Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchWhat’s the Point of Lotteries?
It is now hard to find a country that does not have a state sponsored lottery – even the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan recently adopted one. They have famously been called a “tax for people who …
Published on 9 years, 3 months ago
Can Coral Reefs Survive?
Over the past eight months almost a quarter of the Great Barrier Reef has died – according to some estimates – because of coral bleaching, which can happen when sea temperatures rise. It's not the fi…
Published on 9 years, 3 months ago
Is Retirement Over?
For millennia human beings worked until they dropped. Then in the late 19th century, Otto von Bismarck started the first state pension in Germany. The idea caught on. By the 20th century, advances i…
Published on 9 years, 4 months ago
Would Donald Trump Be a Dangerous President?
Earlier this month 50 senior Republican national security officials signed a letter arguing that Donald Trump “lacks the character, values and experience” to lead the United States. “We are convinced…
Published on 9 years, 4 months ago
Why Don’t Cities Want The Olympics?
The Olympic Games has a problem. In recent years the number of cities entering bids to host either the Winter or Summer Olympics has dropped dramatically. For the 2004 Summer Olympics, 12 cities bid.…
Published on 9 years, 4 months ago
Has Russia Won In Ukraine?
The fighting in Ukraine has fallen off the front pages recently after making headline news in 2014. But Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists are still engaged in a frozen conflict with no …
Published on 9 years, 4 months ago
How Did we Save the Ozone Layer?
On 30 June this year, a study was released in one of the world's top scientific journals. It explained how a group of scientists who had been measuring the amount of ozone in the stratosphere had mad…
Published on 9 years, 4 months ago
Can Colombia Reintegrate the Farc?
After more than 50 years of armed conflict that has left 200,000 dead and millions displaced, Colombia is on the brink of peace. A final deal between the government and the Farc guerrilla movement is…
Published on 9 years, 5 months ago
Is Brexit Inevitable?
“Brexit means Brexit,” says Theresa May, Britain’s new prime minister. It sounds pretty unequivocal: the UK voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, so that’s what it must do. But credible …
Published on 9 years, 5 months ago
Can Trump Win?
Donald Trump has shocked the US political establishment by knocking out every other Republican candidate to become his party’s presumptive candidate for President. Does he have a realistic shot of ta…
Published on 9 years, 5 months ago