Gavin Kelly
@gavin-kelly.bsky.social
Chief Executive, Nuffield Foundation
Previous lives:
Chief Executive & Exec. Chair, Resolution Foundation
Founding Chair, Living Wage Commission
Deputy Chief of Staff, 10 Downing Street
Council of Economic Advisors, HMT
Previous lives:
Chief Executive & Exec. Chair, Resolution Foundation
Founding Chair, Living Wage Commission
Deputy Chief of Staff, 10 Downing Street
Council of Economic Advisors, HMT
The ethics council to the vast Norwegian sovereign wealth fund (largest in the world) has been suspended by the Norwegian government.
Important & troubling piece by @martinsandbu.ft.com
www.ft.com/content/f6b3...
Important & troubling piece by @martinsandbu.ft.com
www.ft.com/content/f6b3...
How Norway jeopardised its integrity overnight
Oslo abruptly changed the ethics rules for the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund
www.ft.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:54 PM
The ethics council to the vast Norwegian sovereign wealth fund (largest in the world) has been suspended by the Norwegian government.
Important & troubling piece by @martinsandbu.ft.com
www.ft.com/content/f6b3...
Important & troubling piece by @martinsandbu.ft.com
www.ft.com/content/f6b3...
Reposted by Gavin Kelly
Here's Denis Healey when the basic (+ higher) rate of income tax was last raised 50 years ago (BR went up by 2p to 35%). Note the desire to avoid a *100%* marginal rate at the very top.
November 12, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Here's Denis Healey when the basic (+ higher) rate of income tax was last raised 50 years ago (BR went up by 2p to 35%). Note the desire to avoid a *100%* marginal rate at the very top.
Here's Denis Healey when the basic (+ higher) rate of income tax was last raised 50 years ago (BR went up by 2p to 35%). Note the desire to avoid a *100%* marginal rate at the very top.
November 12, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Here's Denis Healey when the basic (+ higher) rate of income tax was last raised 50 years ago (BR went up by 2p to 35%). Note the desire to avoid a *100%* marginal rate at the very top.
Reposted by Gavin Kelly
📣Closing this week: We're hiring an Associate Director to lead our Emerging Technology & Industry Practice research domain.
It's an exciting time to join Ada as we begin our new strategy period.
Deadline: 23:59 GMT, 16 November 2025.
www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/job/associat...
It's an exciting time to join Ada as we begin our new strategy period.
Deadline: 23:59 GMT, 16 November 2025.
www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/job/associat...
Ada Lovelace Institute Associate Director, Emerging Technology & Industry Practice
www.adalovelaceinstitute.org
November 10, 2025 at 9:32 AM
📣Closing this week: We're hiring an Associate Director to lead our Emerging Technology & Industry Practice research domain.
It's an exciting time to join Ada as we begin our new strategy period.
Deadline: 23:59 GMT, 16 November 2025.
www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/job/associat...
It's an exciting time to join Ada as we begin our new strategy period.
Deadline: 23:59 GMT, 16 November 2025.
www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/job/associat...
So many issues Today programme could have asked Charlie Mayfield about on his new report. Very odd to pursue a line of enquiry about whether the UK statutory sick pay is too generous (we have one of the least generous systems in the OECD).
November 5, 2025 at 9:00 AM
So many issues Today programme could have asked Charlie Mayfield about on his new report. Very odd to pursue a line of enquiry about whether the UK statutory sick pay is too generous (we have one of the least generous systems in the OECD).
Don’t think a 0.3% downgrade is especially surprising (regardless of analysts’ expectations). As brutal as the Budget will be for HMT, I expect they’d prefer this to 3 years of consecutive small downgrades.
on.ft.com/3WWvlq6 Reeves faces £20bn hit to UK public finances from productivity downgrade
on.ft.com/3WWvlq6 Reeves faces £20bn hit to UK public finances from productivity downgrade
Reeves faces £20bn hit to UK public finances from productivity downgrade
Bigger than expected reduction in OBR forecast deals blow to chancellor ahead of Budget
on.ft.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Don’t think a 0.3% downgrade is especially surprising (regardless of analysts’ expectations). As brutal as the Budget will be for HMT, I expect they’d prefer this to 3 years of consecutive small downgrades.
on.ft.com/3WWvlq6 Reeves faces £20bn hit to UK public finances from productivity downgrade
on.ft.com/3WWvlq6 Reeves faces £20bn hit to UK public finances from productivity downgrade
Utterly brutal but completely necessary. Should never have been allowed to go on this long. Hope the fans now go in numbers to support & spend.
