Funding the Future
Richard Murphy and occasional friends talking about everything you need to know to understand the economy, tax, finance and how we fund our future.
Episodes

Oct 14, 2025
Oct 14, 2025
10 min
Neoliberalism promised prosperity but delivered austerity, insecurity, and despair. It hollowed out our public services, undermined democracy, and left wealth in the hands of the few. In this video, I ask "What comes next?"
A new economics must put people before markets, care before profit, and truth before fear.
This is about rebuilding democracy from the ground up — and it begins by admitting neoliberalism has failed.

Oct 13, 2025
Oct 13, 2025
8 min
Around the world, people are marching: against Trump’s authoritarianism in the USA, Macron’s failures in France, and the cruelty of Gaza policy in the UK. Everywhere, governments are asking how to stop protest? when they should be asking why people feel the need to protest?.
In this video, I argue that protest is a democratic safety valve — a sign that governments are failing to meet basic human needs like food, housing, warmth, dignity, and justice. When people protest, it’s because they have been ignored.
Governments that suppress protest aren’t defending democracy; they are betraying it.
The real question is not how to silence dissent, but how to listen and act on what it tells us.
Watch now to explore why protest is essential to democratic life — and what it tells us about political failure and the possibility of renewal.

Oct 12, 2025
Oct 12, 2025
11 min
The Financial Times asked whether the global economy can survive another shock. I think it’s the question of our time. Debt, war and climate change are pushing us to breaking point and yet our governments still pretend that markets will save us.
In this video, I explain why that’s a dangerous illusion, how neoliberal policy has made us fragile, and why only courageous governments, ready to act in the public interest, can prevent systemic collapse.

Oct 11, 2025
Oct 11, 2025
21 min
Right-wing commentators claim inequality in Britain is falling. It isn’t.
The Office for National Statistics says the Gini coefficient has improved — but the truth is that it ignores capital gains, wealth accumulation, debt, and inflation that hits the poor hardest.
In this video, I expose the real story behind Britain’s growing inequality and why official data is misleading, as well as suggesting what we need to do to tackle this issue.

Oct 10, 2025
Oct 10, 2025
11 min
In 2011 I wrote The Courageous State — a call for governments that act with purpose and confidence, not cowardice. Fourteen years later, we still live with austerity, outsourcing and fear. I argue it’s time to reclaim the language of democracy — to speak of courage, care, and common purpose.
The words we choose decide the world we live in.
Watch now — and ask yourself: Do you want a courageous state?

Oct 9, 2025
Oct 9, 2025
17 min
What if the UK government admitted it already uses modern monetary theory? Would markets panic — or would we finally have the power to rebuild Britain?
In this video, I explain:
Why MMT isn’t a policy, but a fact.
How the “market panic” MMT would supposedly create is a myth.
How the UK could use MMT to invest, create jobs, and tackle inequality.
The truth is simple: the UK already creates money this way. The question is — how do we make that work for us all?

Oct 8, 2025
Oct 8, 2025
36 min
AI is reshaping work faster than universities, employers, or governments can adapt.
In this intergenerational conversation, I talk with my son Tom about how artificial intelligence has destroyed the old promise: work hard, get good grades, and you’ll get a good job.
From “ghost jobs” to algorithmic hiring and a two-tier workforce, this video explores what happens when AI changes everything — and how young people can still shape their future.

Oct 7, 2025
Oct 7, 2025
7 min
Tory Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride wants to take £47 billion out of the UK economy — mostly by cutting benefits for migrants and those with mental ill health. That isn’t prudence. It’s managed decline.
In this video, I explain what really happens when you cut money from the poorest: demand collapses, jobs vanish, and resentment grows.
The truth is simple: spending creates income, and austerity destroys it.

Oct 6, 2025
Oct 6, 2025
4 min
Tory Mel Stride wants to slash the UK’s overseas aid to 0.1% of national income. That’s not just cruel, it’s racism and fascism dressed up as fiscal prudence. Cutting aid means condemning millions to poverty, fuelling migration, and destroying economic stability. This is the politics of contempt in action, when Britain should lead the world by helping it, not punishing it for existing.

Oct 6, 2025
Oct 6, 2025
10 min
The Economist claims Britain is trapped in a “debt doom loop.” But they’re wrong. The UK does not face a government debt crisis. What we really face is chronic underinvestment, inequality, and an elite media pushing austerity to protect the wealthy. In this video, I explain why The Economist’s story is false, what they deliberately ignore, and what the UK really needs.







