New Economics Podcast
Award-winning podcast about the economic and political forces shaping our world, hosted by Ayeisha Thomas-Smith with guests. Produced by the New Economics Foundation, an independent think tank and charity working to build a new economy that works for people and planet. The views expressed on this podcast do not necessarily represent those of the New Economics Foundation.
Episodes
Shockwave: The price of Putin's war
A miniseries from the New Economics Podcast which asks how have energy crises shaped our economy and what do we need to do to shockproof our energy system in an increasingly volatile world?
2024 was the biggest election year in human history. Half of humanity had the opportunity to go to the polls in 72 different countries. What was striking about these elections was the number of countries which
Shockwave: Everything must go! The era of privatisation
A miniseries from the New Economics Podcast which asks how have energy crises shaped our economy and what do we need to do to shockproof our energy system in an increasingly volatile world?
Ask most people on the British left about the source of the country’s economic problems, and they are likely to point to one culprit: Margaret Thatcher. The prime minister who believed in the discipline and ef
Shockwave: Turbulance and struggle in the 1970s
A miniseries from the New Economics Podcast which asks how have energy crises shaped our economy and what do we need to do to shockproof our energy system in an increasingly volatile world?
The turbulent decade of the 1970s was marked by struggle: between workers and industries, newly independent countries and their former colonial masters, post-war social democracy and the fledgling economics of
Shockwave: Suez: The crisis that humbled Britain
A miniseries from the New Economics Podcast which asks how have energy crises shaped our economy and what do we need to do to shockproof our energy system in an increasingly volatile world?
It's 1956 and the UK and France have joined forces to attack Egypt. What became known as the Suez Crisis ended with a humiliating climbdown for the UK and France. “Suez” became a byword for the UK’s declining
Shockwave: Britain's brutal winter and nationalisation in 1947
A miniseries from the New Economics Podcast which asks how have energy crises shaped our economy and what do we need to do to shockproof our energy system in an increasingly volatile world?
It's 1947. People in the UK were facing one of the most brutal winters on modern record. It was so cold that sheep and cows froze to death in their fields. There was so much snow that railways and roads were b
Is this government threatening our basic freedoms?
Two years’ ago, the UN human rights high commissioner issued the UK with a warning. He said that new restrictions being imposed on the right to protest were deeply troubling. Two years’ later, we have a new government in charge and now the police are due to get even more powers to restrict repeat protests, like the central London Palestine solidarity demos.
That’s not all - this government also w
What to make of the autumn budget - with James Meadway and Carys Afoko
After months of rumours, speculation and gossip, today the chancellor finally delivered her autumn budget - but not before an accidental leak of the budget document rendered the whole speech somewhat pointless. Alongside billions of pounds of tax rises came the long-awaited end of the two-child benefit cap.
But our public services have been decimated by years of austerity, and the cost of living
Is the AI bubble about to burst?
It’s a new technology that everyone’s desperate to get a piece of. CEOs say it’s going to change how we work, access information, and even relate to each other. Investors are showering companies with money - even when they aren’t turning a profit.
You might think this is the story of artificial intelligence. But it’s actually what happened during the dotcom bubble, back in the late nineties. When
Why the right wins online - and what the left needs to learn
Last week democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral election. His election campaign was bolstered by a slick social media campaign, seen by millions in his city and beyond.
Politicians in the UK have taken inspiration, with figures like Zarah Sultana and Zack Polanski raking in the views on TikTok. But these progressive voices are a drop in the ocean compared to the reach
Radical abundance: how to build an alternative to capitalism
We used to own things. The essential services we need to survive - things like water, trains and our energy system - used to be owned by us: the UK public. But over the last four decades, our public services have been sold off to private corporations over whom we have no control.
The result? Soaring bills for us, but massive payouts to shareholders. Sewage in our waterways, but bailouts for water
How did the UK become a global arms dealer?
Israel’s attacks on Gaza have been described by ministers as “intolerable”, “appalling” and “cruel”. Last year this government suspended around a tenth of Israel’s arms export licences. Yet this summer the UK managed to sell record amounts of arms to Israel, including over one hundred thousand bullets in just one month.
