Ratio Talks

<p>This episode of Ratio Talks is timed to coincide with the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk/about-us/our-strategy/">launch of the new nine year strategy</a> for the Lloyds Bank Foundation. The episode is a continuation of the conversation with Matt Hyde, CEO of the Foundation. There are reasons for deep scepticism when it comes to philanthropy and strategic change (especially in the U.K.) But Matt has spent his first 18 months at Lloyds listening to his colleagues, to grantees and to people in communities around England and Wales. The result is a radical change in thinking, giving and collaborating.</p><p>Matt sets out some of the main tenets of the strategy in the podcast and then we spend some time kicking the tyres to see if it is ready for the road. We are particularly fortunate to be joined at the end by Patrick McCarthy, former President of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the largest philanthropy working with children in the United States, Patrick is a big Matt Hyde fan, and that encourages him to be robust in his analysis of the strategy.</p><p>The Foundation is inviting people in England and Wales to contribute. If you have ideas about the strategy, ways it could be improved, things you are doing that may be relevant, or people and organisations that can help take the work forward, Matt would love to hear from you.</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://thisisratio.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">thisisratio.substack.com</a>

<p>Matt Hyde is the guest for the next two episodes of Ratio Talks. Matt is CEO of the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, but made his name leading federations and confederations that allow power to remain with local actors. In this episode, Matt talks about his upbringing, how it shaped his outlook on civil society, and how this played out in his leadership of the National Union of Students, and The Scout Association. He also describes the story behind The Big Help Out, which will be running again this year from the 5th to the 8th of June. </p><p>We are fortunate also to be joined by Dame Julia Cleverdon, Chair of the National Lottery Community Fund, and old friend of Matt, to reflect on and draw out some broader themes from the conversation. </p><p>In the next episode of Ratio Talks, Matt reflects on the new strategy for the Lloyds Bank Foundation, the day after its public launch.</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://thisisratio.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">thisisratio.substack.com</a>

<p>This week’s podcast is a little different. It is a live recording at Ratio’s home in Somerset House with Celestin Okoroji and Jolyon Miles-Wilson, founders of the research centre <a target="_blank" href="https://justknowledge.org.uk/">Just Knowledge</a>. Ratio has incubated Just Knowledge in its first year, although as I note in my introduction, with two Wellcome grants to their name I am beginning to feel as if they are incubating me. It is a good feeling!</p><p>Celestin and Jolyon are technically gifted, but their work is also fundamental to how we navigate the changing world of machines and data. Bottom line, Celestin and Jolyon are seeking to put data into the hands of people in the communities from which the data are drawn. They see people in datasets as the best people to interpret data, and advise on the policy implications. It is a radical position. And it is fundamental to the relationship between state, civil society and capital that has emerged as a dominant theme in Ratio’s work.</p><p>In the conversation Celestin and Jolyon refer to several studies and data sets. They include:</p><p>* their paper on<a target="_blank" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40163-025-00266-6"> Stop and Search</a> data</p><p>* the <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/JustKnowledge-UK/policedatR">publicly accessible dataset</a> generated by their work</p><p>* a report on their ⁠work in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.placematters.org.uk/further-resources/understanding-poverty-in-place-summary-report/">Northumberland Park</a>, North London</p><p>* The residents of Northumberland Park made a submission to the planning process based on Just Knowledge’s work. There is a discussion in the podcast about this response of Haringey Council. You can find the councils response <a target="_blank" href="https://publicregister.haringey.gov.uk/pr/s/planning-application/a0iTu000001U5UjIAK/hgy20252829?tabset-3892f=3">here</a>. The DM Final Officer Report Document dated 12/12/2025 is the relevant document.</p><p>Celestin made an error attributing a report for Tottenham Hotspur to McKinsey when, in fact, it was prepared by EY. The report is available <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2023/december/club-releases-analysis-of-its-socio-economic-contribution-to-the-local-area/">here</a>.</p><p>Special thanks to Nik Paget-Tomlinson who recorded the event and engineered the podcast, and to our home at Somerset House for providing such a wonderful venue for the event.</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://thisisratio.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">thisisratio.substack.com</a>

<p>This is the final episode in our series On Religion. The series was co-produced with Chine McDonald from Theos and Liz Slade from the Unitarians, and it is Chine and Liz who bring the series to a close.</p><p>In the episode we reference a lot of other writers in this space, as well as some art. They include:</p><p>Markus Bockmuehl who edited The Cambridge Companion to Jesus.</p><p>Gillian Rose author of Love’s Work published by Penguin in 1995.</p><p>Chine referred to this <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/lost-faith-the-uk%27s-changing-attitudes-to-religion.pdf">comprehensive survey</a> of religious and spiritual attitudes in the U.K.</p><p>You can listen to Andy Burnham’s Theos Annual Lecture for 2025 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzctXZ8aylI">here</a>.</p><p>This is Christ on the Cross by Francisco de Zurbarán, a source of meditation for me on regular visits to the Art Institute of Chicago in another life.</p><p>The series feels unfinished. Later in the year, I will see if the abundance of learning that came out of the conversations settles into some sort of pattern. If it does, I will try and get that pattern onto paper.</p><p>I am going to hand over Relational Social Policy substack to a series of pieces that bring together, in summary form, what I have learned in the last eight years about the power of relationships between people, and between peoples.</p><p>The regular conversations with people whose work informs a relational social policy will go out on the Ratio Substack. It will start with a couple of my colleagues, Celestin Okoroji and Jolyon Miles-Wilson who have established a new research centre, <a target="_blank" href="https://justknowledge.org.uk">Just Knowledge</a>, to democratise data.</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://thisisratio.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">thisisratio.substack.com</a>

<p>Clare Farrell is my guest on the podcast this week, the penultimate episode in the series On Religion. Clare is co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, known as XR.</p><p>Non-violent resistance lies at the heart of XR, and Clare notes how those drawn to the movement, and especially those able to train on civil resistance are often explicitly religious or spiritual.</p><p>In the podcast Clare refers to the work of Catholic theologian Carmody Grey, and in particular this lecture <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIEQeG3IRM4">What Do We Want To Sustain</a>? She has also drawn on the work of Buddhist psychologist John Vervaeke, and to this <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@johnvervaeke/videos">series of conversations and lectures</a>. Both Clare and series collaborator Liz Slade are part of the <a target="_blank" href="https://hardart.metalabel.com/introducing-hard-art?variantId=1">Hard Art Collective </a> that has experimented with new ways of thinking about religion.</p><p>Clare’s latest work includes the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.humanityproject.uk/happening">Humanity Project</a>, a collaboration with Nick Gardham, and the Do-tank <a target="_blank" href="https://www.absurdintelligence.com/">Absurd Intelligence.</a></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://thisisratio.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">thisisratio.substack.com</a>