Julian Pitts, Kris Wigfield and Paul Stanley of Begbies Traynor have been appointed joint administrators of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club Limited and of Sheffield 3 Limited, the company that owns the club’s stadium, on 24 October 2025.
👉 www.swfc.co.uk/news/2025/oc...
👉 www.swfc.co.uk/news/2025/oc...
October 24, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Utterly brutal but completely necessary. Should never have been allowed to go on this long. Hope the fans now go in numbers to support & spend.
Reposted by Gavin Kelly
Delighted to see NELI, the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme, described as an ‘education silver bullet’ by @beckyfrancis.bsky.social in @schoolsweek.bsky.social. NELI is a programme for reception pupils in England who need extra support with speech & language development. bit.ly/47CEtq3
‘I dream the curriculum every night’: Becky Francis profile
Becky Francis reflects on control, compromise, and finding the balance between ‘firebrand’ and 'technocrat'
bit.ly
October 22, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Delighted to see NELI, the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme, described as an ‘education silver bullet’ by @beckyfrancis.bsky.social in @schoolsweek.bsky.social. NELI is a programme for reception pupils in England who need extra support with speech & language development. bit.ly/47CEtq3
Yikes.
Recently accepted by #QJE, “Digital Distractions with Peer Influence: The Impact of Mobile App Usage on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes,” by Barwick, Chen, Fu, and Li: doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
Digital Distractions with Peer Influence: The Impact of Mobile App Usage on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes*
Abstract. Concerns about excessive mobile phone use among youth are mounting. We present estimates of both behavioral and contextual peer effects, along wi
doi.org
October 17, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Yikes.
Crucial scene-setting by @theifs.bsky.social in its Green Budget which @nuffieldfoundation.org is pleased to support.
NEW: The Chancellor almost certainly has a fiscal repair job on her hands at next month’s Budget.
But doing the bare minimum risks another fiscal groundhog day next year.
🧵 THREAD on our new IFS Green Budget's findings on the UK's economic outlook and fiscal situation:
But doing the bare minimum risks another fiscal groundhog day next year.
🧵 THREAD on our new IFS Green Budget's findings on the UK's economic outlook and fiscal situation:
October 16, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Crucial scene-setting by @theifs.bsky.social in its Green Budget which @nuffieldfoundation.org is pleased to support.
All Budgets are billed as important but this one is set to be especially challenging.
Pleased @nuffieldfoundation.org supports @theifs.bsky.social Green Budget which illuminates the key choices & trade-offs.
Here's the chapter on options for tax increases.
ifs.org.uk/publications...
Pleased @nuffieldfoundation.org supports @theifs.bsky.social Green Budget which illuminates the key choices & trade-offs.
Here's the chapter on options for tax increases.
ifs.org.uk/publications...
Options for tax increases | Institute for Fiscal Studies
If the Chancellor hopes to raise large sums from tax increases at the Budget, she should consider reforms that would make any increases less damaging.
ifs.org.uk
October 13, 2025 at 8:25 AM
All Budgets are billed as important but this one is set to be especially challenging.
Pleased @nuffieldfoundation.org supports @theifs.bsky.social Green Budget which illuminates the key choices & trade-offs.
Here's the chapter on options for tax increases.
ifs.org.uk/publications...
Pleased @nuffieldfoundation.org supports @theifs.bsky.social Green Budget which illuminates the key choices & trade-offs.
Here's the chapter on options for tax increases.
ifs.org.uk/publications...
