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Wild Britain – a challenging thought experiment
Review of Inside Science: Wild Britain Wild Britain is an episode of the Radio 4 programme Inside Science which was broadcast on May 5th 2023. The programme was presented by Gaia Vince and her panelists were Richard Benwell, Meredith Whitten, Hugo Tagholm and George Monbiot. At the 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15), the UK…
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GDP growth – the Emperor has no clothes
Review of Moral Maze: Is Growth a False God? Is Growth a False God? is an episode of the Radio 4 programme Moral Maze broadcast on 22nd March 2023. Presented by Michael Buerk, the programme has an unusual format where four semi-regular panelists question and elicit testimony from several invited guests representing opposite sides of…
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Starting the week with the most important conversation
Review of Start the week: Democratic capitalism – marriage on the rocks Democratic capitalism – marriage on the rocks is an episode of the Radio 4 Start the Week programme broadcast on 27th February 2023. The programme was presented by Tom Sutcliffe who expertly marshalled contributions from Bernie Sanders, Kate Raworth and Martin Wolf. The…
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Analysis or a PR exercise for economic globalisation?
Review of Analysis: The death of globalisation? The death of globalisation? is an episode of the Radio 4 Analysis programme broadcast on 27th February 2023. The presenter was Ian Goldin and there were contributions from Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minouche Shafik, Zanny Minton Beddoes, Rana Foroohar and Kishore Mahbubani. Early on in this program, globalisation was defined thus: “globalisation is about the movement of things,…
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Abundant Energy – a thought experiment that forgot a key variable
Review of Inside Science: Abundant energy Abundant energy – an episode of BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science programme – is a thought experiment imagining a world where energy is abundant, cheap and highly available. I listened to it on 9th February 2023. The programme was presented by Inside Science regular Gaia Vince with contributions from…
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A rare challenge to the hegemony of growth on Radio 4
Review of Analysis: Economic Growth – can we ever have enough? Economic Growth – can we ever have enough? is an episode of the Radio 4 Analysis programme first broadcast on 12th November 2022. The received wisdom that maximising economic growth should be at the heart of economic and social policy is rarely challenged in…
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Understand The Economy – much to like but seriously flawed
Review of Understand: The Economy series 1, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. Understand: The Economy is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast in 2022/23. Episodes 1-10 were presented by Tim Harford and 11-15 by Felicity Hannah. I enjoyed the series and thought all episodes to be well presented, informative and engaging – there…
