Share Sounds from The Bigger Picture

Podcast Directory

Strand: Consuming Issues
Programme: The Bigger Picture
Clear Selection
Gavin Oldham

The Bigger Picture: Spring Statement 2025

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Spring Statement 2025
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her March '25 Spring Statement — this is an unabridged audio record of her speech to the House of Commons
Published:
Listen

Editors Pick

Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Rachel Reeves's Statement, improving the housing market & university free speech

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Rachel Reeves's Statement, improving the housing market & university free speech
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says that if the markets turn against the government then it is real trouble. If Reeves increases taxes in the Autumn, as many expect, then we will be in a doom loop. He admires an idea from Dr. Madsen Pirie of the Adam Smith Institute for using a blockchain approach to speed up the lamentable speed of the UK housing market. Why can the Americans move so easily? And he discusses the record fine imposed on the University of Sussex over the case involving Professor Kathleen Stock, a big victory for defenders of free speech.
Guest:

Professor Tim Evans

Published:
Listen
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: A fifth of UK adults not looking for work, Starmer as an international statesman

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: A fifth of UK adults not looking for work, Starmer as an international statesman
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses the fact that a fifth of UK adults are still not looking for work, what used to be called NEETS. The Government has to focus on getting as many people as it can into work sustainably, laying the groundwork for what it will be judged for at the next election. Mike believes that its communication strategy has improved massively. Starmer has come into his own on the international stage, arguably moving into the space at the top of Europe while the US is playing silly buggers with foreign policy. While it will take time to ramp up Europe's defence capability, governments have to think the unthinkable.
Guest:

Mike Indian

Published:
Listen
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: What is Trump really up to, lessons from the Laffer Curve & the centre-right civil war

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: What is Trump really up to, lessons from the Laffer Curve & the centre-right civil war
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says that Donald Trump wants to push through a fundamental rebalancing of the US economy, shifting wealth from the public to private sector. He is willing to go through a period of chaos to do so, using tariffs as a blunt foreign policy tool to bully and cajole. In the UK, we may be at, or over, the peak of the Laffer Curve where taxes cause a change in behaviour. 15-30% of cigarette purchases could now be illicit. Will the government reduce duty to increase revenue? And with Labour stealing some centre-right policies, will the strife in those parties intensify and how can they respond?
Guest:

Professor Tim Evans

Published:
Listen
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Trump & Zelensky, Europe's response and what US tariffs could mean

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Trump & Zelensky, Europe's response and what US tariffs could mean
Political commentator Mike Indian says that since Trump's return to the White House, we are living in a very different world. The presidency is more sure-footed than Trump's haphazard first term. The staged falling out with Zelensky is a confirmation of the US pivot away from the world stage to a sharper, more protectionist era. It helped Keir Starmer have his best week as PM since he took office and Europe's talk of rearmament is history in the making. It is hard to see Trump's imposition of tariffs – effectively a tax on his own people – doing anything other than slowing the global economy and causing a spike in inflation. It will certainly impact the UK government's ability to choose its spending priorities.
Guest:

Mike Indian

Published:
Listen
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: What is Trump up to, Labour is panicking in Wales & countering historical ignorance

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: What is Trump up to, Labour is panicking in Wales & countering historical ignorance
As Keir Starmer is about to visit Washington, Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University thinks Trump's grand plan with regard to Europe and Ukraine is to prevent Russia becoming China's extraction site and tempt Russia out of China's orbit. With UK local elections looming, he thinks Labour are panicking, particularly in Wales. After over a century of Labour rule he feels that, as with the Conservatives in Scotland, Labour could now be so unpopular that Reform and Farage could end up dominating Welsh politics. And he discusses an article by Lord Roberts attempting to correct historical ignorance about the Nazis.
Guest:

Professor Tim Evans

Published:
Listen
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Trump, Ukraine and what it means for Europe & Labour MPs' offensive messages

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Trump, Ukraine and what it means for Europe & Labour MPs' offensive messages
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses President Trump's recent statements on Ukraine, accusing it of having started the war, blocking elections and President Zelensky of being a dictator. How viable is Keir Starmer's statement that the UK will stand by Ukraine? After 78 years, relying on NATO for joint defence is no longer a certainty and puts presure on the UK's spending priorities. He also discusses the lack of awareness shown by Labour MPs over their offensive WhatsApp messages. Taken with other things, like gifts and fibs on CVs, it is death by a thousand cuts though Labour's big majority means that most MPs – bar Reeves – are expendable. However, the local elections could weaken Starmer's authority.
Guest:

Mike Indian

Published:
Listen
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Trump is playing a clever game & could the Tories become the UK's 4th party?

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Trump is playing a clever game & could the Tories become the UK's 4th party?
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says that people are misreading Donald Trump. Discussing Greenland, Gaza, the Panama Canal, North Korea, NATO and more, he says that there is coherency there. Trump enjoys chaos and is actually thinking several chess moves ahead. He is forever and a day a New York real estate developer – loud, proud, bold and radical. Tim feels that with Reform consistently ahead in the polls and poised to have the largest UK party membership, this is the most important development in British politics in 40 years. The Conservative Party may haemorrhage money, talent and members and could even find themselves the fourth party behind the LibDems at the next election.
Guest:

Professor Tim Evans

Published:
Listen
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: Starmer & the EU, Is Reeves' growth speech enough and Trump & Gaza

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: Starmer & the EU, Is Reeves' growth speech enough and Trump & Gaza
While "Never Here" Keir Starmer thinks the UK can reset its position with the EU, political commentator Mike Indian believes the government is viewing the stagnating EU with rose-tinted spectacles and that this will not be a panacea for our financial troubles. Despite talking about it a great deal, the government has done little so far to promote growth and Reeves' recent speech highlighting a third runway at Heathrow will do little to change that. We need a better-connected country and should be encouraging local mutuals. Mike finds Trump's ideas for Gaza irresponsible and risks plunging the region back into conflict.
Guest:

Mike Indian

Published:
Listen
Simon Rose

The Bigger Picture: What Labour is getting right (& the Tories wrong) and Trump's Executive Orders

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture: What Labour is getting right (& the Tories wrong) and Trump's Executive Orders
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says that there was much in Rachel Reeves's recent speech, including her desire to see expansion at Heathrow, that was sensible and should have been done years ago by the Tories. But there was no realisation that her Budget had been disastrous, particularly on taxation. The Conservatives, though, are going about opposition in totally the wrong way and should recognise that there is a higher calling. With Trump's issuing of so many Executive Orders – so many his opponents will have trouble pushing back on all of them – he feels that America has almost discovered a monarchical system of government. But although some Europeans may be envious of the can-do spirit, he worries whether the polarisation of American politics may portend darker days ahead.
Guest:

Professor Tim Evans

Published:
Listen

© 2025 Share Radio: as from Friday 5th May 2017 when Share Radio went 100% online, the station, together with its sister channel Share Music, operate as part of Share Premium Ltd, which is registered in England, no. 10446463 VAT Regn. 267624772. 

Web Design Agency - Zebedee