CapX presents Free Exchange

Free Exchange: David Willetts on how the baby boomers took their children's future

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 16:06:17 GMT

Lord David Willetts has been an intellectual titan on the centre right for the past 30 years. Having worked in Margaret Thatcher’s policy unit, Willetts was an MP between 1992 and 2015, and served as a Cabinet Minister in the coalition government. He is President of the independent think-tank the Resolution Foundation, and the author of a number of books, including The Pinch: How Baby Boomers took their children’s future – and why they should give it back.The book caused quite a stir on publication in 2010, and its thesis has proved remarkably prescient in the years since. So to mark the release of the second edition, our Deputy Editor Frank Lawton sat down with him to discuss the broken social contract and how to fix it.Frank began by asking him when – as a Baby Boomer himself – he first realised he was to blame for everything. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Free Exchange: Raoul Ruparel on how to negotiate a Brexit deal

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 14:32:27 GMT

It’s the Brexit Election – at least according to some broadcasters – yet we’ve had relatively little scrutiny of what ‘getting Brexit done’ actually means if Boris Johnson does win his cherished majority.To shine a light on the next phase of negotiations, I caught up with one of the key players involved in putting together the Withdrawal Agreement. Raoul Ruparel spent two years as Special Adviser to then Brexit Secretary David Davis, followed by a year in 10 Downing St as Theresa May’s Special Adviser on Europe. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Free Exchange: Tales from the campaign trail

Fri, 29 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

With the general election just two weeks away we wanted to get the inside track from three party political experts on how their side’s campaign has gone so far, and what they expect to happen on December 12. From the Lib Dems we welcomed Mark Pack, the Editor of Liberal Democrat Newswire. From Labour, Sienna Rodgers, the Editor LaboutList, and completing the line-up was the regular CapX contributor and Assistant Editor of ConservativeHome, Henry Hill. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Free Exchange: The new dividing line in British politics

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 10:54:34 GMT

Throughout 2019, CapX has been working with the anti-poverty charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on a project about rebalancing Britain - looking at how to tackle the longstanding issues in the British economy such as the gap between towns and cities, rural and urban areas and the different regions of the UK.A big focus of that project has been how to improve the lot of low-income voters. So to discuss that this week, we brought together JRF’s Executive Director Claire Ainsley; pollster extraordinaire James Kanagasooriam; and CapX's Deputy Editor Frank Lawton. I began by asking Claire about just how important low-income voters will be in the coming election. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Free Exchange: Tim Bale on the life and times of political parties

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 12:15:00 GMT

In confusing times, Tim Bale is a rare voice of clarity. Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London, Tim is a regular presence on radio and tv, providing insightful commentary on the latest political crises. The author of many incisive books, including The Conservative Party: from Thatcher to Cameron, and Five Year Mission: Labour under Ed Miliband, Tim spoke to our Deputy Editor, Frank Lawton, about elections, Brexit and his latest co-authored book, Footsoldiers: Political Party Membership in the C21st. Frank began by asking why we need political parties in the first place. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Free Exchange: Peter Pomerantsev on the war against reality

Fri, 08 Nov 2019 05:00:00 GMT

This week we were delighted to welcome Peter Pomerantsev to CapX Towers. Peter is one of the world’s leading writers on propaganda and fake news, and has even given evidence to the US Congress on Russian disinformation. He also boasts a fascinating and varied CV, including many years working as a TV producer in Putin’s Russia – an experience he documented in gripping style in his first book ‘Nothing Is Real and Everything is Possible’. Peter sat down with CapX editor John Ashmore to discuss his latest book ‘This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality”, in which Peter travels the world finding out how despots and demagogues are twisting the truth – and how we can start to fight back. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Free Exchange: Tim Kane on the decline of great powers

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 10:34:42 GMT

Our guest this week is entrepreneur, economist, air force veteran and latterly candidate for the US Congress, Tim Kane. Tim is also the co-author with Glenn Hubbard of the acclaimed book ‘Balance: the Economics of Great powers from ancient Rome to modern America’ – I started by asking him about the thesis behind the book and why it is that great powers end up falling on hard times. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Free Exchange: Konstantin Kisin on free speech in comedy

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 23:00:00 GMT

CapX editor John Ashmore speaks to comedian Konstantin Kisin about growing up in the Soviet Union, the perils of policing free speech and the worrying role of big tech companies in censoring debate. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Free Exchange: The future of capitalism

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 13:14:40 GMT

What is the future of capitalism? This week's Free Exchange exchange, recorded live at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, debates just that. Our Editor John Ashmore chaired an expert panel including the RSA's Alan Lockey, digital policy expert Casey Calista and fellow of the Adam Smith Institute and self-declared inventor of neoliberalism, Sam Bowman, as they discussed the rise of platform capitalism, solving Britain's productivity crisis and whether we should be scared of big tech. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Doomed by demographics?

Tue, 08 Oct 2019 10:30:44 GMT

Are the Conservatives doomed by demographics? With younger and BME voters rejecting the party, what can the Tories do to turn things around and put together an election-winning coalition, not just for the upcoming poll, but for the many to come in the future?That was the question facing the panel for our CapX live debate at the Tory conference in Manchester last week.I invited Conservative activists Elena Bunbury and Resham Kotecha along with polling supremo Joe Twyman to chat about the challenge ahead, the perils of tokenism, and how the party can truly offer something for everyone. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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The Case for Conservatism

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 11:36:12 GMT

This week is a special episode of Free Exchange, recorded live at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester. The director of the Centre for Policy Studies, Robert Colvile, was joined by some of the leading lights on the right to discuss why free markets, competition and conservatism really are the route to prosperity. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Gisela Stuart on Britain's absent foreign policy

