Crash Course With Michael Walker

Hello Crash Course listeners! First of all, a big apology from me. This feed has been way too quiet over the summer, but I will make sure its much more active over the coming months. I'm lining up a full series on immigration, both to debunk Tory scare-mongering and to explore what a genuinely human migration system might look like. In the meantime, I have a fascinating interview for you with Sam Geall. He's CEO of China Dialogue and a fellow at Chatham House. We spoke about an issue that, for obvious reasons, has been obsessing me this summer: climate change. And we spoke about an angle which I think is poorly covered in the UK press: the role of the world's biggest emitter in the fight against climate change. I hope you enjoy.xx Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the height of the pandemic, I hoped the experience would lead us to build a more equal society when the covid crisis had subsided. I had World War 2 as an analogy.Gary Stevenson made a different prediction. He believed that the government response to the pandemic - and in particular - the decision to print billions of pounds, would lead to high inflation, and an increase in inequality.We discussed what he got right, and what I got wrong.Production & Editing: Lewis Bassett & Patrick HeardmanSound Design: Patrick Heardman Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Bill Hanage is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Co-Director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Since the outbreak of covid-19, there's been no-one I've trusted more to give me a balanced and objective account of the course of the pandemic. In this conversation we discuss whether the pandemic is really over, what living with covid looks like, and what the public health community has learnt from our response to covid-19. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the UK launches its inquiry into the handling of Covid-19, at Crash Course we're asking a slightly different question: Did Covid-19 change the world?In this series I'll be speaking to scientists, economists and international experts to assess if and how covid-19 transformed society, for better or worse. In this first introductory episode I speak to Ash Sarkar and James Butler about the mark covid-19 and lockdowns have left on political culture in Britain. **This is the first half of a two hour conversation. To listen to the whole interview, sign up at patreon.com/crashcoursepod**Production & Editing: Lewis Bassett & Patrick HeardmanSound Design: Patrick Heardman Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In part two of my conversation with Joshua Craze we discuss the rise of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (widely known as Hemedti). He explained how the two generals have used threats of violence as a means to undermine democracy, and how their falling out has placed Sudan on the brink of civil war.To support the podcast and access all episodes subscribe at patreon.com/crashcoursepodProduction & Editing: Lewis Bassett & Patrick HeardmanSound Design: Patrick Heardman Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve watched the news over the past four weeks you’ll probably know there’s a crisis in Sudan. You’ll likely also know that the UK and other Western nations have been struggling to evacuate their citizens, and you might have been told the conflict is a power struggle between two leading generals. However, if you’ve been relying on mainstream news media, it’s unlikely you’ll know much more than that.In the first of a two-parter on Sudan, I speak to Joshua Craze about the history of political conflict in Sudan. Here, we race through the history of Sudan, from its foundation in 1956 to the rule of Omar al-Bashir, which lasted from 1989 to 2019.In part two we'll discuss how an understanding of Sudan's history can help explain the present conflict in the country.I came across Joshua Craze via this brilliant article in Sidecar: https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/gunshots-in-khartoumMore reading suggestions from Joshua can be found here: https://riftvalley.net/publication/sudans-grain-divide-revolution-bread-and-sorghumhttps://africanarguments.org/2021/11/creatures-of-the-deposed-connecting-sudans-rural-and-urban-struggles/https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n10/alex-de-waal/the-revolution-no-one-wantedTo support crash course please sign up at patreon.com/crashcoursepodCrash Course is produced and edited by Lewis Bassett and Patrick Heardman. Patrick Heardman does the sound design. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** This is the first part of a 1hr40min episode. To listen to the whole thing sign up at patreon.com/crashcoursepod ***To wrap up the first series on rent I sat down with Aaron Bastani and Gary Stevenson. This was an incredibly enjoyable and very broad conversation, and over more than 90 minutes we touched on many of the themes raised throughout the series. Aaron and Gary are both original thinkers, and had lots to say on rent controls, working class landlords, and even god. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout this series we've been clear that to solve our rental crisis we'll need a lot more council homes. But what's it like to be responsible for building them, and how can councils build more homes in a time of austerity. To answer that question I spoke to my good friend Councillor Aydin Dikerdem, who is the cabinet member for housing in the London borough of Wandsworth.Editing & Production: Lewis Bassett & Patrick HeardmanSound Design: Patrick HeardmanTo support the podcast and access all episodes, sign up at patreon.com/crashcoursepod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Continuing on the theme of solutions to the housing crisis I interviewed economist Shreya Nanda about the Georgists and the YIMBYs.Georgists follow the ideas of the 19th century thinker and reformer Henry George and support a land value tax. YIMBYs (which stands for Yes In My Backyard) think the way to get out of the housing crisis is to build, build, build! Shreya classes herself as both a Georgist & a YIMBY, which made this a very fruitful conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Duncan Weldon is an economist, author, and all round excellent communicator. He appeared on an earlier episode about London's crazy post-pandemic rents, but I also sat him down for a conversation about the politics and economics of the housing market more generally. We discussed how house prices got so high, whether more supply would solve the rental crisis, the politics of the YIMBY movement & what to make of Michael Gove. To support the podcast and access all episodes in this series - and all future ones - sign up at patreon.com/crashcoursepodProduction & Editing: Lewis Bassett & Patrick HeardmanSound Design: Patrick Heardman Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.