UnHerd

Freddie Sayers talks to Ian Birrell about his latest piece for UnHerd, "China is not the hero in this darkest hour". Read the full article here: https://unherd.com/2020/03/china-is-not-the-hero-in-this-darkest-hour/

Giles Fraser talks to Adam Rutherford about his new book 'How To Argue With A Racist'.

In this UnHerd Debate, Freddie Sayers talks to Peter Franklin and Phillip Blond about whether the Hungarian Prime Minister's dangerous reputation is justified.

Freddie Sayers talks to London mayoral hopeful Rory Stewart about Love, romantic Conservatives and how Boris Johnson made him feel like an abused wife.

Freddie Sayers interviews NYT columnist David Brooks about his latest book 'The Second Mountain'. They discuss how to make life – and politics – more meaningful.

In this Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles diagnose a generational dissatisfaction. Read the article they discuss: 'What's bugging the Millennials?' https://unherd.com/2019/01/whats-bugging-the-millennials/

In this Short, Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin talk about the renewed interest in taxing the super rich. Given the already high levels of tax avoidance, is there any point in increasing their tax rates? Read the article they discuss: 'The irrelevant debate over the top rate of tax': https://unherd.com/2019/02/the-irrelevant-debate-over-the-top-rate-of-tax/

In this Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles talk about American aristocracy and why modern meritocracy is anything but fair. Read the article they discuss: 'The most dangerous thing about meritocracy' https://unherd.com/2018/12/the-most-dangerous-thing-about-meritocracy/

This Short sees Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin unpack a paradox: the more we know, the more ignorant we become. Read the article they discuss: 'When eggheads are bigger idiots than meatheads': https://unherd.com/2018/12/why-eggheads-can-be-bigger-idiots-than-meatheads/

UnHerd columnist Graeme Archer joins Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin to discuss how identity politics and the rush to judgement is poisoning debate. Read the two articles behind the Short: 'How politics is poisoning the truth', about the Covington Boys affair: https://unherd.com/2019/01/how-politics-is-poisoning-truth/ 'This age of semiotics is breaking us', about how political appearances are not always as they seem: https://unherd.com/2019/01/this-age-of-semiotics-is-breaking-us/

Giles Fraser joins Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin to discuss the UK's broken political system, and whether SDP 2.0 might be the party for the politically homeless. Read the articles they discuss: Could Brexit fix our broken politics? https://unherd.com/2019/01/could-brexit-fix-our-broken-politics/ A party for the politically homeless https://unherd.com/2019/01/a-party-for-the-politically-homeless/

In this UnPacked Short, Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin are joined by UnHerd's US Flyover Editor, Henry Olsen, to discuss the four ways in which the Right has the wrong response to the Left's political correctness.

In this UnPacked Short, Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin are joined by UnHerd's US Editor Henry Olsen to discuss how 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' is a populist tale with relevance today.

10 years on from the last financial crisis, all but four countries in the OECD have higher debt to GDP ratios than they had in 2008. In this UnHerd Short, Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin are joined by UnHerd's US-based flyover editor Henry Olsen, who explains that what we should really be worried about is what comes after the next crash.

If populism was about economic insecurity, wouldn't young people be casting protest votes en masse? Instead, when it comes to Right-wing populist parties at least, the older you are the more likely you are to support them. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles explore the reasons why this might be, and wonder whether loneliness has something to do with it

China's much-discussed Social Credit System takes information on everything from jaywalking, to looking after your parents, to buying alcohol, in order to score your trustworthiness as a citizen. In this UnPacked Short, Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin discuss who is most likely to lose out under the system, and how it risks creating a permanent underclass.

Subscribe to make sure you don't miss UnHerd's new podcast series featuring columnist Giles Fraser in which he talks to distinguished guests about how their beliefs shape who they are. The first three episodes are out now. Search for 'UnHerd Confessions' to subscribe.

Is London’s financial sector too big? That’s the argument made in a book by former Economist contributor Nicholas Shaxson. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss how size is not the issue, it’s the type of activity the City undertakes that should concern us.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that American politics is incredibly polarised at the moment. But the truth is that most people are actually somewhere in the middle. Research suggests two-thirds of Americans comprise an 'exhausted majority', unsympathetic to both the ultra-progressive Left and the conservative Right. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss how American conservatives need to stop fighting against liberal elites, and start fighting for the votes of this moderate majority.

In a bid to silence Donald Trump and other critics, Massachussetts senator Elizabeth Warren recently released a DNA test she claimed proved her Native American ancestry. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles explore the latest flashpoint in the American culture war, and ask whether someone who might end up as president should be more interested in what unites America than what divides it.

