The livefromlordnorthstreet's Podcast
114 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 10 ratings1b Hair Color
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Zeroing In: Free market approaches to the 2050 target
April 02, 2020 13:39 - 24 minutes - 45.7 MBLong gone are the days when the science of climate change was contested. But the economics of what many view as the existential crisis of our time are still up for often-heated debate. Over the last three decades, governments have repeatedly set targets – often for their successors, or their successors' successors – which are later missed and replaced by more ambitious targets. Is this because solving the climate problem requires a restructuring of the energy sector and agriculture, which w...
Coronavirus: A crisis of globalisation?
April 01, 2020 14:30 - 23 minutes - 42.6 MBGlobalisation enables people and products to travel across the globe with relative ease. But in a time of coronavirus, some have argued our increasingly inter-connected world – with international travel and global supply chains – made a pandemic inevitable. How much did globalisation cause our current troubles? Or it is actually the solution? After all, many of us are coping with self-isolation and social distancing by binge-watching Netflix and Skyping relatives – the internet is a key to ...
Coronomics, with Dr Steve Davies
March 26, 2020 15:57 - 22 minutes - 41.1 MBCovid-19 is threatening lives and economies across the globe. As the UK government enforces social distancing to slow the spread of the virus, a sharp slowdown in economic activity is not only inevitable but necessary from a public health perspective. Ministers have been charged with the unenviable task of ensuring that hitting pause now does not lead to long-lasting damage. The chancellor has committed to doing “whatever it takes” to see the UK through the crisis. The Treasury's packag...
What the history of pandemics can tell us about COVID-19
March 24, 2020 14:33 - 28 minutes - 52.3 MBAs humans have spread across the world, so have infectious diseases. Even in this modern era, outbreaks are nearly constant, though not every outbreak reaches pandemic level as the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has. Epidemiologists, the scientists who track the incidents and spread of diseases are always on the lookout for the next big outbreak, but predicting the future is tricky, so they often look back to the past. Fortunately, the IEA's Digital Manager Darren Grimes could rely upon th...
Taking control: Dominic Cummings and reform of Whitehall
March 20, 2020 16:00 - 23 minutes - 42.8 MBTaking Control: The Dominic Cummings Story, a BBC two documentary revealed that Dominic Cummings can be described as many things to many people. He is reportedly fearless in his views (but what are his views?), antagonistic to bureaucracy, a myth-maker, a shaker-upper (is this an occupation?), a Renaissance man, a Svengali-type that emulates Rasputin and apparently a campaign mastermind. But what exactly did we learn about the man and about the ideology that drives him? And thinking about...
Zeroing In: Free market approaches to the 2050 target
March 19, 2020 17:52 - 30 minutes - 55.5 MBIn a new series by the Institute of Economic Affairs, the IEA will explore free-market approaches to achieving the Government's target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. In recent years climate change has been seen as the existential crisis of our time. But with the growing threat of coronavirus and a global health crisis on a scale many of us cannot comprehend, will the battle against climate change retain its urgency? To achieve Net Zero by 2050, we will need urgent action an...
The Road Ahead? What impact will driverless cars have on public policy?
March 12, 2020 11:16 - 31 minutes - 57 MBThe 2020s will see the introduction of one of the most profoundly transformative technologies for decades: the driverless car. In the world we have inhabited for the past 60 years, most adults own cars that they drive daily, which they then park in their garages, front yards or on the street, or in car parks when they go to the shops or the train station or the airport. They arrange repairs, they put in fuel and water and oil, they pay car taxes and they buy insurance. Over the next decade,...
How we can understand major events in world history through the prism of taxation
March 04, 2020 13:53 - 44 minutes - 81.4 MBIn Dominic Frisby’s latest book, Daylight Robbery, we are invited to understand tax in a more fundamental and wide-reaching way. Frisby argues that we can understand many of the major events in world history through the prism of taxation. Wars, revolutions and even architectural design have typically, Frisby argues, been shaped – or even caused – by one form of tax or another. In this week's podcast, Frisby reveals to the IEA's Director General Mark Littlewood that death and taxes might wel...
What the cluck?!
