Understanding Society - Great Britain: The way we live now

In this issue of Ipsos Social Research Institute's Understanding Society newsletter, we look at the way Britons live now and how our attitudes, values and behaviours compare with those in other countries.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Ipsos Social Research Institute’s Understanding Society. In this issue, we look at the way Britons live now and how our attitudes, values and behaviours compare with those in other countries.

To help us make sense of this year and the state of British society, peppered throughout our articles are findings from our new Global Trends Survey. This study aims to build a more comprehensive picture of what matters to people in Britain, compared with 19 other countries across the world.

The survey has hundreds of questions covering a diverse range of subjects including perceptions of government, our deeper values, views of some of the key challenges facing the world and measures of a wide range of behaviours. We will be reporting on these findings in much more detail through 2014 and the data included here is just a taster of what is to come.

We are also delighted to have an interview with the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, Britain’s top civil servant and the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister’s most senior policy adviser. Sir Jeremy considers the future of the British civil service, the skills needed to succeed in the civil service and the role of data in policy-making.

We are also extremely pleased to have an article on British identity from Sunder Katwala, director of the think tank, British Future. He unpicks the notion of Britishness and its constituent parts, as well as considering the extent to which the referendum next year in Scotland will trigger a further rethinking of national identities across Britain.

We hope you enjoy the report, and if you would like to discuss any of the issues it raises, then please get in touch.

 

Download

More insights about Public Sector

  • Recycling centre sign
    Evaluations Ipsos Voices

    Tracking Progress: What England's waste data tells us about the road ahead

    Since 2022, Ipsos UK, working with Technopolis and Ricardo and commissioned by Defra, has been looking at the progress made by Defra’s Resource and Waste Policy Programme. Now in its fourth year, the evaluation of the Resource and Waste Policy Programme reveals a nuanced picture: progress is being made, but significant challenges remain for long-term impact to materialise.
  • Food & Diet Publication

    FSA consumer survey, conducted by Ipsos, reveals appetite for healthy and sustainable diets

    Since 2020, Ipsos has been running the FSA’s flagship consumer survey, Food and You 2. Research from the survey, published by the Food Standards Agency reveals the highest level of public confidence in food safety recorded since the start of the project.
  • Group of women
    Gender Ipsos Voices

    International Women's Day 2026: Spotlight Projects in Public Affairs

    As has now become a tradition for our team; to mark International Women’s Day 2026 we have taken the opportunity to reflect on the wide range of policy areas and projects delivered across Public Affairs over the past year. In this third edition, we shine a spotlight on how this work aligns with and advances this year’s theme, “Give to Gain.”

Related news