Political Narratives

How Bots Are Distorting Opinion Polls in the UK

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Last week, YouGov retracted a poll suggesting church attendance was rising in the UK. The results, it turned out, had been distorted by bots or AI. This is disappointing given that the research was published last year, and got a lot more attention than the retraction did. To understand why that matters, it helps to … Read more

Small Boat Crossings Are Falling. So Why the Panic?

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Small boat crossings have fallen again. They are down around 30% for the first three months of 2026 compared to the same period last year. There was a similar fall between August and December last year, down 30% year on year , and down roughly 50% from their peak in 2022.. At this point, it … Read more