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I'm delighted to welcome back Fred Harrison for a second appearance on Meeting People following the release of his new book Cheating: The Human Project and its Betrayal.

In it he argues that "the withdrawal of Rent from its social function is the root cause of the persistent collapse of civilisations". 

We unpack this bold claim over the course of our conversation. 

Across history, the benefits of progress (technological, economic or otherwise) have routinely become captured by Rent seekers. Working to earn a living or grow a business thereafter feels like running through treacle.

Optimists of the past would never have predicted that owning a home, starting a family and earning enough to cover a moderate living standard would be this hard in 2026.

250 years on from the publishing of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, Fred is optimistic that his ideas can show us the way out of this quagmire. The tiresome debate between Socialism versus Capitalism is a distraction. Cutting taxes, reducing debt levels, simplifying the planning system, deregulating, and promoting trade are necessary for treating the symptoms of this malaise but don't address the root problem. This is the seizure of what Smith termed Economic Rent.

Fortunately, economic collapse, modern poverty, and drudgery are not a foregone conclusion. Unless Rent is socialised, the free market can never flourish and we will be plagued by boom and bust cycles. Fred Harrison has committed his life to educating people on this this reality.

You can find out more about the book here: https://shepheardwalwyn.com/product/cheating-the-human-project-and-its-betrayal/

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

• Could Scotland have become Singapore-on-the-Clyde in 2014 had it voted for independence?
• Is Boris Johnson possibly Britain's worst ever Prime Minister?
• Does structural reform only happen in times of crisis and how deep is the economic rot that has set in?

The British economy is far more centralised and state-run than most people realise. I recently sat down with Ewen Stewart who is the Director of the Institute of International Monetary Research at the University of Buckingham. He sits on the UK Growth Commission and is also a director of the think tank, Global Britain. He believes we have one shot to turn around Britain's malaise and revive areas such as healthcare, defence, and manufacturing. 

As recently as the Falklands War, Britain was able to deploy 23 frigates and destroyers - roughly one third of its surface fleet. Today it is defenceless in the North Atlantic. Most European countries offer healthcare which is free at the point of need. Whereas Britain tops the quartile rankings in terms of health spending, it sits at the bottom in terms of service. 

With an immigration policy that Charles Ponzi would be proud of, well over 50% of GDP government spending and a brain drain is underway with more tax rises on the horizon.

We discuss what needs to be done to turn things around from a policy perspective to revive a sense of dynamism and energy.

You can find out more about the IIMR and the Growth Commission here:
https://mv-pt.org/
https://www.growth-commission.com/

This podcast was produced by  @Mattjcooper with music composed by  @lovermanxoxoxo .

It took the humiliation of enemy ships raiding the Medway River in Kent to shake the political establishment into urgency in June 1667. 

During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, Britain* realised that in order stand a chance against its enemy it had to replicate the Dutch ability to source low cost financing. Ship building was expensive and time consuming after all. Thus the City of London was born.

Do we need another Medway humiliation to shake us out of our stupor or can that be avoided? 

For my latest episode, I sat down with Shoaib Akhtar to discuss his recently published book The Great British Disconnect: A Nation That Stood By as the City Sold Its Soul.

He examines multiple causes ranging from the cultural - for instance the loss of civic duty and an entrenched fear of risk taking - to the institutional - a wholesale abandonment of the UK economy from our fiduciary overlords.

I got a taste of some of the practical solutions that Shoaib thankfully has thought through and outlined in detail in his book. If followed, they could instigate a mindset shift to revive the City’s soul which was born out of necessity, urgency, and an embrace with risk.

We also discussed his writing process and what drove him to not only put pen to paper but to see it through.His passion on this issue was the key driving force and it permeated our conversation. 

You can buy a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-British-Disconnect-Nation-Stood/dp/B0FC5XNXWC

This podcast was produced by https://www.thisismattcooper.com/ with music composed by Loverman.

