Bobby Duffy

"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...

Life expectancy gap for people with severe mental illness is 'hidden health crisis', study finds | King's College London Most Britons unaware of extent to which severe mental illness cuts lives short

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 the link between extreme rhetoric in the media and politics and the surge in voters saying the country is being torn apart by culture wars, argues Professor Bo...

🔴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...

Imagined immigration is shaping our politics | British Politics and Policy at LSE Immigration has become the number one political priority for the public. But there is one problem: this immigration is imagined, it doesn't really exist.

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...

Imagined immigration is shaping our politics | British Politics and Policy at LSE Enjoying this post? Then sign up to our newsletter and receive a weekly roundup of all our articles. Immigration has become the central issue in British politics. The public now rank it as the most im...

"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

Badenoch’s number caps plan would cut 100,000 university places Tory leader to use conference speech to attack ‘debt trap degrees’ and pledge more money for apprenticeships

💬 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 on anniversary of famous interview, study finds New research tests public attitudes to four influential political statements

'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...

“Ignorance is Strength”. Was Orwell’s Big Brother right? Yes – for populists. Parties like Reform rely on voters overstating the scale of today’s problems

“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.

King's College London shortlisted for two Times Higher Education Awards | King's College London King’s has been shortlisted in two categories at this year’s Times Higher Education (THE) Awards, recognising its leadership in environmental sustainability and commitment to supporting local communit...

🤞 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...

From protest to power? Inside Reform UK's changing support base - UK in a changing Europe Reform has steadily grown in popularity over the last year and topped More in Common’s vote intention polling since May. This report from UK in a Changing Europe and Reform UK makes clear, however, th...

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