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 09:55:19 GMT

Gisela Stuart is a rare figure in British politics - a Labour politician who campaigned wholeheartedly for Brexit.As an MP from 1997-2017, Gisela is perhaps best known for her role in the 2016 referendum, where she chaired the Vote Leave campaign and appeared in the TV debates. But her deep interest in constitutional and foreign affairs long-predates that referendum. Gisela sat on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee for nearly a decade, was a founding signatory to the foreign policy think tank The Henry Jackson Society, and is now Chair of Wilton Park, an executive agency of the Foreign Office dedicated to mediation and resolving international conflict. Our Assistant Editor, Frank Lawton, sat down with her to chat all things foreign affairs. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Marie Le Conte on how the Westminster bubble really works

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 23:01:00 GMT

This week it was our great pleasure to be joined by journalist Marie Le Conte, whose new book on Westminster gossip lifts the lift on how things really work in the corridors of power.We sat down to chat about the power of WhatsApp, clashing political cultures, and the fine art of coffee hopping. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Free Exchange: The criminal cartels running Cuba and Venezuela

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 11:40:00 GMT

This week we're going international and talking about two connected regimes that have been brought to their knees by brutal authoritarian governments: Cuba and Venezuela.Boris Arenas Gonzalez was blocked from leaving Cuba by the Communist regime, so joins us down the line from Havana to talk about the political situation, the centrality of the black market, and his life as a pro-democracy activist.Diego Moya Ocampos grew up in Venezuela and now works as a political risk analyst at IHS Market in London. Rather than seeing the situation in Venezuela as evidence of the failure of central planning, Ocampos argues that the governing class operates in practice as a criminal cartel. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Peter Riddell on good government and the uncertain life of a British Minister

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 13:56:37 GMT

Peter Riddell is one of the country’s most respected analysts of the workings of government, parliament and Whitehall.Prior to his current role as Commissioner for Public Appointments, Peter was the Director of the Institute for Government, and a journalist with over 40 years experience during which he has held editorial positions at The FT and The Times.He is also the author of 8 books, including 15 Minutes of Power: The Uncertain Life of British Ministers and In Defence of Politicians (In Spite of Themselves). Our Assistant Editor Frank Lawton began by asking why politicians needed defending in the first place. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Sir Malcolm Rifkind

Fri, 16 Aug 2019 11:30:27 GMT

Our guest this week is a true heavyweight of the British political scene. Sir Malcolm Rifkind spent more than a decade in Cabinet from 1986 to 1997, beginning as Scotland Secretary under Margaret Thatcher before going on to serve as Transport Secretary, Defence Secretary and finally Foreign Secretary under John Major. In 2010 David Cameron appointed Sir Malcolm to chair Parliament’s Joint Intelligence Committee, with oversight of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.I sat down with Sir Malcolm to discuss the changing role of the Foreign Secretary, how Britain should deal with a rising China and what the future holds after Brexit. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Robert D. Kaplan on the future of a bipolar world

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Robert D. Kaplan is the author of some 18 books and is widely-regarded as one of the world’s leading thinkers on foreign policy, defence and geopolitics. He’s been named in Foreign Policy’s ‘Top 100 Global Thinkers’, and he’s advised Kings, Prime Ministers and Defence Secretaries all over the world. He’s reported from over 100 countries, giving him a grounding in the reality of foreign affairs that most pundits could only dream of. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Owen Bennett on Michael Gove

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 15:41:41 GMT

Our guest this week is the journalist and author Owen Bennett. Owen has been a member of the parliamentary lobby since 2014, writing for publications such as the Daily Express, HP and City AM, and he was recently appointed Whitehall Editor at the Daily Telegraph. In between reporting on the highs and lows of British politics he’s managed to write three books – Following Farage, The Brexit Club and his soon-to-be-released biography Michael Gove, A Man In A Hurry. We sat down to talk about Gove’s upbringing, his time in the Oxford Union and those infamous cocaine revelations. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Free Exchange: Anne Applebaum

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 06:00:00 GMT

Our guest this week is the world-renowned historian and journalist Anne Applebaum. Anne is a regular columnist in the Washington Post, a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and the author of a number of critically acclaimed books on the Soviet era, including Gulag – A History, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2004. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Niall Ferguson on Europe, Brexit and Boris

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 10:10:00 GMT

For the latest episode of Free Exchange, CapX’s acting editor John Ashmore sat down with one of the world’s most renowned historians, Niall Ferguson. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Steven Pinker's inconvenient truths

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 13:08:00 GMT

In his final episode as host of free exchange and editor of CapX, Oliver Wiseman talks to Steven Pinker For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Rory Stewart wants to be Britain's next prime minister

Tue, 04 Jun 2019 06:20:31 GMT

Is Rory Stewart 2019’s answer to Nick Clegg? Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson thinks so. Like Nick Clegg, she said of the unlikely star of the early phases of the Tory leadership contest, he is 'changing political communication'. But, she added, 'like Nick, I fear the electorate will appreciate him yet vote for someone else.'Whether or not you think this week’s guest is the best candidate to be the next Conservative leader, Rory Stewart has been a breath of fresh air in the last week or so, escaping Westminster to tour the country and talk politics with whoever will listen. With his social media videos he has cut out the middle man and inserted himself into the conversation about the future of his party and the country.Now most of his colleagues expect these walking tours to be an entertaining distraction before they settle down to the serious task of selecting Britain’s next Prime Minister. But Stewart isn’t running to be a inoffensive amuse bouche. He means business.For this week's episode of Free Exchange, I met up with him in St James’s Park to talk about everything from the social care and Brexit to opium pipes and why he is the 'Trumpian anti-Trump'. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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David Brooks climbs the second mountain

Fri, 24 May 2019 07:11:09 GMT

My guest for the first in a new run of Free Exchange episodes is the New York Times columnist and bestselling author David Brooks. His previous books include The Road to Character, The Social Animal and Bobos in Paradise. Most recently, he is the author of The Second Mountain.In his latest work, he deals with a bigger issue than the stuff we usually worry about here at CapX: what does it mean to live a good life? That is a personal question, and The Second Mountain is a very personal book. But it is not without political implications. Mr Brooks is critical of meritocracy. He cites the grim statistics about deaths of despair and loneliness in America. He thinks something needs to change if people are to live more fulfilling lives, and his book is an attempt to put his finger on what that thing might be. Mr Brooks was in London earlier this week and came to CapX's offices to talk about The Second Mountain. I started by asking him about the personal crisis that serves as the book's starting point. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Will Tanner on the generation gap

