Rome was the greatest city of the ancient world, commanding an empire that spread from Damascus to York and encompassed a quarter of the world’s population. It’s a civilisation whose splendour and eventual decline has inspired generations of painters and poets for more than a thousand years. But as businessman and historian George Maher argues in his book Pugnare: Economic Success and Failure, the ascent of Rome wasn’t just a military or cultural achievement – it was an economic one. CapX sat down for a fascinating conversation with George – whose classical research combined with his professional experience as an actuary gives him a rare insight into the comparative workings of the ancient and modern worlds – to discuss the Romans' innovations in free trade, currency and banking, and why the lessons from the empire’s downfall are still relevant today. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

CapX presents Free Exchange

The economics of ancient Rome with George Maher

It's a very special edition of the podcast this week as we take you inside Tory conference in Manchester for a fascinating, fun-packed conversation with the one and only Jacob Rees-Mogg and our editor-in-chief, Robert Colvile. It's a bit of a cliche to call these chats 'wide-ranging', but they really did cover a lot of ground, from the Labour politicians he most admires, to the state of the British economy and the thrill of taking on the world's fastest zipline dressed entirely in tweed.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

CapX Live with Jacob Rees-Mogg

Most us know about Henry VIII, Napoleon and Churchill, but what about history's unheralded heroes?  In his new book Lessons from History, political commentator and self-declared amateur historian Alex Deane shines a light on the less-known characters who have helped shape our world, from sharp-shooting barons to self-medicating surgeons, to the Lion of Africa and a bear who nearly caused a nuclear war, this is history in all its technicolour glory with an unforgettable cast of characters.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alex Deane on Lessons from History

There's a new, invisible force at work in the highest ranks of corporate America and it's behind what may be the defining scam of our era. By co-opting social causes and embracing 'wokery' America's biggest companies have pulled the wool over people's eyes, subverting both democracy and the free market capitalism that made the country great.But don't take my word for it. Our guest this week, Vivek Ramaswamy, has seen this phenomenon first hand, from Wall Street internships to Ivy League classrooms and then as the CEO of a successful pharmaceutical company, he's witnessed the emergence of the woke-industrial complex. His recently released book Woke, Inc. takes us behind the scenes, revealing the inner workings of the scam but also offering a better way forward. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Vivek Ramaswamy on the woke-industrial complex

Why is the British economy the way it is today?That's the rather daunting exam question The Economist's Duncan Weldon sets himself in his newly released book 200 Years of Muddling Through - The surprising story of Britain's economy from boom to bust and back again.It's fair to say that Weldon succeeds in answering it with his pacy, vivid canter through the Industrial Revolution, two World Wars, post-war decline and resurgence in the 1980s, right up to the current crisis.We were delighted to get Duncan on to the podcast for a chat about the book and his reflections on the where the British economy may be heading as we recover from the Covid cataclysm. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Duncan Weldon on 200 years of muddling through

Long before the Red Wall became a part of our everyday political lexicon, David Skelton was talking and writing about the disconnection between post-industrial Britain and the country's political class. Skelton's latest book 'The New Snobbery' is partly a polemic about the disdain and condescension voters in these communities have faced from so-called progressives, particularly since the Brexit referendum. But it's also a call to arms to offer a new settlement for communities that have for too long been kept on the margins of Britain's political, economic and cultural life. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David Skelton on the New Snobbery

Few people know more about the language of politics and how to effectively communicate with the public than Frank Luntz. As an award winning political and communications consultant, pollster and pundit, Dr. Luntz has served as an election consultant and commentator in national elections across the globe. He has worked for more than 50 Fortune 500 companies and CEOs, and he is the author of three New York Times bestsellers. He also has friends in high places, having conducted his very first political polling for the Oxford Union campaign of one Boris Johnson. For the last six weeks Frank has been a Visiting Fellow at our parent organisation, the Centre for Policy Studies. During that time he's been conducting a mega-survey of British public opinion, delving in huge detail into our attitudes to moral values, capitalism, technology and the culture wars. We sat down to discuss the new centre of gravity of British politics, and why Frank sees himself as a 'reverse Paul Revere', journeying across the Atlantic to warn us 'the Americans are coming'.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Frank Luntz on the New Language of Politics

From the eruption of Vesuvius to the Chernobyl meltdown, human history has always been punctuated by catastrophes - some natural, others very much man-made. In his new book Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe, world-renowned historian Professor Niall Ferguson argues that far from being "unprecedented", the response to Covid-19 exhibits the same political and social pathologies that have shaped so many previous crises. Moreover, we can't hope to understand the pandemic without a keen appreciation of the history of economics, society, culture and politics.The latest episode of the CapX Podcast is a recording of our CapX Live event with Professor Ferguson – a typically lively, entertaining and thought-provoking discussion with our editor-in-chief, Robert Colvile.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Niall Ferguson on the Politics of Catastrophe

