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

4 days ago

36 min

What can we expect from the first Budget of the Burnham administration? Ruth Curtice and Greg Thwaites break down the economic challenges and political trade-offs facing Chancellor Healey.
Read 'Hitting the buffers' now to learn more about the Resolution Foundation analysis discussed in this episode: https://buff.ly/IHFxUUr
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4 days ago

36 min

Oct 14, 2026

33 min

After five years of high inflation how much can households, and the public finances, handle?
Ruth Curtice discusses the long-running cost of living crisis, and scope for Government response at the Budget, with Dhara Vyas and James Smith. 
Read 'Counting the cost' now to learn more about the impact of the cost of living crisis: https://buff.ly/QbGKuKU
Read 'Hitting the buffers' for a preview of the key decisions for Autumn Budget 2026 in the context of another rise in the cost of living: https://buff.ly/fnIp1IU
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Oct 14, 2026

33 min

Pensions deadlock?

Sep 24, 2026

Sep 24, 2026

35 min

Could the end of the triple lock be in sight? Ruth Curtice discusses the first fourteen years of the triple lock, and considers what might come next, with Claer Barrett and Morgan Vine. 
Read 'What a ratchet!' now to learn more about the Resolution Foundation analysis discussed in this episode: https://buff.ly/20MUI6g
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Sep 24, 2026

35 min

Sep 9, 2026

34 min

Can Burnham convert vibes into policy? Ruth Curtice discusses 'the three Ds' with Anand Menon and Andrew Carter. 
Read 'Policy landscape 2026' now to learn more about the Resolution Foundation analysis discussed in this episode: https://buff.ly/zfOPOQA
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Sep 9, 2026

34 min

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

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