2 July 2021

The CapX Podcast: Niall Ferguson on the Politics of Catastrophe

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From the eruption of Vesuvius to the Chernobyl meltdown, human history has always been punctuated by catastrophes – some natural, others very much man-made.

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In his new book Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe, world-renowned historian Professor Niall Ferguson argues that far from being “unprecedented”, the response to Covid-19 exhibits the same political and social pathologies that have shaped so many previous crises. Moreover, we can’t hope to understand the pandemic without a keen appreciation of the history of economics, society, culture and politics.

The latest episode of the CapX Podcast is a recording of our CapX Live event with Professor Ferguson – a typically lively, entertaining and thought-provoking discussion with our editor-in-chief, Robert Colvile.

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Robert Colvile is Director of the Centre for Policy Studies and Editor-in-Chief of CapX.