Episódios
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The US dollar is the backbone of global trade and held by governments around the world as a safe haven in times of crisis.
It's so powerful that countries like Ecuador and Panama have adopted the dollar as their official currency, while Argentina for many years has tried to "dollarize" its economy.
But what happens if nations and private institutions were to lose trust in the dollar?
How did we get here? Well, after WWII the world order was re-established in part by tying the monetary systems to the value of the dollar, backed by gold. But since 1971 President Nixon cut that link to gold and the entire exchange system has since been tied directly to the dollar itself, its historic success and access to its financial markets.
That success gave America what was dubbed an "exorbitant privilege" to print money without fear of inflation and to build up national debt without consequence.
It also enables the US to flex its muscles on the international stage by imposing sanctions on countries and cutting off access to their all-important currency. That has led some countries, most notably China, to call for the dollar to be replaced as the world's reserve currency.
How difficult would it be to untangle the dollar from global trade, can any other nations offer the same conditions which has allowed the US currency to thrive, and what would happen if the dollar's role was replaced by newer digital currencies which operate outside traditional government control?
Presenter: Professor Ben AnsellProducer: George DabbyEditor: Damon Rose
Contributors:Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial TimesBarry Eichengreen, Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, BerkeleyDavid Shrier, Professor of Practice, AI & Innovation with Imperial College Business SchoolStephanie Flanders, Head of Economics and Politics at Bloomberg NewsZanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist
Material from:British Pathé, "Bretton Woods Money Pact Signed" (1946)
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Should we rethink who our city streets are for? It can often feel like there is a hierarchy on the roads, with cars needing to get from A to B as fast as they can, taking priority over people cycling or walking. But what if we flipped it on its head and put pedestrians at the top? Or, what if we saw our streets in a totally new light and instead decided they were places for meeting friends, playing or resting under a tree? Ben Ansell finds the people designing new streets, and he hears one radical idea that requires an entirely new language.
Ben visits a new kind of street where pedestrians have priority, not cars. It has been designed by traffic engineer Keith Firth at NRP. Campaigner Martin Cassini argues we could get rid of traffic lights to encourage drivers to pay better attention to pedestrians and to help ease traffic jams. But would all road users feel confident crossing without a dedicated beep or time to cross? Sohanna Srinivasan, head of Urban Planning Design at North Hertfordshire council, sets out her plan for how streets can have space built-in for people to fully enjoy their neighbourhoods while Dutch author Marco te Brömmelstroet says we need to rethink the language we use about cities. Change the language, change the mind set. Is it that simple?
Presenter: Ben AnsellProducer: Phoebe KeaneEditor: Damon Rose
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Have you ever wondered why some people age better than others?
We all know someone who looks great for their age, and is also in robust health. And yet someone else who is exactly the same age might look older, and may be living with an age-related illness.
Chronological age is not always be a good indicator of how well someone is maturing. So, if our skin - which is our largest organ - suggests how well, or badly, we're aging, then the state of our other organs and the systems that keep them running may also indicate how old we are.
This measure is called your biological age.
And there are many ways of measuring biological age, from the simple - the strength of your hand grip, to the detailed - looking at the changes in chemical markers attached to your DNA, called epigenetic markers.
They lie "on top of" the DNA, without changing it - much like an instruction written on a post-it note attached to a piece of sheet music. The instruction means the music can be expressed differently, without changing the tune. Epigenetics explains why the DNA in every one of our cells is the same, and yet the cells can look very different from one another. They can be heart cells, blood cells, hair cells and so on, because the markers cause different genes on the same DNA to be expressed.
Epigenetics has allowed scientists to create clocks to tell you your biological age: the latest one can even tell you how fast you're aging. Advances in epigenetics have led to the new science of cellular regeneration.
And the world's first clinical trials are underway in the USA for a treatment that transforms old, dysfunctional and damaged cells into young healthy ones - treating aging itself.
Presenter: Ben AnsellProducer: Ravi Naik Editor: Damon Rose
Contributors: Andrew Steele PhD, author of Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old. and director of the Longevity InitativeDr Nessa Carey, molecular biologist, visiting Professor at Imperial College London and author of The Epigenetics Revolution Dr Daniel Belsky, Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center, and developer of the algorithm for the DunedinPACE epigenetic clockDr Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson, Chief Scientific Officer at cellular rejuvenation company Life Biosciences
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Of the 195 widely-recognized sovereign countries in the world, only a quarter are monarchies.
