On this week's macrodose - a special lookback at the tumultuous year that was 2025, and the various twists and turns for our global economy.
James Meadway is joined by Faiza Shaheen — author, economist and Executive Director of Tax Justice UK — and Kojo Koram, author, Professor at Loughborough University, and host of Death in Westminster, a forthcoming narrative series about inequality in the UK, produced by Planet B Productions.
Subscribe to support the show at patreon.com/Macrodose. Your pledge is a donation supporting free public education; perks are thank-you gifts for your support.
Got a question or comment? Reach out to us at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk.
To learn more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, head to planetbproductions.co.uk.
On this week's episode of Macrodose, James Meadway takes a look at how the drive to produce and consume more is creating a monumental trail of waste (0:33), and what the impacts of surpassing ‘peak’ demand in oil will be (5:09).
Subscribe to support the show at patreon.com/Macrodose. Your pledge is a donation supporting free public education; perks are thank-you gifts for your support.
Got a question or comment? Reach out to us at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk.
To learn more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, head to planetbproductions.co.uk.
The Break—Down returns! This week Adrienne returns for a fascinating conversation with Brazilian sociologist, political economist, author, and activist, Sabrina Fernandes.
When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or Lula, was re-elected as the President of Brazil in 2022, defeating Jair Bolsonaro in a tense election, the Brazilian left and many around the world breathed an almost literal sigh of relief. Under Bolsonaro, Brazil’s ecological and climate record was scorched, with deforestation in the Amazon reaching record highs.
Hopes were high, and for good reason: Lula campaigned on the rights of the working class and Brazil’s Indigenous peoples; under his watch deforestation quickly began to fall; and at COP27 in Egypt he declared in no uncertain terms: "Brazil is back."
Yet Lula’s record so far is complex, particularly when it comes to the challenges and perceived trade-offs of economic development and the climate, all while managing powerful competing forces in Brazilian politics.
As COP30 begins in Belém Brazil, Adrienne is joined by Sabrina Fernandes, an economic sociologist and head of research at the Alameda Institute, to discuss her essay “Lula’s Dilemma”, which she wrote for the second print issue of the BREAK—DOWN, on the complexities of Brazilian ecological politics, the power of big agri-business and what we can expect from Brazil’s leadership of this year’s climate conference.
Further reading: Sabrina Fernandes, Lula’s Dilemma, The BREAK—DOWN
Subscribe to the BREAK—DOWN for just £15/year.
In a special Budget crossover episode, James Meadway is joined by Carys Afoko, Host of Over the Top and Under the Radar, and Hannah Peaker, deputy chief executive at the New Economics Foundation, and occasional host of their New Economics Podcast.
Together, they give their reaction to Rachel Reeves' budget that could seal her and Keir Starmer's future.
Subscribe to support the show at patreon.com/Macrodose. Your pledge is a donation supporting free public education; perks are thank-you gifts for your support.
Got a question or comment? Reach out to us at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk.
To learn more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, head to planetbproductions.co.uk.
This week on The Curve, James Meadway is joined by Antonia Jennings - chief executive at the centre for London.
Together they discuss Rachel Reeves' upcoming budget blunders (1:36).
In the full version of the show available exclusively to Patreon supporters, James and Antonia also discuss the series of changes to Britain's asylum system announced this week by home secretary Shabana Mahmood (28:24), and how energy companies have recorded record profits in the UK (42.38)
Subscribe to support the show at patreon.com/Macrodose. Your pledge is a donation supporting free public education; perks are thank-you gifts for your support.
On this week's episode of Macrodose, James Meadway takes a look at the context surrounding the world's climate negotiations as delegates gather in Brazil for COP30 (1:26), and how the world is looking to adapt to a hotter global climate (8:00).
Subscribe to support the show at patreon.com/Macrodose. Your pledge is a donation supporting free public education; perks are thank-you gifts for your support.
Got a question or comment? Reach out to us at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk.
To learn more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, head to planetbproductions.co.uk.
