Macrodose

Today on Macrodose Election Economics, James is joined by James Schneider to discuss the contradictions of a Labour government, the future of the left and organising in the UK.  James Schneider is former Head Of Strategic Communications to Jeremy Corbyn, and author of Our Bloc: How We Win (2022, Verso). He is currently Communications Director for Progressive International, an international organis...

“The stakes could not be higher.” These are the recent words not of climate activists, but of a coalition representing major oil and gas companies in a letter to the US Supreme Court. The context? They’re asking the Court to block dozens of lawsuits that seek to hold these firms to account for their role in driving the climate crisis, including by awarding damages for the costs of extreme weather...

On this week’s Macrodose James Meadway breaks down how the European Central Bank is helping drive a far right vote across the EU (1:57) the rising price of oranges after crop failures in Florida and Brazil (6:21) and a listener question - why are Reform UK proposing to reduce interest paid on Quantitative Easing reserves, and is that actually a pretty good idea (10:19)? A massive thank you to all...

Today on Macrodose: Election Economics, James is joined by Aditya Chakrabortty to discuss Sunak, Starmer and the long shadow of Nigel Farage in UK politics.   Aditya is senior economics commentator at the Guardian, where he writes a regular column. He has also been a finalist for an Orwell Prize for journalism in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, and in 2023 won the British Press Award for Best Broadshee...

Welcome to Election Economics, a Macrodose bonus series that we’re running in the lead up to the UK general election on July 4th.  Over the coming weeks James Meadway will be joined by a selection of economists, politicians and commentators to unpack what the campaigns’ policies and pledges mean for people in Britain. Today James Meadway is joined by Yanis Varoufakis - who will unpack and reflect...

At the time of this recording, over 35,000 Palestinians had been killed, 80,000 wounded and 1.7 million internally displaced as a result of Israel's assault on Gaza. Alongside this profound loss has been the deliberate destruction of infrastructure and the 'ecocide' of Gaza's environment, from its cropland to its water and sewage systems.  In this extra episode of The Break Down, A...

Welcome to Election Economics, a Macrodose bonus series that we’re running in the lead up to the UK general election on July 4th.  Over the coming weeks James Meadway will be joined by a selection of economists, politicians and commentators to unpack what the campaigns’ policies and pledges mean for people in Britain. Today we’re joined by Laurie Macfarlane. Laurie is an economist, a fellow at the...

Over the coming weeks Macrodose will be co-publishing The Break Down - a new series created by our friends over at Common Wealth. This series is dedicated to examining the role of capitalism in the climate and ecological crisis, and will feature long-form interviews with former Roundtable guest Adrienne Buller. Today Adrienne is joined by Adam Hanieh, Professor of Political Economy and Global Deve...

On this week’s Macrodose James Meadway takes a look at Mexico’s new left wing president (2:05), and a listener question - what is national debt, do we need to pay it off, and will it ever impact you and me (14:30)? Kate Aronoff’s article: tinyurl.com/mhre9x98 A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers, your support keeps the show running and we are very grateful. Find our socia...

Welcome to Election Economics, a Macrodose bonus series that we’re running in the lead up to the UK general election on July 4th.  Over the coming weeks James Meadway will be joined by a selection of economists, politicians and commentators to unpack what the campaigns’ policies and pledges mean for people in Britain. Today we’re delighted to be joined by Dr Julia Grace Patterson. Dr Patterson is...

Welcome to Election Economics, a Macrodose bonus series that we’re running in the lead up to the UK general election on July 4th.  Over the coming weeks James Meadway will be joined by a selection of economists, politicians and commentators to unpack what the campaigns’ policies and pledges mean for people in Britain. Today we're joined by economist and author Grace Blakeley, whose new book Vu...

On this week’s Macrodose James Meadway takes a close look at a seemingly inevitable win for Labour in the upcoming UK general election - what will this actually mean over the next 5 years (1:34)? Get your ticket for the New Media for a New Economy Conference here: tinyurl.com/y8m7kw88 A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers, your support keeps the show running and we are ver...

