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Will Hutton

For other people named William Hutton, seeWilliam Hutton (disambiguation).

William Nicolas Hutton(born 21 May 1950) is an English journalist. As of 2022, he writes a regular column forThe Observer,co-chairs the Purposeful Company, and is the president-designate of the Academy of Social Sciences. He is the chair of the advisory board of the UK National Youth Corps. He was principal ofHertford College,University of Oxfordfrom 2011 to 2020, and co-founder of the Big Innovation Centre,[1]an initiative fromthe Work Foundation(formerly the Industrial Society), having been chief executive of the Work Foundation from 2000 to 2008. He was formerlyeditor-in-chiefofThe Observer.

Will Hutton
Hutton in 2008
Born
William Nicolas Hutton

(1950-05-21)21 May 1950(age 74)
Woolwich,London, England
Academic career
Alma materUniversity of Bristol,INSEAD

Early life

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Although born in Woolwich, where his father had worked at theRoyal Ordnancefactory (Royal Arsenal), Hutton began his education in Scotland. He went to Bishopton Primary School inBishopton, Renfrewshire,thenPaisley Grammar Schoolwhen he was eight. His father moved toBromley,then toKent,and he attended Southborough Lane County Primary School inPetts Wood.[2]

Hutton studied atChislehurst and Sidcup Grammar SchoolinSidcup,where he was introduced toA leveleconomics by a teacher, Garth Pinkney. He only got average marks at O-level but enjoyed the sixth form more, studying geography, history, and economics. He also organised the school tennis team. After studying sociology and economics at theUniversity of Bristol,[3]gaining aBSocSc(2.1), he started his career as an equity salesman for abrokerage firm,before leaving to study for an MBA atINSEADatFontainebleaunear Paris.[citation needed]

Career

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Hutton (right) withVince Cablein 2013

Hutton moved on to work in television and radio. He spent ten years with theBBC,including working as economics correspondent forNewsnightfrom 1983 to 1988, where he replacedPeter Hobday.[4]He spent four years as editor-in-chief atThe Observerand director of theGuardian National Newspapers,before joining the Industrial Society, now known asThe Work Foundation,as chief executive in 2000. In 2010, he was criticised for his handling of the Industrial Society by a number of publications, includingThe Sunday TimesandPrivate Eye,for having used the company for campaigning purposes rather than focusing on it as a business enterprise. Under Hutton's management, The Work Foundation became insolvent and was wound up. It was then sold to Lancaster University.[5]

As well as a columnist, author, and chief executive, Hutton is a governor of theLondon School of Economics,a visiting professor at theUniversity of ManchesterBusiness School and theUniversity of Bristol,a visiting fellow atMansfield College, Oxford,a shareholder of theScott Trust Limited,which owns theGuardian Media Group,rapporteurof theKok Group,and a member of theDesign Council'sMillennium Commission.[6]In March 2011, he was appointed as Principal ofHertford College, Oxford,[7]taking up the post later in the year and retiring in 2020.[8]He sits on the European Advisory Board ofPrinceton University Press.[9]

Writing

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As an author, Hutton's best-known and most influential works areThe State We're In(an economic and political look at Britain in the 1990s from asocial democraticpoint of view) andThe World We're In,in which he expands his focus to include the relationship between the United States and Europe, emphasising cultural and social differences between the two blocs and analysing the UK as sitting between the two.[10]InThe World We're In,Hutton argues that many viewpoints in this book areneo-Keynesianand that it is critical of short-termism, viewingstakeholder capitalismas an alternative.[11]

Hutton's bookThe Writing on the Wallwas released in the UK in January 2007. The book examines Western concerns and responses to the rise of China and the emerging global division of labour, and argues that the Chinese economy is running up against a set of increasingly unsustainable contradictions that could have a damaging universal fallout. On 18 February 2007, Hutton was a featured guest on BBC'sHave Your Sayprogramme, discussing the implications of China's growth. The analysis in his books is characterised by a support for theEuropean Unionand its potential, alongside a disdain for what he callsAmerican conservatism—defined, among other factors, as a certain attitude to markets, property, and thesocial contract.In 1992, he won theWhat the Papers Sayaward for Political Journalist of the Year. In 2003, he was made an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) by theUniversity of Bristol.

In 2010, he publishedThem and Us: Changing Britain – Why We Need a Fair Society.

