What is Radical Politics?
2 October 2025 - 46 minsWe like to think of the centre as steady, sensible, and grounded, but what if the “centre” is actually the most radical place in politics right now? The real fault line in modern politics isn’t about tax or spending, it’s about culture. Onn those cultural questions the political class has drifted miles away from the people they claim to represent. In Britain, nearly 9 in 10 people think immigrants should adapt to local customs, yet most MPs don’t. In Germany, it’s the same. In Ireland, the gap is smaller but still real. On economics, tax, spending, capitalism, the public and politicians broadly agree yet on culture, they’re worlds apart. With Financial Times' John Burn-Murdoch, we dig into t...
Series Episodes
Rich Country, Broken State
Ireland has cash coming out of its ears, and nothing to show for it. Sinead O'Sullivan is back to expose the wild dysfunction inside the Irish state: no one is accountable, nothing gets finished, and the same problems get "solved" over and over again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
44 mins
23 July Finished
Spain Won Again, 500 Years Later
Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in a scrappy, dirty World Cup final, in what felt like 500 years of history playing out on a pitch in New Jersey. We use the final as an excuse to ask the big question: why did Spain's colonies end up poor and England's end up rich? Silver, slavery, the Inquisition, and the invisible thread that still connects a Buenos Aires slum to a New Jersey kitchen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
41 mins
21 July Finished
Is AI About to Crash the Global Economy?
History says yes. We rewind to 1873, when a stock market wobble in Vienna triggered a global railway crash that took down banks, empires and 80% of world lending in a matter of months, and ask whether we're staring straight at a rerun. AI spending is now bigger than the entire US defence budget, the same handful of companies are quietly funding each other in a circle, and China is quietly open-sourcing the whole thing to undercut Silicon Valley. If it pops, it'll pop between now and October. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
40 mins
16 July Finished
Mbappé vs Le Pen: The Battle for France
On this 14th of July, as Les Bleus face Spain in the semi-final, France is heading into a political crisis that could reshape Europe because where France goes, Europe usually follows. We dig into why Marine Le Pen is now the favourite for the presidency, why the French football team has become her loudest critic, and, with France on the brink, why a World Cup win might yet influence politics in a way that few sporting achievements have ever done before. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
42 mins
14 July Finished
England V Norway: A Tale of Two Oil Discoveries?
Norway turned North Sea oil into $2 trillion in the bank. Britain turned it into tax cuts, unemployment cheques and a housing bubble. We unpack the tale of two oil finds, why one country nailed it and the other blew it, and what it says about how nations really make, and lose, their fortunes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
41 mins
9 July Finished
Alexander Hamilton: How a Caribbean Orphan Built America
250 years on, we ask the question: would America even exist without Alexander Hamilton? We tell the story of the French-speaking outsider who created the dollar, faced down the states, and set the world's biggest economy in motion, before being murdered in one of history's strangest duels. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
38 mins
7 July Finished
