Business Daily
Episodes
What is the real death toll in India?
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The chief scientist for the World Health Organisation acknowledges the frailty of the official numbers. Ed Butler speaks to Anthony Masters, the stati...
The dirty business of old car batteries
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The recycling of lead acid batteries poses a growing health hazard in many developing countries.Vivienne Nunis looks at the case of Bangladesh, where ...
The battle for football
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why plans for a European Super League won't go away. Ed Butler speaks to James Montague, author of the book The Billionaires Club: The Unstoppable Ris...
Can flying go green?
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Paying extra to offset your carbon emissions may sound like a good idea. But does planting trees or paying to save a rainforest actually reduce your c...
Business Weekly
08 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this edition of Business Weekly, we look at the battle between the makers of one of the world’s biggest computer games, Fortnite, and the world’...
Who owns colour?
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists, artists and some of the world’s biggest companies are carving up the visual spectrum, and claiming certain colours as their own, so who ...
Life after Jack Ma
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What next for China's giant tech companies? Ed Butler speaks to China watcher Richard McGregor at the Lowy Institute in Sydney about why China's leade...
Electric vehicles hit the big time
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The car industry is preparing to go fully electric sooner than you might imagine - and not just because of the climate crisis.Justin Rowlatt speaks to...
Will Covid decimate India's middle class?
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Millions of Indians risk being knocked back into poverty by the current explosion in coronavirus infections.Rahul Tandon hears from Radhika, who abrup...
Making multinationals pay
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It could be the biggest shake-up of corporate taxation in history. But can President Biden's push for a minimum global rate succeed? He wants multinat...
Business Weekly
01 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A “once in a generation investment” is what Joe Biden offered the American people this week. He presented his American Jobs plan and American Fami...
Men and cosmetic surgery
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More men have considered cosmetic treatments during the pandemic. Has spending more time at home staring at ourselves in video conferencing made us mo...
Biden's trillions
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The US president announces a massive spending plan for the US economy, with trillions of dollars earmarked for jobs and infrastructure. But is it too ...
Changing a city's name
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What’s in a name? It’s something that Shakespeare’s Juliet pondered. But what’s in the name of a city? And what are the economic and social co...
Does business travel have a future?
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why fly when you can videoconference? After a year of Covid lockdowns, that's the question many business executives are asking themselves.Manuela Sara...
Covid in paradise
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How are small island tourist destinations like the Caribbean island state of Antigua and Barbuda coping with the shutdown of global travel?Manuela Sar...
Business Weekly
24 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As India battles a surge in Covid cases and hospital beds become scarce, Business Weekly hears how social media is helping connect patients with medic...
Big Data, conspiracy theories and ‘Magical Thinking’
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Filmmaker Adam Curtis questions the value of Big Data in society. In his latest BBC series, 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head', Curtis explores "Love, pow...
Is the digital ad market overvalued?
22 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Large companies have slashed their digital marketing budget. Airbnb and Procter & Gamble made such a cut in recent years, after coming to believe ...
Can Biden woo the world on climate change?
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Biden hosts a virtual summit this week as the US seeks global climate action. But can he convince the rest of the world to go further and fa...
Demille and the gig economy
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2016 when producer Georgia first met him, Demille was a cycle courier in his early twenties, taking his company to a tribunal over better working c...
Meeting expectations
19 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Every day 55 million meetings take place in the United States. But just how effective are they at actually getting stuff done? British comedian David ...
Business Weekly
17 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The US is making overtures to China about working together to save the planet. On Business Weekly, we hear what concessions each side would like the o...
A part-time return to the office?
16 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A hybrid model mixing home working with office time is being favoured by major companies. But critics worry it will create divisions in the workplace....
President Biden and his strategy for China
15 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Will the US President continue with an increasingly hostile attitude towards China? Or does economic common sense demand that Washington should back o...
