TALKING POLITICS

UnHerd political editor Tom McTague and Cambridge professor Helen Thompson team up to investigate the history of today's politics — and what it means for our future. Each week they will explore the great forces, ideas and events that led us to where we are, whether in Britain, the United States, Europe or beyond. It's a politics podcast for those who want a deeper, historical understanding of the news, to understand what has really shaped our world and why. We hope you enjoy! Don't forget to please rate, like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts — and, of course, to get in touch with all your questions and comments so we can respond in future episodes. Email us at thesetimes@unherd.com or tweet us at @thesetimespod 

Talking Politics producer Catherine Carr returns to her role as mic-wielder in 'Where Are You Going?' a unique storytelling podcast, delivered in bite-size episodes.Called 'utterly compelling and unique' by the Financial Times, 'engrossing' by The Times and 'riveting' by The Spectator.In each episode, Catherine interrupts people as they go about their everyday lives and asks simply; "Where are you going?"The conversations that follow are always unpredictable: sometimes funny, sometimes heart-breaking, silly, romantic or downright 'stop-you-in-your-tracks' surprising.Be transported to places around the world and into the lives of others. What story is coming next? You just never know....'Where Are You Going?' is produced by the team at Loftus Media. New episodes are published twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday.SubscribeInstagramWebsite

Past Present Future is a new weekly podcast with David Runciman, host of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology. David talks to historians, novelists, scientists and many others about where the most interesting ideas come from, what they mean, and why they matter.Ideas from the past, questions about the present, shaping the future.Brought to you in partnership with the London Review of Books.New episodes every Thursday. Just subscribe to Past Present Future wherever you get your podcasts.

David, Helen and Catherine get together for our final episode, to reflect on podcasting through six extraordinary years of politics, and what it means to be ending at the beginning of a war. We talk about the current crisis, how it connects to the crises of the past, and where it might fit in to the crises of the future. This episode is dedicated to Finbarr Livesey and Aaron Rapport.So you don't miss us too much…  You can follow Catherine's work on Relatively and The Exchange on R4. She tweets @CatherineECarrRead David in the pages of the LRBOr check out his most recent book, Confronting Leviathan Helen's new book, Disorder is now out! And she writes a column for the New Statesman and tweets @HelenHet20Our website - keep an eye out for archive curation - underway soon!In grateful memory of our colleagues Aaron Rapport and Finbarr Livesey See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

