Can a Story Really Change Policy?

On a cold Thursday night in Brighton, along with maybe 100 other people, I stared at a huge screen. We were waiting for the screen to turn green - a vote that mattered. The room was quiet, just the sound of bodies shifting. Then the screen began to light up.

Rewind to 2019. Back in the community I grew up in, notebook in hand, I heard a line I couldn’t unhear:

“Children in our community are getting basic GCSEs at half the rate of their city-centre counterparts.”

It stopped me in my tracks. Decades of my own educational experiences blended with the present time.

The data had been consistent for decades. People knew. Meetings were happening. Still, the message came back: ‘Nothing wrong here. This is the parents’ fault.’

Why could I see the problem, but others couldn’t?

I used my ethnographic skills to listen before I made anything - research, reading, pattern‑finding, thinking about what truly moved people. That discipline, finding the human heart first, is now the backbone of my Story Clarity Workshop.

At the heart of the story was a family from my old community. Their words and testimony became the series’ beat. I would have missed it if I’d rushed to make content.

We launched the Class Divide Documentary Podcast Series in March 2023. The timing, right before local elections, meant future politicians were listening. Since then, the series has had more than 30k listens and two award nominations, including the BAFTA’s of the radio and podcasting world, an ARIAS.

But let’s return to that cold Thursday night in Brighton and why it matters. In February 2025, councillors voted through changes to school policy that will improve life outcomes for children from my old estate and the rest of the city. Class Divide was quoted in the chamber, parents gave evidence, the screen turned green and the policy passed. Later, a government adjudicator confirmed councils can use school admissions to tackle inequality. Now, other regions are exploring similar changes. The impact has gone way beyond Brighton and Hove.

I obviously didn’t do this alone. Community voices, parents, schools and councillors made the change possible. The stories we shared helped people see what was already true.

If you’ve got a thing you can’t unsee and need others to feel it too, start here: Story Clarity Workshop.