Listen to History

Big European Electricity Utilities Are Facing An Existential Crisis. How Did This Happen And What Should They Do?

For most consumers, the revolution that is taking place in the energy markets has been hidden from view. They still get…

Part 1 17 min Narration Queue

Cassandra: Time To Give Up On Predicting Climate Change?

Most History Future Now readers will be familiar with Homer’s epic of the Iliad, written about 2,800 years ago. Few will…

Part 1 5 min Narration Queue

Dealing With The Consequences Of Climate Change Inaction: The Impact Of Food

In a previous article History Future Now admitted defeat: climate change is happening and there is no viable political s…

Part 1 9 min Narration Queue

Establishing A Price Floor For Energy

Capitalism is a wonderful system for providing pricing signals to businesses to produce more or less of a particular pro…

Part 1 12 min Narration Queue

Green Is Not Red, But Blue: Environmentalism And The Mystery Of Right Wing Opposition

Conservatives are rightly suspicious of environmentalists. By 1992, with Reagan, Thatcher and the end of the Cold War, s…

Part 1 8 min Narration Queue

Roots: A Historical Understanding Of Climate Change Denial, Creationism And Slavery – 1629-1775

What do black slavery, creationism and climate change denial all have in common? In the US, at least, a biblical justifi…

Part 1 13 min Narration Queue

The immorality of climate change, a reflection on slavery and the Civil War

Today, few people look back upon African slavery in the Americas as a good thing. There are no rousing speeches defendin…

Part 1 7 min Narration Queue

The renewables and battery revolution. What history teaches us about the future.

The advent of cheap renewable energy and battery storage has already started to change the world. It is not an exaggerat…

Part 1 33 min Narration Queue

Vertical Farming: The Electrical Convergence of Power, Transport and Agriculture

The COP26 climate conference held in November 2021 reiterated the need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to net…

Part 1 11 min Narration Queue

Who Are The Losers In The Energy Revolution?

If you own shares in energy companies that do not focus on solar energy, you should consider selling now. Steal a march…

Part 1 12 min Narration Queue

Why Land Deals In Africa Could Make The Great Irish Famine A Minor Event

Some of you may have noticed some land deals in Africa being announced in the press over the past few years. The stories…

Part 1 12 min Narration Queue

China Has Many Of The Characteristics Of An Emerging Colonial Power. How Does It Compare Historically?

History Future Now had dinner a few years back with two Kenyans of Indian origin. Indian-Kenyans make up less than 1% of…

Part 2 12 min Narration Queue

Crisis: Or An Explanation On The Origins Of The Decline Of The West

Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus was written in 1592 and was based on an earlier German work about Dr Faustus,…

Part 2 50 min Narration Queue

Europe Rearms: Why The Continent That Invented Total War Is Spending €800 Billion On Defence

In 1932, Germany spent less than 1% of GDP on its military. By 1939, that figure was 23%. The transformation took just s…

Part 2 24 min Narration Queue

Forging Peace: From Centuries of War to Ukraine's Future

For centuries, war has been a brutal constant in human affairs, with nations locked in cycles of conquest and revenge th…

Part 2 16 min Narration Queue

Hinkley Point Decision Is Really About China And Brexit

Much ink has been spilled about why Prime Minister May’s new Conservative government should not have approved the £18bn…

Part 2 13 min Narration Queue

Rome Vs. Persia And The Transfer Of Strategic Technologies To China

China is a master at forcing western companies to hand over critical intellectual property in exchange for short term ac…

Part 2 7 min Narration Queue

The North African Threat And Mediterranean Reunification

North Africa does not appear to be a military and political threat to the European Union. Why should it? In the last few…

Part 2 22 min Narration Queue

The Rise of the West Was Based on Luck. That Has Run Out.

Many Westerners fret about the relative decline of the West. For over 500 years, since the successful conquest of the Am…

Part 2 30 min Narration Queue

The Scramble For The Solar System: Why The Next Colonial Race Has Already Begun

SpaceX is building Starship production lines at scale. China plans a permanent lunar base by 2030. NASA's Artemis progra…

Part 2 15 min Narration Queue

The War in Ukraine: Escalation, Miscalculation, and the Path to Peace

The war in Ukraine, which began with Russia's invasion in February 2022, has brought the world to a dangerous crossroads…

Part 2 26 min Narration Queue

The West’s romance with Free Trade is ending. Why?

