The We Society

Almost a third of five-year-olds in Britain enter primary school without the essential language, communication, and literacy skills they need to thrive. Eleanor Ireland, our guest today, looks at the critical importance of early childhood development and the widening disadvantage gap as inequality deepens in Britain.Eleanor is one of the Programme Heads for Education at the Nuffield Foundation, which tackles the UK’s biggest social challenges by funding research, generating evidence, and guiding decision-makers to implement solutions that improve people’s lives. In her conversation with Will, they look at how support systems for parents and children have changed over the years, and the potential impact of the new UK Government policy of providing 30 hours of free childcare a week for working parents with under 5s.In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to. The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. Producer: Emily Uchida FinchAssistant Producer: Emily GilbertA Whistledown Production

Our guest today, Alex Beer, joins us at a critical time as the UK Government prepares to publish its child poverty strategy this autumn.According to official numbers, there are 4.5 million children living in poverty in the UK and 1.1m children are in families that have used a food bank in the past year. The Nuffield Foundation launched a major new Strategic Review earlier this summer committing £30 million annually over the next five years to fund research and innovation that addresses some of the UK's most urgent social and economic challenges. Read more about it here (https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/news/nuffield-foundation-announces-150-million-funding-commitment-to-tackle-uks-biggest-social-challenges) As Assistant Director of Strategy at the Nuffield Foundation, Alex's role is to develop and deliver programmes of work that deliver the strategy and improve social wellbeing in the UK. In this conversation with Will, Alex shares some evidence-backed policy suggestions for alleviating child poverty, which includes changes to the two-child limit and the benefit cap, but also emphasises the importance of taking a holistic approach. In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy President Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to.The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. Producer: Emily Uchida FinchAssistant Producer: Emily GilbertA Whistledown Production

Simon Calder is the man with the answers when it comes to any travel related questions. Having started as a travel journalist at the Independent newspaper in 1994, Simon has decades of knowledge and insight when it comes to the travel industry. He joins our host Will Hutton to impart some of his expertise and they tackle topics from the pros and cons of budget airlines to his love of train travel. There might even be a couple of holiday destination recommendations peppered in! In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to. The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. Producer: Emily Uchida FinchAssistant Producer: Emily GilbertA Whistledown Production

Professor Lucy Easthope is a leading authority on recovering from disaster and she joins our host Will Hutton in the first episode of Season 9 of the We Society.They discusses the long-term implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and other disasters on societal resilience. Drawing from her experiences and insights in emergency planning, she highlights the importance of community responses and the emotional significance of preserving personal belongings after a disaster. To find out more about Lucy, and her two books - When the Dust Settles and Come What May - go to her website: https://whatevernext.info In Season 9, continue to join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to. The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. Producer: Emily Uchida FinchAssistant Producer: Emily GilbertA Whistledown Production

In the final episode of Season 8 of the We Society, our host Will Hutton is joined by economist and former Labour politician Ed Balls, Dr. Anna Stansbury, a researcher in labour and macroeconomics from MIT, and Dan Turner, Chief Research Officer for the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown focused on national and regional inequalities. All three have recently collaborated on research to do with regional inequality in the UK and the lessons the UK can learn from Bidenomics. In this conversation, they discuss the worsening regional disparities in productivity, income, and overall economic performance within the UK, particularly highlighting the stark contrast between the economic conditions in London and the South East compared to cities like Nottingham, Manchester, and Birmingham. The traditional narrative of the North-South divide, which primarily focused on employment levels and unemployment rates, has evolved. Instead, the emphasis has now shifted towards productivity, revealing that while employment rates may be comparable across regions, the productivity of economic output varies greatly. To read more about Ed, Anna and Dan’s research papers, find them here:Tackling the UK’s regional economic inequality: Binding constraints and avenues for policy intervention https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcbg/publications/awp/awp198 What should the UK learn from ‘Bidenomics’?https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcbg/publications/awp/awp252 Join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to. The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. Producer: Emily Uchida FinchAssistant Producer: Emily GilbertA Whistledown Production

Borders contain nations, act as fault lines, but are also meeting points, where different cultures, people, and ideologies come into contact.Nowhere has this been more visible, more painful, and more politically charged than the island of Ireland. In this episode, Will Hutton is joined by Professor Katy Hayward. She’s one of the UK’s leading voices on Brexit, the Irish border, and cross border tension and transformation. A political sociologist at Queen’s University Belfast and Co-Director of the Centre for International Borders Research, her work bridges politics and the everyday experience of life on the border. Join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to. The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. Producer: Emily Uchida FinchAssistant Producer: Emily GilbertA Whistledown Production

What is the link between social science and entrepreneurship? To give us the answer, Will Hutton speaks to Professor Eleanor Shaw OBE, an academic specialising in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Strathclyde to delve into the social science dimension of entrepreneurship. Eleanor believes that entrepreneurial spirit stems from recognising and addressing unfulfilled societal needs. In the conversation, they discuss successful entrepreneurs who contribute to communities and not just their bottom line.Eleanor addresses the idea of whether entrepreneurial skills are innate or can be cultivated. She argues that while some individuals may have a natural propensity for entrepreneurship, everyone has the potential to develop entrepreneurial skills given the right environment.Join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to. The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. Producer: Emily Uchida FinchAssistant Producer: Emily GilbertA Whistledown Production

We probe the UK prison system with Professor Alison Liebling, a Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Cambridge and the Director of the Institute of Criminology’s Prisons Research Centre.In this episode, she discusses the complexities surrounding prison officers, their often-underappreciated skills, and the critical role they play in maintaining order and humanity on the wings. Professor Liebling’s research on prisons spans over three decades with a particular interest in the moral landscapes of prison life. Her research has led to a prestigious Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship. This Fellowship allows well-established academics in the humanities and social sciences to focus for two or three years on a specific piece of significant, original research.Join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to. The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. Producer: Emily Uchida FinchAssistant Producer: Emily GilbertA Whistledown Production