Shows / The Capitalist
The Capitalist
The Capitalist: where economics meets politics. New episodes every Wednesday.
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Episodes
The CapitalistCapX's Christmas podcast: Heroes and villains of 2023
CapX Editor Alys Denby runs through the people and policies that made 2023 another peculiar year in politics, with Poppy Coburn, Assistant US Opinion Editor at…
The CapitalistAnalysing the Autumn Statement with Richard Hughes and Vicky Pryce
Aside from a windfall from higher inflation which the Chancellor used to make tax cuts, the underlying picture for the economy is essentially flat. That being…
The CapitalistIsraelophobia with Jake Wallis Simons
The world has just witnessed the worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust. Yet amid the international condemnation of Hamas terrorists, there has also…
The CapitalistMaking sense of Conference with Robert Colvile
It’s Party Conference season, and while the Lib Dems were kayaking and playing crazy golf in Bournemouth last week, this weekend it’s the Tories’ turn to troop…
The CapitalistCambridge, too far?
CapX talks about housing a lot – most often to scream 'build more houses!' into a void – yet politicians appear stuck in a doom loop when it comes to this…
The CapitalistThe War On Your Mind
In a world saturated with information, we have more choices than ever – but how freely do we make them? In their new book Free Your Mind – The new World of…
The CapitalistIsabel Hardman on the NHS' Fight for Life
The NHS recently marked its 75th birthday with the kind of love-in most countries reserve for a passing monarch or truly iconic celebrity. So what is about our…
The CapitalistWhere does all your rubbish go?
Trash, garbage, litter or rubbish – whatever you call it the world is producing ever more of the stuff. But where does it all go once it's left our…
The CapitalistFrank Luntz on the language of freedom
He’s best known for coming up with the terms death tax and climate change, so it’s fair to say Frank Luntz knows a thing or two about political communication –…
The CapitalistThis is Europe with Ben Judah
How do we really live now? From a Romanian truck driver to an Amazon deliveryman and a factory production line worker, Ben Judah tried to answer that question…
The CapitalistThe big AI debate
As with so much modern political theatre, the debate on artificial intelligence has become polarised to a point that is often profoundly unhelpful, with a…
The CapitalistA fork in the road
There are few political questions as vexed as how to tax hard-pressed motorists. For many years, the Treasury has treated British drivers as a cash cow…
The CapitalistWhat's the point of National Conservatism?
What is National Conservatism? That's the question we're grappling with this week following the big National Conservatism Conference in London. While it…
The CapitalistLord Frost on the state of Brexit Britain
Our guest this week played an instrumental role in the UK's departure from the European Union. As Boris Johnson's Europe adviser and then chief negotiator in…
The CapitalistIn defence of the rich – with Emily Carver, Luke Johnson, Merryn Somerset Webb & Martin Vander Weyer
Here at CapX we love an unfashionable cause – and in a cost of living crisis, few demographics are less popular than those who seem to be struggling less. But…
The CapitalistFuelling the future
Did you know that every time you fill up your car, you are paying for the UK’s biofuels mandate, the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO)? In fact, some…
The CapitalistReasons to be fearful, with Ed West
Things can seem a bit gloomy at the moment, and no one is better suited to explaining why than our guest this week, the Tory writer and self-proclaimed…
The CapitalistAI-pocalypse now?
Breathless predictions of AI-induced doom are all around, with some experts in the field saying the technology has already advanced beyond the point of no…
The CapitalistStephen D King on why we need to talk about inflation
After years where prices barely seemed to rise and interest rates remained stubbornly low, the last two years have seen inflation come roaring back - combined…
The CapitalistBen Ansell on Why Politics Fails
Would we all be better off if only we had better politicians? It's a comforting illusion, but really the problem isn't those who sweep in and out of power, but…
The CapitalistHannah Barnes on the rise and fall of the Tavistock gender clinic
How did an NHS clinic end up prescribing young people potential dangerous medical treatment with next to no data on the long-term effects? And why did that…
The CapitalistBreaking down the Budget
It's that special time of year again when the Chancellor delivers a Budget, before commentators, policy wonks and political opponents rush to tear it apart in…
The CapitalistColonialism and the culture wars with Nigel Biggar
How bad was the British Empire? That's the question Nigel Biggar, Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford, has…
The CapitalistRoss Clark on 'Not Zero'
The Government's Net Zero target is nothing if not ambitious - to decarbonise the British economy - energy, manufacturing, transport and agriculture included -…
The CapitalistGavin Jackson on how money makes the world go round
This week we're talking about moola, lolly, dough or dosh - the thing that makes the world go round...Money. In his recent book Money in One Lesson the…
The CapitalistAlex Massie on the Sturgeon succession
Nicola Sturgeon's resignation on Wednesday morning was a slightly puzzling political event – 'shocking', in the sense that it heralds the departure of a…
The CapitalistRemaking Britain
Britain isn’t working well for many of us right now. The cost of energy, housing, and food are too high, while decent jobs with real prospects are hard to come…
The CapitalistWhy is tax so taxing?
