Society Central is a social policy news website aiming to forge better connections between academic researchers and those involved in the policy-making process. The site specialises in finding research evidence to fuel informed debate on current issues.
Is it just professional and celebrity couples who choose to be together but live apart? New research shows it might be a wider phenomenon than that with researchers calling for legal and statistical recognition for so-called LATs.
Last week the statistics watchdog criticised Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith for his use of figures to argue that the benefits cap is working. The criticism comes as Professor Steve Fothergill says there is a political dimension to the cuts that should not escape our attention.
by Fran Abrams
Feature
A special report from Society Central’s Fran Abrams on a project that reveals the dreams and aspirations of two groups of young people on the Isle of Sheppey 30 years apart.
A recent Unicef report indicated that the UK seems to have made improvements in the levels of child well-being. But Jonathan Bradshaw doesn’t think we should be jumping for joy just yet.
by Stuart Agnew
Analysis
A new law on anti-social behaviour is likely to be passed next year. Stuart Agnew, a criminologist from University College Suffolk, evaluated a police initiative aimed at tackling town-centre problems.
by Lara Fielden
Analysis
As MPs and peers debate Lord Justice Leveson’s proposed Royal Charter for media regulation, Lara Fielden, a Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, asks how the plan measures up to regulation overseas.
by Jen Pearce
Analysis
This month the government announced new incentives for developers to invest in the private rented housing sector. These include loan guarantees and a Build to Rent fund. So who rents these days? Research by the Building and Social Housing Foundation suggests the pool of renters is widening.
Disadvantaged parents will receive extra support from specialist nurses, the Health Minister Dan Poulter has announced. But what will be the long-term results?
Low-paid women workers are working hard but not ‘getting on,’ according to an analysis of this year’s budget by the Women’s Budget Group.
This week a Yougov poll revealed most people in Britain, the US and Germany feel their living standards have been hit by the slump – and they expect them to be dragged down for decades to come. Sophia Parker, editor of The Squeezed Middle: the pressure on ordinary workers in America and Britain. asks what lessons we might learn from the US experience.
