Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchThe History of Bad Ideas: Austerity
Season 5 Episode 194
For the first episode in our new series about how bad ideas take hold, David talks to economist Mark Blyth about austerity, the cost-cutting idea tha…
6 months, 3 weeks ago
Politics on Trial: Charles I vs Parliament
Season 13 Episode 193
Today’s political trial is perhaps the most consequential in English history: the trial and execution of King Charles I for treason in January 1649. …
6 months, 4 weeks ago
Politics on Trial: Galileo vs the Inquisition
Season 13 Episode 192
Today’s trial is one of the most notorious in history but also one of the most misremembered. Galileo’s epic confrontation with the Catholic Church o…
7 months ago
50th Anniversary Special: The 1975 European Referendum w/Robert Saunders
Season 6 Episode 191
Today’s episode is about a pivotal event in British history that took place exactly 50 years ago: the 1975 referendum on Britain’s membership of the …
7 months ago
Politics on Trial: Mary Queen of Scots vs the Secret State
Season 13 Episode 190
In today’s episode an extraordinary political trial that culminated in the execution of one queen at the behest of another: Mary Queen of Scots, conv…
7 months, 1 week ago
Politics on Trial: Thomas More vs the King
Season 13 Episode 189
In today’s episode another trial that forms the basis for great drama: the case of Thomas More, tried and executed in 1535, events dramatised by Robe…
7 months, 1 week ago
Politics on Trial: Joan of Arc vs the Church
Season 13 Episode 188
Today’s political trial took place in 1431 though it was still being re-litigated right through to the twentieth century: the case of Joan of Arc, ch…
7 months, 2 weeks ago
Politics on Trial: Socrates vs Democracy
Season 13 Episode 187
The first political trial in our new series is the one that set the template for all the others: the trial of Socrates in Athens in 399 BCE, which en…
7 months, 2 weeks ago
Politics on Trial: A History of Lawfare
Season 13 Episode 186
To introduce our new series about historic political trials – from Socrates to Marine Le Pen – David explores what makes political confrontations in …
7 months, 3 weeks ago
Ideas of Globalisation: What’s Gone Wrong? w/Dani Rodrik
Season 12 Episode 185
For the final episode in this series David talks to the leading economist Dani Rodrik about the case he made in the early 2000s that globalisation wa…
7 months, 3 weeks ago