The Shepheard-Walwyn Podcast

Conversations With An Economic Hitman with John Perkins

In this special episode, Shepheard-Walwyn host Jonathan Brown sits down with John Perkins, a former Economic Hitman and gets the conversation going by breaking down the political system of our generation. The four pillars of that system: fear, debt, scarcity, and divide-and-conquer- show how political messaging can be engineered to keep populations anxious, dependent, and easy to manipulate.John explains how debt can be used as a tool of control, why GDP can be misleading as a measure of prosperity, how patronage and corruption are normalised, and how international arrangements like the Saudi petrodollar system were structured to keep wealth and power flowing in one direction. He argues that real change starts by changing perception, stepping beyond fear, and asking better questions about work, value, and the kind of future we want to build.
 
John Perkins official website: https://johnperkins.org
The Art of the Steal: https://www.johnperkins.org/art-of-the-steal
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (3rd updated edition): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523001895?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback
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Real Choices for Ireland with Emer Ó Siochrú

In this episode, Jonathan Brown speaks with Emer Ó Siochrú — architect, valuer, surveyor, and co-author of The Fair Tax — about why land sits at the centre of Ireland’s housing crisis, inequality, and long-term economic future.They unpack what a site value tax actually is, why it differs from a standard property tax, and why Emer believes land reform remains one of the most important and misunderstood political questions in Ireland.
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Common Wealth The Movie with Kane Guglielmi

In this episode of the Shepheard-Walwyn Podcast, Jonathan Brown is joined by filmmaker Kane Guglielmi to discuss Common Wealth, a new documentary movie exploring happiness, housing, natural resources, community, and the economic systems shaping modern life. Kane shares the personal story behind the film, from his experience during the COVID pandemic and a severe mental health struggle to travelling across Norway, Singapore, and Alaska in search of better alternatives for modern society. The movie aims to stay politically neutral, explain why community matters, and show how the tour is designed to spark real-world conversations.
Find out more about the film and screenings at: www.commonwealthfilm.com
 
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Making Ecocide an International Crime with Jojo Mehta

The biggest legal gap in history isn't about human rights, but the rights of the Earth itself.
In this episode, Shepheard-Walwyn host Jonathan Brown sits down with Jojo Mehta, co-founder of Stop Ecocide International, to celebrate the life and legacy of the late Polly Higgins, the barrister who gave up her career and sold her home to become a lawyer for the planet.
Polly believed that ecocide, mass destruction of the natural world, deserved a place alongside genocide and war crimes as an international crime. Polly's vision is now a global legal movement reshaping international law.
Jojo reveals how this movement has grown from grassroots activism to UN diplomacy, why some of the world's smallest nations are leading the charge, and how Polly's final book, Dare to Be Great, challenges every one of us to find our unique purpose and use it.
 
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Find Jojo and the latest projects on: https://www.stopecocide.earth/jojo-mehta-profile
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Cheating: The Human Project and Its Betrayal with Fred Harrison

In this special episode, Shepheard-Walwyn host Jonathan Brown interviews one of our best-selling authors, Fred Harrison, to mark the launch of his new book, Cheating, which argues modern civilisation was built on an ancient betrayal in which leaders diverted economic rent for self-interest, creating an irresponsible social system that persists today. Fred defines rent as the surplus over basic needs that once powered human evolution, then links today’s “four plus one” crises—political paralysis, ecological breakdown, migration, autocracy, and AI—to the ongoing capture of rent. He forecasts a severe global downturn around 2028 as the current 18-year cycle ends, worsened by post-2008 policies and AI-driven job losses. He describes regional deprivation in the UK as deadly, calls for indicting the culture of cheating, proposes “one world rent” to incentivise cooperation, warns that AI may scale corrupt values, and urges an informed public conversation to reform human empathy and the economic system for the greater good.
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The Story of Fred Harrison

In this biographical episode, Jonathan Brown interviews bestselling author Fred Harrison about his life and work, leading up to his forthcoming book, Cheating.This conversation traced back how Fred Harrison recounts a rootless childhood across Cyprus, Germany, England, and Singapore that shaped his global perspective and drive to understand what unites humanity. He then explains how studying Henry George’s economics led him to leave Fleet Street, develop the 18-year property cycle thesis, forecast major recessions, critique rent-seeking, and reflect on failures to reform systems in Britain and Russia, culminating in a broader cultural and psychological argument for systemic change.
 
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Edi Bilimoria - Consciousness Came First

Jonathan Brown welcomes returning author and concert pianist/engineer Edi Bilimoria to discuss his new book, “Consciousness Came First,” an 80,000-word root-and-branch restatement (not merely an abridgement) of his 660,000-word, four-volume “Unfolding Consciousness,” which won the 2022 Grand Prize from the Scientific and Medical Network. Edi explains the need for a more accessible volume and his central claim that consciousness is fundamental and expressed through the brain rather than produced by it, using analogies like electricity and the pianist/piano. He also critiques scientism, argues the “hard problem” can’t be solved by intellect alone, outlines levels of the human being, discusses AI as simulation without awareness, and shares views on death, terminal lucidity, and after-death states, emphasising inner treasures and spiritual evolution.
 
Visit Edi’s website: https://edibilimoria.com/
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The Invention of Shareholder Value with Sean Delehanty

In this episode, Jonathan Brown interviews historian and author Sean Delahanty about his book Company Men: The Invention of Shareholder Value and the Splintering of the American Economy. 
 
Sean explains how dispersed ownership and weak accountability fueled debates over corporate purpose, from New Deal-era corporate social responsibility to 1960s conglomerates and their collapse. He traces how Milton Friedman’s critique, the Efficient Markets Hypothesis, and Jensen and Meckling’s “nexus of contracts” theory helped legitimise shareholder value and hostile takeovers in the 1980s, framing raids as a means of freeing “free cash flow.” 
 
We explore how shifts in economic theory radically reshaped the American economy and fueled massive accounting scandals such as WorldCom.
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Mark Brickhill: How to Turn Around a Failing Company

In this episode of the Shepheard-Walwyn Podcast, Jonathan Brown sits down with business leader Mark Brickhill to explore what’s really going wrong in modern business—and how to fix it.
From his early career at Procter & Gamble to turning around major companies like Goodyear and Turtle Wax, Mark shares hard-earned lessons on leadership, integrity, and why “doing the right thing” still matters—especially when it costs millions.
This is a powerful conversation about values, trust, and what it takes to build businesses that actually last.
 
Find Mark on https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-brickhill-40b3862/
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