Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://colombiaone.com/2024/08/05/brazilian-prison-replaces-guard-dogs-with-geese/#:~:text=At%20the%20S%C3%A3…

We're back from a short summer week off and with today's podcast we are going to talk about how the engineering sector can support the new Labour government’s ambition to roll out infrastructure investment at pace and drive growth back into the UK economy. There can be no doubt about the new government’s infrastructure ambitions following the recen…

This week James shares some first-hand experience with the magic that comes out of modern health care. Foolishness of the Week: 10:22 Main episode: 12:43 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https:/…

James is recovering from surgery this week, so we offer you this special episode on personal finance so as to not to leave you sad and alone on Words & Numbers Wednesday!

In today's podcast we build on last week’s Kings Speech and dig into the new government’s ambitions to reform the much-criticised water sector and drive investment into this vital part of the UK’s infrastructure. And it’s just a week or so after the delayed release of Ofwat’s long-awaited draft determination setting out how much water companies wil…

Are we in a recession? Americans say we are. The data say we aren’t. Who’s right? Foolishness of the Week: 05:30 Main episode: 10:50 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/word…

In the podcast today we spend a few moments digging behind the headlines from last week’s Kings Speech and try to understand what the implications of the new government’s ambitious first legislative programme will mean for the civil engineering and infrastructure sector. In my Kings Speech preview last week I perhaps adopted a somewhat optimistic t…

Supply chain insider Mikhail Razner joins us again for what has come to be an annual update on the state of supply chains. Want to know why your boysenberry pie is more expensive? Listen in! Foolishness of the Week: 10:24 Main episode: 13:20 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James!…

This podcast is a bit different. In short, due to various reasons, you just have me. But that’s fine as it’s a great opportunity to have a quick catch up post General Election and a gaze into the crystal ball to see what the new and very shiny Starmer government has in store for infrastructure as we head towards the Kings Speech and opening of a ne…

Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Topic of the Week Clark Neily on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00EJKBKOC Words & Numbers Backstage https:/…

In today' podcast we talk about new thinking to create a new era for infrastructure delivery By the time you hear this podcast the dust will have settled on the General Election and we will know the rough direction in which the UK is set to take for the next five years. But as it stands right now, all we can really say for certain is that whoever i…

Foolishness of the Week: 05:13 Main episode: 12:18 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://viewfromthewing.com/hertz-nightmare-customer-fined-…

It's General Election week and so in today's podcast we talk about creating sustainable growth - and how we ensure that professional engineers remain at the top table when it comes to influencing the vital infrastructure investment decisions needed to deliver it. Given that we are choosing out next government this week, it seems a great moment to f…

Many of our listeners, and at least one of our hosts, are avid gamers, so it's natural that we'd come around to this topic eventually. Gaming companies are known to employ economists (often game theorists) to help design games because economists understand how to think about how people behave when their unlimited desires collide with their limited …

In this podcast we talk about the vital role of small businesses in driving growth into the UK economy as they invest in skills and technology to lead innovation and new thinking across the infrastructure sector. And as we approach the General Election and all parties talk about the need to drive growth, it is a great moment to talk about how gover…

Canada’s central bank cut its interest rate. The European central bank cut its interest rate. But the Fed continues to hold its interest rate high. This will create a cascade of effects - some good, some bad, depending on who you are. Foolishness of the Week: 09:43 Main episode: 13:11 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooper…

In the podcast today we talk about the opportunities and challenges of retrofitting our built environment to make our homes, offices, industrial buildings and infrastructure more energy efficient but also more resilient to a changing climate. To meet our vitally important and hugely challenging target to become a net-zero carbon emitter by 2050, we…

If people who call for reparations for slavery want to be taken seriously, they must take their own arguments seriously first. And that requires bringing to bear the same scrutiny and law that we currently apply to any case in which someone is seeking to be made whole following the actions of another. Foolishness of the Week: 11:57 Main episode: 15…

In today's podcast we talk about the power of professional engineering and explore why a largely unseen and unsung profession increasingly has the power to change all our lives. If you think about the major issues and challenges facing the whole of society today, they all seem to come back to infrastructure and engineering. While the headlines may …

We’ve argued before that the value of a college degree was questionable. That was before covid. Since then, the value proposition has deteriorated markedly. Foolishness of the Week: 05:15 Main episode: 07:07 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Sh…

In today's podcast we focus on public transport - and specifically how investment in innovation, and in data and digital technologies can underpin a new era of passenger centric services. Certainly, technology is already transforming the way that we plan our travel and the way that we use public and private transport services. But the goal goes wid…

The annual gross interest on the debt exceeded $1 trillion for the first time in history. Years ago, we warned that the combination of on-going deficits and inevitably higher interest rates would give us exactly what we have now. Foolishness of the Week: 08:16 Main episode: 09:31 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperation…

In today's podcast we talk about the role that architecture can - and must - play in delivering better design outcomes from our infrastructure investment. It is a subject that we have discussed before on the podcast, notably with architect Harbinder Birdi who is currently leading work with the Institution of Civil Engineers to promote, and in many …

A generation or two ago, people wrung their hands over the population explosion. What will happen, they said, when we finally have too many people! It turns out that, not only was overpopulation not a problem, underpopulation has become one. Foolishness of the Week: 8:25 Main episode: 14:19 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.…