In partnership with the LRB
In the week Trump tours Asia and with the Paradise Papers shining a light on tax avoidance, we talk about what's really going on: from the Mueller investigation to the latest developments in Saudi Arabia, and from Lithuania to Lebanon, we try to connect the dots. With Jason Sharman, author of The Despot's Guide to Wealth Management, historian Andrew Preston, Helen Thompson and Aaron Rapport.
After some Tory politicians have started asking for details of what lecturers are saying about Brexit, we're joined this week by regular panellist Chris Bickerton to talk about what it's like being a pro-Brexit academic in an anti-Brexit university. Plus we catch up with Helen Thompson and Chris Brooke on where they think the Brexit negotiations have reached and what chance they see of a successful outcome. We also revisit Catalonia to discuss the latest developments there. Is Madrid winning, and what might that mean for the EU?
David talks to writer and philosopher John Gray about pretty much everything, from the Corbyn cult to the craziness of cryogenics. John tells us how to make the connections between technology, populism and religion and he explains why the worst may be still to come. Plus we ask whether democracy is really finished. A conversation about the big stuff, recorded in the stationery cupboard at the London Review of Books.
In honour of Hillary Clinton's visit to the UK, we talk about some of the might-have-beens of recent politics. Where would we be now if Theresa May hadn't called an election, if Clinton had beaten Trump, if Brexit had never happened? Would things be a whole lot better or might they be even worse? With Helen Thompson and Chris Brooke.
As the face-off between Madrid and Barcelona continues, we explore how this happened and where it might end. Marc Weller, chair of the independent commission on Catalan independence, explains the legal background and historian Brendan Simms sets out what is at stake for European politics. Could this be the crisis that brings the whole thing crashing down? With Helen Thompson and Chris Brooke.
Jeremy Corbyn claims that Labour now represents the political mainstream. Is that really true? Where does it leave the Tories? What can Theresa May do about it? We trawl the data to try to find the elusive centre ground of British politics. Plus we ask whether mainstream regional politicians like Ruth Davidson and Sadiq Khan can speak for the whole of the UK. If they can't, who on earth can? With Mike Kenny, Professor of Public Policy at Cambridge, and Helen Thompson.