Reasons Revisited

Hello! One of the biggest challenges of the climate emergency is that we have to take tens of millions of petrol and diesel cars off the road. How do we do it? We look to Norway where nearly 50% of new cars sold are fully electric - in the UK it’s around 1%. Christina Bu, Secretary General of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association, explains what we can learn from from their success. Then...

Hello! Here’s the second pilot of our new Cheerful Book Club series to see you through the end of the week. Geoff and Ed chat to Reni Eddo-Lodge about her best-selling book, ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’. They discuss why the book was needed, the impact of structural racism in Britain and what Reni’s learnt since writing it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

Hello! England is the only country in the world to have a fully privatised water system. Is it time to bring water back into public hands? We talk to Celia Blauel, Deputy Mayor of Paris, about how the city returned its water system to municipal ownership. Then academic David Hall and Anna Birley from the Coop Party talk us through the problems of the water industry and what the alternative would l...

Hello! Governments focus on maximising gross domestic product (GDP), but is that really the route to a happy and sustainable economy? This week we talk to New Zealand finance minister Grant Robertson about their new approach: the world’s first ‘wellbeing budget’. Academic Bronwyn Hayward and the New Economics Foundation’s Annie Quick analyse what it means and what the UK can le...

Hello! We’re treating you to the first of our Cheerful Book Club episodes—-a pilot for our new series. Ed speaks to Elizabeth Day about her new book ‘How to Fail’. They talk about our attitudes to failure, how to break the failure taboo in our society and how to learn to cope with it.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! Half of land is owned by less than 1% of the population and the value of land in Britain has skyrocketed over the last two decades. This week we talk to Guardian journalist George Monbiot and academic Beth Stratford about Land for the Many - a major new report about how to spread the ownership and control of land. AND Comedian Harriet Braine edited the genetics to take away gender until you...

Hello! Is it time to extend the principles of the NHS to social care for the elderly? We discuss proposals for universal free personal care. Joyce Yendole tells us about her experience in Scotland, where personal and nursing care is already free for over 65s. Professor Pat Thane explains what the history of social care tells us about the problems we face today. Then Harry Quilter-Pinner talks us t...

Hello! Fast fashion means more clothing is being produced at lower prices, with huge environmental and social costs. What is driving this trend and what can we do about it? We talk to environmental journalist Lucy Siegle about changes in the industry and how the ‘slow fashion’ movement has responded. Orsola de Castro tells us about founding the Fashion Revolution campaign. Then Labour MP and chair...

Hello! Private school pupils are 7x as likely to get a place at Oxford or Cambridge as those from state comprehensives. But why does access to the UK’s top universities matter and what can we do to widen it? This week Vee Kativhu tells us her story of (finally) applying to Oxford’s Lady Margaret Hall on their new foundation year scheme. Then academics Vikki Boliver and Lee Elliot Major talk us thr...

Hello! How can we all campaign on issues that we care about and make change happen? This week we hear from inspiring campaigners who have done just that. We talk to Gina Martin who successfully campaigned to make upskirting illegal and Matt Zarb-Cousin from ‘Stop the FOBTs’, who won a reduction in the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals. Gina and Matt share the stories of how t...

Hello! Unfortunately, Geoff can’t be here this week so Ed’s got a special guest international guest to help him on the intro... In the episode we’re talking about a gaping democratic deficit in British politics: there are still too few black and minority ethnic MPs and councillors, and huge disparities in voter registration. We hear from Simon Woolley, founder and director of Operation Black Vote,...

Hello! What if we told you there was something that could improve people's health, make our cities nicer places to live AND save the planet? This week’s guests argue that cycling can do just that. We discuss the benefits of cycling and what needs to be done to encourage it with transport expert Dr Rachel Aldred and The Guardian’s Peter Walker (author of Bike Nation: How Cycling Can...

Hello! Ed’s been going on about it for years, but we’ve finally agreed to do an episode on his favourite topic: predistribution. It’s all about reducing inequality in the first place, rather than relying on tax and benefits later down the line. We talk to inventor of the term Professor Jacob Hacker to work out what it means. Brazilian academic and politician Roberto Unger argues for predistributio...

