In partnership with the LRB
With Christmas round the corner, we pick some personal highlights and lowlights from another rollercoaster year of politics. What are our most memorable Trump moments? What stays with us from the UK general election six months on? And, with all the usual caveats, what do we think is coming down the pipe in 2018? With Helen, Aaron, Chris, Chris and David
This week we try to work out who's up and who's down in the great game of European politics. Has May won anything significant in the Brexit deal? Is Merkel any nearer to forming a government? Is Macron the big winner from recent events? Plus we ask what prospect of Martin Schulz getting his United States of Europe, and what chance now of Jeremy Corbyn making it to No 10. With Helen Thompson, Chris Brooke and Chris Bickerton.
This week we talk to Labour MP Jess Phillips about sexism, Twitter and the future of democracy. Has anything changed in Westminster post-Weinstein? What would it take to make parliament more representative? And how can politicians be more relatable? Plus we discuss what Brexit tell us about the biggest social divides in our politics. Jess is the author of Everywoman: One Woman's Truth About Speaking the Truth http://amzn.to/2Ajlqjk
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.
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.
We talk with historian Chris Clark and Helen Thompson about whether German politics is as stable as it seems. With the federal election coming up in a few days, and Angela Merkel seemingly on course for another comfortable victory, we ask what could happen next. Why would a Jamaican coalition be bad for France? What's going on in Bavaria? And is East vs West still the central division in German politics? Plus we catch up with the other general election taking place this weekend - in New Zealand.