@georginasturge
Statistics expert and author of 'Sum of Us' (2025) and 'Bad Data' (2022). Research Affiliate at the Oxford Migration Observatory. Formerly of the House of Commons Library. Now writing and podcasting on Substack https://georginasturge.substack.com/
Much to my surprise, I have also become a tech sovereigntist. Tech fundamental to public and security systems should be under our control (sometimes in cooperation with similar countries- not US).
The current sovereign AI strategy is shockingly weak.
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/s...
Yes this is a well-documented shift in attitudes around that time. As you say, it seems odd in combination with the Brexit vote, but it is probably linked to it in the sense that attitudes softened once it was perceived that something was being done to 'take back control.'
All this and more in the initial findings report: natcen.ac.uk/publications...
It's the same picture with people's attitudes about whether immigration has enriched or undermined UK cultural life. Worth noting that the current split is a big change from around the time of Brexit & the pandemic when attitudes were more on the positive side.
New results from @natcen.bsky.social's British Social Attitudes survey show UK attitudes towards immigration are more divided than in the recent past. It's now a clean split where a third of people perceive it as 'bad', a third as 'good,' and a third have a neutral attitude towards it.
Poor ONS, their surveys are already suffering from non-response and now the BBC goes and puts it into our heads that their enumerators could be corporate spies 😅
blog.ons.gov.uk/2026/02/12/s...
Yes, all important points, especially on the method. The authors do talk about the under-representation of anti-immigration views though in a way that I think is quite fair.
Interesting and reminds me of similar findings from a recent study on migration. Using the exact same dataset, researchers who expressed different personal views about immigration came up with different results which tended to support their pre-existing beliefs. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Latest piece by @georginasturge.bsky.social is a masterclass in why we should be cautious with 'trend' headlines. The supposed 'Quiet Revival' of Christianity in Gen Z looks less like a spiritual shift & more like a quirk of polling methodology. georginasturge.substack.com/p/the-gen-z-...
I actually didn’t realise the Bible Society had doubled down. There may have been a modest rise in young religiosity but we’re talking a percentage point or two. There is just no way the much higher BS poll results are accurate, sorry! BBC More or Less has been on it, case closed.
Yes, the Bible Society data is clearly wrong and has been thoroughly debunked. But there's still a possibility that there's been a much milder change in the religiosity of younger UK residents, partly through immigration as I try to demonstrate.
A rise in general belief in God, i.e. some form of higher power/spirituality, among the young seems very plausible. That's not what most of these UK surveys and polls are measuring though, by focusing on affiliation with organised religion. Indeed by doing so they might be missing this trend.
This is really interesting for polling nerds.
I only recently found out about the Gen Z 'Christian revival,' where seemingly legitimate polls are showing a quadrupling of church attendance among young adults.
Naturally, I had to look into the data myself, and found a more mixed picture than I'd expected.
open.substack.com/pub/georgina...
For anyone thinking wow her Dutch must be fluent: it's the wonder of Google Chrome. Click the three dots on the top right of the browser, hit 'translate' and suddenly you're Jutta van Leerdam.
Well this is going to kick off, albeit in a nerdy train-spotter way. Dutch Railways have just signed a 12 year contract with an American tech provider, while the rest of the public sector is under strict instructions to ensure digital autonomy for critical infrastructure.
www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/...
Would be entirely understandable!
I only recently found out about the Gen Z 'Christian revival,' where seemingly legitimate polls are showing a quadrupling of church attendance among young adults.
Naturally, I had to look into the data myself, and found a more mixed picture than I'd expected.
open.substack.com/pub/georgina...
Great article by @tomcalver.bsky.social on why income is often a poor indicator of whether someone is in poverty. Income is under-reported in the main survey used for poverty stats. A correction to that could soon shrink our official poverty figures overnight.
www.thetimes.com/article/fb88...
Kemi Badenoch's mouse scurrying past live on TV
Looks like we're going with the red, which I do really like. Had some comments that basically all of these could be seen as party political colours but when it's in the bookshop I'm hoping that won't be people's first thought...
You wouldn't think it but a slightly sad basket of tealights and canned sweetcorn in my cellar reveals a lot about the geopolitics of tech.
I'm back this week with a piece on Europe's dream of digital sovereignty. Can it happen? And is it what we need?
georginasturge.substack.com/p/the-dream-...
Oh definitely. And I think it’s linked to a special tax credit for the purchasing of red trousers.
I had a good reaction to last month's piece on Dutch digital ID and the risks of takeover by US tech - turns out a lot of people care!
In this latest post I look further into whether digital sovereignty for Europe is achievable and what's happening now.
georginasturge.substack.com/p/the-dream-...
You wouldn't think it but a slightly sad basket of tealights and canned sweetcorn in my cellar reveals a lot about the geopolitics of tech.
I'm back this week with a piece on Europe's dream of digital sovereignty. Can it happen? And is it what we need?
georginasturge.substack.com/p/the-dream-...
It’s not too late to advocate for including a question on posh identity at the next census
It's both uncanny and a thing of wonder how well the Dutch data ecosystem is all linked up 🧡
I had a good reaction to last month's piece on Dutch digital ID and the risks of takeover by US tech - turns out a lot of people care!
In this latest post I look further into whether digital sovereignty for Europe is achievable and what's happening now.
georginasturge.substack.com/p/the-dream-...
Bumping this to see if anyone else has thoughts because I think I need to make a decision today. Leaning towards keeping the original now...
Very good point about political party colours, thanks!