Contributor(s): Dr. Aaron Reeves, Laura Lane, Daphine Aikens | As food and energy prices soar, it’s predicted that the demand for food banks will reach record highs as those on low incomes and benefits face an uphill battle to make ends meet. Joanna Bale talks to LSE’s Aaron Reeves and Laura Lane, as well as Daphine Aikens, founder and CEO of Hammersmith and Fulham food bank, and some of her clients.

Contributor(s): Dr Alexandra Gomes, Professor Patrick Wallis, Professor Emily Jackson, Professor Julia Black | We’ll be hearing from Dr Alexandra Gomes, co-creator of Kuwaitscapes (More on the research project that inspired the game, and to download the Kuwaitscapes game), Professor Patrick Wallis, who created an audio drama from the records of a historical document discovered about the Lock Asylum, a home for down-and-out women, Professor Emily Jackson, whose work on fertility has led to a change in the law, and British Academy President and LSE Professor Julia Black, who is spearheading the SHAPE campaign.

Contributor(s): Professor Shasa Dobrow, Professor Sally Maitlis, Nick O’Shea | We’ll learn how following a calling turned one LSE graduate to beer and building a successful social enterprise, via a holy revelation. We’ll hear stories of animal hoarding, passions gone wrong and burnout. And there’s some hopeful news for those of us who just haven’t found our passion yet.

Contributor(s): Shani Orgad | We find out the real reasons some mums leave the workforce, deep dive into the media coverage of one of the world’s most talked-about mothers, Meghan Markle, and get Shani’s advice on how to do it all.

Contributor(s): Dr Grace Lordan, Dr Carsten Sorensen, Professor Connson Locke, Hailley Griffis | Joanna Bale talks to LSE’s Connson Locke, Grace Lordan and Carsten Sorensen, as well as Hailley Griffis, a social media management company executive, who believes that offices will soon become extinct.

Contributor(s): Dr Jonathan Birch, Professor Kristin Andrews, Dr Rosalind Arden | This episode features Jonathan Birch, Associate Professor in LSE's Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, Professor Kristin Andrews, the York Research Chair in Animal Minds at York University (Toronto) and Dr Rosalind Arden, Research Fellow at the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science.

Contributor(s): Dr Ela Drazkiewicz-Grodzicka, Professor Bradley Franks, Dr Erica Lagalisse | Conspiracy theories fomented by political division and a global pandemic have gained traction in the public consciousness in the last couple of years. For some people these ideas are just fun and entertaining, but for others their interest in them becomes much more consuming. Why do people become involved in this kind of conspiratorial thinking? That’s the question that LSE iQ tackles in this month’s episode. Concerns that 5G phone masts reduce our bodies’ defences against COVID-19 and that vaccines are being used to inject us with micro-chips - allowing us to be tracked and controlled - may seem extraordinary to many of us. But these beliefs have led to the vandalism of 5G phone masts and made some reluctant to be vaccinated. In this episode of LSE iQ, Sue Windebank finds out how left-wing anarchists got caught up in conspiratorial thinking and how Irish parents looking for support and community were accused of spreading a conspiracy. And is LSE unknowingly carrying out the wishes of the Illuminati? Listen to hear how LSE became embroiled in a global conspiracy. Sue talks to: Dr Ela Drążkiewicz from the Institute for Sociology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences; Professor Bradley Franks from LSE’s Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science; and Dr Erica Lagalisse from LSE’s Institute of Inequalities.   Contributors Dr Ela Drazkiewicz-Grodzicka Professor Bradley Franks Dr Erica Lagalisse   Research Taking vaccine regret and hesitancy seriously. The role of truth, conspiracy theories, gender relations and trust in the HPV immunisation programmes in Ireland (2021) by Elżbieta Drążkiewicz Grodzicka in Journal for Cultural Research Beyond “Monologicality”? Exploring Conspiracist Worldviews (2017) by Bradley Franks, Adrian Bangerter, Martin W. Bauer, Matthew Hall and Mark C. Noort in Frontiers in Psychology Occult Features of Anarchism: With Attention to the Conspiracy of Kings and the Conspiracy of the Peoples (2019) by Erica Lagalisse