February 27, 2020 17:53 - 14 minutes - 26.4 MBChlorinated chicken has become totemic once again in all things Brexit, since most British consumers associate chlorine with the bleach they pour down their lavatories. Are the arguments put forward by certain groups to keep US meat out of the UK market thinly veiled protectionism, or are they simply addressing justifiable concerns on food standards and safety?
Going chilly on Chile?
February 19, 2020 14:08 - 35 minutes - 64.5 MBChile used to be considered the economic poster child of Latin America – economic liberalisation led to huge gains in terms of GDP, life expectancy and lifting people out of poverty. But in recent months, the country has been mired in violent protests, to which there is still no end in sight. Who is to blame? For large parts of the Western media, the answer is simple: the culprit is neoliberalism! The Guardian titles: “Blame the Chicago Boys”, a reference to the foreign-trained economists w...
Africa 2020: The "hopeless continent" no more
February 13, 2020 10:14 - 17 minutes - 31.5 MBIn the year 2000, The Economist magazine described Africa as the “hopeless continent”, adding that the “new millennium has brought more disaster than hope to Africa.” But the 54 countries that make up the continent have some of the youngest and most vibrant populations in the world, accounting for over 17% of the world's population. The last twenty years have seen life expectancy and literacy rates shoot up and child mortality plummet, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. So what has driven ...
Do you wheely want to hurt me?
February 06, 2020 18:52 - 16 minutes - 30.6 MBThe government, in yet another attempt to look like they’re on top of the green agenda, has just brought forward its ban on all diesel, petrol and hybrid cars to 2035. From that date, you will only be allowed to buy electric or hydrogen vehicles. Our wise central-planners reckon those gas-guzzling, polluting SUVs we all like so much will be banished from the road, and all those petrol stations will be replaced with sleek charging stations. But the state has a terrible record of telling us w...
Déjà brew: 100 years on from prohibition
January 24, 2020 11:38 - 29 minutes - 39.9 MBThis month marks the centenary of one of the most radical public health initiatives ever undertaken in a democratic society – prohibition. While there are few voices in Britain calling for a return to criminalising alcohol, prohibition still exists today in different guises, including quasi-bans on sugary drinks, cigarettes and gambling. So, should we be concerned about where this type of paternalistic intervention is leading us? And what – if anything - can we do about it? This week on t...
The last decade was the best in human history
January 15, 2020 06:30 - 42 minutes - 78.5 MBEverything is getting better. Let nobody tell you what the second decade of the 21st century has been bad! The astonishing feature of the United Kingdom’s overbearing sense of gloom is that it is totally detached from measurable economic factors in the real world. Shouldn’t we instead be in a celebratory mood, bursting with optimism and hope. Instead, we are the equivalent of fans of a football team on a wonderful run of form who seem permanently convinced that the next match will result in ...
Davos 2020: Should Javid leave it to the skiers?
January 09, 2020 18:00 - 16 minutes - 29.6 MB$52,000 to spare? In the mood for some bubbly? Well then Davos is the place for you! Despite the apparent ‘Boris Ban’, Chancellor Sajid Javid is expected to attend the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos later this month. The glamorous Swiss resort is famous for attracting big names - but should the Treasury be leaving Davos to the skiers? The conference has always been a controversial one; at $52,000 per ticket, one does wonder whether it really fulfils the Forum’s mission of ...
How ideas can change the world
January 02, 2020 15:04 - 22 minutes - 41.4 MBThe mission of Network for a Free Society is to encourage opportunity and prosperity by promoting understanding of the principles of a free and responsible society, and the foundations on which it is based: limited government, the rule of law, protection of private property, free markets, and free speech. The organisation is extremely active in its efforts to distribute classical liberal CDs, texts, and small grants to individuals all over the world interested in learning about and promotin...
Nanny State on Tour
December 26, 2019 16:47 - 22 minutes - 40.7 MB‘Nanny state’ foreign aid has ballooned in recent years. The majority (84.4 per cent) of the £44.6million was spent from 2016 to 2018. Annual spending on lifestyle intervention projects equalled £17million in 2016, £16.7million in 2017 and £3.9million in 2018. Why is this? The IEA's Christopher Snowdon chats to an IEA author Mark Tovey, about his recent report 'Nanny State on Tour', which is free to download here. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Podbean.
