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Analysis

<p>Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad, presented by distinguished writers, journalists and academics.</p>

BBC Radio 4

From April, 2.7 million workers will get one of the biggest pay rises in UK history as the National Living Wage rises to £11.44 an hour. But will they feel better off?It's 25 years since the National Minimum Wage was introduced. During that time it's credited with putting billions of extra pounds in the pockets of low-paid workers. But, despite that, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, two thirds of households living in poverty have at least one adult in work. And, according to the Institute for Fiscal studies, far from cutting the annual benefits bill, the cost of benefits paid to working families has ballooned since 1999 to about 50 billion pounds a year.
 
So what's behind this low pay puzzle? And what can employers, governments and workers do to ensure that work pays? Pauline Mason investigates.Presenter: Pauline Mason
Producer: Ravi Naik 
Editor: Clare Fordham.Contributors: 
Kate Bell, TUC Assistant General Secretary and former low pay commissioner
Damian Grimshaw, Professor of Employment Studies, Kings College London and London & South Forum Co-Lead at the Productivity Institute 
Patricia Findlay, Distinguished Professor of Work and Employment Relations, University of Strathclyde, and Director of the Scottish Centre for Employment Research
Matthew Fell, Low Pay Commissioner and Director of Competitiveness at BusinessLDN
Nye Cominetti, Principal Economist, the Resolution Foundation 
James Cockett, Labour Market Economist, CIPD
Margaret Esapa, Managing Director and owner, Cherry Care Services, Oxfordshire
Conor Taylor, Director, Foresso

The low pay puzzle

The existential threat caused by Artificial Intelligence is a popular theme in science fiction. But more recently it’s started to be taken seriously by governments around the world and the companies developing the technology. Where did this idea come from, and why is so much money being spent on it, rather than on the regulation of AI and the real threat it poses to jobs and to copyright?Presenter: Jack Stilgoe
Producer: Philip Reevell
Editor: Clare Fordham

How real is the existential threat from AI?

It's 2024, and the Manchester extension of HS2 has been cancelled. The leg to Leeds was cancelled in 2021. The remaining line to Birmingham is now less than half the initial planned route, and will cost over double the initial budget. This is not exclusive to HS2; Sprialling costs and missed deadlines have become commonplace in big engineering projects, the UK is now one of the most expensive places in the world to build infrastructure, but Britain has a proud history of engineering, and one name in particular looms large - Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Ruthless, bloody minded and notoriously driven - what could he do about the current state of UK infrastructure?Presenter: Neil Maggs
Producer: Johnny I'Anson
Editor: Clare Fordham

What would Isambard Kingdom Brunel have done?

It's widely believed that the Conservaives won the Uxbridge by-election because of motorists who were annoyed by the London mayor's ultra low emission zone. With a general election looming, both main english parties want to harness "driver power". But how did the vote of car and van owners become so important? Does the independence driving brings lead to a libertarian attitude? Or is that combative attitude caused by drivers feeling that they have been used as cash-cows by successive governments, which have gladly taken their road tax and fuel duty. But that power balance is also set to change, with the eventual electrification of all UK vehicles. Could road pricing replace fuel duty - and how will motorists respond?Presenter: Chris Bowlby
Producer: Jim Frank
Editor: Clare Fordham

Power Drive

Middlesbrough, in the north-east, is one of the most deprived towns in England. Once a steel and shipbuilding powerhouse, its fortunes changed when those industries closed down. Today, the town that Gladstone described as “an infant Hercules” faces a precarious future. David Baker, who grew up in Middlesbrough in the 1970s, returns to his hometown to ask what can be done to revive its fortunes and what Middlesbrough can teach us about regenerating small, postindustrial towns elsewhere in the UK.Presenter: David Baker
Producer: Dan Hardoon
Editor: Clare FordhamContributors:
Natasha Vall, Professor of Urban and Cultural History, Teesside University
Rob Nichols, Editor, Middlesbrough FC fanzine Fly Me To The Moon
Sally Rodgers, DJ, producer, and vocalist
Steve Dugan, Head of Enterprise, Teesside University
Oliver Lloyd, co-founder and COO, Dink
Chris Cooke, Mayor of Middlesbrough
Gary Hamilton, managing director, Community Leisure Management
Lord Michael Heseltine, former Secretary of State for the Environment
With thanks to the students of Teesside University and Reverend Kath Dean of the Genesis Project.

How to cure the small town blues

Democracies do not die in military coups. They are dismantled slowly, by libel laws, through tax audits, and procedure. Democracies are dismantled by bureaucrats and judges, not by soldiers and heavy-handed policing. It has always been thus, from ancient Rome to present-day Tunisia. The program outlines the tricks of the trade that imperceptibly kill democracies – and how examples in Mexico, Turkey, India and Poland illustrate that the autocratic playbook is nearly always the same. With Anne Applebaum, historian and staff writer at The Atlantic, Amy Slipowitz, research manager at Freedom House, Greta Rios, co-executive director, People Power, David Runciman, professor of politics at the University of Cambridge, Professor Larry Diamond, Stanford University, Jennifer Gandhi, professor of political science and global affairs, Yale University, Renata Uitz, professor of law and government at Royal Holloway, The University of London.Presenter: Matt Qvortrup
Producer: Bob Howard
Editor: Clare Fordham

How to Dismantle a Democracy

'What is "British Culture?” I was born in the UK and have lived here for 40 years, and yet, as a British Asian person, I am constantly told “we are not integrating”. Not integrating into what culture exactly?' Bushra Shaikh runs a charity, is a business-owner and is also a writer and commentator. When she posted this question on social media, two million people viewed it, she received thousands of replies, but no clear definition of British Culture. Some respondents mentioned the food, while others defined it by quoting literature or history. But those answers were often just lists; of meals. books, names and dates.  Is "culture" a synonym for race? How can British people of colour integrate, and what does that mean? Americans put their hands on their hearts, gaze at the stars and stripes and identify with freedom, while the French look to liberty, equality, and fraternity, but is there a British equivalent? Bushra speaks to Historians, cultural commentators, as well as both the UK's newest citizens, and people who can trace their British family roots back hundreds of years, to try to find out what British culture means to them. Presenter: Bushra Shaikh 
Producers: Ravi Naik and Sean Johnson
Editor: Clare Fordham.Contributors: 
Robert Colls, emeritus professor of history at De Montfort University 
Lionel Shriver, novelist and journalist
Pen Vogler, food historian and writer
Dr Bernard Trafford, retired headteacher and former member of the citizenship advisory group
Anton Dani, Conservative councillor and former mayor of Boston
Robert Owen, Vice Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside   
Professor Alice Foucart, Principal Investigator, Psycholinguistics, Universidad Nebrija, Madrid
Dr Tessa Dunlop, historian and broadcaster
Keith Richardson, Author

What is 'British culture'?

British politicians love to invoke the family, from John Major's "Back to Basics" campaign, to New Labour's "hardworking families" - and now a prominent strain of the Conservative right says parents sticking together for the sake of the children is "the only possible basis for a safe and successful society". By turning family values into a political football, are they in denial about the way society has developed this century? For decades, single-person households have been the fastest-growing demographic and younger generations are re-defining romantic commitments and their purpose.Is the erosion of traditional structure around marriage and family a destructive thing for society, or does it offer the kind of freedom and individual choice denied to previous generations? Presenter: Zoe Strimpel 
Producer: David Reid 
Editor: Clare FordhamContributors: 
Danny Kruger, Conservative Member of Parliament for Devizes and Co-Chair of the New Conservatives: Committing to a Better Politics. 
Dr. Ruth Beecher, Historian of Modern Britain and the United States, Birkbeck, University of London
Prof. Deborah Cohen, Richard W. Leopold Professor of History at Northwestern University. 
Prof. Sasha Roseneil, Vice Chancellor of the University of Sussex. 
Prof. Sylvie Fogelj-Bijaoui, sociologist specialising in gender, human rights, the family and the kibbutz. 
Daisy Lees, resident of Old Hall
Chris Lees, resident of Old Hall
Rob Connigale, resident of Old Hall

Has the family had its day?

The term nudge has become a byword for the application of behavioural science in public policy, changing how governments the world over create policies designed to encourage, or nudge, people to make choices that better benefit themselves and society as a whole. 
 
Over the last fifteen years much has been learned about what works, as well as what doesn’t, when it comes to this way of supporting us in making decisions about our health, our money and how we lead our lives. Magda Osman is Principal Research Associate at the Cambridge Judge Business School, The University of Cambridge, and Visiting Professor at Leeds University Business School. Through her work she has examined the problems, and the opportunities, with this way of creating policy. She talks to those working in the field of behavioural change and examines what has been discovered over the last fifteen years, what concerns remain around this way of doing things and what the future is for the behavioural change methods known as nudge.Presenter: Professor Magda Osman 
Producer: Steven Hobson 
Editor: Clare Fordham Contributors: 
Dr Michael Hallsworth, Managing Director, Behavioural Insights Team Americas 
Colin Strong, Head of Behavioural Science, Ipsos and Professor of Consumer and Behavioural Psychology, Nottingham University Business School
Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy
Laura Dodsworth, author and journalist 
Professor Neil Levy, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Katy Milkman, James G. Dinan Professor, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

What's the future of nudge?

Most educational research now suggests that reading for pleasure is strongly linked to a child’s future outcome, educational success, and even wellbeing. But the latest studies also show that reading for pleasure is at its lowest level for twenty years. Why has this happened in a country that's produced more successful children's books than any other?  From Paddington, to Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia to Alice in Wonderland, and of course, the Gruffalo, the list is vast. Is a lack of access to school and local libraries the problem, too few books at home or the rise of phones, tablets and game consoles? What can schools, government, the media and parents do to help foster a love of reading that could help children throughout their lives? Author and former Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson investigates.Presenter: Julia Donaldson 
Producer: Ravi Naik
Editor: Clare FordhamContributors: 
Frank Cottrell-Boyce, author and screenwriter 
Joseph Coelho, 2022-24 Children’s Laureate, author and poet 
Teresa Cremin, Professor of Education (Literacy), the Open University
Joanna Prior CEO Pan Macmillan Publishing, and Chair of Trustees at the National Literacy Trust
Laura Patel, head of literacy, Sandhill View Academy school, Sunderland 
Leia Sands, librarian and committee member, the Great School Libraries campaign 
Ben Lawrence, arts and culture editor, The Daily Telegraph   
Sonia Thompson, headteacher, St Matthews C of E primary school, Birmingham

Can reading really improve your life?

A record 2.6 million people are off work due to long-term sickness, with mental health conditions the biggest single contributor. The problem is particularly acute among younger people, who are disproportionately likely to cite poor mental health as their reason for not working. Other surveys suggest that poor mental health and burnout are among the top reasons for young people to quit their job. But should young people develop more resilience and “soldier on”, as older generations may have done, or is being more open about mental health a good thing? And how well are employers adapting to the expectations of younger workers when it comes to mental health and wellbeing? 
 
