The Peter McCormack Show

EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK

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#197 - Brian Keating - What Came Before the Big Bang & Does Time Exist? Jul 30, 2026

Show notes

Brian Keating joins me to explore one of the deepest unanswered questions in physics: what is time, and why does it only appear to move in one direction? Brian argues that time may not exist as a fundamental feature of reality and explains why understanding space, matter and energy does not mean we understand the universe itself.

We discuss what may have existed before the Big Bang, why something cannot truly come from nothing and how Brian’s work with the Simons Observatory could detect gravitational waves produced during the universe’s earliest moments. Brian also explains the limits of scientific proof, what dark matter really means and why films such as Interstellar remain scientifically implausible despite their attention to detail.

The conversation then turns from cosmic time to the human experience of it: mortality, family, meaning and attention. We discuss UFO disclosure, collapsing trust in institutions and whether artificial intelligence can ever reproduce the embodied human insight that allowed Einstein to transform physics. Brian argues that AI remains a tool built to serve humanity and that we must stop apologising for humanity’s greatness.

The first 100 people in the U.K. to join Brian Keating’s Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message newsletter here BrianKeating.com/peter are entered to win a 4.3-billion-year-old fragment of the early solar system— older than Earth itself, delivered to your door. Winners must live in the U.K. only due to shipping restrictions.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 - Time Doesn’t Exist

00:00:52 - Looking Outward—and Inward

00:01:41 - Why Physics Cannot Explain Time

00:04:59 - What Happened Before the Big Bang?

00:07:46 - Why Interstellar Is Scientifically Implausible

00:10:06 - Why Time Only Moves Forward

00:18:10 - Something Cannot Come From Nothing

00:21:27 - Where Does the Universe Exist?

00:23:03 - Reaching the First Trillionth of a Second

00:29:21 - Science Can Disprove, Not Prove

00:32:09 - What Dark Matter Really Means

00:38:30 - The Experiment Brian May Never Finish

00:42:03 - Detecting the Birth of the Universe

00:48:14 - Looking Inward for Meaning

00:52:15 - Why Mortality Makes Life Precious

00:54:29 - If Life Had a Forward Button

01:01:26 - UFOs, Belief and the Evidence Problem

01:12:24 - We Are Wasting a Civilisational Opportunity

01:21:03 - Why AI Couldn’t Recreate Einstein

01:32:44 - Holding a Piece of the Early Solar System

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#196 - Sam Bowman - The U.K. Is Becoming a Poor Country Jul 28, 2026

Show notes

Sam Bowman joins me to discuss why Britain is approaching two lost decades of stagnant median wages and why the country is now far poorer than it should be. Sam argues that Britain does not lack talented people, capital or ideas; it has created a centralised political and regulatory system that makes building, investing, hiring and experimentation increasingly difficult.

At the centre of Sam’s argument is his “housing theory of everything”. Britain’s refusal to build enough homes in its most productive cities has made housing unaffordable, delayed family formation, reduced social mobility, weakened productivity and transformed property from somewhere to live into a scarce financial asset. We discuss why stamp duty locks people in place, how planning applications can cost hundreds of millions of pounds and why almost everyone has been given the power to veto growth.

We also discuss why inflation destroys social trust, how zero growth turns politics into a fight over a shrinking pie, why the civil service rewards legislation and risk avoidance, and how Britain’s “vetocracy” prevents almost anything from being built. Finally, we explore whether AI could release a new wave of productivity—or expose Britain’s inability to build the energy, infrastructure and institutions the technology requires.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 - Britain Has Stopped Building

00:00:53 - Britain’s Centralised State

00:05:20 - How Post-War Centralisation Broke Growth

00:08:25 - Two Lost Decades of Wage Stagnation

00:20:15 - Inflation Destroys Trust

00:22:03 - Zero Growth Makes Politics Zero-Sum

00:26:56 - The Housing Theory of Everything

00:30:30 - London’s Housing Misallocation

00:34:31 - Housing and Falling Birth Rates

00:38:05 - Why Homes Became Financial Assets

00:45:30 - Stamp Duty Is Britain’s Worst Tax

00:51:42 - Britain’s Broken Planning System

00:55:30 - The £297 Million Planning Application

01:00:00 - Give Local Government the Upside

01:04:23 - Can Britain Still Recover?