Hello! Why are people reluctant to talk about the nation of England? And does this really matter? This week we’re getting stuck into the debate around English identity. John Denham, director of the Centre for English Identity and Politics and former Labour cabinet minister, discusses the importance of embracing Englishness and proposals for new political institutions. Journalist Sunny Hundal expla...

Hello! With all eyes on Br***t, a surprising and encouraging trend has slipped under the radar over the past few years: polls indicate that attitudes to immigration are getting significantly more positive. This week we’re joined by Sunder Katwala from British Future and Rosie Carter from Hope Not Hate to work out what’s been going on. Sunder and Rosie discuss their recent national conati...

Hello! Oh I do like to be beside the seaside, Oh I do....BUT, 11 million people live in coastal communities across the UK but for too long they’ve been getting a bad deal. This week we’re exploring the New Economic Foundation’s plans for a major coastal industrial strategy: the ‘Blue New Deal’. We’re joined by Fernanda Balata from the NEF to explain the proposals. Then Nick Taylor from Scarborough...

Hello! Facebook, Amazon, Ed and Geoff… some empires are in the public interest, some not so much.... In this episode we explore an idea gaining traction in the US: using competition laws to break up the tech giants. From the Open Markets Institute, we’re joined by the ‘Captain America of anti-trust’ Barry Lynn and former anti-trust enforcer Sally Hubbard who explain the proposals. Then L...

Hello! What can we do about the scandal of growing in-work poverty in the UK? This week we hear inspiring stories from campaigners both here and across the pond who have pushed employers to end low pay. Tyree Johnson from Fight for $15 talks about winning a $15 minimum wage in Illinois. The Living Wage Foundation’s Lola McEvoy tells us how we can get involved in the living wage campaign in our wor...

Hello! Do you know where your pension is being invested? The divestment movement has a simple idea: persuade pension funds and others to get out of fossil fuels to meet the climate emergency. Its grown from a student campus campaign to one involving trillions of dollars worth of assets. We discuss divestment and shareholder engagement with Adam Matthews, Director of Ethics Engagemen...

Hello! It's taken us 70+ episodes but we're diving into the question of drink--our country's (unhealthy) relationship with alcohol, which is costing billions of pounds a year and ruining lives. Angela McShane, alcohol historian at the Wellcome Trust, gives us a fascinating history lesson, then Jon Ashworth MP, Shadow Health Secretary, tells us his personal story of having an alcoholic parent...

Hello! Heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s off to Iceland they go. Geoff and Ed went for a weekend and came back with tales aplenty to be cheerful about. World-leading gender equality six-hour working day experiments, punk rockers turned politicians and stories of trolls, elves and the ‘hidden people’. Hear the lessons we should learn from the Icelandic Prime Minister, Katrin Jakobsdottir, and many others in...

Hello! We got out of Geoff's loft and onto Parliament Square to join the many thousands of young people worldwide protesting about climate change and we also talk about what could be a big part of the answer: A Green New Deal (GND). We explain what it is and how it seeks to put economic and social justice at the heart of the fight against climate change with Ann Pettifor, one of the originators of...

Hello! What should we do about the gaping inequalities in our society and the top 1 percent? Can we get them to pay more tax and how? We hear from a member of the top .01% US entrepreneur Nick Hanauer who wants radical measures aimed at people like him and Rutger Bregman, author and historian, who went viral when he called out ‘Davos man’ a couple of weeks back. AND Comedian Rosie Jones wants ever...

Hello! This week we're looking into the chasm in our divided nation and wondering if there is a way to bridge the gap...if anyone can help it’s our guests. Jo Hiley who worked for Hope Not Hate helped bring together people from Brixton in London and Boston in Lincolnshire, divided by Brexit, but united by much else. Ciaran O'Connor & John Wood Jr from Better Angels in the United States tell us...

Hello! Around 7% of the population is educated in private schools but they are disproportionately represented at top universities and in society's most coveted professions. What is the impact of private schools on our overall education system and our society and what, if anything could or should be done about it? David Kynaston, author of new book "Engines of Privilege: Britain’s Private School Pr...