The Capitalist

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 candida...

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...

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 – i...

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...

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...

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 Pa...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 bestse...

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. Stay informed with CapX's unmissable daily briefings from the heart of Westminster. Go to capx.co to subscribe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Get full access to The CapX Briefing at briefin...

For the final episode of the year, Oliver Wiseman and a group of CapX contributors hand out the gongs in the CapX Awards Stay informed with CapX's unmissable daily briefings from the heart of Westminster. Go to capx.co to subscribe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Get full access to The CapX Briefing at briefing.capx.co/subscribe

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 Joh...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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. Mat...

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? Stay informed with CapX's unmissable dail...

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 bril...

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...

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 governmen...

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 fund...