The Policy Institute Podcast

Subscribe to the Policy Institute mailing list for invites to future events Policy Idol is an annual competition open to all current students at King’s, in which participants pitch their policy ideas to an elite panel of leading figures from the worlds of politics, academia and industry.

Subscribe to the Policy Institute mailing list for invites to future events The Attlee Foundation, in partnership with The Strand Group of King’s College London host the 2026 Attlee Foundation Lecture, was delivered by Sir John Major on Wednesday 18 March 2026.

Subscribe to the Policy Institute mailing list for invites to future events   Could giving people cash directly, with few or no strings attached, be a better way to tackle poverty? Cash transfers are increasingly debated as a simpler and more efficient approach – one that restores dignity and agency to recipients while supporting better life outcomes. But how effective are they in practice, and what role could they play in UK policy? This online event, hosted with the Centre for Homelessness Impact (CHI), will explore what the evidence says about cash transfers, as well as revealing findings from a pioneering new trial, carried out by the Experimental Government Team at the Policy Institute and supported by CHI, which examines the effects of an unconditional £2,000 cash transfer to young people leaving care. Our panel will discuss how cash transfers compare to more traditional interventions; what the evidence shows on wellbeing, health and stability; and what the implications are for policymakers and local authorities considering cash-based approaches to social problems. Speakers Professor Michael Sanders, Director, Experimental Government Team at the Policy Institute Dr Lígia Teixeira, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Homelessness Impact Professor Bobby Duffy, Director of the Policy Institute (chair)

Subscribe to the Policy Institute mailing list for invites to future events   Child homelessness in the UK has reached crisis point. The latest official figures reveal a record 172,420 homeless children in England are now living in temporary accommodation – more than the entire population of Oxford. Many are growing up in unsafe, unstable environments, cut off from their schools, GPs, and communities. The crisis is deepening – but what will it take to change course?   Speakers: Kwajo Tweneboa, campaigner, activist, and author of Our Country in Crisis Dan Hewitt, ITV News Investigations Editor Professor Katherine Brickell, Professor of Urban Studies at King’s College London and author of Debt Trap Nation: Family Homelessness in a Failing State Karen Torres, Advocacy, Research and Campaigns Manager, Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation Professor Michael Sanders, Professor of Public Policy and Director of the School for Government at King’s College London (Chair)

Subscribe to the Policy Institute mailing list for invites to future events   The UK has seemed relatively immune to the full-blown culture wars that we’ve seen in the US: our data from the World Values Survey and a series of joint studies with Ipsos suggested that, despite the political and media rhetoric, we still quite liked each other and saw through efforts to divide us.   But has that shifted?   The latest findings from our work with Ipsos reveal perceptions of division in the UK have reached their highest point since trends began in 2020, while the share of the public who believe the nation is divided by culture wars specifically has risen from 46% to 67% during this period.   At the same time, the country has become increasingly nostalgic for the past and uneasy about the pace of cultural change, with tensions rising around immigration and national identity – providing a lot of the conditions for a more populist turn.   What does the data tell us about the nature and scale of division today? To what extent are political leaders and the media environment driving cultural tensions? What role do foreign actors have in encouraging division, and how is national cohesion connected to national security? And fundamentally, is the UK following America's path to a proper culture war – or is there still time to chart a different course?   Speakers: The Rt Hon Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport John Burn-Murdoch, Chief Data Reporter at the Financial Times Dr Kate Ferguson, Co-Executive Director of Protection Approaches Gideon Skinner, Senior Director of UK Politics at Ipsos Professor Bobby Duffy, Director of the Policy Institute at King's College London (chair)