Contributors:
Tim Gibbs, Head of Public Service Analysis Team, Office for National Statistics
Emma Codd, Global Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Deloitte
Gabrielle Judge, Influencer and CEO, Anti Work Girlboss
Joel Gujral, CEO and Founder, MYNDUP
Dr Lucy Foulkes, Research Fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford
Mel Stride, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Alison McGovern, Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions
With thanks to City, University of LondonPresenter: James Kirkup 
Producer: Dan Hardoon 
Editor: Clare Fordham

Can the UK afford a mental health crisis?

The USA, the UK and France, which have led the democratic world, are all suffering problems with their constitutions. But the problem is most acute in France, where President Macron has lost his parliamentary majority, and forced his pension reforms through by decree. But worse is to come; Macron can only serve as President until 2027 and will leave a vacuum at the heart of French politics when he steps down. And unlike Charles de Gaulle, he doesn’t seem likely to leave an enduring movement or an obvious successor. He hoovered up centrist support when he swept to power, and his main rivals now are either far-left or far-right. They both are populists, anti-NATO and pro-Putin. Edward Stourton explores if France is heading towards a constitutional crisis and asks what political turmoil in our nearest neighbour might mean.Presenter: Edward Stourton
Producer: Jonathan IAnson
Editor: Clare Fordham

France: a constitutional crisis in the making

Should we be sceptical when politicians claim to act in "the national interest"? The phrase is frequently trotted out to elevate policy and actions as unimpeachably serving us all. But what does it actually mean? So far the Oxford English Dictionary has steered clear of pinning down this "slippery" term.  
Mark Damazer digs up its historical roots and talks to politicians, prime-ministerial speechwriters and policymakers to define a term that can obscure as much as it elucidates. Is its use just cynical high grounding or does it speak of a sincere effort to disentangle policy from personal or party interests? Is the national interest best served by a strong civic landscape where differing visions of “the national interest” are free to battle it out?Presenter: Mark Damazer
Producer: David Reid
Editor: Clare Fordham Contributors:
Michael Gove, Minister for Levelling up, Housing and Communities
Angela Rayner, shadow deputy prime minister and shadow levelling up secretary
Phil Collins, former prime-ministerial speechwriter
Munira Mirza, former Director of the No10 Policy Unit
Dame Linda Colley, Professor of History at Princeton
Fiona McPherson, Senior Editor at the Oxford English Dictionary, specialising in new words

What on earth is the national interest?

How should we evaluate schools? Is it about delivering a wide range of subjects,  or extra activities and pastoral care that make a “good” school? Who gets to decide what is a good school and what does that mean to different people? Many people are influenced by the four Ofsted grades and Ofsted reports so what does research tell us about how consistent those judgements are?  Would you choose a school with a good local reputation but a lower inspection grade. The programme talks to Sonia Exley, an associate professor at the London School of Economics, Professor Christian Bokhove at the University of Southampton, Natalie Perera, chief executive of the Education Policy Institute, Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education and Skills at the OECD, George Leckie, Professor of Social Statistics at the University of Bristol,Dr Ellen Gleaves, a postdoctoral researcher.  Presenter: Branwen Jeffreys
Producer: Bob Howard
Editor: Clare Fordham

What makes a good school?

The cost of living crisis followed a decade in which people’s wages and incomes barely grew. The idea that each generation does at least as well as the one before, has for the moment ended. We’ll only start getting better off again if we can get the economy growing – as it used to in the decades preceding the financial crisis. So, what levers can governments pull to get growth back into the system?  Why don't governments do the things that nearly every expert thinks might work? Should we be looking to governments at all? Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies explores the challenges facing the UK economy and asks: how can any government get the UK economy growing?
 
 
Presenter: Paul Johnson
Producer: Farhana Haider
Editor: Claire Fordham 
Contributors:
Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. 
Jagjit Chadha, Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research 
Stephen Evans, Chief Executive of the Learning and Work Institute
Richard Davies, Director of the Economics Observatory
Louise Hellem, Chief economist at the CBI.
Nicholas Macpherson, former Permanent Secretary at the Treasury.
Rowan Crozier, CEO C. Brandauer & Co Ltd
Sam Bowan, Editor of Works in Progress

How can we grow the UK economy?

Our brain is a wonderful machine, but it can also short-circuit. What happens to us when emotions and politics intersect, when the democratic, listening brain is cut off, or when we succumb to ‘hate speech’?  Research using the latest brain scanners shows that the older part of the brain called the amygdala is ‘triggered’ by emotional responses out of proportion to the impacting stimulus. So, perhaps are we after wolves in human clothing? Not necessarily; we have also developed the frontal cortex which the scans show is stimulated by rational argument. What can scanning the brain reveal about our political affiliations? Can the field of neuro-politics improve political discourse or leave us open to manipulation? Presenter: Matt Qvortrup
Producer: Bob Howard
Editor: Clare FordhamContributors: 
Barbara Sahakian, Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Cambridge
Dr Darren Schreiber, Senior Lecturer at Exeter University
Skyler Cranmer, Associate Professor at Ohio State University
Dahlia Scheindlin, political consultant and public opinion researcher
Dr Liya Yu, Columbia University

The Democratic Brain

Amid mounting claims for reparations for slavery and colonialism, historian Zoe Strimpel asks how far reparative justice should go.
 
Should we limit reparations to the living survivors of state atrocities, such as the Holocaust, or should we re-write the rulebook to include the ancestors of victims who suffered historical injustices centuries ago?
 
Alongside testimony from a Holocaust survivor and interviews with lawyers, historians and reparations advocates, Zoe hears about the long shadow cast by slavery - lumbering Caribbean states and societies with a legacy that they are still struggling with today. 
 
Are demands for slavery reparations just another front in the culture war designed to leverage white guilt? Will they inevitably validate countless other claims to rectify historical grievances? Or are they a necessary step for diverse societies to draw in the extremes of a polarised debate so we can write a common history that we can all live with?Presenter: Zoe Strimpel
Producer: David Reid
Editor: Clare FordhamContributors
Mala Tribich, Holocaust survivor.
Michael Newman, Chief Executive, Association of Jewish Refugees. 
Albrecht Ritschtl, Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics
Dr. Opal Palmer Adisa, former director, University of West Indies. 
Kenneth Feinberg, Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
Tomiwa Owolade, journalist and author of "This is not America". 
Alex Renton, journalist, author and co-founder of Heirs of Slavery.
Dr Hardeep Dhillon, historian, University of Pennsylvania.
James Koranyi, Associate Professor of modern European History at the University of Durham.

How far should reparative justice go?

People have always fought back against “The elite”, and until recently they were easily recognisable: rich, privileged and often born into money. Old Etonians, billionaires, oil barons, media tycoons ruled the roost, but there are claims things are changing, and the rise of a new elite is challenging the status quo.
Author Matthew Goodwin calls them a  group of “radical woke middle-class liberals completely out of step with the public”. University graduates working in creative industries, media and universities, who have an heavy influence over the national conversation about things like immigration, trans rights and sex education, but critics say they don’t represent “ordinary folk”, and as a result communities are feeling unrepresented and left behind.
So who is in charge, or is there an unlikely, and unknowing, coalition between the two – the new elite dominating social discourse and cultural discussion, whilst the traditional elite pull the strings of politics and economics?
This is the next chapter of the culture wars – but while the pair of them battle it out for supremacy, much of the country struggles on day-to-day watching from the side lines.Presenter: Neil Maggs
Producer: Jonathan IAnson
Editor: Clare FordhamContributors 
Matt Goodwin, Professor of Politics, University of Kent and author "Values, Voice and Virtue".
George Monbiot, Author, journalist and environmental campaigner
Dr Lisa McKenzie, research fellow, University of Durham, writer and anarchist
Bob & Lee, builders
Dr Rakib Ehsan, Social policy analyst and author "Beyond Grievance"
Baroness Tina Stowell of Beeston
Paul Embery, Firefighter, trade unionist and writer
Tom, boxing club owner
Aaron Bastani, Broadcaster and founder of Novara Media

Is there a new elite?

Will 2023 be known as the summer of discontent?  This year, nearly every corner of the country has been affected by some kind of industrial action, and more is coming.  Teachers, doctors, nurses, railway workers, airport security, civil servants are among the many professions which have called strikes to protest against, amongst other things, future pay packets during a cost of living crisis. But do labour union tactics really deliver for their members, or does the strong bargaining position of the government come out on top in the end? In this edition of Analysis, Faisal Islam hears from three top union leaders, along with industrial relations experts, about the challenges of calling and maintaining strike actions and the tolls it can take on members and the public. Where lies the balance of power between a workforce banding together to demand a better deal and the public which has to work around disappearing services?You can learn more about this topic by watching the BBC 2 documentary Strike: Inside the Unions available on BBC iPlayer. Contributors:
Sharon Graham - General Secretary: Unite Union
Mick Lynch - General Secretary: Rail, Maritime and Transport Union 
Pat Cullen - General Secretary: Royal College of Nursing 
Jerry Cope - Former Pay Review Body Chair
Mark Stuart - Montague Burton Professor of Employment Relations, University of Leeds
Lord Richard Balfe - Member, House of LordsPresenter: Faisal Islam
Producer: Sandra Kanthal
Editor: Clare Fordham 
Programme Coordinator: Maria Ogundele

Why are so many workers on strike?

How can employers in all sectors of the UK economy get the best out of their workers, retain experienced staff, improve productivity and increase profits at the same time? The principles of "Job Design" seem to promise all of these benefits. It's a process of work innovation which focuses on people, their skills, their knowledge and how they interact with each other and technology, in every workplace, in every sector of the economy.Proponents claim it gives workers a voice in their workplace, allows them to balance their work and home lives, stops burnout and could get more of the economically inactive back in employment. But what evidence is there that it works - and how difficult would it be to implement changes in the workplace?Presenter: Pauline Mason
Producer: Ravi Naik 
Editor: Clare FordhamContributors: 
Patricia Findlay, Professor of Work and Employment Relations, University of Strathclyde and Director of the Scottish Centre for Employment Research.
Kate Bennett, Labour ward coordinator at Liverpool Women's Hospital.
Damian Grimshaw, Professor of Employment Studies, King's College London, and former head of research at the International Labour Organisation.
Dame Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor, University of Cambridge and a director of the Productivity Institute. 
Rachel London, Deputy Chief People Officer at Liverpool Women's Hospital.
Jenna Brimble. Midwife in the continuity of care team at Liverpool Women's Hospital.
Heejung Chung, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Kent. 
Emma Stewart, Flexible working consultant and co-founder, Timewise. 
Dr Charlotte Gascoine independent researcher and consultant on flexible and part-time working
Paul Dennett, Mayor of the City of Salford
Jim Liptrot, Managing director, Howorth Air Tech.
Stacey Bridge, Financial accounting assistant, Howorth Air Tech.

Does work have to be miserable?

Single people make up a large proportion of the population in Britain. People are marrying later and less, getting divorced more often, and living longer. Although not all people who live alone are single, the growth of one-person households now outstrips the rise in the UK population - and is projected to continue.And yet life in Britain often seems ill-suited to their needs. Being single is expensive and modern dating can be brutal. The idea that being in a couple provides greater happiness and fulfillment still has a tight grip on our collective psyche. So is it right to say that singles get discriminated against? And are there ways we might re-imagine life in Britain so that singles get a fairer deal? 
 
Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Clare Fordham
Sound Engineer: Kelly Young
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Sabine Schereck
 
Contributors:
Amy Key - Poet and Author of Arrangements in Blue: Notes of Love and Making a Life
Sarah Harper - Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford
Emma John - Journalist and Author of Self Contained: Scenes from a Single Life
Ben Arogundade - Author of My Terrifying, Shocking, Humiliating, Amazing Adventure in Online Dating
Elyakim Kislev - Professor of Public Policy and Government at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and author of numerous books about single life
Sasha Roseneil - Sociologist and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex

Do single people get a raw deal?

The past decade has seen important shifts in when women become mothers, with 31 years now being the average age for this to occur. This has implications for fertility, pregnancy and birth experiences. Maternal age is related to ‘medical risk’ and almost one in three births now involve a Caesarean section. But how well are maternity services in the UK keeping up with these changes? 
 
Professor of Sociology, Tina Miller examines each stage of becoming a mother – from conception to antenatal preparation, labour and birth, and the postnatal period – to find out how maternity care and other services should respond to these changes.  
Presenter: Tina Miller 
Producer: Dan Hardoon 
Editor: Clare Fordham 
Production Coordinator: Maria OgundeleZeynep Gurtin, Lecturer in Women's Health at the Institute for Women's Health, UCL 
Marcia Inhorn, Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs, Yale University
Noreen Hart, antenatal educator
Pat O'Brien, consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology, UCL
Katherine Hales, midwife
Eliane Glaser, author of "Motherhood: Feminism's Unfinished Business"

What’s changing about childbirth?

Ruth Sunderland, the group business editor of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, asks industry leaders and thinkers about the purpose of companies. Should they be organisations designed to generate profits for the benefit of shareholders, or do they have a bigger role to play in society? What part do they play in environmental policy? Ruth investigates ESG investments, which claim to promote environmental, social and corporate governance best practice, and have become a trillion pound industry.  Why has ESG become a flashpoint in the US political culture wars and could the same happen in the UK?Presenter: Ruth Sunderland
Producer: Farhana Haider
Editor: Clare Fordham
Sound Engineer: Nicky Edwards
Production Coordinator: Maria OgundeleContributors: 
Mark Goyder Founder, Tomorrows Company
Euan Munro, Chief Executive, Newton Investment Management
Merryn Somerset Webb, Senior Columnist at Bloomberg.
Philip Gill, small Investor 
Giulia Chierchia, Executive Vice President for Strategy, Sustainability, and Ventures at BP
Louise Oliver, Co-Founder, Piercefield Oliver Chartered Financial Planners
Rachel, Small investor
Dr Nina Seega, Director for the Centre for Sustainable Finance at the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership
Tariq Fancy, Former Chief Investment officer for Sustainability Investing at BlackRock
Witold Henisz, Vice Dean and faculty director of the ESG initiative at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

What are companies for?

Boycotts are big at the moment. On a global scale, many countries are boycotting Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. There are campaigns to boycott products produced in Turkey, Israel or China. Sporting boycotts are used by countries across the world to express their displeasure with their international rivals. And there are plenty of boycotts going on against companies, over working practices, supply chains and political stances. But international boycotts can be easily circumvented, and we can choose alternative products if we don't like a particular manufacturer. So is this low risk activism, or is it an effective way for ordinary people to hold businesses and nations to account? Do boycotts ever lead to permanent change?Above all, do they work? Journalist and writer David Baker investigates. Presenter: David Baker 
Producer: Ravi Naik 
Editor: Clare Fordham 
Sound Engineer: Nicky Edwards 
Production Coordinator: Maria OgundeleContributors: 
Caroline Heldman Associate Professor of politics at Occidental College, Los Angeles 
Stephen Chan Professor of World Politics at SOAS, University of London
Mark Borkowski PR and Crisis Management agent 
Rob Harrison Director of Ethical Consumer  
Xinrong Zhu Assistant Professor in Marketing at Imperial College London Business School
Richard Wilson Director and co-founder, Stop Funding Hate 
Professor Ellis Cashmore sociologist and cultural critic
Ben Jamal Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Pinar Yildrim Associate Professor of Marketing at the Wharton (Business) School at the University of Pennsylvania

Do Boycotts Work?

In the last five years in the UK, more than 100 children have died from knife wounds. But violence isn't inevitable and evidence shows that we need more mentoring, therapy, family support and police in the areas where violence is high. So why don't we do what works? Jon Yates from the Youth Endowment Fund looks at the schemes that have successfully reduced knife crime. He investigates why the lessons they've taught us haven’t been scaled up. And why we’re spending money on other things like knife awareness campaigns without any evidence they work.  
 
Presenter: Jon Yates 
Producer: Rob Walker 
Editor: Clare Fordham
Sound Engineer: Richard Hannaford
Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele
 
Contributors:  
Karyn McCluskey, Chief Executive, Community Justice Scotland 
Karen Timoney, Director, KDT Wellness 
Graeme Armstrong, author of The Young Team 
Laura Knight, Toolkit and Evidence Engagement Lead, Youth Endowment Fund 
Gavin Stephens, Chair, National Police Chiefs’ Council  
Lawrence Sherman, Chief Scientific Officer, Metropolitan Police  
Jhemar Jonas, youth worker and musician 
Ciaran Thapar, youth worker and author of Cut Short 
Thomas Abt, Founding Director, Center for the Study and Practise of Violence Reduction at the University of Maryland; author of Bleeding Out  
Sajid Javid, Conservative MP for Bromsgrove, former Home Secretary  
Luke Billingham, youth worker and researcher 
Jahnine Davis, Director, Listen Up

We know how to stop knife crime, so why don’t we do it?

In May 2020 a group of experts came together, at speed, to form the UK’s Vaccine Task Force.  Born in the teeth of a crisis, its efforts were responsible for allowing Britain to be among the first countries in the world to roll out vaccines against Covid-19.   But as  memories of the pandemic fade, the urgency it brought to its work has subsided as well.   In this edition of Analysis, Sandra Kanthal asks what lessons have been learned from the success of the Vaccine Task Force and if we should be prepared to allocate the time, energy and expense required to be permanently prepared for the next global health emergency.Presenter: Sandra Kanthal
Producer: Sandra Kanthal 
Editor: Clare Fordham

Lessons from the vaccine task force

How difficult is it for a police force to change? A review of the Metropolitan police by Baroness Louise Casey says racism, misogyny, and homophobia are at the heart of the force. The Met's commissioner Sir Mark Rowley admits 'we have let Londoners down'.  Everyone agrees change must happen – but where to start?Margaret Heffernan meets experts on police reform and former senior officers to explore the organisational challenge that faces any force which wants to transform itself and re-establish public trust. She hears from those involved in establishing the Police Service of Northern Ireland, following the Good Friday Agreement. What were the political and organisational challenges that faced the PSNI in terms of recruitment from two different communities? What lessons might that process offer to the transformation that is needed across other forces? And how would organisational psychologists suggest tackling and turning round long established cultures?Presenter: Margaret Heffernan
Producer: Philip Reevell
Editor: Clare Fordham

Can the Met police change?

Is Britain Exceptional? Historian, author and Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel believes so, and sifts through the layers of Britain’s culture, politics and religious history to find the roots for the nation’s scientific, intellectual and cultural dynamism and the germ for today’s culture wars.
With the help of leading historians, political activists and scientists, Zoe examines whether Britain's obsession with the glories of 'our finest hour': WWII determined a version of history that eclipsed inconvenient truths that contradict our national myths and identity. She asks whether Britain's 'long island story' has really been as unruptured and stable as commonly believed, revealing a much more compelling Britishness forged out of military conflict abroad and religious and political turmoil at home.Does the secret to Britain's historical dynamism in scientific discovery, philosophy and culture reside in dissent from religious and political orthodoxy, rather than unstinting allegiance? Has the hidden history of religious noncomformity - a rebellion within a rebellion - been the hothouse encouraging creative genius to flourish?
Zoe meets the modern-day heirs to noncomformity to examine how Britain's unwillingness to put culture at the heart of our holdall national identity has led to tolerance and cultural diversity on the one hand, but also an acceptance of inequality. This might be the cause of our lost sense of who we are and what Britain is now for; perhaps we need to learn from and incorporate our unexamined history to shake off self-loathing, embrace eccentricity and regain the creative dynamism we now lack. Presenter: Zoe Strimpel
Producer: David Reid
Editor: Clare Fordham

Is Britain exceptional?

The Queen’s funeral appeared a resounding reassertion of our enduring commitment to monarchy, but was it a tribute to her rather than the institution? As the coronation approaches, polls suggest support is at its lowest ever, and the King faces difficult questions on several fronts.
As supreme Governor of the Church of England, congregation numbers are falling and divisions are deepening over its stance on gay marriage.
The union is under threat – what would the monarchy mean if Scotland votes for independence and Northern Ireland joins the Republic?
Commonwealth countries from the Caribbean to the Pacific are asking whether it still makes sense to keep a king in London as their head of state.
The coronation will be a grand reminder of our history, but hanging over everything is a dark chapter in that history; the monarchy’s role in the slave trade. If the King is to represent all his subjects, does he need to say sorry? And what about reparations? Edward Stourton will unravel the challenges and ask how the King meets them.Presenter: Edward Stourton 
Producer: Jonathan IAnson
Editor: Clare Fordham

King Charles' Challenge

Classic theories of representative democracy argue that it’s the representation of ideas not our personal characteristics - such as age, gender, race or class - that should matter. But current debates about the diversity of our politicians suggest many of us are interested in who our MPs are and that they represent us.We have more women and more ethnic minority MPs than ever before, we have had three women Prime Ministers and our first Prime Minister with an Asian heritage and yet attention has been drawn to the fact that the majority of the current cabinet, unlike the British population, attended private schools. Some have never worked outside of politics. Does this matter? Is personal background and history the most critical factor leading to good political representation? Do the backgrounds of our politicians influence voters’ choices at the ballot box? And how do political parties react?Presenter: Rosie Campbell
Producer: Vicki Broadbent
Editor: Clare Fordham

Does it matter who our MPs are?

Professor Ian Goldin explores globalisation, and asks how far the world is fragmenting politically and economically, and what the consequences of that could be. Since around 1990, with the end of the Cold War, the opening of China, global agreements to reduce trade barriers and the development of the internet, there has been a dramatic acceleration of globalisation. But its shortcomings are under the spotlight. Governments are making policy choices that protect their industries, and there’s a knock on effect on other countries and consumers around the world.  How can the challenges be addressed? With contributions from: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation. 
Minouche Shafik, President and vice-chancellor of the London School of Economics
Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor of The Economist 
Rana Foroohar,  Financial Times commentator and author.
Kishore Mahbubani, former Ambassador to the UNCredits: 
CBS News, 24.09.19 – Donald Trump addressing the UN General Assembly in New York, pushing his ‘America First’ agenda.   
Conservative party, 02.10.19 – Boris Johnson at Conservative party conference ‘Let’s get Brexit done.’ 
The White House, 04.03.22 – Joe Biden announce his ‘Made in America’ commitments. 
World Economic Forum, 18.01.23 - German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, addresses the World Economic For in Davos, warning of the dangers of de-globalisation.
BBC Newsnight,19.02.97 - Reporter Mike Robertson, reports on Xiao Ping’s economic legacy.
BBC interview, 2005 - Tim Berners Lee describes the creation of the worldwide web.
BBC Newsnight, 10.11.89 – reporter piece from the Berlin Wall. 
BBC Radio 5Live, 26.01.23 – Latest UK car manufacturing figures from 5Live presenter Rachel Burden and detail from BBC Business editor, Simon Jack.
Courtesy, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, 26.11.88 – Ronald Reagan’s radio address to the nation where he reminds the US to be thankful for economic prosperity generated by global trade.     
Courtesy, William J. Clinton Presidential Library, 28.01.2000 - President Clinton addresses the World Economic Forum about the connections between the global economy and US prosperity.

