View source for Will Hutton

{{Short description|English journalist (born 1950)}}
{{other people|William Hutton}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox economist
| name          = Will Hutton
| image         = Will Hutton.jpg
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| caption       = Hutton in 2008
| birth_name    = William Nicolas Hutton
| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1950|5|21|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Woolwich]], London, England
| death_date    =
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| nationality   =
| institution   =
| alma_mater    = [[University of Bristol]], [[INSEAD]]
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'''William Nicolas Hutton''' (born 21 May 1950) is an English journalist. As of 2022, he writes a regular column for ''[[The 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 of [[Hertford College]], [[University of Oxford]] from 2011 to 2020, and co-founder of the Big Innovation Centre,<ref>{{cite web|title=Will Hutton|url=http://www.biginnovationcentre.com/Aboutus/Our-People/7/Will-Hutton|publisher=Big Innovation Centre|access-date=2 April 2012|archive-date=13 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313152029/http://www.biginnovationcentre.com/aboutus/our-people/7/will-hutton|url-status=dead}}</ref> an initiative from [[the Work Foundation]] (formerly the Industrial Society), having been chief executive of the Work Foundation from 2000 to 2008. He was formerly [[editor-in-chief]] of ''The Observer''.

==Early life==
Although born in Woolwich, where his father had worked at the [[Royal Ordnance]] factory ([[Royal Arsenal]]), Hutton began his education in Scotland. He went to Bishopton Primary School in [[Bishopton, Renfrewshire]], then [[Paisley Grammar School]] when he was eight. His father moved to [[Bromley]], then to [[Kent]], and he attended Southborough Lane County Primary School in [[Petts Wood]].<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/passedfailed-an-education-in-the-life-of-will-hutton-author-and-former-newspaper-editor-1707511.html Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Will Hutton, author and former newspaper editor] The Independent, 18 June 2009</ref>

Hutton studied at [[Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School]] in [[Sidcup]], where he was introduced to [[Advanced Level (UK)|A level]] economics 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 the [[University of Bristol]],<ref name=doyle>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110103005931/http://www.newstatesman.com/199905310016 The NS Profile – Will Hutton] New Statesman, 31 May 1999</ref> gaining a [[Bachelor of Social Science|BSocSc]] (2.1), he started his career as an equity salesman for a [[brokerage firm]], before leaving to study for an MBA at [[INSEAD]] at [[Fontainebleau]] near Paris.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

==Career==
[[File:Vince Cable & Will Hutton.jpg|thumb|left|Hutton (right) with [[Vince Cable]] in 2013]]

Hutton moved on to work in television and radio. He spent ten years with the [[BBC]], including working as economics correspondent for ''[[Newsnight]]'' from 1983 to 1988, where he replaced [[Peter Hobday (presenter)|Peter Hobday]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/sep/29/market-forces-bbc-economics-stephanie-flanders|title=Market forces sweep into the BBC – and buy its best economics brains|first=Peter|last=Preston|newspaper=The Guardian |date=28 September 2013|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> He spent four years as editor-in-chief at ''The Observer'' and director of the [[Guardian Media Group|Guardian National Newspapers]], before joining the Industrial Society, now known as [[The Work Foundation]], as chief executive in 2000. In 2010, he was criticised for his handling of the Industrial Society by a number of publications, including ''The Sunday Times'' and ''Private 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.<ref name="Times">{{cite news |last1=Ungoed-Thomas |first1=Jon |title=Will Hutton 'sold out' work charity |url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/money/article/will-hutton-sold-out-work-charity-9tmf2jhc9dv |access-date=10 January 2022 |work=The Sunday Times |date=31 October 2010 |language=en}}</ref>

As well as a columnist, author, and chief executive, Hutton is a governor of the [[London School of Economics]], a visiting professor at the [[University of Manchester]] Business School and the [[University of Bristol]], a visiting fellow at [[Mansfield College, Oxford]], a shareholder of the [[Scott Trust Limited]], which owns the [[Guardian Media Group]], [[rapporteur]] of the [[Kok Group]], and a member of the [[Design Council]]'s [[Millennium Commission]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/work-foundation/|title=Work Foundation|website=www.lancaster.ac.uk}}</ref> In March 2011, he was appointed as Principal of [[Hertford College, Oxford]],<ref>{{cite web|author=<!--Not stated--> |url=http://www.hertford.ox.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=727&Itemid=104 |title=Hertford College &#124; University of Oxford |website=Hertford College, Oxford |access-date=24 October 2013}}</ref> taking up the post later in the year and retiring in 2020.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hertford.ox.ac.uk/news/tom-fletcher-welcome |title=Introducing our new Principal: Tom Fletcher CMG |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=1 September 2020 |website=Hertford College, Oxford |access-date=2 September 2020}}</ref> He sits on the European Advisory Board of [[Princeton University Press]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://press.princeton.edu/about_pup/european_advisory_board.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608160559/http://press.princeton.edu/about_pup/european_advisory_board.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 June 2011 |title=European Advisory Board |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=7 July 2011 |access-date=24 October 2013 }}</ref>

==Writing==
As an author, Hutton's best-known and most influential works are ''The State We're In'' (an economic and political look at Britain in the 1990s from a [[Social Democrat|social democratic]] point of view) and ''The 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.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120401231630/http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/picking-teams-america-europe-and-the-world-were-in/ 'Picking Teams']}}, review of ''The World We're In'' in the ''[[Oxonian Review]]''. Published 15 June 2003; Retrieved 10 January 2011.</ref> In ''The World We're In'', Hutton argues that many viewpoints in this book are [[neo-Keynesian]] and that it is critical of short-termism, viewing [[stakeholder capitalism]] as an alternative.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Warner|first=Malcolm|date=March 1997|title=Book Review: The State we're in|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030630709702200307|journal=Journal of General Management|language=en|volume=22|issue=3|pages=92–94|doi=10.1177/030630709702200307|s2cid=220067874|issn=0306-3070|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Hutton's book ''The Writing on the Wall'' was 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's ''Have Your Say'' programme, discussing the implications of China's growth. The analysis in his books is characterised by a support for the [[European Union]] and its potential, alongside a disdain for what he calls [[American conservatism]]&nbsp;—defined, among other factors, as a certain attitude to markets, property, and the [[social contract]]. In 1992, he won the [[What the Papers Say]] award for Political Journalist of the Year. In 2003, he was made an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) by the [[University of Bristol]].

In 2010, he published ''Them 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|date=December 2021}}

==Personal life==
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 a [[Real estate development|property development]] company called First Premise, based in [[London Borough of Richmond upon Thames|Richmond upon Thames]], which she founded in 1987. Hutton calls himself an agnostic.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/19/religion-secularism-atheism-hutton-dawkins "What is the proper place for religion in Britain's public life?,"] a discussion with [[Richard Dawkins]], ''The Guardian'' (19 February 2012).</ref>

==Bibliography==
===Major works===
* ''The Revolution That Never Was: An Assessment of Keynesian Economics'' (1986) {{ISBN|0-582-29603-X}}
* ''The State We're In: Why Britain Is in Crisis and How to Overcome It'' (1995) {{ISBN|0-224-03688-2}}
* ''The State to Come'' (1997) {{ISBN|0-09-977881-5}}
* ''The Stakeholding Society: Writings on Politics and Economics'' (1998) {{ISBN|0-7456-2078-7}}
* ''Global Capitalism'' (2000) Will Hutton (editor), [[Anthony Giddens]] (editor) {{ISBN|1-56584-648-6}}
* ''On the Edge: Essays on a Runaway World'' (2000) Anthony Giddens (editor), Will Hutton (editor) {{ISBN|0-224-05937-8}}
* ''The World We're In'' (2002) {{ISBN|0-316-85871-4}}
* ''A Declaration of Interdependence: Why America Should Join the World'' (W.W. Norton & Company, 2003) {{ISBN|0-393-05725-9}}
* ''The Writing on the Wall: China and the West in the 21st Century'' (2007) {{ISBN|978-0-316-73018-1}}
* ''Them and Us: Changing Britain – Why We Need a Fair Society'' (2010) {{ISBN|978-1-4087-0151-5}}
* ''How Good We Can Be: Ending the Mercenary Society and Building a Great Country'' (2015) {{ISBN|978-1408705315}}
* ''This Time No Mistakes: How to Remake Britain'' (2024) {{ISBN|978-1804549391}}

===Contributions to other books===
* ''Trust: From Socrates to Spin'' (2004) [[Kieron O'Hara]], Will Hutton (introduction) {{ISBN|1-84046-531-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Hutton |first=Will |editor=Goodman, Geoffrey|title=The State of the Nation: The Political Legacy of [[Aneurin Bevan]] |year=1997 |publisher=Gollancz |location=London |isbn=0-575-06308-4 |pages=226–232 |chapter=The Scene Shifts, the Legacy Remains}}

