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policyatkings.bsky.social
The Policy Institute
@policyatkings.bsky.social
Working to solve society’s challenges with evidence and expertise. Based at King's College London 🔗 kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute

Event invites & updates ➡️ https://kcl.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=1fbc849719098ca1a31f3263e&id=9ba63cb1ff
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...
November 14, 2025 at 4:18 PM
💸 This #LondonLivingWageWeek, check out early findings from Dr Kirstie Hewlett & @marypazventura.bsky.social's new study, which follows the lives of 15 Londoners – earning the #LondonLivingWage or below – to ask what earning a real living wage means in practice.

➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/living-...
Living the London Living Wage: A month in the life of 15 Southwark Residents | King's College London
New research tracks how Londoners balance rising costs on and below the Living Wage
www.kcl.ac.uk
November 14, 2025 at 3:02 PM
"One has to worry when will this merry-go-round stop?"

Professor Shitij Kapur, Vice-Chancellor of @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social, speaking at our event this week on how TRAC data may enable UK higher education institutions to increase financial sustainability

➡️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY0B...
November 14, 2025 at 11:51 AM
🚨 Less than a week to go

Join us, @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social and @giwlkings.bsky.social to explore what new data tells us about how attitudes towards issues such as feminism, masculinity and equality are evolving – and what this means for the future of gender relations in the UK and beyond

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NEXT WEEK: An emerging divide? Young people's attitudes to gender and the challenges facing both women and men

Join us to discuss findings from our upcoming research w/ @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social & @giwlkings.bsky.social and the future of gender relations in the UK

➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/events/an-em...
November 14, 2025 at 10:10 AM
It's that time of year again... Policy Idol is back! 

💡 Test your ideas

🎓 Convince experts

💵 Win cash prizes

Now open to all @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social students.

➡️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/poli...
November 13, 2025 at 11:51 AM
"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...
November 13, 2025 at 11:06 AM
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 🧵 ⬇️
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
www.kcl.ac.uk
November 12, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Reposted by The Policy Institute
EVENT | Dame Tamara Finkelstein DCB: in conversation

Join us for a special event with Tamara Finkelstein, one of the UK’s most experienced former civil servants, as she reflects on intelligent and innovative policymaking in an age of uncertainty

➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/events/dame-t...
November 11, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Reposted by The Policy Institute
🔴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...
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...
bylinetimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Appealing to the virtue of political and media leaders to moderate their rhetoric "seems forlorn, even laughable...but it is also the case that there's very limited evidence that extreme divisiveness is a hugely successful electoral strategy"

@bobbyduffy.bsky.social for @bylinetimes.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...
bylinetimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:24 AM
NEW: UK universities' 25-year-old system for costing activities like teaching and research is no longer providing the insights needed to help navigate the sector's challenges.

Our report argues the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) system could be enhanced to support better decision-making

🧵⬇️
University costing data must be better used to tackle financial crisis, report says | King's College London
The TRAC methodology is not providing the detailed insights that could help support better decision-making
www.kcl.ac.uk
November 11, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Reposted by The Policy Institute
📊 In charts: the issues dividing Britain

"While divisions over Brexit are healing, immigration and a yearning for the past are splitting the nation"

The Financial Times on our new culture wars study with @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social

➡️ www.ft.com/content/41ef...
November 7, 2025 at 12:05 PM
"@bobbyduffy.bsky.social director of the Policy Institute at KCL, said the study showed a 'frightening increase' in the sense of 'national division' and decline in the UK"

The Times on our latest culture wars study with @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social
Britons becoming increasingly divided over ‘culture wars’
Survey finds that young people are also losing a sense of pride in the UK and that a majority of people believe life was better in the past
www.thetimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:49 PM
📺 "It's actually quite easy to compromise on economic things... but on cultural issues... that compromise is much more difficult"

@bobbyduffy.bsky.social spoke to Times Radio about the political dynamics accelerating culture war divisions identified in our new study with @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 1:15 PM
NEXT WEEK: An emerging divide? Young people's attitudes to gender and the challenges facing both women and men

Join us to discuss findings from our upcoming research w/ @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social & @giwlkings.bsky.social and the future of gender relations in the UK

➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/events/an-em...
November 10, 2025 at 10:53 AM
TOMORROW: Broke and broken? What TRAC data tells us about higher education finances

With nearly half of UK universities in deficit, join us, @hepi-news.bsky.social and an expert panel to explore how TRAC data can guide more sustainable funding and policy decisions.

➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/events/broke...
November 10, 2025 at 9:17 AM
📺 "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
November 7, 2025 at 1:17 PM
📊 In charts: the issues dividing Britain

"While divisions over Brexit are healing, immigration and a yearning for the past are splitting the nation"

The Financial Times on our new culture wars study with @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social

➡️ www.ft.com/content/41ef...
November 7, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by The Policy Institute
18% of people in Britain identify as "woke"
18% of people identify as "anti-woke"
43% as neither
19% don't know what the terms mean [that was half in 2020]

Kings Policy Institute latest study shows that the polarised tribes remain vocal minority segments, but perceptions of division are rising
November 7, 2025 at 11:06 AM
🔊 "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
November 7, 2025 at 10:39 AM
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 🧵 ⬇️
November 7, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Reposted by The Policy Institute
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...
November 5, 2025 at 6:16 PM
"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
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...
blogs.lse.ac.uk
November 5, 2025 at 12:23 PM
EVENT: An emerging divide? Young people's attitudes to gender and the challenges facing both women and men.

Join us as we discuss findings from our upcoming research with @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social & @giwlkings.bsky.social and the future of gender relations in the UK

➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/events/an-em...
November 5, 2025 at 10:08 AM