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 14:57:54 GMT

We spend an awful lot of time worrying about the political weather. But behind the day-to-day drama, the political climate is changing too - and in fundamental ways. One of the biggest shifts in recent years is the widening generational gap. There have always been differences between younger and older voters, but they are getting harder and harder to ignore. In fact, age – not class or income – is now the best predictor of how someone will vote.The younger you are, the less likely you are to vote Tory. And that problem for the right appears to be getting worse. So if you want to understand the challenges the Conservative Party face, tackling the generational aspect of modern politics is unavoidable. On Monday, Onward, a centre-right think tank, published the latest set of polling on the Conservatives’ generational woes. For this week’s episode of Free Exchange I spoke to Will Tanner, director of Onward and former adviser to Theresa May, about what is driving Britain’s widening age gap, and what the Conservative Party should do about it. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Matt Forde on the funny side of politics

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 09:44:08 GMT

Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Westminster’s Brexit crisis continues to deepen and the mood on all sides in SW1 continues to darken. Which is why this week on Free Exchange my colleague John Ashmore and I decided to cheer ourselves up by talking to Matt Forde. Matt is one of Britain’s leading political comedians. He hosts 'Unspun' on Dave and his podcast ‘The Political Party’ features interviews with some of the most interesting people in politics. We spoke to Matt about his time as a political adviser, whether it’s getting harder to make jokes about politics as the debate gets nastier and why he’s fallen out of love with the Labour party.Tickets are available now for his new show, 'Brexit Through the Gift Shop' at the Bloomsbury Theatre on May 25. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Brexit: Where next?

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 17:34:10 GMT

Ever since Theresa May wrote to Donald Tusk to trigger Article 50 two years ago, March 29th, 2019, has been a Brexit lodestar. The UK’s planned departure date has been a point of comparative clarity in what has been an exceptionally turbulent period.This week, the Prime Minister officially abandoned her plan for Britain to leave the EU on time, writing to Donald Tusk to ask for a short extension to Article 50.There is no guarantee that the EU will accept the request. More generally, with just nine days to go until what was supposed to be Brexit day, what will happen next remains staggeringly unclear.In an emergency episode of Free Exchange, CapX's Editor Oliver Wiseman spoke to three astute Brexitologists to try to make sense of the great riddle of British politics that only gets more complicated.Helping me get my head around the latest developments was the Institute for Government’s Tim Durrant, Open Europe’s Dominic Walsh and CapX’s very own John Ashmore. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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John Rentoul on Tony Blair

Thu, 14 Mar 2019 06:15:26 GMT

Tony Blair was arguably the most electorally successful Prime Minister in recent British history. And yet, if you ask British voters today what they think of the man behind New Labour the answer is not exactly an enthusiastic thumbs up. Just 22 per cent think Blair did a good job, while 49 per cent think he did a bad job.Nowhere is the repudiation of Blair clearer than at the top of the Labour Party. For those with their hands on the reins today, ‘Blairite’ is about the worst insult going. And it is impossible to understand the rise of Corbyn without appreciating Blair’s legacy.My guest this week is someone who takes a very different view of Blair. John Rentoul is the Independent’s chief political commentator who, unusually for a Westminster journalist, also teaches a course on Tony Blair with Jon Davis at King’s College, London.Davis and Rentoul have just published a book on the Blair government aptly titled Heroes or Villains? The Blair Government Reconsidered. They make generous use of fascinating first-hand testimony to paint a more flattering portrait of New Labour than many on both the left or the right would agree with.For this week’s episode of Free Exchange, I spoke to John Rentoul about things Blair: what were his biggest achievements? How much of the blame does he deserve for contemporary political problems? Why was his relationship with Gordon Brown quite so dysfunctional? And how, ultimately, will history judge him? For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Sam Bowman on neoliberalism

Thu, 07 Mar 2019 07:31:02 GMT

If someone utters the word ‘neoliberal’ in a political debate, chances are they’re using it as a term of abuse. However, in recent years, a small but growing group have tried to reclaim the word, transforming an insult left-wingers hurl at free marketeers to something more meaningful. My guest on the podcast this week is a member of that group.As well as being one of the most compelling advocates of neoliberalism, Sam Bowman is a font of interesting and thought-provoking opinions on a wide range of policy questions. Until a few years ago, Sam worked at the Adam Smith Institute. Now he works at the consultancy Fingleton Associates. He is also an occasional CapX contributor.He recently came into our offices to talk all things neoliberalism. I hope you enjoy the conversation. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Gisela Stuart on Brexit and the Labour Party

Wed, 27 Feb 2019 06:14:18 GMT

My guest this week is Gisela Stuart. Gisela was elected as the Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston in the 1997 landside that brought New Labour to power. Her seat had returned a Conservative MP for the previous 99 years but she won as the Labour candidate in five successive elections before stepping down in 2017.Gisela became a household name late on in her political career, when, during the 2016 referendum, she chaired the Leave campaign, taking part in the televised Wembley debate watched by millions and touring the country with Boris Johnson and Michael Gove in the now infamous Vote Leave battle bus.As a German-born ally of Europhile Tony Blair, she was, on paper at least, an unlikely person to head up the campaign to take Britain out of the EU. But meeting Gisela, it soon becomes clear you are dealing with an original thinker reluctant to follow anyone’s lead on a question as important as Europe.I spoke to Gisela about the reason for Euroscepticism, the state of the Brexit debate, whether she supports the Prime Minister’s deal, the legacy of the referendum and the health of her party – including whether or not she would continue to take the Labour whip were she still an MP. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Fredrik Erixon on the Innovation Illusion