01:11:33 - How Quickly the Energy Debate Changed

01:29:37 - Government Rewards Risk Avoidance

01:37:03 - The Vetocracy

01:54:44 - Growth Unlocks Everything Else

01:56:02 - AI and Britain’s Future

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#195 - Lisa McKenzie & Keith Gildart - Who Is Britain For? The Destruction of the Working Class Jul 25, 2026

Show notes

Britain did not simply leave its working class behind. Sociologist Lisa McKenzie and historian and former coal miner Keith Gildart argue that political and economic decisions deliberately dismantled the jobs, institutions, culture and communities that once gave working-class life security, identity and meaning.

They trace the destruction of Britain’s industrial economy, the decline of trade unions, Labour’s abandonment of its traditional voters and the disappearance of secure work, affordable housing and genuine social mobility. They also examine immigration and low wages, class prejudice, education, the rise of Reform and why so many people no longer believe Westminster represents them.

I question Lisa and Keith on private education, workers’ rights, taxation, inequality and whether any political party can reverse Britain’s decline. It leads to the central question of the episode: who is Britain actually for now?

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 - Who Is Britain For Now?

00:00:39 - What Is the Working Class Today?

00:07:12 - Britain Deliberately Dismantled Its Working Class

00:09:42 - The End of Britain’s Industrial Economy

00:12:43 - Keith’s Life as a Coal Miner

00:16:11 - What Happens When a Pit Town Dies?

00:19:51 - The Loss of Working-Class Identity

00:23:20 - Why Labour Stopped Saying “Working Class”

00:24:20 - Class Is About More Than Income

00:28:12 - Education, Opportunity and the Working Class

00:34:13 - The Left Has Forgotten Its Purpose

00:38:16 - Has Britain Created a Dependency Class?

00:46:33 - What Working-Class Teenagers Want

00:56:37 - Britain’s Deep Class Prejudice

01:01:18 - Immigration, Low Wages and the Working Class

01:17:44 - Why Working-Class Voters Moved to Reform

01:34:30 - Britain’s Crisis of Social Democracy

01:41:00 - The Working and Middle Classes Are Being Destroyed

01:59:37 - Who Is Britain Really For?

02:05:08 - What Is Britain’s Recovery Story?

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CONTACT PETE

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CONNECT WITH LISA MCKENZIE

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› Getting By – https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/getting-by

CONNECT WITH KEITH GILDART

› University of Wolverhampton – https://researchers.wlv.ac.uk/Keith.Gildart

› Keeping The Faith – https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9780719097102/

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FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR

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#194 - Charles Goodhart: The Money Endgame - Debt, Inflation & Central Bank Failure Jul 21, 2026

Show notes

Charles Goodhart joins me to discuss why Britain’s decline did not start in 2008, why the post-war economic boom may have been a temporary lucky era and why the next 30 to 40 years could be far harder than people expect.

Charles explains how ageing populations, falling birth rates, rising dependency ratios, public debt, defence spending, climate costs and political short-termism are creating a fiscal crisis that governments do not want to admit. We discuss why central banks may struggle to keep inflation under control, why politicians cannot win elections by telling voters the truth, and why democracy itself may block the long-term planning the country needs.

We also get into immigration, housing, land tax, AI, the forgotten working class, white-collar job risk, the triple lock, why GDP does not equal welfare or happiness, why Britain struggles to build, and why the Western world may never return to the conditions that made the years from 1950 to 2020 so unusually prosperous.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 - Massive Inflation Is Coming

00:00:54 - Britain’s Decline

00:03:57 - The Post-War Boom

00:05:09 - Decades Of Decline

00:07:14 - What Keeps Britain Afloat?

00:09:11 - Immigration And Dependency

00:11:55 - The Fiscal Trap

00:13:34 - Government Does Too Much

00:14:28 - Why Politicians Can’t Tell The Truth

00:16:39 - Are We Heading For Bankruptcy?

