- 53 minutes 24 seconds276. Will bond market vigilantes see off Starmer’s rivals?
Could the government’s creditors protect Starmer and Reeves, even if Labour is humiliated in the elections? How high are UK interest rates going to rise because of Trump’s Iran war? Has monetary policy stopped working? Could AI actually lead to the creation of millions of new jobs? And is coal consumption in the 19th Century a good way to predict this?
Steph and Robert dissect the Bank of England’s latest assessment of the UK economy. Plus Robert takes us back in time to explain why Jevons Paradox on coal consumption could be relevant to the AI revolution we’re in now.
The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain’s smart energy pioneer.
Advertise with us: [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
6 May 2026, 4:00 pm - 42 minutes 48 seconds275. The Debt Paradox: Britain’s Hidden Credit Crisis
If household debt as a percentage of GDP is at its lowest since 2002, why are debt charities seeing record levels of demand? Is this a temporary problem because of the cost of living crisis or about much bigger structural problems in the UK economy? Plus, what is ‘co-erced debt’ and why is it a growing problem?
Steph talks to Vikki Brownridge the CEO of the debt advisory charity StepChange about what’s really going on for the increasing number of people struggling with money. They discuss the challenges of the ‘working poor’ and whether policy changes like the lifting of the two child benefits cap will make any difference.
The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain’s smart energy pioneer.
Advertise with us: [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
3 May 2026, 11:05 pm - 44 minutes 13 seconds274. Would rejoining the EU be the best growth strategy?
How much did Brexit cost the UK? Would rejoining make us much richer? And if US managers are PSG players, are British ones more like Aston Villa’s?
Robert talks to Stanford Professor Nick Bloom about his influential forecast, recently adopted by Rachel Reeves, that quitting the EU made Britain 8% or £240bn poorer than it would otherwise have been.
The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain’s smart energy pioneer.
Advertise with us: [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
29 April 2026, 11:05 pm - 52 minutes 45 seconds273. How angry are business leaders with the government?
How long will Starmer cling on for? Will politicians sucking up to Northerners make any difference to the North South divide? What’s the latest with the Strait of Hormuz and how is it impacting global prices? How is that feeding through to inflation here? Is Miliband right to stop more oil being drilled in the North Sea and what’s his plan to bring down energy bills?
After another week of Mandelson drama, Robert takes us behind the scenes and Steph looks at examples in business where bad vetting has had disastrous consequences. Plus all the latest on the markets.
The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain’s smart energy pioneer.
Advertise with us: [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
26 April 2026, 11:05 pm - 53 minutes 13 seconds272. Is Anthropic holding businesses to ransom?
Is it fair that only some businesses have access to Anthropic’s super-powerful Mythos AI, given its ability to pierce cyber defences? Will OpenAI go bust? Will Demis Hassabis win the AI wars?
Robert Peston talks to Sebastian Mallaby about his biography of British AI genius Demis Hassabis, The Infinity Machine.
Note: We contacted OpenAI for comment, who told us that 'the article revisits old, widely reported episodes and frames them through selective anecdotes, anonymous claims, and incomplete context. They also said that OpenAI today is a very different company: larger, more mature, more rigorously governed, and operating at global scale.
The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain’s smart energy pioneer.
Advertise with us: [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
22 April 2026, 11:30 pm - 51 minutes 19 seconds271. Youth unemployment - a national emergency?
Why are one million young people not in education, employment or training? Is the benefits system part of the problem? Are schools out of date? What’s the alternative?
Steph talks to former health minister Alan Milburn – who is leading a review into NEETS -about the systemic health and structural barriers to work. They discuss the cost to the economy and the alarming stat that if a young person doesn’t get a job by the time they’re 24 they’re unlikely ever to. Fortunately Alan thinks he has the solution.
The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain’s smart energy pioneer.
Advertise with us: [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
19 April 2026, 11:05 pm - 46 minutes 58 seconds270. AI minister: How we build a trillion dollar AI company
What’s the point of the government’s new £500m sovereign AI fund? How is the government planning to avert AI Armageddon? Isn’t it time for AI to be permanently in the classroom not banned from it?
Robert talks to AI Minister Kanishka Narayan to explore the government’s strategy for a trillion-dollar British AI ecosystem-and whether the UK can truly scale a sovereign challenger to rival the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic and Gemini.
The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain’s smart energy pioneer.
Advertise with us: [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
15 April 2026, 11:05 pm - 54 minutes 17 seconds269. Monzo founder: AI will kill income tax
Why are governments failing to notice how AI is replacing many jobs now? If AI replaces all or most jobs, how can governments replace all the lost taxes? Who will pay for public services and stop us from starving?
Robert sits down with Monzo founder Tom Blomfield to hear his revolutionary plan to reform the tax system for an AI world.
The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain’s smart energy pioneer.
Advertise with us: [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
12 April 2026, 11:05 pm - 41 minutes 4 seconds268. The price of financial hype
What’s a ‘finfluencer’ and why are they getting in trouble with the regulators? How much of a problem is dodgy tax advice given on social media? What part does financial literacy play in all of this? And is the law finally catching up?
Steph talks to Stella Creasy - MP for Walthamstow and a prominent consumer rights campaigner - about her latest mission to stop the rise of unregulated financial advice on social media.
The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain’s smart energy pioneer.
Advertise with us: [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
8 April 2026, 11:05 pm - 37 minutes 15 seconds267. Can AI save the public sector?
What difference would wider adoption of AI have in our struggling public services? Is it the answer to the UK productivity problem? Why does the government struggle to "buy British" when it comes to tech? And could a simple software fix save frontline workers 8 hours of admin a week?
In this episode, Robert and Steph are joined by Alex Stephany, the CEO of Beam, a British ‘GovTech’ success story used by two-thirds of UK councils. Alex tells us how it works, but also why the government procurement system is holding back companies like his.
The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain’s smart energy pioneer.
Advertise with us: [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
5 April 2026, 11:05 pm - 48 minutes 15 seconds266. Trump Turmoil: An investor's perspective
A month into the war in the Middle East, what are investors thinking? Are we heading for a global recession? Who is most exposed? What are the options central banks and governments have for getting through it? What does this mean for the UK economy? How can the government help people with bills without upsetting the bond markets and increase borrowing costs? Plus, what should you be thinking about if you have money in stocks and shares?
Karen Ward – Chief Market Strategist EMEA at JP Morgan Asset Management – is back to give us her take on the possible economic outcomes of the geopolitical turmoil. She breaks down what matters and what doesn’t when it comes to understanding market volatility. Plus she explains why she thinks we don’t need to worry about the private credit market taking us into another financial crisis.
The Rest is Money is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain’s smart energy pioneer.
Advertise with us: [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
1 April 2026, 11:05 pm - More Episodes? Get the App