In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, Director of Communications Callum Price is joined by IEA Director General Lord Hannan and Editorial Director Dr Kristian Niemietz. The panel discusses the Clacton by-election and the rise of joke candidates, the very different ways the populist left and right use the word “establishment,” the debate sparked by J.D. Vance over whether GDP is the right measure of a country’s success, and the Government’s proposals to make platforms promote public service broadcasters online.

Callum, Lord Hannan and Kristian Niemietz begin with Nigel Farage’s resignation as an MP to force a by-election in Clacton, and what the contest reveals about how “anti-establishment” politics means very different things depending on which side is using it. They move on to a defence of economic growth, arguing that GDP scepticism usually rests on a strawman version of economics that no real economist holds, and that growth is what has given people leisure time, labour-saving technology and rising living standards. The conversation ends on the Government’s new Green Paper, which would require social media platforms to prioritise BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5 content, and what that means for free expression, drawing on John Stuart Mill’s case for free speech and examples of “high status misinformation,” including claims about NHS privatisation and wealth inequality.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

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