Thu, 21 Feb 2019 06:00:41 GMT

We are said to be living in an age of rapid technological transformation, with another game-changing new gadget just around the corner and innovations overhauling everything from how we communicate to what jobs we do.But is our economic system really as innovative as we think? Not according to this week’s guest on Free Exchange.Fredrik Erixon argues that far from being dominated by swashbuckling entrepreneurs, the version of Western capitalism in place today is defined by a dreary managerialism and a stultifying aversion to risk. The result is slow growth, stagnating living standards -- and unhappy voters.Fredrik set out this argument in a book called The Innovation Illusion: How So Little Is Created By So Many Working So Hard, which he wrote with co-author Bjorn Weigel a few years ago. Fredrik is also the director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, a think tank based in Brussels.I spoke to Fredrik about the ways in which we have lost our way economically, what that means politically, and we can rediscover the recipe for success. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Rory Sutherland on what economists get wrong

Fri, 08 Feb 2019 06:36:22 GMT

My guest on the podcast this week is Rory Sutherland. Rory is the Vice Chairman of the advertising agency Ogilvy, a job title which the company’s website describes as ‘attractively vague’.Rory is not your average ad man. After more than 20 years as a copywriter and creative director for the firm, he set up an in-house behavioural economics practice. And outside the day job, he writes the Wiki Man column for the Spectator.In his journalism, speeches and in conversation Rory is a fount of counterintuitive, insightful and entertaining arguments that mean he is never knowingly dull.I met him earlier this week at Ogilvy’s London offices, where we discussed, among many other things, the relationship between innovation and marketing, why McDonalds is a safer bet than the Fat Duck, and what economists get wrong about human nature. I started by asking him what advice he had for those of us keen to persuade more people of the merits of the market. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Cass Sunstein on nudges and freedom

Fri, 01 Feb 2019 12:20:50 GMT

This week's guest on Free Exchange is the co-author of one of the most consequential books written in recent years. Cass Sunstein is a professor at Harvard Law School and one of America's most prolific and prominent academics. Nudge, which he wrote with the economist Richard Thaler just over a decade ago, applied the insights of behavioural economics to policymaking. Its publication was the start of a quiet revolution in government, with the creation of so-called 'nudge units' that have found ways of boosting pension saving, reducing energy consumption and catching cancer earlier with small changes that make it as easy as possible for people to make the right choices.I spoke to Cass about nudges, his time putting theory into practice in the Obama administration, and his new book, On Freedom, in which he argues that we need to rethink freedom of choice. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Paul Collier on the future of capitalism

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 16:35:47 GMT

This week's guest on Free Exchange, the CapX podcast, is Sir Paul Collier, Professor of Economics at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.As a development economist, Paul has spent his life tackling some of the thorniest and most important questions around: what is holding the world’s poorest back? And what can be done to give them a route out of that poverty? His bestselling book The Bottom Billion, published a decade ago, quickly became a must-read for anyone remotely interested in the area.More recently, however, Paul's focus has changed. His latest book, The Future of Capitalism, deals with what he thinks has gone wrong not in a failed African state, but here in the West. And he thinks our political and economic system isn’t living up to the promises we make about it. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Henry Newman on where Brexit Britain goes next

Thu, 17 Jan 2019 15:16:40 GMT

CapX Editor Oliver Wiseman speaks to Henry Newman, Director of Open Europe and one of the most eagle-eyed Brexit watchers in SW1, to try and make sense of the latest developments. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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The CapX Awards: 2018

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 12:58:19 GMT

For the final episode of the year, Oliver Wiseman and a group of CapX contributors hand out the gongs in the CapX Awards For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Jonathan Tepper on the Myth of Capitalism

Fri, 14 Dec 2018 11:54:20 GMT

You might think the United States is a dynamic, free market economy - but you'd be wrong.In their new book The Myth of Capitalism, Jonathan Tepper and Denise Hearn show convincingly that modern America is actually characterised by "ersatz capitalism", with a few big players dominating swathes of the economy, capturing regulators and screwing over consumers into the bargain.CapX Deputy Editor John Ashmore sat down with Jonathan to discuss the way out of America's malaise, the impact of oligopoly capitalism on Western society and whether there's cause to be optimistic about the future. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Adrian Wooldridge on Capitalism in America

Wed, 05 Dec 2018 14:49:29 GMT

This week's episode of Free Exchange is a recording of the most recent CapX Live event: a conversation with Adrian Wooldridge, the political editor of the Economist, where he also writes the Bagehot column on British politics. Adrian came to CapX HQ to talk about his new book. He and former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan have recently published Capitalism in America, a brilliant economic history of the United States.In explaining America's unlikely rise -- one of the greatest success stories in human history -- Greenspan and Wooldridge make the case for popular capitalism. In doing so, they use the past to explain how America can rediscover its dynamism and make the most of the future. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Eric Kaufmann on Whiteshift

Fri, 30 Nov 2018 14:14:45 GMT

Since the election of Donald Trump and, to a lesser extent, the Brexit referendum, there’s been a fierce debate about what caused these political earthquakes. Are the drivers of these votes primarily economic or cultural? The economic side of the argument is the more popular one. Consider, for example, the stereotypical Trump voter: someone probably in the Midwest who has been on the sharp end of globalisation. He has struggled to find work since deindustrialisation rendered his skills redundant. He is one of the losers of recent economic history. Eric Kaufmann, Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, London, thinks this caricature is badly wrong. His new book Whiteshift is attracting plenty of attention – and praise – for the more uncomfortable conclusion it draws: that recent ruptures like Trump and Brexit can be almost entirely explained by identity, not economics. According to Kaufmann, they are a consequence of demographic change. The white majority is declining and as it does so, it feels culturally threatened. That, he argues forcefully, is why the anti-immigrant message of candidates like Trump is so appealing. For the podcast this week, I met Eric in his Bickbeck office to talk about the ideas in his monumental and thorough study of a difficult subject. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Brexit: What next?

