Grand theft global: the business of street crime
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2025
⏱️ ? minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Car and phone theft were once the preserve of petty crooks in London. Now they underpin a vast and spreading international criminal network. Why you should consider consulting a new oracle for making big life decisions: an economist. And the cult of the private chef.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The future is unpredictable at times, that the open university are the experts in distance learning, allowing you to fit study around your life. |
| 0:11.3 | What's more, you'll have support from dedicated tutors every step of the way. |
| 0:16.1 | Now, suddenly your possibilities are open. |
| 0:20.2 | Registered by the 5th of September to get started |
| 0:22.5 | The Open University |
| 0:26.6 | The Future is Open |
| 0:28.3 | The Economist. |
| 0:46.2 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:47.3 | I'm Rosie Bloor. |
| 0:48.5 | And I'm Jason Palmer. |
| 0:53.1 | Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:59.6 | Who do you consult when making big life decisions? |
| 1:03.6 | Whether to take a new job, who to marry, time to get pregnant? |
| 1:08.7 | Well, our correspondent would like to encourage you to consider a new Oracle for an annual checkup. |
| 1:09.6 | Your economist will see you now. |
| 1:13.5 | And you know what I'd do if I hit the lottery? I'd get a snazzy private chef, |
| 1:18.8 | partly as teacher, but mostly just to feed newly rich, newly lazy me. It'd be easy to find one, |
| 1:25.7 | too. They're plastered all over social media, spilling the |
| 1:29.0 | secrets of other lazy rich folk. But first... On a sunny day a few weeks ago, I visited the port of Felixstowe, about an hour east of London. |
| 1:49.9 | It's Britain's busiest port, 11,000 containers pass through it each day. And the whole area around |
| 1:56.2 | it is a maze of industrial units and packing facilities, with giant stacks of containers and |
| 2:01.7 | lorries bustling to and throw. |
... |
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