Boom time for scammers
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
During the Coronavirus pandemic, people have been spending more time at home, and online, than ever before. This has given online scammers a golden op...
A conversation with Greta
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The world’s most famous climate activist has just turned 18 and is as uncompromising as ever.In an extended interview, Justin Rowlatt asks Greta Thu...
Telegram in the spotlight
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After becoming the most downloaded non-gaming app earlier this year, Telegram messaging app has amassed half a billion users – a quarter of WhatsApp...
Business Weekly
10 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Voters in Greenland have backed a party which opposes a rare earth mining project. On Business Weekly, we ask what this means for the security of the ...
Mega ships
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After the Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal last month, we ask: are container ships too big? How much bigger can they get? To answer those questions w...
Mining the ocean
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How rocks on the ocean floor could be key to the transition to electric cars. Justin Rowlatt speaks to Gerard Barron, boss of DeepGreen, a company tha...
Tracing cotton’s DNA
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Can technology help eradicate forced labour from global cotton supplies? A confrontation continues to rise between Western powers, global brands, and ...
Where art and cryptocurrency meet...
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When the world of crypto currencies met with the world of art, they created what's called a non-fungible tokens or NFT. Some say NFTs could redefine w...
What happens to whistleblowers
05 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How exposing the truth at work can cost you your career. Theo Leggett speaks to whistleblowers Ian Foxley and Bianca Goodson, both of whom found it im...
Business Weekly
03 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some of the world’s biggest investment banks have been left exposed as a hedge fund collapsed, leaving multi-billion dollar losses in its wake. Arch...
How to complain
02 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this programme, Elizabeth Hotson looks at the art of demanding good service. From dealing with customer services to having conversations with chatb...
Josephine's story: Bouncing back
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Josephine is a single mother of four in Kibera, the sprawling slum in Nairobi, Kenya. At the beginning of the pandemic she was working as a cook, but ...
Feminist cities
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why do so many women still feel unsafe walking the streets of our cities? We take a look at the idea of a feminist city. What is it and what could it ...
Hydroelectric power in focus after disaster in India
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In February a devastating flash flood in India's northern state of Uttarakhand killed at least 70 people and trapped workers in underground tunnels. W...
Palm oil politics
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An EU ban on the vegetable oil's use in biofuel has upset Indonesia and Malaysia. Meanwhile critics say it will only worsen the problem of tropical de...
Business Weekly
27 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As a giant container ship gets stuck in the Suez canal, we examine at the vital role the waterway plays in global shipping. We also hear from Chicago,...
Nigeria's kidnapping industry
26 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Since December, more than 600 students have been abducted from schools in north-west Nigeria, highlighting a worrying development in the country's kid...
Josephine’s story: Debt
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Josephine is a single mother of four in Kibera, the sprawling slum in Nairobi, Kenya. At the beginning of the pandemic she was working as a cook, but ...
The rise of food delivery apps
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How the growth in food delivery apps could change the restaurant industry forever. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Moe Tkacik from the American Economic Li...
Could China pull the plug on coal?
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A letter sent to the Bangladeshi government suggests that Beijing may be clamping down on the biggest source of carbon emissions.Justin Rowlatt speaks...
Business Weekly
20 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As rows continue in Europe over the safety and supply of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid 19 Vaccine, on Business Weekly we ask how much of the argument i...
Why your boss is incompetent
19 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why is it that the boss never seems to know what they’re doing? The famous “Dilbert principle” asserts that companies promote incompetent employ...
Josephine’s story: Starting a business
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the sprawling Nairobi slum of Kibera in Kenya, a single mother of four struggles to survive lockdown. At the beginning of the pandemic, Josephine w...
How the pandemic feeds online trolling
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we behave on the internet. Online trolling is on the rise as people turn to social media to take out thei...
Has the food industry made Covid worse?
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Obesity is a major factor in which countries have the worst Covid-19 death rates, a new report suggests. So could this be a moment of reckoning for fo...
