The Why? Curve

Hosted by Phil Dobbie

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Episodes

220

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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About the show

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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60 recent

August 14, 202639 min

Football For Sale

The head of FIFA is clinging to his job because he announced a plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity firms - resulting in cries of outrage about the commercialisation of the beautiful game. But what’s wrong with getting the best return from a game that is already a billion-dollar cash machine? Or is there something beyond commercial advantage that matters to supporters and fans? Is making money from sport simply a recognition that it’s just another form of entertainment, or is it something special and personal that can’t be bought and sold? Simon Chadwick, Professor of Eurasian Sport at Emlyon Business School, gives his view to Phil and Roger Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

August 5, 202641 min

Homing In on Homelessness

Why do we still have people rough-sleeping in our cities? How can an advanced economy like ours allow people to slip through the net so far, they have to live on the street? Andy Burnham has promised to end rough-sleeping, but how can he do it? Jo Richardson, Professor of Housing and Social Inclusion at Nottingham Trent University, tells Phil and Roger it's a complicated problem, but there is a clear solution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 29, 202642 min

Why Can't We Do High Speed Rail?

Japan has the bullet train, Spain, France and Italy have fast connections across the country, China has a huge high-speed network...... and we have the shrunken remains of HS2. Why can't the country that invented railways now create its own efficient, well-managed express train system? Phil and Roger ask Christian Wolmar, the journalist and rail historian, whose new book - Fast Track - explores the development of high speed rail. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 22, 202649 min

Money for Nothing?

As Andy Burnham vows to tackle the cost of living, could a Universal Basic Income be part of his reset of the economy? He’s supported pilots of the scheme, which would give every citizen a living wage, whatever they do or don’t do. Could it end financial insecurity, and boost the economy? Or is it an unaffordable gimmick that rewards freeloaders and would bankrupt the country? Phil and Roger ask Guy Standing, Professor of Development Studies at SOAS University of London - and the inventor of the term ‘precariat’. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 16, 202639 min

Turning Off? UK Broadcasting In Trouble

The BBC licence fee is a busted flush, ITV's in the hands of an American media giant - what is the future of public-service broadcasting? Can the BBC find a way of getting people to pay for it? Does the next generation just want YouTube and Netflix anyway? Jamie Medhurst, Professor of Film and TV at Aberystwyth University tells Phil and Roger about the changing media landscape in the UK. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 9, 202639 min

Ukraine Vibe Shift?

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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 1, 202644 min

Paid-For Politics?

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

June 25, 202637 min

The Mancunian Candidate

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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

June 17, 202634 min

Cuba Revisited

Could Cuba be the victory Donald Trump is looking for? Phil and Roger discussed this back in March, but after the messy and fragile deal with Iran, could bringing the Caribbean island back into America’s embrace be about to happen? Joe Gonzalez, Associate Professor of Global Studies at Appalachian State University, and a historian of the Cuban-American relationship, is back on WhyCurve.com with an update after his latest visit, with evidence that many Cubans would like a US intervention to save them from a collapsing economy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

June 11, 202633 min

Big Storm Coming?

The next El Nino could be the biggest in history. The Pacific atmospheric pattern that regularly disrupts global weather, is set to cause floods in some areas and droughts in others, on a larger scale than ever before, because of climate change. So how worried should we be? And what can we expect? Phil and Roger ask Manoj Joshi, Professor of Climate Dynamics at the University of East Anglia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.