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Robert Cuffe

@robertcuffe.bsky.social
1.5K followers 1.4K following 50 posts

BBC News’s statistician. Number nerd 24-7-365.2425

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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Reform’s slide from top of the polls
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Me: “relative changes, schmelative schmanges : doubling a small number is still a small nu…..” Also me: “whhhhooooaaa! CHECK OUT THIS CHART!!! We rule”
Bar chart showing that the subject of statistics saw the biggest growth) in relative terms) in GCSE’s this year.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Latest growth figs overstate latest growth
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Robin Hawkes @robhawkes.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Britain's electricity network* *now in high-res with floofy clouds More experiments visualising energy data using Blender and Geometry Nodes
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Watching a Mel Gibson vehicle on Prime, I’m prepared to bet that I’m seeing my first example of a Chekhov’s lawn mower
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Fascinating and worrying in equal measure. Apparently, according to the ONS, some 53% of us currently receive more in benefits (including pensions) than we contribute in taxes (up from 37% in 1977). But polling shows that only 12% of us think this applies to them.
kellnerp.substack.com
Burnham’s biggest problem: ungrateful voters
Few of us believe we benefit from our contract with the state
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
At the BBC we pulled out interesting leads in the Mandelson doc drop using Google's AI-powered journalism assistant. Watch the clip for deets. Behind me is @barbarametzler.bsky.social, one of BBC News's data scientists - always on the lookout for better ways to do computer-assisted journalism.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
At the BBC we pulled out interesting leads in the Mandelson doc drop using Google's AI-powered journalism assistant. Watch the clip for deets. Behind me is @barbarametzler.bsky.social, one of BBC News's data scientists - always on the lookout for better ways to do computer-assisted journalism.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
And all the data at www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
ons.gov.uk
National population projections - Office for National Statistics
The potential future population size of the UK and its constituent countries. These statistics are widely used in planning, including fiscal projections, health, education and pensions.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
UK pop ~growth~ slowth More detail at www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
More UK deaths than births expected every year from now on www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
More UK deaths than births expected every year from now on
The UK population is expected to grow at a slower rate than previously thought owing to a sharp fall in migration and declining fertility rates
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
ONS data here www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
ons.gov.uk
Families and households in the UK - Office for National Statistics
Estimates of families (with and without children) and household types, including people living alone in the UK in 2025.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
bbc story here by Ellie Lawrie www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
One in three young men now live with their parents, ONS data shows
Last year, the highest proportion of men aged 20-34 were still living at home since at least 2007 as the rising cost of living takes hold.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
A lot of the increase in young men living with parents looks like a post uni return home that gradually fades.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
good growth figure this morning is more likely a swallow than a summer...
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Ben Chu @benchu.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
How much more North Sea oil and gas could be extracted by the UK? & what direct impact might this have on UK energy prices? Some relevant data. Thread 🧵...1/17
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Analogy chosen for the Arsenal fan in the house.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
meh inflation in feb is the best we'll see for a while.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
to the nearest 20.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Prompted by a query on this line in a PQ from Anthony Reuben. "Figures have been rounded to 10 for presentational purposes. Numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systemic bias." questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-ques...
questions-statements.parliament.uk
Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Rounding reminder - to the nearest whole number: 0.5 = 0 1.5 = 2 2.5 = 2 3.5 = 4..... Don't @ me. @ the IEE754 and round to the nearest even number. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_754
en.wikipedia.org
IEEE 754 - Wikipedia
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
The LFS may have its failings, but it still beats opt-in data on faith among young adults. pewrsr.ch/4bbNh8N
pewrsr.ch
Has there been a Christian revival among young adults in the U.K.? Recent surveys may be misleading
Despite the widely recognized decline of Christianity in the U.K., there have been persistent rumblings of a Christian resurgence.
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Duncan Lamont @duncanlamont2.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
VAT banter. Niche audience but I’m in that niche so I’m here for it @louisashworth.bsky.social
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Solar's not the biggest renewable in Britain but it drove last year's rise to record renewable generation. From @beckydale.bsky.social @markpoynting.bsky.social & Jess Carr's www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
I only managed two episodes of it in a fit of enthusiasm.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Has anyone seen a good stats analysis of The Traitors?
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Darren Dahly @statsepi.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
‪It has a name now 😜 Many thanks to Ken for agreeing to put his good name to my...artwork. The image is in the public domain (CC 0), but citations to the linked documents are warmly welcomed. ✅ zenodo.org/records/1808... ✅ pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24452418/
Figure 1: The Rothman-Dahly Evidence Pyramid (original version)

