Meeting People

Peter Smith is an ecologist who has worked tirelessly for decades to protect and revitalise Britain's nature reserves. He was the founder of the Wildwood Trust and was one of the central pioneering figures who helped drive the reintroduction of the beaver to British woodlands.Drawing on his knowledge of history, philosophy, classical economics (including Henry George!) and downright dirty politics our conversation covered the state of today's environmental movement which at its best has become a tool for status signalling and at its worst a rent-seeking mechanism. Peter outlined the fraud of carbon markets, the failure of subsidies, inefficient farming practices, the questionable validity of organic food, how rewilding nature is more than just a photo opportunity for high society, and sources of optimism.You can find more about Peter's work here:Substack: https://substack.com/@petersmithrewildingX: https://x.com/PeetaSmithYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeterSmithRewildingThis podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

Politics over the last 10 years has felt for many people like a continuous experience of jarring dissonance. Not for Dr Steve Davies who is an accomplished historian and political theorist. His latest book “The Great Realignment: Why the New Right is Here to Stay” has the best explanation I’ve come across for why our map for understanding the public landscape is outdated. Politics has always been binary with voters aligning around a small number of salient issues. Alliances form around these issues but after a period, voters’ concerns change. Steve argues that realignments have been a regular feature across history and his book allows us to better understand and prepare for what is to come.  Reasons for the current re-alignment range from deranged monetary policy, economic stasis, a lack of genuine innovation as outlined by Peter Thiel in Zero to One, and aggressive rent-seeking. The consequences include a revival of nativism, isolationism and producerism (make stuff at home rather than import said stuff). In his words:“what you have, and you could see this very clearly at the moment, is an economy in which the main way to become rich is not to generate profit and with that wages, but to capture rent.” Steve brought a range of historical justifications to the conversation from his book including the Roman Empire, China, Bismark, the French Revolution, Marx, and of course Henry George! We finish with what this means for the future in terms of voting patterns, shifting alliances and policy. It was a privilege to tap into Steve’s mind which provided accessible insights from decades of research, thinking, and experience. His book “The Great Realignment: Why the New Right is Here to Stay” is available online and in all good bookshops.This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

I'm delighted to welcome back Fred Harrison for a second appearance on Meeting People following the release of his new book Cheating: The Human Project and its Betrayal.In it he argues that "the withdrawal of Rent from its social function is the root cause of the persistent collapse of civilisations". We unpack this bold claim over the course of our conversation. Across history, the benefits of progress (technological, economic or otherwise) have routinely become captured by Rent seekers. Working to earn a living or grow a business thereafter feels like running through treacle.Optimists of the past would never have predicted that owning a home, starting a family and earning enough to cover a moderate living standard would be this hard in 2026.250 years on from the publishing of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, Fred is optimistic that his ideas can show us the way out of this quagmire. The tiresome debate between Socialism versus Capitalism is a distraction. Cutting taxes, reducing debt levels, simplifying the planning system, deregulating, and promoting trade are necessary for treating the symptoms of this malaise but don't address the root problem. This is the seizure of what Smith termed Economic Rent.Fortunately, economic collapse, modern poverty, and drudgery are not a foregone conclusion. Unless Rent is socialised, the free market can never flourish and we will be plagued by boom and bust cycles. Fred Harrison has committed his life to educating people on this this reality.You can find out more about the book here: https://shepheardwalwyn.com/product/cheating-the-human-project-and-its-betrayal/This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

Could Scotland have become Singapore-on-the-Clyde in 2014 had it voted for independence?Is Boris Johnson possibly Britain's worst ever Prime Minister?Does structural reform only happen in times of crisis and how deep is the economic rot that has set in?The British economy is far more centralised and state-run than most people realise. I recently sat down with Ewen Stewart who is the Director of the Institute of International Monetary Research at the University of Buckingham. He sits on the UK Growth Commission and is also a director of the think tank, Global Britain. He believes we have one shot to turn around Britain's malaise and revive areas such as healthcare, defence, and manufacturing. As recently as the Falklands War, Britain was able to deploy 23 frigates and destroyers - roughly one third of its surface fleet. Today it is defenceless in the North Atlantic. Most European countries offer healthcare which is free at the point of need. Whereas Britain tops the quartile rankings in terms of health spending, it sits at the bottom in terms of service. With an immigration policy that Charles Ponzi would be proud of, well over 50% of GDP government spending and a brain drain is underway with more tax rises on the horizon.We discuss what needs to be done to turn things around from a policy perspective to revive a sense of dynamism and energy.You can find out more about the IIMR and the Growth Commission here:https://mv-pt.org/https://www.growth-commission.com/This podcast was produced by  @Mattjcooper with music composed by  @lovermanxoxoxo .This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

Professor Bryan Caplan coined the Ideological Turing Test which measures whether a person truly understands an opposing political or ideological viewpoint. To help us pass the test when it comes to conservatism as a school of political thought, Ed West takes us from St Augustine to today whilst making some challenging observations from a position of both deep knowledge and ideological humility. We cover many subjects including:The Broken Age Curve: Why, contrary to historic beliefs, people born from the mid-1970s onward are entering middle age without adopting traditional conservative voting habits or lifestyles.Human Nature & The Blank Slate: Exploring the ultimate divide between the progressive belief in human perfectibility and the darker, Augustinian view of mankind as inherently flawed.The Media, Academia, and Status: How conservatism became a "low-status" viewpoint in the arts, media, and universities, and why academia breeds such bitter ideological battles.The Post-Christian Right: The rise of secular right-wing subcultures, the "Manosphere," and how the collapse of traditional religious frameworks is leading to political sectarianism.Unintended Consequences: A look at how well-meaning regulations—from rent controls to modern slavery legislation—frequently backfire in the real world.Ed's substack, The Wrong Side of History is an entertaining, funny, and educational forum which he describes as "political-commentary-with-history." The latter being his great passion which shines through in his posts.You can find him it here https://www.edwest.co.uk/ or on X https://x.com/edwest.This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper (https://linktr.ee/thisismattcooper) with music composed by Loverman (https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy).This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