The death of globalisation?

It’s a year since Russia launched its war in Ukraine; a year that has brought failure, humiliation, defeat and heavy losses on the battlefield, and international isolation. The conflict has impacted the entire Russian population, with unprecedented sanctions and an unpopular and poorly executed nationwide mobilization.  Ukraine was always considered Russia’s closest and most loved neighbour, and yet the Kremlin’s so-called ‘special military operation’ still apparently enjoys considerable support and acceptance among Russians. Journalists Tim Whewell and Nick Sturdee tell the story of how the war has been presented to the Russian people. They explore the myths, lies and truths that have won Vladimir Putin the support he needs to sustain a war effort on whose success his rule and place in history will depend. Talking to a Russian state TV talk-show host, Russia’s most famous war reporter, a singer and so-called ‘Z poet’, and volunteer Russian fighters in Ukraine, Analysis investigates how Russians' understanding of and support for the war are forged.

From Brother to Other

The UK has pledged to reach net-zero by 2050. But has a pandemic, the fallout from the war in Ukraine and now an economic crisis derailed our plans to decarbonise? Or have they provided an inflexion point, accelerating necessary change? With the energy crisis has come a renewed emphasis on security of supply. Does that bind us more firmly to fossil fuels - or spur the transition to cleaner fuels and new technology?   And has a cost of living crisis been a catalyst for change in consumer and corporate behaviour - or made going green seem unaffordable and less of a priority? Dharshini David speaks to policymakers, business leaders and experts and asks whether the economy, or political will, is  the main driver in reaching net zero.Presenter: Dharshini David
Producer: Caroline Bayley
Editor: Clare Fordham

Has economic crisis put net-zero plans on the backburner?

In the search for stability and growth, policy and debate often focuses on looking for multi-million pound inward investment, or industries with big ideas such as technology and manufacturing. But these businesses, which often rely on sophisticated technology to produce tradeable and exportable products, only make up a small proportion of the UK economy. Instead the “Foundational Economy” - things like food production and processing, retail, health, education, housing and welfare, contribute to a much larger proportion of spending. They account for around four in ten jobs and £1 spent in every three in Wales. 
Wales has been a global pioneer in supporting the “mundane” but crucial Foundational Economy, shaping policies around it. They’ve establish a dedicated ministerial board, and have a £4.5m fund, supporting a series of experimental projects testing the importance and potential of the Foundational Economy.   But can it ever be big enough or bold enough to transform the state’s finances? 
Clare McNeil visits the former Slate mining capital of the world - Blaenau Ffestiniog - to investigate whether these projects can provide sufficient stability and growth, and if the rest of the UK should focus on the mundane to develop the economy.Presenter: Clare McNeil
Producer: Jonathan IAnson
Editor: Clare Fordham

Blaenau Ffestiniog and the Foundational Economy

Last week, the government unveiled around £30bn worth of cuts to public services as it attempts to plug a fiscal hole. Governments have attempted to rein in spending in the past and struggled to do so.Philip Coggan takes a look at why public spending tends to rise in the long run and the continuing political battle to contain it. Guests: David Gauke, former Conservative MP and Treasury minister from 2010 to 2017
Carys Roberts, Executive Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research
Jagjit Chadha, Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research
Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow of the Institute for GovernmentProducer: Ben Carter
Production co-ordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross and Maria Ogundele
Sound engineer: James Beard
Editor: Clare Fordham

Can we ever really tackle rising public spending?

In spite of progress on men's involvement in childcare the statistics show that women are still doing far more caring of young children. That is extended throughout life to the caring of ill and elderly relatives. And 82 per cent of people working in social care jobs are women. Professor of Sociology at Oxford Brookes University Tina Miller asks to what extent women are still trapped by society and its structures, such as who gets paid parental leave, into caring roles and whether we simply assume that women will care? But as she finds out, in much later life the roles can be reversed. She asks what needs to change in order for men to take on more caring responsibility earlier on.Producer Caroline Bayley
Editor Clare Fordham
Sound Engineer: Neva Missirian 
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross

Why do we assume women care?

As the twin storms of economic turmoil and worsening climate change grip the UK and many other countries around the world, Analysis examines the future of economic growth. Does it offer a route out of economic malaise, or have its benefits reached a ceiling for developed countries? And can further growth be environmentally justified, or do we urgently need to halt - or even reverse - growth to limit the effects of climate change? Can so-called “degrowth” ever be possible?Edward Stourton talks to economists and thinkers from around the world to appraise whether there’s still a central role for growth in the 21st century.Presenter: Edward Stourton
Producer: Nathan Gower
Editor: Clare Fordham
Programme Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross
Sound Engineer: Neva Missirian

Economic Growth - can we ever have enough?

Over the decades, a string of umbrella terms and acronyms have been used in the UK to describe people who aren’t white. “Politically Black”, Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME), ethnic minorities, or people of colour. Virtually all of them have been rejected by the people they describe, but is there still value in a collective term for Britain’s ethnic minorities? Mobeen Azhar hears stories of solidarity and schism between different groups in modern Britain to find out whether any sense of unity still exists and whether we need a new label.Contributors:Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South
Asad Rehman, Executive Director, War on Want
Professor Jason Arday, Professor of Sociology of Education, University of Glasgow
Ada Akpala, writer and podcaster
Dr Rakib Ehsan, research analyst specialising in social integration and community relations
Dr Lisa Palmer, Deputy Director of the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, De Montfort University
Sunder Katwala, Director, British FuturePresenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producer: Dan Hardoon
Editor: Clare Fordham
Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross

Is 'Political Blackness' gone for good?

If you want to do good in the world, should you be a doctor, or an aid worker? Or should you make a billion or two any way you can, and give it to good causes? Billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried argues this is the best use of his vast wealth. But philosophers argue charitable giving is often driven not by logic, but by a sense of personal attachment. David Edmonds traces the latest developments in the effective altruism movement, examining the questions they pose, and looking at the successes and limitations.

Can Effective Altruism really change the world?

Just over a decade ago, President Xi Jinping was a virtual unknown. Few would say that now. In ten years, he’s reworked the Chinese Communist party, the military and the government so that he’s firmly in control. He’s also vanquished all of his obvious rivals. And now, he’s about to extend his time in office. Some say Xi might stay in the top job indefinitely. So how did Xi Jinping do it? Celia Hatton, the BBC’s Asia Pacific Editor, speaks to fellow China watchers to find out.Producer: Rob Walker
Editor: Clare Fordham
Researcher: Ben Cooper
Studio Manager: James Beard
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-CrossWith special thanks to Kerry Allen.(Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the art performance celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China in 2021. Credit: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

How Xi Jinping did it

Does becoming a surrogate mother exploit or empower a woman?  UK surrogacy law is under review, and there's a renewed debate around how it should be regulated. The war in Ukraine highlighted this, as the spotlight shone on the surrogate mothers, the babies they'd given birth to, and the overseas parents struggling to collect 
the newborns.  In the UK the numbers of children born through surrogacy are still relatively small but they're expected to rise, not just because of medical infertility but also as more gay  male couples and single men look to have their own biological children.  For some surrogacy is extremely contentious, for others it's life changing.  Sonia Sodha asks whether surrogacy is the ultimate commercialisation of a woman's body or whether it's the greatest gift a woman can give.Producer Caroline Bayley
Editor Clare Fordham
Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross

Is ethical surrogacy possible?

Is a protest march worth your effort? About a million people attended the Stop the War street protest in 2003. About half a million had marched to protest against the fox hunting ban a year earlier. More recently, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate against the decision to leave the EU. Nonetheless, the Iraq war happened, the hunting ban remains and Britain did leave the EU. James Tilley, a professor of politics at Oxford, finds out if street protests achieve anything, why people take part and what effect they have on politicians and voters. 
Produced by Bob Howard

What's the point of street protest?

Are we past the point of no return when it comes to our obsession with online technology? Elaine Moore considers her own tech use and explores our future in the metaverse.According to a YouGov poll, the majority of Brits can’t get through dinner without checking their phone. Children and young adults can now be treated on the NHS for ‘gaming and internet addiction’. So, with the arrival of the metaverse, which promises to seamlessly blend our real and virtual worlds, are we facing a future which could potentially turbocharge this issue?Elaine asks if addiction to technology is real, and as it becomes more entwined in our everyday lives, what’s being done about it? Speaking to addiction specialists, tech experts, and others, she finds out how we can live more harmoniously with technology and develop healthier relationships with our screens.With contributions from: 
 
James Ball, author of 'The System: Who Owns the Internet, and How it Owns Us'.Anna Lembke, Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and author of 'Dopamine Nation'. Dr Rebecca Lockwood from the National Center for Gaming Disorder.Catherine Price, science journalist and founder of ScreenLifeBalance.com.Professor of AI and Spatial Computing, David Reid.Producer: Craig Templeton Smith

Addiction in the age of the metaverse

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the United Kingdom was sometimes characterised as the 'sickman of Europe' due to industrial strife and poor economic performance compared to other European countries. Today, inflation is once again rising and growth is forecast to slow considerably and economists predict that the UK could suffer a greater hit to living standards next year than any other major European country. BBC economics correspondent Dharshini David asks just how hard the times ahead will be and how might we find a cure to avoid the mantle of 'sick man of Europe' once more?Producer: Caroline Bayley
Editor: Richard Fenton - Smith
Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar
Production Coordinators:  Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross

Is the UK the new sick man of Europe?

Is formal childcare for pre-school children there to provide an early years education? Or to allow parents to go out to work? Politicians would say both, but many argue the UK’s system is failing to do either. Charlotte McDonald explores what improvements could be made and ask – do we want a big overhaul of our current system?

What is childcare for?

The Bank of England says inflation might reach 11 per cent this year. There are warnings that some people will have to choose between heating and eating. But what does it mean for the whole economy when prices just keep rising? In the 1970s inflation in the UK led to prices and wages spiralling as workers fought for wages that would keep up with prices.  Those years were dominated by waves of strikes and social unrest as inflation became embedded in the economic system. The current situation is being exacerbated by Covid 19, the war in Ukraine and Brexit so is there anything that government can do to stop it? How bad could it get? And are the days of low inflation gone forever?Reporter Philip Coggan talks to:
Manoj Pradhan consultant at Talking Macroeconomics
Andy Haldane, Chief Executive of the RSA and former Chief Economist at the Bank of England
Jagjit Chadha: Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)
Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium
Ruth Gregory, Economist at Capital Economics
Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics at Harvard UniversityProducer: Claire Bowes 
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith 
Production co-ordinators: Helena Warwick-Cross and Maria Ogundele 
Sound engineer: Neil Churchill

Beyond the cost of living crisis

Some countries have legalised cannabis, often with the hope of kick-starting a lucrative new source of tax revenue - but just how profitable has it been?Aside from a few fact-finding trips, the prospect of legalising cannabis is not on the political agenda here in the UK - but could it be missing out?Advocates say it's a bad call to let criminals continue to profit when legal businesses and the government could reap the financial rewards instead. Opponents counter that no amount of money is worth the associated public health risks.But in the past decade countries including Canada, Malta, Uruguay and parts of the United States have decided to embrace the so-called green rush.But how is it working out for them economically and what lessons could other places considering legalisation learn?Reporter Datshiane Navanayagam talks to:Christopher Snowden, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic AffairsAdam Spiker, executive director of a cannabis trade association in CaliforniaAmanda Chicago Lewis, a US based investigative reporter covering cannabisLaura Schultz, executive director of research at Rockefeller Institute of Government in New YorkRishi Malkani, Cannabis Leader at Deloitte Charlotte Bowyer, Head of Advisory at Hanway AssociatesProducer: Ben Carter
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production co-ordinators: Helena Warwick-Cross and Maria Ogundele
Sound engineer: James Beard

Cashing in on the green rush

In late February, three days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a landmark speech in the German parliament, the Bundestag. The invasion, he declared, represented a 'Zeitenwende' - a turning point. The speech has been much discussed since - was Mr Scholz referring simply to the fact of the invasion, or to the way Germany needed to respond to it? The speech contained a number of policy statements, the boldest of which was the commitment to set up a 100 billion Euro fund to re-equip Germany's outdated armed forces. The question now is whether Germany will live up to Mr Scholz' promises, or will the cultural, political and economic bonds that have tied Germany and Russia together get in the way? Presenter: Caroline Bayley
Producer: Tim Mansel

Germany and Russia: It's Complicated

Digital advertising fuels the digital economy, but is it all based on smoke and mirrors? Ed Butler investigates what some claim is a massive collective deception - a trillion dollar marketing pitch that simply does not deliver value to any of those paying for it. He asks, do online ads actually work, or could it be that some of the biggest names in global tech are founded on a false prospectus?

The Advertising Trap

Arguments over the value of nationalism seem to have been raging for centuries, even though the nation state as we know it has only become widespread in the last two hundred years.In this programme, David Edmonds tracks the emergence of the nation state and the debate surrounding it. From post-colonial Ghana to contemporary Britain, we hear what nationalism has meant to different people in different contexts, as well as the social and philosophical principles that underlie it.Contributors:Professor Michael Billig, Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences at Loughborough University,Professor Richard Bourke, professor of the history of political thought, University of Cambridge. Elizabeth Ohene, former Minister of State in Ghana. Dr Sandra Obradovic, Lecturer in Psychology, The Open University.Professor Tariq Modood, director of the Bristol University Research Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship.Dr Sarah Fine, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Cambridge  Producer: Nathan Gower
Studio Manager: James Beard
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross

Can Nationalism be a Force for Good?

As Russia’s  brutal war with Ukraine enters its fourth month, Edward Stourton asks who Russia's allies and friends are and looks at the nation's influence overseas. While President Putin has made no secret of his belief that Ukraine should be part of a “greater Russia”, what is less apparent is how far Russia’s influence is spreading in other parts of the world. These include sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.  With the West having left a vacuum in parts of Africa, President Putin has been able to offer military help in unstable countries such as Mali and the Central African Republic. This follows Russia's intervention in Syria's civil war on the side of Bashar Al-Assad's government, with implications for the wider geopolitics of the region. And in Latin America, Russia is accused of using soft power tactics through its media channels to polarise society and spread anti-US and anti-Western propaganda. Edward Stourton asks to what extent this shows that Russia is trying to rebuild the old Soviet-US spheres of influence of the Cold War.Producer: Caroline Bayley
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick

From Russia with love

In the wake of the greatest crisis to hit Europe since the Second World War, former Moscow correspondent Tim Whewell examines the president, people and processes that led to that momentous decision, and others like it.
 
Radical advisers, tame oligarchs, intelligence agencies scared to tell Putin the truth and the domestic repercussions of NATO’s political moves - Tim brings together the variety of causes that have led to deep dysfunction and the concentration of power in a single man who risks becoming synonymous with the state itself.Interviewees include investigative journalists Catherine Belton and Andrei Soldatov, and former NATO Secretary General George Robertson.Producer: Nathan Gower
Sound: Nigel Appleton
Production Coordinators: Siobhan Reed and Sophie Hill
Editor: Hugh Levinson

The Court of Putin

As tax rises hit pay packets next month is this an end to traditional Conservative low tax policy? The UK government has so far defied calls from across the political spectrum to shelve the planned 1.25 per cent increase in National Insurance, despite millions of households grappling with a rising cost of living at a time of great economic uncertainty as war rages in Ukraine. A greater proportion of the nation’s income will go to the taxman than at any point since the 1950s. Yet Brexit was billed by some as the UK’s chance to go it alone and create its own economic model, a “Singapore on Thames” – a low tax, light touch economy to attract outside investment. Instead, corporation tax is to increase from 19 percent to 25 per cent by 2023,  while a new £12 billion annual levy to fund the NHS and social care comes in from April, initially in the form of higher national insurance payments. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has broken his election manifesto pledge not to raise such taxes to meet, he argues, the cost of supporting the economy through the pandemic. His chancellor hopes this will permit future tax cuts. But with policy priorities such as levelling up and a transition to net zero, and the realities of an ageing population, BBC Economics Correspondent Dharshini David asks whether we're seeing a fundamental shift in  traditional Conservative low tax philosophy and whether that's a temporary choice - or an unavoidable permanent reorientation?
Guests:
Sir John Redwood MP
Sir Charlie Bean, professor of economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science
Lord Nick Macpherson, former permanent secretary to the Treasury
Dame DeAnne Julius, distinguished fellow, Chatham House  
Dr Jill Rutter, senior fellow, The Institute of Government Producer: Caroline Bayley
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Jacqui Johnson
Sound: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Hugh Levinson

Can the UK ever be a low tax economy again?

Is a world without violence possible? Violence blights the lives of countless individuals each year. The Crime Survey of England and Wales suggests there were 1.2 million incidents of violent crime in the year ending March 2020.  
 
Sonia Sodha focuses on one category of violence – gender-based violence – and assesses the global progress in tackling this issue. Statistics show that most perpetrators – and victims – of violent crime are men. As a result, many violence prevention initiatives have traditionally focused on reducing men’s propensity for violence. But how effective is this gender-based approach? And does it provide any clues for the best way to reduce violence in society as a whole? 
 
Presenter: Sonia Sodha 
Producer: Dan Hardoon 
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Jacqui Johnson
Sound: James Beard
Editor: Hugh Levinson

Ending Violence

Chris Naylor asks if there's a better way to deliver public services. Many of these were designed nearly a century ago to address the challenges of that time; from cradle to grave, offering help and support during times of need - just enough to get you back on your feet.   But as we approach the quarter-way mark in the 21st century,  our context today is radically different to that of 100 years ago. Dig a little deeper and some of the other assumptions that underpinned Beveridge’s vision of a welfare state no longer hold either: full employment; economic and fiscal growth; the presumption of unpaid domestic care (then done by women) and of affordable housing.  Little wonder that services designed to respond to momentary problems in a person or household life can’t cope with the tsunami of demand that comes when those problems last for decades. And if our public services can’t cope with collective demand, the worry is this is contributing to a collapse in the trust we place in our public institutions and therefore in our politics too.  As the years go by, as trust declines, so the problems get harder and harder to resolve.  
 
So what are we going to do about this? Is there a better way to deliver public services? Chris Naylor, the former Chief Executive of Barking and Dagenham Council assesses the need for public service reform, meeting innovators and talking to those who design and use public services.  Is it time for a radical rethink?     Producer: Jim Frank
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Jacqui Johnson
Editor: Hugh Levinson

The case for public service reform

How can the planning system adapt so we can build new homes without alienating voters? Barrister and author Hashi Mohamed investigates, focussing on the system in England. The government has pledged to build 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s to ease the country’s housing crisis and increase home ownership. But wide-ranging planning reforms to make it easier to achieve were shelved following the Conservatives’ shock defeat in the Chesham and Amersham by-election last year. So is it possible to create a politically acceptable planning system in this country? Deadlock between local communities and big developers is commonplace, with planning policies taking years to realise through a local government system that lacks vital resources and expertise.  And what has to change for enough new homes to be built? Hashi Mohamed asks how the planning system, and the way we live and build, needs to adapt.
Producer: Caroline Bayley
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Jacqui Johnson
Sound: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Hugh Levinson

Planning, Housing and Politics

Probing the results of a major study into our unequal society. Faisal Islam, BBC Economics Editor, talks to two leading experts on inequality, who have together been working for several years on a research project for the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He asks Paul Johnson, IFS Director, and Nobel laureate Sir Angus Deaton what the findings reveal about the UK now, and how these issues can be addressed.
Producer: Xavier Zapata
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Jacqui Johnson

Tackling Inequality

What do we owe future generations?  Everyone who is alive, has rights.  And governments have obligations to their citizens.  But what about people who are not yet born?  Should their interests be taken into account - even though they don’t yet exist? David Edmonds draws upon the thinking of the late philosopher Derek Parfit to address this vexing question, which has consequences for real-world policy now in areas such as climate change.
Presenter: David Edmonds
Producer: Nathan Gower
Editor: Hugh Levinson

Why worry about future generations?

Can scientists develop a vaccine which can combat the coronavirus and all its variants? There have been three lethal outbreaks caused by coronaviruses this century: SARS in 2002, MERS in 2012 and now SarsCov2. Scientists predict we will eventually encounter SarsCov3. That’s why the race is on to develop a universal vaccine to combat the coronaviruses and variants we know about, and the ones we have yet to confront. But attempts to create a universal vaccine for viruses such as influenza and HIV have been going on for decades - without success. Before 2020, proposals to create a vaccine against coronaviruses were not thought important enough to pursue since many just cause the common cold.  Now that we understand their real threat, can scientists succeed in creating a vaccine to fight this large family of viruses,?Produced and presented by Sandra Kanthal
Editor: Emma Close
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Jacqui Johnson
Sound: James Beard and Rod Farquhar

Can we create a universal Covid vaccine?

