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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
  • Ukraine Vibe Shift?

    Ukraine Vibe Shift?
    Jul 9 2026


    After more than four years of destruction and slaughter, is the corner being turned in the Ukraine war? Kyiv is able to strike deep within Russia now and the pace of Moscow’s advance is slowing to the point of invisibility. But there’s no sign of an end to fighting - if anything, the scale of the conflict has increased. So is the ‘vibe shift’ being widely talked about, just wishful thinking? Is there still no effective way to end the war? Phil and Roger ask Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security at the University of Birmingham, and co-founder of Navigating the Vortex

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    40 mins
  • Paid-For Politics?

    Paid-For Politics?
    Jul 1 2026
    How corrupt is our politics? Is a £5 million gift from a supporter to a politician - when he wasn't an MP - anyone's business but his own? Is it fine for a sitting MP to accept free gifts from a betting company, provided it's all declared? Does it matter if a minister who awarded a contract to a company, joins that company's board, once he's left office? Dan Hough, Professor of Politics at Sussex University, talks to Phil and R.oger about corruption among those in power, and how our system compares to the rest of the world.

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    45 mins
  • The Mancunian Candidate

    The Mancunian Candidate
    Jun 25 2026
    Andy Burnham seems poised to be the UK's seventh prime minister in ten years. Keir Starmer was widely seen as honourable but dull and ineffective - can Burnham take the Labour government in any better or even different direction? Is being a better communicator enough? Phil and Roger ask Professor Mark Wickham-Jones, Professor of Political Science at the University of Bristol and an expert on Labour politics

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    38 mins
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