Isabelle was previously chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury and now serves as Principal at Ridley Hall a theological college in Cambridge. 

We discuss the meaning of justice and mercy, the pursuit of purpose for mental health, and what can be learned from old stories such as the Book of Judges and the Book of Ruth.

We also touch on some of the potential failings of the Anglican church but also a tentative Gen-Z revival in Sunday attendance.

Isabelle has worked as a probation officer and is an ambassador for Sanctuary Mental Health UK. You can find more about her publications, journals and community work here: https://www.ridley.cam.ac.uk/team/the-revd-prebendary-dr-isabelle-hamley.

Dr Kristian Niemitz is Head of Political Economy at the Institute of Economic Affairs. Our conversation covered his many works including "Socialism: the failed idea that never dies", "Imperial Measurement: a cost-benefit analysis of western colonialism" and "Universal Healthcare without the NHS". 

We discussed his journey from "teenage Commie" to classical liberal, why Britain is stagnating and what to do about it, the battle of ideas more broadly, religious influences on economics, socialism's cultural dominance, the failure of politicians to implement good policy, and whether Javier Milei is an exception to this.

Like many good Germans he's a beer connoisseur (he even has a Substack on it!). He describes Twitter as containing "the daftest opinions expressed with extreme confidence" (good thing he doesn't spend too much time on LinkedIn) and enjoys the traction he gets from gently mocking those opinions.

You can find Kristian here: https://x.com/K_Niemietz, read his longer form writing at the IEA website: https://iea.org.uk/publications, and his Substack on Beer here https://kristianniemietz.substack.com/.

Paul Crawford is the pioneer and world's first professor of Health Humanities. Our conversation covered his years of work on how creative practices can enhance well-being in and out of the clinic. 

Alongside his academic work, he's also an entertaining fiction writer. His second novel, The Wonders of Doctor Bent is out this week. Without wishing to sound dramatic, I was inspired to learn about his writing practices and was moved by the impact this field has made in the health and wellbeing of patients in recent years. 

The scope for further impact is great and this conversation gave me a thorough re-grounding in the importance of thinking outside the conventional mental silos we put our minds in.

You can find out more about Professor Crawford here: https://www.paulcrawfordauthor.com/ or on X: https://x.com/ProfessorPaulC1.

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper (https://www.thisismattcooper.com/) with music composed by Loverman (Spotify). 

Professor Robert Tombs is one of the world’s most accomplished historians. Our conversation covered questions not just relevant to today but of concern to prior and future generations. 

Winston Churchill’s advice is to “Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft” but can we truly learn from history? 

What is the role of academia and professional historians in informing policy makers and voters? Does greatness play a role or are we all a product of our environment, geography, ideology and culture?

From Marxism to the French Revolution and the Physiocrat school he populated the discussion with episodes from the past that serve as stories to guide us in understanding the world.

As you will hear, our pilgrimage to Professor Tombs’ rooms in Cambridge included his generosity of insight from a life of study. I’m pleased to be able to share this conversation to a broader audience.

Alongside numerous scholarly articles he is author of:

 
That Sweet Enemy: The History of a Love-Hate relationship  (co-written with his Wife Isabel), The English and Their History, and This Sovereign Isle: Britain in and Out of Europe. He is currently working on a history of the Union between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper (https://www.thisismattcooper.com/) with music composed by Loverman (Spotify). 

In 2009 Mark Evison was shot whilst leading a patrol in Helmand Province. Having been flown back to England, his mother Margaret was faced with no choice but to turn off his life support machine. 

She now runs the Mark Evison Foundation which enables adolescents from state schools to undertake challenges. In one of my most difficult conversations yet, we talk about Mark’s life, coping with the grief of losing a child, and the example he continues to set. The Foundation, named in his honour empowers hundreds of children to take on the spirit of adventure.

A clinical psychologist by training, Margaret is an inspiring character who had lots to say on the war in Afghanistan, military support, parenting, and the journey she has been on to lead a life of fulfilment that would make her son proud.