Donald Trump is marching the US into a trade war with China. Markets are rattled. China is rattled. American companies a…

Part 2 12 min Narration Queue

What Happens When China Becomes The Largest Economy In The World?

According to the OECD , China is due to overtake the US economy as the largest in the world in three years. By 2030 it p…

Part 2 7 min Narration Queue

Why China Could Invade Taiwan – And Get Away With It

The story of how the Republic of China became Taiwan and its relationship with mainland China is fascinating. How many p…

Part 2 8 min Narration Queue

Why Do We Need The Military? Securing Energy Supplies And Trade Routes

History Future Now examines our military expenditure and asks two basic questions: first, what is the purpose of the mil…

Part 2 15 min Narration Queue

A Lost Generation: Why The Personal Story Of The Beautiful Yulia Is Also Our Story

Many years ago HFN spent a wonderful day in the company of a beautiful Russian woman. She had a warm smile and long legs…

Part 3 17 min Narration Queue

Debt Jubilees And Hyperinflation – Why History Shows That This Might Be The Way Forward For Us All

Government debt levels in the United States, the European Union and in Japan are at all time historic highs. After decad…

Part 3 8 min Narration Queue

Jobs: First, Get Rid Of Expensive Westerners. Second, Get Rid Of People Entirely

Why do so many Western politicians and economists promote a trading system that increases Western unemployment levels an…

Part 3 12 min Narration Queue

Keynes And Hayek Are Both Dead, And Wrong

Despite the fact that both John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich August Hayek are dead, their ideas are very much alive toda…

Part 3 19 min Narration Queue

Robotics And Slavery

Rapid advancements in humanoid robotics and artificial intelligence are bringing us closer to a reality once confined to…

Part 3 36 min Narration Queue

The Fusion of Revolutionary Technologies: Unlocking Humanity's Greatest Transformation

Platform technologies are the foundational building blocks that serve as springboards for a vast array of new products,…

Part 3 46 min Narration Queue

The New Literacy: How AI Is Killing The Scribes And What Happens Next

For five thousand years, if you could not write, you hired a scribe. If you could not code, you hired a developer. AI ha…

Part 3 20 min Narration Queue

The Paradox of Mass Migration and Robots in the Age of Automation

We stand at a pivotal juncture in human history, facing two seemingly contradictory narratives about the future of work…

Part 3 17 min Narration Queue

The Perils of Prediction: Lessons from History on Navigating an Uncertain Future

Can we truly predict the future, or are we destined to repeat the mistakes of the past? This question has captivated min…

Part 3 26 min Narration Queue

The Return of the State Factory: Why Nations That Forgot How To Make Things Are Remembering

In February 2026, the United States signed a trade deal with Taiwan that included $250 billion in semiconductor investme…

Part 3 13 min Narration Queue

The Robot Bargain: How AI Will Save Ageing Nations From The Immigration Trap

Microsoft's AI chief predicts virtually all white-collar tasks will be automated within 18 months. South Korea's fertili…

Part 3 16 min Narration Queue

Where Are All The Jobs Going? Lessons From The First Industrial Revolution. And 150 Years Of Pain.

In a world which is seeing a simultaneous increase in the capabilities of robots and artificial intelligence with the ca…

Part 3 9 min Narration Queue

Why Buying Cheap Imported Products Is More Expensive For Individuals And Not Just Society

Why do so many Western politicians and economists promote a trading system that increases Western unemployment levels an…

Part 3 12 min Narration Queue

A Frozen Society: The Long Term Implications Of NSA’s Secrets

History Future Now has been considering the historical and future implications of the NSA files that have been leaked bi…

Part 4 4 min Narration Queue

Are Europeans Fundamentally Racist?

Switzerland has a unique form of democracy which allows for referendums to be held on any issue so long as the proponent…

Part 4 24 min Narration Queue

Clash Of Titans: How The Warrior Ethos And Judeo-Christian Monotheism Shaped The Soul Of The West

The history of Western civilization is often told as a grand narrative of progress, a triumphant march from ancient wisd…

Part 4 67 min Narration Queue

Don't Confuse What Is Legal With What Is Morally Right

Most people think of themselves as being “law abiding” citizens. People admonish those that break the law and feel that…

Part 4 5 min Narration Queue

Emigration: Colonies Of The Mind And Space

Ever since our ancient ancestors walked out of Africa between 125,000 and 60,000 years ago humans have pushed themselves…

Part 4 8 min Narration Queue

History Is Written By The Winners. And Europeans Are Losing.