This week on The Curve, James Meadway is joined by author and journalist Sarah Jaffe who has covered New York politics extensively.
Together, they discuss Zohran Mamdani's momentous victory in New York's mayoral election and what it means for the future of economic populism on the left.
In the full episode James and Sarah also discuss UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves signalling that she's planning tax rises in the upcoming budget.
Subscribe to support the show at patreon.com/Macrodose. Your pledge is a donation supporting free public education; perks are thank-you gifts for your support.
James Meadway is away this week but we wanted to leave you with this important conversation from June 2023, directly relevant to the current fears that the AI bubble is about to burst. It's with Richard Jones - professor of materials physics and innovation policy at the University of Manchester, and a fellow at the royal society - and the conversation is about semiconductors - a material roadblocks to AI expansion.
Subscribe to support the show at patreon.com/Macrodose. Your pledge is a donation supporting free public education; perks are thank-you gifts for your support.
Got a question or comment? Reach out to us at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk.
To learn more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, head to planetbproductions.co.uk.
Overshoot affects everything - where do we start?
In this bonus episode, a panel of leading climate thinkers and doers discuss the implications of 1.5C overshoot for law, geopolitics, activism, and more.
Host Laurie Laybourn is joined by Arlo Brady (Freuds), Olivia Lazard (Berggruen Institute), Harj Narulla (Doughty Street Chambers), and Clover Hogan (Force of Nature).
The conversation was recorded in front of a live audience at the Freuds Group HQ in London. It has been edited for conciseness.
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OVERSHOOT is a new four-part audio documentary hosted by climate researcher and policy advisor Laurie Laybourn. OVERSHOOT is produced by Planet B Productions and the Strategic Climate Risks Initiative.
Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For essays and bonus content, sign up at overshootpod.com or follow @overshootpod on social media.
Writer and presenter: Laurie Laybourn
Researcher: Ben Shread-Hewitt
Production coordination: Daniel Norman
Script consulting: Daniel Trilling
Sound design and mix: Ben Heyderman and James Fox
Original music by Haniell
With special thanks to Freuds for hosting us and Ren Balogun and the team, as well as all those who joined us. Apologies to those whose questions we had to cut from the edit; there just wasn’t enough room!
Today we are posting a bonus episode recorded by our friends over at Transition Security Project. In this fascinating discussion, former Macrodose guests Laleh Khalili and Thea Riofrancos are joined by Stephen Semler, co-founder of Security Policy Reform Institute, and Ilias Alami, Assistant Professor in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge, to discuss how Western military industrial complexes are threatening the climate transition.
Transition Security Project is a new research centre founded jointly by Common Wealth and the Climate and Community Institute, focused on developing alternative approaches to security and collaborating with trade unions on just transition plans for the military industry.
Find their work here: https://transitionsecurity.org
Chair:
* Laleh Khalili is Director of the Centre for Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter, where she researches empire, extractivism and maritime trade. Her books include Sinews of War and Trade, Extractive Capitalism and Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine. Laleh is a fellow of Transition Security Project.
Speakers:
* Stephen Semler is the co-founder of Security Policy Reform Institute, a think tank that works to align US foreign policy with working-class interests. He is an expert at Forum on the Arms Trade and writes for the Quincy Institute, Security in Context and his newsletter, Polygraph. Stephen is a fellow of Transition Security Project and the author of a forthcoming essay on the class politics of the military industrial complex.
* Thea Riofrancos is Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, where she works on resource extraction, climate crisis and the global energy transition. She is the author of Extraction and Resource Radicals. Thea is Strategic Co-Director of Climate and Community Institute, which cohosts Transition Security Project.
* Ilias Alami is Assistant Professor in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge, where he writes about state capitalism, geopolitics, and the green transition. He is the author of The Spectre of State Capitalism and Money, Power and Financial Capital in Emerging Markets. Ilias is a fellow of Transition Security Project and the author of a forthcoming essay on AI, imperialism and resource conflicts.
Khem Rogaly, Patrick Bigger and Lorah Steichen from Transition Security Project offer brief responses to each speaker.