For our penultimate episode, David talks to Helen about her new book Disorder: Hard Times in the Twenty-First Century. It's a conversation about many of the themes Helen has explored on Talking Politics over the years, from the energy transition to the perils of QE, from the travails of the Eurozone to the crisis of democracy, from China to America, from the past to the present to the future. In this book, she brings all these themes together to help make sense of the world we're in.Talking Points: Suez is often seen as a crisis of British imperial hubris. But it's also about energy.The US wanted Western European countries to import oil from the Middle East.But the US at the time was not a military power in the region.So the US essentially became a guarantor of Western European energy security, but implementation was dependent on British imperial power in the region.When Eisenhower pulled the plug on Suez, Europe panicked. The aftermath was hugely consequential.France turned to Algeria, but that went badly.Europe also embraced nuclear power to pursue energy self-sufficiency.And finally, this precipitated a turn to Soviet oil and gas and the construction of pipelines between Soviet territories and Western Europe.The shale boom was a double-edged sword: it also destabilized the alliance with Saudi Arabia and increased competition between the US and Russia.Meanwhile, Chinese demand has been increasing. The US today imports much less oil from the Persian Gulf, but the US Navy still provides energy security in the region, even though most of that oil goes to China and Japan. QE created a wholly new situation in the Eurozone.Everyone in the Eurozone game essentially understands that if QE is going to continue, there will be constraints around what can happen in Italian domestic politics.The current prime minister of Italy is the former president of the ECB.One of the risks of democracy is democratic excess. But democracies can also experience aristocratic excess.In US elections, people need a lot of money to compete. This means that there is not really an outlet for genuine democratic demands.Mentioned in this Episode:Helen's book, DisorderJames Macdonald, A Free Nation Deep in DebtFurther Learning: More on Nord Stream 2 Helen, on how the rich captured modern democraciesHelen on Ukraine for the New StatesmanWhy the Ukraine crisis is a modern crisisAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David talks to Shahin Vallee and Chris Bickerton about the upcoming French presidential elections. Can anything or anyone stop Macron? Why has French politics moved so far to the right? And what do left and right still mean in the absence of economic disagreement? Plus we discuss what the Macron years - the five that have gone and the five probably still to come - have taught us about the changing character of European politics. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David, Helen and Chris Brooke have one more go at making sense of the tangled web that is British politics. Can Johnson really survive, and even if he does, can his brand ever recover? Is this a scandal, is it a crisis, or is it something else entirely? Does history offer any guide to what comes next? Plus we explore what might be the really big lessons from the last two years of Covid-dominated politics.Talking Points: It's obvious why Boris is a problem, but it's not clear who would replace him.There will probably need to be a decisive marker, either the May local elections or the police report could be it.The strategic question for the Conservative party is, can it win enough seats to form a stable majority government?Boris won't go voluntarily. But can he survive?Newer MPs are not loyal to Johnson, but older ones are more wary of defenestrating a leader who won big majorities.A lot of people have left number 10. It will be hard for him to govern.In 2015, Ed Miliband was leading in the headline polls. But there were signs of weakness.Labour wasn't winning local elections. And Cameron was polling better on two key questions: leadership and the economy.Labour has now moved ahead on both. It would still be hard for Labour to win an overall majority, but defeat in local elections might spook the Conservatives.The politics of scandal are different from the politics of crisis.Scandals change how politics are conducted, but they don't usually trash the party's reputation.Helen thinks that it is a politics of chaos.This particular scandal is bound up in Johnson's appeal. On most issues, the outrage of the other side works for Johnson.Outrage about the parties is different: Johnson was a hypocrite.He has trashed his own brand this time, but he still doesn't think the game is over.Were the pandemic years a dress rehearsal for the politics of climate change?To reach net zero, governments will need to ask people to make sacrifices. Will future politics be a politics of limits?The pandemic has also deepened generational divides. Mentioned in this Episode: Recent polling dataFurther Learning: Isaac Chotiner asks David about hypocrisy and Partygate Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Labour optimismDavid on Dominic Cummings' blogFrom the archive… Who is Boris Johnson?And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David and Helen talk to Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor of the Economist, about what Vladimir Putin hopes to get out of the Ukraine crisis and what anyone can do to stop him. Is some sort of invasion inevitable? Is Russia's goal to sow dissent or to achieve regime change? What leverage does the rest of world have over Putin and his allies? Plus we explore where the roots of the crisis lie: in 2014, in the end of the Cold War, or even earlier still?Talking Points: What does Putin want from Ukraine? He wants to stop Ukraine's westward shift, which is about more than NATO. Ukraine was probably not ever going to join NATO. In that regard, Putin already has what he wants.What else is he upset about? Britain is building a naval base on the Sea of Azov. Britain and the UK are training Ukrainian troops. Weapons are flowing in, too. Putin worries about Ukraine becoming a more militarily and economically capable actor. What would Putin count as a success in the current crisis? Logistically speaking, Putin could stay there for months. But he has troops from the Eastern military district there, who can't. And the weather will change after March. Perhaps the biggest problem is psychological: backing down would look like giving in. Does Russia want regime change?Kiev seems less convinced about the imminence of an invasion.Are they deluded? They definitely want to avoid panic, especially economic panic. What is different today from 2014? Ukraine is in an even worse economic position. Ukraine is a transit gas state; Putin has been trying to end that for a long time, and he is getting close with the near completion of Nordstream.Another difference is America's position in the world. NATO allies should still feel reasonably secure.But in middle areas, such as Ukraine, or the countries in central Asia, things are less certain.Mentioned in this Episode: Shashank's latest for the Economist: How big is Russia's military buildup around Ukraine?More on Biden's global posture reviewAn interview with Dmitri Trenin: are we on the brink of war?Further Learning: Our last episode with ShashankMore on javelin missiles in UkraineMore on the Russia-Belarus integrationAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David talks to John Naughton about what's coming next in the tech revolution and where it's taking us. From quantum computing to cryptocurrency, from AI to the Internet of Things: what's hype, what's for real and how will it shape our politics. Plus we discuss what China understands about technology that the rest of the world might have missed.Talking Points: The metaverse is the next big thing in Silicon Valley. It feels like the logical conclusion of prevailing trends.This is not actually a radical break.The gaming industry is developing the metaverse. And big tech is investing heavily in gaming. The metaverse bypasses many elements of the real world that people like Zuckerberg are keen on, such as government regulation.What will be the next big technological shift? Are we in a kind of lull?The internet of things has not gone away.Blockchain, which enables crypto, is still a significant technology.Proponents of Web3 want to disrupt centralized control of the Internet.Does the Chinese system show us that there is another choice on technology? The general view of autocracy is that it can't be done. The problem is imperfect information.Has technology made it possible to escape the autocrat's trap?Technology has undeniably changed our lives, but the liberatory promise does not seem to have been realized.When will technology give us control over our own time? The kind of capitalism that drives the tech industry is unstable unless it grows.The relentlessness of consumer society is antithetical to a particular kind of creativity and a particular kind of politics.Mentioned in this Episode:John's column for the ObserverNeal Stephennson, Snow CrashJohn on TP talking about LibraKeynes' essay, ‘Economic possibilities for our grandchildren'History of Ideas, Hannah Arendt on ActionThe Minderoo Centre for Technology and DemocracyFurther Learning: What is the metaverse, exactly? What is Web3? More on Microsoft's takeover of Activision BlizzardAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

