The economist Michael Jensen, who died this month, did as much as any single thinker to shape modern financial capitalism. To his detractors, he was the High Priest of Greed who justified stratospheric CEO pay and predatory private equity. His admirers believe he revived Anglo Saxon capitalism. We discuss his ideas and legacy with the independent researcher and private equity expert Peter Morris.  Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins. With Peter Morris. Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podcast. In association with Briefcase.News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv ..read more

A natural monopoly delivering an essential service, Thames Water was privatised in 1989 with no debt. Now it's on its knees, crushed by more than £15bn of borrowings. Neil and Jonathan talk to Feargal Sharkey about what this says about Mrs Thatcher's most controversial privatisation, whether incentive regulation works, and whether we should just scrap the whole private structure and start again. Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins. With Feargal Sharkey. Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot. In association with Briefcase.News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva ..read more

GEC was a British manufacturing titan; a cash-rich producer of everything from washing machines to railway trains. Then in a few years, it rebranded and restructured, shedding most of the old industrial bits to focus on telecoms. The result? By 2005, shiny new Marconi was no more. In the second of our Fallen Angel series, we talk to industrial historian Nick Comfort about one of the most abrupt collapses in UK corporate history and its heavy industrial cost  Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins. With Nicholas Comfort. Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot. In associati ..read more

For decades ICI was Britain's largest manufacturing company - a giant fixed point around which the rest of industry orbited. Then, in little more than a decade, it split itself up, sold many of its traditional businesses, and ran up big debts buying fancy but not very profitable fragrance companies. In 2006, the end came when it sold itself to a Dutch company and disappeared. We talk to writer and industrial commentator Nick Comfort about the fall of ICI and what it says about the way the UK economy has been run. Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins. With Nicholas Comfort. Produced and ..read more

Remember Pets.com? Or Ask Jeeves? The dot com bubble of 25 years ago might have been a seismic event in markets. But was it just a collective moment of madness, or a deeper transformational moment? Or both? As AI stocks shoot towards the stratosphere, we talk to internet historian Brian McCullough about what we can learn from the last great tech bubble. Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins. With Brian McCullough. Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot. In association with Briefcase.News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information ..read more

One of Britain's better-known economic forecasters, Roger Bootle, set up his consultancy Capital Economics 25 years ago. He made his name predicting the "death of inflation" on which he wrote an influential book in the 1990s. We discuss the importance of economic history, favourite writers, monetarism, bright spots in the world economy, and Britain's many problems with growth. Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins. With Philip Augar. Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot. In association with Briefcase.News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information ..read more

In the second of our series on Privatisation and Popular Capitalism, we look at the biggest and riskiest privatisation of all - the 1987 sale of the UK's 31% stake in BP. How the Chancellor Nigel Lawson gambled that the markets were good for a quick £7bn. Prepare for the world's shortest pricing meeting, diplomatic rows with Kuwaitis and lots of long faced underwriters. And our guest Philip Augar delivers the verdict: was it a disaster narrowly averted or a triumph for the new City of London? Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins. With Philip Augar. Produced and edited by ..read more

Along with the sale of council houses, privatisation was a signature theme of Mrs Thatcher's government. Its aim was not just more efficient businesses, but a "share owning democracy" that would purge Britain of the "corrosive effect of socialism". With its "Tell Sid" campaign, British Gas was the high water mark of privatisation. Neil and Jonathan talk to author Philip Augar about "stagging", Cedric the Pig and how privatisation changed the City.  Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins. With Philip Augar. Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot. In association with BRIEFCASE.N ..read more

What if our understanding of capitalism and climate is back to front? What if the problem is not that transitioning to green energy is too expensive, but that saving the planet is not sufficiently profitable. This is the conundrum at the heart of economist Brett Christophers' provocative new book. Neil and Jonathan joined him to discuss why lower wind and solar costs may not equal a green bonanza. Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins. With Brett Christophers. Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot. In association with Briefcase.News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor ..read more

To some it might seem like the plot of a Jeffrey Archer novel: identical twins born to hardship who graft their way up together and ultimately get to own the Ritz Hotel, the Daily Telegraph and a socking great castle in the Channel Islands. But the story of Frederick and David Barclay is much stranger than that. With the Barclays back in the news as they attempt to recover control of the Telegraph, Neil and Jonathan talk to journalist Jane Martinson about the invisible rise of the twins, their complex finances and their ultimate falling out. Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins. W ..read more