Hosted by Kallum Pickering, Chief Economist at Peel Hunt, Macro Minds brings economists and other experts to the table to discuss the key issues in global economics, financial markets and politics.
Macro Minds #15: A Conversation with Robert Jenrick
Peel Hunt Chief Economist Kallum Pickering interviews Robert Jenrick, Shadow Chancellor, about his career and insights into economic policy.
19 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT
Macro Minds #14: A Conversation with Chancellor Rachel Reeves
Following Labour’s landslide victory in the 2024 general election, Rachel Reeves was appointed Chancellor by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on 5 July 2024. She is the first woman to hold the office in its 800-year history. Reeves began her career as an economist at the Bank of England before entering politics. Elected as MP for Leeds West in 2010, she held several shadow cabinet roles and was appointed Shadow Chancellor in 2021.
This conversation with Peel Hunt Chief Economist Kallum Pickering was filmed on 9 June 2025 at Peel Hunt’s FTSE 250+ Conference.
16 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT
Macro Minds #13: A week that counts – US-Iran deal, BoE meeting, Burnham’s Westminster bid, with Helen Thomas
Host Kallum interviews macroeconomic consultant Helen Thomas about the US-Iran deal, Bank of England policy, and Andy Burnham's political aspirations.
19 Feb 2026TRANSCRIPT
Macro Minds #12: All roads are blocked: Talking UK infrastructure with Ben Southwood
Kallum Pickering interviews Ben Southwood, founder and editor of Works in Progress, about Britain's slow and costly infrastructure, exploring solutions for improvement.
21 Nov 2025
Macro Minds #11: What’s wrong with the UK economy? With Martin Beck
Martin is Chief Economist at WPI Strategy. He has over 20 years’ experience covering the UK economy, including as Chief Economic Adviser to the EY ITEM Club, UK economist at Oxford Economics and Capital Economics, and various economics roles during his 10 years at HM Treasury.
Martin and Kallum discuss the outlook for the upcoming 26November Budget, the structural and policy factors holding back UK potential growth, why energy production matters for productivity, and the lessons from Labour’s first year in office.
Note: The podcast was recorded prior to the government’sdecision to abandon its plan to raise income tax rates at the upcoming Budget.
2 Sept 2025
Macro Minds #10: Making sense of the UK economy, with Anna Leach
Kallum Pickering welcomes Anna Leach, IoD Chief Economist, to discuss the economic and policy outlook for the UK. They deep-dive into the causes of the UK’s potential growth decline, why the mood around the UK economy is so pessimistic, the challenges facing the government at the upcoming budget, as well as policy options for improving economic performance.
Before joining the IoD Anna was Deputy Chief Economist at the CBI. She has also worked in the Government Economic Service, at HM Treasury and the DWP.
2 May 2025
Macro Minds #9: What’s the deal with China? With Dr. Gerard Lyons
Kallum Pickering welcomes Dr. Gerard Lyons, veteran cityeconomist, to discuss the economic and policy outlook for China. They cover the impact of rising trade uncertainties, how policymakers are managing domestic structural challenges and the longer-run prospects for China and its ever-growing role in the world economy.The Times has described Dr. Gerard Lyons as ‘one of the mostinfluential analysts of the global economy’. He advised Boris Johnson when Mayor of London, was a candidate for governor of the Bank of England in 2019 and has a portfolio of roles. He is: on the board and chairs the risk committee of BGC, the inter-dealer brokers BGC; the senior independent directoron the board of Bank of China (UK); is a shareholder and strategist at the discretionary wealth manager Netwealth. Gerard also sits on the advisory board of the Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment.
23 Apr 2025
Macro Minds #8: Economic impact of US tariffs, with Mickey Levy
Kallum Pickering once again welcomes Dr. Mickey Levy, Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, long-standingmember of the Shadow Open Market Committee and Wall Street Journal contributor. They discuss the economic and financial market impact of US tariff policy, the risk of crisis in the US Treasuries market, and the outlook for the Federal Reserve.
Dr. Levy started his career at the Congressional Budget Office and American Enterprise Institute, and for many years was Chief Economist at Bank of America, followed by Berenberg Capital Markets. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of New York and has previously served on the Panel of Economic Advisors to the Federal Reserve of New York, as well as the Advisory Panel of the Office of Financial Research.
11 Feb 2025
Macro Minds #7: Going for growth in the age of uncertainty, with Douglas McNeill
Kallum Pickering welcomes Douglas McNeill to discuss the current state of the UK economy, the factors that will shape its long run economic performance - including demographics and AI, and why the post-war 20th century period of rapid productivity growth may not be the right benchmark for shaping future growth hopes.
