The David McWilliams Podcast

This week’s episode is a rollicking Joycean trip around the world from Morocco to Buffalo, focusing on why great artists like James Joyce and great business people are the same sorts, generating commercial and intellectual energy through curiosity and their own skin in the game; in addition, why openness, tolerance and liberalism, are the key to a dynamic economy. Plus Hemingway, Bloom, the Erie C...

This weeks podcast brought to you from high up in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco aims to explain the latest Brexit Boloxology and from the Arab world, how lines in the sand written by colonialists one hundred years ago continue to haunt the Kurds, Iraqis, Turks and the Irish!   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What have Coleen Rooney, Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar all got in common?  Tales from the Brexit end game, a bit of economics and the political twilight for the 400 year old Project Britain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here’s the latest episode on the overarching political/social/economic issue of our day, wealth inequality. How has it happened, why is it profoundly worrying and how we can solve it - enjoy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Small countries live and die by the quality of their strategic thinking. This week’s podcast focuses on how small countries can truly transform themselves, clutching victory from the jaws of defeat, by completely re-thinking the relationship with multinational companies. Globalization 3.0 here we come! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’ve just come back from Kenya, this week we are discussing poverty, relentless entrepreneurialism, the role of technology in transforming Africa and why it will be the site of the next battle between America and China Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we tackle the matter of future cities - as urban living becomes financially impossible for the middle class around the world how can we find a way forward that accommodates everyone? Through the lens of history we try to make sense of it all and propose a path forward Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we analyse why Boris Johnson is not a politician, how different societies react to democratic struggles and why bottom-up societies is a better way forward than the traditional top-down structures many of us have today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this month's curious minds episode we talk with Ece Temelkuran, one of Turkey’s best-known journalists and political commentators about her latest book- How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship, her own personal experience in Turkey and what the world should understand from it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Democracy is often taken for granted and many countries are currently testing its resilience right before our eyes. On this episode we break down how we ended up in this political/economic/social mess Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Economic decisions impact many facets of our lives - often in unexpected ways. This week we connect the dots between seemingly unrelated events and explain how economics decisions are at the core of it all. Plus why countries need to grieve and learn how to adapt from loss of power & influence Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Brexit moves towards the endgame and the UK government’s new policy appears to centre on inflicting as much economic damage as possible on Ireland to change the “backstop”, we explore why the Brexiteers are so ignorant about Ireland, how come Ireland is now considerably richer than the UK, more globalized and more resilient. In short, when so-called “Global Britain” exports 1.5 times more to “l...

With the central bank cutting interest rates last week we thought it would be a good idea to analyze the current market signals and try to breakdown what might be looming in the future for the global economy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we dive into the Middle East as tension have currently been ramping up between the United States and Iran - How did we get here, what do we need to know to understand the middle east and why is Turkey the wildcard? That’s what we’re going to attempt to explain. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we’re introducing a new monthly segment to the podcast that I’m calling curious minds. These are going to be a series of 1-on-1 conversations with various personalities offering unique viewpoints that I want to share with you. I’m kicking things off with the legendary American correspondent Tom Friedman, 3 times Pulitzer winner and New York Times columnist talking about the evolution of jour...

In 2100 four out of ten people on the plant will be African. What does that mean for economics, politics and geo-political relations. While the West hasn't been looking, China has made a huge bet on Africa, lending billions to African countries. Will this bet come off and if it does, what will it mean for all of us Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Boris Johnson's rise to MP marks a new chapter for Brexit. As we enter this next phase, we tease out how we got here: Looking at where the movement started. Attempting to understand what are the driving forces of Brexit (its not economics!). And finally, looking at what the future holds for the UK’s economy if Brexit goes the way Boris Johnson wants (and why Leo Varadkar has Johnson by the balls)...

What do you get when you cross Donna Summer, David Bowie, Bitcoin, Joseph Schumpeter, creativity and innovation? You get the essence of the modern capitalist economy, something called “creative destruction” - the most potent force in economics. In this podcast ,we explore the role of disruption in the economy from 1970s disco beats to 21st century blockchain technology. Hope you enjoy it and tell...

It’s time to face the facts - the war on drugs has been a failed experiment. Anyone with a basic knowledge of economics and supply and demand will know that prohibition drives prices upwards, drive profits into the hands of criminal gangs and those very profit coaxes more gangs into the business, leading to more and more violence. It's time to call time on the war on drugs and apply common sense e...

In this episode, we examine today’s geo-politics, the China vs America showdown and related economic threats through lessons from Japan’s Meji Restoration, plus Soviet and Chinese history. Remember, those who forget their economic history are condemned to repeat it. Enjoy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why has Germany, the most important country in Europe, not had the political sway that matches its economic dominance and how that might change in the future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dublin Port is 600 acres of prime residential land, beside the sea, close to all transport links and it should be developed in a new city on the water. The rest of the world is moving their ports, even Cork is, yet in Dublin, the legacy of a time when ports had to be at the mouths of rivers because rivers were a country’s key transport links, dominates our urban thinking. It is time to move the po...

The global markets have never been so connected, and economies tend to be cyclical - what does that mean for Ireland as we face the real possibility of a global economic slowdown? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Trump lands in Ireland this week, we examine his trade war with China, his tariff policy and who it really hurts, plus why China and the US are heading for a major conflict and why the new Cold War is in truth a tech Cold War which the US believes it has to win and the implications of all this for politics, Silicon Valley and the world economy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

There's a wind of change in the air and its nationalism, you can feel it - it's in France, in the UK and even in Ireland. For the first time in a long time, Brexit and demographics in Northern Ireland have opened a real possibility of a united Ireland. But what would it mean, culturally, politically and economically? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.