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 politica

Spring budget reaction

Mar 8th, 2024 31m 14s

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 h

Can capitalism save the climate

Feb 29th, 2024 45m 49s

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 wor

Introducing the new chief executive of NEF

Feb 13th, 2024 39m 56s

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

Why antiracism means anticapitalism

Jun 19th, 2023 39m 17s

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. Rece

Why asset managers own the world

Jun 6th, 2023 47m 34s

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 car

A crisis of caregiving

May 22nd, 2023 38m 44s

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 surro

Should we all be troublemakers at work?

May 10th, 2023 40m 22s

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

Have we been conned by consultants?

Apr 24th, 2023 42m

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 wer

How we can all have a home

Apr 7th, 2023 39m 28s

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 s

Right to Roam

Mar 13th, 2023 40m 41s

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

The UK's political battlegrounds

Feb 27th, 2023 57m 30s

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

How we win a new economy - changing the rules

Nov 7th, 2022 26m 30s

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

How we win a new economy - fighting for our human rights

Oct 28th, 2022 47m 33s

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

How we win a new economy - fixing the housing crisis with social homes

Oct 14th, 2022 38m 51s

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

How we win a new economy - solving the cost of living and climate crises together

Sep 30th, 2022 44m 42s

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 temperatu

How we win a new economy – a hot strike summer?

Sep 16th, 2022 45m 54s

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 w

How we win a new economy - the end of neoliberalism?

Sep 2nd, 2022 47m 24s

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 econ

How did the British Empire write the rules of today’s economy?

May 30th, 2022 49m 50s

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

Who owns the internet?

May 16th, 2022 46m 25s

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?

What did Covid-19 reveal about how our economy is really run?

May 3rd, 2022 45m 29s

In the early months of the pandemic, the government shut down whole sectors of the economy and started paying the wages of a huge proportion of Brits. Some worked from home, juggling homeschooling their kids and figuring out how to use Zoom. Ot

What does the Sunak scandal tell us about our tax system?

Apr 19th, 2022 34m 51s

A few weeks ago the chancellor presided over a spring budget which ushered in the fastest drop in living standards on record, as he told us that we “can’t protect everyone”. But this week it was revealed that his wife has avoided paying around

The UK's response to the refugee crisis

Apr 4th, 2022 33m

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, over 4 million people have fled the country. Earlier this month Priti Patel announced a visa application centre had been established en route to Calais for Ukrainians trying to come to the UK. But the cent

Are fossil fuels funding the war in Ukraine?

Mar 21st, 2022 40m 5s

At the time of recording, hundreds, and possibly thousands, of civilians have been killed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and more than 2.5m Ukranians have fled the country. The Russian army has been accused of war crimes after bombing a m

Tackling the cost of living crisis

Mar 7th, 2022 44m 21s

2022 has been dubbed the ‘year of the squeeze’ by the Resolution Foundation. In April, soaring energy bills will collide with tax increases for working people. Last month grocery prices rose at their fastest rate in eight years, and inflation i