2019: Year in Review
December 18, 2019 14:48 - 31 minutes - 58.4 MBThe IEA’s Year in Review has been a feature of the IEA podcast channel since its launch. Find out in our round-up of 2019, who the IEA’s Director General Mark Littlewood, Associate Director Kate Andrews and Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon’s Person of the Year is, the trio’s Favourite Film of the Year is, their Political Moment of the Year and their Top Prediction for 2020. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Podbean.
How can we make sense of the political realignment taking place in the United Kingdom?
December 11, 2019 18:43 - 3 minutes - 41.3 MBHow can we make sense of the political realignment taking place in the United Kingdom? In one of the very first Live from Lord North Street podcast episodes, the IEA’s Dr Stephen Davies discussed this topic with Kate Andrews. Having developed his political realignment theory for several years now, Steve offers in our podcast today an explanation the ongoing political realignment, particularly highlighted the UK’s general election. He discusses the triggers for change (including Brexit and t...
Why do democracies choose 'bad' policies?
December 04, 2019 17:24 - 30 minutes - 55.4 MBDarren Grimes, Digital Manager at the IEA, is joined by Professor Bryan Caplan, an American economist and author, who is currently sitting on the New York Times Best Sellers list with his latest book 'Open Borders'. The United Kingdom is currently in a general election period that has seen a slew of spending commitments, politicians of all hues talk of the ‘good’ government can do and expressing the opinion that it is the job of government to identify and correct market failure. At the expe...
Is poverty relative, or is it absolute?
November 28, 2019 20:28 - 26 minutes - 48.2 MBWhen the early poverty researchers Charles booth and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree visited the East End of London in the late 19th century, they found large numbers of people living in the most desperate poverty. Inadequate food and shelter and unsanitary conditions were commonplace for Booth, Rowntree, and their contemporaries. Measuring poverty was a relatively simple matter of counting the number of people engaged in a daily struggle to exist in the face of absolute hardship. Today, measurin...
Should we scrap the 'hugely inefficient' corporation tax?
November 21, 2019 18:03 - 19 minutes - 35.7 MBThe IEA's Economics Fellow Julian Jessop argues for the IEA podcast this week that whilst he welcomes both the Conservative and Labour Party's supportive soundings on targeting business rates as an area in need of reform, he views the whole corporation tax system as increasingly out of date too. Julian views the Conservative Party’s plan to postpone further cuts to corporation tax as a "mistake", and indeed the Labour Party’s pledge to reverse the cuts, arguing that both ignore research sho...
From BBC to NBT: Is it time to scrap the fee?
November 14, 2019 12:59 - 21 minutes - 38.6 MBThe world in which the BBC operates has changed dramatically. Viewers and listeners have unlimited choice and are ruthlessly discerning. So, is it time to scrap the licence fee? Today’s guest, the IEA’s Senior Academic Fellow, Professor Philip Booth, says that we should, arguing that the BBC funding model needs to be pulled into the 21st century. The UK has a long history of successful mutuals and co-operatives, Philip argues, that are popular with their members. Such an ownership model for...
Why has no other European country copied the NHS model?
November 07, 2019 17:51 - 23 minutes - 42.9 MBNo other European country has copied the NHS model in half a century. Almost all comparable countries use a mix of funding mechanisms, rather than relying on taxation alone, and most outperform the NHS in health outcomes. UK cancer survival rates lag behind those of comparable countries, A&E delays are increasing, the number of operations being cancelled is dire, staffing rates are in freefall and the tick-box target culture is sending doctors and dentists screaming into the private sector....
Advancing freedom, human rights and economic development in Venezuela
November 02, 2019 08:00 - 22 minutes - 16.7 MBVenezuela is currently facing the worst dictatorial regime in Latin America. Moreover, its economic collapse is the worst in the modern history of the western hemisphere. Jorge Jraissati is the President of the Venezuelan Alliance, an international platform for initiatives advancing freedom, human rights and economic development in Venezuela, Jorge will not only explain how Venezuelans plan to reconquer their democracy and rebuild their economy but also share some lessons from the Venezuelan...
