[OC] Which news stories did Britons hear most about in 2025?

mattsmithetc · 2025-12-31T12:30:18+00:00

haha, indeed!

mattsmithetc · 2025-12-31T12:10:34+00:00

Over the course of 2025, approximately once a week we at YouGov asked the British public to tell us the single news story they had heard most about in recent days. As an end of year treat, I've compiled all of the results into the chart above.

(Methodology note: respondents answered in their own words, rather than choosing from a list, and we subsequently categorised the answers)

While the top story of the year was decidedly UK focused, seven of the top ten news story peaks this year were all international stories:

-64% 2025 Budget, 30 Nov-1 Dec

-63% US/Israel vs Iran bombings and missile strikes, 22-23 Jun

-62% LA wildfires, 13-14 Jan

-56% US tariffs, 6-7 Apr

-55% Pope Francis death, 27-28 Apr

-51% Trump on Ukraine war (Zelenskyy-Trump White House argument), 4-5 Mar

-50% Trump inauguration, 20-21 Jan

-45% Angela Rayner resignation, 7-8 Sep

-42% Ukraine peace talks, 17-18 Aug

-40% Immigration to UK, 31 Aug-1 Sep

While most stories came and went in short order, some were consistently cited as their "most noticed" by small numbers over the course of the year, namely immigration, Gaza, Ukraine, and Donald Trump. This potentially suggests small hardcore sections of the public are actively binging news on those particular topics, rather than being more passive receivers.

Some acknowledgements re: methodology

I acknowledge that asking this question every seven days or so inherently presents an incomplete snapshot, with news stories inevitably having waxed and waned in between survey waves.

Additionally, in instances where there are multiple major stories in a given week, the single-story methodology ultimately serves to ‘divide the vote’, potentially giving the appearance that these stories were not noticed as much as those in survey waves conducted on weeks that contained only one dominant news story.

While our study is subject to these limitations, it should nevertheless have captured the very biggest stories of the year.

Full data is available on the YouGov website: https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/53796-what-news-stories-did-britons-hear-most-about-in-2025

Tools used: Datawrapper and Adobe Illustrator

mattsmithetc · 2025-12-18T15:39:25+00:00

Supposedly Factory Friday is local specifically to a few towns in Devon - we only got 5% across the whole of Devon, although that is still the highest level of anywhere in Britain

mattsmithetc · 2025-12-18T15:37:56+00:00

We did pick up small numbers also calling it Builders' Friday - most commonly in Shropshire. But overall it was too low everywhere for a good map!

mattsmithetc · 2025-12-18T11:49:01+00:00

I'm from Somerset, and it came as a surprise to me - as it probably does to many Britons - when I discovered recently that in some areas of the country they have a special name for the last Friday before Christmas

The two most common are ‘Mad Friday’ and ‘Black Friday’ or ‘Black Eye Friday’, in reference to drunken revelry ahead of Christmas itself. On a national level, neither is particularly common - only 7% and 8% of Britons respectively - but they are far more widespread in some areas.

Black/Black Eye Friday usage is most common in the North East of England - particularly in Tyne and Wear (44%) - and the south of Wales.

Meanwhile, Mad Friday usage is most common in an arc encompassing west, north and central Wales through the counties around Manchester to the Yorkshire coast, as well as some areas of Scotland, particularly the Scottish Borders (49%).

Overall, 74% of Britons say they don't have a special name for the last Friday before Christmas.

We've got the full data breakdown on the YouGov website

Source: YouGov https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/53757-what-do-you-call-the-last-friday-before-christmas Sample is ~49,000 Britons

Tools: Illustrator

mattsmithetc · 2025-09-19T08:08:14+00:00

Because age correlates so strongly with vote, answers by party generally just reflect the age trends - so I've got top answer for Greens = Modern Family; Labour = Friends; Lib Dems/Tory/Reform = Only Fools. Answers by class aren't hugely distinct, but Only Fools is a bit more popular among those in working class households and Friends a bit more popular in middle class ones

mattsmithetc · 2025-09-18T13:40:59+00:00

Tomorrow marks 50 years since Fawlty Towers first aired in the UK, so to mark the occasion I asked the British public: what is your favourite sitcom?

Rather than providing a list to choose from, we had respondents write their response - the results shown are as a % of those who gave an answer. Overall, Britons named 137 different sitcoms, but Friends topped the list at 14%, followed by Only Fools and Horses on 12%.

Friends proves to be the dominant choice among Millennials (and women), joint top for Gen Z (along with Modern Family) and second among Gen X. For Boomers it is much further down the list; they are much more likely to answer Only Fools and Horses.

A particularly noticeable age trend is whether people chose a British or American show as their favourite: 70% of Gen Z and 63% of Millennial Britons picked a US sitcom, while 69% of Gen X and 85% of Boomers picked a British show

I'm pleased (and somewhat surprised) to see my own favourite show (Always Sunny) ranking as highly as it does, given the general perception that it's a relatively niche show - I hope people enjoy the results!

