New research, which included a “first-of-its-kind survey”, reveals six “key findings about the state of British culture – and what this could mean for those of us working to change culture nationwide.” The findings in brief are: “1. Individualism is our default – but not when we get issue-specific; 2. Precarity is seen as our new normal – and people support bold action on extreme wealth; 3. More of us believe the economy is rigged; 4. We see health as a national resource; 5. Politicians are seen as ‘not like us’; 6. Some mindsets cluster together, with major implications for social change work.” The final finding suggests that coordinated effort by actors working on different issues to move one “lynchpin mindset” can maximise collective impact with a “positive spillover effect.”

As the rapid rise of Reform prompts urgency and alarm, Taylor feels “something deeper and more uncomfortable is also being asked of us: to invest in the quieter work that surfaces both our nation’s ghosts and our neglected traditions of care, so as to tend to the soil that keeps growing Farages.” Over four articles, she reflects on the fragility of the English identity: “not bedrock but wet clay”, a “quagmire of histories and deep narratives” that is “shaped and reshaped by the stories we allow ourselves to tell.” We are encouraged to imagine and pursue projects, processes, places and practices – an effective “accumulation of small, messy, unglamorous acts” – that face into three paradoxes: “seeding liberatory futures, while refusing to ignore the rot…addressing today’s hardships, while facing modernity’s lies… and tending belonging, while unapologetically naming harm.” She hopes for an Englishness “truer, humbler and more entangled with the land and the people who call this place home.” Also see Parts 2, 3, 4

Having previously reflected on “the core norms” that people share: “a belief in democracy, pluralism, the rule of law, and the fundamental right of all people to belong,” and what we need to share more of: “being open to working in new coalitions, sharing risk and learning, and embracing courage and complexity,” Powell outlines the fight for a collective story about “who we believe we are and who we want to become.” Recognising that “what we believe is what we create” (seeing isn’t believing), he calls for a “We The People” story that “rejects inevitability-thinking, and acknowledges the possibility of change,” and that makes room for fear, “while also employing collective courage as a practice and strategy.” This is a public, out-loud endeavour: “collective meaning-making, deeper collaboration, and gathering together are all vital antidotes in a time of crisis and division.⁠⁠”

“Dominant stories do not triumph because they are more persuasive or imaginative, but because they have the infrastructures that allow them to be diffused, repeated, and naturalised… The key question is not only what we say, but who can say it, where, and with what resources… The great emancipatory narratives (feminisms, trade unionism, anti-fascism, anti-colonialism) were not born as communication strategies but as material practices of solidarity, organisation, and conflict… Language can be a tool of liberation, but only when it is backed by material power: by institutions, by resources, by spaces and media that are not dependent on capital… Perhaps the task is not to ‘change the narrative,’ but to reorganise the collective power capable of changing reality itself.” There is no ‘narrative game’ without ‘the ground game’.

“After the first Global Tipping Points Conference in 2022, the University of Exeter’s Green Futures Network ran a series of workshops to explore the potential and enthusiasm for applying the growing research into Positive Tipping Points in practice to different contexts, including economics, food systems, activism, climate justice, and business. The response was clear: the idea of positive tipping points has huge potential for helping those working on systems change to better understand how complex systems can change, and how we can shift our thinking to work towards non-linear change… Following these workshops, the Green Futures Network began a slow and intentional process of co-creating an open source Toolkit that could make the ongoing research accessible to a wider community of people already working on meaningful and long-term systems change.”

The newly elected leader of the UK Greens ran an ad earlier this summer, which racked up 2m views on social media. Here we learn the “nerdy” strategy that went into it, with some lessons for comms elsewhere. ”Some things happen above the line: visible, graspable, immediate.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Others happen below it: structural, symbolic, emotional – shaping what people feel before they know why.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠This film was built on both… The structure makes the metaphor land. That’s the diamond… It’s not just a call to action. It’s an invitation to ask: what kind of country are we? And what will we refuse to become?… The deeper thread: ecology → psychology → sociology. The crisis isn’t just ecological – it’s structural. And the Greens get that.” In what Clancy calls “the narrative war – over meaning, memory, and who gets to define reality,” this film “wasn’t just a political act – it was a strike in that deeper war.”

