The final two episodes of David Dimbleby’s BBC Sounds and Radio 4 podcast, Invisible Hands, provide an informative backdrop to April’s headlines.
They range from the global response to Trump’s tariffs to speculation around the nationalisation of British Steel.
In episode five, David asks whether billionaire businessman James Goldsmith, who campaigned for Britain to leave the free market European Union in the 1980s, was a precursor to Donald Trump.
In episode six, David will consider the case of Thames Water, asking how a natural life-sustaining resource was not only privatised, but sold to an Australian investment bank.
Has this led us to where we are today – with sewage polluting UK rivers, unsafe drinking water, and sky-high bills?
David Dimbleby says: “When I started making this podcast, I hoped it would be timely, but I could not have predicted just how timely it would be.
“When Thatcher began to sell off private companies in the 1980s, the idea was to give British people a share in British business.
“Today, Thames Water, no longer owned by the British people, is flooding our water supplies and British Steel, owned by a Chinese company, is the latest candidate of possible renationalisation. With this, and the saga of Trump’s tariffs, the free market finds itself under assault like never before.
“But to truly understand what’s happening in the headlines, we need to look at the timeline that got us here, beginning in World War Two, through the first public sales of shares in British companies, through the rise of anti-free market figures like James Goldsmith, to now.”
The first five episodes are available now on BBC Sounds. Episode 6 will land on BBC Sounds and Radio 4 on Wednesday 30 April.
