It was a privilege to the guest on this live episode of the acclaimed podcast A Long Time In Finance with Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins at the Library of Mistakes.
This was the first episode of ALTIF since it came under the “umbrella” of the Library of Mistakes, established by Russell Napier in 2014 and located on Edinburgh’s Melville Street Lane.
The live podcast event was heard in front of a packed house — roughly 100 people — on Thursday 25 September, approximately five weeks after James Graham’s play, Make It Happen was staged the Edinburgh International Festival (1-9 August).
Make It Happen , a satirical play written by James Graham, directed by Andrew Panton, starring Brian Cox as the ghost of Adam Smith and Sandy Grierson as disgraced RBS boss Fred Goodwin, exploring the 2008 financial crash and featuring a “Greek chorus” of sharp-suited bankers, was one the main hits of the 2025 Edinburgh International Festival.
Among other things, in the podcast, we discussed Make It Happen, the upbringing and character of its anti-hero Fred Goodwin, the evolution of banking, and who was really to blame for Royal Bank of Scotland’s 2008 collapse. There was also lively Q&A at the end.
For an audio-only version of the podcast episode click on podfollow or the A Long Time In Finance home page