WhatIF? Podcast

About WhatIF? Podcast

Short Changed is the Intergenerational Foundation's new podcast series, where we speak to some of the UK’s leading experts about the issues that matter most to younger and future generations. Across the series, we explore the policy challenges shaping young people’s lives today and the prospects of future generations tomorrow, from housing and democracy to taxation, student finance, and inheritance. Short Changed builds on our previous podcast series, WhatIF?, which put young people’s voices at the centre of the policy debate.

Publisher

The Intergenerational Foundation

Category

government · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Nov 2020

Latest episode

17 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

4 of 27 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   17 Aug 2026

   Could youth clubs solve Britain's fairness problem? With Emma Warren

   The decimation of youth clubs during austerity was a betrayal of young people, according to Emma Warren, a cultural documentarian and author of a recent book tracing the history and significance of youth clubs. At IF, we believe strongly in the importance of institutions that support young people in this country, and youth clubs are an often overlooked piece of that puzzle. Conor explores why they are more than just a ping pong table and a PlayStation, and what role they play in giving ...

2. 

   10 Aug 2026

   Why should we care about inequality? With Professor Danny Dorling

   It's still a sad fact that where you are born in Britain, and which family you are born into, determines too many of your life's outcomes. Conor sits down with one of the UK's most eminent academics in this field to discuss how inheritance - in many different forms - can leave us in a divided society. If you want to find out more about the work of the Intergenerational Foundation: Take a look at our new-look website Follow us on Instagram Check out Danny's work here The Intergenerational Foun...

3. 

   3 Aug 2026

   Is housing at the heart of unequal Britain? With Anna Clarke

   A few decades ago, it wouldn't be unreasonable to imagine that if you got a good education, worked hard, then after a couple of years of renting you could buy your first home. Not so in 2026. These days having a home increasingly depends on parental help, inheritance or very high earnings, something that Senior Researcher Conor Nakkan explores with Anna Clarke, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at the Housing Forum. While she argues we can't call it a housing 'crisis' anymore becaus...

Inside a recent episode

Are graduates getting a raw deal? With Jim Dickinson

Published 13 Jul 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] I'll say, yeah, but it's also partly a tax. And then when people say, oh, it's a tax. I'll say, yes, but fundamentally it's a loan, right? You don't have to borrow it. Richest people don't borrow it and so on and so on. So the kind of mental models that people use to assess fairness, either of tax or of loan. get all messed up when you have this strange hybrid that we have. And that gets worse then when you have multiple plans with multiple sets of terms and conditions, either based on when you went to university or whether you're a postgraduate or an undergraduate and so on. Absolutely. I think anyone who encounters this policy space quickly realises just how complex it is. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 6 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

1

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

27

Contact WhatIF? Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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