Blogs
Blog posts by Social Statistics academics.
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The Long-Term Policy Failures in Education – The Northern Powerhouse and a Fairer Start
September 28, 2018
The start of the new school year, debates about the value of homework and concerns about how the Northern Powerhouse education fund is being spent are a further reminder of the inequalities in the UK education system. It is a priority that policy makers focus on addressing the long-term inequalities in the education system. As things stand, there is little sign of radical change [...]
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Why engineering in the UK must embrace change
July 19, 2018
2018 is the Year of Engineering, a UK Government campaign to increase awareness and understanding of what engineers do amongst young people. The reason for the drive is that despite demand, good career opportunities and higher than average earnings, industry struggles to recruit and retain the talent it needs. Many young people, especially women and those from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, do not consider engineering as something they could, or want, to do. In this blog post, Dr Diane Harris and Dr Maria Pampaka [...]
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Democracy on the Line?
April 26, 2018
Kingsley Purdam and Rob Ford from The University of Manchester use the Manchester Metrolink map to show levels of voter turnout and ask if there will be more or less local democracy in 2018 [...]
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Children at the food bank – a startling picture of food insecurity in the UK
December 12, 2017
While undertaking research in food banks in Northwest England, Dr Kingsley Purdam and colleagues witnessed the 'shocking' sight of children visiting with their parents [...]
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Communicating with the electorate: Are politicians in or out of touch?
May 22, 2017
As the 2017 General Election candidates – many of whom are standing for this first time – intensify their campaigns for election, Rosalynd Southern and Kingsley Purdam explain the importance of effective communication with the electorate for building political support [...]
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The forgotten welfare gap in older age
October 6, 2017
As the winter months and colder weather approach, the University of Manchester’s Kingsley Purdam explains how welfare reform and austerity has affected the growing numbers of older people [...]
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Is having any job at all better for your health and wellbeing than being unemployed?
August 15, 2017
There are long held assumptions that taking any job is better for a person’s health and wellbeing than being unemployed. A study of over 1000 unemployed adults by Tarani Chandola, Professor of Medical Sociology at The University of Manchester, compared health and stress levels of those remaining unemployed and different quality jobs.[...]
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Life on the line? Life expectancy and where we live
October 7, 2016
Researchers at The University of Manchester have mapped estimates of life expectancy and years lived healthily to the stops on the local tram network. Kingsley Purdam, who led the research, says the differences between areas in the UK are a human rights issue [...]
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Definitely, Maybe? 5 Million ‘Don’t Knows’ and the EU Referendum
June 15, 2016
The heat is on, as both sides urge voters to choose 'leave' or 'remain' in the run-up to the UK's historic EU Referendum on June 23rd. New polls are coming in thick and fast, but while the outcome is uncertain, what is certain is that many voters have yet to decide. The 'Don't Know' voters - around five million of them - could be crucial to the result and there's a lot more to a 'Don't Know' vote than you might expect, say Kingsley Purdam, David Bayliss, Joseph Sakshaug, and Mollie Bourne [...]
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Migrant Drs keep the NHS going
September 25, 2015
Research led by Yasmin Ghazala Farooq with Kingsley Purdam, Aneez Esmail and Rob Ford at the University of Manchester has highlighted the vital contribution overseas trained doctors have made to people’s health and to the NHS in the UK [...]
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