An encouragement to recognise that systems are “dynamic and relational”, and the truth in Donella Meadows’ insistence that “we can’t impose our will on a system”. As such, “impact isn’t always immediate, and meaning often takes time to surface,” because “impact isn’t linear – it radiates, overlaps, collides; feedback matters – as ripples encounter edges, they return, reshape, or amplify; scale doesn’t always equal significance – even small drops can change the pattern if they land in the right place; and context shapes movement – what lies beneath the surface (culture, trauma, history, relationships) can alter how far and fast impact travels.” Which means recognising that “sometimes, our work is not about causing the biggest splash. It’s about creating the conditions for the right kind of ripple – one that is generative, sustaining, and in harmony with the broader system.”

A review of the Cascade Institute's Polycrisis Core Model Technical Synopsis prompts an uncomfortable question: “are you preparing for collapse, resisting decline, or building alternatives?” The answer, “we need all three: resilience, resistance, and renewal,” with the insight that across the 10,000 possible ‘Hope attractor’ scenarios (0.25% of all possibilities*) “strong democracy” is a cross-cutting feature. This demands “a critical mass of mature, engaged citizens” equipped with “complexity consciousness” and “long-term, relational, ecological and principled perspectives.” All of which requires a shift in our “how we belong to and are in relationship with the world.” Norris calls this ‘worldview:’ something which “unfolds through the living relationship between the inner and outer arcs of our experience.” As such, shifting worldviews “becomes less reformation and more remembering. Not so much building new mental structures but dissolving back into the aliveness that predates all our stories about it.” *yes, it’s a lot like that scene in Avengers: Endgame

The latest update to the ‘seven segments’ of the British population, charting where they’re at across a set of ‘drivers’, ‘fault lines’, their views on Immigration, Economics, and Climate, Politics, and the media they consume. The well-known segments receive a fresh taxonomy and distribution, as the political picture evolves, offering “a look upstream not just at what different groups think, but why they think it.” The four ‘drivers’ are “A crisis of trust; Exhaustion and struggle; Rising threat perception and a Loss of agency”. The ‘fault lines’ that help explain the division in Britain: “Appetite for change and risk; Simple or complex solutions; Individual agency; Conspiratorial thinking and ‘finding my own truth’; Multiculturalism and identity; Social disconnection; Attitudes towards free speech; The importance of identity.” There is also a webinar.

A new interactive mapping tool that “depicts public climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, policy support, experiences, and attribution beliefs across the UK.” It finds that “a very large majority of adults in the UK think climate change is happening (85%) and human-caused (74%), but many also perceive climate change as a relatively distant threat…only 55% think it will harm them personally.” Also the use of renewable energy for electricity, fuel, and heating is very popular across the UK (80%), and polarisation is much lower than in the US, with 2/3 thinking climate change should be a priority for government. The maps also reinforce the earlier finding that “direct exposure to extreme weather does not automatically translate into stronger belief that climate change affects these events. Rather, when appropriate, communicators need to help people ‘connect the dots’ between climate change and extreme events, drawing on the findings of attribution science.”

Insight from a new initiative that aims to “act as a repository of insights and practical advice” for those who are acting on the challenge of the rise of deceptive right-wing populism in the UK. “This is the first release of our three-part series on Reform UK’s voter coalition — who are they, what do they think about regulation, and most importantly, how can progressives do a better job of reaching them?” They find that “although Reform UK – and UKIP before it – have often been depicted as a party of older, small-state, Brexit-supporting voters, this view is simplistic and increasingly outdated. In reality, the party draws together a much more complex coalition… this analysis aims to inform the strategic choices of progressive campaigners seeking to engage, persuade, or contest these voters, particularly those of us making the case for strong social and environmental protections.”

“When governments fail to address wealth inequality, cost of living crises, and collapsing public services, it provides fertile conditions for fatalism to grow.” Referencing research from FrameWorks, Boait reflects on how “decades of cultural individualism have left people unreceptive to ideas rooted in universalist principles; indeed, collectivist mindsets have been so weakened in the UK that any form of collectivism can now easily be seen as a threat,” and how “when collectivism is perceived as a threat, strongmen like Farage appeal by promising to protect people based on their individual identities.” They caution that “whilst messaging is critical, countering fatalism fundamentally requires moving people out of a ‘fear’ mindset, since research shows that fear and anger can reduce people’s sense of agency.” Which means listening to people, activating curiosity, and demonstrating, with honesty and humility “that we are all holding uncertainty together, but that through that uncertainty we can still find shared purpose for collective change.”