"Just a bit of economic freedom can cause absolute miracles. It did in the past. It can do so again."
In Episode 176 of the podcast, I sat down with James Price - a former senior adviser across five UK government departments including the Treasury and Cabinet Office.
This isn't your typical political commentary. James has been inside the machine and explains, with remarkable clarity, how it actually operates.
Some things that stood out:
→ When the UK government changed in 2024, only 200 people across the entire state changed roles. Everyone else stayed exactly where they were. → Civil servants are more likely to die in the job than be fired. → Special advisers are "constitutionally not allowed to tell civil servants what to do." → During the vaccine rollout, a minister had to tell civil servants to Google the logistics industry because they had zero experience moving anything anywhere.
He breaks down how democracy got eaten from the inside by the people nobody voted for. How the blob digests every election and nothing changes. How Hayek and Burnham saw all of this coming 80 years ago. And why more people are starting to ask whether the nation-state is the problem — not the solution.
This one's a masterclass in how the modern state actually works - and why it doesn't.
Fountain: Podcasts & Music
Free Cities Podcast • 176 - Why Everything Feels Broken | James Price • Watch on Fountain
“When Starmer came in in 2024, how many people across the entire British state changed jobs?
Two hundred. One hundred ministers… and one hundr...
