Our Prisoners’ Dilemma

Contrary to political group think it was actually access private debt not public debt that brought the economy crashing down. But today private debt is again raging and nobody seems to want to address the issue. On the latest episode of Renegade Inc, co-founder and presenter, Ross Ashcroft sits down with anthropologist and writer, David Graeber and former chairman of the now abolished Financial Services Authority, Lord Turner to discuss what is preventing us from talking about the taboo that is Britain’s private debt problem. - Broadcast September 2017 -  Read & Watch: https://renegadeinc.com/britains-private-debt-problem/

One of the biggest Western foreign policy adventures in recent years is something that is underreported in the media. So-called ‘intervention’ in Libya has created a failed state that is riven with extremists all vying for power. So we ask: was this really an epic foreign policy mistake? Or was destroying Libya just another day at the office for politicians, shortsighted bureaucrats, and vulture corporates who continually try to enforce global economic supremacy? Host Ross Ashcroft is joined by Dr. Matthew Alford, teaching fellow in politics at University of Bath, and Dr. Tim Coles, director and founder of Plymouth Institute for Peace Research. - Broadcast June 2018 -  Read & Watch: https://renegadeinc.com/looting-libya/

Britain’s MI5 has always maintained that the UK is just four away meals from anarchy. So with fractured supply chains, rising costs, and failing agricultural policy, how worried should the Brits – who are net importers of food – be? Ross Ashcroft is joined by agricultural analyst Michael Raw to discuss our national food security. - Broadcast April 2022 -  Read & Watch: https://renegadeinc.com/uk-food-security-a-fork-in-the-road/

One thing Theresa May will be remembered for is her treatment of the British police. When she was Home Secretary, Mrs May brutally cut more than a fifth of all funding to police forces. The unofficial diktat was that the police should do more with less, a mystifying statement that almost guarantees a demoralised and thus compliant workforce. So is this what she wanted? Or was there another motive to this act? A political move maybe, that would begin the privatisation of Britain’s police force. Joining us to discuss the ongoing privatisation that the police and other public services are subject to, is the activist and campaigner with South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group, John Grayson, and senior lecturer of criminology at Sheffield University, Adam White. - Broadcast January 2018 -  Read & Watch: https://renegadeinc.com/profits-or-policing/

George Orwell famously said journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.  In a world festooned with PR exercises and reputation management, was Mr Orwell overly cynical, or was he well ahead of his time? With print media’s business model in free fall, newspaper proprietors are increasingly desperate to find ways to ensure financial viability. The problem with this approach is that corporate interests can and often do trump the interests of readers. Joining us to discuss how free the UK press really is are the lecturer in journalism and media studies at Birkbeck College, Justin Schlosberg, and the editor of Open Media at openDemocracy, James Cusick. - Broadcast July 2018 -  Read & Watch: https://renegadeinc.com/not-free-press/

“Economics has failed,” is a phrase that is becoming more common by the day, the result of the current economic paradigm of neoliberalism. But economist, Professor Michael Hudson says economics has not failed at all. It is working perfectly well, according to the rules upon which it has been set. On this week’s episode of Renegade Inc, we explore the cover story of neoliberal economics. - Broadcast October 2017 -  Read & Watch: https://renegadeinc.com/j-is-for-junk-economics/

The production of money is ultimately the struggle for control over resources, wealth, people and our environment. But there is a surprising level of ignorance around how banks create money out of thin air and the benefits which flow from it. Host Ross Ashcroft is joined by the economist and author of the recent book The Production of Money, Ann Pettifor and founder of banking platform Seascader, Steven Round, to examine how money actually works. - Broadcast April 2017 -  Read & Watch: https://renegadeinc.com/money-for-nothing/

Crime and punishment have always been bedfellows. But what if many of the assumptions that we make around the justification of that punishment are simply false? Joining us to discuss the current state of the British prison system and what can be done to improve it, former prison monitor and criminologist, Faith Spear and Dr David Scott, senior lecturer in criminology at the Open University. Read & Watch: https://renegadeinc.com/our-prisoners-dilemma/

If you think the War on Terror is an expensive exercise, everything about it pales into insignificance when we talk about the bigger war on our doorstep – the War on Drugs. More than a century of conflict, confiscation, court cases and incarceration later… and still there’s no end in sight. Isn’t it now time to readdress this challenge by using different language, laws and leadership? Or is the War on Drugs so entrenched that vested interests and authorities are blind to reframing it? Ross Ashcroft joins the writer and author of ‘Chasing The Scream’, Johann Hari, and the former undercover police officer turned drug campaigner and writer of the book ‘Good Cop, Bad War’, Neil Woods. Read & Watch: https://renegadeinc.com/war-on-drugs/

When we talk about consumerism, the emotive arguments for and against are always black and white. Consumerism is painted as unnecessary and low or no growth is seen as the optimum state for people and planet. But what if acquiring objects and possessions is intrinsic to human nature? What if, in reality, the consumerism argument is far more nuanced, which should make us rethink how we spend, what we buy and which things are most important to us. We have hit peak stuff and when that admission comes from the head of sustainability at the Swedish retailer, Ikea you know that consumers are tapped out. So as self-storage units buckle under the pressure of housing things we don’t need and our environment pays the price, we question the consumerist boom that has gripped the world. Joining us to work out where next for consumer spending and give historical context to the rampant consumerism we seem to love is the author of ‘The Empire of Things‘, Professor Frank Trentmann. Read & Watch: https://renegadeinc.com/empire-of-things/