Cambridge Advanced English listening practice

Enel, Italy’s state-owned power company, was one of Europe’s largest coal users and polluters. Now it is recognized as a leader in renewable energy services. How did it engineer that monumental change? Mark Kramer discusses how CEO Francesco Starace’s vision of sustainability drove innovation and fostered a completely new enterprise around developing and promoting renewable energy.

How a Coal Polluter Became a Renewable Energy Leader

In between the resignations and the reshuffles, what have we learned about about where Brexit will go next? Much of the focus has been on the response to the deal the prime minister reached with her cabinet at Chequers, but what was in the deal itself? How practical is the government’s position on Brexit? And what are the alternatives?

Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by Marley Morris, senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, and Andrew Pendleton, NEF's director of policy and advocacy.

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

Produced by James Shield.

Music by Anamorphic Orchestra and Podington Bear used under Creative Commons licence.

The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the UK's only people powered think tank. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

Weekly Economics Podcast

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Brexit: what next?

Bob Inglis, former U.S. Representative for South Carolina and Executive Director of republicEn.,org, will be talking with Gina McCarthy, Director of Harvard C-CHANGE, on Tuesday, October 2, 2018. Watch the webcast to learn about bipartisan, effective policies that can enacted to confront a pressing challenge facing the world – climate change.

How to Increase Bipartisan Leadership on Climate Change

Is it time to throw out the creative director and rely on big data to predict what consumers want to wear next? Assistant Professor Ayelet Israeli discusses how Gap CEO Art Peck considers this bold idea to boost sales.

Could Big Data Replace the Creative Director at the Gap?

If tech pioneer and Numenta CEO Donna Dubinsky doesn’t fear the Terminator, neither should we

Don’t Be Afraid of AI - Donna Dubinsky

The Dallas Mavericks’ New CEO Is Cleaning Up a #MeToo Mess: When Mark Cuban needed help, he turned to Cynthia Marshall. Featured in the Good Business Issue of Bloomberg Businessweek, Dec. 24, 2018.

How to Clean Up a #MeToo Mess, Read Aloud

International pressure is mounting on the dictatorial regime of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. As he hints at negotiations with a resurgent opposition, we ask how the country’s citizens make ends meet amid the misery. A striking American indictment will make the China trade talks that start today even more tense than last time. And, why is it getting easier to get good-quality Indian food in the truck stops of America? Additional music: Cylinder Five by Chris Zabriskie.

The Intelligence: This is not a coup

As progress appears to have been made in peace talks between America and the Taliban, the Senate urges the Trump administration not to rush for the door in Afghanistan. Origami might be pretty, but it hides great scientific potential; it’s starting to show up in all kinds of new technologies. And, our obituaries editor discusses the career of master accordionist Marcel Azzola, and how lives can be celebrated in writing.

The Intelligence: Be careful on the way out

After America and Russia pull out out of a cold war-era weapons treaty, we examine the picture of global stability without it. Our China columnist visits with members of the Hui, a repressed Muslim minority spread throughout the country. And Europe launches a system to combat fake-medicines—an expansive and expensive project that few think is necessary.

The Intelligence: Weapons redrawn

In Syria the few remaining Islamic State fighters are hemmed in. The caliphate’s territory may be diminished, but the idea will live on. A Valentine’s Day look at the digital dating market reveals the protocols and pitfalls of online matchmaking. And the derailment of an attempt by India’s railway minister to tout a new high-speed line.

IS this the end? Islamic State’s last stand

Seven parliamentarians have split from Britain’s opposition Labour party. That could change the calculus of Brexit, and just might be the nucleus of a new movement. There’s a little-noticed shift in the relationship between Islam and the West; a new generation is lighting the way. And our Russia editor has a bit of a hobby—one that puts him at the nexus of language, drama and truth.

Labour’s love lost: British politics

Muhammad bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, is on a tour of Asia, striking deals and trying to polish his image. But is his a stabilising force in the region? Every year as much as a quarter of the global corporate-tax bill is avoided—legally. We examine efforts to recoup that money. And, we speak to Nadine Labaki, the first Arab woman up for a feature-film Oscar.

Prince on tour: Muhammad bin Salman

The Vatican is hosting a high-profile meeting on child abuse by the clergy. It’s a topic that has been woefully overlooked, and one that threatens to define the tenure of Pope Francis. We visit the world’s largest building, in the city of Chengdu. Inside there’s a giant wave pool, thirty thousand workers, free cats—and a glimpse of the state of China’s economy. And, an effort to resurrect the native language of Hawaii has brought unexpected benefits.

Sins of the fathers: the Vatican and child abuse

Venezuela is in dire need of humanitarian aid, and Juan Guaidó, the interim president, has pledged to deliver it tomorrow. Will Nicolás Maduro, the dictatorial leader still formally in power, let him? Ahead of Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders, we look back on a half-century’s-worth of wisdom from the “Sage of Omaha”. And in Japan, longer lives are leading to more books by and for the elderly.

Alms held up: Venezuela

It’s been another brutal week for Britain’s prime minister as her deal to leave Europe was swatted down comprehensively—again. As a delay to Brexit looks likely, we ask what all the chaos reveals about how Brexit will ultimately play out. Ahead of global climate protests by schoolchildren, we examine how a proposal regarding geoengineering—radically reversing the effects of climate change—reflects coming squabbles over regulating the approaches. And, why is it so difficult to open an Irish pub in Ireland?

Can't deal with it: Brexit

This seminar was given on April 1, 2019 by Raghuram Rajan, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (2013-2016) as part of M-RCBG's weekly Business & Government Seminar Series.

Transcript: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/mrcbg/files/Raghuram%20Rajan%20on%20How%20Markets%20_%20The%20State%20Leave%20Community%20Behind.pdf

Raghuram Rajan on How Markets & The State Leave Community Behind

Having seemingly exhausted options within her own party, Prime Minister Theresa May is now trying to strike an EU divorce deal with Jeremy Corbyn, the head of the opposition. We profile the hard-left Labour leader. This weekend marks 25 years since one of history’s most horrifying campaigns of slaughter; our correspondent reflects on Rwanda, then and now. And, a prominent scientist seeks a molecule that confers all of the fun of alcohol, but none of the risks.

Theresa looks left: Brexit negotiations

Britain now has a new Brexit deadline: the end of October. But those negotiations magnified divisions within the European Union that Brexit is revealing—and causing. We visit one of the Chinese towns whose governments are running social experiments, rating people and businesses on their trustworthiness. And, a chat with Dame Stephanie Shirley, a pioneering programmer since before it was a male-dominated field.

Brussels’ doubts: another Brexit delay

The world’s largest democratic exercise is under way. Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks likely to win on a divisive platform about Hindu nationalism and Pakistani aggression—even if those aren’t voters’ biggest concerns. Social-media companies are increasingly under the microscope of regulators; we take a look at the seemingly intractable problem of policing online content. And, pole-dancing is trying to shed its seedy image. But can it also develop into a global sport?

Modi’s operandi: India’s enormous election

Negotiations to end the trade war have been ruffled as the Trump administration again ramped up tariffs. But even if a deal is struck, that won’t address serious systemic troubles in the countries’ relationship. Many diets rely on simply counting calories, but the truth is that the scientific-sounding measure is mightily misleading. And, as Uber goes public, we take an instructive ride through historic disruptions of the taxi industry.

Cambridge Advanced English listening practice

María J.