This week on The Curve, James Meadway is joined by Nicholas Beuret - author of Or Something Worse:Why We Need to Disrupt the Climate Transition.
Together, they discuss mounting speculation over the upcoming budget and the longevity of Keir Starmer's premiership.
In the extended episode, available to Macrodose members on Patreon, they discuss Nicholas' new book on how the push for net zero has become a new arena for class conflict, and also respond to a listener question on government debt.
Subscribe to support the show at patreon.com/Macrodose. Your pledge is a donation supporting free public education; perks are thank-you gifts for your support.
How can we be resilient to what comes next?
One of Spain’s worst disasters was driven by climate change. But it ended up boosting climate deniers. This episode explores how to avoid this, what it really means to prepare for a world above 1.5°C, and why governments are clinging to fantasy preparation plans. And we hear the stories of how we can stay focused on navigating the growing climate storm.
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OVERSHOOT is a new four-part audio documentary hosted by climate researcher and policy advisor Laurie Laybourn. OVERSHOOT is produced by Planet B Productions and the Strategic Climate Risks Initiative.
Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For essays and bonus content, sign up at overshootpod.com or follow @overshootpod on social media.
***
Writer and presenter: Laurie Laybourn
Researcher: Ben Shread-Hewitt
Production coordination: Daniel Norman
Script consulting: Daniel Trilling
Sound design and mix: Ben Heyderman and James Fox
Original music by Haniell
With special thanks to Aaron Thierry, Mirte Boot, James Dyke, Henry Throp, Stephen Backhouse, Sophia Lennon
On this week's episode of Macrodose, James Meadway takes a look at: First, with warnings from both the Bank of England and IMF this week, the spectre of the AI bubble bursting is looming larger than ever before (0:35). Second, what should we make of renewed escalation in the US-China trade war (10:24).
Subscribe to support the show at patreon.com/Macrodose. Your pledge is a donation supporting free public education; perks are thank-you gifts for your support.
Got a question or comment? Reach out to us at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk.
To learn more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, head to planetbproductions.co.uk.
What do the people in charge think is going to happen?
Sue Owen was enjoying her retirement until she asked her pension fund what it thought catastrophic climate change would do to the economy. Not very much, according to them. This episode follows the campaigners and experts uncovering how pension funds, governments, and the other people in charge are using misleading economics that wildly underestimates the dangers of overshooting 1.5°C - and what to do about it.
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OVERSHOOT is a new four-part audio documentary hosted by climate researcher and policy advisor Laurie Laybourn. OVERSHOOT is produced by Planet B Productions and the Strategic Climate Risks Initiative.
Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For essays and bonus content, sign up at overshootpod.com or follow @overshootpod on social media.
***
Writer and presenter: Laurie Laybourn
Researcher: Ben Shread-Hewitt
Production coordination: Daniel Norman
Script consulting: Daniel Trilling
Sound design and mix: Ben Heyderman and James Fox
Original music by Haniell
With special thanks to Aaron Thierry, Mirte Boot, James Dyke, Henry Throp, Stephen Backhouse, Sophia Lennon
This week on The Curve, James Meadway sits down with Laurie Laybourn, executive director of the Strategic Climate Risks Initiative to talk about his podcast Overshoot - a new series about how we navigate a warming world beyond 1.5C.
In the extended episode, available to Macrodose members on Patreon, James and Laurie discuss the recent Labour and Green party conferences, as well as the government's AI bill set to unleash a frenzy of data centre construction across the UK.
Subscribe to support the show at patreon.com/Macrodose. Your pledge is a donation supporting free public education; perks are thank-you gifts for your support.
Who’s going to clean up the mess?
Dangerous amounts of carbon have been dumped in the atmosphere - so someone has to clean up the mess. Enter the dream - or delusion - of sucking carbon out of the sky. We trace how a backup plan for tackling climate change became plan A, why fossil fuel companies love it, and the staggering scale of the carbon sucking that must now be done - and whether it can even work.