Her book Death of a Soldier, a Mother’s Story can be bought here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Soldier-Margaret-Evison/dp/1849544492

To learn more about the great work of the Mark Evison Foundation, please visit https://www.markevisonfoundation.org/

Ben is a smart and thoughtful investor who frequently gives thousands of people valuable insights on financial markets through his social media channels and radio appearances. The conversation started with a walking tour of Ben’s favourite spots in London (to avoid sitting in meeting rooms) and then opened out to a range of topics.  We discussed his take on the experience economy, VR headsets, corporate authenticity, Amazon’s decline and much more. I questioned him on multiple unconnected topics and he always had something interesting to say in response. I hope you enjoy listening as much as we did in making it. You can listen to Ben live on LBC Radio on Friday evenings.

Ben on X: https://x.com/BenKuMarkets

Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-kumar-8238a0a7?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_miniProfile%3AACoAABa7_psB8M-VHi5iPtYAzS2X-L78FhzuE4k&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_search_srp_all%3BCCBmWIRLTtyyV%2FAxXMafXQ%3D%3D

This podcast was produced by https://www.thisismattcooper.com/ with music made specially by Loverman.

My latest guest Eugene Malthouse has done cutting edge work in behavioural science for the likes of Nobel prize winner Richard Thaler. 

MOUTHFUL ALERT: He is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics. Eugene also founded the Collective Decision-Making and Culture Lab (CDMCL) – an interdisciplinary group of 71 researchers based in 38 countries worldwide – which aims to bring global perspectives to the study of global collective action problems.

We discuss many things from the ham sandwich fallacy, to GDP vs happiness and his PHD thesis on the Tragedy of the Commons. As a parent, hearing his work on the Evolved Nest with Darcia Narvaez, Professor of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame was eye-opening in today’s world of relentless work and outsourced childcare.

Naturally I manage to throw some Georgism into the mix too. Despite this, I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did..

This podcast was produced by https://www.thisismattcooper.com/ with music made specially by Loverman.

Eugene’s website: https://sites.google.com/view/eugene-malthouse

I confess coming to this conversation as a sceptic. An 18.6 year property cycle feels too deterministic and over-reliant on backfitting data to support a fallacious narrative. Even if it’s true, how actionable is it? However, having sat down with Akhil Patel to discuss his book “The Secret Wealth Advantage: How you can Profit from the Economy’s Hidden Cycle”, I left more open-minded. 

He explained, through first principles how Land behaves differently to Capital as a factor of production as per Ricardo’s Law of Rent. Perhaps it’s not exuberant credit expansion leading to excess leverage that causes recessions? Indeed perhaps that’s just a symptom of the true cause: land speculation.

This first-principles thinking meant that in the 19th century, the discipline of classical economics was distorted by wealthy landowners, in order to smother the rising popularity of Henry George. This cemented the property cycle (sorry) which has been the cause of boom and bust ever since. 

The book provides thoughts (not advice!) on what might be doable at various stages of the cycle. More than a to-do list however, our conversation will challenge your perception of how the world works. He was articulate, entertaining, and I recommend his book which I’ve linked to below. I invite a dialogue from all sceptical folks. Thanks to Fred Harrison for making this conversation possible. 

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music made specially by Loverman.

The book: https://thesecretwealthadvantage.com/

As people who have been kind enough to follow the pod know, I seek to converse with adventurous, rebellious (and sometimes courteous) free spirits. Not only does my latest guest, Nigel McGilchrist fit this endeavour, but so does the subject of his new book – a biography of ancient Greek polymath Pythagoras*. 

Nigel has dedicated his life to understanding and teaching the ancient world having lived in Italy for over thirty years before moving to Greece in 2008. His twenty-volume travel, art and history guide to seventy Greek islands has morphed my visits from what would have been pleasant holidays into Indiana Jones style adventures (buy a volume, go to the island and see for yourself). 

