In The Media

Female lobbyists are more likely to gain access to meetings with policymakers, regardless of the policymaker’s gender, indicating gender is used strategically by interest groups to improve their influence, finds a new study led by Professor David Coen (UCL Political Science).

“The survey is so long and complicated that one wonders whether it was deliberately constructed to deter responses,” said Professor Frank Coffield (IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education & Society) on Ofsted-mandated educator questionnaires.

Professor Stephen M. Hart (UCL School of European Languages, Culture & Society) said of the Nobel prize winning novelist Mario Vargas Llosa: “They had an energy about Latin America, a politics which was different and refreshing.”

"Great philosophers of the 18th century, such as David Hume and Jeremy Bentham, turned the subject on its head by arguing that science involved the falsification, rather than verification, of one’s best ideas,” Wrote Professor Michael Baum (UCL Surgery & Interventional Science).

Professor Mark Maslin (UCL Geography) helps answers listeners’ science questions.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot (UCL Institute Health Equity) discuss why policy decisions should focus on health equity.

"Most Americans are too busy with the demands of daily life to attend such meetings making it hard to gauge what the 'silent majority' thinks about the current direction of national politics,” said Dr Thomas Gift (UCL Political Science) on contentious town town hall meetings.

Professor Mark Galeotti (UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies) describes Putin as: “essentially a highly able, flexible tactician. He is, in many ways, an opportunist.”

“It’s almost like a game of whack-a-mole where they focus on one issue, and then Donald Trump is already focused on another issue,” said Dr Thomas Gift (UCL Political Science) on the strategy behind the rapidity of policy changes the US President is implementing.

People with Alzheimer’s disease may retain their ability to empathise, despite declines in other social abilities, finds a new study led by Dr Andrew Sommerlad and Puyu Shi (both UCL Psychiatry).

Dr Helen O’Neill (UCL EGA Institute for Women’s Health) explains the factors behind the rise in secondary infertility. She said: “it’s not just age; it’s compounded by our lifestyle habits”.

“There’s such a close relation between social and economic conditions and life expectancy, it is a good measure of how well we’re doing in meeting people’s needs,” said Professor Sir Michael Marmot (UCL Institute of Health Equity) on public health as an economic indicator.

“It's not only the policy that seems to irk voters, but also the apparent lack of strategy, the impulsive decision-making, and the inconsistent messaging from the White House,” said Dr Thomas Gift (UCL Political Science) on how US tariff policy is unpopular with voters.

"It's hard not to think that Trump's precipitous dips in approvals among independents is due to economic anxiety,” said Dr Thomas Gift (UCL Political Science) on Donald Trump’s recent decline in popularity.

“A considerable number of Americans are four-square behind Trump's tariffs. That not only includes MAGA Republicans, but also populists on the left who are cheering on Trump's attacks on free trade,” said Dr Thomas Gift (UCL Political Science) on the support for Trump’s tariffs.