Macrodose

Today's episode of Election Economics is a crossover show with Politics Theory Other, where PTO host Alex Doherty invited James Meadway and Richard Seymour to discuss their outlooks on the post-election political horizon in the UK.

They discussed potential new right-wing formations between Reform and the Conservatives, the echoes of populism and anti-populism in this campaign, the left-wing purges of the Labour party and the nuances of the current overlapping ecological and social crises.

Politics Theory Other is a podcast with a focus on radical politics, critical theory and history - you can listen wherever you get your podcasts, and support their work over at their Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryother

Alex Doherty is writer and host of Politics Theory Other.

Richard Seymour is a writer and broadcaster, and founding editor of Salvage magazine. His most recent work is 2022's The Disenchanted Earth: Reflections on Ecosocialism and Barbarism.

TICKETS to our MACRODOSE LIVE event on July 26th: ⁠https://unionchapel.org.uk/venue/whats-on/versothe-dig-live-podcast-with-jeremy-corbyn-laleh-khalili⁠

A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers. You can support the show at: ⁠patreon.com/Macrodose

We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at: ⁠⁠⁠[email protected]

Today on Macrodose Election Economics, James is joined by Polly Smythe, to unpack her research on the links between oil, gas and arms companies and 31 Labour MP candidates. They also touch on the upcoming organizing and union ballots with Amazon workers in the UK.

Polly is a writer and journalist, and currently the labour movement correspondent for Novara Media.

You can read Polly's full pieces for Novara here: https://novaramedia.com/2024/06/13/meet-the-labour-candidates-lobbying-for-oil-gas-and-arms-companies/

https://novaramedia.com/2024/06/21/amazon-says-gmb-leaflets-could-be-a-hazard-amid-union-busting-allegations/

TICKETS to our MACRODOSE LIVE event on July 26th: ⁠https://unionchapel.org.uk/venue/whats-on/versothe-dig-live-podcast-with-jeremy-corbyn-laleh-khalili⁠

A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers. You can support the show at: ⁠patreon.com/Macrodose

We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at: ⁠⁠⁠[email protected]

What would you say a human life is worth? According to the US government, for an American it’s about $7.2 million, compared with the global average of approximately $1.3 million. If you’re Swiss though, you’re worth a pretty penny at $9.4 million.

While these estimates might sound absurd, they're really important to understand: these kinds of figures and the models that produce them are a core part of how mainstream economics understands and shapes policy, and they have had a significant role in shaping our approach to the climate crisis. Indeed, as Adrienne and celebrated economist Ha-Joon Chang break down in today's episode, mainstream economics gets a lot wrong, and has proven strikingly ill-equipped for addressing a challenge like climate and ecological crisis, not least through its tendency to reduce complex decisions to abstracted cost-benefit analyses.

Ha-Joon Chang is an economist and Professor at SOAS University of London. Ha-Joon has been an advisor to several international organisations, and is the author of many books, most recently ‘Edible Economics’. 

On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down a post-pandemic rise in diseases across the world, and how this overlaps with our ideas of health, work and care in the UK (1:10), before looking at how the political uncertainty in pre-election France has caused the European Central Bank to withdraw it's borrowing support, and what this means for future power balances in the Eurozone (08:23).

A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers, your support keeps the show running and we are very grateful. If you have the means and enjoy our work, head over to patreon.com/Macrodose and subscribe today.

Find our socials, newsletter and more here:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠linktr.ee/macrodosepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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For more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠planetbproductions.co.uk⁠

Today on Macrodose Election Economics, James is joined by Olly Haynes to talk through the upcoming French elections, the far-right’s resurgence, and how the French left is mobilising to counter it.

