239 | Adam Tooze/Shockwave

David and Helen talk to Adam Tooze about what we know about the crisis that we didn't know a month ago, and what we still don't have much of a clue about. From fights inside the French government to the fate of the planet, from shale gas to corona bonds, we try to join up the dots. Plus a small update, recorded after news of the oil price-drop… | Read 'Shockwave' by Adam Tooze in the LRB 

227 | Adam Tooze on the Crisis

We talk to Adam Tooze in New York about the possible impact of coronavirus on the global financial and political system.  How does this crisis compare to the financial crisis of 2008?  What are the implications for the future of the Eurozone?  And what have we learned already about the shift in power from the US to China?  Plus we talk to Helen Thompson in London about how it intersects with the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.  The first of a series of conversations about the biggest event of our times. Updated overnight

102 World Cup Politics

As the World Cup approaches its climax we talk politics and football, on the morning after England's dramatic penalty shootout win over Colombia.  What happened to the warnings that this World Cup would be like the 1936 Berlin Olympics?  Can we learn anything about German politics from the failure of the German football team?  What does England's progress mean for Brexit?  Plus much more, from Saudi Arabia to Croatia to West Ham.  With Helen Thompson and Mike Kenny.
 

92 | What's wrong with GDP?

We talk with economist Diane Coyle about what's wrong with our main measure of economic performance and how it impacts on politics. She tells us what we're missing in our measures of economic activity and she explains how we could do it better.  Plus we discuss whether the unemployment figures still tell a true picture of the world of work and we ask whether the dollar's days as the global reserve currency may be coming to an end.  Numbers and why they matter.  With Helen Thompson and Chris Bickerton.