Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Politicial commentator Mike Indian discusses the uproar in the Commons over Gaza amendments which has damaged Speaker Lindsay Hoyle's hitherto high reputation. Party politics has once more trumped meaningful debate in a world where MPs are increasingly seen as being targets. Mike asks if this was a face-saving exercise for the Labour leadership and assesses what it means for the Speaker. He also returns to the Post Office Horizon Scandal and questions whether public-owned bodies providing key services to the state like the Post Office ought to be run as businesses at all. Lastly, he turns to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. With much of the world turning towards authoritarianism, Mike feels we must cherish and strengthen our democracy.
Guests: Mike Indian
Published:
Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Rather than rely upon press reports, Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University delves into Reform UK's policies, finding no evidence of far-right attitudes but instead a mix of old-school Thatcherite ideas with socialist control. He suspects some ideas could be appropriated by other parties. Donald Trump's Agenda 47 baffled him more, being a smorgasbord combining centre-left ideas on welfare with more nationalistic, protectionist policies. By offering something for almost everyone, he may have a broader base than previously. Tim is very concerned about the rise of thousands of fraudulent scientific papers, with 10,000 believed to have been retracted last year alone. This black economy, driven in large part from China, India, Iran and Russia, could prove extremely dangerous in the scientific arena.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
Published:
Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Tim Price of Price Value Partners considers the possible outcomes, given that interest rates have risen from a record low in a world awash with debt. He discusses the pendulum of economic growth shifting towards the BRICs and Asia (minus China). And he laments the failure of governments to learn the conseqences of interfering with markets. He suggests, when it comes to the drive to Net Zero, that people ask "Who benefits"? And, explaining his own investment principles, while he still feels inflation is a clear and present danger, he believes that precious metals and commodity stocks are at bargain levels.
Guests: Tim Price
Published:
Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University explains why he so enjoyed new Argentine President Javier Milei lecturing the great and good of the World Economic Forum about libertarian and Austrian economics, attacking corporatism and socialism. He feels Milei could be the most consequential politician economically-speaking for many years. He also looks at falling EV car sales, lamenting the way in which politicians set goals for achieving their hobbyhorses irrespective of scientific progress and consumer demand. And he is fascinated by a meeting between journalist John Humphreys and members of Gen Z, which showed them to be different to the popular perception.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
Published:
Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses the fallout from the ITV drama about the Post Office Horizon scandal which has finally galvanised politicians. Labelled the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history, Mike examines what it means for people's trust in democracy and our institutions. He expects 2024 to be an election year and explains what we might expect from the main political parties, comparing them to competitors at a school sports day.
Guests: Mike Indian
Published:
Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University discusses the potential challenges of 2024, including elections in so many places, the problems of NATO, Ukraine & the Middle East and the militarisation of Russia. He explains why so much of what politicians tell us about immigration is wrong. And he points out that, despite many people's perception, Labour is historically the party of strong defence and that this may be yet another way in which the party will outflank the Conservatives.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
Published:
Unabridged and without comment from Share Radio, here's the King's Christmas message as broadcast on 25th December '23.
Guests: King Charles III
Published:
Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
We go stargazing with Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University as he looks ahead to 2024. What will happen politically in the UK when so many people feel that our politicians have so little idea about the realities of daily life? On the international front, the world has turned so much darker in 2023 with so many danger spots around the world. What will the future hold, particularly when politics is polarising in so many places? What will the result of the shifting sands of demographics be and how will the young find meaning and success in a world that has become so challenging for them?
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
Published:
Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses Rishi Sunak and the Rwanda Bill, which led to Robert Jenrick's resignation. With the Tory party once more engaged in ferocious in-fighting, are the Prime Minister's days numbered? Discussing the clampdown on legal migration, with a net 750,000 migrants last year, Mike wondered if our politicians, on all sides, are in tune with the public, especially in the Red Wall areas. Discussing why we are so bad at forward planning in the UK, Mike felt that Keir Starmer, if he is to become PM, needs a plan to show how people's lives will be improved.
Guests: Mike Indian
Published:
Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University looks at some of the problems of regulation and setting standards in the light of the suicide of headmistress Ruth Perry in the wake of an Ofsted inspection. He feels that Keir Starmer has vectored rhetorically and atmospherically to the right of the Conservatives and that Jacob Rees-Mogg's teasing smacks of desperation and the end of a long chess game. And he feels that Wes Streeting should consider Singapore's health system, which could be the answer for the future of the NHS, although it would involve a heck of a battle with vested interests.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
Published:
