The secret code of Irish names
An investigation into Irish names, inspired by Anna Burns' novel Milkman and using historical census returns to reveal their hidden encodings.
Negative attitudes to minorities and immigrants in Northern Ireland: a very British problem
Northern Ireland has seen an increase in the number of violent protests over the last few years, many of which have been organised online with explicitly anti-immigrant or racist motivation. Whilst the majority of commentators have described them as racist violence or rioting, likening recent behaviour to a pogrom,
The inflectorate: UK religious identity at a tipping point
In 2024, Labour won a landslide majority at the general election, securing 63% of the UK’s 650 constituencies with 34% of votes cast. The Conservatives won 24% of the vote but just 19% of the seats. Labour had been rewarded and the Tories punished by the dynamics of first-
Projecting belief – my model explained
My launch article made a projection that the share of the UK population identifying as Christian would fall to one third by 2031, mainly driven by an increase in the number of people with no religion. This article explains the model behind that projection, which is based on population forecasts
Projecting belief – UK religion in 2031
Every ten years, the constituent countries of the UK hold a census, providing a comprehensive snapshot of the population that informs key policy-making and planning decisions over the next decade. In 2021, this snapshot revealed that the share of the UK population identifying as Christian had declined significantly since