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17 episodes

A Long Time In Finance

by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins · English

The long view of finance, markets and money as seen by two veteran City editors, Neil Collins and Jonathan Ford, presented in partnership with The Library of Mistakes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The Turning Point: The Necessary Collapse of Rolls-Royce (Part 2)

Part 2 of a two-part series on the 1971 Rolls-Royce collapse tied to the RB211 jet engine, and how the “necessary collapse” arguably enabled the later Rolls-Royce success.

19 Jun 2026 · 37m · 17 chapters

The Turning Point: The Necessary Collapse of Rolls-Royce (Part 1)

The collapse of Rolls-Royce in February 1971, driven by the RB211 engine program for Lockheed’s TriStar widebody jet, and how that failure became a “turning point” rather than the end.

5 Jun 2026 · 43m · 19 chapters

The Turning Point: How Arnault gobbled up LVMH

Bernard Arnault’s “turning point” from French businessman to controlling LVMH, using leverage, political maneuvering, and luxury-brand margins to build Europe’s richest fortune.

17 Apr 2026 · 41m · 16 chapters

The Art of the Squeal

How borrowers “go bust but end up on top” by forcing lenders to absorb losses, using insolvency, legal loopholes, and financial structuring; includes Donald Trump, the Barclay brothers, Mohamed…

3 Apr 2026 · 26m · 12 chapters

The Turning Point: Kodak's Digital Asteroid

Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins

20 Mar 2026 · 41m · 16 chapters

The Turning Point: The Story of ASML

Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins

6 Mar 2026 · 34m · 17 chapters

The Derailment of Railtrack

Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins

6 Feb 2026 · 30m · 14 chapters

New Year Special: The Guinness Scandal

The 1980s Guinness takeover of Distillers, focusing on takeover tactics, market manipulation via “share support” and secret indemnities, the ensuing UK/US investigations, trials, and Ernest Saunders’…

2 Jan 2026 · 30m · 14 chapters

How Britain Lost Its Shipbuilding Industry

The episode explains how Britain’s shipbuilding industry rose to dominance in the 19th century and then collapsed to near-zero global share by 2024.

5 Dec 2025 · 31m · 14 chapters

Britain's Energy Disaster

The episode argues that Britain’s energy “disaster” is driven by policy choices since the 1980s that entrenched expensive, subsidised renewables and distorted electricity pricing, leading to…

21 Nov 2025 · 31m · 12 chapters

Barbarians at the Gate: A Short History of Private Equity

Private equity’s rise from mid-20th-century dealmaking to a ~$7 trillion industry, driven by deregulation, pension rules (ERISA’s “prudent man rule”), falling interest rates, and junk-bond financing;…

7 Nov 2025 · 33m · 17 chapters

Britain's Melmotte? The Cautionary Tale of Robert Maxwell

The rise and final collapse of Robert Maxwell, focusing on 1988–Nov 1991 (his yacht death after the empire’s bust), and how his publishing empire and pension-fund borrowing schemes unraveled.

24 Oct 2025 · 31m · 17 chapters

The Green Shield Stamp Story

The rise and fall of UK Green Shield (trading) stamps as a 1950s–80s loyalty/reward scheme, and how Richard Tompkins later created Argos.

10 Oct 2025 · 31m · 17 chapters

The Art of the Shred

A live discussion on “The Art of the Shred,” using the rise and fall of Royal Bank of Scotland’s Fred Goodwin as a case study in financial history, banking culture, and the causes of the 2008…

26 Sep 2025 · 34m · 13 chapters

The Great QE Rip-off

Critiques of the Bank of England’s quantitative easing (QE) and quantitative tightening (QT) after Covid, arguing the UK “QE rip-off” saddled taxpayers with large losses by buying long-dated,…

12 Sep 2025 · 27m · 14 chapters

The Spiders That Ate Ebbsfleet

The episode examines whether the “distinguished jumping spider” is genuinely responsible for blocking the Ebsfleet Central housing plan (15,000+ homes near Ebbsfleet station) or whether the real…

29 Aug 2025 · 25m · 15 chapters

Talking War-onomics

War and economics across centuries—how conflict shapes states, institutions, incentives, and economic recovery; includes examples from Vikings, Mongols, medieval weapons, Britain’s “fiscal-military…

13 Jun 2025 · 32m · 12 chapters

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