Note to listeners: this episode was prerecorded in August 2022. 

As the first week of rail strikes came to an end in June, Google searches for the phrase “join union” had increased by 184%. News channels and politicians didn’t seem to know what to make of the broad public support for the striking rail workers. Inspired by the RMT union, the unrest spread: criminal barristers, BT workers, posties and teachers are just some of the people exploring strike action.

After decades of union busting, wage stagnation and decimated rights, are workers finally saying enough is enough? Why has the public suddenly got behind striking workers? And what would happen if we held a general strike?

Ayeisha is joined by the TUC's Sian Elliot and Sarah Jaffe, journalist and author of “Work Won’t Love You Back”(@SianCElliott and @sarahljaffe on Twitter).

-Find out more about Sarah's work at https://workwontloveyouback.org/

-Want to join a union? You can find the right one for you on the TUC website https://www.tuc.org.uk/joinunion

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Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear, used under Creative Commons licence.

Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by Becky Malone.

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

The Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

In this mini-series of the New Economics Podcast, we’ll discover how our economy has been run over the past few years - and look at the key battlegrounds for those fighting to change the rules.

Over the last few years, neoliberalism – the economic model that has dominated since Margaret Thatcher was PM – has taken a hit. Big spending and state intervention have been the name of the game, as the government scrambled to get to grips with the pandemic.

While Boris Johnson gets ready to pack up his things, we still don’t know who will be replacing him in Number 10. The two final contenders, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, have been described in the press as “channelling the blue-suited ghost of Thatcher”.

So, have the last few years solidified a new kind of economic mainstream? Or will Johnsonism be swept aside once the new PM has unpacked their toothbrush?

In the first episode of this special mini-series we’re asking: has neoliberalism hit the buffers?

Ayeisha is joined by Ellie Mae O’Hagan and Laurie Macfarlane (@elliemaeohagan and @L__Macfarlane on Twitter).

-Read Laurie's piece with Christine Berry for Renewal on the Conservative's political economy: https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/renewal/vol-30-issue-2/abstract-9553/

-More on the Race Class Narrative here: https://classonline.org.uk/pubs/item/the-uk-race-class-narrative-report

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Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear, used under Creative Commons licence.

Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by Becky Malone.

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

The Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

Outside of the frenzied headlines about woke warriors cancelling Jane Austen and stately homes, we’re living in a period of renewed consideration of Britain’s colonial history.

The British Empire began before the English Civil War, and shaped our country for 400 years. At its height, it covered almost a quarter of the entire world’s population. Beyond statues and street names, how is the empire still shaping our lives today?

Ayeisha is joined by Dr Kojo Koram, lecturer in law at Birkbeck and author of Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire.

- Grab a copy of the book here: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/kojo-koram/uncommon-wealth/9781529338652/

- Further reading from Perry Anderson here: https://www.versobooks.com/authors/81-perry-anderson

- And from Tom Nairn here: https://www.versobooks.com/authors/821-tom-nairn

- More from Kojo here: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745342047/empires-endgame/

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Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by Becky Malone.

Music by Poddington Bear under Creative Commons license.

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

The New Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

What do you get the guy who has everything? A 44 billion dollar social media platform apparently. Elon Musk has already been accused of union busting, shot a car into space, and become the world’s richest man. So what’s next on his to-do list? Buying Twitter of course!

From Mark Zuckerberg to Elon Musk, should we be worried that our online lives are in the hands of a few super-rich men? Will cryptocurrencies and Web3 make the internet good again? And what would a people-powered internet really look like?

Ayeisha is joined by Dr James Muldoon, senior lecturer in political science at the University of Exeter and Head of Digital Research at the Autonomy think tank.

You can grab a copy of James' book Platform Socialism: How to Reclaim our Digital Future from Big Tech here: http://www.plutobooks.com/9780745346977/platform-socialism/

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Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by Becky Malone.

Music by Poddington Bear under Creative Commons license.

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

The New Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

In the early months of the pandemic, the government shut down whole sectors of the economy and started paying the wages of a huge proportion of Brits. Some worked from home, juggling homeschooling their kids and figuring out how to use Zoom. Others risked their health to travel to work. Meanwhile Big Tech and outsourcing companies raked in money through government contracts.

What can we learn from moments when the predictable rules of economic life are suspended? Who wins and who loses in these points of crisis? And has the pandemic pushed us into a new form of capitalism?

Ayeisha is joined by Sahil Dutta and Nick Taylor, lecturers in political economy at Goldsmiths University to discuss their new book "Unprecedented? How Covid-19 revealed the politics of our economy"

- The book written alongside Will Davies and Martina Tazzioli is out now: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691630/unprecedented-by-william-davies-sahil-jai-dutta-nick-taylor-and-martina-tazzioli/

- Find out more about Sahil and Nick's work here: https://www.perc.org.uk/

- Further reading on the care crisis and coronavirus by Emma Dowling here: https://www.versobooks.com/books/4031-the-care-crisis

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Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by Becky Malone.

Music by C. Scott and Poddington Bear under Creative Commons license.

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

The New Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

A few weeks ago the chancellor presided over a spring budget which ushered in the fastest drop in living standards on record, as he told us that we “can’t protect everyone”. But this week it was revealed that his wife has avoided paying around £20 million in tax, due to her non-dom status.

