News and Blog

The Conservatives have every reason to be on cloud nine these days: they have a majority in the House of Commons (albeit a small one); they have a commanding lead in the polls more typically seen for opposition parties on the way to win the next general election; they recently won a by-election against the…

It will probably come as little surprise that recent surveys have found the majority of adults in Europe think that international terrorism is the most pressing threat to the continent.  Though this is valuable information about what adults think, little is known about what children and young people perceive as the greatest threats to life and democracy…

As part of the WISERD Cardiff lunchtime seminar series, Dr Wil Chivers recently reported early findings from his research into trade unions on Twitter.   Back in September I introduced the Social Media Research Series of blogs here at WISERD. Following a period of data collection for WISERD Civil Society work package 3.3 at the beginning of the year,…

The representation of disabled people in government has never been more important. In 2014, 19% of British residents said that they were disabled. The country also has an ageing population and 42% of state pension age adults – 5m people altogether – are living with disabilities. Before the EU referendum, fears abound that the laws in place to help and protect…

After yesterday’s ‘trigger warning’ we await with bated breath the news that Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty has been enacted. This will kick off two years of UK-EU negotiation followed by what is likely to be a slow and complex process of disentangling legislation post EU-exit. Today’s date could herald a new wave of political domination…

Given that the EU Referendum was one of the most dominating, bitterly contested and emotional political campaigns in Britain for decades, that British politics is now and for the foreseeable future dominated by Brexit, and that support for or opposition to EU membership is a reflection of one’s deeply held political values, convictions and beliefs,  it…

Brexit in Scotland and Wales A majority 64% of young people voted in the UK referendum on EU membership last June, but 70% of them were disappointed. Media coverage brought this disappointment home with wide coverage of the generational divide, depicting a young generation forced to live with the consequences of a decision made by…

Thousands of families across Wales will shortly be learning which primary and secondary schools their children will be attending in September. For many, this will be their local catchment school, however for a sizeable minority, the outcome will not be what they wanted. Many will find themselves without a place for their child or have…

  In last week’s blog we discussed the generational divide between the Millennials and their elders in terms of hostility towards Brexit, highlighting how this reflects more than a simple difference of opinion about the EU and is actually the result of deep rooted differences in national identity and political values. In this blog we take advantage…

  The EU Referendum highlighted a dramatic difference of opinion regarding the most important decision facing the British electorate for a generation, with younger voters overwhelmingly supporting EU membership while their elders voted to leave. This ‘generational divide’ has been a prominent theme in the media, which has repeatedly documented the anger and sense of ‘betrayal’ felt…