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The David McWilliams Podcast

The David McWilliams Podcast

By: David McWilliams & John Davis
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About this listen

The aim of this weekly podcast is to make economics easy, uncomplicated and accessible. With the world at a political, technological and financial tipping point, economics has never been so important to all of us and yet, it’s made inaccessible and complicated by so many.

I’ve always thought what is complicated is rarely important and what is important is rarely complicated.


That will be our motto.


Every week we are going to tease out some big economic or political issue facing us, not just here in Ireland but in Europe and further afield. Globalisation has brought us all together. We all face similar challenges whether you live in Dublin, London, Minnesota or Milan.


If you would like to enjoy all of our content ad-free and have early access to episodes, subscribe to DMCW+ on Apple Podcast.


If you would like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/DavidMcWilliams.

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David McWilliams Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Memoirs of an Arab Jew

    Memoirs of an Arab Jew
    Jun 19 2025

    In this powerful episode recorded at the Dalkey Book Festival, we sit down with Israeli historian Avi Shlaim, whose memoir The Memoirs of an Arab Jew weaves together the personal and political. Born in Baghdad and expelled to Israel, Shlaim dismantles the dominant Zionist narrative and shares a forgotten story: that of the Arab Jews, rooted in the Middle East for millennia, fluent in Arabic, and often alienated in the state built in their name. Shlaim explores British colonial meddling, the legacy of the Holocaust, and what he calls Israel’s transformation from a refuge into a settler-colonial project. He also offers explosive insights into Mossad’s alleged role in the exodus of Iraqi Jews. This is a conversation about historical amnesia, and why the trauma of the past can’t justify injustice in the present.











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    50 mins
  • The Islamic Enlightenment

    The Islamic Enlightenment
    Jun 17 2025
    Tensions in the Middle East are escalating, following Israel’s surprise attack on targets across Iran on Friday, and ensuing strikes between the two powers continued over the weekend. The Muslim world has often been accused of a failure to modernise and adapt. Christopher de Bellaigue disagrees and charts the forgotten story of the Islamic Enlightenment – the social movements, reforms and revolutions that transformed the Middle East from the early nineteenth century to the present day. Modern ideals and practices were embraced across the region, including the adoption of modern medicine, the emergence of women from purdah and the development of democracy. We look behind the sensationalist headlines in order to foster a genuine understanding of Islam and its relationship to the West.

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    47 mins
  • The Hanseatic League: Europe’s First Free Trade Zone

    The Hanseatic League: Europe’s First Free Trade Zone
    Jun 12 2025
    Forget Brussels, the first European Union was built by medieval merchants, not politicians. This week, we dive into the Hanseatic League: a loose alliance of 200 city-states that dominated trade across the Baltic and North Seas for 500 years. They pioneered free trade, built Europe’s first banking networks, and forged a multilateral model that still shapes today’s EU. Their story is also a warning. The League eventually lost out to land-based nation-states, a tension that’s alive again in today’s battles between globalists and nationalists, city-states and populist powers. Along the way, we also explore the unlikely African roots of Russia’s greatest poet, medieval slave routes linking Dublin to Iran (!), and why the architecture of Lutheran cities tells the story of global trade.

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    37 mins
All stars
Most relevant  
Incredible content, so informative and delivered with fantastic energy and humour. A great podcast for anyone interested in Irish, UK and global economics and politics.

Incredibly Interesting and Funny

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The shows are like listening to your smart mates chatting in the pub. So easily informative 👌

With McWilliams economics is entertaining

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Each podcast full of diverse interesting info, interviews from around the world, liberally smattered with informative chats and jests between David and John. My go to podcasts despite no knowledge/ training in economics or anything related!

Favourite podcast

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