Business Daily
Episodes
Radical toilets
12 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What can music festivals teach us about toilet technology? Vivienne Nunis tries out some portaloos at a music festival in the UK and asks if the same ...
A Brexit game of chicken
09 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Is the UK's government really serious about a 'no-deal' Brexit? Ed Butler speaks to Brexit blogger Professor Chris Grey and Charles Grant, director of...
How to be ambitious
08 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We hear about the negative effects ambition can have, and the tools you need to relieve them, with Neel Burton of Oxford University. Author Rachel Bri...
The smart home hype
07 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Has technology really made our homes better? Ed Butler talks to Henry Shepherd from the company Cornflake, which installs high-end smart home systems ...
Vanuatu's missing women
06 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when a country has an all-male parliament? Vanuatu is one of only three countries on the planet with zero female elected representatives....
Sunscreen under the microscope
05 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Sunscreen is a multi-billion dollar industry. We’ve long been encouraged to apply it daily, to block out the sun’s rays. But one dermatologist arg...
A global gig economy
02 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are freelancing sites threatening worker's rights? Manuela Saragosa and Edwin Lane investigate the rise of platforms like Upwork, which allow anyone i...
Gas-powered politics
01 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
America's fracking revolution has made the US the world's largest oil and gas producer and that's had political consequences the world over. Manuela S...
A lesson in pioneering education
31 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We look at the disruptive models of educating young minds across the globe. Is traditional schooling, the detailed study of literature, history, and s...
Can our planet afford meat?
30 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A battle between the US and Latin American producers has ensued, to feed an increasingly beef-hungry world – mostly people in Asia. We assess who is...
When a work colleague dies
29 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How companies and staff deal with death at work. Manuela Saragosa hears from Carina, an employee at a global marketing company who saw the mistakes he...
Are we too scared of nuclear energy?
26 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The world needs sources of low-carbon fuel, so why are we so afraid of nuclear energy? Justin Rowlatt speaks to Geraldine Thomas, professor of molecul...
The truth about natural gas
25 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A bridge to a renewable future or just hot air? The energy industry touts natural gas as the cleanest of all fossil fuels and a bridge to a renewable ...
Britain's Brexit saviour?
24 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Boris Johnson has promised to get the UK out of the European Union by 31 October,"do or die" - but can the incoming Prime Minister deliver anything mo...
The death of Venice?
23 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Many Venetians say cruise ships and tourist hordes are killing their city - almost literally after one gigantic liner crashed into the harbour on 2 Ju...
Is air traffic control fit for purpose?
22 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Our system for keeping planes in the sky dates back to the 1940s, and still relies on a patchwork of national authorities using radar and VHF radio.Vi...
Life on Mars
19 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What are the obstacles are for a permanent base on the Red Planet? Ed Butler puts that question to Dennis Bushnell, the chief scientist at Nasa's Lang...
Rome: Drowning in rubbish
18 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Italian capital is in the midst of a waste management crisis as mountains of uncollected rubbish are left to rot on the eternal city's streets. Ma...
Why has Italy fallen out of love with the euro?
17 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Italy's economy remains in the doldrums, with many Italians blaming the European single currency. Meanwhile the Italian populist government has taken ...
A degree from a screen?
16 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
As more of daily life gets taken over by technology, we ask what technology’s place is in the future of education. Pearson, the world's largest educ...
Banning foreign home buyers - the New Zealand experiment
15 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a year since New Zealand put all but a stop to foreigners buying houses. The near-total ban followed years of astonishing price increases ...
How will China's credit binge end?
12 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Hasty borrowing by Chinese consumers and corporates may leave the country's economy with a debt hangover.That's the contention of independent China ec...
The US consumer debt pile
11 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Payday loans, auto loans and student loans are overwhelming a sector of American society - what can be done to help them dig their way out of their de...
Brand Rainbow
10 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
From Pride-inspired cappuccinos to LGBT supermarket sandwiches, you can’t walk down the street in some cities without seeing the multi-coloured mark...
