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 

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 [email protected] 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 Finch

Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert

A Whistledown Production 

In the UK alone, around one in four adults are experiencing chronic pain. And nearly a quarter of the population live with some form of disability. Yet despite these numbers, pain and disability are still too often talked about in hushed tones, misunderstood, or entirely overlooked in public life.

How do we talk about pain that doesn’t go away? How do people live in bodies that society isn’t built for? And how can we shift the narrative from individual burden to collective responsibility?

Professor Tom Shakespeare helps us answer these questions in this episode of the We Society. His work challenges the assumptions we make about ability, autonomy, and what it means to live a fulfilling life.  

As Professor of Disability Research in the medical faculty at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Tom is a leading sociologist, bioethicist and one of the UK’s most influential voices in disability studies.  

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 [email protected] 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 Finch

Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert

A 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 [email protected] 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 Finch

Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert

A Whistledown Production 

We speak with Lisa Harker, the Director of the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, who gives us an insight into the alarming rise in the use of Deprivation of Liberty Orders on children. 

She explains how vulnerable children, many born into poverty and facing complex needs, are increasingly subjected to severe restrictions on their freedom through these court orders.  According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Justice, 1,280 children were subject to applications to deprive them of their liberty in 2024 in England and Wales.

Lisa and her team at the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory have been researching the issue, and have even provided evidence to the UK Government on why this practice which resembles incarceration needs to stop.

The Nuffield Family Justice Observatory is an independent research body, funded by the Nuffield Foundation that improves the lives of children and families by putting data and evidence at the heart of the family justice system.

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 [email protected] 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 Finch

Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert

A 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 [email protected] 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 Finch

Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert

A Whistledown Production 

Professor Andy Tatem talks to us about WorldPop, the research programme he heads that is based in the School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton. The team at WorldPop uses satellite imagery and mobile phone data to map population distributions in areas of the Global South and this data is used by governments for resource allocation and policy-making. 

In this episode, Andy shares case studies emphasising the impact of timely data on healthcare decisions in countries like Papua New Guinea and Afghanistan. He talks through the ethical considerations in data collection and his vision to supplement traditional censuses, in a bid to empower marginalised communities through better-informed decision-making.

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 [email protected] 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 Finch

Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert

A 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 [email protected] 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 Finch

Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert

A Whistledown Production 

Gavin Kelly is the Chief Executive of the Nuffield Foundation and has spent the past 30 years of his career putting Britain’s economic inactivity problem  under a microscope. 

For Gavin, one of the main problems is the nearly 1 million young people who are not in education, employment or training. They are the ones being left behind and their numbers are rising. But what can be done to solve this? 

The Nuffield Foundation is an independent charitable trust funding research that informs social policy, primarily in education, welfare, and justice. The Foundation is also the founder and co-funder of three research centres - the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the Ada Lovelace Institute, and the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory.

Join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton for season 8 of the We Society, 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 [email protected] 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 Finch

Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert

A Whistledown Production 

As US President Donald Trump threatens trade tariffs, the We Society invited the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to share her thoughts during this period of uncertainty.

The first woman and the first African to serve as Director General of the WTO, Dr Okonjo-Iweala also gives her perspectives on women in leadership positions and her history of fighting corruption in Nigeria that led to the kidnapping of her elderly mother.

This is the final interview in Season 7 of the We Society Podcast from the Academy of Social Sciences  which tackles the big questions through a social science lens. On this podcast, you'll be hearing some of the best ideas to shape the way we live.

Hosted by journalist and Academy President Will Hutton, we interview some of Britain’s top social scientists and public figures from across the globe to explore their evidence-led solutions to society’s most pressing problems.

Don't want to miss an episode? Follow the We Society on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on [email protected] and tell us who we should be speaking to or follow us on X https://twitter.com/AcadSocSciences

Find out more about the Academy of Social Sciences here: https://AcSS.org.uk

Professor Lee Elliot Major, who is Britain's first professor of Social Mobility based at the University of Exeter, is our guest in this penultimate episode of Season 7.

In his latest book, Equity in Education, he argues for a new approach and language to improve upward mobility. In his book, children are not disadvantaged instead they are under resourced.  Does language matter?

Season 7 of the We Society Podcast from the Academy of Social Sciences continues to tackle the big questions through a social science lens. Throughout this podcast, you'll hear some of the best ideas to shape the way we live.

Hosted by journalist and Academy President Will Hutton, we interview some of Britain’s top social scientists and public figures from across the globe to explore their evidence-led solutions to society’s most pressing problems.

Don't want to miss an episode? Follow the We Society on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on [email protected] and tell us who we should be speaking to or follow us on X https://twitter.com/AcadSocSciences

Find out more about the Academy of Social Sciences here: https://AcSS.org.uk