Olly is a freelance writer and journalist, and host of the FLEP24 podcast - a regular podcast covering the French 2024 elections in further detail: x.com/flep24pod 

TICKETS to our MACRODOSE LIVE event on July 26th: ⁠https://unionchapel.org.uk/venue/whats-on/versothe-dig-live-podcast-with-jeremy-corbyn-laleh-khalili⁠

A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers. You can support the show at: patreon.com/Macrodose
We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at: ⁠⁠⁠[email protected]

Today on Macrodose Election Economics, James is joined by Maeve Cohen to discuss the We Are The Economy coalition project, and different ways to frame the relationships between austerity, work and social wellbeing. 

Maeve is project lead at The Social Guarantee, and convenor at We Are The Economy - a coalition of organisations who are coming together to call for more investment in public services: https://www.wearetheeconomy.co.uk/ 

TICKETS to our MACRODOSE LIVE event on July 26th: https://unionchapel.org.uk/venue/whats-on/versothe-dig-live-podcast-with-jeremy-corbyn-laleh-khalili 

A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers. You can support the show at: patreon.com/Macrodose 

We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at: ⁠⁠[email protected] ⁠⁠

Today on Macrodose Election Economics, James is joined by Zack Polanski to talk through the Green Party's current campaign, and their ideas for economic, ecological and social futures.

Zack has been the deputy leader of the Green Party since September 2022. He is a Londonwide member of the London Assembly, where he is chair of the Environment Committee, and the national spokesperson for the Green Party for Democracy & Citizen Engagement.

TICKETS to our MACRODOSE LIVE event on July 26th: https://unionchapel.org.uk/venue/whats-on/versothe-dig-live-podcast-with-jeremy-corbyn-laleh-khalili 

A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers. You can support the show at: patreon.com/Macrodose 
We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at ⁠⁠[email protected] ⁠⁠

On this week’s Macrodose James Meadway breaks down what Reform UK’s “contract” for voters tells us about the future battlegrounds for economic policy (1:46), a preview of the upcoming French election (13:25) and a quick recommendation - a new paper from economist Isabella Weber, proposing responses to an age of “overlapping crises” (20:35).

You can find the report here: https://t.co/zaYDO6fFvS

A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers, your support keeps the show running and we are very grateful. If you have the means and enjoy our work, head over to patreon.com/Macrodose and subscribe today.

Find our socials, newsletter and more here:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠linktr.ee/macrodosepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠

For more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠planetbproductions.co.uk⁠

Today on Macrodose Election Economics, James is joined by James Schneider to discuss the contradictions of a Labour government, the future of the left and organising in the UK. 
James Schneider is former Head Of Strategic Communications to Jeremy Corbyn, and author of Our Bloc: How We Win (2022, Verso). He is currently Communications Director for Progressive International, an international organisation of unions, peasant movements and activists.
 
TICKETS to our MACRODOSE LIVE event on July 26th: https://unionchapel.org.uk/venue/whats-on/versothe-dig-live-podcast-with-jeremy-corbyn-laleh-khalili 
A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers. You can support the show at: patreon.com/Macrodose
 
We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at ⁠⁠[email protected]

“The stakes could not be higher.” These are the recent words not of climate activists, but of a coalition representing major oil and gas companies in a letter to the US Supreme Court. The context? They’re asking the Court to block dozens of lawsuits that seek to hold these firms to account for their role in driving the climate crisis, including by awarding damages for the costs of extreme weather events.

But how would this actually work? While it’s becoming more frequent, extreme weather has always been a part of our planet’s natural variation - so how can we know which events are part of a new normal as a result of climate change - and which are just ‘normal’?

For a long time, it was hard to give a clear answer. But thanks to the work of today’s guest, Dr. Fredi Otto, that’s all beginning to change. In this episode, Adrienne and Fredi Otto break down "attribution science" - a relatively new field that seeks to examine the role of climate change in extreme weather events. Through their work, we’re gaining a much clearer picture not only of our changing planet, but also of how climate change is inescapably tied up with inequality and injustice.

Dr. Otto is Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London and co-founder of World Weather Attribution.

Find the entire series of The Break Down, alongside fantastic original essays and other resources, over at ⁠www.break-down.org⁠

A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers. You can support the show at: patreon.com/Macrodose

We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