Best Beginnings is the podcast for everyone working in or caring about the early years. Hosted by George Looker, CEO of Babyzone, each episode brings together leading researchers, clinicians, practitioners, policymakers and parents to explore the evidence, ideas and innovations shaping how we support children and families in the UK.
From infant mental health and attachment to workforce challenges and systems change, Best Beginnings goes beyond the headlines to have the conversations that matter most in early childhood.
New episodes drop every Tuesday.
Best Beginnings is brought to you by Babyzone, a national charity operating free, evidence-based family hubs across England for families with children aged 0–5.
Matt Buttery: Parenting, Prevention and the £2.4bn Gap
George speaks with Matt Buttery, CEO of Triple P - the Positive Parenting Program - the world's largest evidence-based parenting programme, operating across more than 80 countries. They discuss why parenting is a public health issue, what the evidence really shows about what helps families, the 10-to-1 gap between Sure Start's peak investment and today's family hubs funding, and what 700,000 Australian families demonstrate about the power of digital delivery at scale. Matt also shares the personal story from his decade as a foster carer that first showed him the transformative power of simple, evidence-based strategies, and the question that has driven his work ever since.
20 Oct 2026
The Daycare Myth with Dr Dan Wuori, Early Childhood Policy Solutions
Dr Dan Wuori, founder of Early Childhood Policy Solutions and author of the Grawemeyer Award-nominated book The Daycare Myth, joins Best Beginnings to make the case that separating childcare from education is a century-old myth that has cost children, families, and taxpayers an extraordinary amount. The conversation covers the neuroscience of when learning begins, what the UK's childcare expansion risks getting wrong, how to assess a childcare setting, and why we are already paying for the system children need, just in all the wrong ways.
13 Oct 2026
Dr. Stephanie Culler: 90% of Babies Are Missing Key Gut Bacteria
Dr. Stephanie Culler, co-founder and CEO of Persephone Bioscience, joins George to share the findings from the My Baby Biome study, one of the largest examinations of the infant gut microbiome ever conducted in the United States. They discuss how antibiotics, C-section births and modern diet have disrupted the bacterial ecosystems babies need to develop healthy immune systems, and why even breastfed babies can be affected. Stephanie also explains what the science says parents and practitioners can actually do during the first thousand days of a child's life.
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