The UK exports billions of pounds worth of parts for fighter jets, bombs and
Your Party, the Green Party, and the Future of Left-Wing Politics
Is the party over before it has even begun? Tens of thousands of people signed up to be members of Your Party, the new political project founded by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. But within hours, rumours of a rift within the party leadership exploded into warring public statements and threats of legal action.
Meanwhile, Zack Polanski won eighty-five percent of the vote in the Green Party leade
Why is the UK in such a mess?
This government has taken a record-breaking plummet in popularity, our chancellor keeps telling us the Treasury has no spare cash for our crumbling schools and hospitals, and Reform have become the most popular party in the country.
So, where did it all go wrong for Labour? Is it true that this government is hamstrung by the UK’s ailing economy? And why are so many people turning to Reform?
For
Can organising save American democracy with Marshall Ganz
During the presidential campaign, the Democratic Party warned that American democracy was under attack from Trump. Since the start of Trump two-point-0, his administration has deported pro-Palestine student protestors. He has barred Oval Office access to journalists who have used the phrase “Gulf of Mexico” rather than “Gulf of America”. And he has called for a judge blocking his orders to be impe
Are we falling for the myth of minority rule? With Ash Sarkar
We are living in a time of contradictions.
For the last forty years, our politics and media have been dominated by neoliberal, right-wing voices - yet pundits insist that the UK is dominated by a woke, left-wing elite.
Our politicians claim to champion the voices of the forgotten working class - yet working-class people are not seeing better wages, housing or healthcare.
And the majority of peo
Is the Labour government delivering on its promises?
Half a year ago, the Labour Party swept into power with a huge parliamentary majority and Kier Starmer celebrated by saying that the country could “get its future back”.
Today, Labour are dogged by low approval ratings, having upset everyone from environmentalists to pensioners, farmers to small-business owners.
And just last week Reform overtook both the Conservatives and Labour in a poll of
Why should the left care about central banks?
The price of your food shop rocketed because of inflation and now your mortgage is going up hundreds of pounds because the Bank of England decided to increase interest rates. You might be struggling to make ends meet and wondering why our central bank has made your life more difficult.
Across the pond Donald Trump is putting pressure on the American central bank to lower its interest rates, sayi
What's new in the fight for workers rights
Do you work from home? Then you’re probably not doing proper work, and you’re causing the UK’s economic decline! At least that’s what the former boss of Asda and M&S said last week. Meanwhile, gig economy Deliveroo riders have launched a new campaign for greater openness around the opaque algorithms that rule their working lives. It’s clear with new technology comes new battles for workers.
So w
What are we getting wrong about tax
Last week hundreds of tractors drove through Parliament Square. It was the latest protest by UK farmers against changes to inheritance tax announced by the chancellor. From farmers’ protests to the poll-tax riots in the 90s, the amount of tax we pay to the government churns up intense emotions. We want to rescue our cash-strapped public services - but most of us are reluctant to pay more tax.
Do
Can BlackRock save the UK economy?
From housebuilding to sewage systems to the NHS, private companies are deeply intertwined with our essential public services. But is partnering with big corporations the only way of improving people’s lives? Is private investment a vital ingredient in economic renewal? Or will it just lead to price gouging for us and soaring profits for corporate execs?
This week Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by
Are oil and gas workers the coalminers of our generation?
The International Energy Agency has said that the world cannot develop any new oil and gas fields if we are to stop climate breakdown. Keir Starmer has promised that the UK will slash its emissions faster than ever before and his government is banning new licences to drill for fossil fuels in the North Sea. Drilling in the wild waters of the North Sea has been a major Scottish industry for decades
What to make of the Labour government's first budget?
The Autumn Budget was the most significant since George Osborne implemented austerity in 2010. Rachel Reeves announced one hundred billion pounds for infrastructure, forty billion in tax rises and a whole host of policy changes, which she hopes will deliver Labour’s mission of national economic renewal. But what does an extra hundred billion pounds mean for the UK? Are we finally taxing the wealth
100 days of Labour: great success or bit of a mess?