His book When the Dog Speaks, the Philosopher Listens opened my eyes to how Ionia – a patchwork of landmass in modern day Western Turkey was a melting pot of knowledge in the ancient world from the near and far East to Egypt. To quote Nigel “This is a book not of philosophy, but about how philosophy was born; about what it was like to explore the earliest, and most universal, scientific concepts.”

Not only is it a beautiful book (a word I don’t use lightly) but also one that has given me a fresh perspective on the challenges of modernity. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

*Many of you would have got nervous twitches from suppressed memories of  GCSE maths. Those classes would have been much more interesting if our teachers had read Nigel’s book.

Find out more about Nigel and his work here: https://www.nigelmcgilchrist.com/

Professor Bryan Caplan coined the Ideological Turing Test which measures whether a person truly understands an opposing political or ideological viewpoint.

To help us pass the test when it comes to conservatism as a school of political thought, Ed West takes us from St Augustine to today whilst making some challenging observations from a position of both deep knowledge and ideological humility. We cover many subjects including:

The Broken Age Curve: Why, contrary to historic beliefs, people born from the mid-1970s onward are entering middle age without adopting traditional conservative voting habits or lifestyles.

Human Nature & The Blank Slate: Exploring the ultimate divide between the progressive belief in human perfectibility and the darker, Augustinian view of mankind as inherently flawed.

The Media, Academia, and Status: How conservatism became a "low-status" viewpoint in the arts, media, and universities, and why academia breeds such bitter ideological battles.

The Post-Christian Right: The rise of secular right-wing subcultures, the "Manosphere," and how the collapse of traditional religious frameworks is leading to political sectarianism.

Unintended Consequences: A look at how well-meaning regulations—from rent controls to modern slavery legislation—frequently backfire in the real world.

Ed's substack, The Wrong Side of History is an entertaining, funny, and educational forum which he describes as "political-commentary-with-history." The latter being his great passion which shines through in his posts.

You can find him it here https://www.edwest.co.uk/ or on X https://x.com/edwest.

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper (https://linktr.ee/thisismattcooper) with music composed by Loverman (https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy).

What do The Queen's Gambit, L.A. Confidential, The Wire, and Chinatown have in common? The baddies are attempting to free ride on other people's hard work through buying land.

For my latest episode, I interviewed Fred Harrison who is an economist of the Georgist School. On a long journey to understanding why living standards are falling in the developed world, to date I've misidentified symptoms as root causes. Such symptoms include overregulation, too much tax and spend, monetary incontinence, and a cultural attitude shifting from frontier-spirited risk taking to declinism.

In my conversation with Fred, he outlines how our malaise was predicted and explained by Henry George in 1879 when his book Progress and Poverty was published. What followed was a global movement of progressivism that horrified the landed classes but was smothered by the scorched-earth approach of Karl Marx's socialism.

Today, landowners are taking an ever growing cut of economic growth leaving only scraps for wage earners and investors. Fred explains how all taxes on wages and capital should be replaced by a land value tax. This would remove distortions and unleash economic activity whilst raising enough revenue and more for our spending needs. I'm looking for someone to convince me otherwise so please listen and get in touch if you have a better idea.

Fred Harrison is a prolific writer (Amazon link) and you can find his latest views on X: https://x.com/geophilos

New intro music courtesy of Loverman (Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy)

This podcast was produced by https://www.thisismattcooper.com/

It's not often one gets to sit down with a bona fide Renaissance Man. When not restoring vintage furniture in Northern California, Sasha Papadin is a singer, songwriter, DJ, producer, and instrumentalist. He also is one of the most erudite people I know. 

We start our conversation with Sasha's origins, recounting how his father, a poet, evaded national service in the Soviet Union during the 1960's by studying and emulating Schizophrenia. This was followed by learning about Sasha's musical journey (it started by writing a song for a film he produced as a teenager) and a discussion on the broader topic of creativity. We touch on artificial intelligence, spirituality, heroes (Nick Cave and Tom Waits to name two), and the current state of his adopted homeland - California.