Business Weekly
13 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this edition of Business Weekly, we look at an alternative view of the economic future, a year on from the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. We he...
Sexual assault in the music industry
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As women begin to speak out against sexual violence and harassment, does the music industry face a #metoo reckoning?Manuela Saragosa speaks to her col...
Josephine’s story: Covid hits Kenya
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Josephine is a single mother of four in Kibera, the sprawling slum in Nairobi, Kenya. At the beginning of the pandemic she was working as a cook, but ...
Lab grown meat: The new food frontier?
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Are chicken nuggets grown from animal cells the ultimate innovation, or a flash in the pan? As Singapore allows the sale of cultivated chicken nuggets...
The digital currency race
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Central banks and many companies are rushing to develop their own digital currencies. Why are they doing it? What are the risks? And how might it upen...
Women, work and lockdowns
08 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On International Women's Day, we ask what Covid-19 lockdowns have done to gender equality at work - and at home.Mum Leslie Chiaramonte was forced to q...
Business Weekly
06 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Next week marks the first anniversary of the World Health Organisation officially labelling Covid-19 a pandemic. In the year since that announcement w...
The joy of work
05 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
New York rat-catcher James Molluso has been dealing with vermin since he was a teenager. The pay isn't brilliant, the hours are long and the chemicals...
Covid: Healthcare worker burnout
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A year of crisis has taken a toll on those tasked with caring for the sick and elderly. It’s almost a year since the World Health Organization decla...
Guyana and the pandemic
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How has mental health in the South American country been affected during lockdown? According to the World Health Organisation Guyana has for years had...
Growing up in lockdown
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the lives of billions of people around the world, and with many countries still in lockdown the impact will con...
Lockdown breakdowns
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s almost a year since the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic. Many embraced working from home to start off wi...
Business Weekly
27 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the global Covid-19 vaccination drive slowly gathers pace - on Business Weekly we’ll be looking at whether vaccine passports will help us return ...
Why does Bitcoin consume so much energy?
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As Bitcoin's price hits a new all-time high, it's now estimated to use as much electricity as the whole of Argentina But is this remotely sustainable?...
China's vaccine diplomacy
25 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Poorer countries in search of Covid-19 vaccines are looking east. Agathe Demarais, global forecasting director at the Economist Intelligence Unit, des...
Love in the time of coronavirus
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Covid-19 has ruined millions of wedding plans. Will 2021 spark a race to the altar for those unable to tie the knot? California couple Lauren and Patr...
The plastic pandemic
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic has brought with it a massive rise in plastic waste. Tamasin Ford looks at how the demand for hygiene along with plummeting oil prices bo...
Will hydrogen prove a life saver?
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The "hydrogen economy" has received a lot of hype, but could this explosive gas fill some critical gaps in a future zero-carbon energy system?Justin R...
Business Weekly
20 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
They’re the technical bits of genius businesses cannot do without. On this edition of Business Weekly, we look at the world of semiconductors and wh...
Why hair matters
19 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To some it may sound absurd to consider hairstyles a workplace issue, but for millions of men and women with African and Afro-Caribbean hair, it is ju...
The Paystack effect
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How the biggest start-up acquisition out of Nigeria is resonating across Africa. Last year Nigeria saw its biggest ever start-up acquisition - a multi...
The great semiconductor shortage
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why Taiwan isn't making enough computer chips. Ed Butler speaks to Jan-Peter Kleinhans, head of technology and geopolitics at SNV, a German think tank...
Teaching children about money
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Though children will usually learn how to add, subtract or multiply in school, very often they are not taught the skills they need to manage their mon...
Bill Gates versus climate change
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Eliminating carbon emissions in the next 30 years would be "the most amazing thing humanity has ever done".In an exclusive interview, Bill Gates tells...
Business Weekly
13 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of Business Weekly, we examine the world of amateur traders. One in five Americans now play the stock market, but there are warnings t...