Wed, 21 Nov 2018 16:49:21 GMT

This week's episode of Free Exchange is on... you guessed it: Brexit. The Prime Minister may have dodged a confidence vote for the time being, but everyone seems to agree that she will struggle to get her deal through the House of Commons. What happens if she loses that vote? And can she go back to the renegotiating table in an effort to allay some of her colleague's concerns? CapX Editor Oliver Wiseman was joined by Stephen Booth, Director of Policy and Research at Open Europe, Lee Rowley, Conservative MP for North East Derbyshire and one of the backbenchers who has submitted a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister, and John Ashmore, Deputy Editor of CapX, to make sense of an uncertain time in Westminster. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Jamie Susskind on Future Politics

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 16:09:55 GMT

This week we’re bringing you a recording of a CapX Live event held at our offices last week. I sat down with Jamie Susskind to talk about his new book, Future Politics.Jamie’s book is an invaluable, and at times terrifying, guide to the ways in which we are hopelessly unprepared for the rapid technological change is going to transform politics.Jamie and I spoke about what these transformative new technologies are, how worried we should be about big tech, why so many politicians get technology so badly wrong, and whether the core principles of political philosophy are still relevant in the digital age. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Matthew Goodwin on National Populism

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 11:15:47 GMT

Arguably the most important political trend across the West in recent years has been the rise of national populism. It had a hand in the election of Donald Trump and the vote for Brexit. It has upended politics in numerous European countries. It is tempting -- and reassuring -- to see this anti-establishment wave as a flash in the pan: a bump on the road towards ever more liberal democracies. Matthew Goodwin argues otherwise. In 'National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy', he and his co-author Roger Eatwell explode a number of widespread myths about why populism is popular, who supports these movements, and how they will change politics in years to come.Matthew is this week's guest on the podcast. He explained the 'four Ds' that are driving voters into the arms of populists, what the liberal establishment gets wrong and why the likes of Donald Trump, Marine le Pen and Matteo Salvini could be the new normal. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Budget Special

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 11:35:49 GMT

CapX Editor Oliver Wiseman is joined by three eagle-eyed Westminster watches for a discussion of this week's budget. Is austerity over? Is that good news? Why are Britain's growth figures so underwhelming? Will Universal Credit work with more money? Just how much do we spend on the NHS? And will Philip Hammond survive long enough to deliver another budget? For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Stian Westlake on Capitalism Without Capital

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 05:26:00 GMT

When we think about the economy, we tend to think about stuff. Physical goods are manufactured and sold, factories are built and upgraded, innovation gives us shiny new gadgets we can hold in our hands.But this is becoming a less and less accurate way of thinking about things. Increasingly, intangible assets are what matter.According to Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake, the authors of the brilliant Capitalism Without Capital, these intangible assets don’t play by the basic laws of economics. And so the rise of assets you can’t touch, they argue, is having a big impact on how the economy works.Haskel and Westlake start with a simple, even obvious, insight and end with an important and thoughtful book about the nature of the modern economy. Their work has received high praise from high places. Bill Gates calls Capitalism without Capital “required reading for policymakers”.For this week’s episode of free exchange, I spoke to Stian about his book, which is out now in paperback, and the implications of the ideas contained within it. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Jim O'Neill, Lucy Neville-Rolfe and Bob Seely on Global Britain

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 14:30:00 GMT

Free Exchange, the CapX podcast, is back with an exciting new series of interviews and conversations. In the coming months, we'll be welcoming a fascinating line up of politicians, policymakers, authors, economists and journalists on to the show to talk about some of the biggest questions we face today.We’re kicking things off with a live recording of a CapX event at Conservative Party Conference on what the term “global Britain” really means.It’s a phrase ministers and Brexit supporters are fond of using when laying out their vision for Britain after it leaves the European Union. But is it anything more than a soundbite? And if so, what should it mean for government policy?Our three guests were all, in their own ways, well-placed to consider these issues. Jim O’Neill is the economist famous for coining the term Brics who went on to work with George Osborne on the Northern Powerhouse. He now sits as a crossbench peer in the house of lords and earlier this year was appointed Chair of Chatham House.The second guest was Lucy Neville-Rolfe. Lucy is a former businesswomen who is now a Conservative member of the house of lords and who, like Jim has also been involved in economic policymaking, serving as commercial secretary to the treasury under Philip Hammond until last summer.Last but not least was Bob Seely MP. Bob is the Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight and a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. He’s also a CapX contributor. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Henry Newman on breaking the Brexit deadlock

Thu, 07 Jun 2018 14:38:48 GMT

Brexit is at an impasse. The row between Theresa May and David Davis over the wording of a customs backstop ended with a fudge of a fudge of a fudge. This has only underlined just how difficult this government has found it to pin its Brexit colours to the mast. That is partly because of a disagreement within Cabinet. But it's also the product of a hung Parliament that means whatever the government agrees, a majority of MPs could take a different view and scupper the whole thing.With the Brexit countdown clock ticking, a crucial series of votes on the EU withdrawal bill around the corner, and a council meeting at the end of the June, Theresa May is running out of time.To help break the deadlock, Open Europe, home to some of the smartest thinking on UK-EU relations, this week published its blueprint for a deal that is a workable compromise in what is a fraught Brexit debate.In a special Brexit edition of the Free Exchange podcast I spoke to Open Europe’s director Henry Newman about their proposal for a pragmatic deal with the EU as well as why the good ship Brexit has drifted so badly off course. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Marx's poisonous legacy