What's amazing about speaking to people like Sasha is that you learn something about yourself in the process. I hope our conversation can do something similar for you. You can find Sasha's music on Spotify under the name Loverman:

 https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy?si=_zHqNnNFTY6fWQyAUyX7Sg.

The more reductive amongst us have bucketed autism as a disability and drag on resources. The reality is that it is much more. In one of the most challenging but fulfilling conversations I’ve had since starting the podcast I sat down with Sophie Beeley, author of Raising Daisy, a Substack that draws on her experience as mother to a wonderful girl that was diagnosed with “autism spectrum disorder” at the age of five.

We discussed the numerous battles that the family faced with their local government and educational establishment as well as the broader stigma and perceptions around autism. A one-size-fit all approach to learning at one end and an overdiagnosis of trendy neurodivergence at the other leaves many children and adults unable to access the conditions necessary for them to learn and thrive. 

Perhaps autism is a necessary state of being from an evolutionary standpoint, as demonstrated by the explore-exploit trade-off that bee populations employ. Time will tell but I hope this conversation helps to demystify a topic that affects all of us from at least one degree of separation.

You can find Sophie’s substack, Raising Daisy here: https://raisingdaisy.substack.com/ and watch the full episode on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3eWvDuhxvc.

Peter Botting has been an indispensable ally of politicians, c-suite executives, and founders over many years. As the CEO of a FTSE 250 company put it "When it's a big gig. When it really matters, you call for Peter." It was great that he answered my call to come on the podcast as I learned a lot from a career that informed a fascinating discussion on how to make change in the world possible. Whether it's for your next job interview, a fundraising campaign for your charity, for a speech to Parliament, or to win colleagues around to a new initiative, I hope this conversation proves a useful starting point. You can find out more on Peter here: https://peterbotting.co.uk/. Please enjoy the episode.

In 2012, Mrs Mkonde borrowed £13 from the MicroLoan Foundation to expand her business (a single tomato stall) to help feed her eight children and pay for their education. She received training and business skills. Today she is an employer with a maize mill and ambitions to fulfil larger orders through warehousing and transportation.

This is one example of over 450,000 female borrowers who have been empowered to reach a family base of 2.3 million people. I sat down to talk to the MicroLoan Foundation's CEO, Medha Wilson, to learn more about microfinance, its scalability and some of its challenges as well as the broader causes of poverty. There is much grandstanding in the West about female empowerment but nowhere have I seen more impact than from the efforts of organisations like the MicroLoan Foundation. I learned a lot from this conversation and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

You can learn more here: https://www.microloanfoundation.org.uk/

From researching for Monty Python to writing crime fiction, Alex Martin’s life has been rich with creativity, adventure, and learning. His experiences frame our discussion which includes how to tackle Shakespeare, the importance of beauty and the soul diminishing impact of ugliness.

Creative writing is a dwindling endeavour. The tik-tokification of entertainment has distracted the focus of many would-be readers. In response or in parallel, the publishing industry has become dominated by accountants obsessed over ROI, leading to consolidation and a formula and scale driven mindset to choosing who to promote and who to ignore. We understand the world through stories and fiction is our primary avenue to discovering truth. As per Taleb:

“Fiction is a certain packaging of the truth, or higher truths. Indeed I find that there is more truth in Proust, albeit it is officially fictional, than in the babbling analyses of the New York Times that give us illusions of understanding what is going on. Newspapers have officially the right facts, but their interpretations are imaginary – and their choice of facts are arbitrary. They lie with right facts; a novelist says the truth with wrong facts.”

