Episodios

  • What is Radical Politics?

    What is Radical Politics?
    Oct 2 2025
    We like to think of the centre as steady, sensible, and grounded, but what if the “centre” is actually the most radical place in politics right now? The real fault line in modern politics isn’t about tax or spending, it’s about culture. Onn those cultural questions the political class has drifted miles away from the people they claim to represent. In Britain, nearly 9 in 10 people think immigrants should adapt to local customs, yet most MPs don’t. In Germany, it’s the same. In Ireland, the gap is smaller but still real. On economics, tax, spending, capitalism, the public and politicians broadly agree yet on culture, they’re worlds apart. With Financial Times' John Burn-Murdoch, we dig into the numbers from Ireland, the UK, Germany and Denmark, and ask: if the centre has abandoned the centre, who’s really radical anymore?What is Radical Politics?

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    46 m
  • Culture Wars in the West, Alliances in the East

    Culture Wars in the West, Alliances in the East
    Sep 30 2025
    While the West burns itself out on culture wars, the East is quietly stitching together something bigger. This is the age of geo-economics, where oil, factories, and sheer population size matter more than headlines. On Russia’s border, the numbers tell the story: 4.5 million Russians facing 107 million Chinese. Add India into the mix and you see the outline of an alliance with the power to redraw the map. Meanwhile, Europe feels tired, America feels divided, and the old certainties of Pax Americana begin to fade. The question isn’t just who holds the power now, it’s whether we’ll even recognise the world that emerges next.

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    37 m
  • Who Owns the Flag? From the American Revolution to Charlie Kirk

    Who Owns the Flag? From the American Revolution to Charlie Kirk
    Sep 25 2025
    We’re in New York this week, celebrating my mam’s 90th birthday and launching The History of Money in the U.S., but the backdrop is America’s deepening culture war. With the 250th anniversary of the Revolution looming, both liberals and MAGA are fighting to “own” the flag, the story, and the soul of America. We dive into Ken Burns’s new PBS series The American Revolution, the forgotten role of General O’Hara (an Irishman who surrendered for the British), and why 75% of Black troops fought for the Crown. We reflect on Monica Lewinsky’s powerful talk on shame in the internet age, before turning to the fallout from Charlie Kirk’s killing, how one event is being weaponised to fuel division, echoing darker moments of history like Kristallnacht. And we look ahead: could the 2026 World Cup become the liberals’ unlikely answer to MAGA pageantry?

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    38 m
  • The Economics of Golf

    The Economics of Golf
    Sep 22 2025

    What does golf tell us about money, power, and the way economies work? From billion-dollar sponsorship deals to the rise of LIV Golf, from Tiger Woods to Trump’s golf courses, the fairways of golf are lined with lessons about globalisation, soft power, and the business of status.

    In this episode, we tee off on the economics of golf, how a game that looks leisurely on the surface is actually a high-stakes arena of geopolitics, big business, and class.

    Along the way we explore why Ireland punches above its weight in the sport, why golf courses matter for land use and housing, and why golf has always been about more than chasing a little white ball around a field.


    This is a special bonus episode from Sky Sports. Watch all 3 days of The Ryder Cup exclusively live on Sky Sports. Upgrade today or Stream live with NOW - Available without a contract

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    48 m
  • From Cod to Culture: What Inishmore Teaches Us About the Experience Economy

    From Cod to Culture: What Inishmore Teaches Us About the Experience Economy
    Sep 18 2025
    Between 250,000-300,000 tourists land on the island every year, 2,500 a day in summer, and yet it still feels authentic, alive, and deeply Irish. In this episode, we ask: how do remote places like Inishmore thrive in today’s economy, while once-wealthy regions like France’s Île de Ré struggle with emptying out? We dig into the wild history of cod and salt (the currency of empires), why Ireland salted beef instead of fish, and how the Aran Islands are now punching above their weight in the global experience economy. From lobster-pot pubs to the death of distance, we explore what makes people pay not just for goods and services, but for memory, tribe, and authenticity.

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    37 m
  • Could the GAA Solve Ireland’s Housing Crisis?

    Could the GAA Solve Ireland’s Housing Crisis?
    Sep 16 2025
    What if the solution to Ireland’s housing crisis has been sitting on our doorstep all along? We dive into the Danish model of cooperative housing, where 7% of Danes live in co-ops, and a full third of Copenhageners do too, and explore how the GAA, with its 2,200 clubs and pristine community pitches in every village, could spearhead something similar here. Forget developer margins and speculative bubbles: in Denmark, a co-op share might cost €70–100k, with monthly housing costs around €800, compared to a private flat at €400k and €1,200 rent. We talk about the power of collective ownership, intergenerational communities, and why housing is really about dignity, not speculation. Along the way, we get into Jim Gavin’s presidential bid, Fianna Fáil’s GAA connection, and why our presidency has become more like Ireland’s Got Talent than a serious constitutional role.

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    35 m
  • Deepfakes, Big Tech, and the Coming AI Crash?

    Deepfakes, Big Tech, and the Coming AI Crash?
    Sep 11 2025
    AI investment is exploding: the “Magnificent Seven” of Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, Tesla, and NVIDIA, are ploughing almost 7% of US GDP into AI and data centres. That’s the same scale as the US housing boom in 2006, and greater than the dot-com bubble at its peak. Today, just seven firms make up 34% of the S&P 500, the highest concentration in history. Earnings per share in these companies grew 37% last year, compared to just 6% in the rest of the index. But history warns us, RCA in the 1920s, dot-coms in the 1990s, that transformative technologies can change the world while destroying fortunes. The question now: is AI the next revolution, or the next bubble waiting to burst?

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    38 m
  • France on the Brink: Debt, Drama, and a Possible Sixth Republic

    France on the Brink: Debt, Drama, and a Possible Sixth Republic
    Sep 9 2025
    Broadcast from Île de Ré, we dive into France’s mounting fiscal mess and political paralysis. With Macron a lame-duck, bond markets charging Paris more than Athens, and a nationwide strike looming, we ask: could Europe’s cornerstone become its weakest link? We unpack France’s towering state-and-semi-state debts, why Japan can print and Paris can’t, the ECB’s “will they/won’t they” backstop if Le Pen takes power, and how a sovereignist turn could trigger a rewrite of France’s constitution, goodbye Fifth Republic, hello Sixth. Along the way: Anglo-Saxon doom-mongering, De Gaulle’s Jupiterian legacy, contagion math, and why life in “paradise” can still feel like purgatory. Big stakes, bigger history, and a very French cliff-hanger.

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    39 m