Weekly Economics Podcast

Britain’s favourite broadcaster David Attenborough once said: “Anyone who thinks you can have infinite growth in a finite environment is either a madman - or an economist.” But our political leaders don’t seem to agree. Both our major political parties have made growing the economy a key metric for their success in government. So what is economic growth? How did it become so central to our understanding of the economy? And should we really be striving for infinite growth on a finite planet? Ayeisha Thomas Smith is joined by Kate Raworth, economist and author of Doughnut Economics, and Michael Jacobs, professor of political economy at the University of Sheffield. ------- Music: Under Suspicion by Lee Rosevere, Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/lee-rosevere/music-for-podcasts-serious/under-suspicion/, used under Creative Commons licence: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Produced by Katrina Gaffney, Margaret Welsh and James Rush The New Economics Podcast is brought to you by

We’re waiting longer than ever for hospital appointments, our kids’ schools are literally crumbling, and homelessness has sky-rocketed in the past year. This week’s spring budget was a vital chance for chancellor Jeremy Hunt to respond to the huge problems our country is facing. But instead of trying to fix any of our problems, the chancellor announced a cut to national insurance that will benefit the richest households twelve times more than the poorest. So what do Jeremy Hunt’s announcements mean for people across the UK? Why are the opposition talking about maxed out credit cards? And what needs to happen to save our public services and boost living standards for all? Ayeisha Thomas Smith is joined by Hannah Peaker, director of policy at the New Economics Foundation, and Lydia Prieg, head of economics at the New Economics Foundation ----- Music by Podington Bear, used under Creative Commons licence: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Produced by Katrina Gaffney, Margaret Welsh and James Rush T

Worried about your carbon emissions? Don’t stress! You can pump out as much as you want - as long as you buy some offsets to balance it out. Scared of the collapse of wildlife? No problem! We can figure out how much money our ecosystems are worth, and let the market do the rest! Welcome to the logic of green capitalism. Fossil fuel giants claim to celebrate sustainability while pumping out toxic emissions. Governments are relying on carbon offsets to make their climate promises add up. And we’re told that we can fight the climate crisis with the magic of economic markets. Why have corporations got so interested in sustainability? Will carbon offsets save us - or are they just a cute accounting trick? And if wind and solar energy are so cheap, why haven’t we embraced them? Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by Adrienne Buller, author of The Value of a Whale: On the illusions of green capitalism, and Brett Christophers, author of The Price is Wrong: Why capitalism won’t save the planet. ------- Music by Se

It’s 2024 and in Westminster an election is at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Step back a little further and across the UK millions of us are more concerned with how we’ll afford to pay their sky-high rent or energy bills. Zoom out further again and we see a world where billions of people are reckoning with the threat of the climate crisis. For the first episode in a new series of the New Economics podcast, Ayeisha is joined by the new chief executive of the New Economics Foundation, Danny Sriskandarajah, to discuss the biggest challenges facing the world and how we can win a new global economy. ----- Music by Podington Bear, used under Creative Commons licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Produced by Katrina Gaffney, Margaret Welsh and James Rush The New Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more about becoming a NEF supporter at: https://neweconomics.org/donate/build-a-better-future New Economics Foundation is a registered charity in Eng

The Metropolitan Police’s diversity and inclusion strategy claims it is determined to “eliminate racism and discrimination”. But the force was branded ‘institutionally racist’, and not for the first time, in an official report this spring. Recently, a Met firearms officer has been referred to prosecutors on a potential murder charge for shooting dead Black Londoner Chris Kaba last September. So, what does racism have to do with our 21st century economic system? How can we understand institutions who uphold racism while claiming to value diversity and inclusion? And what does it mean to truly be anti-racist? For the final episode of this series, Ayeisha is joined by Arun Kundnani to discuss his new book, What Is Antiracism?: And Why It Means Anticapitalism. Grab a copy of Arun's book here: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2670-what-is-antiracism ----- Music by Chris Zabriskie and Podington Bear, used under Creative Commons licence. Produced by Becky Malone, Margaret Welsh and Katrina Gaffney. E

