Deep Dive

Cheap food can come with an expensive bill—and we pay it long after leaving the supermarket.A new report from the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission estimates that unhealthy diets cost the UK £298 billion a year through healthcare, social care, welfare, lost productivity and reduced quality of life.In this episode, Deep Dive Podcast explores The False Economy of Big Food: how Britain’s food system shapes what we eat, why healthier choices remain unaffordable for many families, and who pays the price.What does that £298 billion figure actually mean? And what would it take to make eating well easier?A closer look at the connections between our shopping baskets, our health and Britain’s economy.Produced by Paul Adepoju.

Young men in Britain are spending more time alone than they did a decade ago, but the reason may not be what you expect.A new Resolution Foundation report finds that men aged 18–29 spent roughly six and a half waking hours alone each day in 2023, an increase of two hours since 2014–15. Although smartphones and changing relationships form part of the picture, the report identifies another major driver: the sharp rise in people working alone, particularly from home.In this episode of Deep Dive Podcast, we examine what this shift reveals about the changing nature of work, relationships and everyday life in Britain. Is spending more time alone necessarily harmful? When does solitude become loneliness? And are modern workplaces providing valuable flexibility while quietly reducing opportunities for human connection?We also consider the benefits of remote working, particularly for parents, carers and disabled people, and ask what employers and policymakers can do to help people remain connected without forcing everyone back into the office.Read the Resolution Foundation report, All by myself.

For over two decades, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has served as the bedrock of the global HIV response, saving more than 26 million lives across over 50 countries. But in 2025, a series of U.S. government executive orders and the dissolution of USAID triggered a catastrophic shift, threatening to undo twenty years of momentum built toward ending the epidemic.In this episode, we dive into the harrowing findings of the PEPFAR Pulse Study, which surveyed 166 implementing partners across 46 countries to measure the real-world impact of these disruptions. The data reveal a system in freefall: 77.2% of partners reported terminated awards or delayed payments, leading to the closure of 1,714 clinics and service sites and the loss of over 16,000 full-time healthcare workers.We explore the myth of "protected" services and the ideological shift that has left the most vulnerable populations behind. Despite government waivers intended to preserve lifesaving care, 63.3% of organizations providing mother-to-child transmission prevention reported disruptions, and 67.3% of clinical treatment partners saw their services impacted. Meanwhile, services for key populations—including sex workers, MSM, and transgender individuals—have faced the deepest damage, with 72.6% of providers forced to permanently stop at least one essential service.Join us as we examine the disproportionate impact on local organizations, the collapse of community referral networks, and the chilling effect of new policy restrictions that have forced providers to censor their language and abandon the very populations most at risk. Can the global HIV safety net be rebuilt, or are we witnessing the permanent degradation of the infrastructure meant to end AIDS?

Brain tumours are rare, but the gaps around them reveal something much bigger about modern cancer care.In this episode, we unpack why brain tumours are still so often diagnosed in crisis, with nearly half found in emergency settings in England. We explore why symptoms can be missed, why survival remains among the lowest of major cancers, and why access to specialist tests, genome sequencing, clinical trials and rehabilitation can still depend on where a patient is treated.We also look at the surprising role of something as ordinary as a freezer — and how tissue storage can shape diagnosis, research and future treatment options.At the heart of the story is a difficult question: if Britain has promised better cancer care, research investment and precision medicine, why are so many brain tumour patients still waiting for that promise to reach them?This is a story about science, systems, survival — and the cancer Britain still too often catches too late.

This episode explores the 2026 Ebola outbreak response plan in Central Africa, highlighting innovative strategies like AI mobility tracking, community engagement, and decentralized response teams. Discover how these lessons are shaping global health security and pandemic preparedness.