One year on from Joe Biden's inauguration David and Helen talk with Gary Gerstle about what's gone wrong. What is the strategy behind this presidency? Has it tried to do too much or too little? And are the dark warnings of another American civil war really plausible? Plus we discuss whether the original American Civil War should really be used as the template for political breakdown.Talking Points: It's hard to be a transformational president when your congressional margin is as slim as Biden's is.Are critics being too harsh? Unemployment is down, the pandemic recovery was quicker than anticipated, and there is a broader renegotiation of work conditions for lower-paid workers. But these are not the seismic shifts many hoped for. Biden may want to be a transformational president, but the conditions do not suit transformational politics.Did an overreading of Trump's incompetence on the pandemic inflate expectations of Biden? What would Biden's presidency look like if Democrats did not have a majority in the Senate?The unexpected victories in Georgia have also led to heightened scrutiny of the holdout Democrats, Sinema and Manchin. Republican senators seem to be getting a free pass. Are fears about a looming American civil war overblown?What do we mean by civil war? The idea of the federal government fighting a group of secessionist states seems inconceivable. The notion of factions vying for control over the center is somewhat more plausible.The American Civil War was not just about tribalism or ideology. There were incompatible political economic systems. The very fact that the United States has had a Civil War, however, is still part of American politics. As T.S. Eliot said, ‘Serious civil wars never come to an end.'Will the burgeoning discourse around illegitimate election results actually translate into more overt political violence in the future?Mentioned in this Episode: Biden's recent speech on voting rightsBarbara Walter's book, How Civil Wars StartGary's forthcoming book, The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal OrderFurther Learning:Is Civil War coming to America? More on Merrick Garland's investigation Eric Foner for the LRB on the electoral collegeAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

To kick off the new year David and Helen are joined by historian Robert Saunders to talk about two possible trends for the next twelve months. Could Labour and the Lib Dem's really find electoral common ground to defeat the Tories? And is Netzero scepticism about to become a serious force on the British right? A conversation about history, coalitions, energy prices, populism and the return of Nigel Farage. Coming up on Talking Politics: Biden one year on.Talking Points:By-elections and opinion polls suggest that the Conservative Party might be in trouble.Labour did badly in the by-elections but it is doing better in the polls. Is there a way of getting the Tories out without some combination of Lib Dem and Labour opposition? The Lib Dems can win in seats where Labour is not competitive.There are no prospects for the Labour Party becoming the largest party, given the situation in Scotland, without the Lib Dems taking seats from the Conservatives.The Lib Dems struggle when Labour is perceived as being too far to the left. What complicates things now is the Scottish question. The prospect of a Labour-SNP coalition presents a different type of problem.Should the parties stand down candidates? Can you compel tactical voting? Should you?  Is there potential for serious opposition to climate-centric politics in the coming years?There is a growing, although still constrained, opposition to net zero politics on the right. Farage wants to stoke this.  It's not exactly climate skepticism, but rather skepticism over the policies put forward to tackle it. This is already happening in Australia and the United States, but these are countries where fossil fuel producers have a lot of power. This is emerging now because of what is happening with energy prices. Is there an unoccupied political space between techno-utopianism and net zero skepticism?  Johnson is keen on the green-growth strategy, but so far, the evidence on green jobs is not that convincing.Covid showed us that the public can take more realism than politicians often assume.Mentioned in this Episode: Keir Starmer's new year speechMichael Crick's forthcoming biography of Nigel FarageRobert's Twitter accountFurther Learning: More on Conservative opposition to Net ZeroHelen on the timid political debate over green energyAdam Tooze on realism, progressivism, and Net ZeroAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David and Helen talk through what's going on with the prime minister, the pandemic and the state of British politics. Is Johnson still in touch with public opinion on Covid? Why is hypocrisy more toxic than lying? What are the historical parallels - if any - for the Tories recent by-election disasters? Plus we try to decide what 2021 will be remembered for politically in the years to come. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David and Helen talk to historian Chris Clark about the 1848 revolutions and what they teach us about political change. What explains the contagiousness of the revolutionary moment? Is it possible to combine parliamentary reform with street politics? Where does counter-revolution get its power? The revolutions of 1848 started with a small civil war in Switzerland in 1847.In 1848, there was a cascade of simultaneous uprisings across the continent. There were the spring revolutions; then in the summer, the liberal and conservative wings began to fight each other.In the autumn, counter revolutions began in earnest. But the left revived itself, launching revolution 2.0. Finally, in the summer of 1849, the counter revolution largely prevailed.These were revolutions about political and social order, but also about national order.The Hungarians, for example, declared independence from Vienna and fought not just against the Austrians but against a range of other nationalities.What accounts for the simultaneity of these revolutions?A continent-wide socio-economic crisis began with an agrarian crisis in 1845. Food became much more expensive at a time when people spent most of their money on food.The agrarian crisis then triggered a downturn in trade and consumption. Why wasn't there a revolution in Britain? One reason is that the country was so efficiently policed.Another is that Britain was able to export potentially problematic people to the colonies. The imperial economy also allowed them to outsource price-shock problems.The forces of counterrevolution were primarily those of monarchism and money.Europe already had an order, the order of 1815; monarchs wanted to restore it.Revolutions are spontaneous, but counterrevolutionaries can bide their time strategically.The liberal great powers didn't support the revolutions, but the conservative ones supported the counter revolutions.You can also read this as the death throes of the counterrevolutionary order. They won't make common cause again. The revolutions of 1848 combined radical street politics with legislative politics. The institutional side of the revolution seemed to win.Constitutions proliferated after 1848. The tense relationship between the street and representative processes is at the core of what these revolutions were about.  Chris' lecture on the 1848 revolutions for the LRBAnd his LRB essayFrom our archives… Why Constitutions Matter with Linda ColleyIn Our Time on the Taiping RebellionOur History of Ideas series… Marx and Engels on RevolutionAnd Rosa Luxemburg on RevolutionThe TP guide to… European Union before the EU See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David and Helen talk to historian Chris Clark about the 1848 revolutions and what they teach us about political change. What explains the contagiousness of the revolutionary moment? Is it possible to combine parliamentary reform with street politics? Where does counter-revolution get its power? A conversation about political failure and the possibilities of success. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