The economics of Indian cricket
09 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
With the Cricket World Cup reaching its final stages we look at the current state of the sport in India. In this episode presented by Rahul Tandon, we...
Should we be ashamed of flying?
08 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The aviation industry is one of the world's biggest contributors to climate change - but does a social movement begun in Sweden now threaten to stigma...
Hong Kong crisis: The business impact
05 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After a controversial extradition law sparked mass protests, is Hong Kong's position as a global financial centre under threat? Vivienne Nunis speaks ...
The truth about cookies
04 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Should you let websites track your online movements? Vivienne Nunis speaks to Frederike Kaltheuner from Privacy International and investigates the spl...
Fast fashion: The ugly side of looking good
03 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The hunger for quick short-lived clothes is bringing garment sweatshops back to the UK and harming the environment. Katie Prescott travels to Leiceste...
Isolating Iran
02 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
New sanctions from the Trump administration are forcing European and Asian firms to choose between their US and Iranian business interests.The EU has ...
Money management for millennials
01 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The financial literacy gap. Manuela Saragosa talks to US podcaster and writer Gaby Dunn about why millennials like her are so bad with money. Regan Mo...
Making money out of music festivals
28 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's not as easy as it looks. Dominic O'Connell reports from the biggest festival in the world Glastonbury, which kicks off this weekend. Manuela Sara...
Shutting down the internet
27 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Governments in Africa and elsewhere are routinely shutting off the iInternet in the name of national security. It is having a significant economic imp...
Protecting kids from porn
26 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The UK plans to introduce compulsory age verification for anyone in the country to access online porn - but is this a good way of restricting children...
Get a job?
25 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Is unemployment in the developed world so low because people have simply given up on finding work? Ed Butler speaks to economist Danny Blanchflower of...
Life in an unrecognised state
24 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How do you do business with the rest of the world when nobody officially accepts that your nation state even exists? Rob Young looks at the struggles ...
The Facebook currency
21 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Why Facebook's Libra project will attract the attention of regulators. Rob Young hears from the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones about...
The next agricultural revolution
19 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We need to transform the way we grow food if we are to head off disaster - so say leading agronomists. But can it be done?The modern agricultural indu...
Istanbul's vexed elections
19 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Turkish commercial capital must vote again for a new mayor after March's election result was overturned by the government.Ed Butler visits the cit...
Hostile environment for immigrants
17 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The attitude towards immigration in Europe and America is hardening under a wave of populist politics, and businesses are finding that despite labour ...
The next financial crisis
13 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's more than a decade since the global financial crisis. Central banks have pumped trillions of dollars into the financial system to support markets...
The global trade in trash
10 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Asian countries have told the West to stop dumping its plastic waste on them - and it could spell the end of the recycling industry. China imposed a b...
Oil, guns and pollution
05 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Niger Delta is Africa's biggest oil producing region. It has also become a security and environmental nightmare thanks to dozens of spills and the...
Is it time to tax robots?
04 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
With ever more jobs at risk of automation, should the automatons be taxed the same as humans?Ed Butler speaks to Dr Carl Frey of the Oxford Martin Sch...
Jobs for prisoners
31 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The challenge of getting ex-offenders back into work. Vivienne Nunis hears from Lester Young Jr, an ex-offender in the US where low-paid work for pris...
Is Google too big?
29 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Is the search engine's share of our attention and our data too dominant, and should regulators step in and break their business up? Ed Butler gets to ...
Romantic fraud
28 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The cruel multi-million-dollar business of scamming lonely hearts out of their money by posing online as the perfect lover.Vishala Sri-Pathma speaks t...
Europe votes for uncertainty
27 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Election results leave the European parliament more fragmented than ever. The greens, liberals and far right are up. The traditional left and right, w...
India election: Modi's report card
24 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured another five-year term after winning a landslide general election victory. His Bharatiya Janata Party ...
The plastic in the ocean
23 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Why plastic ends up there and how to stop it. Stephen Ryan reports from the Ganges - a major source of plastic that ends up in the oceans. Manuela Sar...
