In the early 30s, John Maynard Keynes and Bertrand Russell wrote of Britain's future as a leisure society, where we'd work 3- or 4-hour days and focus on the “happiness and joy of life”.

Data from public "time diaries" reveals we're doing the opposite...

newstatesman.com/the-weekend-re… The average length of a “leisure episode” - time spent on doing a nice activity in our free time - in the UK has fallen from 1 hour 15 minutes in 1974 to just *25 minutes*:

newstatesman.com/the-weekend-re…

Over the past month, we've been looking into Don't Pay: the movement to go on "energy bill strike" come 1 October.

Here's a little thread of what @emmahaslett, @philclarkehill and I found...

newstatesman.com/economy/2022/0… @emmahaslett @philclarkehill It's inspired by the mass non-payment of poll tax in 1990 - when 17m refused to pay.

An energy industry insider warns:

“We ended up with riots, and the fall of a prime minister. You’ve got a precedent, and there’s nothing to stop it happening again.”

newstatesman.com/economy/2022/0…

Scoop! Chinese state-owned care home in Rishi Sunak’s seat is one of 64 in Britain:

newstatesman.com/business/2022/… 64 care homes in the UK are tenants of the Chinese government, including one in Rishi Sunak's constituency - and another in Defence Secretary Ben Wallace's seat...

Amazing maps by the brilliant @michaelgoodier:

newstatesman.com/business/2022/…

In exclusive polling for @NewStatesman by @RedfieldWilton, the British public tell us what they think are high and low incomes, and which jobs and lifestyles dictate our social class.

With data by the excellent @michaelgoodier!

newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po… @NewStatesman @RedfieldWilton @michaelgoodier Flying in private jets and sending your kids to private school are the top "upper class" markers for the British public:

newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…

Does your salary make you “rich” or “poor”? What social class are you, and is it related to your income?

In an exclusive polling project with @RedfieldWilton, we asked the British public – here’s what they said… (thread):

newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po… @RedfieldWilton Firstly, over a third of British voters *underestimate* the average UK salary.

The median salary for full-time workers is £31,285, according to the ONS – but more of those surveyed than not thought the average bracket was £20-30k rather than £30-40k:

newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…

Could we get to a point where Boris Johnson is questioned by the police over the No 10 party?

Here's what I've found out:

Two people will be questioned by the Met over the 14 Dec 2020 Tory HQ Christmas gathering in relation to alleged Covid breaches...

newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po… Detectives looked at all material sent in re the 18 Dec 2020 "cheese and wine" Christmas gathering but decided not to investigate.

The Met is being sued over this decision by the @GoodLawProject...

newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…

When Covid-19 hit, we thought it might make society more compassionate - now we can see if it did...

@pollybindman and I report on a landmark survey of British attitudes (and Prof John Curtice questions my "liberal elite commentator" assumptions..!):

newstatesman.com/politics/2021/… @pollybindman Perceived inequality in Britain is at its highest level since the 1990s:

newstatesman.com/politics/2021/…

When Covid hit, we thought it might make society more compassionate - now we can see if it did...

@pollybindman & I on the results of the British Social Attitudes Survey (in which Prof John Curtice questions my "liberal elite commentator" assumptions!):

newstatesman.com/politics/2021/… @pollybindman Perception of inequality in Britain is now at its highest since 1998:

newstatesman.com/politics/2021/…

After 60 years at the BBC, David Dimbleby seems to be relishing speaking his mind - he tells me:

- He was going to apply for BBC chairman to "stop Boris Johnson" appointing Charles Moore, and challenge him to "a public debate about the role of the BBC"

newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20… - Dimbleby says it's "anti-democratic" for ministers to avoid news programmes, and this led to a “slight decline in the quality” of his Question Time panels

- Slams Boris Johnson for a "dereliction of duty, & an ignorance about the job of a politician"

newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…