SPERI Presents… podcast: Inaugural episode and first series now online

SPERI is excited to announce that the inaugural episode of 'SPERI Presents...', our brand new podcast, and the first three episodes of 'Lessons in power: What can the new Labour government learn from the last one?' are online.

Lessons in Power wording with a background of roses

The inaugural episode outlines how we at SPERI understand political economy by discussing power at the intersection of politics and economics, and how we approach political economy in our own research. Guests include present SPERI co-director Andy Hindmoor and Research & Impact Associate Remi Edwards, SPERI co-founder Tony Payne and former SPERI co-director Genevieve LeBaron, as well as SPERI associates Liam Stanley and Natalie Langford. Listen on or . 

We are planning to publish a range of limited and ongoing series that will fall under the banner of 'SPERI Presents...' and will engage listeners with foundational ideas, key debates and recent developments in political economy. Led entirely by SPERI colleagues, 'SPERI Presents...' will invite guests from academic and policy circles to offer research-informed and accessible insight into how political economy can help us make sense of the world around us.

Michael Jacobs, Professorial Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Relations, and Mems Ayinla from the Students’ Union at the University of 91Ö±²¥, have recorded our first limited podcast series! This first series is entitled 'Lessons in power: What can the new Labour government learn from the last one?' Michael and Mems will be discussing the lessons learned during the New Labour governments of 1997-2010 with a number of cabinet ministers and advisers from that era, looking forward to another Labour government which is taking office this week.

This week’s episodes will feature: 

  1. Gordon Brown’s foreign policy adviser Stewart Wood on foreign policy and the Labour governments ( or )
  2. Tony Blair's political secretary Baroness Sally Morgan and Gordon Brown's deputy chief of staff Gavin Kelly on how to manage a prime minister ( or )
  3. Former Secretary of State for Education and Employment, Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Lord David Blunkett on migration policy ( or ). 

Other guests in the coming weeks will be former Cabinet Minister Clare Short (discussing overseas development), Carey Oppenheim (on social inclusion and poverty policy), Meg Russell (on constitutional reform), and the former heads of both the No 10 Policy Unit Nick Pearce and Strategy Unity Geoff Mulgan. 

The next three episodes with Clare Short, Carey Oppenheim and Nick Pearce will be available on 18 July.