High Resolution

What's really happening to people’s living standards across Britain – and what can we do to lift them? High Resolution cuts through the noise with sharp analysis and insightful guests. We’ll be exploring the economic debates that actually matter to you - from work, wages and wealth to housing affordability and decisions on tax, benefits and public services.

High Resolution is a podcast from the Resolution Foundation, an independent think-tank dedicated to lifting living standards in the UK. You can find more information about the Resolution Foundation, including the latest analysis, on our website: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/

Looking for the audio-only recordings of our live events? Search 'Resolution Foundation Event Recordings' our your podcast app. 

Episodes

Jul 23, 2026

28 min

What would 'feeling better off' really look like to voters – and how long will they give a new Prime Minister to deliver it? What do people want from the Burnham era, what are they worried about, and is disillusionment with mainstream politics still deepening? Where does the country’s mood simply match reality, and where is it even gloomier?
 
Ruth Curtice speaks to Luke Tryl, Executive Director of More in Common, to find out how the public feels about our latest PM. 
 
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Jul 23, 2026

28 min

Jul 20, 2026

38 min

Does Burnham understand the scope of the fiscal hole he's inheriting? Hemmed in by his party's manifesto and his predecessor's fiscal rules, what options remain for him to deliver his promised change on living standards? What, exactly, will Manchesterism look like in Westminster?
Ruth Curtice – Chief Executive Resolution Foundation (Host)
Simon Pittaway – Senior Economist, Resolution Foundation
Louise Murphy – Senior Economist, Resolution Foundation
Read 'The great escape' now to learn more about the Resolution Foundation analysis discussed in this episode: https://buff.ly/CemKeQi 
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Jul 20, 2026

38 min

Jul 14, 2026

35 min

Is the promise of generational progress broken for good? Or are things about to turn around for Gen Z? Professor Bobby Duffy and Lord David Willetts join Ruth Curtice to discuss how Gen Z are really faring, how that differs from previous generations, and what Government do to support young people moving forward. 
Ruth Curtice – Chief Executive Resolution Foundation (Host)Lord David Willetts – President of the Resolution Foundation, Chair of the Intergenerational Centre and author of The PinchProfessor Bobby Duffy – Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute at KCL, author of Generations
Read 'They're coming home' now to learn more about the Resolution Foundation analysis discussed in this episode: https://buff.ly/k30vVVD
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Jul 14, 2026

35 min

Jun 22, 2026

35 min

Ten years on, how has Brexit shaped Britain today? And what comes next? Anand Menon and Sophie Hale join Ruth Curtice to discuss how a decade of Brexit has shaped our economy, our trade and our politics. 
 
Ruth Curtice – Chief Executive Resolution Foundation (Host)Anand Menon – Director of UKICE, Professor European Politics & Foreign Affairs at KCLSophie Hale – Research Director Resolution Foundation
 
Read our latest analysis of Brexit here: https://buff.ly/yjP7R6Z 
 
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Jun 22, 2026

35 min

Jun 9, 2026

30 min

New technologies have been creating and destroying jobs for millennia. In recent decades, automation has upended the way many people work, and now artificial intelligence threatens further upheaval. The impact of these trends is often described in headline job numbers. But what do they actually mean for the way we live our daily working lives? 
In a groundbreaking new book, prize-winning Financial Times journalist Sarah O’Connor sets out to investigate what is happening on the front lines of technological change. She finds people who aren’t losing their jobs to machines, but who feel they are losing something else instead. But she finds hopeful stories, too: of jobs being made better, safer and more enjoyable, and where workers haven’t rejected the new tools, but have instead been able to control them. 
Here Ruth, Sarah and Greg discuss the past, present, and future of technological transformations in the labour market.
Ruth Curtice – Chief Executive Resolution Foundation (Host)
Sarah O'Connor – Columnist, reporter and associate editor at the Financial Times 
Greg Thwaites – Research Associate at the Resolution Foundation  
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Jun 9, 2026

30 min

Jun 3, 2026

36 min

Trade wars are becoming a feature of the modern global economy and are being tied to actual wars too. Britain has played its part by voting to leave the EU, while President Trump has taken trade disruption to a new level. While it can be hard to identify ‘winners’ from trade wars, it’s easy to identify losses – so having the right strategy is crucial, especially for a mid-sized, open economy like the UK.
In a depressingly timely but accessible new book How to Win a Trade War, leading trade experts Soumaya Keynes and Chad Bown explore the history, players, and rules of trade, and ask how we prepare for what the future might hold. They explain how trade wars can lead to hot wars, and what the West can learn from China.
Ruth Curtice – Chief Executive Resolution Foundation (Host)Soumaya Keynes – Columnist at the Financial Times and host of The Economics Show podcastChad Bown – Senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics
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Jun 3, 2026

36 min

Earning it back

May 20, 2026

May 20, 2026

34 min

Are higher living standards the key to electoral success?
Both the Government and the opposition are scrambling for new policies and messages to win back unconvinced voters. Is this new political landscape ultimately shaped by the lack of growth in household incomes? How much of the remainder of this Parliament ought to be focused on living standards? And what options really are there – whoever is sitting in Number 10 – to get incomes on an upward trajectory after two difficult decades?
Ruth Curtice – Chief Executive Resolution Foundation (Host)Jane Green - Professor of Political Science and British PoliticsHeather Stewart – Economics editor at the Guardian
Read 'See it. Say it. Sort it.' now to learn more about the Resolution Foundation analysis discussed in this episode: https://buff.ly/EIq0o5n
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May 20, 2026

34 min

Apr 14, 2026

32 min

Can the Government – or the public – afford another energy crisis? RF Chief Executive Ruth Curtice speaks to Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt and  Chief Executive of Ipsos in the UK and Ireland Kelly Beaver to ask how the Government can respond to pressures on global energy supplies and how the public feel about the prospect of another spike in bills. 
 
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Apr 14, 2026

32 min

False starts?

Mar 20, 2026

Mar 20, 2026

35 min

Why are so many young people both out of work, and not in school? Research Director Lindsay Judge speaks to Principal Economist Nye Cominetti and Chief Executive of the Nuffield Foundation Gavin Kelly, to get to the bottom of who's becoming NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) and why - and how we can reverse that trend.
Read 'False starts' now for more great Resolution Foundation analysis on this issue: https://buff.ly/RJAXTRt
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Mar 20, 2026

35 min

Mar 19, 2026

34 min

The Treasury promised us a boring non-event, which on the day was massively over-shadowed by events in the Middle East. Ruth Curtice discusses the merits of annual fiscal events, the difficulty of getting growth going, and what to expect in the Chancellor's upcoming (and unprecedented) second Mais Lecture, with James Smith (Chief Economist at the Resolution Foundation) and Giles Wilkes (Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government). 
Read 'Understatement of the year' for the full detail of our Spring Forecast response: https://buff.ly/4FBEGVd
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Mar 19, 2026

34 min

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