Episode 007
Bring back the captains of industry
Rian Chad Whitton
0:00
Show notes
Rian Chad Whitton is a research analyst specialising in automation, industrial policy, and energy markets at Bismarck Analysis who writes on Substack under the name Doctor Syn and won the TXP Progress Prize for his essay on British energy policy.
Rian discusses:
How British industry declined from being the first Promethean nation to losing competitiveness due to loss of empire, high wages, and poor policy decisions like industrial deglomeration
Why manufacturing remains crucial for national security, productivity growth, and regional equality despite the push toward services
How Britain could revitalise industry through lower electricity costs, nuclear power expansion, and promoting large industrial conglomerates similar to South Korean chaebols
Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Read the transcript.
Timestamps
(00:00:00) - Introduction
(00:01:44) - British Industry History
(00:06:50) - Current Industry Status
(00:12:47) - R&D and Innovation
(00:19:35) - Service Economy Debate
(00:25:18) - Military and Manufacturing
(00:32:23) - Industrial Policy Models
(00:45:30) - Automation and Jobs
(00:55:33) - Education and Skills
(00:59:23) - Conclusion
More episodes
Keep listening.
Episode 61
Calum and Tom are back in the King Charles III Space Station bar, and this week they have a hit piece to enjoy. Prospect has run two thousand words on the online right under the headline “decline porn”, filed Anglofuturism alongside the doom-scrolling...
Listen to episode
Episode 60
This is how Britain wins the AI race
James Wise
Docking at the King Charles III Space Station this week is James Wise: partner at Balderton Capital, author of Startup Century, and now the chair of the government’s Sovereign AI unit — a man who has spent twelve years giving exceptional people money to build...
Listen to episode
Episode 59
Whitehall's war against the future
Dominic Cummings
Dominic Cummings is the former director of Vote Leave, former chief adviser in Downing Street, and the man most likely to tell you, with no apparent pleasure, exactly which official in which committee killed the thing you wanted to build. He arrives not as a...
Listen to episode