Stuff Matters with Ed Conway

It's a story that spans continents and centuries, taking in corporate empires and CIA-backed coups and it's all about bananas. Could Britain's favourite fruit be wiped out?
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They're cheap, convenient and available in every supermarket, every day of the year. Most of us barely give them a second thought.
But behind the humble banana lies one of the most extraordinary stories in the modern economy, and one of the most remarkable supply chains ever created.
Ed Conway follows the fruit's journey from vast plantations in Latin America to a giant ripening warehouse outside Coventry, uncovering a hidden world of global trade, technological innovation and corporate power.
Do you have any thoughts about the episode or questions for Ed? Email us at stuffmatters@sky.uk and maybe we'll feature your email in an upcoming Q&A episode!
Sky News Insider requires a paid subscription and is available to UK listeners aged 18 and over. Find out more and subscribe at skynews.com/stuffmatters
The Stuff Matters series producer is Jake Otajovic. The production team includes assistant producer Valeria Rocca, specialist producer Aoife Yourell, and video producer Charlie Bell. Our bonus episodes are produced by Soila Apparicio. The editor is Philly Beaumont, and the commissioning editor is Paul Stanworth. Sound design and mixing by Luke Hatten. Original music for the series composed by Klong and Ed Conway.

That satisfying snap when you close an AirPods case is powered by one of the most important materials in the modern world.
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Hidden inside are tiny magnets made from rare earth elements: obscure minerals that help power everything from smartphones and wind turbines to fighter jets and electric cars. They're also at the centre of one of the biggest geopolitical struggles of our time.
In this episode, Ed Conway follows the story of rare earths from an obscure Swedish town and the Manhattan Project to modern China, where decades of industrial strategy have given Beijing extraordinary control over a resource the rest of the world depends on.
Along the way, he explores the strange economics of rare earth mining, the environmental costs hidden behind modern technology, and the growing fear that global supply chains can be turned into weapons.
Do you have any thoughts about the episode or questions for Ed? Email us at stuffmatters@sky.uk and maybe we'll feature your email in an upcoming Q&A episode!
Sky News Insider requires a paid subscription and is available to UK listeners aged 18 and over. Find out more and subscribe at skynews.com/stuffmatters.
The Stuff Matters series producer is Jake Otajovic. The production team includes assistant producer Valeria Rocca, specialist producer Aoife Yourell, and video producer Charlie Bell. Our bonus episodes are produced by Soila Apparicio. The editor is Philly Beaumont, and the commissioning editor is Paul Stanworth. Sound design and mixing by Luke Hatten. Original music for the series composed by Klong and Ed Conway.

A flashing wristband at an NFL game sends Ed Conway down an unexpected economic rabbit hole.
To listen without ads, get new episodes a week early, exclusive bonus episodes and much more, become a Sky News Insider. Find out more and subscribe at skynews.com/stuffmatters.
LEDs were supposed to be one of the great technological and environmental success stories: a revolutionary technology that uses a fraction of the energy of traditional light bulbs. But is that what they've become? Or are they just an example of humankind’s insatiable desire for stuff? After all - we’ve just started lighting up more of the world than ever before.
Ed’s journey takes us from a small chemical factory in rural Japan where inventor Shuji Nakamura spent years battling explosions in pursuit of the world's first blue LED, all the way to Victorian Britain and the economist William Stanley Jevons whose ideas still shape the way we think about energy and consumption today.
Along the way, Ed explores one of the biggest questions in economics and climate policy: The Jevons Paradox. When technology becomes more efficient, do we actually use less of it, or simply find new ways to consume more?
Do you have any thoughts about the episode or questions for Ed? Email us at stuffmatters@sky.uk and maybe we'll feature your email in an upcoming Q&A episode!
Sky News Insider requires a paid subscription and is available to UK listeners aged 18 and over. Find out more and subscribe at skynews.com/stuffmatters.
The Stuff Matters series producer is Jake Otajovic. The production team includes assistant producer Valeria Rocca, specialist producer Aoife Yourell, and video producer Charlie Bell. Our bonus episodes are produced by Soila Apparicio. The editor is Philly Beaumont, and the commissioning editor is Paul Stanworth. Sound design and mixing by Luke Hatten. Original music for the series composed by Klong and Ed Conway.

In Stuff Matters, Ed Conway takes an object, cracks it open and reveals the world shaping forces hidden inside.
Each episode follows a trail of ideas that stretches beyond the object itself, uncovering far reaching economic powers that shape how we live.
Along the way, Ed meets fascinating characters, from brilliant inventors to Latin American revolutionaries. He dives into their personal stories and reveals how they’ve changed the course of industries and economies.
Because when you look closely enough, even the simplest things turn out to matter more than you think.

The Transport Secretary's to meet the UK's air traffic control boss after dozens of flights were cancelled yesterday following a technical glitch. Darren McCaffrey speaks to Surinder Arora - who runs hotels at airports - about options to increase capacity in the south east.

New US tariffs kick in tomorrow, with no sign of a deal for South Korea, Taiwan or Canada. Matthew Oresman from Pilsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman discusses the possible outcomes.

Plus, Darren speaks to Steve Sayer, general manager of the 02 in east London, as the venue celebrates it's most successful first half-year ever in its 18-year history.