The trillion dollar coach
22 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What Silicon Valley titans learned from an American football coach. Despite a fairly unspectacular career with the Columbia University college footbal...
Education for all
21 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How can educators ensure that every child in the world - and particularly every girl - has access to a decent school? And how should the curriculum pr...
The meat-free burger
20 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Can a burger help save the planet? The Business Daily team try out the plant-based burger designed to convert meat eaters. Dr Marco Springmann from Ox...
A new port in India
17 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
India's bid to capture a slice of global shipping. The east-west shipping line off the southern coast of India carries around 30% of the world's cargo...
The magic money tree
16 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Should governments spend more money? 'Modern monetary theory' or MMT is gaining traction, particularly in the US. It says governments should worry les...
Climbing the student debt mountain
15 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Could a new scheme alleviate the crippling cost of university fees for young Americans, who have already accumulated a trillion and a half dollars in ...
The cyber arms race
14 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Was the NotPetya attack, that struck Ukraine and then the world in 2016, a portend of potentially devastating cyber-wars in the future?Ed Butler goes ...
The coming floods
13 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
With the sea level rising and storms strengthening thanks to climate change, will much of the world's most valuable real estate find itself underwater...
Disabled on Wall Street
10 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Getting more disabled people into the workforce. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Rich Donovan, a trader who forged a successful career on Wall Street with ...
Rebuilding an economy after two cyclones
09 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In Mozambique, Cyclones Idai and Kenneth did tremendous damage to the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in March and April. The country is s...
India's caste quota controversy
08 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tinkering with the reservation system nothing more than a bid to grab votes in the general election?India has long h...
Netflix moves into Africa
07 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The video streaming service Netflix has announced a major push into Africa, with original series commissioned from around the continent.Netflix had al...
The price of bread
06 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This global food staple used to account for half of some people's income. Dr Kaori O’Connor a food anthropologist at University College, London, exp...
The value of domestic work
03 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Housework and caring - is technology about to transform this essential but overlooked part of the economy?Manuela Saragosa speaks to Ai-Jen Poo, direc...
A four-day week?
02 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The campaign for a four-day working week is gaining traction, particularly in the UK. Manuela Saragosa hears from Lorraine Gray, operations director a...
The mega factory that never was
01 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Foxconn is causing a political headache for President Trump, as the Taiwanese manufacturer fails to deliver on a promise to build a 13,000-employee fa...
What young Indians want
30 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
As India holds elections, getting decent jobs is top of the agenda for most young voters, as the BBC's Rahul Tandon discovers.Most Indians still live ...
Youtube: Cracking down on crackpots
29 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What does the video-sharing site needs to do in order to stop inadvertently promoting dangerous conspiracy theories and extremist content?Alex Jones's...
When computer glitches ruin lives
26 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine losing your home, your job or your reputation, all because of a computer error. We speak to people who say that's exactly what happened to the...
The global affordable housing crisis
25 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Do rent controls and the expropriation of apartment blocks provide an answer to the increasing cost of housing in the rich world?Such radical measures...
Pricing in climate change
24 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are markets and companies beginning to grasp the threat of global warming? Ed Butler speaks to Meryam Omi, head of sustainability and responsible inve...
The true cost of periods
23 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Periods. We rarely talk about them but half the world's population will have to manage menstruation for a good chunk of their lives. For some women, t...
TED2019: Facebook, Twitter and democracy
22 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Jane Wakefield reports from the Ted conference in Vancouver. (Photo: Social media app icons, Credit: Getty Images)
TED2019: Space junk, rockets and aliens
19 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Jane Wakefield reports from the TED conference in Vancouver, Canada, on the businesses shooting for the stars. Chief Executive of Rocket Lab Peter Bec...
Should prostitution be a normal profession?
18 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What's the best way to help sex workers? We hear the cases for full decriminalisation, versus abolition of what's often dubbed the world's oldest prof...
