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The Why? Curve

The Why? Curve

By: Phil Dobbie
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 Each week Phil Dobbie and Roger Hearing get to grips with one issue that impacts our lives. It could be economic, social, technological or geopolitical. Whatever the subject, they'll talk to the experts who can give help explain what's really going on. And Phil and Roger back it up with their own research and opinions. It's half an hour to get across one of the key issues of the time, and they promise, it'll never be boring.

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Phil Dobbie Economics Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Put Out More Flags

    Put Out More Flags
    Sep 4 2025
    Flags are everywhere - Union Jacks and the Cross of St George going up on lamp posts, walls, street-corners and even roundabouts. Is it an attempt an intimidation by the far-right, or just a sign of patriotic spirit? Is a society that doesn’t usually wear its national identity on its sleeve, beginning to want to run it up the flagpole? And which flag? Does it depend if you feel English or British? And is all this a form of exclusion for those who don’t see themselves as either? Phil and Roger ask Michael Kenny, Professor of Public Policy at Cambridge University, and author of The Politics of English Nationhood

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    36 mins
  • Asylum Seekers - Time To Change The Rules?

    Asylum Seekers - Time To Change The Rules?
    Aug 28 2025
    The anger around asylum seekers and small boat crossings is rising - and providing fuel for Reform’s surge in the polls. Governments of any colour seem unable to get control. Reform and the Tories say it’s time to withdraw from the human rights conventions that stop deportations. But, short of that, is there a way to update the rules, while still safeguarding those fleeing war and persecution? Phil and Roger ask Bernard Ryan, Professor of Migration Law at Leicester University.

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    41 mins
  • Ukraine - Any Closer To Peace?

    Ukraine - Any Closer To Peace?
    Aug 21 2025
    Lots of high-level diplomacy - handshakes for European leaders in the White House, the red-carpet for Putin in Alaska - but does any of this bring the end of fighting closer? Will a Russia/Ukraine summit ever take place? Can Zelenskyy get real guarantees of future security for his country? Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security at Birmingham University, tells Phil and Roger he doesn’t have confidence Donald Trump can bring about peace in Ukraine.

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    38 mins
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