And of those 43 monarchies, 15 of those have the same King. That’s Charles III, who’s head of state for Commonwealth territories as large as Australia and Canada, and as far apart as the UK and Tuvalu in the South Pacific.
In the other 28, the ruling monarchs can be called Kings, Emirs, Sultans, and there’s an Emperor on the Chrysanthemum throne in Japan.
Of course, there are also Queens - but some modern monarchies such as Japan and Lichtenstein still don’t allow female succession. In others, eldest daughters are passed over for their younger brothers - and this still happens in Spain and Monaco.
If this all seems a bit medieval, that's because it is! Monarchy is a system of governance that developed hundreds - or in the case of Japan - more than 1000 years ago, so it can look outdated through a 21st century lens.
But it's enduring, and opinion polls suggest it can be popular. So what does monarchy mean in the modern age? Which royal families are not only surviving, but are expanding their spheres of power and influence, and why the newest "monarchies" in the USA, Russia and China are not even royal at all.
Presenter: Professor Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Damon Rose
Contributors: Dr Craig Prescott, specialist in UK Constitutional Law, Royal Holloway, University of London Adam Hanieh, MBI Jaber Chair of Middle East Studies and Professor in the Development Studies Department at SOAS, University of London. Stacie Goddard, Betty Freyhof Johnson ’44 Professor of Political Science and Associate Provost, Wellesley College, Massachusetts. Abe Newman, Professor and John Powers Chair in International Business Diplomacy, Director, BMW Center for German and European Studies, Georgetown University, Washington DC
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As generative AI and Deepfake technology has progressed over the last decade, you could be forgiven for thinking that it's never been more difficult to try to work out what is authentic and what is fake.
The search for authenticity is not new. It's a task that's challenged humanity for hundreds of years. Forgers have always tried to pass off copies as great artworks, but it's not always clear when an artist was responsible for an entire painting or farmed out parts of the job to apprentices. A few well-known modern artists outsource all of the construction and manufacture of some of their works to skilled craftsmen and women.
Although the idea is theirs, does that make the final product somehow less than the genuine article?
Idiosyncrasies, perceived flaws or personal flourishes are often key indicators that show an image is authentic. We use those same tell-tale signs to judge the authenticity of another type of image: the one that politicians want to portray.
How important is it to be a politician who is seen as authentic by voters? How can we measure political authenticity? If someone is carefully crafting their image on social media, how real is it? And even if it is fake, do voters care, if they have been seduced by the illusion?
Presenter: Ben AnsellProducer: Ravi Naik Editors: Lisa Baxter and Nick Holland
Contributors: Estelle Lovatt, FRSA. Art Critic, Writer and Lecturer. Lone Sorensen, Associate Professor of Political Communication, University of LeedsNick Clarke, Professor of Political Geography, University of SouthamptonTracy Dennis Tiwary, Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology and Developmental Psychology, at the City University of New York.
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University.
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In 2023, ChatGPT took Artificial Intelligence into the mainstream. Now there's a bewildering choice of human-like chatbots to choose from. Generative AIs can produce pictures and video from a text prompt, and many websites and apps are now labelled "Powered by AI".
This new technology can do lots of things and tech companies have raised vast amounts of money from investors based on its potential.
But what is AI actually for?
Certain specialised AIs have a clear purpose. AlphaFold2 can predict how proteins fold-up and won its creators the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, and Google Translate is an AI with a purpose that’s clear from its name.
But so far there is no must-have or "killer" application for the Large Language Models and Generative AIs.
The future of AI is equally hazy. Will AI somehow lead to all-purpose "Artificial General Intelligence", autonomous robots or even machine consciousness? Or is this all just the stuff of fantasy and nightmares?
Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Lisa Baxter
Contributors:Mike Wooldridge, the Ashall Professor of the Foundations of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Oxford.Rosalind Picard, Grover M. Hermann Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab.Ethan Mollick, Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and AI researcher. Pip Finkemeyer, author of "One Story" and software designer and researcher.Tracy Dennis Tiwary, Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology and Developmental Psychology at the City University of New York.
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University.
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The government has launched the Pride in Place scheme but is it possible to regenerate urban areas without leaving local people out?
