#21 Shoaib Akhtar: The Battle for Britain's Financial Soul

It took the humiliation of enemy ships raiding the Medway River in Kent to shake the political establishment into urgency in June 1667. During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, Britain* realised that in order stand a chance against its enemy it had to replicate the Dutch ability to source low cost financing. Ship building was expensive and time consuming after all. Thus the City of London was born.Do we need another Medway humiliation to shake us out of our stupor or can that be avoided? For my latest episode, I sat down with Shoaib Akhtar to discuss his recently published book The Great British Disconnect: A Nation That Stood By as the City Sold Its Soul.He examines multiple causes ranging from the cultural - for instance the loss of civic duty and an entrenched fear of risk taking - to the institutional - a wholesale abandonment of the UK economy from our fiduciary overlords.I got a taste of some of the practical solutions that Shoaib thankfully has thought through and outlined in detail in his book. If followed, they could instigate a mindset shift to revive the City’s soul which was born out of necessity, urgency, and an embrace with risk.We also discussed his writing process and what drove him to not only put pen to paper but to see it through.His passion on this issue was the key driving force and it permeated our conversation. You can buy a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-British-Disconnect-Nation-Stood/dp/B0FC5XNXWCThis podcast was produced by https://www.thisismattcooper.com/ with music composed by Loverman.