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Adam Cox is joined by Hannah Bellamy, managing director of the charity, charity: water, live from the 'Pledge Float' parading from Tower Bridge for World Water Day. Hannah explains what's going on today on the streets of London, and what the charity is hoping to achieve from the parade. She also discusses the current water crisis, and the positive things the charity are doing to help people get access to safe and clean water. www.charitywater.org

Our commentary for w/c 28 February: as Peter Kropotkin predicted over 100 years ago, the communist legacy of centralised dictatorship has left the Russian leadership in a total moral vacuum, steered by fear and greed; and now, noting their nuclear warning, also with a degree of insanity. By a strange co-incidence, two programmes broadcast by the BBC on the day the war started point the way to a brighter future, if we can steer our path through the current tragedy engulfing Ukraine.

The world of cyber security can seem mysterious and intimidating to the uninitiated, not least when it comes to all the jargon. In this episode, Vicky Sayers is joined by Cyber Security Expert at UNISYS, JP Cavanna, to talk about the dangers of one particular cyber security buzzword: ransomware. They discuss the background and growth of this form of malware, and some of the ways we can mitigate against the threat. JP also talks about a certain “white hat vigilante” who has become known for hacking the hackers – more information about which can be found here: https://bit.ly/3dE5X37

Adam Cox is joined by Max Halliwell from Mitsubishi Electric to discuss how the heating industry needs to change in order to aid the UK in becoming carbon neutral by 2050. They talk about heat pumps, how exactly these work and the grant opportunities out there for those who want to make their homes more sustainable. They delve into what needs to change in the UK’s mindsets in order to truly make an impact in the UK when it comes to heating our homes.

This month we launched The WealthiHer 2020 report “The Changing Faces of Women’s Wealth” which gives valuable insights into women’s and men’s financial confidence, attitudes to and needs around money, workplaces and equality, both in the UK and Asia. It is clear Covid-19 has had a major impact and nowhere was this truer, than for women and their responsibilities to family, job security and financial prosperity. Women are 1.8 times more likely to have lost their jobs or quit, compared to men. The Institute of Fiscal Studies found that women in the UK are working 156 more hours a month than their partners in support of care of the family or the household; and the gender pay gap has shifted back 60 years as a result of the crisis. In this episode, Tamara Gillan is joined by Michelle King: world-renowned equality expert who has led the charge on strategy for UN Women and Netflix Inclusion. Michelle is armed with more than 16 years’ research and a deep understanding of the invisible barriers that hold women back at work, and how we need to face up to these and collaboratively fix workplaces, not women. Michelle has also just joined us as the MD of WealthiHer female leadership Academy.

While the world worries about coronavirus, there is another decade-defining event going on – the US election. Will Donald Trump win a second term as US President and have the world dance to his tune for four more years, or will Joe Biden take charge – and what on earth would that mean for people? There is less than a month to go until the US election and under normal circumstances you would expect all the focus of stock market commentators to be on that. It’s not normal circumstances though. The second wave of coronavirus and renewed lockdowns have the world’s attention and the election, if not a sideshow, is definitely not as centre stage as we would usually expect. So, does that mean it doesn’t matter for investors, or should be thinking about it and positioning themselves for the outcome? Does it even matter if Trump or Biden wins, as long as the Fed keeps printing and stimulus keeps coming, and would any decisive win be better than a disputed result? On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Georgie Frost and Sarah Davidson, discuss the US election and what it could mean for our money over here in the UK. And if two septuagenarians arguing about who is going to be the boss of the free world isn’t your thing, what about investing in the future beyond that? Keeping on the investment tip, the team dive into the world of green money and how to invest to back improving the world, or even get a green mortgage or current account.

In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson discuss a non-COVID-19 policy topic that has been prominent in recent months following the recent Black Lives Matter protests: the ethnic inequalities that exist in socio-economic outcomes in the UK. Examining the issue from an academic viewpoint, Franz initially explains how labour economists define discrimination and how theoretically classical economics would expect labour market discrimination on the basis of race or gender to be eliminated by market forces. Matt and Franz go on to discuss how reality clashes with this theory, setting out the extent of contemporary ethnic and gender pay inequalities and some of the issues with analysis that seeks to explain away the large differences in pay between men and women and between white workers and those of other ethnicities. The discussion continues by looking at studies directly highlighting discrimination in hiring in both the UK and the US, before concluding with thoughts on what policymakers could do to address these longstanding inequalities.

In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson talk to Simon Burgess, Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol. With COVID-19 and all the policy responses to it still very much at the forefront of public policy, Franz and Matt begin by asking Simon about the likely impact of school closures on child attainment, how this may affect existing socio-economic inequalities and what policymakers could do to tackle the issue once schools settle back to “normal”. The additional problems of replacing GCSE and A-level exams with teacher assessments are also considered, along with the difficult situation facing graduates finishing university this year. The discussion then moves on to Simon’s research into the impact of students’ effort on their educational outcomes. Simon explains how international football tournaments and school visits from Michelle Obama have provided insights into the huge effect that students’ effort can have on their results – and how policymakers might harness these findings.

Over two months into lockdown here in the UK, you may well be wondering when life is going to get “back to normal” once this is all over – but many are already convinced that things will never be the same. Vicky Sayers is joined by Ian Jenkins, CEO of Intrinsic Insight and author of a report projecting how behaviours could change following the COVID-19 outbreak, to talk about what the “new normal” might look like.

In this episode of Policy Matters, Matt Dickson and Franz Buscha join the show from their respective homes as the country continues to adjust to life and work during lockdown. With the global COVID-19 pandemic currently dominating almost all policy areas, Franz and Matt discuss how different countries have tackled the outbreak and what lessons can be drawn from the more successful approaches. They move on to explore the economic impacts that have been seen already, the rationale behind the Government’s unprecedented series of economic policy interventions, and what we can learn from previous recessions about how we might get out of the one we’re now in. They also ponder the likely effects of the crisis on the labour market – in particular, the graduate labour market.