This spring, swimmers in Kent were told to avoid ten beaches in the county due to sewage leaks. Public outrage at sewage pouring into our rivers and beaches has so far focused on water companies. But is someone else to blame? The pipes that carry sewage in Kent are not owned by Southern Water, or even Kent County Council. They belong to a massive Australian asset management firm that most of us have never heard of. Asset management firms are not household names, but they’ve come to own our energy systems, hospitals, schools, and even the pipes that supply our drinking water. So who are these shadowy companies? What even is asset management? And why are they buying up the things we need to keep our society going? Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by political economist and economic geographer Brett Christophers to discuss his new book Our Lives in Their Portfolios: Why Asset Managers Own the World. Grab a copy of the book here: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2985-our-lives-in-their-portfolios-why

The friend who has to cancel plans to look after their elderly mum. The colleague who leaves their phone on loud so they don’t miss a call about their disabled child. The neighbour you’ve barely seen since their partner’s diagnosis. We’re surrounded by people who are dealing with the challenges of caregiving, but they often go unseen. According to Carers UK, there could be over ten million people providing unpaid care in the UK. We’ll all have to care for someone or be cared for over the course of our lives. So why are the challenges caregivers face so overlooked? And how can we build a system that supports their wellbeing? Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by writer and activist Emily Kenway to discuss her new book Who Cares: the hidden crisis of caregiving and how we solve it. Grab a copy of the book, out now: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/who-cares-the-hidden-crisis-of-caregiving-and-how-we-solve-it-emily-kenway/5956477?ean=9781472288486 ----- Music by Chris Zabriskie and Podington Bear, used under Cre

As the chancellor stood up in Parliament to present his spring budget in March, half a million people went on strike to demand better from their bosses. Teachers, junior doctors, Tube drivers, civil servants and more all walked out of work, in the biggest day of strike action in over a decade. As the strikes rumble on into another summer, how can workers keep up the momentum? Will new legislation make it harder to fight for better pay and working conditions? And should more of us be trying to unionise our workplaces? Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by workplace organiser Lydia Hughes and researcher Jamie Woodcock, authors of Troublemaking: why you should organise your workplace. Grab a copy of Troublemaking: Why You Should Organise Your Workplace – out now www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2889-troublemaking ----- Music by Podington Bear, used under Creative Commons licence. Produced by Becky Malone, Margaret Welsh and Katrina Gaffney. Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF! Th

Nurses struggling without PPE, the frantic search for hospital ventilators, even the dreaded ping from NHS test-and-trace. To most of us, these memories represent some of the worst of the Covid pandemic. But for a select few companies, they were an opportunity to make millions. Consultancy firms won over seven hundred million pounds worth of government Covid contracts to do things like run the test-and-trace system and vaccine rollout. This February, ministers dropped restrictions on Whitehall spending on consultants, allowing these firms to potentially rake in millions more. So why is the government so dependent on consultants? Whose interests do they serve? And how worried should we be about their effect on public life? Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by Rosie Collington, co-author of 'The Big Con: How the Consultancy Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilises Our Governments and Warps Our Economies'. Grab a copy of The Big Con out now https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451193/the-big-con-by-collington-m

You can’t paint your walls, you can’t have a pet, you can’t guarantee you’ll have somewhere to live in six months time. Millions of us are paying sky-high rents but struggling to make a home in a housing system where safety and security takes second place to landlords’ profits. Some private tenants face mould and broken boilers but daren’t complain. According to Shelter, complaining to your landlord about conditions in your home more than doubles your chance of being evicted. How did private renting become so prevalent? Why are the rights of tenants so weak? And what does this mean for our ability to make a home? Ayeisha is joined by Vicky Spratt, housing correspondent at the i and author of Tenants, and Kieran Yates, journalist and author of the upcoming All the houses I’ve ever lived in. Further reading: - Grab a copy of Vicky's book Tenants https://profilebooks.com/work/tenants/ - Kieran's book All the houses I've ever lived in is out on the 27 April https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/All-Th

