New Economics Foundation

For years ‘industrial strategy’ wasn’t talked about at all. But the phrase has recently made a comeback. The government thinks there are some ‘long term challenges’ for the economy in this country, and they need to get involved to do something about them. Host Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined this week by NEF’s Senior Economist Sara Mahmoud and Will Brett, NEF’s Director of News and Media, to discuss exactly what these challenges are and to address the question:...

Remember VHS? It was the future, once (just ask Betamax). Then came the year 1995 and the birth of the DVD, and that was curtains for poor old videotape. Since then, DVDs – and even their upstart siblings, Blurays – have themselves come and started to be gone thanks to downloading and, latterly, streaming. The smartphone and tablet, upon which much media is now consumed, didn’t even exist 11 years ago. So it’s a bit hard to get excited about the Government’s...

Last week the Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, promised the UK would lead the world in animal welfare and environmental standards. We weren’t convinced, warning of the gulf between rhetoric and potential reality as Brexit loomed. It didn’t take long. A mere handful of days later the Trade Secretary has already started hinting that chicken washed in chlorine could be sold in the UK as part of a trade deal with the US. Currently the EU bans the sale of chicken...

Right now, in a field on the outskirts of Preston, Lancashire, people are standing in the way of climate change. It’s been six years since any actual fracking took place in the UK. Aside from one regulatory hiccup following earth tremors near Blackpool, the single reason why companies have failed successfully to drill deep beneath the earth and force out gas trapped in shale is because people have organised to prevent them from being granted permission. As the...