How To Fix...

Leaving the EU, despite what the Leave campaign claimed last year, is turning out to be rather complicated. We were supposed to save money—£350m a week—but now it seems we’re paying tens of billions first. We were supposed to quickly sign a trade deal with the rest of the EU—the German car manufacturer would insist on it, remember—but we haven’t even started talks about talks yet. And all those concerns about what this meant for Northern Ireland and the border were pretty straight-forward to deal with, really—but, well, we know where we are with that…

So, was there—is there—another way?

In this week’s show, Steve Bloomfield and Stephanie Boland are joined by:

· Asa Bennet, Brexit commissioning editor

· Chris Bickerton, Cambridge academic

· Alex Dean, Prospect’s Brexit expert

Get in touch

Steve: https://twitter.com/BloomfieldSJ

Steph: https://twitter.com/stephanieboland

Further reading

The case for a slow-motion Brexit: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/the-case-for-a-slow-motion-brexit

The EFTA Court piece we mentioned: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/in-future-britain-may-have-a-judge-on-the-efta-court-bench-says-its-president

And since Chris talked about the productivity, here’s Diane Coyle’s recent piece for the mag: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/how-to-have-a-productive-brexit

How do you fix Brexit? Well, for a start it depends on whether you want us to leave or remain. Next week we’ll work out how to fix leaving. Today, we’re going to see if there’s a way to remain. Despite the vote, is it possible for the UK to remain in the European Union after all? It is, and we’ll explain how.

In this week’s show, Steve Bloomfield and Stephanie Boland are joined by:

· Alison McGovern, Labour MP

· Alex Dean, Prospect’s Brexit expert

Get in touch

Steve: https://twitter.com/BloomfieldSJ

Steph: https://twitter.com/stephanieboland

Further reading

The inside story of how David Cameron drove Britain to Brexit, by Ivan Rogers: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/the-inside-story-of-how-david-cameron-drove-britain-to-brexit

Alison McGovern on why free movement doesn’t affect wages: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/the-evidence-is-clear-ending-free-movement-wont-raise-british-wages

Ian Dunt on how Brexit negotiations are going to get worse: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/think-brexit-negotiations-are-going-badly-its-about-to-get-a-whole-lot-worse

Dominic Cummings fears Brexit will fail: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/peering-over-the-cliff-edge-why-dominic-cummings-fears-brexit-will-fail

For the tenth episode of How to Fix we decided to hand the reins over to you, dear listener. What do you think needs fixing? We’ve whittled down your suggestions to half a dozen and have parcelled out your queries to a handful of prospect editors, including myself and Steph. So in the next twenty minutes or so you’ll hear Tom Clark discuss the state of the United Kingdom, Sameer Rahim will wax lyrical on English curriculums at universities, Steph will tell us all about children’s health and I’ll have a minor rant about sports administration. We’ll also talk about the age bias in the arts and discuss the growing distrust in the media.

In this week’s show, Steve Bloomfield and Stephanie Boland are joined by:

· Tom Clark

· Sameer Rahim

Get in touch

Steve: https://twitter.com/BloomfieldSJ

Steph: https://twitter.com/stephanieboland

Further reading

Here’s that bizarre piece about children spending less time outside than prison inmates: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/25/three-quarters-of-uk-children-spend-less-time-outdoors-than-prison-inmates-survey

Here’s a good overview of the ‘decolonising Cambridge’ row: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/cambridge-university-decolonisation-lola-olufemi-13831287

The moment when FIFA executives were arrested: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/03/sports/fifa-scandal-arrests-in-switzerland.html?_r=0

Think of a city with an air pollution problem and, a few years ago, Beijing probably would have sprung to mind. Dense smog, citizens in face masks, this was a problem that cities like London had left behind after the Clean Air Act of 1956 dealt with the problems caused by the great Smog of 1952. But while London and other cities in the UK don’t suffer from a Great Smog today, they are feeling the effects of air pollution in far greater ways than many of us have realised. An estimated 40,000 deaths each year are attributable in some way to air pollution. Too many cars, of which too many of those are diesel, are causing serious health problems.