Publishers no longer help dedicated writers, obscure or otherwise, find their audience. Instead their focus is on celebrity tourists to the craft from whom revenues are more predictable. As such it was comforting to know that there remains a tribe of creatives, dedicated to observing the world and helping us understand it through their efforts. I especially enjoyed Alex talking about his research into the history of bad behaviour via his Decadent series in the 1990s. Indeed the Decadent CookBook that he co-wrote under the pseudonym of Medlar Lucan and Durien Gray includes delights such as Testicles on Toast. A brief correction from the episode – I incorrectly stated that William Buckland, Dean of Westminster ate the heart of Robespierre. It was of course Louis XIV’s heart that he ingested!

I highly recommend reading Code Name Xenophon, by Alex’s pseudonym Leo Kanaris available here and hope you enjoy the episode as much as we did recording it.

In my first episode, Simon Evan-Cook made a prediction that the effects of cuts to social services made years ago will start to manifest themselves with higher crime rates in the coming decade. This latest conversation with Franklin Shillingford gave me faith that there are people on the front line working tirelessly to address this. Frank is Club Leader at Crown & Manor which is situated in Hackney. His team provides much needed mentorship, stability, safety, and real-world skills to the borough’s youth most in need of positive role models. 

I’ve been reading Henry George of late (watch this space). He argues that economic progress brings its own type of poverty which is masked by gentrification and nowhere is this more the case than Hackney. Having grown up in Stoke Newington Frank has dedicated many years of his life in unglamorous service to youth work. Our conversation woke-me up to challenges facing society today and I heard some of the most moving stories of potential being unlocked in kids. Potential that would remain hidden were it not for the work of under-resourced leaders.

It’s rare to meet people who have soul in the game, particularly when the domain is as emotionally testing and unremunerative as youth work. For the rest-of us - out of sight – out of mind is an MO we are all guilty of employing. My conversation with Frank reminded me that we all have a responsibility to the next generation but also gave me hope through tangible case studies that if we dedicate a small amount of our bandwidth to charities such as the Crown and Manor Club life changing benefits can be reaped. I hope you enjoy the podcast as much as we did in making it. 

You can find more information on the Crown and Manor Club here: https://www.crownandmanor.org.uk/.

Making new friends gets harder as one ages which makes it all the more joyous when it does happen later in life. It is a privilege to count Matt Cooper as one and I was thrilled to be able to sit down with him and talk about his journey from hobbledehoy to award winning filmmaker and budding writer.

Matt puts his soul into his craft, whether it's filming in Ukraine or South American prisons, writing about creativity and mental health here at home, or as a youth worker in his local community. 

We have a wide ranging conversation including his transition from employee to entrepreneur, the role of the imagination in maintaining a healthy state of mind, and the false dichotomy between science and religion.

Please enjoy the conversation. You can see Matt's work here (https://www.thisismattcooper.com/) or find him on the following platforms:

https://www.instagram.com/mattjamescooper/
https://www.tiktok.com/@thisismattcooper

Puritans of old used theology as a tool to proscribe behaviour they disapproved of. Their descendents use statistics. In my latest episode I speak with Chris Snowdon who is head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs. We discuss the law of unintended consequences when it comes to public health measures and some of the spurious justifications provided for their enforcement. Not only is Chris a very thoughtful commentator but also a funny one. Beyond dissecting long term plans to ban tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and unhealthy foods, we try to define populism without much success. We also cover lockdowns, mask mandates, social media addictivity, the Blob, ISIS's tobacco policy and the general quality of our politicians and journalists today. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and learned a lot so hope you do too.

Chris is an author of several books including Velvet Glove, Iron Fist. You can find him on X: @cjsnowdon, https://twitter.com/cjsnowdon

"Actions speak louder than words" is a hackneyed phrase but nowhere is it more applicable than with Alice Rackley and the plastics problem. I really enjoyed to speaking to the CEO of Polytag; a circular economy focused company looking to tackle waste in the realm of packaging. Not only is she a friend, mentor and all-round inspiration but also a force of nature. Beyond plastic packaging we cover modern working, leadership, management, the power of networking, gsd*, and the challenges of being a mother/CEO in 2024. Spoiler alert - Environmental virtue signalling from companies isn't matched by tangible action.

