Sigmund Freud, the public affairs industry and the internet may all have played a part in declining levels of public trust, write Isabelle Stanley and Rod Dowler. Measures to restore trust could include independent media fact-checking and research and greater transparency in political donations.

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Klaudia Chmielowska has produced this opinion piece summarising the output from a student project at the Industry Forum, a London think tank focused on dialogue between public policy makers and business. She is a second-year undergraduate student reading Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Oxford, a British Alumni Society scholar, and an HSBC scholar. In previous projects, she has used quantitative methods and market research to produce a strategic analysis for a network of women micro-entrepreneurs in securing the financing they need to deliver clean energy products to households in rural Nigeria.

Open a copy of Brexit and UK higher education - turning a challenge into an opportunity

After Brexit and the weather, the hottest topic this year may be the future of work and the impact of technology, particularly robots.

Industry Forum chair, Rod Dowler, has recently written this short opinion piece entitled 'Technology, work and the future'. An extract appeared in the 6 July Skills supplement of the New Statesman. You can also download the full New Statesman skills supplement.

An ambitious and entrepreneurial government could transform the UK economy by playing to its strengths, writes Rod Dowler.

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A new report by Dr. Andrew Black of the Global Policy Institute looks at the possible consequences of a hard Brexit, following the failure of Article 50 negotiations between Great Britain and the European Union. Through his detailed analysis, Dr. Black has attempted to fill the gap in economic forecasting which Brexit Secretary David Davis has admitted exists within his ministry. The findings of Dr. Black’s report cast particular doubt upon the view expressed by governmental representatives during the current election campaign that “no deal” with the European Union is better than a “bad deal.” Specifically, Dr Black concludes that a number of sectors of the economy, such as cars, agriculture, and financial services are likely to be hard hit.

Open “Hard Brexit”, International Trade and the WTO Scenario

A Brexit "no deal" and WTO rules would wreck the economy, writes IF Economist Andrew Smith. Countries normally seek trade arrangements which promote successful businesses, but the government is apparently seriously contemplating the opposite - a change in the terms of trade which will threaten the UK's most important sectors.

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