Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian says that the Chancellor's pre-Budget speech is clearly setting us up for tax rises. Labour's biggest mistake was promising not to increase income tax, VAT or National Insurance. With taxes at a high but the British state so sclerotic, people are entitled to ask, "Where is my money going?" Mike found it interesting that at the very moment when it looked as if the Chancellor might have to go over her rental income problems, that was when the Palace chose to strip Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his titles. It was a miscalculation for it didn't bury the story. But is it appropriate for the Royals to sort this out on their own? Mike believes not.
Guests: Mike Indian
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says getting serious medical treatment abroad has doubled in three years to half a million a year. Private health care hjere grows by 8-10% a year yet NHS waiting lists are still rising. Those now paying twice for healthcare may favour massive change in the NHS. Milei's unexpected mid-term win in Argentina is a huge win for free-marketeers and libertarians and may set a framework for governments wanting to turn their economies around. And with Budget talk of further tax increases, Tim discusses how moving to the United States could cut Britons' tax bills in half.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Tim Price of Price Value Partners (Citywire's #1 fund YTD & over 12 months) feels that the performance of gold this year is less a gold story than a currency one. Freezing Russia's reserves torpedoed the US's funding powers when it has $38tn debt to fund. Since then, central banks have been disinvesting US debt in favour of gold bullion. The fiat currency jig is up. We know what a kilogram is, but no longer what a dollar is. Tim also discusses the malign effect of over-regulation, a fantastic book by Dominic Frisby about gold, how investors can tell when gold and silver have gone high enough and why you should not put your faith in debt and cash.
Guests: Tim Price
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
With the marking of Margaret Thatcher's 100th birthday, Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says that many political experts now rate her even more highly than Churchill, a less successful peacetime Prime Minister. As the IMF warns about the UK's debt, growth and inflation, Labour's inability to cut profligate spending is taking the country to the edge while talk of higher taxes in the Budget is undermining confidence. It feels like all that has changed is the colour of the PM's tie. And, tongue firmly in his cheek, he wonders – with the French Fifth Republic in turmoil – whether what the country really needs is a constitutional monarchy.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses the 2nd anniversary of October 7th and the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza, which would be a coup for Donald Trump. It's not an end to the war but a significant step on a long road ahead. Protestors at home are self-indulgent and should read the room. Having been to Labour and Tory party conferences, both leaders have emerged in a stronger position, while Andy Burnham misjudged things. Starmer set out his vision and he and Reeves are now the only game in town. Despite Badenoch banking on the long game, Mike feels she will be supplanted by James Cleverly before the next election.
Guests: Mike Indian
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University looks at the party conference season. The Labour event was particularly bizarre. Amplifying the Reform message showed they are in serious trouble and indeed the latest polls show Reform at 35%, their highest yet. The public is at the end of its tether with the major parties and isn't buying the change in Labour or Tory rhetoric. Tim expects a wave of Tory defections to coincide with May's elections. Although no sports fan, he finds it sad that the BBC no longer has exclusive rights to any of the sporting events that are part of the fabric of the nation. The Corporation is spread too thinly and floundering and should have the confidence to make itself financially sustainable.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike indian thinks that it would be a big mistake for Andy Burnham to challenge Keir Starmer's leadership of Labour. He can't see what Burnham would bring to the table and feels it would be opportunistic in-fighting. He finds the American administration's criticism regarding free speech in the UK highly hypocritical. And he reckons Trump's speech at the UN is akin to a man standing on a street corner with a cardboard sign, someone we'd normally ignore. Trump is a danger to the modern world and we risk forgetting why we have become the societies we are.
Guests: Mike Indian
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University believes that the defection of the talented Danny Kruger to Reform has demoralised the Tories. Will other defections mean they don't have enough numbers to be the official Opposition? He states why he believes that the most stable mixed economies are often those with monarchs, not presidents, especially in north-west Europe. Turning to Brexit, he feels that it is a process we are perhaps only halfway through, though he doesn't know where it will end up.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian wonders why the revelations about Lord Mandelson weren't caught in the vetting process but his sacking tops a bad week for the Prime Minister. Mike says that Angela Rayner will be missed: she spoke to Labour voters who Starmer can't reach. Mike expects she will return to the cabinet within a year or so and may yet end up as the party's leader. The PM needs a deputy leadership election like a hole in the head as it will allow grievances to be aired; some are calling it a referendum on his performance. Mike also summarises what he feels should be in the autumn Budget.
Guests: mike indian
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
After the arrest of comedian Graham Linehan for social media comments, Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says we cannot go on behaving like this and expect our friends in the United States to go on supporting us in our quest for a free sociey. We are humiliating ourselves internationally and spiralling into a broader delegitimation crisis. Argentinian President Milei calls himself an anarcho-capitalist. But what is that? Tim explains a world of scholarship dating back over 150 years. And with the Tories so low in the polls, distrusted and in no man's land, he asks if the Conservative Party might already have died.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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