David Walker was a council member at the ESRC where he chaired the methods and infrastructure committee. Formerly managing director, public reporting at the Audit Commission, he is a member of UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Committee.During a career in journalism and public affairs, he worked for The Times Higher Education Supplement, The Economist, The Times, the BBC and the Guardian, where he was founding editor of Public magazine.His books include Cameron’s Coup: How the Tories took Britain to the Brink, The Verdict: Did Labour Change Britain?, and Unjust Rewards: Exposing Greed and Inequality in Britain Today (all co written with Polly Toynbee), Sources Close to the Prime Minister (with Peter Hennessy and Michael Cockerell) and Media Made in California: Hollywood, Politics and the News (with Jeremy Tunstall).

More a critique than celebration... 50 years of ambiguity, missed opportunities and muddling through. Walker captures the enduring tensions that have characterised ESRC - and UK social science more broadly. A ‘must read’ for all social scientists, especially those who want to influence the next 50 years.

• Chapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: The ESRC TodayChapter 3: Promise and disappointmentChapter 4: Reprieve and normalisationChapter 5: An agent of amerliorationChapter 6: Academic captureChapter 7: Cumulative knowledge?Chapter 8: Conclusion

David Walker was a council member at the ESRC where he chaired the methods and infrastructure committee. Formerly managing director, public reporting at the Audit Commission, he is a member of UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Committee.During a career in journalism and public affairs, he worked for The Times Higher Education Supplement, The Economist, The Times, the BBC and the Guardian, where he was founding editor of Public magazine.His books include Cameron’s Coup: How the Tories took Britain to the Brink, The Verdict: Did Labour Change Britain?, and Unjust Rewards: Exposing Greed and Inequality in Britain Today (all co written with Polly Toynbee), Sources Close to the Prime Minister (with Peter Hennessy and Michael Cockerell) and Media Made in California: Hollywood, Politics and the News (with Jeremy Tunstall).

More a critique than celebration... 50 years of ambiguity, missed opportunities and muddling through. Walker captures the enduring tensions that have characterised ESRC - and UK social science more broadly. A ‘must read’ for all social scientists, especially those who want to influence the next 50 years.

• Chapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: The ESRC TodayChapter 3: Promise and disappointmentChapter 4: Reprieve and normalisationChapter 5: An agent of amerliorationChapter 6: Academic captureChapter 7: Cumulative knowledge?Chapter 8: Conclusion

David Walker was a council member at the ESRC where he chaired the methods and infrastructure committee. Formerly managing director, public reporting at the Audit Commission, he is a member of UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Committee.During a career in journalism and public affairs, he worked for The Times Higher Education Supplement, The Economist, The Times, the BBC and the Guardian, where he was founding editor of Public magazine.His books include Cameron’s Coup: How the Tories took Britain to the Brink, The Verdict: Did Labour Change Britain?, and Unjust Rewards: Exposing Greed and Inequality in Britain Today (all co written with Polly Toynbee), Sources Close to the Prime Minister (with Peter Hennessy and Michael Cockerell) and Media Made in California: Hollywood, Politics and the News (with Jeremy Tunstall).

More a critique than celebration... 50 years of ambiguity, missed opportunities and muddling through. Walker captures the enduring tensions that have characterised ESRC - and UK social science more broadly. A ‘must read’ for all social scientists, especially those who want to influence the next 50 years.

• Chapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: The ESRC TodayChapter 3: Promise and disappointmentChapter 4: Reprieve and normalisationChapter 5: An agent of amerliorationChapter 6: Academic captureChapter 7: Cumulative knowledge?Chapter 8: Conclusion