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Politics + Society

Photo of hands turning papers

Voter turnout lowest in decades – an expected result and electoral rules may have played a role

Toby James, University of East Anglia

British jails are at a breaking point – here’s how the Dutch halved their prison population

Francis Pakes, University of Portsmouth

Interior of the round dome prison koepelgevangenis in Breda, the Netherlands, with open cell doors
Plaid Cymru’s electoral success sets stage for 2026 Senedd election

Anwen Elias, Aberystwyth University

Four of Plaid Cymru's newly elected MPs stand outside the Houses of Parliament with the party leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth
Keir Starmer: three warnings from history for Labour’s seventh British prime minister

Colm Murphy, Queen Mary University of London

Starmer delivers a speech to an audience.
Keir Starmer appoints historic cabinet with record number of women – now comes the hard part: governing

Nicholas Allen, Royal Holloway University of London

Angela Rayner and Keir Starmer sitting at a table inside Number 10

House of Commons interior full of people

New MPs: after learning the ropes, they might shake up the House of Commons

Emma Crewe, SOAS, University of London

Liberal Democrats celebrating.

Nigel Farage, Greens and 72 Liberal Democrats: inside Britain’s new multi-party parliament

Louise Thompson, University of Manchester

Starmer's first week

Keir Starmer and his cabinet sit at a long green table

The six most urgent problems facing the UK that Starmer’s new government needs to fix

Alex Nurse, University of Liverpool

Keir Starmer looks at the EU flags outside the European Commission in Brussels

Starmer must seize the chance to rethink the UK-Europe relationship – here’s how he can do it

Nick Whittaker, University of Sussex

Keir Starmer in front of a blue flag with gold stars. Around him (from left to right) is Viktor Orbán, Ursula von der Leyen, Giorgia Meloni, Olaf Scholz, Volodymir Zelensky, and Emmanuel Macron.

Which European leaders does prime minister Keir Starmer need to call and what will his relationship be like with each?

Amelia Hadfield, University of Surrey

Donald Trump points at Keir Starmer from an American flag outside the White House.

The UK’s new prime minister Keir Starmer – hoping for a Democrat in the White House, preparing for Trump

Christopher Featherstone, University of York

Angela Rayner, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves sit side by side on stage at the Labour conference in October.

What Labour’s election means for women: the good and the bad

Rainbow Murray, Queen Mary University of London

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Keir Starmer with a red-tinted Downing Street behind him

Tory wipeout delivers landslide Labour victory: what the experts say

Laura Hood, The Conversation; Grace Allen, The Conversation, and Avery Anapol, The Conversation

The Conservative party, 1832-2024: an obituary

Mark Garnett, Lancaster University

Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson and Theresa May at a remembrance day ceremony.
UK election: Tory downfall is democracy rectifying its mistakes

Stephen Barber, University of East London

Rishi Sunak looking down whilst at a leisure centre in his constituency after holding his seat.
Keir Starmer: what we know about Britain’s new prime minister and how he will lead

Mark Bennister, University of Lincoln and Ben Worthy, Birkbeck, University of London

Keir Starmer giving a speech
Grieving and unheard, the British public has voted for change – in weariness more than in hope

Stephen Coleman, University of Leeds

A crowd of people in an audience.
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Most read this week

1.
Keir Starmer: what we know about Britain’s new prime minister and how he will lead

Mark Bennister, University of Lincoln and Ben Worthy, Birkbeck, University of London

Keir Starmer: what we know about Britain’s new prime minister and how he will lead
2.
Wealthy but worried: why the UK’s top 10% are turning their backs on the rest of society

Marcos Gonzalez Hernando, UCL

Wealthy but worried: why the UK’s top 10% are turning their backs on the rest of society
3.
British jails are at a breaking point – here’s how the Dutch halved their prison population

Francis Pakes, University of Portsmouth

British jails are at a breaking point – here’s how the Dutch halved their prison population
4.
Angela Rayner’s green suit: why is it so difficult for women in power to dress ‘correctly’?

Ashley Morgan, Cardiff Metropolitan University

Angela Rayner’s green suit: why is it so difficult for women in power to dress ‘correctly’?
5.
What a House of Commons with fewer privately educated MPs could mean for the UK

Wang Leung (Kiwi) Ting, University of Reading

What a House of Commons with fewer privately educated MPs could mean for the UK
6.
The vast majority of movement across UK borders is controlled – so why do Sunak and Starmer say we’ve ‘lost control’ of our borders?

Michael Collyer, University of Sussex

The vast majority of movement across UK borders is controlled – so why do Sunak and Starmer say we’ve ‘lost control’ of our borders?

Cities

A large cinema building with a poster on the front.

Gurdwaras, mosques, temples and churches: how faith groups are reviving England’s old cinemas

Kate Jordan, University of Westminster

Blackpool: why seaside towns in England are struggling – and what they’re doing about it

Heather Brown, Lancaster University; Amelia Simpson, Lancaster University, and Reuben Larbi, Lancaster University

Grey skies over a beach.
How second world war bomb rubble was used to make 135 football pitches in east London

Jonathan Gardner, The University of Edinburgh

An overhead view of a large urban playing field.
Victorian London was a city in flux: architectural models helped the public visualise the changes

Matthew Wells, University of Manchester

An archival photograph in black and white of a Victorian building complex.
When a skatepark becomes a sacred space

Paul O'Connor, University of Exeter

A painted mural in a skatepark.

Editors' picks

How votes are counted on election night

Paula Keaveney, Edge Hill University

How votes are counted on election night
Why protest if it doesn’t make a difference?

David J. Bailey, University of Birmingham

A large crowd of protesters carrying Palestinian flags fill a London street
Five life-affirming words we should bring back into use

Sara Pons-Sanz, Cardiff University

A man sits on the floor of a library engrossed in a book.
The era of the megalopolis: how the world’s cities are merging

James Cheshire, UCL and Michael Batty, UCL

The era of the megalopolis: how the world’s cities are merging

Women

Britain’s abortion laws are still in the Victorian era, and women are the collateral damage

Sally Sheldon, University of Bristol

A woman sitting on a couch holding a pregnancy test, her face isn't visible but her body language suggests she is not happy
Why women would prefer to be alone in the woods with a bear than a man

Lisa Sugiura, University of Portsmouth

A large and menacing looking bear faces the camera at dusk in a forest
What being a teenage girl in 1960s Britain was really like

Penny Tinkler, University of Manchester

An archival black and white photograph of young people dancing in the street.
Deepfake porn: why we need to make it a crime to create it, not just share it

Clare McGlynn, Durham University

Anonymous man in shadow typing on a laptop