By the time this episode comes out, the new Labour government will have been in charge of the country for one hundred days. So what do we know about how they’ll run the economy? Can they rescue our threadbare public services while promising a tight grip on government spending? And will their focus on growth deliver real change for those who need it most?
Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by Aditya C
Lessons for the left after the far right riots
A few weeks ago, far-right rioters gathered outside a hotel hosting asylum seekers in Rotherham and tried to set it on fire. Across the country this horrific act of violence was replicated, as mosques, libraries and people driving home from work came under attack.
But in the face of this racist and Islamophobic violence, people gathered to protest the presence of the far right in their communitie
Why the far right is winning in Europe, with Yanis Varoufakis
In the recent European elections, the far right won unprecedented gains. From the success of the AfD in Germany, to Le Pen’s National Rally in France, the elections saw nationalist and eurosceptic parties sweep up nearly a quarter of the seats in the European parliament.
In the UK, the next general election is just days away. Voters will be heading to the polls against a backdrop of decades of ec
Neoliberalism: The Invisible Ideology, with George Monbiot
We live under an invisible ideology. It tells us that we are not citizens but consumers. That intervening in the free market compromises our freedom. That we are all millionaires-in-waiting - and if we are struggling to make ends meet, then we only have ourselves to blame.
This is capitalism on steroids. But few of us can even identify the doctrine we live under. It’s called “neoliberalism”, and
Do we need to fight for the right to protest?
In February, the prime minister warned that “mob rule is replacing democratic rule” in the UK. He encouraged police to take action on pro-Palestine protests which, he said, had descended into “intimidation, threats, and planned acts of violence”. Over 50 organisations responded by accusing this government of placing draconian restrictions on the right to protest.
A UN expert has claimed that befo
What do the local elections mean for the UK
Three years’ ago, the Conservative Party celebrated their best local elections performance since 2008. But after last week’s local elections in England and Wales, the Telegraph called the results a “dire day” for the Conservatives.
Now that the dust has settled, we’re taking a closer look. Local elections aren’t just about Count Binface and potholes. With the next general election creeping ever c
Why is the benefits system failing disabled people
Almost three million people in the UK are unemployed and unable to work because they are ill or disabled. According to the right-wing media, these people aren’t nearly as unwell as they claim. Meanwhile a UN committee warned that disabled people in the UK are subjected to a “traumatising” benefits system.
We have a social security system that’s been stripped to the bone and millions of people ar
Should we be going for growth?
Britain’s favourite broadcaster David Attenborough once said: “Anyone who thinks you can have infinite growth in a finite environment is either a madman - or an economist.”
But our political leaders don’t seem to agree. Both our major political parties have made growing the economy a key metric for their success in government.
So what is economic growth? How did it become so central to our under
Spring budget reaction
We’re waiting longer than ever for hospital appointments, our kids’ schools are literally crumbling, and homelessness has sky-rocketed in the past year. This week’s spring budget was a vital chance for chancellor Jeremy Hunt to respond to the huge problems our country is facing.
But instead of trying to fix any of our problems, the chancellor announced a cut to national insurance that will benefi
Can capitalism save the climate
Worried about your carbon emissions? Don’t stress! You can pump out as much as you want - as long as you buy some offsets to balance it out. Scared of the collapse of wildlife? No problem! We can figure out how much money our ecosystems are worth, and let the market do the rest!
Welcome to the logic of green capitalism. Fossil fuel giants claim to celebrate sustainability while pumping out toxic
Introducing the new chief executive of NEF
It’s 2024 and in Westminster an election is at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Step back a little further and across the UK millions of us are more concerned with how we’ll afford to pay their sky-high rent or energy bills. Zoom out further again and we see a world where billions of people are reckoning with the threat of the climate crisis.
For the first episode in a new series of the New Eco
Why antiracism means anticapitalism
The Metropolitan Police’s diversity and inclusion strategy claims it is determined to “eliminate racism and discrimination”. But the force was branded ‘institutionally racist’, and not for the first time, in an official report this spring. Recently, a Met firearms officer has been referred to prosecutors on a potential murder charge for shooting dead Black Londoner Chris Kaba last September.