30 years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall
October 31, 2019 10:18 - 29 minutes - 53.2 MBNovember marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Built to separate East and West Germany and to stop the flow of people from East to West, the wall came to symbolise the ideological divide between the communist Soviet bloc and the western democratic capitalism. Years on, East Germany still lags the West. But after four decades of socialism, just how big was the economic gap between East and West? Whilst West Germany experienced aWirtschaftswunder and became one of the wor...
Gig economy: empowerment or exploitation?
October 24, 2019 12:04 - 23 minutes - 42.4 MBThe IEA's Mark Littlewood, having watched Ken Loach's latest film, would recommend it "if you want to see the gloomiest, bleakest, worst possible run of luck that a family in Newcastle could have, working in flexible gig jobs, this film shows it." But Mark says he was left scratching his head thinking about the counterfactual: would these people have been better off in the pre-gig economy world? Mark concludes that he doesn't really think they would have been, but for their horrific run of ...
Rebels without a cause?
October 11, 2019 15:41 - 23 minutes - 42.7 MBWhen it comes to environmental problems in general and global warming in particular, the general consensus is that ‘something must be done’. Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion have become sensations. But what is worrying about this phenomenon is that the more detached from critical reason their arguments become the more they are acclaimed. Greta, for example, began by arguing that those who put forward alternative views were liars and asserted that she had a special gift for being able ...
The free market take on Conservative conference
October 04, 2019 13:03 - 20 minutes - 38.3 MBThe Conservative party conference is over and it is a good day when praise for free markets dominates the Prime Minister’s party conference speech. The freedoms and liberties we enjoy in the UK go hand-in-hand with a commitment to economic liberalism, which creates prosperity and raises living standards for everyone in society. But Boris Johnson must pay more than just lip service to free enterprise and fiscal responsibility. The IEA’s Mark Littlewood argued that, contrary to what the Pr...
The free market take on Lib Dem and Labour conference
September 26, 2019 11:23 - 27 minutes - 50.6 MBWith both the Labour Party and Liberal Democrat party conferences now over, what is the free market take on some of the policy announcements from them? Joining the IEA's Darren Grimes to discuss is the IEA's Kate Andrews, Andy Mayer and Emma Revell. You can subscribe to this podcast channel on Apple Podcasts. Look out next week for the take on policies announced by HM's Government.
Making the case for freedom
September 19, 2019 14:01 - 26 minutes - 47.9 MBIn this week's podcast, Mark Littlewood welcomes Syed Kamall to the IEA family and ask about prospects, opportunities and challenges for free marketeers. What we need to do to be more successful in our mission. Why are youngsters apparently so attracted to statism – or is this overstated? Is the problem that classical liberalism is counter-intuitive – it’s “negative” (against the state doing things)? Which free-market arguments work? Do we appeal too much to the head and never to the he...
Reversing the injustice: Changing visa rules for foreign graduates
September 13, 2019 16:41 - 24 minutes - 44.7 MBInternational students are to be offered a two-year work visa after graduating from a British university, the government has announced, overturning a key plank of Theresa May’s restrictive immigration policies. Currently, graduates with bachelors or master’s degrees are allowed to look for work for only four months. From next year all international graduates could qualify for a two-year period to work in the UK, increasing their chances of finding long-term employment after studying. The m...
101 Great Liberal Thinkers, with Dr Eamonn Butler
September 05, 2019 05:00 - 31 minutes - 57 MBSCHOOL OF THOUGHT – 101 Great Liberal Thinkers profiles the lives and ideas of some of the leading thinkers on individual liberty – from ancient times to the present day. Award-winning author Dr Eamonn Butler outlines key elements of liberal thought and takes a chronological look at those who shaped it across the centuries. In this week's podcast, the IEA's Digital Manager Darren Grimes questions primer supremo Eamonn on why he has written this primer on liberal thinkers now, asking if Eamo...
Should we assess our economy through trendy 'wellbeing' metrics?