Talking Points:The revolutions of 1848 started with a small civil war in Switzerland in 1847.In 1848, there was a cascade of simultaneous uprisings across the continent. There were the spring revolutions; then in the summer, the liberal and conservative wings began to fight each other.In the autumn, counter revolutions began in earnest. But the left revived itself, launching revolution 2.0. Finally, in the summer of 1849, the counter revolution largely prevailed.These were revolutions about political and social order, but also about national order.The Hungarians, for example, declared independence from Vienna and fought not just against the Austrians but against a range of other nationalities.What accounts for the simultaneity of these revolutions?A continent-wide socio-economic crisis began with an agrarian crisis in 1845. Food became much more expensive in a world in which people spent most of their money on food.The agrarian crisis then triggered a downturn in trade and consumption. Why wasn't there a revolution in Britain? One reason is that the country was so efficiently policed.Another is that Britain was able to export potentially problematic people to the colonies. The imperial economy also allowed them to outsource price-shock problems.The forces of counterrevolution were primarily those of monarchism and money.Europe already had an order, the order of 1815; monarchs wanted to restore it.Revolutions are spontaneous, but counterrevolutionaries can bide their time strategically.The liberal great powers didn't support the revolutions, but the conservative ones supported the counter revolutions.You can also read this as the death throes of the counterrevolutionary order. They won't make common cause again. The revolutions of 1848 combined radical street politics with legislative politics. The institutional side of the revolution seemed to win.Constitutions proliferated after 1848. The tense relationship between the street and representative processes is at the core of what these revolutions were about.  Mentioned in this episode: Chris' lecture on the 1848 revolutions for the LRBAnd his LRB essayFrom our archives… Why Constitutions Matter with Linda ColleyFurther Learning: In Our Time on the Taiping RebellionOur History of Ideas series… Marx and Engels on RevolutionAnd Rosa Luxemburg on RevolutionThe TP guide to… European Union before the EU See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

In a special episode recorded live at the Bristol Festival of Economics, David and Helen talk to Ed Conway, Economics Editor at Sky News, about the biggest challenges facing the global economy. How will the supply chain crisis be fixed? Is inflation the threat it appears? Can the world economic system really wean itself off coal? Plus we discuss whether Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse will ever escape the brute facts of economic material reality. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

Helen and David talk to Cindy Yu, host of the Chinese Whispers podcast, about the trajectory of Chinese politics. What is Beijing's political strategy for Hong Kong and Taiwan? Is Xi Jinping really a socialist? Can the CCP escape its history? Plus, what's the real reason Xi didn't show up in Glasgow? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David and Helen talk to Jason Bordoff, Dean of the Columbia Climate School and former Special Assistant to Barack Obama, about climate, COP26 and the enormous challenges of the energy transition. How can we balance the need for energy security with the need to wean the world off its dependency on fossil fuels? Why is China still so reliant on coal? Who will pay for the energy needs of the developing world? Plus, just how scared are the oil companies of public opinion? You can read more of Jason's work here.Talking Points:Energy transition will require a lot of capital investment.Clean energy tends to be more capital intensive in the short term; although the long-term operating costs are lower.Private capital needs to be mobilized to make this happen. Can large financial institutions forgo significant returns if oil prices go back up?  There is a clash between climate ambition and energy reality.The reality is that, despite tremendous advances in clean energy, oil and gas usage are still going up. The more the ambition is elevated, the bigger this gap becomes. During a lockdown that shut down half of the global economy, carbon emissions only fell 6%. To reach the 1.5 degree target, emissions need to decrease much more quickly.We might start seeing more disruptive and ambitious policies on the table in coming years. Or, maybe not. When questions of energy affordability, reliability, and security come into tension with climate ambition, there is a risk that climate ambition will lose. Is increasing efficiency enough, or will energy consumption also need to go down?In many parts of the world, energy use will actually need to increase in the coming decades. What is needed to make significant investments in clean energy in the developing world financially viable?Some people, like John Kerry, hoped that the U.S. and China might find a point of consensus on climate.In practice, that has not really happened.Could economic competition be a more effective driver than cooperation?If we always see high oil prices as a political problem that we can't afford, then how will we get to the point at which we allow high prices to reduce demand?The United States is the world's largest oil producer, but the U.S. government has much less control over American oil and gas producers than OPEC states do.Should we be talking more about energy and less about climate? Mentioned in this Episode: The Columbia Climate SchoolJason's recent article in Foreign Policy on energy in the developing worldJason, on why everything you think about the geopolitics of climate change is wrongJason's podcast, Columbia Energy ExchangeFurther Learning: How much will it cost the UK to reach net zero?

