Contributor(s): Professor John Hills, Professor Lucinda Platt, Dr Malcolm Torry | Welcome to LSE IQ, a monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where we ask leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer an intelligent question about economics, politics or society. The welfare state is constantly under debate, whether it is the underfunding of the NHS or the amount we spend on benefits. With over 50% of the country's budget spent on the welfare state and an ever-changing political, technological and cultural landscape, its purpose, size and utility dominate public discourse. In this episode of LSE IQ, James Rattee looks at the research and asks, 'What's the future of the welfare state?'. This episode features: John Hills, Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy, LSE Department of Social Policy; Lucinda Platt, Professor of Social Policy and Sociology, LSE Department of Social Policy and; Dr Malcolm Torry, Visiting Senior Fellow, LSE Department of Social Policy. For further information about the podcast and all the related links visit http://lse.ac.uk/iq and please tell us what you think using the hashtag #LSEIQ. You may also be interested in the LSE Festival: Beveridge 2.0, 19 - 24 February 2018 http://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/LSE-Festival and the LSE Library exhibition 'A Time for Revolutions: Making the Welfare State', 8 January to 13 April 2018, http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/exhibitions

Contributor(s): Dr Connson Locke, Professor Elizabeth Samet, Professor Ben Voyer | Welcome to LSE IQ, a monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where we ask leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer an intelligent question about economics, politics or society. If you do a quick Amazon search on ‘leadership books’ you’ll get nearly 200,000 results. These books promise to reveal the leadership secrets of luminaries such as Steve Jobs, notable explorers, military figures, and numerous sports men and women. Whether we’re seeking to improve our own ability to lead or wondering why those around us aren't better at it, there’s plenty of advice out there. In this episode of LSE IQ, Sue Windebank looks at the research and asks, 'What makes a great leader?' This episode features: Dr Connson Locke, Senior Lecturer in Practice, LSE Department of Management; Professor Elizabeth Samet, Department of English & Philosophy, US Military Academy, West Point and; Professor Ben Voyer, Visiting Fellow, LSE’s Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science. For further information about the podcast and all the related links visit http://lse.ac.uk/iq and please tell us what you think using the hashtag #LSEIQ.

Contributor(s): Professor Mike Savage , Dr Abigail McKnight, Dr Sam Friedman | Welcome to LSE IQ, a monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where we ask leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer an intelligent question about economics, politics or society. In this episode, Joanna Bale investigates why social mobility is declining. She talks to LSE’s Professor Mike Savage, Dr Abigail McKnight and Dr Sam Friedman. For further information about the podcast visit lse.ac.uk/iq and please tell us what you think using the hashtag #LSEIQ.

Contributor(s): Dr Simon Bastow, Professor Nicola Lacey, Dr Sharon Shalev | Welcome to LSE IQ, a new monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science. This is the podcast where we ask some of the leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. It is with alarming regularity that reports of prison violence, overcrowding and concerns over the impact of funding cuts are hitting the headlines. With 46% of all prisoners reoffending within a year of release last year, the system could be considered not just expensive and unpleasant, but failing. In this episode, Jess Winterstein takes a look at the prison system in England and Wales and asks, is our prison system broken? This episode features: Dr Simon Bastow, LSE Fellow, Department of Management; Professor Nicola Lacey, School Professor of Law, Gender and Social Policy at LSE; and Dr Sharon Shalev, a fellow of the Mannheim Centre for the Study of Criminology and Criminal Science at LSE and founder of SolitaryConfinement.org For further information about the podcast visit lse.ac.uk/iq and please tell us what you think using the hashtag #LSEIQ.

Contributor(s): Stephan Chambers, Dr Christian Busch, Dr Juli Huang, Dr Jason Hickel | Welcome to LSE IQ, a new monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science. This is the podcast where we ask some of the leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. Over the last couple of decades Western aid agencies, the World Bank, NGOs and business schools have all enthusiastically embraced the concept of social entrepreneurship. This takes the methods and energy of business entrepreneurship and applies them to often intractable social, or environmental, problems. Social enterprises hold the promise of developing financially sustainable solutions and of providing dignity, rather than just charity, for those they seek to help. In this episode of LSE IQ, Sue Windebank asks, ‘Could social entrepreneurship be the answer to world poverty?’ This episode features: Dr Christian Busch, researcher, LSE Innovation Co-Creation Lab; Stephan Chambers, Director, Marshall Institute for Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship; Dr Jason Hickel, Fellow, LSE Department of Anthropology and; Dr Juli Huang, Lecturer in Anthropology of Development, The University of Edinburgh. For further information about the podcast visit lse.ac.uk/iq and please tell us what you think using the hashtag #LSEIQ.