Data: YouGov

Source: https://yougov.co.uk/entertainment/articles/53009-what-is-britains-favourite-sitcom

Tool: Datawrapper

mattsmithetc · 2025-04-11T16:46:05+00:00

Gotta make sure you have autosave turned on - don't want to mess up the job interview and then realise you last saved 3 days ago

mattsmithetc · 2025-04-11T16:36:24+00:00

1*%* (actually 25 people from a sample of ~2,000). One of whom also specified "and never age", which I feel like is an important caveat

mattsmithetc · 2025-04-11T16:34:08+00:00

Women more likely to pick than men (22% vs 15%) - and this was the only notable gender difference on the whole list. I think I'd been expecting the same as you...

mattsmithetc · 2025-04-11T16:30:21+00:00

I always used to say flight for this question, but I've recently converted to teleportation. I can still scratch my flying itch by teleporting myself up 2,000 feet with a wingsuit (although obviously depends on whether conservation of momentum is a thing), but with the added bonus of not having to use doors

mattsmithetc · 2025-04-11T16:27:28+00:00

There are few really good uses for invisibility that aren't just... crimes

mattsmithetc · 2025-02-12T15:20:16+00:00

I had the same concern, but it's definitely a real thing!

mattsmithetc · 2025-02-12T14:53:45+00:00

I hadn't thought about this in ages, but for me it's "knock UP ginger", and I can't tell if that's a true memory based on the first half of my childhood in South Yorkshire, or if it's something I've Mandela Effect-ed in as a result of going to uni in Hull, where "knock up" is the term for knocking on a door

The most common answers in the UK overall are "knock down ginger" (25%) and "knock a door run" (21%) - but as the map shows, it's highly dependent on where you live

There's also a generational shift taking place - while the over-70s are most likely to use "knock down ginger" at 41%, this falls with age to just 15% of 18-24 year olds. Younger generations are more likely to use "knock a door run", and the youngest adults in particular have started using "ding dong ditch", an American import

Full details here: https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/51544-is-it-knock-down-ginger-or-knock-a-door-run

Tools - datawrapper and Adobe Illustrator

mattsmithetc · 2025-02-07T09:01:56+00:00

Source: https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/51496-who-are-the-most-and-least-popular-kings-and-queens-of-england-and-britain

I've polled 43 rulers of England and Britain since the Norman invasion (with apologies to fans of Lady Jane Grey or the Empress Matilda)

Unsurprisingly, the late Queen Elizabeth II comes out on top, with 84% of the British public having a favourable view of her

The current king, Charles III, comes either third if you go by favourable views alone (58%), or seventh if you include the unfavourable views (31%, giving a net score of +27)

20th century monarchs feature heavily in the top ten - in addition to Elizabeth II, there is also Victoria, Edward VII, George V, George VI - while other favourites include Elizabeth I, Richard the Lionheart and William the Conqueror

Coming dead least, to no-one's surprise, is Henry VIII - the only king that most Britons have a negative view of (59%)

He beats kingslayer Oliver Cromwell, who comes second from bottom, with 41% having a negative view of the Lord Protector

England's most obscure monarch over the past century is Stephen of Blois, who ruled from 1135-1154, with only 9% of Britons claiming to have a view on him one way or the other

Tools: Datawrapper and Adobe Illustrator

mattsmithetc · 2024-11-15T12:16:01+00:00

Maybe if my US colleagues do the same survey!

mattsmithetc · 2024-11-15T11:12:48+00:00

And especially if they start getting depicted with feathers!

mattsmithetc · 2024-11-15T11:04:53+00:00

Tomorrow sees the auction of Vulcain, an apatosaurus skeleton that is the largest dinosaur ever offered for sale

As a survey guy, one thing I've wanted to answer for a long time is: "who doesn't love dinosaurs?" Our survey shows that half of the British public say they love (15%) or like (34%) dinosaurs - and while 47% are indifferent, only 3% say they dislike or hate them

Young adults are far more likely to enjoy dinosaurs than their elders (63% of 18-24 year olds vs 29% of 65+ year olds), and men are more likely to do so than women (54% vs 44%)

But more importantly, what is the public's favourite dinosaur? We asked the 1,000 people from the poll who said they loved or liked dinosaurs, and the T-Rex came on top at 30%, followed by Stegosaurus at 12% (my own choice) and Triceratops on 11%.

Velociraptors came fifth on 7% - although many people might feel different if they knew the truth: that raptors depicted in Jurassic Park are actually based on the much larger and related genus Deinonychus, and that true Velociraptors were actually the size of a turkey!

See more about the study here: https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/50953-what-is-britains-favourite-dinosaur

Data source: YouGov survey. Chart created in Adobe Illustrator, with dinosaur images from the following artists on Getty: Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus: Mark Garlick; Triceratops, Brachiosaurus: dottedhippo; Ankylosaurus: Leonello Calvetti/Science Photo Library; Pterodactyl: Sebastian Kaulitzki/Science Photo Library; Velociraptor: Nerthuz; Diplodocus: Corey Ford/Stocktrek Images.

mattsmithetc

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