Few political questions are as basic, or as pressing, as how a government raises the money it spends – and the last year in British politics has provided ample…
The CapitalistChristopher Snowdon on why Nanny doesn't know best
From sin taxes to plain packaging, smoking bans to warnings about the perils of office cake, the reach of Britain's nanny state has never felt more pervasive…
The CapitalistJohn Longworth on how to make Brexit work for Britain
Our guest this week. John Longworth, is a real titan of UK PLC. As a scientist, business, entrepreneur and advocate for the interests of British business…
The CapitalistSamuel Hughes on solving the housing puzzle
CapX regulars know all too well the parlous state of British housing. We don't build enough, what we do build is often shoddy and angrily opposed by local…
The CapitalistThe CapX Podcast: The heroes and villains of 2022
Trying to boil down this eventful, hectic and often tragic year into a single podcast was always going to be a hell of a challenge - but here on the CapX…
The CapitalistEducating England
Wherever you look workers are going on strike and our schools are no exception - even though Jeremy Hunt managed to find an extra few billion behind the…
The CapitalistCensus sensibilities
What kind of country is Britain today? That might be a rather broad question, but thanks to the recently published census, we can have a stab at answering it –…
The CapitalistBaroness Dambisa Moyo on the global growth challenge
Baroness Dambisa Moyo is a seriously impressive woman. She’s worked at the World Bank and Goldman Sachs analysing global economic trends, and sat on the boards…
The CapitalistTyler Cowen on talent, economic optimism – and where to find a decent curry
Our guest this week is one of a kind. A truly polymathic personality, there's not much Tyler Cowen doesn't have a well informed view on, from the merits of…
The CapitalistOliver Wiseman on America's 'red ripple'
We're turning our gaze Stateside this week where the mid-term elections promised a red wave and delivered ,well, something more like a ripple. A bad night for…
The CapitalistIan Acheson on police, prisons and protecting the border
Law and order has shot up the political agenda in the last year or so, with the chaos in the Channel, damning reports into the culture of the Met Police and…
The CapitalistThird time lucky?
Typical isn’t it – you wait ages for a new Prime Minister and then three come along in six months. Rishi Sunak has taken command of a party that’s been through…
The CapitalistIuliia Mendel on working for Zelensky and Ukraine's fight for survival
Volodymyr Zelensky became a a global icon almost overnight following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of this year. The force of his leadership and…
The CapitalistThe CapX Podcast: Bonds, Bailey and Bonking for Britain
We aren't in the habit of quoting Lenin on CapX, but his observation that there are 'decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happen' has felt…
The CapitalistThe CapX Podcast: Richard Reeves on why modern men are struggling
When we think of the fight for gender equality, more often than not it's framed in terms of the unequal, often violent, treatment suffered by women and girls…
The CapitalistThe CapX Podcast: Julian Jessop on a tough week for 'Trussonomics'
There's no doubt it's been tough week for proponents of so-called 'Trussonomics', with the Government's Growth Plan taking pelters from all sides and the Bank…
The CapitalistEdward Chancellor on The Price of Time
From ancient Mesopatamia to the Monetary Policy Committee, the story of trade, commerce and capitalism is also the story of interest rates. Few people are as…
The CapitalistBrad DeLong on Slouching Towards Utopia
In a world of relentless, high-velocity news, sometimes it pays to take a step back and look at the big picture. Our guest this week, the US economist Brad…
The CapitalistExam questions with Dr David James
It’s results season, so as well as an opportunity to offer congratulations or commiserations to all our many teenage listeners getting their GCSEs and A Levels…
The CapitalistRobert Colvile and Henry Hill on the way water works
Water, water everywhere...this week's news has been dominated by rows over the privatised utilities. From polluting water companies to 'greedy' energy bosses…
The CapitalistAre you a Booster or a Doomster?
Are you a booster or a doomster? A recent article by the economist and CapX regular Sam Bowman suggests this is the divide in UK economic policy. For the…
The CapitalistMadeline Grant on the age of 'vibes politics'
This week we were delighted to welcome one of the stars of the centre-right media landscape, Madeline Grant. After starting out in thinktank world at the…
The CapitalistTomiwa Owolade on culture, cancellation and 'decolonising the curriculum'
In the last few years our guest this week, Tomiwa Owolade, has emerged as one of the most thoughtful, persuasive and eloquent young writers in Britain today…
The CapitalistAnd then there were two...
This week saw the hottest day in recorded history here in the UK – and things were equally fiery down in the Commons corridors as we whittled the Tory field…
The CapitalistDr Jade McGlynn on Putin’s memory-makers
While most of us in the West are pretty unequivocal about Vladimir Putin’s brutal campaign against Ukraine, in Russia itself a sophisticated infrastructure of…
The CapitalistBoris got done
Just last week Boris Johnson was bestriding the world stage, joking about showing his pecs to Putin at the G7 and Nato summit. Today he is Prime Minister in…
The CapitalistOwen Polley on Protocol politics
Too often neglected and misunderstood by both politicians and commentators on this side of the Irish Sea, Northern Ireland has in recent years been thrust into…
The CapitalistOff the rails?
As if the British economy didn't have enough problems with soaring inflation, swathes of the country literally ground to a half this week thanks to massive…
The CapitalistTom Harris on the SNP's 'neverendum'
You never have too long to wait before the SNP and its leader Nicola Sturgeon are beating the drum for another independence referendum. The dream of separation…
The CapitalistA matter of confidence
It's been a truly tumultuous week, even by the elevated standards of farce we've come to expect in British politics. Monday saw a vote of confidence called in…
The CapitalistWhat Britain really thinks with James Johnson
So it’s finally here, the long awaited Sue Gray report was published this week and it was great stuff for journalists – with lurid details of excessive…
The CapitalistHow to solve a problem like inflation
There’s only one story in town this week when it comes to British politics and that’s the soaring cost of…well, just about everything. Consumer price inflation…
The CapitalistVladimir Ashurkov on standing up to Putin
As well as visiting untold horrors on the Ukrainian people, Vladimir Putin’s regime has launched a new wave of unprecedented repression in Russia itself…