Finding things out during the pandemic has been hit and miss: there’ve been miracles, and there’s been junk. What matters is not just what we think we know about how to intervene to improve human health, but how we think we know it. Methods can be inspired, flawed, or both. Michael Blastland tells the short and still-changing story of how science has been trying to get better at finding things out. Contributions from:Professor Sir Angus Deaton, Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Economics Department at Princeton University.
Maria Popp. Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care, Emergency and Pain Medicine, University Hospital Wuerzburg.
Professor George Davey Smith, Director of the Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol. 
Sheena McCormack, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at University College LondonProducer: Ben Carter
Editor: Jasper Corbett
Sound Engineer: Graham Puddifoot

Finding Things Out

Birth rates in many countries, including China, Japan, Italy and the UK have dropped below replacement level.  Clare McNeil asks if we should be concerned about this, and the burden it will place on taxpayers and the young, or welcome it as a good thing for climate change, where some think that the fewer consumers and CO2 emitters the better.  But with fertility rates of 1.58 in England and Wales, and only 1.29 in Scotland, society is aging, with the higher healthcare and pension costs to be borne by the taxpayers of working age. What role could or should the government play in increasing the birthrate? Presenter: Clare McNeil
Producer: Arlene Gregorius
Editor: Jasper Corbett Speakers: 
Angie Hobbs, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy, the University of Sheffield 
Lord David Willetts, President of the Resolution Foundation 
George Monbiot, environmental campaigner and author 
Felix Pinkert, Assistant professor of Philosophy and Economics, University of Vienna 
Jacob Hacker,  Professor of Political Science, Yale University
Jade Sasser, Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of California, Riverside 
Ronald Lee, emeritus professor of Demography and Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Baby Boom or Bust

The shortage of HGV drivers has been hitting the headlines, but other sectors are affected by a lack of staff too, from care homes to restaurants. This despite wages going up, and the end of the furlough scheme.  What's going on? Could it be that power is shifting away from employers to workers, for perhaps the first time since the 1970s? 
Since the 2008 financial crisis public opinion has increasingly been unfavourable towards globalisation, immigration and big corporations. This has been reflected in a shift away from an assumed pro-business stance among the mainstream political parties too. Philip Coggan speaks to a range of experts to find out what's been happening, whether workers really will gain more power, and what that might mean for the economy. Guests:
Ben Clift, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick
Dame DeAnne Julius, Distinguished Fellow for Global Economy and Finance, Chatham House
Kate Bell, Head of Rights, International, Social and Economics at the Trades Union Congress
Rob Ford, Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester
Jonathan Portes, Professor of Economics and Policy at King’s College, London
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality
Shereen Hussein, Professor of Health and Social Care Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Gerwyn Davies, Public Policy Adviser and Senior Market Analyst at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and DevelopmentProducer: Arlene Gregorius
Sound: Gareth Jones

Revenge of the Workers

Splitting up where children are involved is tricky. Especially when it ends up in the family courts. It’s even more tricky when a child decides they don’t want a relationship with one of the parents. Over the last two decades a controversial psychological concept has emerged to describe a situation where children - for no apparent reason - decide they don’t want to see one parent. It’s called parental alienation.Women’s rights organisations argue parental alienation is used to gaslight abused women. Fathers’ rights organisations claim that some mothers make up allegations of abuse to prevent them from seeing their children. And children are caught in the middle.  Sonia Sodha explores the polarizing concept of “parental alienation” and asks how a contested psychological theory has evolved into an increasingly common allegation in the UK family courts.  Producer: Gemma Newby

Parental Alienation

When you listen to a radio programme, watch an animated film, or even receive a phone call, it’s unlikely you’ll question whether the words you’re hearing are coming from the mouth of a human being. But all that could be about to change thanks to the rise of ‘voice cloning’. Elaine Moore is a tech columnist at the Financial Times and she’s interested in the ramifications of this new technology. Thanks to artificial intelligence, cloning a human voice can be achieved with just a few minutes of recorded audio. As the technology becomes more sophisticated and its use more widespread, how will this affect our society, our politics and our personal interactions? And is it time we were able to control what happens to our own voice both now and when we die?With contributions from: 
Carlton Daniel, lawyer at Squire Patton Boggs.
Tom Lee, co-founder of LOVO.
David Leslie, Ethics Theme Lead at the Alan Turing Institute.
Rupal Patel, founder & CEO of VocaliD. 
Tim McSmythurs, AI Researcher and creator of Speaking AI.
James Vlahos, co-founder of HereAfter AI. Producer: Craig Templeton Smith
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Look who's talking - the rise of ‘voice cloning’

This summer's hasty and poorly executed withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan caused shock and profound unease among Washington's allies, just as they hoped the unilateralism of the Trump era had been left behind. But anxiety about America's position on defence only intensified with the unveiling in September of AUKUS - a trilateral security pact involving Australia, the US and UK covering the Indo-Pacific region. The exclusion of France from that deal not only enraged Paris but also further alarmed European allies about American intentions. So what next? Can the Biden administration be trusted to uphold the security guarantee which underpins NATO? Or, as France's President Emmanuel Macron argues, do these and other actions by the United States show that the 70 year-old Alliance is effectively "brain dead" and that Europe has to set about achieving "strategic autonomy" without depending on Washington's whims?In a lively forum with key players and thinkers about European security from both sides of the Atlantic, Edward Stourton considers what should happen now on European defence and whether seemingly divergent views about it can be reconciled.  Those taking part: Professor Malcolm Chalmers, Deputy Director of the Royal United Services Institute in London; Nathalie Loiseau, MEP, former French Minister of European Affairs and Chair of the European Parliament's Sub-committee on Security and Defence; Dr Constanze Stelzenmüller, expert on Germany and trans-Atlantic Relations in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.; and Linas Linkevicius, former Foreign and Defence Minister of Lithuania.Producer: Simon Coates
Editor: Jasper CorbettPhoto by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Who Defends Europe?

What keeps a nation together? For political scientist Benedict Anderson, it was the idea of the 'imagined community'. Although people from different backgrounds in a country might not know one another, they could imagine themselves as part of the same larger story. Peter Pomerantsev looks at how we can survive as a society when the idea of the 'imagined community' is under strain. Is it too late to find any commonality? Or are there other ways of imagining the future of the nation?Producer Ant Adeane
Editor Jasper Corbett

Reimagining the Nation

In June 2020 the statue of slaver trader Edward Colston was toppled and thrown into the harbour in Bristol – one of the most visible moments of the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK. The statue now lies on its side in a museum, a testament to the dramatic re-evaluation of Bristol’s painful history at the centre of the transatlantic slave trade. Over the last year schools and buildings bearing Colston's name have been renamed. Colston has been cancelled.
 
But what about the system of wealth, power and race that he represented? 
 
Bristol journalist Neil Maggs speaks to the people in Bristol dealing with Colston’s legacy. Current members of the Society of Merchant Venturers, a powerful charitable organisation which promoted Colston’s reputation as a philanthropist, have suddenly been thrust into the spotlight. School leaders are rolling out unconscious bias training.  Elsewhere community leaders and politicians are navigating the potential for a backlash against terms such as white privilege as the national conversation on race continues.Producer: Lucy Proctor
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Cancelling Colston

In an age of social media ’cancel culture’ might be defined as an orchestrated campaign which seeks to silence or end the careers of people whose thoughts or opinions deviate from a new set of political norms. So if this threat exists for anyone expressing an opinion online in 2021, what’s it like for scientists working in academia and publishing findings which might be deemed controversial?In this edition of Analysis, Michael Muthukrishna, Associate Professor of Economic Psychology at the London School of Economics, assesses the impact of modern social justice movements on scientific research and development. Speaking to a range of experts, some who have found themselves in the firing line of current public discourse, and others who question the severity of this phenomenon and its political motives, Michael asks: if fear of personal or professional harm is strengthening conformism or eviscerating robust intellectual debate, can open-mindedness on controversial issues really exist in the scientific community? Or is rigorous public assessment of scientific findings helping to achieve better, more equitable and socially just outcomes?With contributions from:Emily M Bender, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington
Pedro Domingos, Professor of Computer Science at University of Washington
Caroline Criado Perez, writer and campaigner
Brandeis Marshall, data scientist, Professor of Computer Science at Spelman College
Steven Pinker, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University
David Reich, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School Producer Craig Templeton Smith
Editor Jasper Corbett

Science in the Time of Cancel Culture

After another round of violence, a two state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict appears farther away than ever. Edward Stourton examines the future. Guests include:
Ahmad Samih Khalidi - Senior Associate Member at St Antony's College, Oxford
Anshel Pfeffer - Senior Correspondent, Haaretz
Dore Gold - former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations & President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Jake Walles - former US Consul General in Jerusalem
Salem Barahmeh - Executive Director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy
Sawsan Zaher - Deputy General Director, Adalah
Shlomo Ben-Ami - former Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs & Vice President of the Toledo International Center for Peace. 
Producer Luke Radcliff
Editor Jasper Corbett

Stalemate: Israel and the Palestinians after Gaza

The first, modest Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took place in late July 1921. Of the twelve original members, only Mao Zedong and one of his closest aides survived to take part in the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. The others were killed by political opponents, lost factional struggles or took up other creeds. And the CCP's history has been punctuated by in-fighting, purges, jailings, defections and sudden deaths. The Party itself sees things differently. Only it was able to push China into the future, the CCP claims, after earlier abortive attempts to modernise the country - and to secure the global eminence that it now enjoys. Its narrative also insists on the CCP's seamless triumph over obstacles placed in its path by malevolent foreign powers and reactionary domestic forces. A hundred years on from the CCP's foundation, the eminent China-watcher Isabel Hilton assesses the importance of the Party's centenary and asks why control of its view of its history is so important. She shows which events and ideological shifts the CCP prefers not to highlight or to ignore altogether. She considers why so much of the Party's history swings between periods of repression and liberalisation. And she explores how Xi Jinping, its current leader, is using the centenary. What will preoccupy the CCP in the years ahead?Producer Simon Coates
Editor Jasper Corbett

A Hundred Glorious Years?

Unionism in Northern Ireland is facing a highly uncertain future. Its divided party politics make the headlines.  But beyond that, post-Brexit border rules and talk of a possible vote on Irish reunification is causing much anxiety. Even more profoundly, changes in the province’s population and attitudes among different generations are weakening traditional loyalties.  Pessimists fear all this could be seriously destabilising. Others argue that a new kind of unionism, focused on the practical benefits of links to Britain, can revive the cause. Chris Bowlby listens in to a debate with major implications for the UK as a whole.    Producer: Jim Frank
Editor: Jasper Corbett

A New Unionism?

What is the money in your pocket really worth? Come to think of it now we’re virtually cashless, do you even keep money in your pocket? Maybe you’re worried about the growth of government debt during the pandemic you now store your wealth in commodities such as gold or silver? Or maybe you’re a fan of another asset class: bitcoin. Are cryptocurrencies the future of money or a giant bubble waiting to burst? Why are governments and companies such as Facebook so interested in developing their own digital currencies?
 
