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Business Weekly: 18/07/2020 Jul 18, 2020

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In Business Weekly, we investigate racial discrimination in the banking system and find out how this affects the businesses owned by people of colour. We also ask why so few governments plan effectively for catastrophes. We hear about the impact that had on the ability to react to Covid-19 and what it might mean for future challenges. Plus, we hear from the Welsh choir who are longing to sing together once again. Presented by Lucy Burton.

Fixing world trade Jul 16, 2020

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Trade wars have blighted the global economy in the last four years. What will it take to restore order?

Much will depend on who takes over the leadership of the World Trade Organisation, the institution tasked with guiding and policing the rules-based global trading system. There are eight official candidates for the WTO top job.

We speak to Mexico’s candidate, Jesus Seade, about how - and what - needs fixing, with commentary from the BBC’s economics correspondent Andrew Walker.

(Photo: WTO director general candidate Jesus Seade; Credit: Getty Images)

China's plan to redesign the internet Jul 16, 2020

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Huawei's expulsion from the UK's 5G network is the latest development in a growing US-China cyber cold war - but Beijing has bigger plans afoot.

Cyber-security consultant Dominique Lazanski explains how the Chinese authorities are proposing to replace the data protocols that underpin the current flexible, open internet with ones that would enable national governments to exert much greater top-down control within their borders.

Meanwhile US President Trump continues to focus his ire on telecoms equipment maker Huawei, and major Chinese tech firms. Laurence Knight gets the latest from the BBC's Asia business correspondent Karishma Vaswani. Plus, Justin Sherman of the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington DC fears that if the US doesn't start working with other democracies, then the free, open internet we have grown up with may struggle to survive.

(Picture: Abstract Globe With Glowing Networks; Credit: imaginima/Getty Images)

Homeworking's winners and losers Jul 15, 2020

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The economic impact of the working-from-home revolution. Edwin Lane speaks to remote tech worker Heather May about why she's swapped the office and the big city for rural Alabama, and to Aaron Bolzle, executive director of Tulsa Remote - a programme to attract remote workers from around the US to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Manuela Saragosa hears from Stanford University economist Nicholas Bloom about why a boom in working from home during the coronavirus pandemic could increase inequality, and digital economy researcher Sarah Bana tells us why some countries are better than others at home working.

(Photo: A woman works on laptop at home, Credit: Getty Images)

Venture capital's diversity problem Jul 14, 2020

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Will the Black Lives Matter movement bring change to an industry accused of being too white?

Nick Kelly, a black entrepreneur who runs Axela Ltd, says venture capital funds would only consider a certain kind of business idea from black entrepreneurs. He didn't raise any money from them when he went asking yet his business is now worth around $10 million.

Kenny Alegbe of HomeHero, another black entrepreneur says he only got investment from VC funds when he looked outside of the usual set of funds. Plus Manuela Saragosa speaks to Tracy Gray who runs the 22 Fund. She is a rarity in the VC community. She is female and a black investor, and says there has been no change in the VC world for the 20 years that she's worked in it.

(Picture: Black businesswoman looking at male colleagues whispering; Credit: XiXinXing/Getty Images)

Why do we ignore catastrophic risk? Jul 13, 2020

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Covid-19 is showing up a general failure by most of the world's governments to prepare for the worst.

Manuela Saragosa speaks to Dr Sylvie Briand at the World Health Organization, whose job is to get the world ready for new infectious outbreaks like coronavirus. What was it like for her exhortations to fall on deaf ears up until this year? How prepared was the WHO itself, and does she fear the consequences if the multilateral organisation is defunded?

Meanwhile, author and risk consultant David Ropeik explains why human nature makes us so bad at taking action to ward of disasters that happen once in a blue moon. And Jens Orback, head of the Global Challenges Foundation, says pandemics are only one of a host of terrifying cataclysms that we disregard at our peril.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: Asteroid striking the Earth; Credit: puchan/Getty Images)

Business Weekly: 11/07/2020 Jul 11, 2020

Show notes

On Business Weekly, we look at what's been the biggest corporate scandal of 2020 so far. Wirecard was one of the German stock exchange's largest companies, but it now finds itself embroiled in fraud and corruption claims. How did the technology star fall so quickly from grace? Fergus Nicoll investigates. The coronavirus pandemic has taken its toll on the education sector and in the United States new rules say foreign students might face deportation if their courses have gone online, throwing their lives into disarray, Rob Young hears their stories. And what’s the formula behind a winning brand? We join Elizabeth Hotson on a quest to bring out a winning range of mushy peas. Presented by Vishala Sri-Pathma and produced by Matthew Davies.

Trump's tax returns Jul 10, 2020

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The US Supreme Court has ruled that the US President's taxes cannot be withheld from a grand jury investigation - but what does it mean for his bid to keep his finances private and to get himself re-elected in November?

Ed Butler asks John Coffee, professor of law at New York's Columbia Law school, which legal team and which political party should be celebrating more over this complicated ruling.

Plus, New York Times investigative journalist Susanne Craig tells us what is already known about Mr Trump's tax affairs and the source of his wealth. And tax journalist David Cay Johnston explains why Mr Trump's finances were so little investigated before he became president.

(Picture: US President Donald Trump in the cabinet room of the White House; Credit: EPA/Samuel Corum)

Voting amidst a pandemic Jul 09, 2020

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Could electronic voting help the US hold an election?

Ed Butler speaks to Nimit Sawhney founder and CEO of Voatz - a US startup that provides voting through a smartphone app, and to Priit Vinkel, the former head of the state electoral office of Estonia where 50% of citizens now cast their votes online.

J. Alex Halderman, professor of computer science at the University of Michigan explains why e-voting systems are so risky when it comes to election security. Lori Steele Contorer, former founder and CEO of e-voting company Everyone Counts, argues the case for electronic voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Producer: Edwin Lane

(Photo: Voters line up at polling stations in the US state of Wisconsin earlier this year; Credit: Getty Images)

Rising tensions with China Jul 08, 2020

Show notes

Why does China seem to be upsetting countries around the world? Beijing's recent clampdown on Hong Kong with a new security law has led many countries to condemn the Chinese leadership. It's also put more pressure on the trade war with the US. So what's in it for Beijing to apparently spur international hostility over Hong Kong and a number of other regional border conflicts? George Magnus, an economist and an associate at the China Centre at Oxford University, believes the domestic unemployment issue is a big determining factor in Beijing's thinking. Yuen Yuen Ang, a political scientist and an expert on China and emerging economies at the University of Michigan, says it's all a symptom of President Xi's and Donald Trump's insecurities at home. And Ian Bremmer the President of the risk consultancy the Eurasia Group, says despite the Chinese always having been thought of long term, strategic thinkers they are now not even thinking six months ahead.

(Picture: Cargo containers with US and China flags hoisted by crane hooks clash with each other; Credit: cybrain/Getty Images)

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