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John Burn-Murdoch

John Burn-Murdoch

Financial Times

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A million young Britons are falling through the cracks

The voiceless ranks of those not in work or training risk tumbling off the UK’s social and economic map

28.02.2026 8

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

‘Is university still worth it?’ is the wrong question

The graduate earnings premium isn’t really measuring what most people think

20.02.2026 100

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Is liberal democracy in terminal decline?

The old system worked under a set of conditions that are no longer present

23.01.2026 30

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

How to AI-proof your job

The data suggests soft skills more than quantitative competency equal success in a rapidly changing labour market

10.01.2026 40

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Welcome to the age of zero-sum politics

A stalled economic conveyor belt is behind the rise of anti-system, anti-growth parties on both the right and left

19.12.2025 20

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

How redefining special needs rocked education

Broadened criteria are benefiting the better-off, harming those facing greatest difficulty and straining the system

13.12.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Why Americans are feeling poorer even though they’re not

Essential services cost more because people are better off

07.12.2025 20

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

The housing crisis is pushing Gen Z into crypto and economic nihilism

Locked out of home ownership, young adults are turning to risky financial behaviour

28.11.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Britain’s tax system combines the worst of the US and Scandinavia

The UK’s experiment in eating the rich while shrinking the state has left everyone worse off

21.11.2025 20

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Young adults are growing increasingly economically dislocated

A disconnected class is taking shape, but is absent from the headline statistics

15.11.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Why American-style polarisation is spreading across the west

New research shows how incentives in the modern media ecosystem help explain rising division and negativity

07.11.2025 20

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Are Britain and the US losing their allure for top talent?

Open hostility and high visa fees are a risky bet amid intensifying competition for the world’s brightest and best

01.11.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Will AI lengthen lifespans or shorten them?

New science advances may offer longer life to some, but the socio-economic effects may push others to die sooner

25.10.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

What the graduate unemployment story gets wrong

People with a degree are faring better, not worse than their non-graduate counterparts

10.10.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Have we passed peak social media?

As platforms degrade into outrage and slop, users are turning away

04.10.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Did the political establishment pave the way for Trump and Farage?

New research suggests mainstream politicians created an opening for the populist right

26.09.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

France and Britain are in thrall to pensioners

Mounting fiscal crises show how not to handle the demographic crunch

14.09.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

The end of the gatekeepers

In the age of social media, the establishment no longer controls the narrative

06.09.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Why progressives should care about falling birth rates

Falling fertility levels are making the world more conservative, and may harm rather than help the planet

30.08.2025 10

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John Burn-Murdoch

Britain’s statistics scandal means it cannot answer its most pressing questions

More and more of the numbers needed to guide policy are going dark

22.08.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

The troubling decline in conscientiousness

A critical life skill is fading out — and especially fast among young adults

09.08.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

The great crime paradox

Disorder is rising in public consciousness. Is it rising in reality?

01.08.2025 20

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Why are young adults in the English-speaking world so unhappy?

Society sold the dream of home ownership — then cruelly snatched it away

25.07.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Rising graduate joblessness is mainly affecting men. Will that last?

Unpicking the puzzle of increasing junior white-collar unemployment

18.07.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Britain and Europe need to get serious about air conditioning

In a rapidly warming world, a former extravagance is becoming a necessity

11.07.2025 20

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John Burn-Murdoch

Trump chaos is alienating Republicans

Outside of the Maga ecosystem, bad economic news is starting to cut through

04.04.2025 10

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John Burn-Murdoch

Why hasn’t AI taken your job yet?

New research shows ChatGPT’s inability to cope with ‘messy’ multitasking is still protecting some human workers

28.03.2025 20

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

The misinformation discourse is a distraction

Media fragmentation and the erosion of shared sources of truth are bigger threats

22.03.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Have humans passed peak brain power?

Data across countries and ages reveal a growing struggle to concentrate, and declining verbal and numerical reasoning

14.03.2025 30

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Why the Maga mindset is different

US decisions can no longer be analysed using assumptions shared across the democratic west

07.03.2025 20

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John Burn-Murdoch

Manchester United is tackling the wrong problem

A decade of accumulated sporting failure is now hitting the club’s bottom line

01.03.2025 20

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John Burn-Murdoch

How undercounting immigration skews narratives

The US and UK have been underestimating population growth but with diverging implications

31.01.2025 20

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John Burn-Murdoch

Gen Z Americans are leaving their European cousins in the dust

Millennials across the west were united in their economic malaise. Their successors not so much

24.01.2025 40

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John Burn-Murdoch

Young people are hanging out less — it may be harming their mental health

Could the decline of face-to-face interaction tie together several modern mysteries?

18.01.2025 10

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John Burn-Murdoch

The relationship recession is going global

A rise in the number of single people is becoming a key driver of falling birth rates

11.01.2025 20

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch

Inequality hasn’t risen. Here’s why it feels like it has

What appears on the surface to be a flat trend masks churn beneath

03.01.2025 10

Financial Times

John Burn-Murdoch