*getting s*%£ done

Gemma Herbertson is the founder of Neuro Frontiers an online learning platform dedicated to empowering individuals to understand and harness the power of Neuroplasticity therapies.

These powerful tools, if properly uses, can maintain, restore, improve, and even create brain function.

In 2012 Gemma invented the Exchange Breathing Method to help tackle her baby boy who was suffering from relentless seizures. Up to 500 a week. 

Our conversation covers her journey into the field of Neuroplasticity driven by a relentless pursuit of making her son's life better. She gives some practical advice on how to improve brain function and I'm also the beneficiary of some on-air therapy! Gemma's story of turning adversity into a lifelong commitment to learning and public service is one for us to admire and emulate.

You can learn more about Neuro Frontiers here: https://neurofrontiers.org/

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper (https://linktr.ee/thisismattcooper) with music by Loverman (https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy).

Richard Feynman once said "If you can't explain something in simple terms, you don't understand it." Simon not only explains challenging topics with simplicity but also throws in a healthy dose of entertainment. I was gripped from start to finish during this conversation and learned a lot. We covered the tyranny of experts, the shortcomings of scientism in complexity and systems thinking, the reduction of education to exam-taking, forthcoming societal challenges, the Dunning-Kruger effect and more. Strap-in at 1x speed to get the most out of this discussion.

Books mentioned:
Thinking in Systems: A Primer - Donella Meadows
The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few - James Surowiecki
Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense - Rory Sutherland

Amul Pandya converses with independent, adventurous and sometimes courteous free spirits. Creativity is an act of rebellion. Whether they are entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, investors, chefs, or corporate antagonists, Amul's guests all share a common disposition of not just pushing boundaries but re-drawing landscapes.

Ve Dewey is a globally networked executive design leader whose CV is as long as at is impressive. 

We discussed design thinking, how to develop good taste, AI (of course), and looking at the world's problems through a design systems lens.

Her career has been at the intersection of technology, design, and innovation, with success across industry, the third sector, and academia. 

She curated the inaugural design HR role at Mattel, supporting 400+ creatives during the company’s cultural and digital transformation; leading multi-million dollar global rebrands.

She was also a leader of product marketing at Adobe, where she established a new creative marketing programme in Europe. At the Royal College of Art she collaborated on evolving a neuroscience-based leadership model. 

You can find Ve on LinkdedIn and Instagram:

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/vanessadewey
https://www.instagram.com/vandewcandew/

Andrew Phemister is a Lecturer in British and Irish History at Kings College London. Our conversation centred around his book Land and Liberalism: Henry George and the Irish Land War (Cambridge University Press, 2023).

• Are human beings intrinsically good that need unshackling from bureaucratic, corporatist rent seeker to flourish? 
• Do ideas have a causative historical role or is everything explained by technology, materialism, kings and queens? 
• What is the history of radical thought, liberalism and the concept of natural rights? 
• What relevance do Arnold Schwarzenegger and Total Recall have to Adam Smith's three factors of production?

Andrew is a very engaging, entertaining, and articulate thinker who fleshed out some difficult questions through the lens of one of the most popular but now almost forgotten economists - Henry George. 

You can find more about Andrew's work here:

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/andrew-phemister

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper (https://linktr.ee/thisismattcooper) with music composed by Loverman (https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy)

In May 1916 three men caked in blood, dirt, blisters, and sweat arrived at the Stromness Whaling Station on South Georgia Island in the Atlantic Ocean suffering from severe exhaustion. 

They had endured a journey both by boat and on foot from Antarctica that was harrowing and miraculous in equal measure. In charge of the three men was Sir Ernest Shackleton, one of history’s most famous explorers and leaders. 

In my latest conversation I discuss what is known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration with David Cornell. In 2009 David went to the South Pole a hundred years after his great grandfather embarked on the Nimrod expedition that was led by Shackleton. 

