Has the initial success of the minimum wage meant politicians have extended the policy to damaging levels? All the major political parties agree: the measure has been a success, and in the 2017 election all promised substantial rises in the rate by 2020. The Conservatives are aiming for a £9 national living wage by the end of the decade, and not to be outdone, Labour promised £10 for all but the under-18s. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, asks why left and right have both adopted this once controversial policy. And could the current bidding war of big increases undermine the positive effects it has had over its eighteen-year history?
Producer: Kate Lamble.
Politik
Analysis Folgen
Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad, presented by distinguished writers, journalists and academics.
Folgen von Analysis
389 Folgen
-
Folge vom 24.07.2017Minimum Wage: Too Much of a Good Thing?
-
Folge vom 17.07.2017Yascha Mounk on democracy at riskAn extended interview with the political theorist who argues that liberal democracy is in grave danger. Ngaire Woods, dean of the Blavatnik School at Oxford, speaks to Harvard scholar Yascha Mounk. He says that across a wide sample of countries in North America and Western Europe, citizens of mature democracies have become markedly less satisfied with their form of government and surprisingly open to nondemocratic alternatives. "A serious democratic disconnect has emerged. If it widens even further, it may begin to challenge the stability of seemingly consolidated democracies." Producer: Jim Frank (Image: Yascha Mounk. Credit: Steffen Jaenicke).
-
Folge vom 10.07.2017Is work too easy?Michael Blastland asks if it's desk-bound work, rather than over-eating, which is making more and more of us obese. He hears about remarkable research which, despite received wisdom, suggests that people in the UK have reduced their calorie intake. However, they are expending far less physical energy, particularly because of new patterns of work which now require little if any bodily exertion. Michael examines projects to change individual behaviour such as corporate wellness programmes and altering office layouts - but finds it's going to be a tough sell.Interviewees: Dr Melanie Lührmann, Senior Lecturer, Royal Holloway Professor Alexi Marmot, architect, UCL Professor Andre Spicer, Cass Business School Professor Mike Kelly, School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge UniversityProducers: Estelle Doyle, Phoebe Keane and Smita Patel.
-
Folge vom 03.07.2017Constitutions at WorkConstitutions put controls on the people who run countries - but how are they created and how well do they work?In ordinary times constitutional debate often seems an abstract business without very much relevance to the way we live our lives. But political turmoil can operate like an X-ray, lighting up the bones around which the body politic is formed. Drawing on recent political events, Edward Stourton explores the effectiveness of the constitutions of the United Kingdom, the USA and France and asks are they doing what they were meant to do?CONTRIBUTORSLord Peter Hennessy, Professor of Contemporary British History, Queen Mary University of LondonAlison Young, Professor of Public Law, University of OxfordProfessor Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago Law SchoolSophie Boyron, Senior Lecturer, University of Birmingham Law SchoolDavid S Bell, Professor of French Government and Politics, University of LeedsPresenter: Edward Stourton Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith.