The McKay Interview

Over a career in finance spanning almost 50 years, Clive Thompson watches, among other things, growing levels of government debt, especially in the USA, and worries about it.

In this episode we discuss

-Why growing government debt is a problem, especially for the USA.

-What happens when government debt becomes intolerable.

-As we both live in Switzerland, we spend a little time talking about government debt in this country. And at the end

-Where all this leading. His story is rather sombre!

As André Schneider's mandate comes to an end after 8 years as CEO, he talks openly to me about the airport, air travel and business. We also discuss his achievements and disappointments; and to what extent air travel has returned to pre-Covid levels.

-The present day realities of decarbonisation

-The airport's exciting plans for future expansion.

Our topic in this McKay Interview is Tax and Taxation.

We discuss the following points:

-The turbulent history of public consent to pay taxes

-The difference between Avoidance and Evasion; the politics of Taxation

-The Swiss way of Taxation

-Supra-national organizations like the OECD trying to muscle in on levying tax

-AI, robot and the future of Taxation.

He is "at home" on 3 continents, having been born in  Madagascar and lived many years in Africa.

He studied in the USA, and has his home in Switzerland.

Stories of his driving experiences to the ends of the Earth, the vehicle he has chosen, the people he has met, and above all his personal motivation, make fascinating listening!

In this episode we discuss:

-A sense of the scale of his planned voyage so that I can understand the true dimensions of what he has set out to do.  In which direction did he start to drive? How did he decide? And how long it will take him?

 -Why he is doing it?  What pushes him to undertake such a massive journey, which takes him away from his family for so long. 

-We talk about his experiences of humankind and, in particular, what his global, circumnavigational driving experience has taught him.

-Some of the highs and lows/most-memorable and most unpleasant experiences of his journey.

Twice President of the Swiss Confederation, and thirteen years a Federal Councillor, Adolf Ogi, one of Switzerland's most admired and popular leaders in modern times shares his personal reflections and some of his guiding principles with me.

In this episode we discuss:

-The importance of good leadership, and clear and repeated communication to persuade and understand people.

-One particular experience when he was invited to address European Union heads of states, in which he explains Switzerland to them!

-The United Nations, Kofi Annan, Sport and Peace played an important part in his career as a statesman and he explains why.

My wide-ranging interview with Dr Hughes takes place in the year of the 100th anniversary of the International School of Geneva - ISG (1924-2024).

In this episode we discuss:

-His career journey to one of the top jobs in international education.

-How the ISG/Ecolint started and why.

-What he and his colleagues are teaching their young charges.

-His views on the place of the school, the teacher and the family in the "socialization" of children and young people today.

-The contribution of the ISG/Ecolint to "international" Geneva over the past 100 years.

Professor Julian Lindley-French is Chairman of the Alphen Group in the Netherlands and an expert analyst focussing on security and defence strategy and policy.

In this episode we discuss:

-Is the world is a safer place than in 2014 when I first interviewed him.

-Whether the West is still strong. Also, I put it to him that, perhaps, the West played its good hand badly after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

-The ongoing conflict in Gaza

-The terrible but largely unreported conflict in Africa's Sahel.

-The continued tension across the Straight of Taiwan.

Dr Nadia Sikorsky, a Russian/Swiss dual national, is Co-founder and Editor of NashaGazeta.ch, the first Russian-language online newspaper in Switzerland.

In this episode we discuss:

-What mistakes the West made in dealing with the Russia post-Gorbachev

-What it will take for matters to improve for the Russian people.

Just over a year since our last radio conversation, I ask General Hodges

-For his assessment of the progress of the war in Ukraine against Russia's illegal invasion

-How long he thinks the war will continue

-What the West needs to do to support Ukraine better

-The interplay between politics and warfare, especially from the perspective of the USA in a Presidential Election year.

In this episode we discuss:

-What is the big picture regarding developments in quantum?

-What are the dangers?

-What, if anything, should we fear about the direction we are travelling?