The Why? Curve
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.
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- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 38 minutes
- Episodes
- 171
- Years Active
- 2022 - 2025
Put Out More Flags
Flags are everywhere - Union Jacks and the Cross of St George going up on lamp posts, walls, street-corners and even roundabouts. Is it an attempt an intimidation by the far-right, or just a sign of …
00:36:14 |
Thu 04 Sep 2025
Asylum Seekers - Time To Change The Rules?
The anger around asylum seekers and small boat crossings is rising - and providing fuel for Reform’s surge in the polls. Governments of any colour seem unable to get control. Reform and the Tories sa…
00:41:27 |
Thu 28 Aug 2025
Ukraine - Any Closer To Peace?
Lots of high-level diplomacy - handshakes for European leaders in the White House, the red-carpet for Putin in Alaska - but does any of this bring the end of fighting closer? Will a Russia/Ukraine su…
00:38:03 |
Thu 21 Aug 2025
Palestine Action - Protesters or Terrorists?
Scenes few had expected in the UK - retired vicars carried away by the police for holding up a poster saying “I support Palestine Action”. The banning of the group by the Home Secretary has led to ma…
00:45:55 |
Thu 14 Aug 2025
Why Are We All So Angry?
Rage is on the rise. On social media, on our roads, outside migrant hotels - things are getting under our skin that once would have caused mild irritation, and now lead to blind fury. Are we a more a…
00:38:35 |
Thu 07 Aug 2025
Trump in Trouble?
Donald Trump can’t escape the shadow of Jeffrey Epstein, and he seems to have fallen out with many of his closest supporters over the failure to disclose the Epstein files. So, after 6 months of whir…
00:38:54 |
Thu 31 Jul 2025
The Verdict on Juries
Are committees of randomly-selected amateurs the best way to decide someone’s guilt or innocence? As the government studies a report that recommends the right to jury trial be restricted further, to …
00:37:57 |
Thu 24 Jul 2025
Sudan - the Horror of the Forgotten War
Far away from the headlines, a war is raging in Africa that has taken at least 150,000 lives, has displaced 12 million people from their homes, and created what the UN calls the world’s worst humanit…
00:37:23 |
Thu 17 Jul 2025
Keir - A Year to Forget
How did it all go so wrong for the Labour government? A massive majority of MPs, and a country yearning for change, but now, a year on: rock-bottom poll numbers and a seeming inability to get bills t…
00:42:56 |
Thu 10 Jul 2025
Ozempic Nation?
Has the rise of new weight-loss drugs become a game-changer for the obesity crisis?Can we all now inject ourselves thin? Will restaurants and gyms go out of business as we don’t want to eat, and don’…
00:34:17 |
Thu 03 Jul 2025
UK Rail - On The Right Track?
Why is it that we can't seem to run a railway project that's on time or affordable? Why do our trains also fail to turn up or charge reasonably? Is nationalisation going to make difference. Phil and …
00:37:35 |
Thu 26 Jun 2025
World on the Edge
The conflict between Israel and Iran shows no sign of easing and the threat of US involvement has heightened concerns about a war that is rapidly getting out of control. How does this end? Can Iran b…
00:39:09 |
Thu 19 Jun 2025
Democracy On The Rocks?
More than a quarter of UK voters back a party that’s only got 5 MPs. Labour won a stonking majority in parliament last year with just over a third of the vote. What’s happening to our democracy? Does…
00:41:25 |
Thu 12 Jun 2025
Is Crypto Becoming Credible?
Is the Wild West of digital currency now becoming a respectable place to put your money? President Trump likes it, and his vice president, JD Vance, backs a US government digital reserve. Does that m…
00:37:32 |
Fri 06 Jun 2025
Tanks, Troops or Drones? Spending the Defence Bonanza
Billions in new spending for the UK’s defence, but how to spend it? Does Britain need more soldiers? More shells for artillery? More tanks? Or are drones the future of warfare? What has Ukraine’s war…
00:41:45 |
Thu 29 May 2025
Migrants - Not The Issue They Think It Is
Keir Starmer has launched his bid to claim back migration policy from the right - talking about the UK becoming an “island of strangers” unless the number of incomers is slashed. But is he correct th…
00:36:52 |
Thu 22 May 2025
India-Pakistan: Endless Enmity?
The confrontation between the two south Asian neighbours this month seems to have been resolved into a ceasefire. It is almost certainly only a pause of conflict, in a toxic relationship that has las…
00:30:59 |
Thu 15 May 2025
Ukraine - Does The US Now Have Skin In The Game?
The minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv is pretty opaque, but does it at least give the Trump administration a reason to stick with Ukraine? Or will the president just walk away from the whole …
00:40:56 |
Thu 08 May 2025
Conclave Consensus - Choosing A New Pope
The leader of 1.4 billion Catholics is about to be decided by 132 men in red hats, locked away in a renaissance chapel beneath one of the greatest artworks in human history. The conclave of cardinals…
00:41:18 |
Thu 01 May 2025
Reform Revolution?
Local elections are usually a yawn, but the results next week could overturn the political geography of the UK. Will Reform, riding high in the polls, cause a Tory meltdown, unseating Kemi Badenoch? …
00:35:30 |
Fri 25 Apr 2025
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