So,
Why asset managers own the world
This spring, swimmers in Kent were told to avoid ten beaches in the county due to sewage leaks. Public outrage at sewage pouring into our rivers and beaches has so far focused on water companies. But is someone else to blame? The pipes that carry sewage in Kent are not owned by Southern Water, or even Kent County Council. They belong to a massive Australian asset management firm that most of us ha
A crisis of caregiving
The friend who has to cancel plans to look after their elderly mum. The colleague who leaves their phone on loud so they don’t miss a call about their disabled child. The neighbour you’ve barely seen since their partner’s diagnosis. We’re surrounded by people who are dealing with the challenges of caregiving, but they often go unseen.
According to Carers UK, there could be over ten million people
Should we all be troublemakers at work?
As the chancellor stood up in Parliament to present his spring budget in March, half a million people went on strike to demand better from their bosses. Teachers, junior doctors, Tube drivers, civil servants and more all walked out of work, in the biggest day of strike action in over a decade.
As the strikes rumble on into another summer, how can workers keep up the momentum? Will new legislatio
Have we been conned by consultants?
Nurses struggling without PPE, the frantic search for hospital ventilators, even the dreaded ping from NHS test-and-trace. To most of us, these memories represent some of the worst of the Covid pandemic. But for a select few companies, they were an opportunity to make millions.
Consultancy firms won over seven hundred million pounds worth of government Covid contracts to do things like run the te
How we can all have a home
You can’t paint your walls, you can’t have a pet, you can’t guarantee you’ll have somewhere to live in six months time. Millions of us are paying sky-high rents but struggling to make a home in a housing system where safety and security takes second place to landlords’ profits.
Some private tenants face mould and broken boilers but daren’t complain. According to Shelter, complaining to your land
Right to Roam
On a sunny day in January, a ghostly figure covered in green ribbons appeared on a moor in south-west England. It was a person dressed as Old Crockern, the guardian spirit of Dartmoor. He was greeted by 3000 people who had gathered to protest a court ruling that took away the right to wild camp in the area. It was the biggest countryside access protest in living memory.
The ruling reignited a lon
The UK's political battlegrounds
Last year the UK had three different prime ministers, four different chancellors and five different housing ministers. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister for close to a decade, recently announced her resignation - and it’s not clear who will replace her. British politics now seems to be permanently tumultuous. And with a general election peeking over the horizon, political parties are gear
How we win a new economy - changing the rules
Note to listeners: this episode was prerecorded in September 2022.
Over the last five episodes we’ve looked at how the UK is being torn apart. Our economy is built on huge inequalities: between working people and big business, between families and fossil fuel giants, between tenants and landlords, and between marginalised groups and law enforcement.
Are such massive divisions in our society inev
How we win a new economy - fighting for our human rights
Note to listeners: this episode was prerecorded in September 2022.
This summer, on a small road in south-east London, a crowd of people prevented immigration officers from detaining a local man. Protestors sat on the ground in front of the van he was held in for hours, shouting “Let him go!”. From Pollokshields to Peckham, over the last couple of years we’ve seen how people can come together to p
How we win a new economy - fixing the housing crisis with social homes
Note to listeners: this episode was prerecorded in September 2022.
The cost of living scandal could force 1.7 million households into homelessness this winter, according to the charity Crisis. In the UK, we can no longer rely on social housing to protect people from sleeping rough or sofa-surfing. If you were alive in 1979, you had a 40% chance of living in an affordable council home. Today, that
How we win a new economy - solving the cost of living and climate crises together
Note to listeners: this episode was prerecorded in August 2022.
2022: a year of extremes. During the 40 degree summer heat, roads melted and railway lines buckled. The London Fire Brigade had its busiest day since the Blitz as record temperatures led to hundreds of fires across the city. When it finally rained a month later, the Met Office warned of flood risk. But after a dangerously hot summer,
How we win a new economy – a hot strike summer?
Note to listeners: this episode was prerecorded in August 2022.
