323 | Covid-Union-Labour-Brexit-Climate

This week David and Helen take stock of the state of British politics, looking at how the big themes of the last year fit together. They try to join the dots between the pandemic and the fraying of the Union, the weakness of the Labour party and the fraught politics of climate change, along with the lingering impact of Brexit on everything. We are also looking for your questions on these topics too – please let us know what you would like David and Helen to discuss next!

295 | Looking Back, Looking Forward

This week David, Helen and our producer Catherine Carr look back at five years of podcasting and five years of crazy politics, to pick our favourite moments and to discuss what we've learned. From the 2015 general election to the current crisis, via the Corn Laws and Crashed, the politics of abortion and super forecasting, Corbyn and nuclear weapons. Plus, we'll let you know about some of our plans for 2021.

291 | Young People vs Joe Biden

This week we talk about race and representation with Cathy Cohen of the GenForward Survey project based in Chicago. What do young Americans want from democratic politics? How do their priorities vary according to race and ethnicity? And can a Biden presidency deliver on the desire for real change? Plus we catch up with Jeevun Sandher and Michael Bankole of the Politics Jam podcast to explore a UK perspective on why young and minority voices find it so hard to be heard.

238 | Nate Silver

David and Helen talk to 538's Nate Silver about how to read the pandemic data and what they mean for politics.  What do we know now that we didn't know six weeks ago?  How should we model the future trajectory of the disease?  Where does it leave the election in November?  A conversation about everything from death rates to spring breaks, and from Belgium to Biden.

234 | Michael Lewis Updated

Another chance to hear the prophetic interview we recorded with Michael Lewis late last year, when he warned about the risks to us all of what the Trump presidency was doing to the capacity of the American state to cope with a disaster.  David and Helen reflect on how that warning looks today and what it means for the fate of Trump's presidency and for the future of American politics.

221 | Macron vs Everyone

We talk to Shahin Vallee, former economics advisor to Emmanuel Macron, about the state of the Macron presidency: from the gilets jaunes to the pensions protests, from dealing with Merkel to facing off with Putin, and from now to the next presidential election in 2022.  Did Macron save the centre of French politics or has he destroyed it?  Can he really be sure he'll beat Le Pen next time?  And what is his plan to rescue the West?  Plus, we discuss what the Griveaux and Mila affairs tell us about the state of French politics.  With Helen Thompson.