In a special episode recorded in front of a live audience, Helen and David talk to Hilary Mantel about power, monarchy and political intrigue. From the Tudors to the present, from Henry VIII to Boris Johnson, from Thomas Cromwell to Dominic Cummings. A fascinating insight into politics and the writer's imagination, from one of the greatest modern novelists.Mentioned in this Episode: Mantel Pieces, a new collection of Hilary's LRB essays‘Royal Bodies' (from 2013)The Wolf Hall trilogyA Place of Greater Safety David and Helen on Hilary Mantel (from April 2020)And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David talks with Lea Ypi about her astonishing new memoir Free: Coming of Age at the End of History, which tells the story of her childhood in Stalinist Albania and what came after. It's a tale of family secrets, political oppression and the promise of liberation - and a profound meditation on what it really means to be free. From Marxism to liberalism and back again, this is a conversation that brings political ideas to life. Lea Ypi is Professor of Political Theory at the LSE and Free has been shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford PrizeTalking Points: Albania was a socialist country that went through various alliances.By the time that Lea was born, it was largely isolated.The dominant narrative was that Albania was a country surrounded by empires, which stood on the moral high-ground.In other words, it was socialist and anti-imperialist but also fiercely nationalist. For Albania, the key year was not 1989 but 1990.Initially, dissidents were described as ‘hooligans.'In December 1990, protesters requested political pluralism.How do we conceptualize freedom? People in Western countries often relate to non-liberal societies by conceptualizing themselves as liberators.What does freedom mean in a limit-case like Albania? There is a risk of paternalism in the dominant liberal conceptions of freedom. There are always margins of dissidence.What does it feel like to suddenly gain freedom in the liberal sense? How does this affect relations between generations?For Lea, freedom is about being the author of your own fate, even when it seems overdetermined.Studying political ideas can make one a nihilist, or you can choose to believe that there is something about humans that is inherently moral.In other words, freedom is moral agency.Mentioned in this Episode: Lea's new book, FreeLea on political legitimacy in Marxist perspectiveBook tickets for our upcoming event with Hilary MantelFurther Learning: Lea in the Guardian on growing up in Europe's last communist stateMore on Albania after the fall of communism from the FTMore on Enver HoxhaMore on the Albanian-Soviet splitLea talks to David and Helen about states of emergencyTP History of Ideas on Fukuyama and the ‘End of History'  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David and Helen are joined by Politico's chief Europe correspondent Matthew Karnitschnig to explore the consequences of the German elections. Who were the real winners and losers? Are there lessons for centre-left parties in other countries, including the Labour Party in Britain? And what are the choices facing Germany as it decides on its place in an increasingly unstable world? Plus we ask whether this was a Covid election. If not, why not?Talking Points:What was surprising about the German elections?To expect something is different from seeing it actually happen.Do campaigns make a difference to election outcomes? In this case, it looks like it did. It was pretty clear that Laschet was a poor candidate.Laschet's response to the floods was a turning point.Scholz prevailed because of his experience—he isn't perceived as a change candidate.The SPD base has moved to the left, but Scholz is more of a centrist. The CDU, on the other hand, was much less stable. Most German voters wanted change, and yet it is the continuity Merkel candidate who is most likely to become the next chancellor.This reflects grand coalition politics. Merkel pushed the Christian Democrats into the space of the Social Democrats. But the initiative to form this government is coming from the change parties: the Greens and the FDP. The parties seem to believe that their differences are bridgeable. The two smaller parties are more popular among younger people. Change might be driven from below. The larger party only has about 26 percent; this gives the other parties more leverage.What kind of change would be embraced by both the FDP and the Greens? Mentioned in this Episode:Peter Tiede on German schadenfreude in the TimesThe German election resultsWhat are the coalition options after Germany's election? Further Learning: Matthew Karnitschnig on Olaf Scholz, the ‘teflon candidate'More on Merkel's legacy for the FTMore on Germany policy towards ChinaBackground on the Scholz money-laundering scandalOur most recent episode on GermanyHear more of Matthew on Politico's podcast on European politics, EU Confidential, which he hosts.And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

We're back from our summer break with David, Helen and Adam Tooze exploring what the pandemic has revealed about politics, economics and the new world order. From Covid crisis to China crisis to climate crisis: how does it all fit together? And what comes next? Adam's new book is Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World's Economy. Plus David talks about his new book based on series one of History of Ideas: Confronting Leviathan. Talking Points:The term ‘lockdown' can be misleading. Many aspects of the response were not top-down.Most of the reduction in mobility predated government mandate.The financial markets made huge moves and central banks then had to step in.The popular response cannot be separated from the actions of the state.The term ‘shutdown' better captures the pandemic's impact on the economy.Huge parts of the productive economy literally ground to a halt. It seems like central banks learned something from the last crisis.Is there still a realistic prospect of normalization? Adam and Helen are skeptical. Is there such thing as democratic money?If so, then democracy has changed.The condition of possibility for the freedom of action of central bankers is a political vacuum.Parts of the left see an opportunity in monetary politics. The entire monetary order in China is political, but there was a debate within the regime over stimulus.The conservatives won out.Some Western financial leaders used this to push back against central bankers in their own countries. The Republican party is becoming increasingly incoherent.Some, such as Mnuchin, emphasize the structural necessity of some kind of continuity. Others, such as Jay Powell, argue that the priority is confronting China. There is an ongoing de-centering from the West in a dollar-based world. The U.S.-China competition has changed. We have moved from a realm of competition over GDP growth rates to a much starker contest involving hard power.The tech sanctions are a sovereignty issue, not just an economic issue.Mentioned in this Episode:Adam's new book, ShutdownJames Meadway on neoliberalismRudiger Dornbusch, Essays (1998/2001)Quinn Slobodian on right-wing globalistsPerry Anderson's review of Adam's work, and Adam's responseMarx's Capital Volume 1Helen's book, Oil and the Western Economic CrisisDaniela Gabor on macrofinance 

