Update: the program was delayed by events in Egypt. It will now go to air on Thursday November 24th, and be repeated 3 times–see the News element in the side bar for times.
I was interviewed by BBC HARDtalk when in London last week. Though the interview was motivated by the launch of Debunking Economics II last month, the interview focused almost entirely on the issue of a modern debt jubilee.
HARDtalk is well-named: the questions are from a “Devil’s Advocate” perspective, the questioner sets the agenda, and it’s rather HARD to put a perspective based on a non-standard analysis in such a situation.
The interview was also over before I knew it. Though the interviewer Sarah Montague warned me beforehand that the 25 minutes would pass in a flash, as she began her wrap-up question I felt rather like Michael Pallin in that famous Monty Python sketch “Is this the right room for an argument?”:
A: (Rings bell) Good Morning.
M: What?
A: That’s it. Good morning.
M: I was just getting interested.
A: Sorry, the five minutes is up.
M: That was never five minutes!
A: I’m afraid it was.
M: It wasn’t.
Pause
A: I’m sorry, but I’m not allowed to argue anymore.
M: What?!
A: If you want me to go on arguing, you’ll have to pay for another five minutes.
M: Yes, but that was never five minutes, just now. Oh come on!
(Click here for the sketch on Youtube; if you haven’t seen it before, you’re in for a treat)
Though I would have liked more time, and a different way in which to put a highly unconventional argument, it was still pleased to be able to put it.
As an Australian resident, it was also a salutary experience to spend time in America, Ireland and the UK. The mood, especially in Ireland, is–in a word–depressed. With the officially recorded level of unemployment at 14 percent in Ireland, and growth forecasts for the UK reduced to a mere 1%, hopes that this might be a passing crisis have evaporated, and confidence in the capacity of conventional policies to restore growth is minimal. Ideas that would be dismissed out of hand in Australia were seriously considered in Europe and the USA.
If you’d like to listen to the HARDtalk interview, use this link to locate the time of broadcast in your country:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-radio-and-tv-12957298
It may also be watchable on this new service I discovered while searching for broadcast details:
http://beta.www.livestation.com/
http://beta.www.livestation.com/bbc-world
For Australian viewers, it goes to air at 3.30pm and 8.30pm today (Sydney time), and 2.30am and 8.30am tomorrow. BBC World Service is on station 649 on Foxtel.
