Along with @demos-uk.bsky.social and the Centre for British Democracy, we're partnering with the Home Affairs Committee to deliver a series of "citizen-assembly style" events where the public can come together and debate the trade-offs between legal migration and economic growth 📈 🛂

🙏 Is there a religious revival underway among young people – or is it just a statistical mirage? @bobbyduffy.bsky.social writes about this growing debate ahead of an event we're hosting next week with experts from Pew Research Center and UCL

172,000 children in UK are homeless - Dan Hewitt from ITV outlining this is a systemic, political choice and @kwajo.bsky.social that the narrative shift to see housing as an asset not an essential at heart of crisis @kbrickell.bsky.social @policyatkings.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social

NEW: One in five people say they feel suddenly and deeply thankful to be alive on at least a weekly basis, while another one in seven say they never experience such feelings. Our final study of 2025 explores some of the UK public's deepest and most philosophical emotions 🧵⬇️

This shocked me. I have so many photos of sunsets, clouds, insects, shadows, strangely shaped trees, etc., etc. that I’ve taken to send to others to share the joy I feel. Countryside or city. Whether I start out happy or sad. Never thought others might not feel the same.

Out today - 16% of public feel a profound sense of awe or wonder at the universe or nature DAILY, 12% say they NEVER feel that, with an even spread across range between. One of my favourite qs of year - don't often get sense of how different our mental models are www.kcl.ac.uk/news/one-in-...

"The perception that this divisiveness works has taken hold" – @bobbyduffy.bsky.social spoke to the Associated Press about the "frightening increase in the sense of national division and decline" and the need for political leaders to be responsible with their rhetoric ➡️ apnews.com/article/euro...

ICYMI The public think people arriving by small boats make up not only the largest share of asylum seekers, but the largest share of *all* immigrants. In fact, it's just 4% of the total number, write @bobbyduffy.bsky.social & @elielcohen.bsky.social ➡️ blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

🔊 "a real problem between the generations is not conflict, it's separation. We are living much more separately by generations than we have at any time in human history" @bobbyduffy.bsky.social on the latest episode of @peteryork.bsky.social's Culture Wars House Party podcast

🔊 "there's very little overlap now in the attitudes between Republicans and Democrats... you can predict more and more of social attitudes in the US just by knowing your party identity" @bobbyduffy.bsky.social on the latest episode of @peteryork.bsky.social's Culture Wars House Party podcast

"that [financial inequality] is a fracturing in society more generally but particularly among young people... because wealth is more important to our economic success than income these days" @bobbyduffy.bsky.social on The Briefing Room on BBC Radio 4 to discuss intergenerational tensions

🔉 "not every Baby Boomer made it big, far from it... the top third have the vast majority of that wealth... that wealth is flowing down very unevenly" @bobbyduffy.bsky.social on The Briefing Room on BBC Radio 4 to discuss intergenerational tensions, following another increase in the state pension

Interested in intergenerational economic injustice? This episode of The Briefing Room features two of our Fellows @janefalkingham.bsky.social FAcSS and @bobbyduffy.bsky.social FAcSS discussing just that. Find out more and catch up ⬇️

📻 Coming up at 4pm today on BBC Radio 4 CPC-CG Director @janefalkingham.bsky.social @uosmedia.bsky.social will discuss #intergenerational #economic justice, with CPC-CG's @sophiehale.bsky.social @resolutionfoundation.org, + @bobbyduffy.bsky.social & @xiaoweixu.bsky.social @theifs.bsky.social ⬇️⬇️

Incredible examples of huge programmes Tamara Finkelstein has driven - eg so many claim a key role in Sure Start but Tamara has one of best claims to making it happen - great conversation with @michael-sanders.bsky.social at relaunch of King’s School for Government in @policyatkings.bsky.social

“If we want to build a fairer, more inclusive society, we need to understand it first. That’s the power of social science.” Watch Julia Gillard discuss the vital role of social science in a divided world in our 2025 Campaign for Social Science Annual Sage Lecture. 📽️➡️ acss.org.uk/news/watch-t...

"Social science is not just a discipline. It's a way of seeing the world, of asking the questions that matter...Without it, science risks becoming detached from society." 💬 Julia Gillard delivers the Campaign for Social Science Annual Sage Lecture

“Inequality is poisoning our economy and undermining growth - and yet politicians see tackling it as low priority or too risky” Julian Richer

The public think people arriving by small boats make up not only the largest share of asylum seekers, but the largest share of *all* immigrants. In fact, it's just 4% of the total number, write @bobbyduffy.bsky.social & @elielcohen.bsky.social ➡️ blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsand...

NEXT WEEK: Truth and Trust: The Vital Role of Social Science in a Divided World Join us and an expert panel, including Julia Gillard, to discuss how social science can still have global impact in an era of political polarisation 🎟️ Register for the livestream ➡️ acss.civiplus.net/civicrm/even...

"The key point is that no-one actually wins a culture war in the end, because they never fully end." @bobbyduffy.bsky.social on the options available to counter growing cultural tensions and divisions in the UK ➡️ bylinetimes.com/2025/11/11/u...

NEW: People with severe mental illness face a significant life expectancy gap, amounting to a hidden health crisis, with the public vastly underestimating the scale of the impact on mortality New research with @kingshealth.bsky.social & @maudsleycharity.bsky.social 🧵 ⬇️

🔴US-Style Culture Wars Have Come to Britain but Who Is Starting Them? A new study raises stark questions about links between extreme rhetoric in the media and the surge in voters saying the country is being torn apart by culture wars, argues @bobbyduffy.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2025/11/11/u...