Our final session of answering your questions, starting with Trump and moving on to where we get our ideas from and what we've learned from all our failed predictions. Plus, were the 1990s really the decade of missed opportunity? After this, Talking Politics is taking a summer break. We will be back in September with lots of new things to talk about. See you then! We hope you have a lovely summer and thank you so much for listening.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

The second part of our attempt to answer your questions, this week covering British politics. Helen and David tackle whether Labour can win, what happened to the Lib Dems, where the Greens are heading and what's in store for the Union. Plus, how much is being held together by the Queen and what will happen when she is no longer around? Next week, Trump, and much more.Talking UK Politics… Our State of the Union Series: On ScotlandOn Northern IrelandOn WalesOn EnglandFrom our archives:Election Fallout (May 2021)Where is the Opposition? (December 2020)Labour and Brexit: Beyond the Crisis (May 2020)What's the Future for Labour? (January 2020)Party like it's 1974 (November 2019)The Party Splits! (In 1846!)Who is Jeremy Corbyn? (February 2018)And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

In the first of a short series of episodes, Helen and David do their best to answer your questions about anything and everything. Here, it's the geopolitics of vaccines, Germany as a 'useful idiot', the Great Game in the 21st century, oil prices, green finance and the risks and rewards of 'Japanification'. Next week, they tackle UK politics and the future of the Union.Talking Geopolitics… from our archivesMichael Lewis on the Pandemic (June 2021)After Merkel… What? With Hans Kundnani (April 2021)The Tragic Choices of Climate Change with Adam Tooze (March 2021)Germany, Italy, Coalitions and Vaccines (January 2021)China, Climate, Covid: The New Energy Map with David Yergin (November 2020)Post-COVID economics… with Adam Tooze (November 2020)Adam Tooze on US vs China (May 2019)Oil! With Helen (June 2017)And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David talks to Ed Miliband about the thinking behind his new book Go Big. What are the ideas that have the power to change British politics? If they have been shown to work elsewhere, why are they so hard to make happen? Is it the politicians or the public who are reluctant to make the shift? Plus, we discuss whether the Tories might be better at the politics of change than Labour.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

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: https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/contactTalking Points: Incumbents, under the conditions of vaccine politics, have done well. The next phase will be about the economy, but we aren't out of the vaccine stage yet.When an inquiry happens, there will be some tough questions about the British state.If the economic recovery goes well, there will be space for critical reflection. But if recovery stalls or is skewed, that will be the main focus.The Northern Ireland question may pose a real challenge to the politics of the Union.This may be the government's number one problem right now.The UK government is extremely constrained. The EU has invested a lot of its credibility in defending the single market.  The perverse consequence of Brexit is that it embroiled the EU into the politics of Northern Ireland.Is the First Past the Post system propping up a moribund Labour Party?The electoral system works to Labour's favour when compared to continental centre-left parties.But the thing that Labour has to deal with that is unique is the Union question.Labour has always struggled to win a majority of seats in England.In 2020, Britain and the EU diverged on the question of China. Biden wants to bring the EU toward the American position. And the EU has moved a bit already.This might dilute the advantage that Johnson thought he might gain with the Biden admin by being tough on China.The geopolitics of climate change are bound up in the EU/US position on China.Merkel has been inclined to treat China as more serious about climate change.Johnson wants to put Britain at the head of ‘green finance.'Climate change is not currently an electorally contested issue in Britain. But that might not be true for much longer.Mentioned in this Episode: Our Union series… on ScotlandDavid Frost's FT column on the Northern Ireland ProtocolFurther Learning: Helen on Labour and the ‘English Question' for the New StatesmanMore on Johnson's ‘green finance' plansTalking climate change with Helen and Adam ToozeAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David talks to historian Linda Colley about her new global history of written constitutions: the paper documents that made and remade the modern world. From Corsica to Pitcairn, from Mexico to Japan, it's an amazing story of war and peace, violence, imagination and fear. Recorded as part of the Cambridge Literary Festival www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.comTalking Points:Swords need words: conquest generates a demand for writing and explanation.In the mid-18th century, literacy began to increase in many societies and printing presses became more widely available. There’s not much incentive to circulate political texts if you can’t have a wider audience. The cult of the legislator fed into the idea that iconic political texts could be useful in new and divergent ways.By the mid-18th century, big transcontinental wars were becoming more common. Hybrid-warfare is expensive. Navies are hideously expensive.Shifts in warfare fed into constitutions because constitutions function as a kind of contract.Constitutions can do a lot of things. They can be used to claim territory, for example. They can extend rights, but they can also withdraw them. Once something is written down, it becomes harder to change. In addition to spreading democracy, constitutions codified exclusion and marginalization.Constitutions are sticky; even failed constitutions leave a legacy.People get used to having a written agreement.The Tunisian Constitution of 1861 only lasted until 1864 but it remains important in Tunisian political memory. The U.S. constitution had a disproportionate impact, not just—or even primarily because of its content.Because the U.S. press was so developed, hundreds of printed versions emerged very quickly and traveled across the world.When new powers started drafting constitutions, however, they looked at many constitutions, not just the American one. Most modern constitutions are a hodge-podge. Mentioned in this Episode: Linda’s new book, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern WorldThe Meiji Constitution (Japan’s 1889 Constitution)The Second Sex, Simone de BeauvoirAlso by Linda: Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837Further Learning: The Talking Politics Guide to … the UK ConstitutionLinda on ‘Why Britain needs a written constitution’ for the FTAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