August 29, 2019 14:04 - 17 minutes - 32.8 MBGDP, or Gross Domestic Product, a strange statistic in modern political debate. Economists point out that it fails to capture the value of an increasingly digital economy but it remains the measure most politicians and journalists pay attention to. According to GDP, if a mother decides to go out to work as a childminder and pay a childminder to look after her own child, rather than look after the child herself, that is increased GDP, despite the fact the same number of children are being lo...
HS2: A train to nowhere?
August 22, 2019 10:19 - 14 minutes - 26.1 MBThe government is launching a review of high-speed rail link HS2 - with a "go or no-go" decision by the end of the year, the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said. When asked about the money already spent on the project, Mr Shapps said: "Just because you've spent a lot of money on something does not mean you should plough more and more money into it.” He said ministers were asking the reviewers to "just give us the facts". But do we already know enough? HS2 is undeniably expensive: ...
Is it time to delete the tech tax?
August 15, 2019 12:49 - 25 minutes - 46.4 MBLast year the government announced a digital services tax on US technology firms – including Google, Facebook and Amazon – to make sure “these global giants with profitable businesses in the UK pay their fair share”. Former Chancellor Philip Hammond set out the case for the tax buy rehearsing populist themes: The tech firms are big and prosperous, they derive “substantial value” from operating in the UK, yet they don’t pay much tax to HM Revenue and Customs. Opponents of big tech have used ...
Is the NHS broken and decades overdue reform?
August 08, 2019 12:32 - 25 minutes - 46.3 MBIn this week’s podcast, the IEA’s Digital Manager Darren Grimes is joined by the IEA’s Head of Political Economy Kristian Niemietz and Economics Fellow Julian Jessop. The discussion is centred around the recent decision by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's £1.8bn granted funding for the NHS. Whilst cash injections may help in the short term, Dr Kristian Niemietz argues they will prove to be a waste of taxpayers’ money if structural changes are not made alongside investment. Far from celebratin...
Fully Automated Luxury... Communism?!
July 31, 2019 14:28 - 30 minutes - 56 MBIn this week's podcast, the IEA’s Digital Manager Darren Grimes and Dr Kristian Niemietz discuss two new books in which the authors claim to lay out their socialist alternatives. The first book is Fully Automated Luxury Communism by Aaron Bastani, which explores everything from the route to communism through socialism to Universal Basic Services, but does the book explain why socialism has already been tried more than two dozen times and failed every time without exception? The pair discuss....
How ideas can change the world, with Deidre McCloskey
July 25, 2019 11:06 - 28 minutes - 52.7 MBIEA Digital Manager Darren Grimes introduces Deidre McCloskey’s talk at the IEA’s THINK conference on how ‘How ideas can change the world’. From 2000 to 2015, McCloskey was the Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). McCloskey’s ‘Bourgeois Virtues’ trilogy (2006, 2010, 2016) examines factors in history that led to advancement in human achievement and prosperity. She argues that enrichment comes from “innovatio...
Would John Stuart Mill back the nanny state?
July 18, 2019 16:43 - 55 minutes - 102 MBJohn Stuart Mill articulated the Harm Principle in On Liberty, where he argued that "the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others." So would he have backed the nanny state? Eating sugary food, drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes are legal activities. But politicians still use the law to discourage them. They raise their price, prohibit or limit their advertisement, restrict where the...
How wireless deregulation gave us the iPhone
July 11, 2019 10:07 - 31 minutes - 57.2 MBThe IEA's Digital Manager Darren Grimes sat down with Professor Thomas Hazlett. Professor Thomas Hazlett's research focuses on public choice and public policy aspects of regulatory measures in the communications sector. The focus of his 2017 book: 'The Political Spectrum: The Tumultuous Liberation of Wireless Technology, from Herbert Hoover to the Smartphone' debunks the traditional view as to why the radio spectrum is allocated and licensed by regulators. Hazlett argues that contrary to p...