Most buildings have a certain shelf life before they need renovating. Social norms change and the ways people interact develop as society transforms with time. And local economies can change dramatically with once prosperous industrial areas falling silent, or tourist hot spots left behind by low-cost air travel. But is it possible to do this without being accused of gentrification? Swanky new buildings are introduced attracting people with money, house prices go up, expensive shops and cafes open up and before you know it, local people are priced out of the area. So are there ways to improve urban areas without leaving local residents behind? How much should any regeneration project acknowledge and honour local history? Isn’t attracting new people, with new ideas and new businesses a vital part of any regeneration project?
Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Tom GillettEditor: Lisa Baxter
Contributors: Dr Eilis Lawlor, Director of the research institute Just Economics.Patrick Murray, Executive Director of Policy and Public Affairs, the Northern Housing Consortium.Wayne Hemingway, designer.Martha Grekos, Barrister who specialises in planning and environmental law. Paul Chatterton, Professor of Urban Futures in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds.
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University.
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People are living longer and delaying life's milestone moments. How does this affect our middle years and should we be paying more attention to people in this phase of their lives?
For some, middle age can be a very challenging period in their lives. Today, people are postponing the milestones in life that traditionally signified a change in priorities. People are having children later in life meaning parents in their 40s or even 50s are looking after small children. Jobs for life no longer exist and housing is so expensive that many have no choice but to pay costly rents. All of these phenomena have given rise to the so called “sandwich Generation” – simultaneously looking after children but also elderly parents. Many experience multiple roles- worker, parent, carer, spouse and friend – and juggling the demands of all of those roles can lead to burnout. Academic literature on happiness has until recently suggested that our satisfaction with life as we age is hump shaped. When we're young, we're happy — and then that declines, bottoming out in middle age. As we pass middle age and get older, we get happier again. But is that still the case? Is mid-life a uniquely unhappy place to be?
Presenter: Ben AnsellProducer: Tom GillettEditor: Lisa Baxter
Contributors:
Ben Akers - Co-founder and co-CEO of Talk ClubDavid Blanchflower - Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College, New HampshireJane Green - Professor of Political Science and British Politics at the University of Oxford Andrew G Marshall - Marital therapist, communications trainer and authorLes Mayhew - Professor of statistics at Bayes Business School, City University, London Kate Muir - Journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University.
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The Night Times Industries Association says one in four venues have shut down since 2020, and the sector will face an irreversible decline unless the government provides urgent support.
The industry was one of the worst hit during the pandemic, and it's asking for cuts to National Insurance, a permanent cut in VAT and a reform of business rates to help it keep afloat.
The NTIA claims the night time economy contributes more than £153 billion to the UK economy and supports over 2 million jobs.
Culturally, the sector punches above its weight. The nightclub boom in the last 50 years gave us disco, acid house, drum and bass and grime, as well as many other sub-genres of music. But nightclubs are expensive and consumers are finding their thrills elsewhere; drink is cheaper from supermarkets, and why search for someone you fancy on the dancefloor when you can use a dating app?
And as nightclubs struggle, so do small music venues, where artists like Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys Blur and Oasis started out, as well as many others.
People are willing to pay hundreds of pounds to see those same artists in giant venues like Co-op Live in Manchester or at Wembley Stadium, so what can be done to make sure the next wave of new artists have somewhere to play? Should the government intervene? Should big venues subsidise smaller ones, or is it up to fans to throw them a lifeline?
Or has nightlife in its current form - much like variety music halls - taken its last curtain call?
Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Tom Gillett Editor: Lisa Baxter
Contributors:
Michael Kill - CEO, Night Time Industries AssociationFat Tony - DJSteve Lamacq - BBC 6 Music DJ and Patron of the Music Venues TrustRichard Simm - Co-owner, The Forum Tunbridge WellsJane Darougar - Psychotherapist and counselor at the Central St Martins University, London
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Do you agree with either of these statements?
Illegal migrants come here and are a burden on services and the taxpayer. OR The only way to reduce inequality is to tax billionaires and giant companies who avoid tax.
They may seem on opposite poles of the political spectrum, but both anti-migrant campaigners and anti-capitalists share an identical mindset. Both are demonstrating zero-sum thinking; the belief that if one group wins, another has to lose.
In itself, zero-sum thinking isn't moral or immoral, right or wrong. But Economists claim it leads to poor economic policy, and they say evidence shows it is possible to create win-win situations for everyone.