Douglas McNeill was Chief Economic Advisor to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak from 2022 until 2024 as well as Sunak’s Special Advisor during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022. From 2016 to 2020, Douglas was Special Economic Advisor to Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
16 Jan 2025
Macro Minds #6: Going for growth – HM Treasury orthodoxy and Labour’s industrial strategy with Giles Wilkes
Kallum Pickering welcomes Giles Wilkes to discuss the current state of the UK economy, whether so-called ‘orthodoxy’ at HM Treasury helps or hinders pro-growth policymaking and the government’s industrial strategy
Giles is a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and specialist partner at Flint Global. From 2017 to 2019 Giles was special adviser to UK Prime Minister Theresa May and from 2010 to 2014 he worked in a similar role to Vince Cable in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
He has also been a writer of editorials for the Financial Times and Chief Economist at the think tank CentreForum.
18 Dec 2024
Macro Minds #5: Sweat the big stuff - debt super-cycles and stock market bubbles - with Chris Watling
Kallum Pickering welcomes Chris Watling, global chief economist and chief market strategist at Longview Economics, to discuss the distortive role of financial liberalisation on housing markets, growth and productivity in advanced economies such as the UK. Their conversation ends with a discussion about the sustainability of the US economic boom and the risks associated with the potential bubble in the US stock market.
Before founding Longview Economics, Chris started his career at Cazenove in 1994. Prior to that, he trained at KPMG in London.
9 Dec 2024
Macro Minds #4: Inside Westminster - understanding the mechanics of UK power and policymaking, with James Nation
Kallum Pickering welcomes James Nation, Managing Director at Forefront Advisers for UK Politics and a part-time lecturer in comparative politics at Stanford University. They deep-dive into the practical aspects of UK policymaking and how power is distributed between the various branches of government and the civil service. Comparing differences between US and UK, they look at how checks and balances can succeed or fail to keep governments on track. The discussion ends with a look at the lessons from how the UK managed through the recent period of unusual shocks – Brexit, COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Prior to joining Forefront Advisers, James was Deputy Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and special adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
29 Oct 2024
Macro Minds #3: US election special - assessing the economic policies of Trump and Harris, with Mickey Levy
Kallum Pickering welcomes Dr. Mickey Levy, Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, long-standing member of the Shadow Open Market Committee and Wall Street Journal contributor. They discuss the economic policy proposals of US presidential candidates Kamala Harris (Democrat) and Donald Trump (Republican) ahead of the 5 November election and their potential economic and financial market impacts. They also discuss the outlook and policy challenges facing the US Federal Reserve.
Dr. Levy started his career at the Congressional Budget Office and American Enterprise Institute, and for many years was Chief Economist at Bank of America, followed by Berenberg Capital Markets. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of New York and has previously served on the Panel of Economic Advisors to the Federal Reserve of New York, as well as the Advisory Panel of the Office of Financial Research.
15 Oct 2024
Macro Minds #2: Why Britain has stagnated, with Sam Bowman
Kallum Pickering welcomes Sam Bowman, co-author of 'Foundations - why Britain has stagnated'. They discuss the causes of Britain's economic malaise, how the fixes are mostly obvious and why price signals hold the key to guiding the necessary policy solutions.
Sam Bowman is a founding editor of Works in Progress. Previously, he was director of competition policy at the International Center for Law & Economics, a principal at Fingleton, and executive director of the Adam Smith Institute.
26 Sept 2024
Macro Minds #1: Making Sense of the US Economy, with Claudia Sahm
Kallum Pickering welcomes Claudia Sahm to discuss the current state of the US economy, why this time is different for her ‘Sahm Rule’, policy challenges facing the US Federal Reserve, positive technology shocks, and the economic implications of the US election.
Claudia Sahm is Chief Economist at New Century Advisors and a former Federal Reserve economist. She is the creator of the Sahm Rule, a key recession indicator for the US economy.
Inside a recent episode
Macro Minds #15: A Conversation with Robert Jenrick
Published 5 Jul 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] Within energy, as I said earlier, our approach is pretty simple. We don't think we have to second-guess the market. We want to let the market get out and deliver energy. We want to have a diverse energy mix. We don't believe in subsidising renewables. By and large, maybe some exceptions, but by and large, it should wash its face if it's commercially sustainable. competitive, then let the sector get on and do it. But we do want to make sure that we have the simplest regulatory framework we possibly can. So if we're going to go and build small nuclear reactors, let's get as close as we possibly can to the South Korean regulatory framework that's imported in whole or in part into the UK as swiftly as possible so we can build those out as quickly as we can. […]
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