Contributor(s): Professor Paul Dolan, Professor Lord Richard Layard, Liz Zeidler | Welcome to LSE IQ, a new monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science. This is the podcast where we ask some of the leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. In this episode, Joanna Bale investigates human happiness: why it eludes so many of us and what we can do about it. She talks to LSE’s Paul Dolan and Richard Layard, and Liz Zeidler of the Happy City Initiative. For further information about the podcast visit lse.ac.uk/iq and please tell us what you think using the hashtag #LSEIQ.

Contributor(s): Dr John Collins, Dr Michael Shiner, Danny Kushlick | Welcome to LSE IQ, a new monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science. This is the podcast where we ask some of the leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. For nearly 50 years, governments around the world, led by the US, have been fighting a war on drugs. The aim? To reduce the production, supply and use of certain drugs and ultimately create a 'drug-free society'. But, having cost the US more than $1trillion to date and taken hundreds of thousands of lives, it’s a war with high collateral damage. In this episode Jess Winterstein asks why, after nearly half a century of global cooperation, haven’t we won the war on drugs? To find out what the problems with the policy are, and why the belief that prohibition is still the best way to manage drugs, still persists, she speaks to: John Collins, Executive Director of the LSE IDEAS International Drug Policy Project and coordinator of the Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy; Michael Shiner, Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy and head of teaching at the International Drug Policy Project at LSE; and Danny Kushlick, founder and head of external affairs of the Transform Drug Policy Foundation. For further information about the podcast visit lse.ac.uk/iq and please tell us what you think using the hashtag #LSEIQ.

Contributor(s): Dr Justin Gest, Dr Lisa McKenzie, Dr Dennis Novy | Welcome to LSE IQ, a new monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science. This is the podcast where we ask some of the leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. A year on from the EU Referendum, academics, the media, politicians and policy makers have sought to understand why the UK public voted for Brexit. One demographic in particular has come under scrutiny for their apparent role in the leave vote. In this episode Sue Windebank asks what Brexit can tell us about the white working class? This episode features: Dr Justin Gest co director of LSE’s Migration Studies Unit and Assistant Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University; Dr Lisa McKenzie, Fellow in LSE’s Department of Sociology and; Dr Dennis Novy, an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick and an Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance at LSE. For further information about the podcast visit lse.ac.uk/iq and please tell us what you think using the hashtag #LSEIQ.

Contributor(s): Professor Nick Couldry, Dr Ellen Helsper, Professor Sonia Livingstone, Svenja Ottovordemgentschenfelde | Welcome to LSE IQ, a new monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science. This is the podcast where we ask some of the leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. In this episode, Jo Bale investigates social media amid growing concerns that tech companies are putting profit before the well-being of individual users and democratic societies. She talks to Nick Couldry, Ellen Helsper, Sonia Livingstone and Svenja Ottovordemgentschenfelde of LSE's Department of Media and Communications. For further information about the podcast visit lse.ac.uk/iq and please tell us what you think using the hashtag #LSEIQ. For further information about The Theatre Royal Haymarket Masterclass Trust and The Cyberscene Project created in partnership with the Pure Land Foundation and Kidscape, please visit http://masterclass.org.uk/about/#5 - details of the broadcast will be confirmed at a later date.

Contributor(s): Professor Leslie Willcocks, Dr Guy Michaels, Professor David Graeber, Dr Aleks Krotoski | Welcome to LSE IQ, a new monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science. This is the podcast where we ask some of the leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. In this episode Sue Windebank asks whether predictions about robots automating us out of our jobs are true and how technology is going to change the way we work. Tackling the question, ‘What’s the future of work’, are: Professor David Graeber of LSE’s Department of Anthropology; Dr Aleks Krotoski, social psychologist, technology journalist and former visiting fellow in LSE’s Media and Communications Department ; Dr Guy Michaels, LSE Associate Professor of Economics; and Leslie Willcocks , Professor of Technology, Work and Globalisation at LSE. For further information about the podcast visit lse.ac.uk/iq and please tell us what you think using the hashtag #LSEIQ.