the mayor of greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, from the chair of the transport select committee, Lilian Greenwood; Sarah Macfadyen at the British Lung Foundation, and the science editor of Buzzfeed News, Kelly Oakes

In this week’s show, Steve Bloomfield and Stephanie Boland are joined by:

· Lilian Greenwood, chair of the transport select committee

· Kelly Oakes, science editor, Buzzfeed UK

· Sarah Macfadyen, policy manager, British Lung Foundation

Get in touch

Steve: https://twitter.com/BloomfieldSJ

Steph: https://twitter.com/stephanieboland

Further reading

Here’s Kelly’s piece on Brixton Road and its air pollution: https://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/this-london-road-has-breached-its-annual-air-pollution-limit?utm_term=.wgXP2vEK9#.utDYk4ryz

Here’s the British Lung Foundation’s very useful explainer on air pollution: https://www.blf.org.uk/support-for-you/air-pollution

Here are those adverts about air pollution that Steph mentioned: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/hardhitting-air-pollution-posters-to-go-on-display-on-londons-tube-network-a3661891.html

Right now, there are 65.6 million people around the world who have been forcibly displaced. That’s roughly equivalent to the population of Britain. Of those, 22.5 million are refugees. Of those, less than 200,000 were resettled last year in another country. So what about the rest? Well, many of them are in camps. We think of the refugee camp as a temporary structure. A place of tents and well-meaning aid workers in white t-shirts handing out food and medicine. And at first, they can be. But as the weeks turn into months and the months into years and the years into decades, and refugees still can’t go home, they are left in limbo. The aid often dries up. The camps become dangerous. Solutions are thin on the ground.

In this week’s show, Steve Bloomfield and Stephanie Boland are joined by:

· Kilian Kleinschmidt, former director of the Zaatari refuge camp

· Ben Rawlence, author of City of Thorns

Get in touch

Steve: https://twitter.com/BloomfieldSJ

Steph: https://twitter.com/stephanieboland

Further reading

Here’s a review of Ben’s brilliant book, City of Thorns: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/books/review/city-of-thorns-by-ben-rawlence.html

Here’s a profile of Kilian Kleinschmidt from his time as the director of Zaatari: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/world/middleeast/kilian-kleinschmidt-calm-boss-at-center-of-a-syrian-refugee-camps-chaos.html

In the three weeks since the first allegations of sexual harassment and assault were made against Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein, the floodgates have opened. From film to journalism, politics to law, women have come forward with horrific stories of assault and everyday harassment. No industry is immune.

It feels as if something might have changed, as if we’ve reached—or are reaching towards—a tipping point. But are we? What, if anything, will actually change? What can we do—both men and women—to make sure that things change. And what do we mean by that? What does change look like?

In this week’s show, Steve Bloomfield and Stephanie Boland are joined by:

· Rosamund Urwin, a columnist for the Evening Standard Berlin

· Musa Okwonga, writer and poet

Get in touch

Steve: https://twitter.com/BloomfieldSJ

Steph: https://twitter.com/stephanieboland

Further reading

Read Musa Okwonga on what men must do to fight back against the Weinsteins

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/life/as-men-its-our-job-to-challenge-the-culture-that-enables-people-like-harvey-weinstein

Rosamund Urwin has written frequently on how to end sexual assault and help support women’s rights in her Evening Standard Column (we love this piece on Donald Trump inauguration)

https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/rosamund-urwin-a-brave-new-world-you-must-be-joking-a3444416.html

Steph Boland has written on how informal whisper networks help women avoid predatory colleagues—and explains why harassment is not a party political issue in this piece on Jared O’Mara

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/the-jared-omara-story-isnt-about-the-internet-its-about-how-we-decide-who-should-be-in-politics