Fifty years on from the ‘Nixon Shock’, when President Richard Nixon changed global currencies forever by taking the US off the gold standard, the BBC’s Ben Chu is on a mission to find out what money means to us today. Where does its value come from in this increasingly online world? Are we witnessing a revolution in the transfer of value into the metaverse? And how should make sense of this funny money business?Guests include: Historian Niall FergusonEconomist and academic Stephanie Kelton Investor Daniel MaegaardInvestment strategist Raoul PalFinancial commentator Peter SchiffEconomist Pavlina TchernevaProducer Craig Templeton Smith
Editor Jasper Corbett

Funny Money

Most of us were blindsided by the novel virus SarsCov2, but infectious disease experts had been warning about the possibility of a global pandemic for some years. For them it was never a matter of if, but when.  What did come as a surprise was the speed of scientific progress to fight Covid 19.  The first effective vaccine, from Pfizer/BioNTech, was developed in under 300 days, followed  in successive weeks by Moderna and Oxford/AstraZeneca.  The results of the UK’s RECOVERY trial, which was organised in a matter of weeks, has saved an estimated million lives worldwide by identifying which treatments are effective in treating Covid 19. And regulators around the globe, like Britain’s MHRA, are using innovative programmes to get medical products to people faster.  During the pandemic, the world witnessed how fast medicine can advance with an abundance of cash and collaboration.  Is progress at this speed and cost sustainable?  Sandra Kanthal asks if drug development is something which should still take decades, or have we learned how to permanently accelerate the process? Guests: Rod MacKenzie, Chief Development Officer, Pfizer
Nuala Murphy,  President Clinical Research Services, Icon
Professor Sir Martin Landray, Co-Chief Investigator, RECOVERY Trial
Nicholas Jackson, Head of Programmes and Technology, CEPI
Christian Schneider, Interim Chief Scientific Officer, MHRA
Hilda Bastian, Independent Scientist    Producer and Presenter Sandra Kanthal
Editor Jasper Corbett

Marvellous Medicine

Our towns and cities are facing an existential crisis. The rise of online shopping has left gaping holes in high streets. And if hybrid working takes off, some economists predict a dramatic 'zoom shock' as workers spend less time and money in city centres. What seems like a crisis could be an opportunity to reinvent our cities and 'Level Up' struggling towns. But are we ready to seize this moment? Helen Grady meets local leaders embracing this moment of change - from the Teesside town bulldozing a shopping centre to create a park to the US community paying remote tech workers to relocate. She hears how big cities like Manchester are enticing people back to the office. And she asks if we're about to see a move away from city-led growth to a model where jobs and prosperity are more evenly spread between towns and cities.Producer and presenter Helen Grady
Editor Jasper Corbett

The Zoomshock Metropolis

Last December Liz Truss made a speech. The Minister for Women and Equalities spoke about her memories of being at school in Leeds. She was taught about sexism and racism, she said, but not enough time was spent on being taught how to read and write. "These ideas," said Truss, "have their roots in post-modernist philosophy - pioneered by Foucault - that put societal power structures and labels ahead of individuals and their endeavours."So do Foucault's ideas pose a real danger to social and cultural life in Britain? Or is he a "bogeyman" deployed by some politicians to divide and distract us from real issues?In this edition of Analysis, writer and academic Shahidha Bari tries to make sense of Foucault's influence in the UK - and asks whether his ideas really do have an effect on Britain today.Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Jasper CorbettContributors:Agnes Poirier, journalist and author of Left Bank: Art, Passion, and the Rebirth of Paris, 1940-50Michael Drolet, Senior Research Fellow in the History of Political Thought, Worcester College, University of OxfordLisa Downing, Professor of French Discourses of Sexuality at the University of BirminghamRichard Whatmore, Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews and Co-Director of the Institute of Intellectual History Matthew Goodwin, Professor of Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of KentClare Chambers, Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of CambridgeCharlotte Riley, Lecturer in Twentieth-Century British History at the University of Southampton

What the Foucault?

Having left the EU, the UK is now re-branding itself as "Global Britain", but what does that actually mean? A key plank of the new foreign policy is a pivot to the "Indo-Pacific". How is this seen in India? And how should Britain deal with China, described as a "challenge" in the government's recently published Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy?  And where does all this leave  relations with the EU and US? 
Should "Global Britain" try to reassert itself as a major power on the international stage, or would the UK's interests be better served by acting as a broker between larger, or like-minded, countries instead, to help bring about beneficial agreements?
And what effect could the reduction in the overseas development aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of Gross National Income have on Britain's "soft power" abroad, with the deep real-terms cuts to humanitarian and other programmes that this will mean for countries such as Yemen or Malawi? Presenter: Chris Morris 
Producer: Arlene Gregorius
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Global Britain: is there substance behind the slogan?

The Covid-19 pandemic has seen the best of science and the worst of science. New vaccines have been produced in less than twelve months. But at the same time we’ve seen evidence exaggerated and undermined, falsified, and flawed. Scientists arguing in public over areas of policy that have reached into all of our lives in an unprecedented way. There has never been so much “science”. But the pandemic has seen science politicised and polarised in ways some of us could never imagine. 
In this episode of Analysis, Sonia Sodha explores what the pandemic has revealed about the practice of science, and our relationship with it.Producer: Gemma Newby
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Science in the Time of Covid-19

Margaret Heffernan explores the fine art of decision making in times of uncertainty. We make decisions all the time which affect our personal lives, but what about the decisions which affect the lives of many others? How do you decide, when the well being of a nation or the success of a company are at stake, but the path is unclear because the risks cannot be quantified? A desire for more data, the  temptation to procrastinate, a reluctance to admit mistakes and the outsourcing of decisions to machines can all lead to bad decision making, so what processes and practices, leadership qualities and attitudes of mind can serve as the best guides? Senior politicians, public servants, business people and academics share their insights based on past failures as well as successes, and suggest ways of better decision making in an increasingly uncertain world.Contributors:Professor Gerd Gigerenzer, Director emeritus, Max Planck Institute for Human Development
Martin Gilbert, former CEO, Aberdeen Asset Management
Sir Oliver Letwin, former Conservative MP and Cabinet Minister 
Dame Louise Makin, former CEO, BTG plc
Baroness Eliza Manningham- Buller, former Director General MI5,  Chair of The Wellcome Trust 
Professor Cathy O'Neill, founder O'Neill Risk Consulting and Algorithmic Auditing 
Jonathan Powell, former Downing Street Chief of Staff  to Tony Blair Producer: Sheila Cook
Editor Jasper Corbett

The Fine Art of Decision Making

With its low-wage economy, Wakefield is the kind of place the government has promised to help level up. But what kind of help do people there most need? Anand Menon returns to his home city to find out. He meets someone who remembers the days when Wakefield was known for its vibrant nightlife. He hears about the council's plans to entice new people to the district through attractions like the Hepworth Art Gallery and the transformation of the Rutland Mills. He finds out what attracts - and hinders - private sector investment. And he discovers how communities built around mills and mines have lost their economic purpose and been left stranded by poor local transport links. Producer: Helen Grady
Data research: Professor Christina Beatty from the Centre for Regional  Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University 
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Levelling Up Wakefield

There used to be a romantic notion of globalisation that all countries would simply have to get along as we were all so interconnected. Why fight when your interests are aligned? It’s an idea that has made direct military engagement less likely. But something very different has emerged in its place. We live in a new era of conflict, where states try to achieve their aims through aggressive measures that stay below the threshold of war. This is a strategy of statecraft with a long history, but which has a new inflection in our technologically charged, globalised world. Now a mix of cyber, corruption and disinformation is employed to mess with adversaries. China’s president, Xi Jinping, has referred to political influence activities as being one of the Chinese Communist Party's 'magic weapons'. In this edition of Analysis, Peter Pomerantsev looks at how political warfare works in a world where we’re all economically entangled - and what Britain could and should do to adapt.Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Magic Weapons

George Orwell chastised the "boiled rabbits of the Left" for disliking what he called "the spiritual need for patriotism".  He was writing in 1940 during Hitler's Blitz of London and other British cities.  But Orwell also poses a challenge to those on the Left today who find patriotism redolent of flag-waving chauvinism, uncomfortably at odds with their cherished internationalism and an unwelcome diversion from other priorities.  Since he was elected leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer has spoken of his love of country, determined to make a break with the legacy of his predecessor.  Polling suggested Jeremy Corbyn was perceived to be cool in his patriotic sympathies.  That view among electors in northern England and the Midlands was indeed so strong it was one of the main reasons former Labour supporters gave for switching to the Conservatives at the 2019 general election. In this edition of "Analysis", Edward Stourton asks how Labour can turn the page on its seemingly conflicted stance on patriotism.  What would a distinctive Labour patriotism consist of?  Could it appeal to different people in different parts of Britain when the Union now seems more fragile than ever?  Is the task even so fraught with difficulty that Labour should simply leave this subject to its opponents?  In short, what is Labour's answer today to the awkward challenge posed by Orwell eighty years ago and which stubbornly refuses to go away?Those taking part: Deborah Mattinson of BritainThinks; former Labour leader, Lord Kinnock; singer and author, Billy Bragg; Shadow Scottish Secretary, Ian Murray MP; New Labour loyalist, Lord Adonis; Labour MP, Florence Eshalomi; and Jon Cruddas, Labour thinker and MP for Dagenham & Rainham.Producer Simon Coates
Editor Jasper Corbett

Boiled Rabbits of the Left?

What do we really know about the policy choices confronting us? Covid-19 has been a brutal lesson in the extent of our ignorance. We face hard decisions, and argue about them ferociously, when in truth we’re often in the dark about their full consequences. But Covid is not unusual in this respect - and we could learn from it. Other areas of life and policy are similarly obscured. Not that we like to admit it. How well, for example, do we know what the economy is up to? Quite possibly not nearly as well as you might think - even to the extent that it’s recently been suggested the first estimates of GDP can’t be sure of telling the difference between boom and bust - the problem really can be that extreme. Some recessions have turned out to be illusions. In this programme Michael Blastland examines our collective ignorance and how it affects policy and debate, asking if public argument needs a lot more humility. Producer Caroline Bayley
Editor Jasper Corbett

Flying Blind

Is it possible to identify rogue cops before they commit offences?   Can we change police culture to improve police interactions with the public?  The brutal killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis shone a spotlight on how police treat suspects, particularly black suspects.  In this Analysis, David Edmonds asks what the science of criminology has discovered about how such tragedies can be stopped.  Producer Bethan Head.
Editor Jasper Corbett

Rogue Cops

Are we predisposed by our personality to be drawn to certain political policies or certain ideologies? And if so, should we take account of this when our views differ from other people? James Tilley, a professor of politics at Oxford University, talks to leading academics in the field about how this might help explain the current political polarisation seen in countries like the UK and the US.Producer: Bob Howard
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Personality Politics

We live in a world of unicorns. From hailing taxis to ordering pizza to renting a holiday home, the world has come to rely on huge tech startups known in Silicon Valley as unicorns. But in a post-pandemic world, can these mythical beasts survive? In tech lingo, a unicorn is a rare start-up company valued at $1 billion dollars or more in private markets. Five years ago there were fewer than 50. Today there are over 400, including Airbnb, Uber and Deliveroo. Often created by eccentric founders and funded by evangelical venture capital backers with deep pockets, these companies have come to define our digital age while creating unimaginable riches for their investors.But with many enduring eye-watering losses even before the pandemic, and with big question marks hanging over their long term viability, is the magic dust finally coming off? Elaine Moore is a tech columnist at the Financial Times based in San Francisco - home of the tech unicorn. She's on a mission to find out what the future holds for the industry and what it could mean for us next time we take a taxi or order in a Friday night curry.Presenter: Elaine Moore
Producer: Craig Templeton Smith
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Chasing Unicorns

Increasingly, Western governments see China as a problem to deal with because, as it has grown more powerful, it has re-committed to being a Leninist state. But under President Xi Jinping, how far does it still conform to the Leninist model and how far does it reflect much more traditional forms of Chinese statecraft? Is a country with a massive bureaucracy run by its nominal leaders or by other actors? And why do senior government figures - who in Russia and Western countries carry clout and influence - seem in China to have little to say about the policies Beijing is following?As the rest of the world continues to grapple with the consequences of Covid-19, these questions have never been more pertinent or more urgent. In this timely edition of "Analysis", Isabel Hilton, the eminent student of Chinese politics, considers who makes the decisions in Beijing and how they are reached. Speaking to China-watchers both internationally and in the UK, she explodes some myths about Chinese politics - including that it is a seamless polity with a single unchanging party line - and explores how power struggles take place and what happens to the losers of them. With the 14th Five Year Programme finally due to be unveiled next year, she assesses how far state planning still drives decision-making. And she considers how and when Xi Jinping's successor is likely to emerge - and what lessons that figure may draw from Xi's leadership since 2012.Presenter Isabel Hilton
Producer Simon Coates
Editor Jasper Corbett

Who Runs that Place?