You need more than concrete to keep an economy going, no matter how much you use. In this UnPacked Short, Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin discuss whether China has the tools for future economic success, and whether its embrace of capitalism sets it up to avoid failing like the USSR.

Has our digital age made geography irrelevant? In this UnPacked Short, Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin discuss how rather than breaking down geographical barriers, our Facebook connections are reinforcing them.

As part of the UnHerd series, 'What's killing conservatism', Peter Franklin took aim at the 'Ten vested interests the Tories failed to tackle'. In this UnHerd Short, Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin pick their top 3 targets, and ask why over the last 8 years the Government has failed to pick a fight.

The idea that nationalism and liberalism are enemies ignores the history of Europe. In this week's UnPacked Short, Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin discuss how the EU learned the wrong lessons from the fall of Yugoslavia.

In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss the idea of 'digital surrogates', basic but convincing simulations of human personalities... But do we want to keep Trump tweeting for eternity?

Last week, former Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer wrote a mea culpa for UnHerd: 'Why I regret my war on drugs'. In it, he claimed the prohibition of drugs has been a failure, and proposed legalising and regulating all drugs.  In this UnHerd Short, Charlotte Pickles and Peter Franklin question the logic and practicality of drug legalisation, drawing lessons from America's opioid epidemic.

There is a market for a new political party in British politics, but contrary to the views of the liberal elite, the public appetite is not centrist. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss the vacuum at the heart of our representative democracy, and ask, in what party could Frank Field find a home?

JRR Tolkien is reviled by some on the Left as reactionary, even fascist, but that misinterprets his work. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss the real meaning of Tolkien's Rings trilogy.

A Land Value Tax is often touted as a way of clawing back from landowners some of the value generated by public investment. But what about in areas in which entire streets have been left to become derelict, and land values have plummeted? In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss whether a negative LVT could force local government to invest in regeneration?

Cities across the globe are increasingly running out of room to expand – which explains why people are looking underground for more space. And with advancing digging technology, the potential is huge. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles ask, is the future of the global city underground?

Ten years after the financial crash, some economists have finally figured out why they missed it coming. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss these new revelations, and ask: what are the real world implications of too much ivory tower thinking?

What can we do about wage stagnation? For a start, ban the use of non-compete and no-poaching clauses. In This UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss how these restrictive contractual agreements now impact millions of low paid workers, reducing competition and suppressing wages.

Brexit will give Britain a chance to rethink its agricultural policy for the first time in decades, so what should we do? In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles ask, is it time to stop subsiding hill farmers and allow our countryside to reforest?

Driverless car technology faces substantial technical, commercial and political hurdles. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles ask: is a driverless future all hype?

How likely is it that life is unique to Earth? In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss the odds of humans being the only intelligent life in the universe. Read the UnPacked behind the Short here.

Towering skyscrapers are emblematic of our dynamic, global cities – they're also an architectural disaster. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss the fundamental flaws in the idea of the vertical city. Read the UnPacked behind the Short here.

Can we curb our addition to smart phones? One pioneering school is helping liberate pupils and parents from social media mania. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss the ultimate mimetic product and whether community institutions can help check the power of the tech giants.

Before adopting any new technology, America’s Amish minority decide as a community whether it is something that will cause more harm than good. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles ask if this way of life is healthier for communities and whether we should flow the Amish lead?

Is disconnecting the new status symbol? In this Unpacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss Simon Cowell's recent decision to stop using his smartphone and ask, is this really something the rest of us can afford to do?

June the 23rd is not only the anniversary of the Brexit vote, but the date four years ago that George Osbourne gave his first Northern Powerhouse speech. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss the Northern Powerhouse and ask if devolution of powers to the North really can help revive it.

It might be 400 since the Thirty Years War, but it is a subject that Angela Merkel is currently much interested in. Could Europe be heading for another period of serious unrest? In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss the parallels between the build up to the Thirty Years War and the divisions within the European Union today.

"The problem with Thatcherism is that eventually you run out of other people assets". In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss whether Thatcher's dream of "popular capitalism" can be revived by government creating new assets.

In the UK, the top 10% own 45% of the nations wealth, while the bottom 50% owns less than 10% – is it time to tax wealth? In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss the merits of taxing land, and how best to introduce a Land Value Tax that's fair and accurate.

Giles Fraser is joined by religious commentator and musician, Vicky Beeching, to discuss the conflict in her life between the church and her sexuality.

The Communist Party of China is organising abroad, so the prospect of them fielding candidates in the West is not too farfetched. In this UnPacked Short, Peter Franklin and Charlotte Pickles discuss the likelihood of such move and ask, would China dabbling in democracy be such a bad thing?

Niall Ferguson – Free markets and migration clip by UnHerd