Category Archives: Podcasts

News: EU Sanctions Iran, Russia-China-South Africa Naval Drills, Oslo Design

January 24, 2023 – We report on the EU’s new sanctions against Iran. Plus: a look at South Africa’s worsening energy crisis and controversial plans to hold joint naval drills with Russia and China, the latest fashion news, and this year’s Oslo Design Fair.

Opinion: Disney Turns 100, A Dictator In Turkey, How The Young Spend Money

The Economist ‘Editor’s Picks’ (January 23, 2023) A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, Disney’s second century, Turkey’s looming dictatorship (10:25) and how young people spend their money (17:35). 

Reviews: ‘The Week In Art’

January 20, 2023: Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in Tokyo are the subject of a legal claim in the US relating to Nazi loot.

The Art Newspaper’s London correspondent and resident Van Gogh expert Martin Bailey tells us why Sunflowers (1888-89) is at the centre of the dispute, 35 years after it was sold for a record price at auction, and why the heirs of the German Jewish banker Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, who owned it until the 1930s, now value it at a staggering $250m.

Our editor-at-large Georgina Adam has just returned from Singapore, where the first Art SG art fair took place last week. How successful was this new event in the art market calendar, and what does it tell us about Singapore’s ambitions to become an art hub?

And this episode’s Work of the Week is Portraits in a Chinese Studio, a photographic work by the artist Grace Lau. In the project, which marks Chinese New Year, Lau is subverting the tradition of colonial 19th-century portrait studios in a shopping centre in Southampton on the south coast of the UK.Grace Lau: Portraits in a Chinese Studio, Marlands Shopping Centre, Southampton, UK, 21 January-12 February

News: NATO Leaders Meet To Arm Ukraine, New China Censorship, Lebanon Crisis

January 20, 2023: Defence leaders from dozens of countries and Nato meet at Ramstein Air Base to discuss arming Ukraine. Plus: China’s latest censorship crackdown and the ongoing political crisis in Lebanon.

News: Zelensky And Putin Speeches On The War, New Zealand PM To Step Down

Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky make public statements about the war in Ukraine. Plus: Lebanon remains without a president, the latest culture news and the Tokyo baseball stadium that’s under threat.

News Stories: New Russia Military Strategy, Vietnam President Resigns, 2023 Art

January 18, 2023: How does Russia plan to change its military strategy in Ukraine? Plus: the resignation of Vietnam’s president, the latest art news and why a US county is still recounting ballots from the 2020 election.

News: Russia-Belarus Joint Military Exercises, World Economic Forum In Davos

January 17, 2023We head to Davos for a special show from the World Economic Forum. Plus: Russia and Belarus begin joint military exercises, and what next for Iranian-UK relations after the execution of Alireza Akbari?

Opinion: Global Order In Danger, Insurrection In Brazil, Prince Harry Book

January 16, 2023 Three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist: the destructive new logic that threatens globalisation, how Brazil should deal with the bolsonarista insurrection (11:55) and a review of Prince Harry’s autobiography (16:45).