On a sunny day in January, a ghostly figure covered in green ribbons appeared on a moor in south-west England. It was a person dressed as Old Crockern, the guardian spirit of Dartmoor. He was greeted by 3000 people who had gathered to protest a court ruling that took away the right to wild camp in the area. It was the biggest countryside access protest in living memory. The ruling reignited a long-running concern over land in England: who owns it? And who is allowed to use it? The aristocracy and landed gentry still own around thirty per cent of English land, and half of England is owned by less than one per cent of the population. How did we get here? What does land ownership have to do with wealth and power? And is there another way? Ayeisha is joined by Nadia Shaikh, naturalist, conservationist and land justice activist with Right to Roam and Frances Northrop, associate fellow at the New Economics Foundation. Further reading: - Find out more and get involved with Right to Roam https://www.righttoro

Last year the UK had three different prime ministers, four different chancellors and five different housing ministers. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister for close to a decade, recently announced her resignation - and it’s not clear who will replace her. British politics now seems to be permanently tumultuous. And with a general election peeking over the horizon, political parties are gearing up to win over the public. What are the big ideas influencing UK politics? How much appetite does the public have for change? And what will be the key battlegrounds at the next general election? Ayeisha is joined by Anoosh Chakelian, Britain editor at the New Statesman, and James Meadway, director of the Progressive Economy Forum. - James' new book The Cost of Living Crisis (and how to get out of it)is out next month versobooks.com/books/4259-the-cost-of-living-crisis - Read Anoosh and Ben Walker's piece on the “the new social groupings of the inflation age” newstatesman.com/economy/2023/02/britain-cost-of-l

Note to listeners: this episode was prerecorded in September 2022. Over the last five episodes we’ve looked at how the UK is being torn apart. Our economy is built on huge inequalities: between working people and big business, between families and fossil fuel giants, between tenants and landlords, and between marginalised groups and law enforcement. Are such massive divisions in our society inevitable? Can we share the wealth hoarded by the rich? And what do we need to do to build a better future? Ayeisha is joined by Jeevun Sandher, head of economics at the New Economics Foundation, and political economist and author of The Case For A Green New Deal Ann Pettifor. - Subscribe to Ann's substack, System Change, here: https://annpettifor.substack.com/ ----- Music by Chad Crouch and Podington Bear, used under Creative Commons licence. Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by Becky Malone. Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF! The Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by th

Note to listeners: this episode was prerecorded in September 2022. This summer, on a small road in south-east London, a crowd of people prevented immigration officers from detaining a local man. Protestors sat on the ground in front of the van he was held in for hours, shouting “Let him go!”. From Pollokshields to Peckham, over the last couple of years we’ve seen how people can come together to physically stop immigration raids in their communities and protect their neighbours. But with the government giving the police more powers to crack down on protests, will actions like these be able to continue? What is happening to civil liberties in the UK? And who is fighting back? Ayeisha is joined by Zehrah Hasan advocacy director at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) and Charlie Whelton, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty (@zedhas3 and @cwhelton on Twitter). Want to join the movement? You can get involved with groups like: - JCWI jcwi.org.uk - Liberty libertyhumanrights.org.uk - Migra

Note to listeners: this episode was prerecorded in September 2022. The cost of living scandal could force 1.7 million households into homelessness this winter, according to the charity Crisis. In the UK, we can no longer rely on social housing to protect people from sleeping rough or sofa-surfing. If you were alive in 1979, you had a 40% chance of living in an affordable council home. Today, that figure is just under 8%. What happened to all our council houses? Did Thatcher’s right to buy policy create the housing crisis we see today? And how would our lives be different if we could depend on warm, comfortable social homes? Ayeisha is joined by Becki Winson, NEF senior organiser and Suzanne Muna, secretary of the Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC) (@RebeccaWinson and @Muna_Suz on Twitter) -Join NEF's Homes for Us Campaign https://homesforus.org.uk/ -Find out more about SHAC and get involved https://shaction.org/ ----- Music by Broke for Free and Podington Bear, used under Creative Commons licence. R