Being clear about what is happening to graduates in the jobs market is important in its own right - but also because simplistic analysis just feeds the beast of suspect narrative (it's all AI etc)
More clear thinking from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com
More clear thinking from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com
October 10, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Being clear about what is happening to graduates in the jobs market is important in its own right - but also because simplistic analysis just feeds the beast of suspect narrative (it's all AI etc)
More clear thinking from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com
More clear thinking from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com
Reposted by Gavin Kelly
I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter
Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
October 7, 2025 at 6:24 PM
I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter
Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
Well worth reading this thoughtful interview on race, identity and much else with the optimistic realist @sundersays.bsky.social
"We haven’t come all this way, Katwala says, “just for Elon Musk, a man born into an apartheid state, who’s polarised America, to come and start a civil war here by breaking the law"
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
Sunder Katwala on race, patriotism and flag-waving: ‘The far right is vocal and angry because it is shrinking’
The director of British Future has spent his career trying to find common ground when it comes to race and immigration. He describes his own experience of racism – and why he’s still hopeful for the U...
www.theguardian.com
October 7, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Well worth reading this thoughtful interview on race, identity and much else with the optimistic realist @sundersays.bsky.social
I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of this.
October 6, 2025 at 1:51 PM
I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of this.
Some of the most thoughtful social commentary atm is coming via @manchestermill.bsky.social
manchestermill.co.uk/jews-and-mus...
manchestermill.co.uk/jews-and-mus...
Jews and Muslims in North Manchester: A personal story
‘We thought we were the luckiest people in the world to be born in Manchester’
manchestermill.co.uk
October 5, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Some of the most thoughtful social commentary atm is coming via @manchestermill.bsky.social
manchestermill.co.uk/jews-and-mus...
manchestermill.co.uk/jews-and-mus...
When should (& shouldn’t) political differences be bridged?
A rich and timely conversation between Ta-Nehisi Coates & @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/4jQE...
A rich and timely conversation between Ta-Nehisi Coates & @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/4jQE...
Ta-Nehisi Coates on Bridging Gaps vs. Drawing Lines
open.spotify.com
October 4, 2025 at 2:44 PM
When should (& shouldn’t) political differences be bridged?
A rich and timely conversation between Ta-Nehisi Coates & @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/4jQE...
A rich and timely conversation between Ta-Nehisi Coates & @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/4jQE...
Reposted by Gavin Kelly
Somewhere free, quiet, and right next to Liverpool Street? 👀
Whether you’ve got a deadline looming, are polishing off a chapter on your lunch break, or hunting for a calm spot to do some work, our new Reading Room is open to you.
👋 https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/whats-on/activity/reading-room/
Whether you’ve got a deadline looming, are polishing off a chapter on your lunch break, or hunting for a calm spot to do some work, our new Reading Room is open to you.
👋 https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/whats-on/activity/reading-room/
Reading Room | Bishopsgate Institute
The Reading Room is separate to the Researchers’ Service, so if you’d like to look at our special collections and archives, you’ll need this instead https:
www.bishopsgate.org.uk
October 3, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Somewhere free, quiet, and right next to Liverpool Street? 👀
Whether you’ve got a deadline looming, are polishing off a chapter on your lunch break, or hunting for a calm spot to do some work, our new Reading Room is open to you.
👋 https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/whats-on/activity/reading-room/
Whether you’ve got a deadline looming, are polishing off a chapter on your lunch break, or hunting for a calm spot to do some work, our new Reading Room is open to you.
👋 https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/whats-on/activity/reading-room/
Thoughtful provocation from the always interesting Geoff Mulgan on the urgent need for future-facing exploratory social science.
geoffmulgan.substack.com/p/an-aria-fo...
geoffmulgan.substack.com/p/an-aria-fo...
An ARIA for social issues?
The case for exploratory social science
geoffmulgan.substack.com
October 4, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Thoughtful provocation from the always interesting Geoff Mulgan on the urgent need for future-facing exploratory social science.
geoffmulgan.substack.com/p/an-aria-fo...
geoffmulgan.substack.com/p/an-aria-fo...
Pleased that @nuffieldfoundation.org support @fullfact.org & their important work.