Wed, 30 May 2018 09:43:48 GMT

This May marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx. For many, this was an occasion for celebration, not sombre reflection on a set of ideas that, when put into action, have claimed the lives of millions.John McDonnell gave a speech on the enduring relevance of Marx. Jean Claude Juncker played his part in the fortification of the German thinker’s reputation by unveiling a Chinese funded statue of Marx in Trier. The headline of one New York Times piece simply said: "Happy Birthday Karl Marx. You were right!"For this week's episode of Free Exchange, I spoke to the IEA's Kristian Niemietz. author of a forthcoming book on Marxist regimes and their fellow travellers, about why a man whose ideas have been found not just to be wrong, but dangerously so, is still so revered by so many. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Rebooting Conservatism with George Freeman

Thu, 24 May 2018 09:14:08 GMT

Conservatives can't agree on much at the moment. But one view that the vast majority of them would struggle to disagree with is that there are fundamental problems with the party's pitch to the electorate. The fault lines have been there for some time, but the issue became impossible to ignore after last year's general election.That is why there has been a flurry of activity on the centre-right of British politics lately. At the forefront of the wave of initiatives to reboot Conservatism is George Freeman, MP for Mid Norfolk and head of the Conservative Policy Forum, who last year launched his Big Tent Ideas Festival. The event, which journalists quickly dubbed "Tory Glastonbury", returns on larger scale this year. For this week's episode of Free Exchange, I spoke to George about the challenges and opportunities of Conservative renewal. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Is the internet destroying democracy?

Wed, 16 May 2018 14:43:48 GMT

We recently welcomed Jamie Bartlett to the CapX offices to talk about what happens where politics and technology intersect. Jamie is the author of The People Vs Tech: How the Internet is Killing Democracy, a book that touches on a number of the most pressing concerns surrounding the rapid pace of technological change and, as the title suggests, what that means for democracy. He spoke to CapX's Editor-in-Chief Robert Colvile about the ideas in his new book in front of a live audience. This week's episode of Free Exchange is an edited version of that conversation. We hope you enjoy it. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Are we suffering from a growth delusion?

Fri, 16 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMT

In this week’s Spring Statement, Philip Hammond described himself as positively tiggerish about the economic news he was bringing to the House of Commons. His upbeat mood was, in large part, thanks to a minuscule uptick in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s growth forecasts for the next five years. It’s a reminder of just how central GDP is to the decisions politicians and policymakers make, as well as just how little thought most of us put into what is behind this all-important number. That makes this week the perfect time to talk to David Pilling, the Financial Times’s Africa Editor and the author of The Growth Delusion. David thinks there is a major problem with how we measure growth. In fact, he goes further. It’s not just we are getting the measurements wrong, it’s that we are too slavishly devoted to growth in the first place. For this week’s episode of Free Exchange, CapX's Editor Oliver Wiseman spoke to David at the FT’s offices about what really goes into the most important number in economics, and how we could possibly be too focused on growth when it raises living standards and allows us to live longer happier lives. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Britain's Brexit trade-offs

Sat, 24 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT

From an intricate knowledge of regulatory alignment versus regulatory equivalence to the difference between the customs union and a customs union, everyone interested in British politics suddenly has very strong views on the technical details of trade policy. But while most of us have been hurriedly scrubbing up on all things trade, for others this is their bread and butter. Allie Renison is head of trade policy at the Institute of Directors and is someone who actually knows what she is talking about on this all-important but often technical subject. When it comes to Britain's future trading relationship with the EU, Allie is an advocate for a partial customs union, which would minimise the impact of our departure on manufacturing firms embedded in European supply chains while giving the UK the freedom to forget its own trade policies and seek free trade deals with other countries in areas not covered by its deal with Europe. On the latest episode of Free Exchange, I spoke to Allie about Britain's options in its negotiations with Europe, the pros and cons of her proposal, what Trump really thinks about trade and, more generally, the health of free trade around the world. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Is education a waste of time?

Wed, 14 Feb 2018 16:28:00 GMT

Is education a waste of time? Surely no one, let alone a professor of economics, would defend such an outlandish claim. Well that is the exact argument made by Professor Bryan Caplan in his new book, The Case Against Education: Why the Education System is a Waste of Time and Money. On this week's episode of Free Exchange, CapX Editor Oliver Wiseman spoke to Bryan about how he reached his provocative conclusion, why so many people still go to university if it really is so pointless and what he would change about education policy. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Is Universal Basic Income the answer?

Wed, 07 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Universal Basic Income may just be the trendiest idea in politics. It's also one of the most radical. Its advocates include Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson and John McDonnell. From the joblessness that could arise from automation and machine learning to growing concern over income inequality, UBI's cheerleaders claim the policy could solve some of the biggest political challenges we face.Put simply, a basic income is a lump sum from the government to which everyone is entitled. These days this generous sounding proposal is associated with the Left. But it has its roots on the libertarian Right. Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman were both supporters of a version of UBI. And one of the few real-world trials of the policy was carried out by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.But does this rare point of agreement between Left and Right mean UBI is a good idea? On the latest episode of Free Exchange, I brought together Sam Dumitriu, who recently made the free-market case for basic income on CapX, and Robert Colvile, who thinks UBI is a particularly bad idea, to debate whether such a simple idea could really be the answer to so many difficult questions. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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On the front line of the Cold War

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 16:07:00 GMT

This week’s guest on Free Exchange is Sir Christopher Mallaby, a retired British diplomat whose career was defined by the Cold War.Sir Christopher recently published his memoirs, Living the Cold War. As well as an account of some of the most important events in the 20th Century, the book is collection of fascinating details of everyday life for someone involved in that all-consuming clash between East and West. His first posting was Moscow, where he arrived in 1961. Not only did he and embassy colleagues have to contend with the hardship and drudgery of Soviet life, but they also faced constant surveillance, harassment and attempts at subornation by the KGB. Of these irritations he now says: “So what? It was the Cold War and to be involved at the very front line was a thrill.”Almost 30 years later, as Ambassador to West Germany, he flew in to Berlin by helicopter to see the Wall come down. “I still remember the sight of a small East German boy returning with his parents through Checkpoint Charlie from his first outing to a capitalist toy shop,” he writes. “That was the moment when I knew the Iron Curtain had begun to melt. The tensions of life in Khruschev’s Moscow suddenly belonged to history. For something who had spend most of three decades working in the Cold War, it was a giant relief and something of a vindication.”I spoke to Sir Christopher about his career, life in the Soviet Union, his disagreement with Margaret Thatcher, and how to understand the Russian threat in 2018. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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2017 in Review