==Awards and honours==
* 1996: Honorary Doctor of Letters, [[Kingston University]]<ref name=Kings>{{cite web |author=Lynne Williams|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/honorary-degrees/92305.article |title=Honorary degrees|date=26 January 1996|access-date=31 August 2015|work=[[Times Higher Education Supplement]]}}</ref>
* 1999: Honorary Degree, [[Staffordshire University]]<ref name=StaffsU>{{cite web|author=Staffordshire University|url=http://www.staffs.ac.uk/events/graduation/honoraries/|title=Recipients of Honorary Awards|access-date=31 August 2015|work=[[Staffordshire University]]|archive-date=30 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230074409/http://www.staffs.ac.uk/events/graduation/honoraries/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2003: Honorary Doctor of Laws, [[University of Bristol]]<ref name=BristolU>{{cite web |author=University of Bristol press release|url=http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2003/212 |title=Honorary degrees at Bristol|date=25 June 2003|access-date=31 August 2015|work=[[University of Bristol]]}}</ref>
* 2003: Honorary Doctor of Laws, [[Glasgow Caledonian University]]<ref name=GCU>{{cite web |author=heraldscotland|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12528537.Graduations_Glasgow_Caledonian_University/|title=Graduations at Glasgow Caledonian University|date=26 November 2003|access-date=31 August 2015|work=heraldscotland}}</ref>
* 2006: Honorary Doctor of Civil Law, [[University of East Anglia]]<ref name=UEAlist>{{cite web|author=University of East Angelia|url=http://www.uea.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.130491!FWF25%20Honorary%20Graduates%20of%20the%20U.pdf|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091002031947/http://www.uea.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.130491!FWF25%20Honorary%20Graduates%20of%20the%20U.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 October 2009|title=Honorary Graduates of the University|access-date=31 August 2015|work=[[University of East Anglia]]}}</ref>
* 2011: Honorary Doctorate, [[Middlesex University]]<ref name=MiddlesexU>{{cite web|author=University of Middlesex|url=http://www.mdx.ac.uk/news/2011/07/will-hutton-receives-honorary-doctorate-for-inspiring-future-business-stars|title=Will Hutton receives honorary doctorate for inspiring future business stars|date=18 July 2011|access-date=31 August 2015|work=[[Middlesex University]]|archive-date=16 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016002015/http://www.mdx.ac.uk/news/2011/07/will-hutton-receives-honorary-doctorate-for-inspiring-future-business-stars|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2011: Honorary Fellowship, [[University of Central Lancashire]]<ref name=UCLanc>{{cite web |author=University of Central Lancashire|url=http://www.uclan.ac.uk/corporate_information/honorary_fellows.php |title=Honorary Fellows|year=2015|access-date=31 August 2015|work=[[University of Central Lancashire]]}}</ref>
* 2013: Honorary Doctor of Laws, [[University of Greenwich]]<ref name=GreenWU>{{cite web |author=University of Greenwich Public Relations|url=http://www2.gre.ac.uk/about/news/articles/2013/a2670-will-hutton-receives-honorary-degree |title=Will Hutton receives honorary degree|date=26 July 2013|access-date=31 August 2015|work=[[University of Greenwich]]}}</ref>
* 2014: Honorary Doctor of Letters, [[York St John University]]<ref name=YorkSJU>{{cite web|author=York St John University|url=http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/about/honorary-graduates.aspx|title=Honorary graduates|year=2015|access-date=31 August 2015|work=[[York St John University]]|archive-date=6 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206100545/http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/about/honorary-graduates.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://uc.princeton.edu/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1889&Itemid=1  ''China and the West in the 21st Century'']{{Dead link|date=December 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 1 June 2007 speech at the Australian National University
* [https://www.theguardian.com/Columnists/Archive/0,5673,-34,00.html ''The Observer'' columns by Will Hutton]
* [https://londonspeakerbureau.com/speaker-profile/will-hutton/ Will Hutton's Profile] at the London Speaker Bureau
* {{YouTube|gzqOp9jIFLs|At Unions21 in September 2008}}
* {{YouTube|x6zRCDH7euo|The Orwell Prize 2008}}
* {{YouTube|veT17koWboE|Institute of Directors Conference 2007}}
* [http://thegreatdebate.org.uk/RadicalPolToday.html The Great Debate: What Is Radical Politics Today?] Discussion with Anthony Giddens and Jonathan Pugh, December 2008
* [http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201104/r753828_6274366.asx Lateline - 18-Apr-2011] Hutton in April 2011 [[Lateline]] on China's economic bubble.
* [http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200810/r302788_1316794.asx Lateline - 15-Oct-2008] Interview with [[Tony Jones (news journalist)|Tony Jones]] in October 2008.

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{{succession box | before=[[Andrew Jaspan]] | title=Editor of ''[[The Observer]]'' | years=1996–1998 | after=[[Roger Alton]] }}
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{{s-bef|before=[[John Maxwell Landers|John Landers]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Principal (academia)|Principal]] of [[Hertford College, Oxford]]|years=2011–2020}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Thomas Fletcher (diplomat)|Tom Fletcher]]}}
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{{Principals of Hertford College, Oxford}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutton, Will}}
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Bristol]]
[[Category:BBC newsreaders and journalists]]
[[Category:British business writers]]
[[Category:English economists]]
[[Category:English male journalists]]
[[Category:British social democrats]]
[[Category:British economic historians]]
[[Category:English people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:INSEAD alumni]]
[[Category:People associated with the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:People educated at Paisley Grammar School]]
[[Category:People educated at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School]]
[[Category:People from Sidcup]]
[[Category:People from Woolwich]]
[[Category:Principals of Hertford College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Editors of The Observer]]
[[Category:British agnostics]]