Meritocracy is the creed of our age. An idea that has great success in crossing traditional boundaries: not just Thatcher, Reagan and Boris Johnson, but Clinton, Blair and Xi Jinping have sung the praises of a society where anyone can rise based on their own talent and effort. But just as meritocracy has risen to be the dominant idea of our age, it's faced an onslaught of criticism, from the traditional left who saw it as a betrayal of principles of equality and solidarity, contemporary social justice activists who regard it as just another instrument of white power, and conservatives who fear it undermines the bonds of community and tradition.Most interesting though are the trenchant critiques from some of those at the heart of the meritocratic system, like the Yale Law professor who calls it a "sham"- an excuse for the wealthy to game the system and pass on their privilege to the younger generation.These are some of the questions that preoccupy Adrian Wooldridge, the political editor of The Economist, in his latest book, the Aristocracy of Talent. This episode of the CapX Podcast is a recording of a CapX Live interview with Adrian last week where we discussed the history of the meritocratic idea from Plato to the present day, how supposedly meritocratic societies have been corrupted and laid low by old-fashioned cronyism, and how we can go about correcting that.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Aristocracy of Talent

Is Britain a racist society?After a year where prejudice, privilege and protest have never been far from the headlines, it's a question that continues to provoke the fiercest debates – not least after the recent publication of the Government's recent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.For the latest instalment of The CapX Podcast, editor John Ashmore spoke to Dr Rakib Ehsan, an independent researcher and author who covers ethnicity and cultural issues in the UK. Rakib is a regular contributor to the site and one of his pieces, on social outcomes for white working class children, is quoted at length in the Commission's report.In a wide-ranging interview, we discussed the nature of discrimination in Britain, whether we are importing a US-style culture war, the importance of family structure for people's life chances and the acute difficulties now faced by Keir Starmer's Labour Party in negotiating between its metropolitan base and its socially conservative former heartlands.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I Britain racist?

Deep rifts are tearing societies apart and shredding old political allegiances: across the Western world, regions are rebelling against cities, the working class against the elites and the young against the old. For far too many, contemporary capitalism simply isn't delivering the goods. For Sir Paul Collier, one of the world's leading development economists, the response to this profound crisis is as much ethical as technical. His proposals for a capitalism based on both prosperity and morality have appeal beyond the traditional left-right divide – and he has a pragmatic plan to put them into action. He joined CapX and an online audience for a fascinating conversation that ranged from 19th century Bradford, to his own experiences growing up in post-war Sheffield to the morality of modern media influencers.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Future of Capitalism with Sir Paul Collier

Right now All the Government’s efforts are focussed on coronavirus, but what about the fundamental mandate it was elected on?As the vaccine roll-out continues apace, backbench MPs could be forgiven for raising their eyes to the horizon and starting to think about their prospects for re-election in 2024. By far the biggest Conservative cohort in parliament is the so-called 109 group of MPs newly elected in 2019.These guys are the cavalry, who stormed the red wall with promises of delivering Brexit and levelling up those parts of the country that had been overlooked by Labour for generations. They’re fiercely loyal to Boris Johnson while recognising that their jobs depend on sticking up for their voters – many of whom aren’t traditional Tories.CapX spoke to four of them – Dehenna Davison, MP for Bishop Auckland, James Sunderland, MP for Bracknell, Virginia Crosbie, MP for Ynys Môn and Alexander Stafford, MP for Rother valley – to find out how they feel about the future now that Britain has left the EU with a trade deal and the pandemic has derailed the economy.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Meet the '109ers'

For our final CapX Pocast of the year, it’s time to take a look back at this absolute car-crash of a year.Rather than the usual tête-à-tête, we decided to make this a bit more of a panel show format, with each of our guests choosing their hero, villain, moment, policy and idea of the year, before rounding off with some reflections on what’s ahead in 2021.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The heroes and villains of 2020

Not many economists have trekked through lawless jungles, visited shops and restaurants world’s most entrepreneurial refugee camp or hung out with inmates in a Louisiana mega jail.For his book, Extreme Economies, Richard Davies went to some of the most desperate places on the planet, but found incredible stories of human resilience. People with nothing had created businesses and currencies from scratch - proving that even in dire circumstances, the free market finds a way.In this episode of the podcast we discuss what a world ravaged by the global pandemic can learn from disaster zones, displaced societies and failed states.Visit www.extremeeconomies.com/signed and enter the code CapX to get a signed copy of Richard's book for the special price of £7.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Extreme economies with Richard Davies

Few have opposed the Government’s handling of the pandemic with as much eloquence and authority as Lord Sumption. The former supreme court judge, medieval historian and Reith lecturer doesn’t just dispute the scientific evidence, he questions the legal and constitutional justification for these restrictions on our liberty.He’s claimed that the Government has a habit of deliberately avoiding parliamentary scrutiny and is using fear as an instrument of coercion. That, he says, is how democracy dies.As England was put back under stay-at-home-orders he spoke to CapX about the ethics and efficacy of lockdown.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Free Exchange: Lockdown vs liberty with Jonathan Sumption

Free Exchange is a podcast from CapX in which we interview the leading lights of British politics. We get beyond the headlines to find out why they do what they do, and think what they think.

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CapX presents Free Exchange

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