As the first week of rail strikes came to an end in June, Google searches for the phrase “join union” had increased by 184%. News channels and politicians didn’t seem to know what to make of the broad public support for the striking rail workers. Inspired by the RMT union, the unrest spread: criminal barristers, BT workers, postie
How we win a new economy - the end of neoliberalism?
In this mini-series of the New Economics Podcast, we’ll discover how our economy has been run over the past few years - and look at the key battlegrounds for those fighting to change the rules.
Over the last few years, neoliberalism – the economic model that has dominated since Margaret Thatcher was PM – has taken a hit. Big spending and state intervention have been the name of the game, as the g
How did the British Empire write the rules of today’s economy?
Outside of the frenzied headlines about woke warriors cancelling Jane Austen and stately homes, we’re living in a period of renewed consideration of Britain’s colonial history.
The British Empire began before the English Civil War, and shaped our country for 400 years. At its height, it covered almost a quarter of the entire world’s population. Beyond statues and street names, how is the empire s
Who owns the internet?
What do you get the guy who has everything? A 44 billion dollar social media platform apparently. Elon Musk has already been accused of union busting, shot a car into space, and become the world’s richest man. So what’s next on his to-do list? Buying Twitter of course!
From Mark Zuckerberg to Elon Musk, should we be worried that our online lives are in the hands of a few super-rich men? Will cryp
What did Covid-19 reveal about how our economy is really run?
In the early months of the pandemic, the government shut down whole sectors of the economy and started paying the wages of a huge proportion of Brits. Some worked from home, juggling homeschooling their kids and figuring out how to use Zoom. Others risked their health to travel to work. Meanwhile Big Tech and outsourcing companies raked in money through government contracts.
What can we learn fro
What does the Sunak scandal tell us about our tax system?
A few weeks ago the chancellor presided over a spring budget which ushered in the fastest drop in living standards on record, as he told us that we “can’t protect everyone”. But this week it was revealed that his wife has avoided paying around £20 million in tax, due to her non-dom status.
Accused of “rank hypocrisy” by Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak’s popularity has certainly been dented. The Sunak f
The UK's response to the refugee crisis
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, over 4 million people have fled the country. Earlier this month Priti Patel announced a visa application centre had been established en route to Calais for Ukrainians trying to come to the UK. But the centre never existed. Days later, the Home Office said it was actually in Lille, but would not reveal where. Officials then claimed that refugees in Calais coul
Are fossil fuels funding the war in Ukraine?
At the time of recording, hundreds, and possibly thousands, of civilians have been killed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and more than 2.5m Ukranians have fled the country. The Russian army has been accused of war crimes after bombing a maternity hospital in the south. Allies of the Ukrainian president say that Russia will only back down if Europe bans the import of Russian oil and gas.
Tackling the cost of living crisis
2022 has been dubbed the ‘year of the squeeze’ by the Resolution Foundation. In April, soaring energy bills will collide with tax increases for working people. Last month grocery prices rose at their fastest rate in eight years, and inflation is at its highest level in almost three decades.
When the media talk about the ‘cost of living crisis’, what do they mean? How did we end up in a country wi
Tackling the energy crisis
Families are bracing for less and less money to get by as energy bills rise this spring. In the fifth richest country in the world, pensioners are skipping meals so they can afford their heating bills, and parents are only switching the heating on when their children are at home. At the same time, fossil fuel companies like BP and Shell made their biggest profit in years.
What do these two things
Closing the Covid-19 vaccination gap
Coronavirus cases are once again rising in Europe and across the world. The World Health Organisation has said that countries shouldn’t be giving out booster jabs for the rest of the year, but in the UK we’re offering third shots to people as young as 40. Meanwhile, only 3% of people in low-income countries have had a single dose.
Covid vaccines may have prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths
The future of work
A record number of employees have quit their jobs in recent months, in what’s been dubbed the Great Resignation. Newspapers report that it’s part of post-Covid demand for flexible working and better work life balance.
After last year, where up to a quarter of the UK workforce was paid not to work through the furlough scheme, are we reassessing our relationship to our jobs? How does work impact ou
Is our digital economy breeding misogyny?
