The Policy Fix

Nesta
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Policy Fix is where Britain's smartest minds come to solve problems, not just debate them. While other podcasts focus on what's broken or the day-to-day ups and downs of politics, we focus on what works and how to make it happen. We move beyond the political headlines to focus on what works and how to make it happen. Hosted by Nesta, the research and innovation foundation, we explore bold ideas and radical thinking on policy that will drive our country forward. Join us to discover the bold ideas and radical thinking on policy that will drive our country forward.

Episodes

  1. APR 2

    How to make social media safer for children

    One in five children aged 3–5 already owns a smartphone and 95% of 13–15 year-olds have a social media profile. Is the UK's Online Safety Act failing to protect them and is a blanket ban on social media the answer? In this episode of Policy Fix, host Joe Owen sits down with Tony Curzon Price, economist and policy fellow at Nesta, and Hannah Perry, Director at Demos, to untangle one of the most urgent policy debates of our time: how do we regulate social media for children without doing more harm than good? They explore: Why the Online Safety Act has 'barely touched the sides' and what went wrong The evidence base for social media harm, from Jonathan Haidt's correlations to natural experiments tracking Facebook's campus rollout Why Australia's age-based ban may push kids toward riskier, less regulated spaces The case for product regulation - treating social media like a dangerous car that should be made safer, rather than trying to ban driving Tony's bold proposal: a BBC Club Kids social network, launched by 2028 Hannah's vision for community-rooted digital spaces and epistemic sovereignty What the government consultation should actually deliver, including bringing AI chatbots inside the scope of the Online Safety Act If you work in policy, edtech, child welfare, or digital regulation or if you're a parent trying to make sense of a system that feels broken this episode is essential listening. Note that this episode was recorded before the recent judgement against Meta and YouTube in the US. Nesta is a politically impartial research and innovation charity designing, testing, and scaling solutions to society's biggest problems. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Episode Chapters 00:00  What’s coming up: "A full-time job for parents": the social media treadmill 01:09  Welcome to Policy Fix. Introducing Joe, Tony Curzon Price & Hannah Perry 02:01  Setting the scene: is this a moral panic, or something genuinely different? 03:43  The stats: 1 in 5 toddlers has a phone; 95% of teens on social media 04:03  Evidence of harm. Child deaths, compulsive scrolling & displaced real-world activity 05:01  The causality debate: what Jonathan Haidt's research actually shows 06:30  The Facebook campus study — a natural experiment pointing to causality 07:33  The willingness-to-pay study: users know they're trapped and want out 08:25  How did we get here? The attention-harvesting business model explained 10:13  The algorithm arms race. Sarah Wynn-Williams and the Facebook whistleblower revelations 11:26  From Father Coughlin to Facebook: what radio history tells us about regulating media 13:23  Why the Online Safety Act has barely touched the sides 15:35  Why has this crisis bubbled back up the agenda now? 17:43  Should we ban social media for children? Tony makes the case against 19:05  The upside of social media why a blanket ban risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater 21:16  Hannah on the ban: 50% of parents would evade it, and it breaks trust with kids 23:34  Are "cuter" regulatory solutions also doomed to fail? 23:50  Tony's alternative: a public service construction of a good platform 26:44  Hannah's vision. BBC charter renewal, epistemic sovereignty & community digital spaces 29:31  What should the BBC practically do in the upcoming charter renewal? 32:26  The wider policy toolkit: no silver bullet, but an array of solutions 34:45  Tony on family-level solutions, network monitoring without surveillance 37:53  Australia's ban evaluation: is it reducing family conflict? 38:22  The BBC's new role in media literacy and cultural norm shift 39:05  What to watch for after the consultation closes 39:27  Hannah's ask: include AI chatbots in the Online Safety Act 40:08  Tony's ask: the BBC must become the platform, not feed it 41:52  One thing for Keir Starmer. Tony on cyberspace experimentation 42:49  Hannah's closing call: strengthen the Online Safety Act with safety-by-design 43:14  Sign-off

