Analysis

By BBC Radio 4

What's Analysis about?

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

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Analysis episodes:

03.25.2024
The low pay puzzle
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...
03.18.2024
How real is the existential threat from AI?
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,...
03.11.2024
What would Isambard Kingdom Brunel have done?
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...
03.04.2024
Power Drive
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...
02.26.2024
How to cure the small town blues
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...
02.19.2024
How to Dismantle a Democracy
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...
02.12.2024
What is 'British culture'?
'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...
02.05.2024
Has the family had its day?
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...
11.20.2023
What's the future of nudge?
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...
11.13.2023
Can reading really improve your life?
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....
11.06.2023
Can the UK afford a mental health crisis?
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...
10.30.2023
France: a constitutional crisis in the making
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...
10.23.2023
What on earth is the national interest?
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...
10.16.2023
What makes a good school?
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...
10.09.2023
How can we grow the UK economy?
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...
10.02.2023
The Democratic Brain
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...
08.01.2023
How far should reparative justice go?
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...
07.17.2023
Is there a new elite?
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...
07.10.2023
Why are so many workers on strike?
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...
07.03.2023
Does work have to be miserable?
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...
06.26.2023
Do single people get a raw deal?
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...
06.19.2023
What’s changing about childbirth?
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’...
06.12.2023
What are companies for?
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...
06.05.2023
Do Boycotts Work?
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...
05.29.2023
We know how to stop knife crime, so why don’t we do it?
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...
04.03.2023
Lessons from the vaccine task force
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...
03.27.2023
Can the Met police change?
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...
03.20.2023
Is Britain exceptional?
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...
03.13.2023
King Charles' Challenge
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...
03.06.2023
Does it matter who our MPs are?
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...
02.27.2023
The death of globalisation?
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...
02.20.2023
From Brother to Other
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...
02.13.2023
Has economic crisis put net-zero plans on the backburner?
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?...
02.06.2023
Blaenau Ffestiniog and the Foundational Economy
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...
11.21.2022
Can we ever really tackle rising public spending?
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...
11.14.2022
Why do we assume women care?
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...
11.07.2022
Economic Growth - can we ever have enough?
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...
10.31.2022
Is 'Political Blackness' gone for good?
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...
10.24.2022
Can Effective Altruism really change the world?
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...
10.17.2022
How Xi Jinping did it
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...
10.10.2022
Is ethical surrogacy possible?
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...
10.03.2022
What's the point of street protest?
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...
07.25.2022
Addiction in the age of the metaverse
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...
07.18.2022
Is the UK the new sick man of Europe?
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...
07.11.2022
What is childcare for?
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...
07.04.2022
Beyond the cost of living crisis
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...
06.27.2022
Cashing in on the green rush
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...
06.20.2022
Germany and Russia: It's Complicated
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...
06.13.2022
The Advertising Trap
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...
06.06.2022
Can Nationalism be a Force for Good?
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...

What's Analysis about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Analysis episodes:

The low pay puzzle

How real is the existential threat from AI?

What would Isambard Kingdom Brunel have done?

Power Drive

How to cure the small town blues

How to Dismantle a Democracy

What is 'British culture'?

Has the family had its day?

What's the future of nudge?

Can reading really improve your life?

Can the UK afford a mental health crisis?

France: a constitutional crisis in the making

What on earth is the national interest?

What makes a good school?

How can we grow the UK economy?

The Democratic Brain

How far should reparative justice go?

Is there a new elite?

Why are so many workers on strike?

Does work have to be miserable?

Do single people get a raw deal?

What’s changing about childbirth?

What are companies for?

Do Boycotts Work?

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

Lessons from the vaccine task force

Can the Met police change?

Is Britain exceptional?

King Charles' Challenge

Does it matter who our MPs are?

The death of globalisation?

From Brother to Other

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

Blaenau Ffestiniog and the Foundational Economy

Can we ever really tackle rising public spending?

Why do we assume women care?

Economic Growth - can we ever have enough?

Is 'Political Blackness' gone for good?

Can Effective Altruism really change the world?

How Xi Jinping did it

Is ethical surrogacy possible?

What's the point of street protest?

Addiction in the age of the metaverse

Is the UK the new sick man of Europe?

What is childcare for?

Beyond the cost of living crisis

Cashing in on the green rush

Germany and Russia: It's Complicated

The Advertising Trap

Can Nationalism be a Force for Good?