African Free trade: What’s in it for women?
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After years of planning and delays, Africa’s new trade bloc, the African Continental Free Trade Area, opened in January with the promise of transfor...
Brexit and the City
11 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is one of the world's mighty financial centres under threat from the damage done by the UK's departure from the EU? Six weeks after the final Brexit d...
The rise of amateur day traders
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When shares in the apparently declining games company Gamestop soared almost 2000% in less than a month, the world’s attention was drawn to an army ...
Satellites to breach the digital divide
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bridging the global digital divide, using satellites in space, is the dream of the world's richest men like Elon Musk of SpaceX and Jeff Bezos of Amaz...
Stormy seas for global shipping
08 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We explore the twin crises affecting the shipping industry. First, thousands of seafarers are stranded far from home, unable to travel because of the ...
Business Weekly
06 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As protests continue against the military coup in Myanmar, Business Weekly hears how the army controls the country’s economy. Jeff Bezos has announc...
Moon landings and economic priorities
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Manuela Saragosa speaks with economist Mariana Mazzucato, who argues that America’s Apollo programme, which landed people on the moon in the 1960s, ...
What's a song worth?
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Music streaming services have changed the game. We hear about their impact on artists' income from Tom Gray of the 90s British band Gomez. Plus, Merck...
Will the Olympics be postponed (again)?
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Uncertainty continues to mount over this summer's delayed Tokyo Olympic Games, as Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announces he is extending a ...
How the military controls Myanmar's economy
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Myanmar's military has announced it has taken control of the country, a decade after agreeing to hand power to a civilian government. Tin Htar Swe OBE...
Gamestop: Is it really a case of David vs Goliath?
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is Wall Street's role in the surge in Gamestop's share price? It’s been billed as a populist revolt against the financial behemoths of Wall Str...
Business Weekly
30 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The UK has said it will impose strict restrictions on people travelling to the country in order to help stop the spread of Covid-19. Travellers from a...
The pandemic pet boom
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Homeworking has led to booming pet sales. What happens when people head back to the office? Sales of dogs, cats and all sorts of other pets have soare...
The economic cost of closing schools
28 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The economic costs of school closures amidst the pandemic could be huge. 2 billion school days have been missed so far around the world, and millions ...
Kidnap in the Gulf of Guinea
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is there a new piracy crisis afflicting Africa's shipping lanes? And should the merchant ships in the region now be armed? Four men boarded a Turkish-...
Gorillas, guns and oil
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Africa’s oldest and largest wildlife park. Since 1925, it’s been home to some of ...
Covid: Rethinking wealth and fairness
25 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How the Covid pandemic is changing the way we see wealth and economic fairness. The Covid pandemic has not only changed the way we work. It’s also e...
Business Weekly
23 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th US president, business owners wondered what the new administration would do for them. We hear from some of them ...
Biden's $15 minimum wage
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The new US president's plan to introduce a $15 minimum wage has sparked debate. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Allynn Umel, campaign director at the Fight...
The practicalities of Brexit
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The UK is three weeks out of the European single market and there have already been some teething problems. We hear from wine importer, Daniel Lamber...
Joe Biden vs climate change
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How the US is set to return to the fight against global warming. Justin Rowlatt speaks to Todd Stern, the US special envoy for climate change under Ba...
Is Covid causing a shortage of medical oxygen?
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amidst rising Covid infection levels, we're looking at one alarming threat to health services from Brazil to Egypt - a lack of medical oxygen. Hospita...
When will a Covid-19 vaccine be available to you?
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Covid-19 vaccine rollouts across the world demonstrate huge global health inequalities. Many countries in the global south are struggling to access on...
Business Weekly
16 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a week in which the US president, Donald Trump, was suspended from his social media accounts and the social network Parler was taken offli...
Who owns colour?
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists, artists and some of the world’s biggest companies are carving up the visual spectrum, and claiming certain colours as their own, so who ...