Ep. 50 The Stories That Keep Us Smoking

Ep. 50 The Stories That Keep Us Smoking

Welcome to the This Is The North Podcast, your source of transformative conversations. An intentional challenge to the systems holding back the North of England. Hosted by Alison Dunn, an award-winning charity chief executive and former solicitor. This podcast is supported by the Society Matters Foundation and is dedicated to curating and sharing knowledge, powering the change we need for a more equal and inclusive society. In this episode, Alison sits down with Ailsa Rutter OBE, director of Fresh and Balance, the organisations that have led the North East's work on tobacco and alcohol for two decades. It is a conversation about a problem many people assume was dealt with years ago, and about how much of the harm that remains lives not in the tobacco itself, but in the stories built around it. Ailsa grew up in a house where almost everyone smoked. Her mother, her father and her grandmother were all forty a day, and one of her earliest memories is a car journey from Seahouses to Devon in the 1970s, unable to breathe and begging them to stop. By her own account she should have ended up a smoker. Instead she trained as a nurse, watched the same men return to her cardiac ward for a second bypass and then a third while still smoking, and eventually went to university in Brisbane to understand why telling someone to stop is not the same as helping them. She has spent the years since taking that question apart, work recognised with an OBE and a medal from the World Health Organisation. Her argument is precise and uncomfortable. Two in three long-term smokers are killed by what they smoke, and no consumer product has ever been invented that is guaranteed to be so lethal. The filter on a cigarette does nothing to protect you; it was built to look as though it does. Counterfeit tobacco is no more dangerous than the branded packet. Smoking does not relieve stress, it manufactures the very tension it appears to soothe. These myths do their heaviest work in the communities with the least power to take them apart, which is why smoking rates remain highest among the most deprived and those struggling with their mental health. And yet the North East has cut smoking by 62% in two decades, from the worst rate in England to very nearly the best. From the first of January next year, nobody born after the first of January 2009 will ever legally be sold tobacco, the first policy of its kind anywhere in the world. Timestamps 00:00 The problem we think we already solved 01:14 From the worst in England to nearly the best 03:29 The myth that every young person vapes 06:07 Alcohol, and the harm we don't see 11:47 The filter that protects nothing 22:24 A smoke-free generation, explained 25:44 Illicit tobacco and the people who police it 29:05 The bill the industry says it pays 33:52 What the North East can learn from elsewhere 35:42 How to help someone you love quit 37:16 Closing thoughts The question this conversation leaves us with is not whether smoking can be ended, but whether we choose to finish the job. Fresh and the region's directors of public health have named a date: 2040, a smoke-free North East. Knowing what this region has already achieved, Ailsa does not think that is naive. The people owed the truth about tobacco have always been handed the least of it. A generation born after January will grow up never being sold it at all. If you are worried about someone, or want to stop, the Fresh Quit website is a one-stop shop for stop smoking support across the North East, including stories from people who have done it. Every council in the region funds a free stop smoking service, the NHS now runs a tobacco dependency treatment service for hospital patients, and free digital support is available around the clock through the Smoke Free app. Host: Alison Dunn  [https://www.alisondunn.co.uk] Guest: Ailsa Rutter OBE [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ailsa-rutter-obe-fkc-honmfph-93257021/] Resources: Fresh Quit [https://www.freshquit.co.uk/] The Tobacco and Vapes Act [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/18/contents/enacted] Smoke Free App [https://smokefreeapp.com/] This podcast is produced by Purpose Made [https://www.purposemade.uk/]. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Ep 49. Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools

Welcome to the This Is The North Podcast, your source of transformative conversations. An intentional challenge to the systems holding back the North of England. Hosted by Alison Dunn, an award-winning charity chief executive and former solicitor. This podcast is supported by the Society Matters Foundation and is dedicated to curating and sharing knowledge, powering the change we need for a more equal and inclusive society. In this episode, Alison sits down with Katrina Morley, CEO of Tees Valley Education, and Sean Harris, the trust's Director of Place. Together they have co-authored Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tackling-Poverty-Disadvantage-Schools-Harris/dp/1801994757/ref=sr_1_1?crid=32O0QR0O0W59&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.5A1CaV__B6FJgzsFtoBsjXa31z1fgkPVsvqDRWsRAkk.MQ516su9GlZMT8d4Oa1lbdP_t7XOQ07tgXgpAt8Vo1g&dib_tag=se&keywords=Tackling+Poverty+and+Disadvantage+in+Schools&qid=1778417284&sprefix=tackling+poverty+and+disadvantage+in+schools%2Caps%2C147&sr=8-1], a book that refuses the comfortable myth that low income equals low aspiration and asks educators to be furiously curious about why that lie has held for so long. Katrina was born in Middlesbrough. She trained as a chemical engineer before swapping careers, much to the consternation of family and friends and she has never looked back. Sean is a Lancaster lad who came to Durham first generation, started youth work in the East and West End of the city, and stayed. The first time a child told him they were going to the toon at the weekend, he had no idea what they meant. Their argument is simple and uncomfortable. You cannot teach a child out of poverty. Educational inequality cannot be tackled by educational tools alone. Child poverty costs this country an estimated 39 billion pounds a year. We can find the money to pay for the consequences. We have not found the money to prevent them. World Book Day, packed lunch standards, school trips with souvenir shops, ballet classes that require tutus nobody told you to buy. These are not minor inconveniences but the daily architecture of exclusion. Timestamps: 00:00 The DNA of a Trust 06:42 Five Academies, One Ecosystem 07:32 What Poverty Actually Does to a Child 23:07 Beyond the Crisis Narrative 29:27 Pay It Forward 31:48 People, Place, Policy 34:59 Expanded Free School Meals and Dignity 37:10 What Gives Them Hope The question we're left with is what does it actually take to give a child in the North East dignity, opportunity, and agency, and who is doing it already. A child cannot wait for policy to catch up. Host: Alison Dunn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisondunncag/] Guests: Katrina Morley [https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-morley-obe-16a59a100/] + Sean Harris [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-harris-fcct-55118418b/] This podcast is produced by Purpose Made [https://www.purposemade.uk/]. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Ep 48. Fatherhood in the Neonatal Unit

Welcome to the 'This Is The North' Podcast, your source of transformative conversations. An intentional challenge to the systems holding back the North of England. Hosted by Alison Dunn. In this episode, Alison is joined by Andrew Dunsmure, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Tiny Lives Trust, about his personal experience becoming a father at 28 weeks during COVID, when his newborn son was taken into neonatal intensive care with a brain bleed, uncertain survival, and later long-term disabilities. Andrew describes dissociation, the clinical language of early prognosis, and how he was separated from his wife and son for long periods, leaving both parents with very different and isolating experiences. A later diagnosis of 22q deletion syndrome followed months of uncertainty and multiple medical issues, including a heart operation. Andrew details the wide-ranging impacts of the condition, developmental delays, growth and feeding issues, anxiety, and potential future mental health risks, and shares the pressure to become an expert in his child's care, the "cliff edge" many families feel after discharge, and the emotional load fathers often carry while trying to hold their family together. He recounts a breakdown in his son's second year, reflecting on the lack of spaces for fathers to speak openly, and discusses how he has relied on the gym and meditation while also making difficult decisions about boundaries with family and friends. The conversation explores grief alongside love and joy, celebrating small milestones, and his son's personality and interests, including a love of dinosaurs and learning to walk again after foot surgery. Andrew argues that dads need to talk more, sharing examples of men staying silent for decades, and redefines resilience as allowing yourself to fall apart and recover. He explains how his lived experience led him to Tiny Lives Trust, first as a trustee and then as chair, and outlines the charity's support for families at the RVI neonatal unit, including psychological and physiotherapy support, family groups, and a dads' peer support group. He closes with advice to be kind to yourself, accept that it's okay to fall apart, and embrace honest, realistic support rather than "toxic positivity." Timestamps: 00:00 A dad's silent trauma 01:48 Emergency birth at 28 weeks 03:02 Clinical language, survival talk, and dissociation 04:09 ICU, brain bleed, and uncertainty 05:11 Coming home and the cliff edge 05:51 22q deletion syndrome 07:35 Becoming the expert 09:44 The crash in year two 11:37 Finding support and living with grief 14:08 Celebrating millimetres, not milestones 15:57 Why dads need to talk more 17:33 Turning pain into purpose 19:37 What Tiny Lives offers families 21:59 Kindness, realism, and toxic positivity 26:47 How to get support or get involved This conversation is one of the most honest things we've published. Andrew doesn't perform strength, he describes what it actually costs, and why the silence around fathers in these situations helps nobody. If this reaches one dad who's holding it all together and falling apart at the same time, we hope it reminds you that you don't have to do it alone. Host: Alison Dunn  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisondunncag/] Guest: Andrew Dunsmure [https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-dunsmure-3084485/] This podcast is produced by Purpose Made. [www.purposemade.uk] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Ep. 47 Claire Malcolm MBE

