The Why? Curve
Csatorna részletek
The Why? Curve
Each week Phil Dobbie and Roger Hearing get to grips with one issue that impacts our lives. It could be economic, social, technological or geopolitical. Whatever the subject, they'll talk to the experts who can give help explain what's really going on. And Phil and Roger back it up with their own re...
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176 epizód
Are The Tories Toast
The most successful political party in Europe is contemplating oblivion. The Conservatives, soundly rejected last year by voters, have a leader no-one...
Is Pseudoscience Taking Over?
The US president says paracetamol use can cause autism, and climate change is a giant con. A British GP tells the Reform party Covid vaccinations led...
The Trump Whisperer?
Keir Starmer has made a point of cosying-up to President Trump - even bringing him to the UK for an unprecedented second state visit - but does it act...
Anyone Seen The LibDems?
Whatever happened to the LibDems? The largest number of MPs for almost a century. The country’s right wing in chaos. The government in meltdown. Surel...
Labour’s Money Problems
The chancellor has ten weeks to find a way to balance the books. But is she going to raise taxes - and risk harming economic growth? Or does she cut t...
Put Out More Flags
Flags are everywhere - Union Jacks and the Cross of St George going up on lamp posts, walls, street-corners and even roundabouts. Is it an attempt an...
Asylum Seekers - Time To Change The Rules?
The anger around asylum seekers and small boat crossings is rising - and providing fuel for Reform’s surge in the polls. Governments of any colour see...
Ukraine - Any Closer To Peace?
Lots of high-level diplomacy - handshakes for European leaders in the White House, the red-carpet for Putin in Alaska - but does any of this bring the...
Palestine Action - Protesters or Terrorists?
Scenes few had expected in the UK - retired vicars carried away by the police for holding up a poster saying “I support Palestine Action”. The banning...
Why Are We All So Angry?
Rage is on the rise. On social media, on our roads, outside migrant hotels - things are getting under our skin that once would have caused mild irrita...
Trump in Trouble?
Donald Trump can’t escape the shadow of Jeffrey Epstein, and he seems to have fallen out with many of his closest supporters over the failure to discl...
The Verdict on Juries
Are committees of randomly-selected amateurs the best way to decide someone’s guilt or innocence? As the government studies a report that recommends t...
Sudan - the Horror of the Forgotten War
Far away from the headlines, a war is raging in Africa that has taken at least 150,000 lives, has displaced 12 million people from their homes, and cr...
Keir - A Year to Forget
How did it all go so wrong for the Labour government? A massive majority of MPs, and a country yearning for change, but now, a year on: rock-bottom po...
Ozempic Nation?
Has the rise of new weight-loss drugs become a game-changer for the obesity crisis?Can we all now inject ourselves thin? Will restaurants and gyms go...
UK Rail - On The Right Track?
Why is it that we can't seem to run a railway project that's on time or affordable? Why do our trains also fail to turn up or charge reasonably? Is na...
World on the Edge
The conflict between Israel and Iran shows no sign of easing and the threat of US involvement has heightened concerns about a war that is rapidly gett...
Democracy On The Rocks?
More than a quarter of UK voters back a party that’s only got 5 MPs. Labour won a stonking majority in parliament last year with just over a third of...
Is Crypto Becoming Credible?
Is the Wild West of digital currency now becoming a respectable place to put your money? President Trump likes it, and his vice president, JD Vance, b...
Tanks, Troops or Drones? Spending the Defence Bonanza
Billions in new spending for the UK’s defence, but how to spend it? Does Britain need more soldiers? More shells for artillery? More tanks? Or are dro...
Migrants - Not The Issue They Think It Is
Keir Starmer has launched his bid to claim back migration policy from the right - talking about the UK becoming an “island of strangers” unless the nu...
India-Pakistan: Endless Enmity?
The confrontation between the two south Asian neighbours this month seems to have been resolved into a ceasefire. It is almost certainly only a pause...
Ukraine - Does The US Now Have Skin In The Game?
The minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv is pretty opaque, but does it at least give the Trump administration a reason to stick with Ukraine? Or...
Conclave Consensus - Choosing A New Pope
The leader of 1.4 billion Catholics is about to be decided by 132 men in red hats, locked away in a renaissance chapel beneath one of the greatest art...
Reform Revolution?
Local elections are usually a yawn, but the results next week could overturn the political geography of the UK. Will Reform, riding high in the polls,...
Show me where to put the money
Anyone with money faces a dilemma right now. Where do you invest it? Historically it’s been quite simple. If you are prepared to take risks, buy share...
The White House Ruled by Pathocracy
The most powerful man in the world doesn't listen to advice, makes up facts, changes his mind on a whim, thinks he was sent by God to save the USA, an...
The Return of Toxic Masculinity
Is the pendulum swinging back against gender equality, with aggression and misogyny encouraged by influencers and populist leaders championing traditi...
Time to Shrink the State?
Is the state too big? As Rachel Reeves announces cuts in welfare and civil servants, is it a recognition that the administration of the UK needs to sl...
Aid Emergency
The aid tap is being turned off. USAID has suspended all its programmes and the UK is diverting much of the budget for overseas development to buying...
Ukraine - Peace In Our Time?
Is the ceasefire going to happen? Will Moscow sign up? And where will it leave Ukraine - the country that was subject to the largest land war in Europ...
Closing Credits?
Is cinema dying? The Oscars were the usual triumphant mix of glamour, glitz and terrible speeches, but is the film industry what it was? Streaming, vi...
How To Handle The Donald
Taking over Greenland, turning Gaza into a US resort, switching sides over Ukraine - the world has faced a whirlwind of Trump initiatives in the openi...
New Towns - Old Ideas?
Labour is promising 12 new New Towns across England, to spur growth and provide housing. But those who know Telford, Milton Keynes, Welwyn Garden City...
Winning The Trade War
Donald Trump wants big tariffs on US imports, and the countries affected are threatening retaliation - it’s the beginning of a trade war, with China,...
Deeply Seeking - China’s AI Challenge
Have you tried DeepSeek? China’s new, cheap artificial intelligence app has startled Sillicon Valley. It’s wiped billions from the worth of some of bi...
WFH No More?
Emails on the beach - we all left the office in 2020, and some of us never went back. But is business calling time now on working from home? Is it par...
Trump - How Crazy Will It Get?
The 47th president of the United States has begun his administration with a rush of executive orders intended to change the direction of the US. Some...
The Sick Men of Europe
France and Germany are the pillars of the EU, the strongest economies and most stable democracies - except they’re not: Paris and Berlin are caught in...
Starmer Stuck - Labour’s Poor Start
Labour’s first six months in office has been something of a disappointment, with rows about pensioners’ energy payments, farmers’ inheritance tax and...