Absolutely astonished @hignfy.bsky.social just stated that Multiverse will be running the government's digital ID scheme
An incredibly basic failure of fact-checking
fullfact.org/technology/d...
An incredibly basic failure of fact-checking
fullfact.org/technology/d...
Has Euan Blair’s company Multiverse been chosen to run the government’s new digital ID scheme? – Full Fact
Multiverse is an “upskilling company”, not a software developer, and both it and the government say there’s no truth to viral claims linking it to the scheme.
fullfact.org
October 3, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Pleased that @nuffieldfoundation.org support @fullfact.org & their important work.
Good to see the commitment to a job guarantee for young people long-term excluded from work or learning. Vital step. Lots of other elements needed to get this right. My recent thoughts.
on.ft.com/3ILpb8T Let’s not forget the young people without GCSEs
on.ft.com/3ILpb8T Let’s not forget the young people without GCSEs
Let’s not forget the young people without GCSEs
We should realise that training alongside decent work is a better next step for some 16-year-olds
on.ft.com
September 29, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Good to see the commitment to a job guarantee for young people long-term excluded from work or learning. Vital step. Lots of other elements needed to get this right. My recent thoughts.
on.ft.com/3ILpb8T Let’s not forget the young people without GCSEs
on.ft.com/3ILpb8T Let’s not forget the young people without GCSEs
Reposted by Gavin Kelly
It’s time to think about the connection between the social & economic, not as unilateral, but as a two-way relationship.
This was the theme of our recent event, where we asked a room of experts, ’How can the strength of our social foundations make, or break, our economic fortunes?’
Link below👇
This was the theme of our recent event, where we asked a room of experts, ’How can the strength of our social foundations make, or break, our economic fortunes?’
Link below👇
September 26, 2025 at 9:51 AM
It’s time to think about the connection between the social & economic, not as unilateral, but as a two-way relationship.
This was the theme of our recent event, where we asked a room of experts, ’How can the strength of our social foundations make, or break, our economic fortunes?’
Link below👇
This was the theme of our recent event, where we asked a room of experts, ’How can the strength of our social foundations make, or break, our economic fortunes?’
Link below👇
Reposted by Gavin Kelly
Listening to @gavin-kelly.bsky.social talking about @nuffieldfoundation.org new strategy - using the power of evidence to change lives.
Pleased to hear the two challenges of:
- young people not earning or learning and
- working age ill health
are both squarely in his sights. ☺️
Pleased to hear the two challenges of:
- young people not earning or learning and
- working age ill health
are both squarely in his sights. ☺️
September 24, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Listening to @gavin-kelly.bsky.social talking about @nuffieldfoundation.org new strategy - using the power of evidence to change lives.
Pleased to hear the two challenges of:
- young people not earning or learning and
- working age ill health
are both squarely in his sights. ☺️
Pleased to hear the two challenges of:
- young people not earning or learning and
- working age ill health
are both squarely in his sights. ☺️
Big congratulations to Kim Darroch on his appointment as new Chair of
@orwellprize.bsky.social.
Kim takes over from Ken Macdonald who has been a superb Chair over the last decade.
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...
@orwellprize.bsky.social.
Kim takes over from Ken Macdonald who has been a superb Chair over the last decade.
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...
The Orwell Foundation appoints a new Chair of the Board of Trustees | The Orwell Foundation
Lord Darroch, former British Ambassador to the United States, joins The Orwell Foundation as Chair of the Board of Trustees. The Orwell Foundation is delighted to welcome Kim Darroch, as the charity e...
www.orwellfoundation.com
September 18, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Big congratulations to Kim Darroch on his appointment as new Chair of
@orwellprize.bsky.social.
Kim takes over from Ken Macdonald who has been a superb Chair over the last decade.
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...
@orwellprize.bsky.social.
Kim takes over from Ken Macdonald who has been a superb Chair over the last decade.
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...
‘My name is Lewis Capaldi and I’m back’.
September 17, 2025 at 8:09 PM
‘My name is Lewis Capaldi and I’m back’.