On February 1st this year nearly every news bulletin began with the words 'the UK has officially left the European Union'. Boris Johnson could have been forgiven for congratulating himself for fulfilling his constitutional promise to 'get Brexit done'. But there was another story in the news that day too -  health officials were trying to find anyone who’d had close contact with two Chinese tourists being treated in Newcastle for coronavirus.No one at the time could have predicted then that a virus which began thousands of miles away in China would shake the foundations of Britain’s system of government; ten months on all the nations of the United Kingdom are living under different social regimes, internal borders divide the country as never before, and even parts of England have been in open revolt against Westminster.In this programme Edward Stourton will explore how Covid19 is rewriting the rules Britain’s leaders live by and ask where it could take the UK.Producer: Ben Carter
Editor: Jasper Corbett

This Fractured Isle

The furlough scheme, introduced in response to Covid-19, has raised a question: should Britain’s social insurance be a bit more German?  Germany has what’s known as an earnings-related contributory system – individuals pay quite a lot in, and if they lose their job, they receive quite a lot out - around 60% of their previous salary, for at least a year.  Critics of the German system say it’s costly and puts too little emphasis on redistribution. But advocates claim it commands far wider support than the British system. So does the pandemic and the calls it has provoked for a fresh look at the shape and scope of our welfare state provide an opportunity? Should Britain move towards a system that is more like Germany’s?  
 
 
Presenter Ben Chu
Producer David Edmonds
Editor Jasper Corbett

The Future of Welfare

In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher famously said that 'You can’t buck the markets' and Governments back then feared that, if they borrowed too much, they'd pay a terrible price in the markets in terms of higher borrowing costs. But now governments around the world are borrowing record amounts but paying record-low rates.  In this programme Philip Coggan examines how the markets were tamed. Philip talks to Don Kohn, former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, economist and author Eric Lonergan, Andrew Balls, Chief Investment Officer at Pimco and economist and author Stephanie Kelton.Producer: Ben Carter
Editor: Jasper Corbett

The Rise and Fall of the Bond Market Traders

Despite winning a large majority at the last election, Prime Minister Johnson’s relationship with his party is an uneasy one.  Just a few months after achieving its long term aim of leaving the EU, the Conservative Party seems ill at ease with itself and the sound of tribal Tory strife can be seen and heard.  Is this just the way it’s always been: a cultural and historical norm for Tory leaders and their backbenchers?  Or is there something else going on?  In this edition of Analysis, Professor Rosie Campbell assesses Boris Johnson’s relationship with his own party and asks why Conservative backbenchers can be such a thorn in the flesh of their leaders.  Will this Prime Minister go the same way, or can he buck the trend?    Presenter: Rosie Campbell 
Producer:  Jim Frank
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Trouble on the backbenches? Tory Leaders and their MPs

How ready are we for the next pandemic, cyber attack, volcanic eruption, or solar storm?Our world, ever more interconnected and dependent on technology, is vulnerable to a head-spinning array of disasters. Emergency preparedness is supposed to help protect us and the UK has been pioneering in its approach. But does it actually work? In this edition of Analysis, Simon Maybin interrogates official predictions past and present, hearing from the advisers and the advised. Are we any good at anticipating catastrophic events? Should we have been better prepared for the one we’ve been living through? And - now that coronavirus has shown us the worst really can happen - what else should we be worrying about?Presenter/producer: Simon Maybin
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Planning for the Worst

The internet is a cornerstone of our society. It is vital to our economy, to our global communications, and to many of our personal and professional lives. But have the processes that govern how the internet works kept pace with its rapid evolution?James Ball, author of 'The System - Who Owns the Internet, and How It Owns Us', examines whether the infrastructure of the internet is up to scratch. If it's not, then what does that mean for us?Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Is the Internet Broken?

There were two narratives that emerged in the week before we locked down on 23rd March that could go some way to explaining why the UK was relatively slow to lockdown. One was the idea of “herd immunity” - that the virus was always going to spread throughout the population to some extent, and that should be allowed to happen to build up immunity. That theory may have been based on a misunderstanding of how this particular virus behaved.The second narrative was based on the idea of “behavioural fatigue”. This centred around the notion that the public will only tolerate a lockdown for so long so it was crucial to wait for the right moment to initiate it. Go too soon, and you might find that people would not comply later on.It turns out that this theory was also wrong. And based on a fundamental misunderstanding of human behaviour. Despite photos of packed parks, crammed beaches and VE day conga lines, on the whole the British public complied beyond most people’s expectations.So what informed the government’s decision making?In this programme we ask, what is “behavioural fatigue”, where did it come from, how much influence did it have on the UK’s late lockdown, and where does Nudge theory fit into the narrative?Presenter: Sonia Sodha
Producer: Gemma Newby
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Behavioural Science and the Pandemic

As Covid-19 forced humans into lockdown, memes emerged showing the earth was healing thanks to our absence. These were false claims – but their popularity revealed how seductive the dangerous idea that ‘we are the virus’ can be.
 
At its most extreme, this way of thinking leads to eco-fascism, the belief the harm humans do to Earth can be reduced by cutting the number of non-white people. 
 
But the mainstream green movement is also challenged by a less hateful form of this mentality known as ‘doomism’ – a creeping sense that humans will inevitably cause ecological disaster, that it’s too late to act and that technological solutions only offer more environmental degradation through mining and habitat loss.
 
What vision can environmentalists offer as an antidote to these depressing ideas? And how can green politics encourage radical thinking without opening the door to hateful ideologies?
 
Producer/Presenter: Lucy Proctor
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Humans vs the Planet

"The origin of civil government," wrote the Scottish philosopher David Hume in 1739, is that "men are not able radically to cure, either in themselves or others, that narrowness of soul, which makes them prefer the present to the remote."   Today, Hume's view that governments can help societies abandon rampant short-termism and adopt a more long term approach, feels little more than wishful thinking.  The "now" commands more and more of our attention - quick fixes are the order of the day. But could that be about to change? Margaret Heffernan asks whether the current pandemic might be the moment we are forced to rediscover our ability to think long term. Could our ability to emerge well from the current health crisis be dependent, in fact, on our ability to improve our long-term thinking? Among those taking part: Paul Polman (Co-founder of Imagine and former CEO of Unilever), General Sir Nick Carter (Chief of the Defence Staff), Justine Greening (former Conservative minister and founder of the Social Mobility Pledge), Lord Gus O'Donnell (former head of the Civil Service), Chris Llewellyn Smith (former Director General of CERN), and Sophie Howe (Future Generations Commissioner for Wales).Producer: Adele Armstrong
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Thinking for the Long Term

Government intervention on an unprecedented scale has propped up the British economy - and society at large - during the pandemic. But what should be the state's role from now on? Can Conservatives successfully embrace an enduring central role for government in the economy given their small-state, Thatcherite heritage championing the role of the individual, lower spending and lower taxes? And can Labour, instinctively keener on a more active state, discipline its impulses towards more generous government so that they don't end up thwarting its ambitions for greater equality and fairness?  Four eminent political thinkers join Edward Stourton to debate the lessons of political pivot points in Britain's postwar history and how these should guide us in deciding what the borders of the state should be in the post-pandemic world - and who's going to pay.Those taking part: Andrew Harrop of the Fabian Society, who draws inspiration from Labour's 1945 landslide victory to advocate a highly active and determined state to promote opportunity, fairness and equality; former Conservative minister David Willetts of the Resolution Foundation, who sees the lessons of the Conservative revolution in 1979 as relevant as ever about the limits of the state but also argues core Conservative beliefs are consistent with bigger government; former Blairite thinker, Geoff Mulgan, who, drawing on the lessons of 1997, resists notions of a catch-all politics in the face of the multi-faceted demands on today's state; and Dean Godson of Policy Exchange, influential with the Conservative modernisers of the Cameron era, who insists a Thatcherite view of the state shouldn't rigidly define how the centre-right responds to our new circumstances. Producer Simon Coates
Editor Jasper Corbett

The Post-Pandemic State

Wellness is easy to lampoon. A vast, trillion-dollar industry, at its worst it offers bogus cures, prescribing over-priced paraphernalia and dubious advice for ailments that might be treated elsewhere. 
 
But there is a forgotten political and philosophical history of self-care, taking in the Black Panthers and feminist activism, that is all too often erased from our understanding of wellness.
 
Shahidha Bari looks at the radical roots of self-care and what it tells us about how we are looking after ourselves during the current crisis.Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Radical Self-Care

More time and money is being spent on children than ever before. And it's a global trend. Professor Tina Miller, who has studied how parenting styles have changed over several decades, considers what this investment in our sons and daughters tells us about the modern world. She considers whether the gold standard of educational achievement goes hand in hand with rising inequality and individualism. What might the unintended consequences be and how difficult is it for parents to opt out? 
Contribuors: Professor Rebecca Ryan, Professor Matthias Doepke, Frederick De Moll and Jan Macvarish. 
Producer: Rosamund Jones
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Modern Parenting

What does the way in which rival political systems around the world have managed the Covid-19 pandemic tell us about the global political future?Writer and broadcaster, John Kampfner, considers what has made a "good leader" during the months of the outbreak and how that is likely to affect the vitality and long-term future of individual regimes. Are today's authoritarians - often savvier and subtler than their twentieth century counterparts - becoming more confident and optimistic? Is this a good time for the world's populist leaders from the Americas to Europe to East Asia? And has democracy, already tainted by its response to the global financial crisis and enduring questions over its popular legitimacy, continued with its woes or might there be a glimmer of light after the years of darkness?       
  
Among those taking part: Francis Fukuyama (author of "The End of History and the Last Man"); Anne Applebaum (soon to publish "The Twilight of Democracy"); Singaporean former top diplomat and President of the UN Security Council, Kishore Mahbubani; writer and broadcaster, Misha Glenny; eminent international affairs analyst, Constanze Stelzenmüller; Bulgarian political thinker, Ivan Krastev (joint author of "The Light that Failed") and Lionel Barber, former editor of the "Financial Times".Producer Simon Coates
Editor: Jasper Corbett