But many of the main parties at Westminster also use zero-sum thinking in their political rhetoric - from Reform and the Greens, to the Conservatives and Labour. Also, the first past the post electoral system is literally a zero-sum process. So is this kind of thinking baked-into UK politics?
So are there particular groups of people that are more prone to zero-sum beliefs? Where did this mindset come from? What economic conditions encourage zero-sum thinking, and how deeply are these beliefs held?
Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Richard Vadon
Contributors:Stefanie Stantcheva, Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy at Harvard and founder and director of the Social Economics Lab.Dr Patricia Andrews Fearon, behavioural science researcher at social impact accelerator The Agency Fund, and Stanford University. Her research on zero-sum mindsets began during her doctoral studies at Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar.Dr Parth Patel, Associate director for democracy & politics at the Institute of Public Policy and Research Iain Mansfield, Director of Research and Head of Education and Science at Policy ExchangeCleo Watson, Former Downing Street strategist, adviser to Theresa May and Boris Johnson, author, and presenter of Radio 4's "How to win a campaign"
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Aviation is far more difficult to decarbonise than other sectors of the economy, because kerosene is the perfect fuel for planes. It produces enough power to enable planes to fly, yet it is light enough for them to get off the ground and cross the world.
Alternatives are thin on the ground; batteries are too heavy, clean hydrogen power is in its infancy, while Sustainable Aviation Fuel - or SAF - is expensive and in short supply. Although the Government has a "SAF-mandate", only 22% of all jet fuel supplied by 2040 will have to be sustainable.
New airliners are more fuel-efficient than ever before, and both routes and air-traffic control are being optimised. But if growth outpaces efficiencies, greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise.
And passenger demand is back at pre-pandemic levels. In 2024 the UK was the third largest market in the world for flights.
In the absence of any immediate solution, should we fly less, if at all? How realistic and affordable are slower alternatives like the train? Could passengers be penalised for taking more than one return flight a year? And should the Government rather than individuals be taking responsibility for change?
Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Lisa Baxter
Contributors:Alice Larkin, Professor of Climate Science and Energy Policy in the School of Engineering at the University of Manchester. Dr Roger Tyers, UK Aviation specialist at Transport & EnvironmentYannick van den Berg, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam Law School Tom Nevitt, project manager of Climate PerksDuncan McCourt, Chief Executive, Sustainable Aviation
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
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Aviation has a problem: it's reliant on fossil fuels which release greenhouse gases when they're burned in a jet engine. Other industries are worse polluters, but in the next few decades, they are likely to decarbonise much faster than the airline sector.
Why? Because kerosene is a light enough fuel for planes to get off the ground, while producing enough thrust for them to do so. Also it enables airliners to carry passengers to the other side of the world.
International flight has only been around for less than 100 years, but research suggests that it's responsible for 4% of total global warming to date. It's not just that airliners pump out carbon dioxide, but they also emit nitrous oxides and soot. Even contrails, which are mostly water vapour, have a warming effect high up in the atmosphere.
Can efficiencies in jet engines, optimal routes and air traffic control lead to less fuel being used? What technologies are available to make flying cleaner? Is the pace of change fast enough to meet net zero by 2050?
Presenter: Ben AnsellProducer: Ravi Naik Editor: Lisa Baxter
Contributors: David Lee, Professor of Atmospheric Science and Director of the Centre for Aviation, Transport and the Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University.Dr Mark Bentall, Head of the Research and Technology Programme, Airbus Dr Naomi Allen, Head of Research at the Royal Aeronautical Society, Alice Larkin, Professor of Climate Science and Energy Policy in the School of Engineering at the University of Manchester. Duncan McCourt, Chief Executive, Sustainable Aviation
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
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What is terrorism?
Without doubt, it is a pejorative term; few people would ever want to be called a terrorist, and when the word terrorism is attached to a belief system, it delegitimises it in the eyes of the public.
It's an emotive word with severe consequences for any individual or group given the label. Virtually everybody agrees that being a terrorist is not a good thing and that the law must seriously punish them.
But there isn't an agreed international definition of what terrorism is.
The UK has a legal definition, but it differs from other western democracies. When does property damage become a terror offence? How do police officers decide the difference between support for a cause and membership of a proscribed organisation? Should individuals without an ideology who plan or commit mass murders be considered terrorists? Are UK anti-terror laws too broad, or too narrow? And can violence by states be counted as terrorism?
Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Lisa Baxter
Contributors: José Ángel Gascón, Professor of Argumentation in the Department of Philosophy at the University of MurciaJonathan Hall KC, UK Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Nick Aldworth, Threat, risk & security strategist, former Detective Chief Superintendent and National Coordinator in Counter Terrorism Policing. Leonie Jackson, Assistant Professor and Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Northumbria University, and author of " What is Counterterrorism For?"Richard English, Professor of Politics at Queen's University Belfast, and author of Does Counter-Terrorism Work? Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
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Two weeks in the sun - it's the classic summer getaway. For many of us, summer holidays are something to look forward to all year.
But some of the most popular destinations for British holidaymakers are under strain. Protesters in Barcelona and Majorca have been pushing back at the number of visitors they host - even spraying them with water pistols. Locals are unhappy at being priced out of the housing market and feeling pressure on public services - but they also need tourists to support their economies.
At the same time, many destinations are experiencing increasingly hot summers, with sometimes catastrophic results. Two years ago, 20,000 tourists in Rhodes were forced to evacuate their hotels to get away from wildfires. Climate models suggest future summers will be hotter still.
So is it time to rethink how we approach the summer holiday?
Should we be considering different destinations for our holidays - swapping Mediterranean beaches for northern Europe or British destinations? Would those places be ready for more summer visitors? How can tourist destinations change to meet shifting demands? Is it time for schools to move away from the long summer break?
We'll look at the history of the beach holiday, and try and imagine what summer holidays will look like in the future. And we'll ask - what is a summer holiday for?
Presenter: Ben AnsellProducer: Lucy BurnsEditor: Clare Fordham
Contributors
Sarah Stodola, author of The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit and Peril at the BeachSimon Calder, travel journalistChristos Giannakopoulos, research director, the National Observatory of AthensRowland Rees-Evans, chair of the Wales Tourism AllianceLee Elliot-Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
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President Trump promised "America First" on the campaign trail, and has delivered that in his second term, unleashing a trade war and causing global economic instability.
Although China and the USA have recently agreed a temporary truce in the trade war, the US President regards Beijing as an economic enemy. Perversely, Donald Trump's actions may push other countries into China’s embrace.
For some countries, like Russia, that's a natural fit. Others, like China’s neighbours South Korea and Japan, have agreed to talks about a free-trade agreement, while the EU says it is seeking to "engage constructively" with Beijing.
So where does that leave the UK? Of late, Labour ministers have been on a charm offensive, with the Chancellor, the Foreign Secretary and the Energy Secretary all visiting China, as well as a recent trade delegation.
So should the UK be seeking closer ties with China? What are the risks, and is China even interested in us?
Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham
Contributors: Todd Hall, Director of the University of Oxford China Centre and Professor of International Relations at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University Of Oxford. Yeling Tan, Professor of public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University and also a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Wang Guan, senior news anchor with The China Media Group and also a founding fellow of the Taihe Institute think tank in Beijing.Cindy Yu, contributing editor and a columnist at The Times, who also writes the Chinese Whispers substack.
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
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The UK government has made growth its key mission. But solving the British productivity puzzle is not a new priority - it’s been on the agenda for successive governments.
Getting productivity up is crucial to sustain higher living standards. The more productive we are, the better off we'll be.
But the UK has experienced significantly slower productivity growth than comparable countries since the global financial crisis in 2008 and by some measures, Britain has been going through its worst period for productivity growth since the Napoleonic Era.
Britain’s productivity lags that of many of our major trading partners, including France, Germany and the USA and that’s despite British workers spending longer in the office. According to the ONS, the French can work four days and achieve roughly as much as the British do in five.
What are the factors behind the UK’s chronically weak productivity growth, what are other countries doing better?
How can we increase Britain’s productivity?
Presenter: Ben AnsellProducer: Farhana Haider
Contributors:
Margaret Heffernan, Professor of Practice in Management at the University of Bath, writer and former CEO.Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Gareth Davies, Head of the National Audit Office.Leslie Perlow, Professor of organisational behaviour at the Harvard Business School and founder of the Crafting Your Life special project.
