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US Elections: What it means for healthcare Sep 15, 2020

Show notes

Voters will soon decide who will be the next President of the United States, with healthcare – both the Coronavirus response and health coverage in general - being one of the most important issues. We'll hear from one American cancer survivor who lost their coverage during the crisis, and the director of a Missouri hospital on the challenges they've faced during the pandemic. Then, Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News explains the current state of US healthcare and the differences between candidates Trump and Biden on the future of it. Though Doug Badger of the Heritage Foundation cautions that those pressing for universal healthcare in the US will be under served by a Biden presidency.

(Photo: a vigil in memory of healthcare workers who have died of Covid-19 in Alhambra, California. Credit: Getty Images)

US Elections: The view from Beijing Sep 14, 2020

Show notes

Tensions with China have simmered for the past three years ever since President Trump initiated the so-called trade war.

As Ed Butler hears from tech analyst Dan Wang, the trade war could prove a death sentence for Huawei, one of China's highest-profile firms. So what is likely to change after the US election, depending on who wins? Not much, says China analyst Rui Zhong, as Beijing's priorities under President Xi appear far more domestic. And Daniel Russel, former adviser on Asia to President Obama, agrees, saying the world looks very different from that previous administration. But Ian Bremmer, chair of the Eurasia Group, counsels that the election still has huge potential for the global balance of power.

(Picture Credit: Getty Images.)

Biotech: The future of food Sep 14, 2020

Show notes

Would you feel better tucking into a juicy steak knowing that the cow it comes from is still happily living out its life in a field somewhere? Biotechnology could make that possible.

Manuela Saragosa hears from Shannon Falconer at pet food maker Because Animals, who grows real meat in a lab. Jon McIntyre at Motif FoodWorks explains how new technology has made his plant-based products tastier. We also hear from Tony Seba at the think tank, Rethink X. He believes we'll be designing food like software in the future.

Producer: Laurence Knight.

(Picture: Raw meat in a lab petri dish. Credit: Getty Images)

Business Weekly: 12/09/2020 Sep 12, 2020

Show notes

Business Weekly hears from the industry that brings viruses back from the dead. The world of biotechnology is rapidly evolving - it recreates the stuff we can’t necessarily touch and feel, like smells and bacteria. Can it help contain future pandemics? Manuela Saragosa explores the risks and opportunities. We also head backstage at the theatre - many shows are having to come up with novel ways to perform productions, but are they able to sustain a business under social distancing rules? Rob Young speaks to the artistic director of the world famous Royal Albert Hall in London’s West End about their plans to ensure shows carry on.

Biotech: The future of materials Sep 11, 2020

Show notes

Can spider silk and grasshopper rubber, brewed by vats of genetically modified microbes, wean us off our addiction to oil-based plastics?

Manuela Saragosa explores what sounds like an environmentalist sci-fi utopia. She speaks to Daniel Meyer, head of corporate planning at Spiber, a Japanese company that is already trying to commercialise clothes and car parts made of synthetic spider silk. Meanwhile Christophe Schilling, chief executive of California-based Genomatica, is using a similar biotechnology to manufacture good old-fashioned nylon.

But there is one potential problem: The microbes that make these fantastic new materials need to be fed lots and lots of sugar - but where will it all come from? Agnieszka Brandt-Talbot of Imperial College in London thinks she has an answer, and it involves that most sugary of substances - wood.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: Close up of a Furrow Spider on its web in a Pennsylvania meadow in summer; Credit: Cwieders/Getty Images)

Biotech: How can it stay safe? Sep 10, 2020

Show notes

Genetically modified microbes could herald a new industrial revolution - but the technology also poses new dangers.

Manuela Saragosa speaks to someone who used it to recreate the horsepox virus - a close cousin of smallpox - from scratch three years ago. Virologist David Evans explains why he did it, and what aspects of this rapidly evolving technology worry him most.

One of the companies on the cutting edge is Boston-based Ginkgo Bioworks. It redesigns the DNA of bacteria and yeast in order to create everything from perfumes to fertilisers. Ginkgo's Patrick Boyle tells Manuela what they are doing to ensure that the microbes and DNA they create remain harmless.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: Anonymous vial containing a clear liquid; Credit: MirageC/Getty Images)

The economics of banning alcohol Sep 09, 2020

Show notes

After several countries banned alcohol as part of their lockdown measures, we ask if prohibition ever works?

Ed Butler reports from South Africa, where a recent ban on alcohol was welcomed by some healthcare professionals and those fighting violence in the country. Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron and University of California criminologist Emily Owens discuss whether limits on alcohol are ever really effective.

(Photo: A man takes beers from a fridge inside a liquor shop in Soweto, Johannesburg, on June 1, 2020; Credit: Getty Images)

Democracy for sale? Sep 08, 2020

Show notes

Journalist Peter Geoghegan describes the many ways in which private money is corrupting democratic politics, encouraging chaos and fuelling public cynicism.

In an extended interview with the BBC's Ed Butler, the Irish author and broadcaster explains a Brexit campaign advert that he happened to come across in a local newspaper while visiting the city of Sunderland in the north of England led him to investigate where the money funding the Leave campaign was coming from. It led him to explore how business and political interests - often from foreign countries - were able over decades to shift the political discourse in Western liberal democracies in their favour.

(Picture: US flag made out of one dollar bills; Credit: Matt Anderson Photography/Getty Images)

Why doesn’t the economy care about older women? Sep 07, 2020

Show notes

Many women feel they are ignored by the larger economy after they reach a certain age, and some of them aren't willing to accept that.

Tamasin Ford speaks to Bonnie Marcus, host of the Badass Women at Any Age podcast, who explains how women over 60 can deal with the double-whammy of sexism and ageism in business. Meanwhile, Tricia Cusden tells us about how she started up the cosmetics retailer Look Fabulous Forever - a business run by and for women in their older years. And Ruth Saunders, author of Female Entrepreneurs: The Secrets of Their Success, explains why the larger business community would be smart to think more about older women in the economy.

Producer: Frey Lindsay

(Picture: Older woman looking fabulous; Credit: Getty Images)

Business Weekly: 05/09/2020 Sep 05, 2020

Show notes

As evidence mounts that Chinese authorities are continuing to incarcerate Uighur Muslims in work camps in the North West of the country we discuss the steps foreign companies should be taking to ensure their businesses don’t benefit from enforced labour. We also have a report on what could be the most severe housing crisis in the recent history of the US. In yet another consequence of the coronavirus pandemic; tenants are struggling to keep up rental payments and risk eviction. As lessons resume across many parts of the world we hear how some countries are managing to teach children who can’t go back to the classroom - and don’t have access to computers or the internet.

Plus, as facemarks become compulsory in shared workplaces in France we hear from a top health expert who says mask wearing should be non-negotiable.

Business weekly is presented by Lucy Burton and produced by Clare Williamson.

(Image: T-shirts hanging on a garment rail, Image credit: Getty Images)