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 09:00:00 GMT

This year may not have been a year of political earthquakes on the scale of 2016, but the last 12 months have contained more than their fair share of tumult. In Westminster, the idea of Prime Minister Corbyn started the year as a joke and ended as a very real possibility. In the United States, Donald Trump - the most volatile President in living memory - barely escaped the headlines, generating plenty of heat and not much light. Emmanuel Macron transformed French politics. And Brexit still means Brexit. For the latest episode of Free Exchange, the CapX team attempts to make sense of a year that has been compelling and discombobulating in equal doses. Who were the biggest winners and losers of 2017? What was the big idea of the year? And what story surprised us the most? For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Oliver Letwin

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 15:28:00 GMT

Oliver Letwin has been at the heart of Conservative politics for most of his adult life. From working in Margaret Thatcher’s downing street policy unit to serving as one of David Cameron’s most trusted ministers, he has played an important part in shaping the modern Conservative party. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Budget preview special

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 08:00:00 GMT

This government has two big interconnected challenges. The first is, to quote the Prime Minister, to make a success of Brexit. The second is to see off the threat posed by Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and a Labour Party now dominated by the far-left.In both cases the government is in a bind. On the one hand, Corbyn and Brexit bring with them significant amounts of political and economic uncertainty. And so the government is acutely aware that it cannot afford to put a foot wrong. On the other hand, there is something to the argument that the Conservatives will never make a success of Brexit or defeat Corbyn if they go about government with a softly, softly safety-first attitude. According to this theory, boldness – and a collection of game-changing policies - are the order of the day.What is true of the government’s predicament in general, is true of the Chancellor in particular as he prepares to unveil the budget in the House of Commons next Wednesday. Two recent budgets – Hammond’s own earlier this year and Osborne’s 2012 omnishambles budget – are reminders that a chancellor's first job is to avoid any unforced errors. Hammond doesn’t exactly have much money – or a big majority – to play with. But some argue that fundamental weaknesses in the economy require decisive action and radical solutions. To further raise the stakes, Hammond’s colleagues have pinned their hopes on the budget as a turnaround moment for the Conservatives after a torrid few months for the party.Will the Chancellor deliver the bold and brilliant budget? Or will it blow up in his face?For this week's episode of Free Exchange, CapX collected together four leading policy experts to discuss what the chancellor should - and shouldn't - do on Wednesday.Daniel Mahoney is Deputy Director and Head of Research at the Centre for Policy StudiesAlan Lockey is Head of the Modern Economy Programme at DemosJulian Jessop is Chief Economist at the Institute of Economic AffairsAlex Wild is Research Director of the Taxpayers’ Alliance For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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John Kay

Wed, 08 Nov 2017 08:12:00 GMT

John Kay was born a year before Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. In the latest episode of Free Exchange, the CapX podcast, he tells Robert Colvile that "sometimes I look at Corbyn and I think, he thinks what I thought when I was 17. It's just that I've learnt a bit since then and he hasn't."Whereas the Labour leader has spent his life ploughing the furrow of far-left activism, John Kay has had a diverse and fascinating career as an economist. In the 1970s, he worked at the Institute for Fiscal Studies under its Nobel prize-winning director James Meade and alongside Mervyn King, who would go on to become governor of the Bank of England. Kay became director of the IFS in 1979 and helped to build it into arguably the UK's most respected think tank.Kay has written on business and economics for the Financial Times for several decades and is the author of numerous popular books on economics, business and finance, most recently Other People's Money: Masters of the Universe or Servants of the People. In a world where economic debate has become less nuanced, Kay is someone who understands the genius of the market but is also alive to its shortcomings. He despairs at the caricatured greed-is-good view of the market that has become conventional wisdom. He calls this idea "both repellant to most thoughtful people and false as a description of how markets really operate". What has been lost, he says, is an appreciation of the extent to which "our economy does depend very heavily on morality and trust relationships. It is not a matter of leaving people to do whatever they like. Nor is it about glorifying greed."In a wide-ranging interview, he explains why he fell in love with economics, what big banks and taxi drivers have in common, where modern finance has gone wrong, why economists should admit there are somethings you cannot predict and the new book he is working on with his old colleague Mervyn King. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Lord Heseltine

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 15:16:00 GMT

Michael Heseltine finds himself in an unusual position. He is one of the most distinguished Conservatives in the country, but is completely at odds with the party’s stance on the biggest issue of the day. While most Remain-supporting Tories – not least the Prime Minister – have taken the referendum result and run with it, Lord Heseltine has remained steadfast to his view that Brexit is an unmitigated disaster.In this week’s episode of Free Exchange, he tells Robert Colvile that he has become a controversial figure. But that it is “the Conservative Party that has changed. Not me.” Brexit, he says, is the most catastrophic domestic British political decision in his lifetime. So catastrophic, in fact, that it may never happen. Can anything good come from it? He doesn’t think so. And he thinks that the arguments for leaving the EU are built on either deception or a misunderstanding of how the modern world works.It isn’t just Brexit that has Heseltine so gloomy. It has come as a surprise to him that the battles against the hard left that his generation thought they had won for good in the Seventies and Eighties are having to be refought in the 21st century. For Heseltine, Prime Minister Corbyn is “a chilling prospect. I never thought for an instant that it would be possible, but the last election changed my mind.”Beyond Brexit and Corbyn, the Tory big beast also discusses why nothing in politics changes, how to get industrial policy right, why politicians should focus on investment not consumption, and what has motivated him throughout his successful careers in both business and politics. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Daniel Hannan

