Comment 9 July 2025

And it’s goodnight from him

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Andy Haldane

Former CEO of The RSA

reading time: Three minutes

Accessibility & inclusion Education Leadership

Rethinking mobility for the world of today – and tomorrow

This is my last hurrah for RSA Journal after almost four years as chief executive.

During that time, as part of its wider transformation, the RSA has made a series of bold changes to the substance and presentation of the Journal. It is for others to judge their success. But feedback from Fellows – and our growing mantlepiece of gongs – suggests we have got something right. As for many Fellows, the Journal is one of the RSA’s most valued assets, this progress has been important and welcome.

It is fitting that my final Journal should be tackling the issue of social mobility. This has been the common denominator of everything I have done throughout my more than three decades of working life, spanning the public, private and civil society sectors. For me, the very definition of a good society is one where everyone has the opportunity of, and hope for, improvement – the promise and the optimism that comes from generational progress.

Yet, for too many people today across too many countries, old but especially young, opportunity has not knocked, hope has not sprung eternal, optimism has not flourished. Social mobility has stalled, and for some has been in retreat for half a century. For the first time in over 200 years, some children no longer expect to live a better life than their parents, nor even a longer one. We are living in an age of diminished expectations.

This is a tragedy. A loss of hope for the future erodes our ability to undertake the repair we know is needed to our economies, societies and environments. Without hope of improvement, why would anyone bother investing in that future? In other words, diminished expectations risk becoming self-fulfilling if they become entrenched. Our lives then become hostage not so much to fortune but fear of misfortune.

Reversing these expectations will require a shift in the key systems that shape societies. This Journal explores a number of those in detail. Justine Greening discusses the ways social mobility could be placed centre-stage in how government operates. Gareth Dennis discusses how transport systems, and Holly Bruce how planning systems, might be reimagined. Through the same lens, JJ Keith explores immigration, Marnie Freeman social connections and Will Snell the need to bridge generational horizons.

One of the great virtues of the RSA is that it provides a neutral place for important debates to occur. It is a place where reasonable people can disagree, and do so agreeably. Disagreeing agreeably risks becoming a lost art in a world of bombastic, divisive social media. As throughout its history, reasoned debate is something the RSA will continue to champion, including in the Journal where our lead article debates the future of education, a foundational issue for social mobility.

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Explore all articles in this issue

The RSA has taken on a diverse set of challenges over the course of its 270-year history – economic, social, environmental. There is no greater challenge today than lifting lives that have stalled, helping usher in a world of elevated rather than diminished expectations. As in the past, I have no doubt the RSA will rise to these challenges. As well as offering my thanks for their friendship and support, let me end by wishing the RSA, its staff, Fellows and partners godspeed in doing so.

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