PM says on radio that there are 1m young people on benefits. Presume he meant 1m young people not in education employment or training. Only about half of them claim benefits.

Really proud Fall of Civilizations has been named a Waterstones paperback of the year. Get it at your local Waterstones! LINK: www.waterstones.com/book/fall-of...

Excellent timely report from Nuffield Trust on how we meet, or fail to meet, the costs of care. The current approach is over complicated, binary in its approach and discriminates in favour of those who can navigate complex sustems www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/research/all...

Never more relevant

What a great loss - such an influential, persuasive, informed - and amazingly generous - man

What very sad news, and what an enormous loss to all those thinking creatively about our current challenges. His voice, and his challenge, will be sorely missed www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

A lovely thoughtful mediation on the very long tail of grief

www.linkedin.com/pulse/welcom.... Great to see this newsletter from @smartdatafoundry.bsky.social demonstrating the very many ways in which data that is not normally available can illuminate long standing social and economic challenges

Proud of this from the great actor (and my old friend) Simon Russell Beale.

Full house for the launch of this wonderful book by @stephenunwin.bsky.social interviewed by the powerful advocate @johnharris1969.bsky.social (who has also written a brilliant book )

Read this beautiful tribute and reflection on the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt by @chriscreegan.bsky.social‬. The quilt was displayed in full last week at Tate Modern for the first time this century. 

A must read on a subject too often under explored. Powered by love, based on the strongest evidence, drawing widely from every discipline - a book that will inform us all for decades to come. But it is also a joy to read Proud of my brother @stephenunwin.bsky.social

Join us in York with our friends @yorklitfest.bsky.social on Wed 28 May for a special event to celebrate the launch of Finding Belle by Reeta Chakrabarti The event will take place @yorkstjohn.bsky.social and tickets are #FREE but must be booked www.yorksj.ac.uk/events/upcom...

This is excellent and develops quite a few of the ideas we promoted in #CivilSocietyFutures especially about the power of place

@doctoroxford.com you might be interested in this. I argued that kindness is radical, tough and rooted in solidarity. How depressing that #bekind is now deployed to ignore the fundamental power of recognising that emotions are the heart of public policy change carnegieuk.org/publication/...

It’s a great book deserving even more coverage

This will be brilliant. So sorry to be missing it

New @bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk @britishacademy.bsky.social report today on the need for policymakers to not overlook the importance of investing in social and cultural infrastructure, and how we might go about measuring it www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/blog/value-o...

Speaker Spotlight: Dr. Gemma Cassells will present "Data Are Plural: So Are the People Who Make It Matter. This talk invites us to move beyond the idea of data as a single source of truth and embrace it as a human-centred, collaborative tool for real-world change. 👉 Register bit.ly/3DXfMbZ

Really proud that Fall of Civilizations came in at number 6 on the Sunday Times bestseller list today! Thank you so much to everyone who pre-ordered and helped spread the word.

I'm going to be at Hatchards bookshop tomorrow in London, talking about the release of the Fall of Civilizations book. Come join me! Date: 10 apr • 18:30 Location: 187 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LE

Very excited to announce that Fall of Civilizations has been named a "Book of the month" by Blackwell's bookshop. Just a short thank you video to everyone who has helped make this possible. Pre-order your copy if you haven't already: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...

Happening tomorrow! @annieknk.bsky.social joins us for a Digital Sawyer Seminar: 🕘 9–10:30 AM ET | Zoom 🎙️ From Mancaves to Mainstream: The Evolution of the Manosphere Free & open to all — register here: psu.zoom.us/meeting/regi... Supported by the Mellon Foundation’s Sawyer Seminar Program.

This is so so true. The community building. The creation of connection. The strengthening of trust. No matter whether they are about housing cats or documenting local history- charities ALWAYS create additional social value.

This is such an important thread. At its best vibrant civil society is the glue in our fragile world, the social infrastructure, and describing it as a series of services is misleading, and completely misses the point.

Spot on, Helen. Government has considerable power (both soft and otherwise) to change employer behaviour. This would have been an opportunity - but it would also have required a clear eyed view about the Labour market. Easier to ignore?

Excellent - the time that we are encouraged to forget

Thought that it was spring and started excitedly making plans that involve sitting outside

In awe of the cover design on the Polish edition of Fall of Civilizations. Polish readers are built different

So striking that both the PM and S of S describe the NHS as a spender of money, not a steward of prosperity, security and our collective well- being

More support for people in ill health to stay in work ‘could save UK £1bn’ - this is a great analysis but I’d also add that the current system has such sharp cliff edges that people are actively discouraged from trying to go back to work

There's still time to get one of these limited edition signed copies of the Fall of Civilizations paperback, with exclusive printed page-end designs! We've also partnered with this beautiful independent bookshop that does international deliveries everywhere Link: www.welbooks.co.uk/shop/p/fall-...

This evening York is lit up to mark 100 years since our founder, Joseph Rowntree, died 🌃 Rowntree was a confectionery businessman, social reformer and philanthropist. Find out more about him and the centenary here: rowntreesociety.org.uk/joseph-rownt...

I've just been to Clays book printers to sign a thousand of these special edition paperbacks of my book Fall of Civilizations. These are very limited edition!

"If you lived in western Europe, the reality of war was unlikely to be a big feature of your life. This is, historically, unusual. And it was true – though we often bridled against it – because the world’s biggest superpower was committed to defending us. "Well. It was nice while it lasted."

Do read this by @alexmassie.bsky.social on the degeneracy of today's Conservative Party. alexmassie.substack.com/p/the-rottin...

I'm back on QAA, giving the boys an update on Nigel Farage, Elon Musk and the resistible rise of Reform UK. Many thanks to @joemulhall.bsky.social at @hopenothate.org.uk for sharing some of their vital research! on.soundcloud.com/EmJR9PXP7Vdq...

This is really the best ever thread

#REALChallenge 'the voice of the public has been missing in this space'. So great to hear this from Hetan Shah. How can the @healthfoundation.bsky.social take this on board?

This piece by Dr. @annieknk.bsky.social explores how the #farright weaponized the #groomingscandal. As she writes, "they’ve taken a story of real institutional failings [...] & twisted it into a weapon against immigrants, the left, & ultimately, many of the victims themselves." tinyurl.com/2dfr97h7

How many new homes are we really building? Commonly used statistics are wrong, says @resi-analyst.bsky.social, and some new homes turn out to be caravans on.ft.com/3W5p2ki

A sobering read for anyone concerned about the future of universities (and vitally the experience of the students without whom they would not exist.)

My latest for QAA is here! This time we're travelling back to Early Modern Europe at the time of mass witch trials, and taking a look at a handful of people who entertained the bizarre and whimsical notion that witches might not be real. m.soundcloud.com/qanonanonymo...

The remarkable Jess Steele and the power of community business at Hastings Commons