Is imagined immigration is shaping UK politics? @bobbyduffy.bsky.social & @elielcohen.bsky.social @policyatkings.bsky.social for @lsepoliticsblog.bsky.social

📺 "We've amplified and given more space to more extreme views than we would even a couple of years ago" 💬 @bobbyduffy.bsky.social speaks to BBC News about the drivers behind some of the growing culture war divisions identified in our new study with @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social

🔊 "What we've seen is an increase in more extreme rhetoric in social media, media and politics over the last few years...and that more extreme rhetoric does shift views. It gives you a changing view of the norm" @bobbyduffy.bsky.social on the Today programme discussing our new culture wars study

Economists Assemble

NEW: Perceptions of division in the UK have reached their highest point since trends began in 2020, while the share who believe the nation is divided by "culture wars" specifically has risen from 46% to 67% today Our study with @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social reveals growing culture war tensions 🧵 ⬇️

Having studied immigration attitudes + misperceptions for decades, 3 things stand out: - they change, but it's so tribal that each side thinks it's settled when it moves in "their" direction - our misperceptions are a signal of worry as much as a cause - BUT that doesn't mean facts don't matter...

"So a major driver of immigration becoming such a central societal and political issue is a growing concern about asylum seekers perceived as coming illegally – but this is built on an extraordinarily wrong view of their scale" @bobbyduffy.bsky.social & @elielcohen.bsky.social write for the LSE

💬 The public are "putting an awful lot of hope on the idea of apprenticeships...It’s partly because we’ve been so bad at doing them that people can put all of that hope on to them because they’ve got so little experience of them." @bobbyduffy.bsky.social quoted in @timeshighered.bsky.social

Real mix of university and FE leaders in packed room for panel with Skills Minister on how we need to work together to deliver the skills strategy, great to do this jointly with @et-foundation.bsky.social @hepi-news.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @policyatkings.bsky.social

Starting in 20 mins in Leonardo hotel, with Minister for Skills Baroness Jacqui Smith, lots to discuss on HE given the week's announcements... @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @hepi-news.bsky.social

🚨Starting soon! 🚨 Join us at 12pm in the Leonardo Hotel, Liverpool, for our discussion on the future of HE and skills, hosted with the Education Training Foundation ⬇️

'No such thing as society'? Just 11% support Thatcher's view

Margaret Thatcher's interview with Woman's Own was this day in 1987 - the furore over the quote annoyed her, as she thought she was getting across subtle Hayekian ideas. These cut-through quotes are rare but interesting - we tested Starmer, Gove and Mandelson versions...

“Countless experiments show that around 10 per cent of the public don’t understand simple percentages” — Prof @bobbyduffy.bsky.social, quoted on Peter Kellner’s blog. kellnerp.substack.com/p/ignorance-... He could have said one in ten , but I guess Bobby is a take-no-prisoners kind of a guy.

🤞 We're delighted to be part of a team that's been nominated for Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community in the @timeshighered.bsky.social awards, for our work documenting the impact of the London Living Wage ⬇️

💡 "There’s substantial evidence of independent benefits on skills development, self-esteem, sense of wellbeing, civic engagement and openness to diversity." 💬 @bobbyduffy.bsky.social spoke to the Guardian about whether it still pays to go to university ➡️ www.theguardian.com/education/20...

🇬🇧 ⚠️ 72% of Reform UK supporters say people like them are powerless to change things in the country – a higher proportion than even non-voters, and well above Conservative and Labour supporters From our latest study into democratic disconnect in the UK ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/big-dec...

Out today - which is what I'd call timely - our work with @moreincommonuk.bsky.social on who Reform voters and Reform considerers are. And the challenges they'll face keeping this coalition together. Pleasure working with you @luketryl.bsky.social ukandeu.ac.uk/reports/from...

🚨 POLLING ALERT 🚨 We asked more than 4,000 Reform voters what makes them tick. And found 5 segments within a very broad Reform coalition. Many disagree with each other on fundamental issues.

We’ve just published a unique new study to really understand why more people are considering voting Reform UK ‘Decoding Populism’ was a joint effort with @yougov.co.uk @policyatkings.bsky.social Faster Horses & @liambyrnemp.bsky.social Read it in @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/article/9657...

📣 Calling all @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social doctoral & postdoctoral researchers - applications are now open for the The King’s Parliamentary Research Internships programme to engage directly with the inner workings of parliament & policy. ➡️ Apply by 17 Aug: kcl.targetconnect.net/user/app/job...

🎙️ New podcast alert! In episode 1 of the School for Government Podcast, @michael-sanders.bsky.social sits down with Dame Tamara Finkelstein DCB to explore what it takes to make good evidence based policy with lasting impact. ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/the-sch...

This is just very poor - and likely affects perceptions: we asked people to estimate what % of prisoners are foreign born in 2017, and average guess in GB was 34%, nearly 3x actual of 12% then (and now!) Irresponsible to turn non-story into scary sounding headline @benpageresearch.bsky.social

Lord Grade on the clearly documented harms to children from online platforms “I don’t know how the tech leaders sleep at night. Maybe they just count the clicks” - key lecture at @strandgroup.bsky.social @policyatkings.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social

Does when you were born shape who you are? @bobbyduffy.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DUh...

‘The No10 communications team has banned any official from speaking at events that include question and answer sessions, or where the media are expected to be in attendance’. Ridiculous. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/gove...

NEW: NHS research and innovation at risk if academic partnerships deprioritised Our new report with King’s Health Partners warns university health partnerships are being sidelined — despite saving lives and boosting the economy. ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/nhs-res... 🧵⬇️