Welcome to the This Is The North Podcast, your source of transformative conversations. An intentional challenge to the systems holding back the North of England. Hosted by Alison Dunn. In this episode, Alison is joined by Claire Malcolm MBE, founding Chief Executive of New Writing North, the organisation she built from a small startup in 1996 into a nationally recognised force shaping opportunities for writers across the north of England. Claire grew up working class in York, a passionate reader placed in low sets for English because she was a bad speller. Nobody in her family had been to university. She ended up doing a fine art degree because the system had already decided English wasn't for her. In 1996, when everyone she knew in Leeds was heading to London, she went to Newcastle instead, and decided to put it on the map. For the first twenty years, New Writing North was about building bridges to London, helping northern writers access the agents, publishers, and deals concentrated in the capital. It worked. But Claire reached a point where she started asking a different question: we are supplying London with brilliant writers, so where is the investment coming back? The conversation turns to the reading crisis. Only one in five schools in the North East has a school library. Book ownership among children is lower than the national average. Claire makes the case that books were, for her, "the steps out of the place I was from," and that when you strip away the library, the books in the home, and the teacher who takes you seriously, you close the door to everything that comes after. Claire has now raised £10.5 million to build a Centre for Writing in Newcastle, backed by the public sector, Northumbria University, and the combined authority. Hachette UK, the second biggest publisher in the country, has opened a Newcastle office with 20 staff and together they have launched an MA in publishing. The Centre is due to open in early 2028. The episode also covers the working-class voices magazine The Bee, youth and community programmes in Newcastle's West End, regional screenwriting, AI and copyright, and what Claire is reading. Timestamps: 00:00 The reading crisis 01:20 Growing up working class in York 04:31 Reading, wellbeing, and empathy 05:29 Why children lack access to books 07:54 Libraries, loneliness, and connection 09:31 Building bridges to London 11:03 The Centre for Writing in Newcastle 12:14 Regional voices on the global stage 16:52 Working-class voices and The Bee 18:29 The Northern Writers Awards 20:22 Skills programmes in libraries 21:31 Youth partnerships and Excelsior Academy 25:54 Screenwriting in the North East  28:39 The Booker Prize and what Claire is reading 37:49 Legacy and the Centre for Writing This conversation is a reminder that who gets taken seriously as a writer, a reader, or a person with something to say is still shaped by class, geography, and access. Claire Malcolm has spent nearly thirty years proving that the talent was always here. Now she is building the infrastructure to match it. Host: Alison Dunn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisondunncag/] Guest: Claire Malcolm MBE [https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairemalcolm/] This podcast is produced by Purpose Made. [www.purposemade.co.uk] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Ep 46. "If I'd Known That, It Would've Affected My Vote"

Welcome to the This Is The North Podcast, your source of transformative conversations. An intentional challenge to the systems holding back the North of England. Hosted by Alison Dunn. In this episode, Alison is joined by Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability at the Bank of England and member of the Monetary Policy Committee. Sarah grew up in Stockport, went to the local comprehensive, and has spent the last 34 years at the Bank. She describes her childhood as "bog standard, northern, normal", and her journey from putting parsley on airline meals at Manchester Airport to becoming one of six people in the Bank's senior leadership team. Sarah reflects on the work ethic instilled by her parents, both local government workers, and the commitment to public service that has driven her career: "Not for money. Because it makes a difference." She describes what it was like to be on the phone to Northern Rock directors as the queues formed outside, the reforms that followed the financial crisis, and why a resilient banking system matters not for the banks themselves but for the businesses and households that depend on them. As a member of the MPC, Sarah explains how interest rate decisions are made, not based on where inflation is today, but where it will be in two years, and why the Bank spends weeks each year visiting businesses around the country, from Cardiff to Newcastle, gathering on-the-ground intelligence on sales, wages, hiring and prices. The MPC announces its latest decision on Thursday and Sarah is one of the people making it. She discusses why food inflation hits harder than any other kind, how global commodity shocks, wage costs and packaging regulations are driving prices up, and why deflation (not just inflation) is something western economies guard against. The conversation turns to economic literacy and who gets access to it. Sarah describes citizens' panels where, after a single conversation about how the economy works, one woman said: "If I'd known that, that would've affected my vote." With only 1% of economics degree students coming from the North East, Sarah makes the case for the Bank's expansion into Leeds and its regional presence in Newcastle, not just to access talent, but to hear the voices that should be shaping policy. Sarah also discusses the progression of women in the Bank's leadership, having founded its women's network in 2007 and co-chaired it for eight years. The senior team is now 50/50, but she is candid that the layer below is not bringing women through at the rate she had hoped. The episode also covers digital money and stablecoins versus Bitcoin, and why cyber risk is now the thing that keeps her most awake at night. Timestamps: 00:00 Why stability matters 01:20 Stockport roots and a "bog standard" childhood 03:47 Finding economics 05:17 Airline meals, pubs, and the Protestant work ethic 07:06 Joining the Bank of England 10:50 Fixing the system after the financial crisis 13:20 How interest rates are set 15:43 What businesses are saying now 18:08 A small open economy in a volatile world 19:24 Four pints of milk: food prices explained 23:45 "If I'd known that, it would've affected my vote" 26:59 Women in economics and the Bank's leadership 31:24 Digital money demystified 35:58 Cyber risk rising 37:50 Building the Bank beyond London 39:50 What still drives her after 34 years This conversation is a reminder that the decisions made at the Bank of England affect every household in the country, and that who understands economics, who gets taught it, and who is in the room when those decisions are made are not separate questions. Sarah Breeden is proof that a girl from a Stockport comprehensive can end up setting interest rates. The question is why, given the pipeline, she still largely remains an outlier. Host: Alison Dunn  [linkedin.com/in/alisondunncag?skipRedirect=true&miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_miniProfile%3AACoAABQHW20BhP0Q84Aq4EsGbL1UeVrIbj3y9Sw] Guest: Sarah Breeden [https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/people/sarah-breeden/biography] This podcast is produced by Purpose Made. [https://purposemade.uk/] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.