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OVERSHOOT is a new four-part audio documentary hosted by climate researcher and policy advisor Laurie Laybourn. OVERSHOOT is produced by Planet B Productions and the Strategic Climate Risks Initiative.
Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For essays and bonus content, sign up at overshootpod.com or follow @overshootpod on social media.
***
Writer and presenter: Laurie Laybourn
Researcher: Ben Shread-Hewitt
Production coordination: Daniel Norman
Script consulting: Daniel Trilling
Sound design and mix: Ben Heyderman and James Fox
Original music by Haniell
With special thanks to Aaron Thierry, Mirte Boot, James Dyke, Henry Throp, Stephen Backhouse, Sophia Lennon
If the world didn’t win, then has it lost?
The world is overshooting 1.5°C, a level of global heating long seen as the marker of climate safety. But does that mean we’re doomed? In this opening episode, we hear the extraordinary story of how the 1.5°C goal was set, and how it shapes the ways we think about climate change. We learn why some people are now turning to fatalism and what it might really mean to navigate a truly global climate crisis.
***
OVERSHOOT is a new four-part audio documentary hosted by climate researcher and policy advisor Laurie Laybourn. OVERSHOOT is produced by Planet B Productions and the Strategic Climate Risks Initiative.
Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For essays and bonus content, sign up at overshootpod.com or follow @overshootpod on social media.
***
Writer and presenter: Laurie Laybourn
Researcher: Ben Shread-Hewitt
Production coordination: Daniel Norman
Script consulting: Daniel Trilling
Sound design and mix: Ben Heyderman and James Fox
Original music by Haniell
With special thanks to Aaron Thierry, Mirte Boot, James Dyke, Henry Throp, Stephen Backhouse, and Sophia Lennon
The world missed its goal for tackling climate change. What happens next?
In 2015, the world agreed to limit global heating to 1.5°C. Ten years later, temperatures are spiralling beyond this and climate chaos is wreaking havoc across the globe.
In a major four-part series, host Laurie Laybourn explores how the world ended up here and uncovers the huge misconceptions and the high-tech fantasies that hold us back. And we meet people with the ideas to navigate what comes next, from protesting pensioners to climate negotiators, Pacific islanders to pre-eminent scientists.
Coming soon. Listen from Monday 6th October.
***
OVERSHOOT is a new four-part audio documentary hosted by climate researcher and policy advisor Laurie Laybourn. OVERSHOOT is produced by Planet B Productions and the Strategic Climate Risk Initiative.
Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For essays and bonus content, sign up at overshootpod.com or follow @overshootpod on social media.
Writer and presenter: Laurie Laybourn
Researcher: Ben Shred-Hewitt
Production coordination: Daniel Norman
Script consulting: Daniel Trilling
Sound design and mix: Ben Heyderman and James Fox
Original music by Haniell
With special thanks to Aaron Thierry, Mirte Boot, James Dyke, Henry Throp, Stephen Backhouse
Returning from spending the summer writing his new book, James looks back at the key economic stories of the summer along with some important ones you may have missed.
Plus: Javier Milei's economic experiment in Argentina has collapsed, leading to his government asking Trump’s United States for a $20 billion bailout.
Subscribe to support the show at patreon.com/Macrodose. Your pledge is a donation supporting free public education; perks are thank-you gifts for your support.
Got a question or comment? Reach out to us at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk.
To learn more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, head to planetbproductions.co.uk.
As public dissatisfaction with the current government deepens & Reform UK lead in the polls, the need for a coherent, credible alternative has become increasingly urgent. To meet this moment, leading think tank the Autonomy Institute and Macrodose hosted some of the UK’s leading, activists, academics and campaigners from across the progressive spectrum, to chart the ideas and strategies needed for a transformative agenda fit for the challenges of the present and the next general election.
Speakers:
- Asad Rehman (War on Want)
- James Schneider (Progressive International)
- Ayeisha Thomas-Smith (NEON)
- John McTernan (Political strategist & commentator)
- Antonia Jennings (Centre for London)