A World to Win with Grace Blakeley

Grace and Alfie Stirling, Chief Economist of the New Economics Foundation, dissect the UK Chancellor's spring statement. it looks set to contain very few of the measures that would be necessary to tackle the cost of living crisis (which we discussed last week with Gary Stevenson). Rishi Sunak will say there's no money left to support people forced to choose between eating and heating, but have the Tories grossly underestimated the extent of this crisis, and will it come back to bite them? Check out NEF's report on the subject here: https://neweconomics.org/2022/03/23-4-million-people-unable-to-afford-the-cost-of-living (https://neweconomics.org/2022/03/23-4-million-people-unable-to-afford-the-cost-of-living)You can support our work on the show by becoming a patron (https://www.patreon.com/aworldtowinpod). Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and to the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.

NEW SHOW ALERT! This week, A World to Win is expanding and launching a new format for the podcast. In addition to our regular long-form interviews, every other week Grace will host shorter, more topical discussions with one of a regular group of guests. On this episode, it's Gary Stevenson of Gary's Economics (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Ghe5TBQGYIOANuiNW4hDQ) talking about the cost of living crisis—where's it coming from, who is paying for it, and what can we do about it?Check out Gary's articles in openDemocracy, "Who should pay for the COVID crisis?" (https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/who-should-pay-covid-crisis/) and "Following the coronavirus money trail." (https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/following-coronavirus-money-trail/) And his YouTube videos, "Inflation - Why We Should Have Seen This Coming" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljvM-mELpOM) and "How COVID-19 Makes the Rich Richer." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiblHqbpXHs)You can support our work on the show by becoming a patron (https://www.patreon.com/aworldtowinpod). Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and to the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible. Please excuse some minor issues in our guest's sound due to a technical issue.

This week Grace talks to Susanne Soederberg, Professor of Political Economy in Global Development Studies at Queen’s University, Canada about her book Urban Displacements: Governing Surplus and Survival in Global Capitalism. They discuss the class roots of the global housing crisis and the emergence of resistance to the cycle of debt, eviction, and homelessness in some of Europe's major cities. Susanne can be found on Twitter @soederberg1 (https://twitter.com/soederberg1).You can support our work on the show by becoming a patron at https://www.patreon.com/aworldtowinpod (https://www.patreon.com/aworldtowinpod). Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and to the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.

This week, Grace talks to Max Lawson, Head of Inequality Policy at Oxfam, about their new report "Inequality Kills," which you can read here: https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/inequality-kills (https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/inequality-kills)They discuss why inequality has increased so much over the course of the pandemic, how this increase in inequality is affecting our democracies and our ability to tackle issues like the pandemic and climate breakdown, and what we need to do about it.You can support our work on the show by becoming a patron at https://www.patreon.com/aworldtowinpod (https://www.patreon.com/aworldtowinpod). Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and to the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.

This week, Grace talks to Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, about why the government is trying to take away the firefighters’ right to strike, how FBU members are organising to resist these pressures—as well as fighting for fair wages and better conditions—and the impact of austerity on the fire service and its members.You can support our work on the show by becoming a patron at patreon.com/aworldtowinpod (https://www.patreon.com/aworldtowinpod). Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and to the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.

Grace talks to Rupert Russell about his book Price Wars: How the Commodities Markets Made Our Chaotic World, in which he applies insights from chaos theory to the world economy. He looks at how apparently random movements in prices, often driven by speculation in the Global North, can create tectonic shifts that multiply around the world.You can support our work on the show by becoming a patron at patreon.com/aworldtowinpod (https://www.patreon.com/aworldtowinpod). Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and to the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.

This week Grace speaks with Laurie Penny about their new book, Sexual Revolution: Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback. They talk about the roots of the resurgence of violence against women, what it means to build a culture of consent, and how women can organize to resist their oppression and exploitation.You can support our work on the show by becoming a patron at patreon.com/aworldtowinpod (https://www.patreon.com/Aworldtowinpod). Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and to the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.

This week, Grace talks to Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò about his two new books, Reconsidering Reparations and Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (and Everything Else). They discuss what "identity politics" actually means, why it's so often contrasted to "class politics," and what socialists need to do to create inclusive, sustainable social movements.You can support our work on the show by becoming a patron at patreon.com/aworldtowinpod (https://www.patreon.com/Aworldtowinpod). Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and to the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.

Grace talks to Emma Dowling about the crisis of care facing the world economy, and why this crisis poses a threat to capitalist social relations. They discuss the commodification and financialisation of the care sector, the challenges of organising, and what it would look like to genuinely democratise care work. Emma Dowling teaches at the University of Vienna and is the author of The Care Crisis: What Caused It and How Can We End It? The book is coming out in paperback in February 2022.You can support our work on the show by becoming a patron at patreon.com/aworldtowinpod (https://www.patreon.com/Aworldtowinpod). Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and to the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.

This week, Grace talks to Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, associate professor of sociology at UCL, about his book Speculative Communities: Living with Uncertainty in a Financialised World. They talk about the formation of a new kind of subject – homo speculans – and how mutual cooperation in the context of the deep and pervasive uncertainty that characterises life under financial capitalism is building new communities and new forms of resistance to financialisation.Find information about Aris's LRB event with Grace on January 17 here: https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/events (https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/events)You can support our work on the show by becoming a patron at https://www.patreon.com/aworldtowinpod (https://www.patreon.com/aworldtowinpod). Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and to the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.