In partnership with the LRB
With the help of John Naughton and Jennifer Cobbe we unpick the Cambridge Analytica story and get to the heart of the matter: what is Facebook doing to us and can anything make it stop? We talk about the business of surveillance capitalism and the difference between a scandal and a crisis. Plus how working in tech is like working on the Manhattan Project and how Cambridge Analytica is like the Australian cricket team.
As the world wonders what Vladimir Putin is up to, we ask Bridget Kendall, former BBC correspondent in Moscow. We talk about what really happened in Salisbury, what the masterplan is and whether Putin is succeeding in his goal of splitting the West. Plus we catch up on the latest comings and goings in Washington and ask whether Corbyn's stance on Putin is doing the Labour Party lasting harm. With Aaron Rapport and Helen Thompson.
We talk to George about some of the biggest questions of all: how to make politics better, how to effect meaningful change, how to save the planet. Who is going to make the real difference? Plus we ask whether he's been discombobulated by having Michael Gove as Environment Secretary. Short answer: yes! Recorded as part of the Imagine 2027 project https://imagine2027.org.uk
ermany finally has a government, while Italy has none. We try to make sense of the latest twists in European politics, including the extraordinary results of the Italian elections. Why is social democracy is such trouble everywhere? Can Merkel's grand coalition survive? What
is Italy for anyway? With Chris Clark, Helen Thompson and Chris Bickerton.
David talks to the hosts of the Reasons to be Cheerful podcast about why they are so darned perky about politics. We discuss whether the political surprises are likely to keep coming and Ed and Geoff pick their favourite ideas from the ones they've covered on the show. Plus we ask Ed the question we asked his brother David a few months back: if there are so many good progressive ideas out there, why didn't the Blair government act on more of them? He gives a slightly different answer. Recorded in Geoff's loft.
We talk about one of the central questions of British politics: what does Jeremy Corbyn really want? In the week he's been forced to answer questions about what he did in the Cold War, we ask where his past connects to his present and how long he can maintain his delicate balancing act on Europe. Plus we discuss his attack on the press barons who are attacking him: where does power now lie in the new media landscape? With Helen Thompson and Chris Brooke.