00:20:05 - Higher Inflation Is Coming

00:22:39 - The Temporary Lucky Era

00:25:39 - Tax Land, Not Work

00:28:08 - Housing And Fertility

00:31:30 - The Forgotten Working Class

00:32:41 - AI And White-Collar Jobs

00:36:01 - The Middle Ground Failed?

00:44:08 - Democracy Blocks The Fix

00:50:49 - GDP Is Not Happiness

00:56:35 - We Didn’t Know How Lucky We Were

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CONTACT PETE

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CONNECT WITH CHARLES GOODHART

› LSE / Financial Markets Group – https://www.fmg.ac.uk/people/charles-goodhart

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› The Great Demographic Reversal – https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-42657-6

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FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

#193 - David Goodhart - AI Is Coming For The Graduate Elite Jul 14, 2026

Show notes

David Goodhart joins me to discuss whether AI is about to do to the graduate class what globalisation did to factory workers, and why Britain’s political settlement may be breaking apart.

David explains why Britain has overproduced people with generalist academic skills, how the “anywheres” came to dominate politics, culture and the economy, and why the “somewheres” have increasingly turned to Brexit, populism, Reform and Restore as a reaction against a country they no longer feel represents them.

We also discuss whether anything has actually got better in Britain over the last 15 years, why the state seems unable to get things done, immigration, multiculturalism, deindustrialisation, care work, the collapse of trust in politicians, and why David still believes Britain has the ingredients to recover.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 - Graduates Are Next

00:00:50 - AI and the Graduate Class

00:05:42 - A New Class System

00:07:45 - Anywheres and Somewheres

00:10:20 - Why Populism Appeals

00:15:03 - Brexit and Anywhere Dominance

00:16:05 - Britain’s Political Confusion

00:22:28 - Did Populism Fail?

00:27:19 - Bridging Britain’s Divide

00:31:54 - Losing Trust in Politicians

00:34:07 - Britain’s Tax Burden

00:35:39 - Why Business Feels Impossible

00:38:42 - Two Experiences of Multiculturalism

00:40:41 - The Care Dilemma

00:49:53 - Has Anything Got Better?

00:53:30 - Free Speech and Online Safety

00:55:45 - Productive vs Unproductive Wealth

01:00:33 - Why The State Can’t Act

01:07:21 - The Graduate Elite Is Crumbling

01:10:40 - Britain’s Good Ingredients

01:15:31 - Politics Needs More Than Economics

01:20:36 - Can Britain Still Recover?

01:34:06 - David’s Books

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FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR

EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK

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#192 - Amy Webb - The Future of Work, AI & Human Labor Jul 10, 2026

Show notes

Amy Webb joins me to discuss why artificial intelligence is not just another technology shift, but a civilisation-level reordering of work, power, wealth, biology and society.

Amy explains why the real AI question is not simply which jobs disappear, but which people become vulnerable. We discuss thinkers vs think-nots, why human capital may stop being the main driver of productivity and wealth, how GDP and unemployment could rise together, and why the economy may thrive while having less use for human labour.

We also get into China’s AI strategy, why governments are failing to plan for the transition, whether AI companies owe people for the data and knowledge they have absorbed, Amy’s idea of contribution credit, the limits of UBI, the future of synthetic biology and longevity, and why the current structures of regulation, politics and economics no longer make sense for the world we are entering.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 - The Economy May Not Need You

00:01:13 - Humanity-Scale Reordering

00:04:25 - Show Us Receipts

00:07:10 - Peter’s AI Assistant

00:08:00 - Three Years In Six Weeks

00:08:46 - AI Is Not One Technology

00:12:00 - Self-Improving Technology

00:13:30 - Thinkers And Think-Nots

00:16:44 - How To Become A Thinker

00:21:23 - Failed Transition Planning

00:23:58 - China’s AI Strategy

00:28:31 - What Happens Without Labour?