There are a lot of people to whom the quote "history is written by the winners" is attributed to. Winston Churchill freq…

Part 4 8 min Narration Queue

Is Democracy The Opium Of The Masses?

Winston Churchill famously quipped that “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have b…

Part 4 4 min Narration Queue

Let's Talk About Sex: Does The Separation Of Pleasure And Procreation Mean The End Of People?

Everybody knows that the world’s population has increased dramatically since 1930 – population 2 billion – to today – po…

Part 4 13 min Narration Queue

Prisons: We Never Used To Have Them. Will They Exist In The Future?

Prisons as we know them are relatively new and we can thank Jeremy Bentham’s philosophy of utilitarianism in the 19th ce…

Part 4 4 min Narration Queue

The 150 Year Life: How Radical Longevity Will Transform Our World

In the quest for immortality, humanity has long dreamed of extending the boundaries of life beyond the confines of our c…

Part 4 19 min Narration Queue

The Death Of The Fourth Estate: What The Collapse Of Newspapers Means For Democracy, Power, And Truth

On February 4th 2026, a Washington Post reporter in a warzone in Ukraine learned by text message that she had been laid…

Part 4 26 min Narration Queue

The Empty Cradle Bargain: Why Falling Birth Rates Are Everyone's Problem

On a single street in a Western city, five families have one child and two have two. That is nine children where fifteen…

Part 4 28 min Narration Queue

The Gates of Nations: How Every Civilisation in History Controlled Immigration — Until the West Stopped

For five thousand years, every successful civilisation tightly controlled who could enter, settle, and become a citizen.…

Part 4 16 min Narration Queue

The Great Emptying: How Collapsing Birth Rates Will Reshape Power, Politics And People

In a small town in southern Italy, a school closed last year. Not because of budget cuts. Because there were no children…

Part 4 16 min Narration Queue

The Long Term Impact of Covid 19

The Covid 19 pandemic is a genuinely historical event. Future historians will analyse the period leading up to the outbr…

Part 4 40 min Narration Queue

The Silence Of The Scribes: How Every Civilisation That Controlled Speech Collapsed

In February 2026, India ordered social media platforms to remove content within three hours of a government request. The…

Part 4 13 min Narration Queue

The Unintended Consequences of War: How the Loss of Young Men Transformed Women's Roles in Society and ushered in the Welfare State

Throughout history, war has left an indelible mark on society, transforming the lives of those who survive and reshaping…

Part 4 36 min Narration Queue

What Does It Take To Get Europeans To Have A Revolution?

In an online article about the youth unemployment crisis in Europe and Africa HFN asked a question: “What are all these…

Part 4 63 min Narration Queue

What The History Of Immigration Teaches Us About Europe’s Future

Immigration is a political hot potato. It is hard to talk about it in the West without appearing to be uncaring at best…

Part 4 33 min Narration Queue

Who Benefits From Our Increased Social Fragmentation?

Cable television and satellite radio stations have been praised for providing greater choice and criticised for the frag…

Part 4 5 min Narration Queue

Who Guards The Guards? Bureaucracy, Empire, And The Eternal Struggle To Control The State

Elon Musk's DOGE initiative has identified $215 billion in US government savings and aims for $2 trillion. The EU's regu…

Part 4 13 min Narration Queue

Why God Needs The Government: Multiculturalism Vs Monotheism

HFN looks at the worship of Aton, the first monotheistic religion over 3,350 years ago. We examine how changes in Europe…

Part 4 7 min Narration Queue

Why Is Bisexuality Becoming Mainstream?

Grey’s Anatomy, a TV series set in a Seattle hospital, has a senior female surgeon hopping into bed with a male colleagu…

Part 4 16 min Narration Queue

Why The Nuclear Family Needs To Die, In Order For Us To Live

The concept of a nuclear family is relatively recent – it is first mentioned in The Oxford English Dictionary in 1925 –…

Part 4 9 min Narration Queue