We talk to the historians Robert Tombs and Robert Saunders about the history of England and the future of the Union. Is the size and complexity of England the real problem in holding the UK together? What can England's past teach us about the present state of British politics? Does England have a 'Northern Question' to go with its 'Scottish Question' and 'Irish Question'? This is the final episode in our series about the constituent parts of the UK. Find the others - on Scotland, NI, Wales - at https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/Talking Points: Is the island of Britain a natural seat of government?England is not an island; and the English are not an island people.The Norman conquest attached England to the continent; leaving Scotland outside.As a maritime power, it was useful for England to move its borders to the sea. The strategic arguments for the existence of the UK are perhaps weaker in an era of more diffuse and global security threats and frameworks.Most people probably don’t know that the Union was a Scottish creation.The lack of interest in developing ‘Britishness’ at the English center has had consequences. England is now more dominant in the Union than it used to be.Governance of the Union has changed: the leadership of both major parties in Westminster is now almost exclusively English and they compete for almost exclusively English votes. There is a separate leadership class in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The electoral politics of asymmetrical devolution lead to intense secessionist pressure from Scotland.No government in Westminster can govern without English support, but it is possible to govern while being insensitive to Scottish or Welsh opinion.The dynamics of the Union incline toward Conservative power in Westminster and SNP power in Scotland. This is an unstable dynamic.The English don’t really have a story about before the Union in part because the English have never really seen the Acts of Union as dividing lines in English history.Is the ‘Northern question’ a perennial question in English politics? Right now, this is the heart of the electoral conflict.In every part of England that isn’t London, you can find anti-London sentiment. There’s a lot of resentment toward the Union in England, but the Union is a pretty good deal for England.Mentioned in this Episode:Talking … WalesTalking … Northern IrelandTalking… ScotlandThe English and their History, Robert TombsThe Making of English National Identity, Krishan KumarFurther Learning: This Sovereign Isle, Robert TombsTim Shippey on Alfred the...  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

We talk to the historian Niall Ferguson about the politics of catastrophe, from pandemics and famines to world wars and climate change. Have we been worrying about the right things? Why have some countries done so much better than others with Covid? And what can history teach us about the worst that can happen? Plus, how likely is it that a cold war between the US and China turns hot? Talking Points:Niall argues that COVID is more like the Asian flu in ‘57/’58 than the 1918/1919 Spanish flu.However the economic response is unprecedented; the Internet made lockdowns at this scale and duration possible.Lockdowns were a near panic response that were necessitated by initial political failures in the West.When we’re trying to assess the political impact of a disaster, the body count is not the most important thing.A disaster can kill a lot of people and be virtually forgotten if it doesn’t have cascading consequences.We will probably remember the experience of lockdown more than the mortality rates.What did we get wrong about the COVID response?Controlling travel early on made a difference, and most Western states did not do that.The network structure of a polity is the most important thing in a pandemic, especially in an era of globalized travel.The distinction between natural and manmade disasters is a false one.The scale of impact is a function of how we, collectively and our leaders, individually make decisions.Humans do not seem to be very good at thinking pragmatically about risks; we tend to ignore them in practice while simultaneously constructing apocalyptic fantasies. Mentioned in this Episode:Niall’s book, Doom: The Politics of CatastropheLarry Summers and David Cutler on the costs of COVIDGraham Allison, Destined for WarFurther Learning: More on Taiwan’s COVID responseWhy do so many people live near active volcanoes? ‘The Really Big One’ (the earthquake that will devastate the Pacific Northwest) The Talking Politics Guide to… Existential RiskAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David and Helen are joined by the historian Colin Kidd to try to make sense of last week's elections in England, Scotland and Wales. What do they mean for the future of the UK? What do they mean for the future of the Labour Party? Are either (or both) in terminal trouble? Plus we explore how Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson are going to resolve their standoff over a second Scottish independence referendum.Talking Points:Gordon Brown says that Scotland is a 30-30-40 nation.Scotland is pretty evenly divided on the question of union, but the polls don’t measure the depth or shallowness of commitment.In effect, there are now two Scottish Labour parties: the actual Labour party and the social democratic SNP under Sturgeon.Alex Salmond’s party lost, but it put forward a more coherent vision for an independent Scotland. Salmond and Sturgeon are now on opposite sides on both the EU question and the currency question. You can’t pursue EU membership without a currency that you could in principle put into the exchange rate mechanism.There’s a new alliance in Scottish politics between the SNP and the Greens.The Scottish Greens are more associated with independence than the environment.The Green relationship makes oil a trickier issue. The SNP’s committed to more gradual decarbonisation. Where is the SNP’s greatest weakness? Johnson’s approach to pump more money into Scotland is unlikely to work. Currency, the tax, and the border are interrelated challenges. The SNP is brilliant on politics and positioning, but it doesn’t devote enough time to political economy.A referendum could be politically risky for both Sturgeon and Johnson. This may mean a long period of shadow-boxing.How should Labour think about the basic challenge of reassembling a coalition? The basic problem that Labour faces is that its old class coalition doesn’t fit together.The Union also causes Labour big problems.Is first past the post the only thing keeping Labour alive? Mentioned in this Episode: Colin on the Anglo-Scottish UnionThe SNP’s referendumGordon Brown on Scotland and the UnionTony Blair in the New StatesmanFurther Learning: More on the SNP’s manifestoColin in the LRB on Scottish independenceAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