Pakistan's young entrepreneurs
17 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How the country’s young businesses are making a mark in fashion, beauty, music and tech.Vivienne Nunis speaks to Humayun Haroon, co-founder of digit...
The death of the local newspaper
16 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How the decline of the local newspaper industry is affecting democracy. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Ken Doctor, former newspaper man and now analyst at...
WhatsApp in India
15 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are fake news and rumours still proliferating on Whatsapp in India? And is this being exploited by candidates as the country prepares to go to the pol...
Disney goes to war with Netflix
11 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
With Disney and Apple launching their streaming services to rival Netflix, will they struggle to get subscribers, when the market is getting increasin...
An expensive democracy
10 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
India will spend billions of dollars on its general election this year, much of it illegally. Rahul Tandon visits a political rally in Kolkata where m...
When big business sponsors the arts
09 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Should galleries take money from the likes of big oil? Ed Butler speaks to Jess Worth of the UK pressure group Culture Unstained, and Claire Fox, dire...
Millennial burnout
08 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are millennials working too hard? Ed Butler explores the cult of modern professional success and how it's affecting millennial workers. We hear from m...
The listening device in your pocket
05 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Does the proliferation of microphones in our mobile phones and home smart speakers mean that anyone can eavesdrop on us?Manuela Saragosa hears from th...
Bitcoin bounces back
04 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Cryptocurrencies are on the rebound, but does the case for investing in them make any more sense?Manuela Saragosa hears both sides of the argument. Ja...
Brexit: May reaches out
03 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The British prime minister looks for a new deal to solve the deadlock over Brexit. Ed Butler hears from Jill Rutter, Brexit programme director at the ...
India's fugitive diamond billionaire
02 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The rise and fall of Indian jeweller Nirav Modi, arrested in London and accused by Indian authorities of a massive fraud. Ed Butler speaks to Mick Bro...
Alexa, what are you doing to the internet?
01 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Voice assistant apps like Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant are about to transform the economics of the web.Nearly a quarter of all households in the U...
Italy embraces China
29 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Rome's decision to sign up to China's One Belt One Road initiative has proved controversial both at home and among Italy's closest allies.Washington D...
Is pan-African trade a pipe dream?
28 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Can the continent remove trade barriers and create a billion-person internal market? That's the hope of the African Continental Free Trade Area, but a...
A hundred years of women in law
27 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It is only 100 years since women in the UK were first allowed to practice law. Women now make up more than 50% of lawyers in many parts of the world, ...
The essay cheats
26 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The lucrative business of 'essay mills' - companies that will write your university assignments for you. Chris makes thousands of dollars a year writi...
Ukraine: Trading across the front line
25 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The economy of Russian occupied territories in Ukraine. Ed Butler reports on the people living between western Ukraine and the eastern occupied territ...
Brexit: Oil, fish and bargaining chips
22 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How is the Scottish city of Aberdeen coping with the UK's imminent exit from the EU? It is home to the country's oil and gas industry, as well as some...
A basic income for all?
21 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Would a Universal Basic Income help solve inequality or make it worse, and would it protect us from robots taking our jobs?Finland has just completed ...
Is humankind on the verge of disaster?
19 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
To follow the world's headlines these days - from fake news to murderous terror attacks, from disease pandemics to global warming - you might be forgi...
The periodic table turns 150
18 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are chemical elements critical for the modern economy in dangerously short supply? It's a question that Justin Rowlatt poses a century and a half afte...
Neverending Brexit?
15 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
As the UK parliament votes to delay Brexit beyond 29 March, businesses brace for yet more uncertainty. But will the EU even be willing to grant a dela...
Heineken in Africa
14 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The brewer has been accused of complicity with Africa's murkiest politics, and of failing to protect female brand promoters from sexual harassment. Bu...
More Brexit blues for business
13 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A continued political crisis in the UK means more uncertainty for businesses. We hear from the boss of a manufacturing company in Birmingham and Nicol...
Ukraine's corruption problem
12 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Ed Butler reports from Ukraine ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for the end of March. With endemic corruption and ongoing conflict with R...