Foreign's roundup of the business or quiz, AKA Bob.

And if you're new to Bob, here's how it works.

We've got a box of cards packed with business terms, phrases, buzzwords, some good, some not so good.

The big question, is it business or is it?

Our guests get these lovely paddles to vote with.

We pick a card, we show it to them, we ask the big question, they give their verdict.

Paddle up, Explore the nation included.

This month we've had a galloping guest lineup.

Alex Edmonds, professor of finance.

Anand Menon, political scientist and cipher artists and Bitcoin advocate.

Right, then, let's get stuck in.

Oh, let's start with a bomb.

Brexit.

I'd unfortunately say this was.

So when it happened, I thought it's not so bad because of the arguments that I'd heard, which is, we can still be free, free trade and immigration, but we're just not going to be biased towards the eu.

But in fact, the way that I think the UK has gone has been bullshit rather than business.

Business.

Big business.

Yeah.

Oh, it is for you, I guess.

Yeah.

Good answer.

Bitcoin.

It's Bitcoin.

It's good.

Brexit is good.

Brexit's good for bitcoin.

Why?

I mean, I voted to remain.

I voted to remain, but my evolving politics has taken me away from that.

Explain why is it good?

Doesn't it not matter to Bitcoin whether we do Brexit or not?

It doesn't matter to Bitcoin.

But as an individual, knowing that there's another layer of government on top of your existence, it's not something I'm on board with.

Okay, let's do Labour, government.

I'd say bullshit right at the moment.

And I'm somebody who's voted for all the three major political parties, so I'm pretty centrist.

But I think to have a budget which is panned by both the Telegraph and the Guardian, you have to be particularly incompetent to have such a bad budget.

And I think their idea that, okay, the way to help the less affluent is to really reduce the more affluent, I think is just a very divisive mentality.

It's not necessarily successful people who are to blame for the plights of those who are less affluent.

Actually, I think successful businesses which give great jobs and which also provide products which improve welfare are good.

This seems to be sort of politics of envy is, I think, behind a lot of what they're doing.

Impartial, Impartial.

Can't possibly say no comment.

No comment.

No comment.

Okay.

Bullshit.

Bullshit.

Not a fan.

Absolutely not.

Why not?

Out of interest?

Any particular reason?

I mean, Sadiq Khan's a cock.

They are.

They're all just bad actors.

Yeah, like actors who are bad, you know, they are not, you know, I don't know what value apart from a lot of lobbying.

I mean, there are a lot of good people in it, don't get me wrong.

I mean, there's a lot.

And I have to check myself to remind myself that we're all just human beings and there are people who think that this is the way to do it.

But when you realize that the system is changing so much and this isn't actually the way that we should be doing this and organizing society anymore, and the fact that to make that change is just not going to be allowed in an easy way, they're just going to bring us problems.

GDPR Oh, I think this is bullshit.

This is something which might be well intentioned, but it causes just so much additional friction to get stuff done.

I do work myself where it involves data and obviously there's certain things that you should not be cavalier with.

But just how much extra stuff this has put on you where it's not actually protecting the people whose data it's trying to protect.

I think it's just a lot of friction, a lot of bureaucracy.

It is bullshit.

Thank you for saying.

I mean, it isn't, but I'm saying it.

I mean, I can see the point of it.

My God, it winds me up.

Yeah, well, that's how I feel about it.

It's a noble cause.

Regulations, you know, you might think they're necessary, but you can still hate them.

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

You can hold both positions easily.

Yeah, easily.

Oh yeah.

What do you feel about that?

I mean, they sent me some emails in one of my previous lives and I just ignored them.

And I would recommend everyone else does the same thing.

Crowdfunding.

You where this is a.

I'd say business.

So I think this is.

This is really good.

Why?

Because it allows people to just go to a wide range of sources of funding.

Also it democratizes it.

And I know that that's a word which is often used as a cliche, but if the only funders were a couple of venture capitalists, then if you're just unlucky and not able to convince those venture capitalists, perhaps it could be just subtle discrimination or some unconscious bias, then you're not going to have your great idea.