Gemma Herbertson is the founder of Neuro Frontiers an online learning platform dedicated to empowering individuals to understand and harness the power of Neuroplasticity therapies.These powerful tools, if properly uses, can maintain, restore, improve, and even create brain function.In 2012 Gemma invented the Exchange Breathing Method to help tackle her baby boy who was suffering from relentless seizures. Up to 500 a week. Our conversation covers her journey into the field of Neuroplasticity driven by a relentless pursuit of making her son's life better. She gives some practical advice on how to improve brain function and I'm also the beneficiary of some on-air therapy! Gemma's story of turning adversity into a lifelong commitment to learning and public service is one for us to admire and emulate.You can learn more about Neuro Frontiers here: https://neurofrontiers.org/This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper (https://linktr.ee/thisismattcooper) with music by Loverman (https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy).This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

Ve Dewey is a globally networked executive design leader whose CV is as long as at is impressive. We discussed design thinking, how to develop good taste, AI (of course), and looking at the world's problems through a design systems lens.Her career has been at the intersection of technology, design, and innovation, with success across industry, the third sector, and academia. She curated the inaugural design HR role at Mattel, supporting 400+ creatives during the company’s cultural and digital transformation; leading multi-million dollar global rebrands.She was also a leader of product marketing at Adobe, where she established a new creative marketing programme in Europe. At the Royal College of Art she collaborated on evolving a neuroscience-based leadership model. You can find Ve on LinkdedIn and Instagram:https://uk.linkedin.com/in/vanessadeweyhttps://www.instagram.com/vandewcandew/This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

Andrew Phemister is a Lecturer in British and Irish History at Kings College London. Our conversation centred around his book Land and Liberalism: Henry George and the Irish Land War (Cambridge University Press, 2023).Are human beings intrinsically good that need unshackling from bureaucratic, corporatist rent seeker to flourish? Do ideas have a causative historical role or is everything explained by technology, materialism, kings and queens? What is the history of radical thought, liberalism and the concept of natural rights? What relevance do Arnold Schwarzenegger and Total Recall have to Adam Smith's three factors of production?Andrew is a very engaging, entertaining, and articulate thinker who fleshed out some difficult questions through the lens of one of the most popular but now almost forgotten economists - Henry George. You can find more about Andrew's work here:https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/andrew-phemisterThis podcast was produced by Matt Cooper (https://linktr.ee/thisismattcooper) with music composed by Loverman (https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy)This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

In May 1916 three men caked in blood, dirt, blisters, and sweat arrived at the Stromness Whaling Station on South Georgia Island in the Atlantic Ocean suffering from severe exhaustion. They had endured a journey both by boat and on foot from Antarctica that was harrowing and miraculous in equal measure. In charge of the three men was Sir Ernest Shackleton, one of history’s most famous explorers and leaders. In my latest conversation I discuss what is known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration with David Cornell. In 2009 David went to the South Pole a hundred years after his great grandfather embarked on the Nimrod expedition that was led by Shackleton. He took me through Shackleton’s Boat Journey which has been described as the greatest story ever told. Our conversation covered what it takes to get to the South Pole as well as the leadership skills that Ernest Shackleton showed time and again through loyalty and care to his men right until his during his final attempt to reach the Pole.Since that Centenary Expedition, David helped launch the Shackleton Foundation which provides seed funding and support to early stage social ventures  with a primary focus on benefiting young people in the UK.A narrative of decline is permeating the developed world. Hopefully conversations like this one with David can revivify the spirit of adventure as an antidote to all the negativity and noiseYou can find out more about the Shackleton Foundation click here: https://shackletonfoundation.org/This podcast was produced by MattCooper with music composed by Loverman.This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

Dr Eamonn Butler is the co-founder of the Adam Smith Institute and has dedicated decades of service in spreading economic freedom. He is the author of several books including 'Foundations of a Free Society', 'The Condensed Wealth of Nations', and 'The Best Book on the Market'. Our conversation includes his latest book "An Introduction to Schools of Economic Thought". We also coverhis return to Britain to advise the Thatcher administration on market reforms having done so in 1970s for the US House of Representatives.If you've been unsure of how to distinguish between your Adam Smiths to your Friedrich Hayeks, then this conversation is a great place to start. We also use Eamonn's knowledge of economic theory to discuss the issues of our age - a broken Britain, the absence of risk taking, the flaws of direct democracy, and the law of Economic Rent holding back our youth.You can find Eamonn's latest book here: https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Schools-of-Thought-Interactive.pdfThis podcast was produced by https://linktr.ee/thisismattcooper with music composed by https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy.00:00:00 - The Rotten State of Britain00:06:34 - Britain’s welfare state00:10:28 - What got Eamonn into Economics00:12:30 - Coming back to rescue Britain00:19:10 - Why big companies hate competition00:21:30 - Who was Adam Smith00:24:45 - Schools of Economics Thought00:33:15 - Hayek, Friedman and Keynes00:40:15 - Did Marx get anything right?00:42:17 - What is behavioural economics?00:46:45 - Why no mention of Georgism in Schools of Economic Thought?00:57:30 - Why don’t we take risk anymore?01:10:05 - Is democracy inherently flawed?01:15:10 - The long betThis podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.