Note to listeners: this episode was prerecorded in August 2022. 2022: a year of extremes. During the 40 degree summer heat, roads melted and railway lines buckled. The London Fire Brigade had its busiest day since the Blitz as record temperatures led to hundreds of fires across the city. When it finally rained a month later, the Met Office warned of flood risk. But after a dangerously hot summer, we’re now worrying about whether we can afford our energy bills during a long, cold winter. This was the year that the climate crisis collided with the scandalously high cost of living. But how are the two related? Why are fossil fuel companies making bumper profits while the rest of us are worried about paying our bills? And can we stay warm while making sure oil and gas stay safely under the North Sea? Ayeisha is joined by Mika Minio-Paluello, climate and industry lead at the Trades Union Congress and Tessa Khan, environmental lawyer and founder and director of Uplift. -Want to join a union? You can find the ri

Note to listeners: this episode was prerecorded in August 2022.  As the first week of rail strikes came to an end in June, Google searches for the phrase “join union” had increased by 184%. News channels and politicians didn’t seem to know what to make of the broad public support for the striking rail workers. Inspired by the RMT union, the unrest spread: criminal barristers, BT workers, posties and teachers are just some of the people exploring strike action. After decades of union busting, wage stagnation and decimated rights, are workers finally saying enough is enough? Why has the public suddenly got behind striking workers? And what would happen if we held a general strike? Ayeisha is joined by the TUC's Sian Elliot and Sarah Jaffe, journalist and author of “Work Won’t Love You Back”(@SianCElliott and @sarahljaffe on Twitter). -Find out more about Sarah's work at https://workwontloveyouback.org/ -Want to join a union? You can find the right one for you on the TUC website https://www.tuc.org.uk/joi

In this mini-series of the New Economics Podcast, we’ll discover how our economy has been run over the past few years - and look at the key battlegrounds for those fighting to change the rules. Over the last few years, neoliberalism – the economic model that has dominated since Margaret Thatcher was PM – has taken a hit. Big spending and state intervention have been the name of the game, as the government scrambled to get to grips with the pandemic. While Boris Johnson gets ready to pack up his things, we still don’t know who will be replacing him in Number 10. The two final contenders, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, have been described in the press as “channelling the blue-suited ghost of Thatcher”. So, have the last few years solidified a new kind of economic mainstream? Or will Johnsonism be swept aside once the new PM has unpacked their toothbrush? In the first episode of this special mini-series we’re asking: has neoliberalism hit the buffers? Ayeisha is joined by Ellie Mae O’Hagan and Laurie Macfarlan

Outside of the frenzied headlines about woke warriors cancelling Jane Austen and stately homes, we’re living in a period of renewed consideration of Britain’s colonial history. The British Empire began before the English Civil War, and shaped our country for 400 years. At its height, it covered almost a quarter of the entire world’s population. Beyond statues and street names, how is the empire still shaping our lives today? Ayeisha is joined by Dr Kojo Koram, lecturer in law at Birkbeck and author of Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire. - Grab a copy of the book here: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/kojo-koram/uncommon-wealth/9781529338652/ - Further reading from Perry Anderson here: https://www.versobooks.com/authors/81-perry-anderson - And from Tom Nairn here: https://www.versobooks.com/authors/821-tom-nairn - More from Kojo here: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745342047/empires-endgame/ ----- Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by Becky Malone. Music by Poddington Bear under Cr

What do you get the guy who has everything? A 44 billion dollar social media platform apparently. Elon Musk has already been accused of union busting, shot a car into space, and become the world’s richest man. So what’s next on his to-do list? Buying Twitter of course! From Mark Zuckerberg to Elon Musk, should we be worried that our online lives are in the hands of a few super-rich men? Will cryptocurrencies and Web3 make the internet good again? And what would a people-powered internet really look like? Ayeisha is joined by Dr James Muldoon, senior lecturer in political science at the University of Exeter and Head of Digital Research at the Autonomy think tank. You can grab a copy of James' book Platform Socialism: How to Reclaim our Digital Future from Big Tech here: http://www.plutobooks.com/9780745346977/platform-socialism/ ----- Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by Becky Malone. Music by Poddington Bear under Creative Commons license. Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @N