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Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: General Election Special – What can we expect?

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: General Election Special – What can we expect?
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses the main parties' prospects for the UK's General Election. He thinks that this might be a day without a high turnout. With so many Tory MPs abandoning politics, he feels that the gap between the Conservative Party and its membership will become even wider. He discusses Labour's big Achilles' heel and laments the lack of an element of excitement, though he expects the TV debates to be interesting. A change of government, he says, could be a good thing. It will shake the Conservatives out of complacency, though Labour might find that the current control freakery will come back to haunt them.
Guest:

Mike Indian


Published:
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Thoughts on the election, challenges to global companies & understanding populism

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Thoughts on the election, challenges to global companies & understanding populism
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University offers some thoughts on the General Election, explaining that Rishi Sunak is not a lucky PM. This is, he points out, a year in which half of humanity is going to the polls, with 1.4 billion Indians entitled to vote. But with press freedoms being curtailed, is the country sleepwalking into becominging a managed democracy and can it maintain growth while reducing its serious unemployment problems, particularly among young graduates? He also looks at the problems global companies have with mounting geo-political tensions and why economists need to think precisely about populism, as political scientists have for some time.
Guest:

Professor Tim Evans


Published:
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Starmer's six pledges, underinvestment in infrastructure & who is pulling Labour's strings?

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Starmer's six pledges, underinvestment in infrastructure & who is pulling Labour's strings?
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses Keir Starmer's six pledges as the long General Election campaign gets underway. He looks at why underinvestment in infrastructure in the UK is coming back to haunt us, offering some suggestions at ways to improve things. And he looks at who is pulling the strings in Labour behind the scenes at think tank Labour Together. Although Labour may mock the chaos of the Conservative Party, Mike wonders how turbulent the broad church of the Labour Party will be when it is in power.
Guest:

Mike Indian


Published:
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Labour & Donald Trump, the future of Conservatism & the shocking NHS estate

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Labour & Donald Trump, the future of Conservatism & the shocking NHS estate
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University looks at shadow foreign secretary David Lammy's attempts to woo Donald Trump as well as Joe Biden. With even the Prime Minister appearing not to believe the Conservatives will be in Government soon, he considers the future of the party and "Conservatism", wondering if there is going to be a massive shake-up of the order of British politics. And he looks at the shocking state of the NHS estate, with over 2,000 hospital buildings predating the birth of the NHS in 1948.
Guest:

Professor Tim Evans


Published:
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: The SNP Leadership, OECD & UK growth & Labour and zero-hours contracts

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: The SNP Leadership, OECD & UK growth & Labour and zero-hours contracts
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses what will happen to the SNP after the resignation of Humza Yousaf. With devolution now 25 years old, he highlights the problems faced by all single-issue parties and believes it cannot defy gravity for much longer. He highlights the OECD report that the UK will be the worst-performing G7 economy next year, which should worry Labour as well as the Government. And he looks at Labour's apparent decision to abandon its pledge to ban zero-hours contracts.
Guest:

Mike Indian


Published:
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Top earners fleeing Scotland, the Mondragon Experiment & the UK defence budget

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Top earners fleeing Scotland, the Mondragon Experiment & the UK defence budget
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University discusses the report that higher-rate Scottish taxpayers have been heading south, explaining that it shows the truth of the Laffer Curve in action. He highlights the Basque Region's Mondragon Experiment which, in showing that there is a different way of running businesses, is effectively socialism without the state. Could it offer a future direction for the NHS? And he wonders how an increase in the UK's defence spending, announced by the Prime Minister, could work with so many other urgent calls on the public purse.
Guest:

Professor Tim Evans


Published:
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Will Rwanda flights happen, the UK's influence over Israel, the smoking bill & Liz Truss's book

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Will Rwanda flights happen, the UK's influence over Israel, the smoking bill & Liz Truss's book
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses the latest delay in the Rwanda Bill, asking if the flights will ever get off the ground. In the light of Iran's drone and missile attack, he wonders how much influence the UK has, or should seek to exert, over Israel. Is the rebellion over the smoking bill about freedom or manoeuvering for post-election power? And he assesses Liz Truss's book.
Guest:

Mike Indian


Published:
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Demographics & public services, the truth about money & the libertarian origins of cryptocurrency

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Demographics & public services, the truth about money & the libertarian origins of cryptocurrency
Professor Tim Evans discusses the way in which an ageing population and fewer young people is creating huge problems for our economy. Money is not necessarily the answer. We are running up the down escalator and public services must be reformed. He considers an article which points out how even our top institutions and economists don't understand money and how it is lent into existence from thin air. Lastly, he recaps an article from an American think tank which points out how 1990s libertarians almost inadvertently started developing early forms of digital cash before the arrival of the internet.
Guest:

Professor Tim Evans


Published:
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Why Sunak is so obsessed with Rwanda flights, GE polling & WASPI compensation

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Why Sunak is so obsessed with Rwanda flights, GE polling & WASPI compensation
Political commentator Mike Indian considers why Rishi Sunak is so determined to get the Rwanda deportee flights off the ground, even to the extent of claiming it is more important than being part of the ECHR. Has he simply dug himself so big a hole that he can't get out again? Mike looks at the polling for the local elections and the General Election, asking if Labour really is on course for a landslide. And he wonders whether the next government will have to pay compensation to the WASPI women, which could be a considerable sum.
Guest:

Mike Indian


Published:
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Insupportable state pensions, BIS warnings on state debt and NHS dissatisfaction

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Insupportable state pensions, BIS warnings on state debt and NHS dissatisfaction
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University explains why the state pension age will have to rise, and rise quite soon, even though no vote-hungry politician is brave enough to admit it. Will any of them listen to the head of the Bank of International Settlements, who has warned governments to rein in borrowing to prevent a world debt crisis? And he looks at the collapse in public satisfaction with the NHS, not just in England but also in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Where, he asks, is the political will to admit that the 1948 NHS system is no longer fit for purpose and think afresh?
Guest:

Professor Tim Evans


Published: