Podcasts from New Economics Foundation

Brexit dominates the news agenda. But with all the talk of the single market, impact assessments and trade deals, it sometimes feels as if this debate is only happening in the comment pages of newspapers, or the corridors of Westminster. What happened to the people? The Weekly Economics Podcast is back with a special episode: a discussion we recorded live in London at the end of 2017, between political theorist Maurice Glasman, activist Ruth Ibegbuna, and the academic Rob Ford. The question journalist Mary Riddell put to them was: where are the people in the Brexit debate?

The New Economics Foundation -the independent think tank and charity campaigning for a fairer, sustainable economy- brought you a new podcast from the its archive. This week Polly Trenow from the Women Budget Group joins Kirsty Styles to discuss ways of measuring unpaid work.

New Economics Foundation discuss about how Sports Direct changed its business ways in this archive episode.

Rachel Laurence and Annie Quick join Laurie Macfarlane to discuss inequality, democracy and the North/South divide in this episode of the New Economics Foundation podcast from the archive.

How do we combat hate and racism in British society? Marc Stears is joined by Nazek Ramadan of Migrant Voice and John Page from Hope Not Hate to discuss. This is an archive episode of NEF asking how we can create a new economy where people can really take control of their lives.

What more does the environment have to do to become an election issue? Joining our host Ayeisha Thomas-Smith this week are Dave Powell, Subject Lead on Environment at the New Economics Foundation, Fernanda Balata, who leads NEF’s work on coastal economies and Andrew Pendleton, Principal Director of Policy and Advocacy at NEF to discuss the environment, the election and the prospects for saving our planet.

Big data. It’s one of those terms that’s far more widely used than it is understood. What is it? And just as importantly – who benefits from it? To get the full picture on big data, we are joined this week by a special guest – Will Davies, Director of the Political Economy Research Centre and a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. Will Brett, NEF’s Director of News and Media, steps into the role of host. They talk about the impact of big data on how we understand society, and on how we experience the world of work. Also joining the discussion are NEF’s Stefan Baskerville, Director of Unions and Business and Alice Martin, Subject Lead for Housing and Work.

Personal debt is at record levels with one in six of us at risk of a debt crisis. Credit cards, overdrafts and payday loans are propping up households across the country as wages continue to fall in real terms. And many people are struggling under the pressure of paying back what they owe. But what is the effect on the wider economy? And what should we do about it? Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is back with us this week and is joined by Sarah Lyall, NEF’s Social Policy Lead and special guest Dr Jo Michell, Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of the West of England.

The housing crisis is a hot topic at the moment. We often talk about who can buy, sell and rent houses – and how much they cost – but we rarely talk about the land beneath them. Lots of land in the UK is owned by the government and local authorities – public land. But a load of it is being sold off, from old hospitals to sites owned by the Ministry of Defence. The government says that we should sell it to developers to build houses on to deal with the housing shortage. But is that really happening? Is selling off our public land really helping to solve the housing crisis? This week host Ayeisha Thomas-Smith welcomes back NEF’s Subject Lead on Housing, Alice Martin, to talk us through these thorny questions. She’s joined by NEF researcher Duncan McCann and journalist and author Dawn Foster, both experts on the issues of housing and land.

Chancellor Philip Hammond got out his red box again to let us know how the country’s finances are – or aren’t – holding up, and what the Government’s going to be doing with its money this year. Will the Chancellor’s proposals be enough to make our economy “fit for the future”? And with Brexit looming, is the Government doing enough to deal with the country’s economic problems? This week, NEF’s David Powell steps in for regular host Ayeisha Thomas-Smith. Dave is joined by Kate Bell, Head of Economic and Social Affairs at the Trades Union Congress, and Miatta Fahnbulleh, the new CEO of the New Economics Foundation.