His latest book,How Good We Can Be: Ending the Mercenary Society and Building a Great Country,was published in 2015.[citation needed]

Personal life

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Hutton married Jane Atkinson, the daughter of a neurosurgeon, in 1978, and lives in London. They have two daughters and a son. His wife, who died in 2016, was a director of aproperty developmentcompany called First Premise, based inRichmond upon Thames,which she founded in 1987. Hutton calls himself an agnostic.[12]

Bibliography

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Major works

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  • The Revolution That Never Was: An Assessment of Keynesian Economics(1986)ISBN0-582-29603-X
  • The State We're In: Why Britain Is in Crisis and How to Overcome It(1995)ISBN0-224-03688-2
  • The State to Come(1997)ISBN0-09-977881-5
  • The Stakeholding Society: Writings on Politics and Economics(1998)ISBN0-7456-2078-7
  • Global Capitalism(2000) Will Hutton (editor),Anthony Giddens(editor)ISBN1-56584-648-6
  • On the Edge: Essays on a Runaway World(2000) Anthony Giddens (editor), Will Hutton (editor)ISBN0-224-05937-8
  • The World We're In(2002)ISBN0-316-85871-4
  • A Declaration of Interdependence: Why America Should Join the World(W.W. Norton & Company, 2003)ISBN0-393-05725-9
  • The Writing on the Wall: China and the West in the 21st Century(2007)ISBN978-0-316-73018-1
  • Them and Us: Changing Britain – Why We Need a Fair Society(2010)ISBN978-1-4087-0151-5
  • How Good We Can Be: Ending the Mercenary Society and Building a Great Country(2015)ISBN978-1408705315
  • This Time No Mistakes: How to Remake Britain(2024)ISBN978-1804549391

Contributions to other books

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Awards and honours

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References

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  1. ^"Will Hutton".Big Innovation Centre. Archived fromthe originalon 13 March 2016.Retrieved2 April2012.
  2. ^Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Will Hutton, author and former newspaper editorThe Independent, 18 June 2009
  3. ^The NS Profile – Will HuttonNew Statesman, 31 May 1999
  4. ^Preston, Peter (28 September 2013)."Market forces sweep into the BBC – and buy its best economics brains".The Guardian– via theguardian.
  5. ^Ungoed-Thomas, Jon (31 October 2010)."Will Hutton 'sold out' work charity".The Sunday Times.Retrieved10 January2022.
  6. ^"Work Foundation".lancaster.ac.uk.
  7. ^"Hertford College | University of Oxford".Hertford College, Oxford.Retrieved24 October2013.
  8. ^"Introducing our new Principal: Tom Fletcher CMG".Hertford College, Oxford.1 September 2020.Retrieved2 September2020.
  9. ^"European Advisory Board".Princeton University Press. 7 July 2011. Archived fromthe originalon 8 June 2011.Retrieved24 October2013.
  10. ^'Picking Teams'[usurped],review ofThe World We're Inin theOxonian Review.Published 15 June 2003; Retrieved 10 January 2011.
  11. ^Warner, Malcolm (March 1997)."Book Review: The State we're in".Journal of General Management.22(3): 92–94.doi:10.1177/030630709702200307.ISSN0306-3070.S2CID220067874.
  12. ^"What is the proper place for religion in Britain's public life?,"a discussion withRichard Dawkins,The Guardian(19 February 2012).
  13. ^Lynne Williams (26 January 1996)."Honorary degrees".Times Higher Education Supplement.Retrieved31 August2015.
  14. ^Staffordshire University."Recipients of Honorary Awards".Staffordshire University.Archived fromthe originalon 30 December 2016.Retrieved31 August2015.
  15. ^University of Bristol press release (25 June 2003)."Honorary degrees at Bristol".University of Bristol.Retrieved31 August2015.
  16. ^heraldscotland (26 November 2003)."Graduations at Glasgow Caledonian University".heraldscotland.Retrieved31 August2015.
  17. ^University of East Angelia."Honorary Graduates of the University"(PDF).University of East Anglia.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2 October 2009.Retrieved31 August2015.
  18. ^University of Middlesex (18 July 2011)."Will Hutton receives honorary dotorate for inspiring future business stars".Middlesex University.Archived fromthe originalon 16 October 2017.Retrieved31 August2015.
  19. ^University of Central Lancashire (2015)."Honorary Fellows".University of Central Lancashire.Retrieved31 August2015.
  20. ^University of Greenwich Public Relations (26 July 2013)."Will Hutton receives honorary degree".University of Greenwich.Retrieved31 August2015.
  21. ^York St John University (2015)."Honorary graduates".York St John University.Archived fromthe originalon 6 December 2013.Retrieved31 August2015.
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Media offices
Preceded by Editor ofThe Observer
1996–1998 		Succeeded by
Academic offices
Preceded by PrincipalofHertford College, Oxford
2011–2020 		Succeeded by
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