The truth about Denmark and Socialism
July 04, 2019 14:50 - 34 minutes - 63.9 MBMartin Ågerup is a Danish economist and the current president of the think tank CEPOS. The IEA's Director General Mark Littlewood sat down with Martin to discuss the meme that Denmark is somehow a socialist Valhalla to those on the Left. Martin dismissed the claim that Denmark is somehow proof that socialism is preferable to free-market capitalism, promising more happiness, greater wealth, or both. Martin explained the contradiction between Denmark’s big government and prosperity, with its...
The morality of tax cuts
June 28, 2019 13:36 - 29 minutes - 53.7 MBBritain’s tax burden as a proportion of national income is at its highest for nearly half a century and our tax rulebook is one of the lengthiest and most complex in the western world. Candidates in the Tory leadership contest have put forward proposals to reduce at least one tax or another. Boris Johnson has suggested raising the threshold at which the 40p rate kicks in, from £50,000 to £80,000 and Jeremy Hunt favours a substantial reduction in corporation tax, to 12.5 per cent. But the...
School vs Parents: Who should have the final say?
June 20, 2019 12:54 - 26 minutes - 49.5 MBThe No Outsiders programme was created in 2014 by Andrew Moffat, the assistant headteacher at Parkfield Community School in Birmingham. The programme aims to teach children about the characteristics protected by the Equality Act - such as sexual orientation and religion. Books used in the programme include stories about a dog that doesn't feel like it fits in, two male penguins that raise a chick together and a boy who likes to dress up like a mermaid. But some parents at Parkfield Communi...
Is fracking compatible with a fossil-free future?
June 13, 2019 09:07 - 22 minutes - 41.7 MBOpponents of Fracking argue that it was always a bad idea, because of climate change. Cutting carbon emissions means reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. So, to develop a new gas industry is to do the opposite. Polls have consistently shown that fracking is unpopular. When three anti-fracking activists were freed from jail they were greeted with cheers. The public, says the Guardian newspaper, were ahead of the Government in realising that giving up on this industry makes sense. But joini...
Trump, trade & twenty-twenty
June 06, 2019 16:18 - 22 minutes - 41 MBThis week the UK rolled out the red carpet for Donald Trump's first state visit. The controversial President holds over a 75% disapproval rating among the UK public. But putting the politics aside, what should we make of the policies behind the visit? What is the status of the Special Relationship? Can a free trade deal between the US and the UK really be secured? Would the NHS actually be on the table? And what about the economic debates taking place back in the States in the run-up to the...
Free speech and the push for online censorship
May 23, 2019 13:57 - 18 minutes - 33.2 MBDo you have to think like those who are seeing their social media accounts wiped or banned, to see that social media censorship is a grave concern in a free society? On this week's podcast, the IEA's Head of Education Dr Steve Davies talks to our Digital Manager Darren Grimes about free speech online and the push for censorship. Subscribe to our podcast channel here.
In Conversation with Liz Truss MP
May 17, 2019 05:50 - 23 minutes - 41.6 MBOn this week's podcast IEA Associate Director Kate Andrews interviews 'self-proclaimed freedom fighter' and 'state-proclaimed Chief Secretary to the Treasury' Liz Truss MP. The pair discuss the likelihood of a free-market Brexit, the near 50-year high tax burden, spending cuts, devolution, whether or not strawberries and cream should be banned from tube advertisements, and young people's flirtation with liberal ideas. Don't miss the rapid-fire questions at the end!
The debate on high pay
May 08, 2019 10:14 - 24 minutes - 44.5 MBThe Labour Party’s Peter Mandelson once remarked that Labour was “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich”. But in 2019 a politician is more likely to be heard saying we must all be deeply concerned about the apparent excesses of pay at the top of organisations – both public and private sector. But do they have a point? Many argue that the current requirement for large businesses to spell out the basis of their pay structure may be acceptable, and find maintaining a watchful eye...
The Power of Capitalism
May 02, 2019 16:35 - 32 minutes - 59.7 MB"The market has failed, we need more government intervention" - that's the mantra politicians, the media and intellectuals have been reiterating constantly ever since the outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis. By taking the reader on a journey across continents and through recent history, author Rainer Zitelmann disproves this call for greater government intervention and demonstrates that capitalism matters more than ever. The author provides compelling evidence from across the world that c...