He took me through Shackleton’s Boat Journey which has been described as the greatest story ever told. Our conversation covered what it takes to get to the South Pole as well as the leadership skills that Ernest Shackleton showed time and again through loyalty and care to his men right until his during his final attempt to reach the Pole.

Since that Centenary Expedition, David helped launch the Shackleton Foundation which provides seed funding and support to early stage social ventures  with a primary focus on benefiting young people in the UK.

A narrative of decline is permeating the developed world. Hopefully conversations like this one with David can revivify the spirit of adventure as an antidote to all the negativity and noise

You can find out more about the Shackleton Foundation click here: https://shackletonfoundation.org/

This podcast was produced by MattCooper with music composed by Loverman.

Dr Eamonn Butler is the co-founder of the Adam Smith Institute and has dedicated decades of service in spreading economic freedom. He is the author of several books including 'Foundations of a Free Society', 'The Condensed Wealth of Nations', and 'The Best Book on the Market'.

Our conversation includes his latest book "An Introduction to Schools of Economic Thought". We also coverhis return to Britain to advise the Thatcher administration on market reforms having done so in 1970s for the US House of Representatives.

If you've been unsure of how to distinguish between your Adam Smiths to your Friedrich Hayeks, then this conversation is a great place to start. We also use Eamonn's knowledge of economic theory to discuss the issues of our age - a broken Britain, the absence of risk taking, the flaws of direct democracy, and the law of Economic Rent holding back our youth.

You can find Eamonn's latest book here: https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Schools-of-Thought-Interactive.pdf

This podcast was produced by https://linktr.ee/thisismattcooper with music composed by https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy.

00:00:00 - The Rotten State of Britain
00:06:34 - Britain’s welfare state
00:10:28 - What got Eamonn into Economics
00:12:30 - Coming back to rescue Britain
00:19:10 - Why big companies hate competition
00:21:30 - Who was Adam Smith
00:24:45 - Schools of Economics Thought
00:33:15 - Hayek, Friedman and Keynes
00:40:15 - Did Marx get anything right?
00:42:17 - What is behavioural economics?
00:46:45 - Why no mention of Georgism in Schools of Economic Thought?
00:57:30 - Why don’t we take risk anymore?
01:10:05 - Is democracy inherently flawed?
01:15:10 - The long bet

Rosina Dorelli is Making Education Great Again. Why? Because schools are failing our children by crushing their sense of wonder through standardised testing and mindless clerical work. “Teaching to the exam” won’t cut it in the 21st Century. 

As a mother, artist, entrepreneur, and teacher Rosina describes Creativity as a human right. To champion this she is the founder of the Biophilic Education Alliance and creator of a new schools curriculum inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. 

In my most important conversation to date, we discussed her take on what’s wrong with the education system, both state and private, as well as the current rollout of her curriculum in schools. 

The people who have made the most positive impact on the world in history have been interdisciplinary thinkers not siloed experts (the poem from the 1997 Apple advert summarises this well*). 

Whilst year on year exam grades have consistently improved education (with a small “e”) is demonstrably on the operating table. Rosina’s movement will equip the next generation to solve the big problems of our time.

Thank you to Iain McGilchrist for making me aware of Rosina and her work. Here are more details on the Biophilic Education Alliance and the Da Vinci Life Skills curriculum:

https://www.biophiliceducation.com/

https://davincilifeskills.com/

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

*“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

James Baxter-Derrington is a writer, journalist, cricket fan and Investment Editor at The Telegraph. Our discussion began with his notorious article arguing that Bitcoin is worthless before evolving into a broader conversation on Value. We also talked about the role of legacy media in the face of online platforms, podcasts and citizen journalism. I asked James how to get Britain and the West out if its current malaise and on topic after topic his thoughtful responses made this one of my favourite conversations to date.

You can find James's articles at the Telegraph here or on X as @jamesbaxterd.