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Episode details

Radio 4,14 Mar 2007,30 mins

Politicians and Politics in British Media – Trading Pits

Thinking Allowed

Available for over a year

POLITICIANS & POLITICS IN BRITISH MEDIA Laurie Taylor talks to Professor Stephen Coleman, author of a new paper entitled Beyond the Westminster Wing, The Depiction of Politicians and Politics in British Soaps, about his research showing the extent of Britain’s distaste for its politicians. They are joined by Professor Greg Philo to discuss whether our elected representatives really as are as untrustworthy as we think they are. TRADING PITS From New York to Singapore, From Chicago to London the centuries old cultures of the financial world’s trading markets are dissolving in the ether of the digital age. The pit is being replaced by the computer. Former share dealer turned anthropologist, Caitlin Zaloom takes Laurie Taylor on an investigation of the arcane rites of a dying world. Using her first hand experiences as a clerk and a trader to gain access to the key sites of global finances she has anatomised the transformation of financial cultures in her social study, Out of The Pits. Caitlin explains how people and places are responding to the digital transition.

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