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 16:00:19 GMT

Daniel Hannan MEP is known to most people as a leading Eurosceptic, or, in the Guardian's words, "the man who brought you Brexit". With Britain on its way out of the EU, Hannan has established the Institute for Free Trade, which makes the intellectual and moral case for free trade, and sees Brexit unique opportunity to revitalise global trade. A few weeks ago, at the Conservative Party Conference, he sat down with Robert Colvile, CapX's Editor-in-Chief, to discuss what sort of deal he would like to see between Britain and the EU, the genius of comparative advantage, and exactly why Jeremy Corbyn is so dangerous. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Matthew Elliott and James Kanagasooriam

Mon, 09 Oct 2017 16:00:00 GMT

Jeremy Corbyn has built a potent political movement on the back of his explicit anti-capitalism. But it is not just the crowds of Corbynistas who don’t think much of the market. New research by Matthew Elliott of the Legatum Institute and James Kanagasooriam of Populus finds that on the economy the attitudes of the public as a whole are much closer to the Labour leader than the Conservative Party’s position.Capitalism is overwhelmingly associated with negative concepts such as greed and selfishness. Even among Conservative voters, renationalisation of the railways is a popular policy. What explains the unpopularity of private ownership and the free market?After a summer hiatus, Free Exchange, returns with Robert Colvile, CapX’s Editor-In-Chief, speaking to Elliott and Kanagasooriam about their findings and discussing what can be done to reverse these troubling trends. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Deepak Lal

Wed, 26 Jul 2017 13:30:00 GMT

Deepak Lal is one of the world's foremost development economists, who helped billions of people to prosper by breaking the stranglehold of central For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Anne Applebaum

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 06:00:00 GMT

At the Margaret Thatcher Conference on Security, Robert Colvile talks to the Pulitzer Prize winner about Russia, Trump and the state of the West. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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CapX's Great Immigration Debate

Wed, 12 Jul 2017 15:00:00 GMT

In a special edition of the CapX podcast, recorded live in Parliament, Nicky Morgan, Sunder Katwala, Garvan Walshe and Eric Kaufmann debate whether immigration is a good or bad thing - with Robert Colvile in the chair. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Philippa Stroud

Wed, 05 Jul 2017 06:00:00 GMT

Robert Colvile talks to Baroness Stroud, the new head of the Legatum Institute about fighting poverty on an individual, national and international level.From working with drug addicts in Hong Kong to working with IDS on welfare reform, Philippa Stroud has spent her life trying to help others. She talks us through her extraordinary personal story. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Lord Sacks

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 13:30:00 GMT

Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi, talks to Robert Colvile at the Margaret Thatcher Conference on Security about whether the West has lost its moral compass. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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David Willetts

Wed, 21 Jun 2017 17:00:00 GMT

Now executive chairman of the Resolution Foundation, Lord Willetts has long been one of the Tory party's intellectual heavyweights - the man so smart they nicknamed him "Two Brains". He talks to Robert Colvile - in a conversation recorded before the election - about what Britain's getting right. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Election Special

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 14:15:00 GMT

CapX's deputy editor Oliver Wiseman spent the weeks before the election criss-crossing the country. He talks to Robert Colvile about the extraordinary results, and what happens next For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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John Curtice

Wed, 07 Jun 2017 06:00:00 GMT

Professor John Curtice, the pollster's pollster, talks to Robert Colvile about election night and taking the pulse of the nation, in a special election edition of the CapX podcast. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Andrew Cooper

Wed, 31 May 2017 11:00:00 GMT

As strategy director to David Cameron and pollster for the Remain and Better Together campaigns, Lord Cooper of Windrush has been at the heart of some of the biggest moments in British politics. Ahead of the UK election, he talks to Robert Colvile about what he's learned, why pollsters get it wrong, and why Margate holds the key to Britain's future. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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David Owen

Wed, 24 May 2017 10:20:00 GMT

Lord Owen was Britain's youngest ever Foreign Secretary - before jumping ship to start his own party. The former leader of the SDP talks to Robert Colvile, CapX's Editor, about making Brexit a cross-party cause and why today's Labour MPs shouldn't follow in his footsteps. (This interview was recorded before the election was called.) For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Sue Cameron

Wed, 17 May 2017 14:00:00 GMT

Sue Cameron has made it her life's work to understand the people who run Britain - not the politicians, but the civil servants who sit behind them. She talks to Robert Colvile, CapX's Editor, about how well Britain is governed, which Prime Ministers have got the best grip on the Whitehall machine, and how the Civil Service is going to cope with Brexit. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Frank Field MP

Wed, 10 May 2017 07:00:00 GMT

Robert Colvile talks to Frank Field - the Labour MP who's spent his career thinking the unthinkable, and often been punished for it by his party. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Nick Cohen

Wed, 03 May 2017 07:00:00 GMT

Robert Colvile, Editor of CapX, talks to the Observer columnist Nick Cohen about the decline of the Left, his fears over Brexit, and why Jeremy Corbyn isn't going anywhere. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Daniel Hannan

Wed, 26 Apr 2017 07:00:00 GMT

Robert Colvile, Editor of CapX, talks to Daniel Hannan MEP about Brexit, free trade and the most surprising and important idea in economics. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Peter Oborne

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 07:00:00 GMT

An award-winning columnist and polemicist, Peter Oborne is the premier chronicler of the decline and fall of Britain's political class. He talks to Robert Colvile about the rise of political lying, his hopes for Brexit, and why he thinks we don't understand the Muslim world. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Nigel Lawson

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 07:00:00 GMT

Chancellor, Brexiteer, climate change sceptic, Spectator editor, prime ministerial speechwriter - Lord Lawson has had one of the most packed careers in politics. He talks to Robert Colvile about what he's learned over his career, and where the next crisis is coming from. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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Welcome to Free Exchange

Tue, 04 Apr 2017 06:00:00 GMT

Welcome to Free Exchange, the CapX Podcast For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

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