuses on analysing administrative and census data on #miscarriage. Let me or Katy Keenan know if you have any questions. More info below 👇

Fundamentally the political problem is one of work and the esteem that flows from it. Or doesn't.

With growing demand, is this social care crisis fixable? What else should be done? We asked the people who know - the care workers themselves. Read our findings:

Coming back to this again, this statement is why it's so hard to address the problem. Three serving officers arrested and detained a woman for 12 hours! At 4am! On extremely dubious charges! Because, allegedly, her police officer ex asked them to! And the Met considers this acceptable.

The Met is sad to have missed its target but has made clear that 2026 will finally be the year it arrests more criminals than it employs.

Reese and colleagues are doing incredibly important work to identify large scale credibility challenges for the research literature. The latest report is disquieting.

It’s rare for a piece on immigration to point out that we can’t assume a steady supply of migrant labour because the ‘supplier’ countries have ageing populations too. Excellent piece by @samfr.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Bocconi University in Milan is hiring in sociology at any level (open rank). Ideal candidate might focus on inequality, social policy, computational, labor markets, or similar. Happy to answer questions about my time there for anyone considering applying. More details: jobmarket.unibocconi.eu

83/ I don't think it's at all reasonable to run a campaign literally entitled 'change' and then get mad at voters for being pissed off that things haven't meaningfully changed.

How can the Government could strengthen employer incentives to create more opportunities for disabled workers? Our latest report lays out four key things to focus on➡️ buff.ly/d9KvJpj

The narrative around Universal Credit has long centred around work incentives. This new briefing examines how effective UC is at encouraging employment – and how that focus may have overshadowed the deeper complexities of getting into work. 🧵 🔗 www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...

There is substantial unmet demand for social care – which has pushed the burden onto unpaid carers. At the same time, spending in England on services that support unpaid carers, including respite care, has fallen by nearly a third.

The single most important truth in public finance elegantly stated.

And that's a wrap! Watch back our event Making Britain work for everyone: How can employers go further to recruit and retain disabled workers? W/ Charlie Mayfield, Beth Kume-Holland, Rachel Suff @louisemurphy.bsky.social & @ruthcurtice.bsky.social here www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/makin...

How can we support employers to hire and retain disabled staff? @benbgeiger.bsky.social and I explore this question, and set out four concrete policy proposals, in a new @resfoundation.bsky.social report out today: www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...

Scientists overwhelmingly recognize the value of sharing null results, but rarely publish them in the research literature go.nature.com/450KElr

How can employers be encouraged to go further to recruit and retain disabled workers? @resfoundation.bsky.social event this Thursday, launching a report by @louisemurphy.bsky.social and me, with a great panel including Charlie Mayfield

New call for papers: Şerife Tekin and Jonathan Tsou are the guest editor of a special issue dedicated to Ian Hacking and the Philosophy of Psychiatry. Submit your work here: think.taylorandfranc... Deadline 1 February 2026. think.taylorandfranc... #philsky #philsci #philpsy

🚨🚨🚨 NEW WORKING PAPER: "The Benefits of UI for Marginally Attached Workers" with Brendan Moore ➡️ We find that UI minimally delays re-employment, but substantially improves labor market outcomes for low-income workers 🧵1/13

George Orwell warned: bad writing leads to bad thinking. Academia trains us to write for journals, not the public. Clarity feels risky, because it exposes us. But clear communication is essential for democracy. So how do we do it? 🧵 New post 👉 catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/why-clarit...

I have sent this email to my Director of Comms at KCL and would encourage others to do likewise.

Ahead of the expected proscription of Palestine Action - the first time a protest group has been legally redefined as terrorist - I went through the Hansard of the 2000 Act they're being banned under. Turns out MPs were assured the law wouldn't be applied this way. Thread 🧵🔽

Been reading this by @richardpope.org in my lunch hours and it’s rewiring how I think about public services and the policy building behind them. It’s also really nicely written. Strong recommend.

The October budget is such a nightmare. Likely big OBR downgrade, jittery bond market, stupid tax pledge, no room to cut services or welfare without a rebellion. Seriously grim for the government.

Think one of the lasting impacts of the welfare row, wherever the policy ends up is going to be this - a growing perception that Labour is divided - with a stark difference in perceptions of unity, fairly or not, between Reform and Labour.

Wow - it now sounds like the Govt is removing the PIP changes from the UC-PIP bill entirely. All that remains is the cut to UC-Health for new applicants, and the (welcome) increase to the basic rate of UC. This would mean the Govt has lost all the welfare savings it hoped to make this decade.

The big political lesson here is: don’t do things there isn’t an intellectual defence for!

That awkward thing where you write an annual report called 'Low Pay Britain' but 'low pay' has been all but eliminated (on the standard hourly pay < 2/3 median measure). (Our 2025 Low Pay Britain report is out on Thursday, launch event here www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/new-d... )

We are coming together as organisations committed to fighting poverty, providing advice, and supporting and championing the rights of disabled people, their families, and carers. We are calling for the UK government to withdraw the UC & PIP Bill Full statement: www.ucpipbill.co.uk/wp-content/u...

Who will be most affected by changes to the PIP assessment? @louisemurphy.bsky.social‬ explains the probable impacts on different groups by age and condition.