Contributor(s): Dr Robtel Neajai Pailey, Dr Ian Sanjay Patel, Dr Megan Ryburn | Citizenship. What does that word really signify? This episode of LSE IQ takes a look at the issue in all its complexities, uncovering how decisions made by a 19th century West African Gola ruler connect to today’s Liberian land ownership laws; why British citizenship became racialised in the decades following the second world war – legislation that led to the Windrush Scandal, devastating the lives of hundreds of black Britons; and how Bolivian migrants in the present day have struggled to create new lives in Chile. To understand more about the many ways citizenship can impact our lives, Jess Winterstein spoke to Dr Robtel Neajai Pailey, Dr Ian Sanjay Patel and Dr Megan Ryburn Speakers: Dr Robtel Neajai Pailey, Dr Ian Sanjay Patel and Dr Megan Ryburn Dr Robtel Neajai Pailey, Department of Social Policy, LSE https://www.lse.ac.uk/social-policy/people/academic-staff/dr-robtel-neajai-pailey Dr Ian Sanjay Patel, Department of Sociology, LSE https://www.lse.ac.uk/sociology/people/ian-patel Dr Megan Ryburn, Latin America and Caribbean Centre (LACC), LSE https://www.lse.ac.uk/lacc/people/megan-ryburn Research Development, (Dual) Citizenship and its Discontents in Africa: The political economy of belonging to Liberia by Dr Robtel Neajai Pailey (Cambridge University Press). To read the Introduction free of charge see https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/development-dual-citizenship-and-its-discontents-in-africa/B96CB2D100CFEC03EE476D103F46348B# The ebook is also available in the LSE library. We’re Here Because You Were There: Immigration and the end of empire by Dr Ian Sanjay Patel (Verso) https://www.versobooks.com/books/3700-we-re-here-because-you-were-there Uncertain Citizenship: everyday practices of Bolivian migrants in Chile by Dr Megan Ryburn (University of California Press). https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520298774/uncertain-citizenship

Contributor(s): Ken Benoit, Andrew Murray, Seeta Peña Gangaradhan, Alison Powell, Bernhard Von Stengel | Computer algorithms shape our lives and increasingly control our future. They have crept into virtually every aspect of modern life and are making life-changing choices on our behalf, often without us realising. But how much power should we give to them and have we let things go too far? Joanna Bale talks to Ken Benoit, Andrew Murray, Seeta Peña Gangaradhan, Alison Powell and Bernhard Von Stengel. Research links: Hello World by Hannah Fry; Information Technology Law: The Law and Society by Andrew Murray; Explanations as Governance? Investigating practices of explanation in algorithmic system design by Alison Powell (forthcoming).

Contributor(s): Professor John Hills | This episode is dedicated to social policy giant Professor Sir John Hills, who died in December 2020. In this episode, John tackles the myth that the welfare state supports a feckless underclass who cost society huge amounts of money. Instead, he sets out a system where most of what we pay in, comes back to us. He describes a generational contract which we all benefit from, varying on our stage of life. His words remain timely after a year of pandemic which has devastated many people’s livelihoods. Many of us have had to rely on state support in ways that we could not have anticipated, perhaps challenging our ideas about what type of person receives benefits in the UK. This episode is based on an interview that John did with James Rattee for the LSE iQ podcast in 2017. It coincided with the LSE Festival which celebrated the anniversary of the publication of the ‘Beveridge Report’ in 1942 - a blueprint for a British universal care system by former LSE Director William Beveridge. Professor Sir John Hills CBE, was Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at LSE and Chair of CASE. His influential work didn’t just critique government policy on poverty and inequality, it changed it. He advised on a wide range of issues including pensions reform, fuel poverty, council housing, income and wealth distribution.   Contributors Professor John Hills   Research Good Times Bad Times: the welfare myth of them and us. Bristol: Policy Press by John Hills (2015)