Carl Packman is a writer, blogger and researcher. His first book, Loan Sharks: The Rise and Rise of Payday Lending, was published in October 2012 by Searching Finance. He has worked for various organisations working in health, education and children’s policy and has written for many publications including the Guardian, the New Statesman, Huffington Post and Tribune Magazine, as well as regularly for some well-known blogs such as Left Foot Forward, Liberal Conspiracy and the LSE blog.