    42 min

  2. MAR 17

    How to fix the way government works

    Successive governments have promised to reform the British state. Most have left it harder to navigate than they found it. So what would genuinely fixing the way government works actually look like? In this episode of The Policy Fix, Jill Rutter (Senior Fellow, Institute for Government) and Andrew Greenway (founder of A Bit Digital and former senior civil servant) join host Joe Owen to examine why Whitehall struggles to deliver: the civil service’s misaligned incentives, the gap between policy and delivery, and why Labour’s mission-driven government ran out of steam. They also explore what the rare successes GDS, the vaccine taskforce, Brexit, Covid actually have in common, and what it would take to replicate that more broadly. They end with a quickfire question: if Keir Starmer called you tomorrow and said he wanted to move fast and break things, what’s the one thing you’d tell him to break? Frank, expert and full of practical insight, this is the state reform conversation that Whitehall needs to be having. The Policy Fix is produced by Nesta. Timecodes: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:53 Do we have a government delivery problem? 00:06:18 What happened to Labour's mission-driven government? 00:12:07 Why do politicians struggle to get things done? 00:15:52 Has governing fundamentally changed? 00:22:12 What the Government Digital Service (GDS) got right 00:27:24 The “project” model: lessons from the Olympics 00:30:23 The policy vs delivery divide in Whitehall 00:34:06 Brexit and Covid: what government can do well 00:39:41 Do we need a wholesale review of the British state? 00:43:15 Structural reform: does No. 10 need more power? 00:48:31 What would you break? The final question

    53 min

  3. MAR 12

    How to reform the UK's tax system

    The UK tax system has been described by experts as irrational, a mess and a nightmare. But what would genuinely reforming it look like - and why have successive chancellors ducked it for so long? In this first episode of The Policy Fix, Tim Leunig (chief economist, Nesta) and Helen Miller (director, Institute for Fiscal Studies) break down the biggest structural problems in Britain’s tax system: the distortions created by how we tax employment versus self-employment versus dividends; the £80bn cost of VAT exemptions and why a flapjack is legally different from a muesli bar; why stamp duty is almost universally agreed to be a bad tax - and why it still exists; and whether wealth taxes are a serious policy option or an idea that sounds better than it works. They also debate what a reforming Chancellor should actually do: go big and bold, or chip away incrementally? And they end with one policy each that they’d push through if they were Prime Minister for a day. Sharp, evidence-based and surprisingly entertaining - this is UK tax policy for people who want to understand the real arguments. The Policy Fix is produced by Nesta. Timecodes: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:40 What's wrong with the UK tax system? 00:03:55 Why have chancellors avoided reform for so long? 00:10:11 The biggest structural problem: income, NI & dividends 00:13:12 The VAT chaos: flapjacks, gingerbread men & £80bn in exemptions 00:16:00 How to actually reform: what should a Chancellor do first? 00:22:49 Stamp duty & property tax: the case for abolition 00:27:04 Wealth taxes: effective policy or zombie idea? 00:31:44 Quick wins, capital gains & green/vehicle taxes 00:35:10 Political bravery: are politicians or the system to blame? 00:39:49 Expert commissions vs. the Chancellor acting now 00:43:42 One policy to transform the UK economy

    45 min

  4. MAR 9

    The Policy Fix | Trailer

    Something’s coming 🎙️ We’re stepping into the studio to tackle the UK’s biggest challenges - not just to debate the problems, but to find the fixes. Make sure you subscribe to this brand new podcast from, Nesta.

    1 min
  • 4 Episodes

About

Policy Fix is where Britain's smartest minds come to solve problems, not just debate them. While other podcasts focus on what's broken or the day-to-day ups and downs of politics, we focus on what works and how to make it happen. We move beyond the political headlines to focus on what works and how to make it happen. Hosted by Nesta, the research and innovation foundation, we explore bold ideas and radical thinking on policy that will drive our country forward. Join us to discover the bold ideas and radical thinking on policy that will drive our country forward.

Information

  • Creator
    Nesta
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    4
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Nesta
  • Show Website
    The Policy Fix

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