An equilateral triangle with a small blue section labelled "Thoughtful, well-conducted studies of any design" at the top, with the remaining space colored red and labelled "The other shit"
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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 17/12/2025
You remember that Nature Aging paper about how multilingualism protects against accelerated aging? Well…
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
40k small boat crossings so far this year is - second highest on record - less than half of asylum claims* - about 5% of immigration* *July '24 - June '25, latest figs More on BBC's migration tracker: bit.ly/4rVv595
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
*The truth is that a huge pessimistic bias in our national accounts has led us to be fed with contemporary reports of doom and gloom, which subsequently turn out to be nonsense" . giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @chrisgiles.ft.com
giftarticle.ft.com
The UK economy is not nearly as bad as you’ve been told
A huge pessimistic bias in our national accounts leads us to doom and gloom which turns out to be nonsense
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Record* life expectancy for women in the UK. *by 0.01 years.
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Cassie Barton @cassierbarton.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
The Commons Library is recruiting a housing policy researcher! As ever: highly recommended workplace, great people, interesting work, etc etc. Apply! housesofparliament.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...
housesofparliament.tal.net
Housing Researcher - Houses of Parliament
Title: Housing Researcher. Employer: House of Commons. Salary: £43,614 - £50,374 per annum. Closes: 11/01/2026, 23:55
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Record low murder rate in England and Wales
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Darren Macey @darrenmacey.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
We would love to hear your thoughts on our new set of maths teaching resources, developed in partnership with @mathsweek.scot Please share widely! @robertcuffe.bsky.social @rssedinburgh.bsky.social @rss-teach.bsky.social #MathsWeekScot
mathsweek.scot
Stats in the Wild - Maths Week Scotland
This set of bespoke evidence-based resources are for exploring statistics using outdoor maths.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Surely should be a portrait of Notey McNoteface? British Bulldogs to Basil Fawlty - your banknote redesign ideas www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Your banknote redesign ideas - from British Bulldogs to Basil Fawlty
The Bank of England wants views on themes for its next series of banknotes, and BBC readers are full of ideas.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Strong +1. Civil service statisticians made excellent technical contributions to recent UK Statistics Assembly.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
UK's data agency has 'deep seated' issues, review finds ONS will reallocate ~10m worth of FTE to fix core econ stats National Stato job will be split into two: technical + running org Govt will look at the legislation defining roles and governance of UK stats www.bbc.com/news/article...
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
I’m a statistician who has to write data as a singular. Don’t get me started on style guides….
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
House style is to write with some lower case if you can pronounce it as a word: NHS but Nafta. www.bbc.co.uk/newsstylegui...
bbc.co.uk
Grammar, spelling and punctuation
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Among the new BBC editorial guidelines taking effect in September is an expanded chapter on stats, data, polls and surveys www.bbc.co.uk/editorialgui...
bbc.co.uk
Section 11: Statistics, Data, Polls and Surveys
Sections 11.1, 11.2 and 11.3
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Looks like the left hand col is an size of trade deficit with a country (relative to total imports from that country). www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1...
bbc.co.uk
Trump tariffs live updates: EU says 'major blow to world economy' as China vows retaliation
The US president announces a 10% tariff on all imports, with further measures targeting countries the White House call the
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Trump says that there’s a “minimum baseline tariff” of 10% being applied.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Both UK and Singapore are alleged to be imposing 10% tariffs on US (left had col). Unusually, the rate US will charge is not half that but is 10%.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Says US tariffs are set at half the tariffs (including non-tariff trade barriers) that those countries impose on US.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Trump announces 20% ‘reciprocal’ tariffs for EU. 10% for UK.
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Peter Matejic @statspeter.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Our complaint re the growth in health benefits has been upheld: osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/corresponden...: "The statement that the number of people claiming disability elements of Universal Credit has increased by 383% presents an entirely misleading picture to the public."
osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk
Rob Kent-Smith to Peter Schofield: Increase in the number of people on Universal Credit
Dear Sir Peter We have received a number of complaints relating to a press release published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on 13 March entitled ‘Almost two million people on Universal...
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Matt Ashby @mattashby.com · 20/02/2025
The head of Amnesty International UK claims in this Guardian article that "The evidence that [predictive policing] keeps us safe just isn’t there". But that's simply not true. Let's look at what the best-available evidence on predictive policing shows … 🧵 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
theguardian.com
UK use of predictive policing is racist and should be banned, says Amnesty
Exclusive: rights group says use of algorithms and data reinforces discrimination in UK policing
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
How does publishing data this way help inform the public? Lunchtime data: www.gov.uk/government/p... Evening data: www.gov.uk/government/p...
gov.uk
Illegal working activity since 5 July 2024
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
...there was a new figure (19k returns!) and a press release embargoed until 1700, when a new "data" publication arrived. The 16.4k covered data up to the end of Dec, which will be made available, in full, scrutinisable detail later this month. Same can't be said for the 19k.
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Robert Cuffe @robertcuffe.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Fig 5 here bit.ly/4aWJ3Qj are the most recent proper data (to Sept 2024). Most of the figs in yesterday's Home Office comms blitz were not accompanied by proper data. We got a press release overnight (16.4k returns) with "data" the next day at lunchtime. But by then..
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