Accused of “rank hypocrisy” by Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak’s popularity has certainly been dented. The Sunak family hasn’t broken the law - but what does that say about the laws that govern who has to pay tax? What’s wrong with our tax system, when the chancellor can raise taxes on working people on one hand, and benefit from tax avoidance on the other? And what would fairer taxes really look like?

Ayeisha is joined by Tom Peters, head of advocacy at Tax Justice UK.

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Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by David Powell.

Music by Poddington Bear under Creative Commons license.

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

The New Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, over 4 million people have fled the country. Earlier this month Priti Patel announced a visa application centre had been established en route to Calais for Ukrainians trying to come to the UK. But the centre never existed. Days later, the Home Office said it was actually in Lille, but would not reveal where. Officials then claimed that refugees in Calais could get free Eurostar tickets to travel to the centre - despite the fact that the Eurostar does not stop in Calais. A day later the centre was moved from Lille to a town 30 miles away.

Why has the government response been so chaotic? What are the barriers for refugees travelling to the UK? And with an anti-refugee bill moving through Parliament, what does this mean for how we treat refugees in the future?

Ayeisha is joined by Bella Sankey, director of Detention Action. Find out more about Detention Action and how you can support its work here: https://detentionaction.org.uk/

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Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by Becky Malone.

Music by Ketsa and Poddington Bear under Creative Commons license.

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

The New Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

At the time of recording, hundreds, and possibly thousands, of civilians have been killed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and more than 2.5m Ukranians have fled the country. The Russian army has been accused of war crimes after bombing a maternity hospital in the south. Allies of the Ukrainian president say that Russia will only back down if Europe bans the import of Russian oil and gas.

But what do oil and gas have to do with the war in Ukraine? Will banning Russian fossil fuels really make Putin reconsider? And what does all this mean for soaring energy bills in the UK?

Ayeisha is joined by Svitlana Romanko, Ukrainian environmental lawyer, climate activist and strategist, and spokesperson for Stand With Ukraine, and Tessa Khan, Founder and Director of Uplift, and previous guest of the podcast.

- You can sign on to the Stand with Ukraine campaign here: https://www.with-ukraine.org/

- Find out more about the Putin100 campaign: https://putin100.org/#why

- Read the IEA's 10-Point Plan to Reduce the European Union’s Reliance on Russian Natural Gas: https://www.iea.org/reports/a-10-point-plan-to-reduce-the-european-unions-reliance-on-russian-natural-gas

- Write to your MP ahead of the spring statement to demand a Great Homes Upgrade: https://greathomesupgrade.org/campaigns/call-for-a-great-homes-upgrade-this-budget

- Find out more about the Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance: https://beyondoilandgasalliance.com/

- More on the The Global Gas & Oil Network here: https://ggon.org/

- Endorse the Fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty: https://fossilfueltreaty.org/

- Visit the Reclaim Finance website: https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/home/

- Follow Stop Cambo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/StopCambo

- Tessa can be found at https://twitter.com/tessakhan

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Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by Becky Malone.

Music by Chris Zabriskie and Poddington Bear under Creative Commons license.

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

The New Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

2022 has been dubbed the ‘year of the squeeze’ by the Resolution Foundation. In April, soaring energy bills will collide with tax increases for working people. Last month grocery prices rose at their fastest rate in eight years, and inflation is at its highest level in almost three decades.

When the media talk about the ‘cost of living crisis’, what do they mean? How did we end up in a country with more food banks than branches of McDonalds? And what can the government do to make sure everyone can afford life’s essentials?

Ayeisha is joined by NEF's Alfie Stirling and Sabine Goodwin, coordinator of the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN).

Some of the clips used in this episode are from IFAN members, supporting people in food banks across the country. Thanks to Mairi McCallum, Joyce Leggate, Charlotte White, Betty Grant and Rajesh Makwana for sharing your experiences with us.

- If you’d like to get involved in NEF’s campaign for income support, head over to the Living Income website: https://livingincome.org.uk/

- Read Pushed to the Edge: poverty, food banks and mental health, a new report by Tom Pollard and co-produced with the IFAN and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation: https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/mental-health

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Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by Becky Malone.

Music by Chris Zabriskie and Poddington Bear under Creative Commons license.

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

The New Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

Families are bracing for less and less money to get by as energy bills rise this spring. In the fifth richest country in the world, pensioners are skipping meals so they can afford their heating bills, and parents are only switching the heating on when their children are at home. At the same time, fossil fuel companies like BP and Shell made their biggest profit in years.

What do these two things have to do with each other? Why are energy bills soaring? And what can the government do to make sure everyone can afford to heat their homes?

We’re no longer the Weekly Economics Podcast because episodes will now be coming to you every fortnight. But as always we’ll be discussing the more important economic issues with a variety of interesting voices.

For the first episode of the New Economics Podcast, Ayeisha is joined by Dr Joseph Baines, senior lecturer in international political economy at King’s College London and Abby Jitendra, principal policy manager on energy at Citizens Advice.

-If you're worried about paying your energy bills, you can get in touch with Citizens Advice on their website: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

-To get involved in NEF’s campaign to retrofit Britain’s cold and draughty homes, head over to the Great Homes Upgrade website: https://greathomesupgrade.org/

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Researched by Margaret Welsh. Produced by Becky Malone.

Music by Bobby Richards and Poddington Bear under Creative Commons license.

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

The New Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org