After cancelling much of America’s international development funding, President Donald Trump is now using that money to boost friends, allies against China and buy goods and influence. Ukraine is striking Russia’s fuel infrastructure deep inside the country. And why JD Wetherspoon is not just a British bargain boozer.
It’s Vapid Response Wednesday, and Thomas, Lydia, and Matt are back to take apart more bad-faith nonsense from some of the worst people in public life. First up: The Atlantic's Caitlyn Flanagan on why it is totally fine that her good friend Bari Weiss is taking over one of the most prestigious news organizations in the United States after running a glorified blog which has been liberated from any reasonable idea of journalistic standards. MAGA law professor Johnathan Turley then completely fails to explain why capital-A “Antifa”--a set of tactics and ideas which he has previously acknowledged in writing is not actually a “group” and should not be treated as one--is actually a group which should be treated as one. Finally, Newsweek-ruiner Josh Hammer makes his second appearance on Vapid Response Wednesday as he responds to some weird nonsense from Candace Owens.
Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:
The Conservative party conference has been told that millions of people are getting free cars from the government because they have ADHD and anxiety. Is that right?
The chair of the Labour party says that only 3% of farmers will be affected by proposed changes to inheritance tax. Is that true?
The charity Movember claim that two in five men die too young. What does that really mean?
And Tim’s mid-life crisis has manifested itself in a marathon run. We ask a scientist if data can help him finish faster.
If you’ve seen a number in the news you think we should take a look at, let us know: moreorless@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporter: Nathan Gower
Producer: Lizzy McNeill
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound mix: Gareth Jones
Editor: Richard Vadon
Does good democratic government require intelligent, moral, and productive citizens? Can our political institutions educate the kind of citizens we wish or need to have? With recent arguments "against democracy" and fears about the rise of populism, there is growing scepticism about whether liberalism and democracy can continue to survive together. Some even question whether democracy is worth saving.
In Democracy Tamed: French Liberalism and the Politics of Suffrage (Oxford UP, 2024), Gianna Englert argues that the dilemmas facing liberal democracy are not unique to our present moment, but have existed since the birth of liberal political thought in nineteenth-century France. Combining political theory and intellectual history, Englert shows how nineteenth-century French liberals championed the idea of "political capacity" as an alternative to democratic political rights and argued that voting rights should be limited to capable citizens who would preserve free, stable institutions against revolutionary passions and democratic demands. Liberals also redefined democracy itself, from its ancient meaning as political rule by the people to something that, counterintuitively, demanded the guidance of a capable few rather than the rule of all. Understandably, scholarly treatments of political capacity have criticized the idea as exclusionary and potentially dangerous. Englert argues instead that political capacity was a flexible standard that developed alongside a changing society and economy, allowing liberals to embrace democracy without abandoning their first principles. She reveals a forgotten, uncharted path of liberalism in France that remained open to political democracy while aiming to foster citizen capacity. Overall, Democracy Tamed tells the story of how the earliest liberals deployed their notion of the "new democracy" to resist universal suffrage. But it also reveals how later liberals would appropriate their predecessors' antidemocratic arguments to safeguard liberal democracies as we have come to know them.
Gianna Englert is Associate Professor of Humanities in The Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida.
Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature.
As the government shutdown chugs along, cracks form within the GOP. The biggest crack? Georgia Republican Congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene. She's starting to sound more and more... like a liberal? This is part of a trend for MTG. In the last few months, she’s referred to the horrors taking place in Gaza as a, QUOTE, “genocide” and offered an amendment to cut defense support to Israel. To speak more about Marjorie Taylor Greene's moment, we talked to Annie Karni. She’s a congressional reporter for the New York Times who profiled Greene in September.
And in headlines, Israel’s fragile ceasefire shows early fissures, Obama reemerges to endorse prop 50, and James Comey scores a blow in President Trump's DOJ case against him.
We’ll tell you what lawmakers are now doing as the government shutdown drags on.
And why the truce in Gaza seems to be growing more fragile.
Also, we’re talking about America’s bailout for Argentina.
And another special honor for conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Plus: the one news outlet that’s now allowed to keep its Pentagon credentials, why Consumer Reports is warning about protein powders and shakes, and how ChatGPT is expanding to include more X-rated content.
Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!
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About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell.
On this episode, Chris Coyne and Peter Boettke explore the life and legacy of economist Kenneth E. Boulding, Boettke's former professor and mentor. Boettke recalls his experiences in Boulding's Great Books in Economics course and their conversations outside of class about peace, economics, and poetry. The conversation outlines Boulding’s path from studying chemistry at Oxford and an unusually early publication in the Economic Journal to his formative time in Chicago with Frank Knight and his later academic years. Coyne and Boettke discuss why no “Boulding school” emerged, how Boulding's ideas can and are still inspiring new research on institutions, civil society, and peace, and more.
Dr. Peter Boettke is Director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, the BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University. He has published numerous books, including The Historical Path to Liberty and Human Progress (Universidad Francisco Marroquín Press, 2025) coauthored with Rosolino Candela, The Socialist Calculation Debate: Theory, History, and Contemporary Relevance (Cambridge University Press, 2024) coauthored with Rosolino Candela and Tegan Truitt, and The Struggle for a Better World (Mercatus Center, 2021).
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Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today!
David McCloskey keeps writing spy thrillers – and the plots keep coming true. In the opening of his latest novel The Persian, Israel has just launched a surprise attack on Iran. But the author says he had already finished writing by the time conflict broke out between the two nations earlier this year. In today’s episode, McCloskey speaks with NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly about working at the intersection of reality and fiction, and having his work reviewed by the CIA.
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From drones to body armor to bulletproof whiteboards, companies are offering schools a multitude of products to try to deter or protect against the next school shooting. But does any of this stuff work? On today’s show, a look inside the school shooting industry. What's for sale and the psychology behind the growing industry.