00:30:56 - Lights Out Industrialism

00:33:47 - AI Collapsing The Pyramid

00:35:12 - We Are Gen T

00:41:39 - Contribution Credit

00:52:43 - Should AI Be Regulated?

00:58:52 - What Futurists Actually Do

01:03:54 - AI And Biology

01:30:16 - Regulation Can’t Keep Up

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CONTACT PETE

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CONNECT WITH AMY WEBB

› Website – https://substack.com/@amywebbfuturist

› Future Today Strategy Group – https://ftsg.com/

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FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR

EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK

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#191 - Thomas Pacchia - AI Will Expose The Fake World Jul 07, 2026

Show notes

Thomas Pacchia joins me to discuss why the world feels fake, why trust in institutions is collapsing and why AI may make the crisis far worse before it helps solve it.

Thomas explains why politics, media, censorship, government waste, algorithmic manipulation and broken public services are pushing people into a world where almost nothing feels reliable. We discuss America’s political divide, Britain’s failing state, welfare traps, the blob, free speech, the collapse of trust and why so many people feel trapped inside systems they no longer believe in.

We also get into Peter’s AI project Show Us Receipts, how AI could be used to fact-check politicians and government contracts, why centralised platforms can still control what people see, and why Thomas believes decentralisation, self-sovereignty, privacy, Bitcoin, churches and pubs may be the only realistic way back to something human.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 - AI Psychosis

00:01:02 - The Fake World

00:02:28 - A Global Reset

00:04:11 - Is America Recovering?

00:08:36 - The Blob

00:11:40 - Collapse and War

00:13:30 - Brother Against Brother

00:15:11 - Broken Incentives

00:16:20 - Killing Productivity

00:19:27 - Money in Politics

00:25:00 - Politics as Team Sport

00:28:53 - Where Does This Lead?

00:30:51 - Were Libertarians Right?

00:33:16 - Building Parallel Systems

00:36:23 - Most People Are Trapped

00:45:27 - What Has Got Better?

00:47:19 - Britain’s Broken State

00:57:17 - Show Us Receipts

01:01:40 - Censored Platforms

01:07:52 - Churches and Pubs

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CONTACT PETE

› Website – http://petermccormack.com

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CONNECT WITH THOMAS PACCHIA

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FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR

EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

#190 - Sam Lyman - China’s Secret War on American AI Jul 02, 2026

Show notes

Sam Lyman joins me to discuss how China is allegedly targeting America’s AI buildout, the activist networks fighting data centres and why the race for AI infrastructure has become a national security battle.

Sam explains how Chinese influence campaigns, open-source AI models, data centre protests and far-left activist groups may be working together to slow the United States down. We discuss Neville Roy Singham, Code Pink, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, foreign influence, anti-data centre campaigns, and how billions of dollars in AI infrastructure have reportedly been delayed or blocked.

We also get into open-source AI, DeepSeek, US frontier models, Anthropic, AI export controls, whether AI doom narratives are being used to build regulatory moats, the risk of superintelligence, data centre moratoriums, socialism in America and why Sam believes the battle is now between Chinese AI and American AI.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 - China’s AI War

00:00:47 - China Is Sabotaging US AI

00:01:02 - The Bot Campaign Against Data Centres

00:02:03 - Neville Roy Singham

00:03:14 - Why AI Is a Battle for Control

00:04:18 - China’s Open-Source AI Strategy

00:06:12 - What Americans Fear About AI

00:08:23 - Sam’s Background at Treasury and BPI

00:10:38 - Is Data Centre Opposition Organic?

00:12:32 - The China Influence Network

00:13:37 - What Is Code Pink?

00:16:10 - The Party for Socialism and Liberation

00:18:52 - How Data Centre Protests Slow AI

00:23:37 - $24 Billion in AI Buildout Stalled

00:27:55 - Why China Wants to Slow US AI

00:29:12 - Chinese AI or American AI

00:32:03 - Is Chinese AI Harvesting Data?

00:36:37 - The US Enters the Open-Source Race

00:42:52 - The AI Doomer Debate

00:54:17 - The Push for Data Centre Moratoriums

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