A Long Time In Finance

The sudden collapse of Sam Bankman Fried's $16bn crypto trading empire has caused even the most bored of apes to sit up and take notice. Investors in these digital currencies have exhibited an incredible stoicism, soaking up their punishment and "HODL-ing" through past crypto collapses, but could this be the end of Satoshi's children? Neil and Jonathan talk to crypto expert Izabella Kaminska about why crypto exchanges are like 19th century prairie banks, whether the newbies will keep coming and what currencies might survive the turmoil. Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.With Izabella Kaminska.Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.Sponsored by Briefcase.News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the world gathers at COP27 to demand further action on emissions, what role can wind and solar really play in helping us hit global temperature targets? A sceptical Michael Shellenberger, US author and environmental activist, talks to Neil and Jonathan about the renewable "religion", the need for more nuclear and gas, and how much renewable capacity you can really put on an electricity grid.Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.With Michael Shellenberger.Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Britain facing "eye-watering" decisions about public spending, many have set their sights on HS2 as the sort of gilded "grand projet" the UK can no longer afford. But does scrapping it make sense, and what sort of infrastructure should Britain invest in instead? Neil and Jonathan talk to rail expert Tony Berkeley and Tom Forth, industrial strategy thinker, about the bizarre way infrastructure spending decisions are taken and how the country might do it better. Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.With Tony Berkeley and Tom Forth.Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.Additional producing by Ewan Cameron.Sponsored by Briefcase.News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second part of our series on Northern Rock, Neil and Jonathan pick over the lessons from the 2007 collapse of the world's most famous ex-building society with former chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling, Stanford finance professor Anat Admati, and bank expert Dan Davies. As interest rates rise, and tremors course through financial markets, how much more robust is our banking system, and could the same meltdown happen again? Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.With Alistair Darling, Anat Admati and Dan Davies.Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.Additional editing by Ewan Cameron.Sponsored by Briefcase.News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For a few weeks in 2007, a small ex-building society in Newcastle became the world's most famous bank as TV news cameras showed customers queuing at branches for their cash. Initially seen as a Victorian throwback, it later became clear that the collapse was a warning of much wider problems to come. As worrying tremors again strike our financial system, Neil and Jonathan ponder the lessons of Northern Rock's failure in the first of a two part series with former chancellor Alistair Darling, ex regulator Howard Davies and banking expert Dan Davies.  Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.With Dan Davies, Alistair Darling and Howard Davies.Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.Additional editing by Ewan Cameron.Sponsored by Briefcase.News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The market panic that followed Kwasi Kwarteng's mini budget last month has been blamed on pension funds doing something called LDI. But what is this strange practice, what is its purpose, and how has it led to a £65bn meltdown in the pensions market? Neil and Jonathan talk to pensions expert (and grand wizard of LDI) John Ralfe about the fallout and whether Neil, as a pensioner, should be worried.Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.With John Ralfe.Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is hard to find a worse reaction to a British Budget than the one accorded Kwasi Kwarteng's "special fiscal operation". Neil and Jonathan talk to Howard Davies, former financial regulator and Treasury Mandarin about why it got such a huge raspberry, what Kwarteng can do now, and how his effort rates in the roll-call of past fiscal fails, including George Osborne's "omnishambles" and Denis Healey's emergency budget of 1974. Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.With Howard Davies.Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How on earth did the UK end up having to fling £150bn at the energy market just to keep the lights on? Is it just because of Vladimir Putin, or does it also involve poor decisions taken far nearer to home? Neil and Jonathan talk to energy expert Nick Butler about the history of what happened, what went wrong, and how we might put it right. Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.With Nick Butler.Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.Sponsored by Briefcase.News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the final episode on Britain's 1992 currency crisis, Neil and Jonathan look at the consequences of Black Wednesday with Jonathan Portes, Sir Paul Tucker, both of whom had ringside seats in the Treasury and Bank of England respectively, and economic historian Duncan Weldon.Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.With Duncan Weldon and Jonathan Portes.Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.Additional editing by Ewan Cameron.Sponsored by Briefcase.News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second of our three-part series on Black Wednesday, the sterling crisis that drove Britain out of Europe's Exchange Rate Mechanism in the autumn of 1992, Neil and Jonathan look back on the events of the day itself with Sir Paul Tucker, who watched the mounting chaos from the Bank of England.Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.With Sir Paul Tucker.Produced and edited by Nick for Podot.Additional editing by Ewan Cameron.Sponsored by Briefcase.News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.