In August this year Jake Davison, a 22-year-old from Plymouth, went on a shooting rampage that left six dead, including his mother and himself. In the aftermath it emerged that Davison had been a member of ‘incel’ forums online. He’s not the first mass shooter to have links to online groups espousing extreme hatred of women. Since Elliot Rodger killed six people in California in 2014, self-proclai
Trans Liberation
If you read mainstream media coverage of the issues facing transgender people in the UK, you’ll see a lot of fevered discussion of pronouns, bathroom access, and confusing legislation like the Gender Recognition Act. The media tells one story - but the other side of the coin is that half of trans people in the UK are unemployed and one in four have experienced direct healthcare discrimination.
Wh
Is austerity back?
At the height of the pandemic, politicians promised to do whatever it took to keep the economy going, and introduced emergency support like the furlough scheme. But now those measures have been cut and the conversation has turned to “fixing the public finances”, ending “reckless borrowing'' and preventing “soaring debt”. The word austerity hasn’t featured yet but it’s all feeling a bit familiar, i
What really happens at a UN climate summit?
In a few weeks’ time, 25,000 people will descend on Glasgow. They are coming for the UN climate summit, also known as Cop26. The delegates might not have the pleasure of sampling the city’s mac-and-cheese pies or a dram of whiskey. Instead they will meet with others from around the world to try and agree new ways to bring down greenhouse-gas emissions.
So what happens at a UN climate conference?
The Great Homes Upgrade
The UK has the draughtiest and oldest housing in Western Europe. And our gas boilers pump out twice as much carbon dioxide as all of the country’s power stations.
Do we need to upgrade the UK’s homes? Why is our housing powering the climate crisis? And how can we make sure everyone’s home is warm, clean and green - whether we rent a flat or own a castle?
Ayeisha is joined by Chaitanya Kumar, hea
Can we prevent living standards plummeting this winter?
Over 11m people have been furloughed in the last 16 months, and almost 6m are currently on universal credit. But over the next week, the government’s main emergency policies to help people through the pandemic will end. People on furlough will find out if their jobs are still waiting for them, and people on universal credit will find their benefits cut by £20 a week.
The government seems to be ac
Where did our immigration system come from?
This week a controversial deportation flight took off for Jamaica. Legal challenges meant that only a tenth of the 90 people due to be deported were on the plane. The planned deportation included people whose lawyers said they had a right to stay in the UK under the Windrush rules, or who had arrived in the UK as children.
Critics say that our immigration system is unnecessarily cruel. But what
Fighting the climate crisis in the courts
With the COP26 global climate conference coming up later this year, we’re spending five episodes this series looking at pressing climate issues. In this episode we’re talking about taking the fossil fuel industry to court.
Last week, a government spokesperson said that we should freeze leftover bread and stop rinsing dishes before we put them in the dishwasher to tackle the climate crisis. Meanwh
Fast Fashion
With the COP26 global climate conference coming up later this year, we’re spending five episodes this series looking at pressing climate issues. In this episode we’re talking fast fashion.
Summer is here and Love Island is all over the telly. The show’s sexy singles are competing for big prize money, and the inevitable sponsorship deals with fast fashion brands like Shein, Boohoo and Pretty Littl
How can we tackle the climate crisis while levelling up?
With the COP26 global climate conference coming up later this year, we’re spending five episodes this series looking at some of the biggest climate issues. In this episode we’re talking about a just transition.
Last week, the prime minister travelled to Coventry to set out his post-pandemic vision for the country. It was anticipated as a flagship moment for the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda,
A climate conversation between two generations
With the COP26 global climate conference coming up later this year, we’re going to spend five episodes this series looking at some of the biggest climate issues. We kicked things off last week with Alice Bell explaining everything you need to know about greenwashing. This week the conversation is about the climate movement with activists from two generations.
The modern environmental movement has
Greenwashing
With the COP26 global climate conference coming up later this year, we’re going to spend the next five episodes of the podcast looking at some of the biggest climate issues – starting this week with greenwashing.
