Policy Unstuck is a newsletter series about the mechanics of politics and policy change. 

We interview people from across the political spectrum, both insiders and outsiders, and we ask how they influence or are influenced, what frustrates them, and what they think needs to change. Our interviews are regularly cited in national political media titles like Politico and The Telegraph.

The series exists to challenge norms, including ours. If you agree with everything we publish, we’re not doing our job. We hope you find that regular challenge as useful as we do.

What you can expect from us

Policy Unstuck is interested in the mechanics of policy change.

We choose guests for what they reveal about how influence works, not for whether we agree with their political philosophy or their approach to influencing. That does not mean that a guest’s political ideas won’t come through. They often do. The publication of a guest’s political ideas should not be construed as agreement. The Cast from Clay team is a politically diverse team, and in most interviews, at least one of us will disagree with what a guest has said.

The main body copy of an interview is the interviewee’s own words. We edit the interviews for length and clarity, but never to change what someone meant, or the way they framed an argument.

Where there is an introduction to an interview, that can be attributed to the Cast from Clay colleague who wrote it, normally Tom Hashemi.

Subject lines and headings

Newsletter subject lines are intended to draw you into the content. We prefer punchy, provocative titles, because it means more people engage. However, a subject line should never misrepresent what a guest meant. Where quotation marks are used in a subject line, it is a direct quote from the interview.

We add headings throughout an interview in bolded text; headings are our words to help situate a guest’s point or emphasise something they have said (unless we are directly quoting from an interview, in which case quotation marks will be used).

If a subject line or heading has annoyed you, please tell us. However, please judge our guests based on what they actually said in the body copy of the interview, not what we added.

How we choose guests

We choose guests based on a mix of factors: Are they a thinker? Have they done something interesting or have an unusual background? Will they challenge (y)our thinking?

If there is someone you think would make for a good interviewee, please reply to any newsletter and tell us. We have interviewed several guests that were recommended by Policy Unstuck readers.

Guests do not pay to appear, nor do we pay them. If a guest appears on the series to promote a book, we do not earn commission if you choose to buy it. Any positive praise towards a book is real. On the rare occasion we allow an anonymous interviewee, we will explain why we did so.

We choose the questions and we hold the pen on the edit, though guests are allowed to remove or tweak any sections they are not comfortable with before publication–we are not trying to catch people out, but reflect how they think.

Who is the publisher?

Policy Unstuck is published by Cast from Clay, a strategy and positioning consultancy for policy-focused nonprofits. You can find out more about our services on our website.