Episode 064

Dominic Frisby is that rare figure: a funny anarchist. Both comedian and economist, he’s nonetheless deadly serious when he says the state should be cut down leaving us to the tender mercy of the unrestricted forces of supply and demand. We asked him to hop on board Sputnik to grapple with the notion of freedom and free markets. Then, the transformation of Britain into a gamblers' paradise, which began under the prime ministership of Labour’s Gordon Brown, whose father was a Presbyterian minister. Now you can't move for bookies and their adverts. You can even lose your house whilst sitting in it playing online roulette. To discuss how and why it happened and take a flutter on where we're headed is Professor Jim Orford of the University of Birmingham.