Last month 20 young people and scientists attempted to occupy London’s Science Museum. They were protesting the fact that a new exhibition on the climate crisis was being sponsored by Sh
The Police Bill
Throughout the spring, hundreds of thousands of people across the country marched, signed petitions, and spoke out against the catchily-titled Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Critics say the Bill would curb our freedom of speech and assembly by giving the police new powers to crack down on protest. The Bill was successfully delayed - but it’s due to resurface in Parliament next week.
S
Culture Wars
This week, the front page of the Daily Mail screamed “Outrage as Oxford students plan to axe queen”. In reality, a group of postgrads voted to take down a portrait of the queen in a single common room, in a single Oxford college, because of the portrait’s association with the UK’s colonial history.
Whether it’s the interior decor of student common rooms or athletes taking the knee in support of B
What will Biden’s America look like?
There’s a new president in the Oval Office and he’s ready to make some changes. Joe Biden wants the start of his presidency to be defined by rejoining the Paris climate agreement, vaccinating the country against Covid-19, and pulling the American economy out of a crisis.
But will this be enough to tackle the problems that led to the Trump presidency? Is Biden too concerned about building bridges
Changing the rules of our economy to stop environmental breakdown
There are just eight months left until the UK hosts the UN Climate Conference. And despite Boris Johnson’s insistence that we will have a green recovery from the pandemic, in the last month there have been a number of climate related controversies, including around the construction of a new coal mine in Cumbria, the Leeds Bradford airport expansion, and plans to cut air passenger duty on domestic
How can we make sure everyone has enough to live on?
Last week a video circulated of 800 people queuing for a food bank in Wembley. Volunteers at the London Community Kitchen said that the number was not uncommon. In Rishi Sunak’s recent budget, he announced that the furlough scheme and the temporary £20 increase to universal credit would continue until the autumn. But even with these measures, it’s obvious that huge numbers of people in the UK are
Why should we care what big tech does with our data?
From the A-level algorithm scandal, to parents taking on YouTube, to making Facebook and Google pay for news, people are fighting back against the way big tech companies and governments use our data.
So what are companies like Google and Facebook actually doing with our personal data? Is the pandemic being used to surrender our data to private companies? And what role can big tech workers and us
What's Brexit done to fishing and farming?
We were supposed to have cast off the shackles of EU rules around farming and fishing. Brexit was sold as a ‘sea of opportunity’. And yet, tonnes of British meat have been left rotting at European ports, while Scottish fishers have had to make a 72-hour round trip to land their catch in Denmark.
The PM has said these are just “teething problems”. But are they really? What’s it been like for UK f
Vaccine Nationalism
By the middle of January, 49 wealthy countries had administered 39 million doses of the Covid vaccine. But the world’s poorest countries had only done 25 jabs, all of them in just one country: Guinea. Not 25 million, not 25,000 - just 25.
Why can’t some countries get hold of the vaccine? Why are rich countries buying more doses than they need? And are we seeing the rise of ‘vaccine nationalism’?
Is outsourcing out of control?
Meagre food packages for kids on free school meals. A £22bn track and trace system that isn’t fit for purpose. And people asked to travel hundreds of miles for a Covid test. What do all of these things have in common? They’ve all been outsourced to the private sector.
But why are these vital services being run by the private sector? Are the allegations of cronyism true? And who’s making money out
Exposing the truth about modern slavery
From Sports Direct warehouses to nail bars, awareness-raising campaigns warn that modern slavery is happening all around us. Over Christmas, fashion brand Boohoo cut ties with 64 garment suppliers in Leicester after it came out that factories were paying their workers as little as £3.50 an hour. And this month the foreign secretary said he would clamp down on companies who used forced labour in th
Finding hope during and after the pandemic
Joe Biden has defeated Donald Trump to win the US election. Test results from around the world suggest that a coronavirus vaccine is on the horizon. Over the past month there have been more bright spots than usual in a difficult, painful year. At the same time, with the number of coronavirus deaths at their highest since May, many parts of the country still subject to severe restrictions and unemp
