Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her March '25 Spring Statement — this is an unabridged audio record of her speech to the House of Commons
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Original Broadcast: Thought for the Week
Abolition of NHS England reverses the de-politicisation of the health service, but it leaves intact all the inefficiencies of being a monopoly: thereby rendering people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity, unless they're moved by the Florence Nightingale mindset. Competition enables progress, efficient delivery and innovation, but most of all it respects individuals as customers, not simply treating them as account numbers. No wonder that the Competition & Markets Authority encourages government to use competition effectively on behalf of consumers. Background music: 'Hopeful Freedom' by Asher Fulero
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As the United States descends towards economic turmoil as a result of its new-found isolationism and unreliability, the BRICS group of nations (including Russia and China) will be looking forward to a new dawn for their mainly autocratic regimes and potentially an opportunity to replace the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency. If western democracies, particularly in Europe, are to turn that tide, they must discover long-term governance, a new approach to targeted welfare working in partnership with philanthropists as opposed to universality, and a significant increase in democratic legitimacy for global governance. Background music: 'India Fuse' by French Fuse
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The 2025 Doomsday Clock is set at just 89 seconds before midnight by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, but it's not just the potential for nuclear catastrophe that is rearing its head: climate change and biodiversity are causing deep concerns, and even if we can struggle through this difficult period, the legacy that we're leaving to future generations is awful. It's said that charity begins at home, but the treatment of our own young people is not encouraging in this respect: debts abound, both at the personal and public levels. With so many current-day challenges, the big question is how to encourage people — and our elected leaders — to take a longer-term perspective? Background music: 'Lost In Prayer' by Doug Maxwell The Doomsday Clock is created and managed by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
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Original Broadcast: Thought for the Week
Whatever you may think of trade tariffs, there is no doubting the massive trade imbalance that has developed between China and the United States over the past three decades. Deliberate currency manipulation has enabled China to become the world's factory through resisting any meaningful appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar. Parts of Europe have also suffered much economic damage as a result of the failure to balance out regional economic differences. If strong, accommodating economic control cannot be delivered, freely-floating currencies are the answer — but not tariffs. Background music: 'Something Is Wrong' by Sir Cubworth
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This week is a real watershed, as we move from Biden to Trump. Joe Biden sounds a clear warning in his farewell address, setting out the risks for democracy and participation from the cohort of oligarchs that are now taking power, combined with the challenge from social media. Meanwhile the United Kingdom is losing its wealth creators at an accelerating rate due to the imposition of socialist ideology and a swathe of new taxes. Neither political stance will deliver the rallying cry of the French revolution, 'Liberté, égalité, fraternité'. Background music: 'Officer Of The Day March' by United States Marine Band
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Unabridged and without comment from Share Radio, here's the King's Christmas message as broadcast on 25th December '24.
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Original Broadcast: Thought for the Week
Turnout at the 2024 general election was 59.7%, the lowest at a General Election since 2001, and 7.6 percentage points lower than in 2019. We are all keenly aware of the disproportionate number of Labour MPs (63.2%), notwithstanding their low overall polling (33.7%), but only now are we starting to see how young people have been disenfranchised by their poverty. This correlation between youth and poverty supports our consistent and strong calls for inter-generational rebalancing, and the need for more long-term focus in western democracies. If we don't take action, we run the risk of oscillating between an over-sized self-interested state driven by socialism and self-interested reactionaries driven by populism. Background music: 'Generations Away' by Unicorn Heads
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Original Broadcast: Thought for the Week
Food banks are very busy at this time of year, and Trussell, which co-ordinates and supplies 1,400 of them in the UK with 36,000 volunteers, is particularly active. Its combination of nationwide scalability and local partnerships shows how voluntary and philanthropic contributions can deliver hope in the face of a welfare state which has failed to break the cycle of deprivation over the past fifty years. Is this the model, combined with a more egalitarian form of capitalism, which can provide a more compassionate society, with participation for all? Background music: 'Soul Food' by Chris Haugen Image Source: Trussell
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Original Broadcast: Thought for the Week
Matters of life and death featured strongly in the House of Commons last Friday. thanks to Kim Leadbeater's Private Members' Bill on assisted dying — it's curious how the new UK parliament has developed such a fixation on 'end of life'. The Government's plans for inheritance tax might encourage people towards a serious look at philanthropy — register to join Philanthropy Impact's webinar on Donor Advised Funds, starting at 12 noon this Wednesday 4th December. Background music: 'Wandering Soul' by Asher Fulero Image source: Philanthropy Impact
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