But now that crowdfunding is an opportunity, then it's not that you're beholden to the perhaps arbitrary decisions of a couple of venture capitalists.

Business?

Yeah, up to a point, yeah.

Have you been involved in it at all?

I haven't, no, not really.

Why do you say up to a point?

Because I just think some things are just silly and they just become fads.

There's a lot of sort of crowdfunding of legal cases during Brexit that I just thought.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, There was a lot of that.

It's kind of died as an interesting.

Whereas I think, you know, in its pure form, which is.

Here's a good cause I can't find the money for it, you know, your sudden needs an operation, whatever, then.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, it's bitcoin people.

Yeah, Bit of bitcoin lobbying.

Where are you on lobbying?

I'm going to be controversial here and I'll say business, because sometimes.

So it depends on the type of lobbying.

So lobbying could be providing information into a government consultation.

So sometimes it could be that that information is useful.

You might be presenting another side of an argument now.

So it's certainly bullshit if it is based on research where you've paid in order to find a particular outcome.

But I think the principle of being able to provide input into a government consultation itself, itself is good because you're allowed.

It is good to allow for that.

That.

That viewpoint.

Obviously, what you put in should not be misinformation.

And there are cases where you might have tobacco companies which might be.

Which might be funding research to show that tobacco is not harmful, but because the funding is contingent upon having a particular result, that.

That's problematic.

Yeah, I guess we may be lucky in this country.

We haven't reached the extremes of US lobbying.

It's important lobbying because how else can you communicate?

But yeah, it's very.

It's a very loaded word, isn't it?

I mean, weird, the employment bill.

I mean, that's the next thing that they're really going to bring in, this employment bill for entrepreneurs now.

It's just going to be a disaster.

And they've gone and listened to all these businesses and they said, oh, basically every single business says it's a terrible idea to have immediate employment rights and it's going to cause these problems.

But then they said, oh, well, actually, we're not going to listen to any of them because we heard a couple of bad stories.

You know, that narrative is always so irritating, you know, business.

Yeah, yeah, it's important.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lobbying is communicating.

Lobbying is communicating at one end of the spectrum.

I mean, clearly you get to the other end of the spectrum and it's corruption, but as a general phenomenon, it's fine.

Bullshit.

Yeah.

Don't we need someone?

I mean, lobbying's just communicating.

Doesn't someone need to go down, knock on Rachel Reeves door and talk to her?

I mean, I wonder how much Rachel's still doesn't exist.

She's got a door, isn't she?

What if it doesn't exist?

What did you say?

What if.

What if it doesn't exist?

Oh, what if it doesn't exist?

What if there's no one to lobby?

What if we can just coexist peacefully without the need to lobby anyone?

I'm not the only one.

And let's send on one of my only real joys left in my professional life.

Client lunches.

Oh, I'd say absolutely business.

Because this is something where it's about relationships and we can't necessarily just always have those relationships through zoom.

You want to work with people that you trust and you.

You have fun with.

So this is why when I do the interviews for the diversity project, yes, it's easier for me to do this online, but I like to do this in person.

I've thoroughly enjoyed this conversation, and this is one of the rare podcasts where I've done this in person.

So there's a lot to have be had about face to face interaction business.

Yeah, we do those.

Yeah.

Okay.

Excellent.

Nice.

Bitcoin.

Well, now you can't pay with.

Well, maybe you should pay with Coin is a bitcoin restaurant essentially kind of.

Paid for a client lunch around here with some bitcoin tips.

Bitcoin tips.

Stack your stats and stay humble.

And stay humble.

Is that another one of the phrases?

Yeah.

And absolutely.

And this comes back to this thing of knowing that, you know, if you ignore it, you're going to be humbled.

You know, God, I should have made that mistake then.

And what, you're going to keep doubling down on the mistake that you didn't buy some bitcoin?

So it humbles you because nothing stops the bitcoin train.