The Policy Factory Podcast
The Policy Factory Podcast
Podcast Description
A collective of historians looking to the past to find solutions for today's pressing policy dilemmas. policyfactory.substack.com
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on historical analysis as a lens for understanding contemporary policy issues, with specific themes such as welfare systems, cultural attitudes towards work, and social justice narratives. Episodes like 'Britain's Sicknote Culture' explore societal attitudes towards health and labor, while others analyze historical welfare policies through the lens of Steven King's book 'Fraudulent Lives' to propose future policy enhancements.
A collective of historians looking to the past to find solutions for today’s pressing policy dilemmas.
In the concluding episode of this two-part series, Professor Steven King (Nottingham Trent University) and Professor Glen O’Hara (Oxford Brookes University) discuss what lessons Keir Starmer might learn from the last time Labour was in government.
In this second part, the two discuss:
* Dealing with the 2008 financial crisis.
* How New Labour sought to reform the NHS and if it worked.
* Will Keir Starmer’s Labour be so tough on crime and the causes of crime?
* Are Starmer and Reeves cut from the same cloth as Blair and Brown?
* What successes will we see from Starmer’s government in the long run?
The full transcript of the discussion can be found on the Policy Factory website here.
Glen’s new book, New Labour, New Britain? How the Blair governments reshaped the country is due to come out with Manchester University Press in February 2026. Copies are available to pre-order now via the MUP website
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policyfactory.substack.com
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