On today’s episode James Meadway is joined by Olivier De Schutter to discuss his new book The Poverty of Growth - a concise and well evidenced argument against the idea that economic growth is the route out of poverty. Olivier was UN Special Rapporteur on The Right to Food, a member of the UN Comity on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and is an internationally recognised expert on food system...

On July 26th Macrodose is partnering with Verso Books and the Dig podcast for a special live event over at the Union Chapel in Islington, London.  Host Dalia Gebrial will be joined by political scientist Thea Riofrancos, climate justice activist Asad Rehman and anthropologist Jason Hickel, to talk about all things economic, from the era of neoliberalism to green colonialism, and the decline of the...

On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down: today’s UK inflation figures - what can we expect and do the numbers tell the full story (1:32) and a listener question - why has Zimbabwe decided to back its currency using gold (10:18)? Get your ticket for the New Media for a New Economy Conference here: tinyurl.com/y8m7kw88 A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers, your...

On this week’s Macrodose, Polly Smythe takes a look at an upcoming vote at an Amazon Warehouse on whether to unionise. If the workers vote yes, then for the first time in the UK Amazon will be forced to recognise a trade union. What are workers at the Coventry site up against? Why is Amazon such a crucial battleground for the future of the labour movement? And what lessons can we learn from this l...

On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down: another Labour Party U-Turn as Keir Starmer guts the “New Deal for Workers” (1:47), and a proposed global mining merger - how is the climate crisis reshaping the largest institutions of capitalism (10:47)? A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers, your support keeps the show running and we are very grateful. If you have the...

On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down: a warning from the world bank that inflation could start rising again this year (0:46), a new report showing that climate change is creating serious health hazards for 70% of the world's workers (6:21) and as climate-flation hits the front pages of 2 major papers this week - has public awareness hit a tipping point (12:33)? A massive thank y...

** Check out the video version of this podcast on our YouTube channel - youtu.be/O5xSeNmF-v0 ** On today’s episode James Meadway is joined by Raj Patel and Jason W Moore for a revisit of their book A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: a guide to capitalism, nature and the future of the planet. Raj Patel is an award-winning author, film-maker and academic. He is a Research Professor in the...

On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down new research that shows the world will lose one fifth of its income to climate change over the next 25 years (1:45), the skyrocketing price of insurance in the UK (7:21) and some allegedly good news - the London stock exchange hits a record high (14:56). Grab you ticket for the PTO live show here: tinyurl.com/3zhu4ve6 A massive thank you to all o...

This week on Macrodose Hannah Proctor leads us on an exploration of burnout . What are the origins of the term, and how can political movements and people on the frontline endure in the face of defeat. Hannah Proctor is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, interested in histories and theories of radical psychiatry. She is a member of the editorial collectiv...

On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down a new report over in the US which lays out the climate risks to nuclear power (0:44), a look at how the scarcity of data will squash the dreams of machine learning (9:55) and a new campaign for Basic Income for Farmers (15:50).  Basic income for farmers report: tinyurl.com/5n6hecpe A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers, y...

On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down Britain's ever failing water system and how to fix it (0:53), how AI is feeding colonial forms of exploitation (7:41) and climateflation -  how new research shows prices are only likely to increase (14:25). A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers, your support keeps the show running and we are very grateful. If you have...

On today’s episode James Meadway is joined by Brett Christophers and Adrienne Buller to discuss the economics of the green energy transition, asking how we could finance it and what’s stopping us? They talked “market failures”, “maladaptation” and the future of economics: growth and degrowth. Brett Christophers is professor of human geography at Uppsala University’s Institute for Housing and Urban...

On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Mais Lecture and what it tells us about a future Labour government (0:40) and a listener question - how do we stop the wealthy holding governments hostage by threatening to take their money out of the country (9:34)? A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers, your support keeps the show runnin...