Miguel Coelho, writing on the Institute for Government blog, looks at what drives opposition to fracking. He argues that “without a genuine rethink about the way local communities are engaged, the prospects for shale gas exploration in the UK look grim”.

Duncan Weldon writes about the tightening squeeze on living standards on the ToUChstone blog, saying “the best way to boost living standards would be to increase the pace of wage growth”.

Chris Dillow of the Stumbling and Mumbling blog examines the long-run change in the occupational structure of the labour market. “It’s possible … that the disappearance of the ‘middling sorts’ is generating a ‘two nations’ society”

Ben Baumberg, writing on the Inequalities blog, discusses findings by LSE’s CASE on Labour’s social policy record from 1997-2010.

Brian Green, writing for Brickonomics, asks whether the government has found a cure for what is afflicting the housing market. He argues that building more homes would “benefit most people in the nation in the long term, not just the immediate problems facing some people in the short term”.