The Other Hand

Akin to launching aeroplanes without safety or regulatory checks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Economists have sung the praises of free trade for centuries. But nobody that matters believes any longer that free trade is good. The new religion has taken us into the unknown. Or perhaps not: the known unknown is a question. What happens when really stupid people run the world? What's the difference between Trump's threats of military force and Putin's similar remarks pre-invasion? Free trade l...

Are all tech-titans evil? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And all the latest data! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How much is enough? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irish House prices up again, Fed cuts, markets tank, UK woes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The UK's Labour government has already had to 'reset' it's goals. Nigel Farage is the big winner from Keir Starmer's incompetence. In the US, it looks increasingly like Elon Musk has Trump's ear. For now, at least Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

House prices, latest data and interest rates Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

France and Germany join the list of countries offering nothing but political chaos. Farage wants the UK to be in that club very soon. Guess which country has bought itself another 5 years of peace and all of the economic & business attractions that go with it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We take a look at the results of GE 24 and disagree about several things. More such disagreements are very likely. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are we in the foothills of another Euro area crisis? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Carey joins us to discuss an election campaign that has finally caught fire. But not in the way that Fine Gael would like When will they realise the civil war is over? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well-known political analyst, commentator and occasional comedian, Tull McAdoo, joins Chris to talk about the General Election. Will Ireland join the rest of the world and sweep out the incumbent government? Or is the economy doing so well that incumbency is actually a positive? We may have to wait until Easter for a government Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The world is changing. Rapidly. Have we noticed? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irish employment is still growing - at another all-time high. Not unrelatedly, house prices are also booming. UK farmers are protesting about inheritance taxation. What are the issues and do they have wider resonance? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Budget 2025 has been derailed by Project 2025 - the radical agenda denied by Trump during his campaign (it really is so extreme even he had to disavow it). Notwithstanding the denials, Project 2025 is now being implemented. But few Irish or European politicians seem to have noticed. Latest EU Commission economic forecasts are pretty dire. The US is leaving the EU for dust. And a new gap has emerge...

Trump is impossible to forecast - so should we stop trying? Is talking about him merely enabling him? Colluding with him? There is a spiders-web of connections between Trump and Brexit. Farage, Le Pen and Orban have a new spring in their step. Brexiteers still hanker after a free trade deal with the US. They must confront the reality of a protectionist US President - and government. One way Trump...

The list of reasons why Trump won is getting longer. Some make sense, some do not. We look at the evidence-based ones. One very stark conclusion: not every Trump voter thinks all that positively about the President-elect. It's simply that they find the Democratic Party even more repulsive. The Trump trade is on. The stock market loves the prospect of trade wars, budget-busting tax cuts and mass de...

Well, we said it was the year of election. Now we live with the consequences. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fabulous US economy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first UK budget ever delivered by a female Chancellor was presented with aplomb and panache. A pity the details didn’t match up to the presentation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Germany is in economic trouble. Its car industry - 7% of the economy - is being squeezed by struggling exports (to China in particular) and a poorly handled transition to EVs. Add in problems that go back decades and maybe its time to become a Eurosceptic again. If Trump wins, the Democrats need to look in mirror. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Loads of men (mostly) say their favourite movie is The Godfather. Plenty also rate the Sopranos as the best TV series ever. Is that because they secretly (and not so secretly these days) would love to have a Mafiosi's unchecked power? Brexit is the most contemporary example of people saying the system doesn't work for them and then replacing it with something far worse. The US appears to be on the...

It's easy to conclude that we are a violent species. Just look at the state of the world. In a quite brilliant book, Professor Christopher Blattman argues that history books can give a misleading impression: on most days, war doesn't happen. Blattman has read everything. He has talked to the street gangs of Chicago and drug lords in Colombia. He summarises his vast knowledge with five main reasons...

Irish house prices are now well in excess of their pre-financial crisis peaks. Is the only thing that will get them down an old fashioned recession? More supply is certainly needed but it is far from clear that more houses equals lower prices - other things are not equal Why do we still bang on about a cost of living crisis when inflation has fallen towards zero? If not actually zero. May be the a...