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
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Across many countries, civil services, once seen as the backbone of stable governance, are facing growing scrutiny. Long viewed as the impartial and efficient machine of government, the role of civil servants is now being questioned as political polarisation intensifies and trust in traditional institutions declines.
In the UK, the United States and other democracies, critics question its effectiveness, arguing that the civil service has become opaque, unwieldy and inefficient, and process is getting in the way of outcomes.
The modern British civil service emerged in the 19th century, and was designed to carry out the day-to-day tasks of government in an unbiased and professional manner.
However, is a bureaucracy that was created and designed more than a century ago still fit for purpose - or are we witnessing a turning point in its role in modern governance?
Presenter: Ben AnsellProducer: Eleanor Harrison-DengateEditor: Clare Fordham
Contributors:Gus O’Donnell, former Cabinet Secretary, 2005 - 2011Jennifer Pahlka, former United States government’s deputy chief technology officerAaron Maniam, scholar at the Blavatnik School of Government, and former Singaporean civil servantHannah White, Director and CEO of Institute for GovernmentJoe Hill, Policy Director, Reform
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
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For most of this century, the UK has had a housing shortage, but for one section of society, that shortage has become a crisis.
Prices have risen so much that people who need social housing are completely locked out of the private renting market, and owning a home for many is only a pipe dream. And when politicians speak about "affordable homes", these are also out of reach for many people. "Affordable" means homes available at 80% of the market rate. Typical social housing rents are much lower- around 30% of the full rate.
And this type of home is in very short supply. In 1980, there were around seven million dwellings in the social rent sector, largely owned by councils. Today that's just over four million, the majority of which are owned by housing associations instead.
To the average person, the answer seems simple - just build more homes.
And that’s being done, but not enough are being built - only around 10,000 social homes are constructed each year - far lower than the estimated 90,000 we need every year. So how can we speed up the process to help the million households in England currently sat on council waiting lists?
Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik
Contributors: Anna Minton, Reader in Architecture at the University of East London and author of the book "Big Capital, Who is London For?"Jasmine Basran, Head of Policy at the homelessness charity Crisis.Richard Hyde, founder of Thinkhouse.org, an open library of housing research, and chair of Solihull Community Housing.Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester.Graham Kauders, commercial director at EDAROTH, an AtkinsRéalis company.
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
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Across the West, the long-established liberal order appears to be struggling to adapt to the economic and social challenges of the 21st century. As a result, traditional politics is being rejected by voters at the ballot box, increasingly usurped by narratives once considered too radical for the mainstream.
In Europe, right wing populists and the far-right are in the ascendancy in countries such as France, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump has returned to the White House for a second term.
The roots of political liberalism can be traced back to the 18th century, with much of the modern liberal world order emerging out of the end of World War II. But as similar patterns emerge across numerous democracies, could we be witnessing the end of liberalism?
Presenter: Ben AnsellProducer: Ben CooperEditor: Clare Fordham
Contributors:Jon Cruddas, author and former Labour MP for Dagenham and RainhamEdmund Fawcett, political journalist and authorSarah de Lange, Professor of Political Pluralism at the Department of Political Science at the University of AmsterdamCatherine de Vries, Professor of Political Science at Bocconi UniversityMichael Gove, Editor of The Spectator and former Conservative MP for Surrey Heath
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You would be forgiven for thinking that inflation, interest rates, GDP and tariffs drive the global economy.
But there are a whole set of interconnected underlying systems that work quietly in the background to keep economies running smoothly. It's not just countries that rely on them, but individuals as well. These systems allow workers to get paid, banks to make transfers, and the free-flow of information on the internet.
These immaterial systems have a presence in the physical world, from fibre optic cables to the servers that host our data. Building and maintaining this infrastructure, and everything else that makes up modern civilisation requires a constant and reliable supply of raw materials.
But in this globalised world, both the underlying systems online and the supply chains in the material world have pinch points - places where if just one thing gets squeezed, then there are immediate and dramatic effects on the economy.
And whoever controls those pinch points wields a vast amount of power.
In this episode of Rethink, Ben Ansell explores those pinch points, how the USA and China are realising their power, and what this means for the UK.
Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham
Contributors:Henry Farrell, SNF Agora Professor of International Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and co-author of Underground Empire.Abe Newman, professor in the School of Foreign Service and Government Departments at Georgetown University, and co-author of Underground Empire.Ed Conway, economics and data editor of Sky News and author of Material World.
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