We talk to Michael Lewis about his new book The Premonition, which tells the story of the people who saw the pandemic coming and asks why they couldn't get a hearing. It's a tale of short-term failures and long-term trends in US government and it follows on from his previous book about the risks America has been running in hollowing out the administrative state. A sobering account with glimmers of hope for the future. Talking Points: Old timers at the CDC say that things began to change after the 1976 swine flu outbreak.The CDC rushed a vaccine program, and some people got sick. Then the swine flu basically vanished.After that, under Reagan, the head of the CDC became an appointed, political job. This made the CDC overall more political and less independent. Most people who interacted with the CDC before this pandemic realized that it wasn’t very good at managing disease.Doing a public health job well carries a high risk of getting fired.The experts in Michael’s story are consistently right about the trajectory of the disease; but they are often wrong about politics.Should experts pay more attention to politics? Experts can create discomfort for politicians, or they can give them cover—but that’s not their job. Michael thinks that politicians should be providing cover for the experts.Why was it so hard to learn from the experiences of other cities in the heart of the crisis?In the 1918 pandemic, the difference between Philadelphia and St. Louis was the timing of the intervention. It’s hard to see the effect of the interventions in the fog of battle.The failure of testing in the US at the start of the pandemic meant that there was no way to identify where the virus was.Just-in-time manufacturing and taut-supply changes made the ‘health industrial complex’ less able to respond quickly.Will the pandemic make Americans care more about how the government actually functions?Mentioned in this Episode: Michael’s new book, The Premonition, a Pandemic StoryRichard Neustadt and Harvey V. Fineberg, The Swine Flu AffairThe Nuclear Threat Initiative 2019 reportOur last episode with MichaelFurther Learning:David J. Spencer, ‘Reflections on the 1976 Swine Flu Vaccination Program’Lawrence Wright, ‘The Plague Year,’ The New YorkerHow some cities ‘flattened the curve’ during the 1918 flu pandemicMore on the San Quentin COVID epidemicAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

We talk to Hans Kundnani about the prospects for German politics in the run-up to September's federal elections, now that the cast list of possible successors to Merkel is known. Can Laschet escape from her shadow and does he want to? Would a Green led government be radically different from the alternatives? Is the age of the 'grand coalition' over? Plus we consider the historical parallels, from Bismarck to Adenauer to Kohl: do long-serving leaders ever manage a successful transition?Talking Points:To wrap up the second season of History of Ideas, on 11 May, the LRB is hosting a conversation between David and Pankaj Mishra. They’ll discuss the thinkers we did—and didn’t talk about. To book tickets, follow this link.Armin Laschet is the new CDU leader.So far, his candidacy has been underwhelming. He is generally seen as being a Merkelite candidate who would probably continue her centrist, grand-coalition style.Is the CDU pinning its hopes on the vaccine? If Germany gets it together in the next few months, the party in power will likely reap the benefits despite current polling woes.The personality of the lead candidate is less of a determining factor in German politics; you don’t vote for an individual chancellor. Is the era of grand coalition politics between the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats coming to an end?There is a real possibility that the party that has run Germany for the last four electoral periods might not get a fifth.Of course it’s still likely that the Christian Democrats will stay in power, but even the possibility that they won’t contributes to a new sense of dynamism. The German Greens hope to be in power too—with the Christian Democrats.There’s been a convergence during the Merkel Era.The Christian Democrats have moved to the center on social issues. It’s no longer clear that the Greens would prefer to be in coalition with the Social Democrats. They have moved to the right, especially on economic issues.Geopolitics may push the Greens more toward the Christan Democrats, especially re Russia.Mentioned in this Episode:Hans’ book, The Paradox of German PowerOur last episode with HansThe letter written by French generalsFurther Learning: 5 things to know about Armin LaschetThe Astonishing Rise of Angela Merkel, from the New YorkerMore on the German GreensAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David and Helen talk to Mike Kenny about what devolution has done to the politics of the UK as seen from Westminster and Whitehall. How have we ended up with a Unionism that is both complacent and aggressive?  What lessons has the pandemic taught about the need for co-operation? And can the UK survive without a fundamental constitutional rethink? https://bit.ly/3xc7Kns  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

As part of our series about the future of the Union, David and Helen talk to Dan Wincott of Cardiff Law School about the history of Welsh devolution and the possibility of Welsh independence. How has English dominance shaped Welsh attitudes to the Union? What did the Brexit vote reveal about the different strands of Welsh and British identity? Has the pandemic made the case for more devolution and even independence for Wales stronger? Plus, what happens to Wales if Scotland votes to leave the UK?Talking Points: The Anglo-Welsh union is a story of conquest and incorporation.Wales was integrated into the English legal system under Henry VIII. There are strong cultural institutions in Wales, and the persistence of Welsh as the vernacular language limited the reach of English laws for a long time.It’s hard to understand the rise of the Labour Party at the beginning of the 20th century without seeing its relationship to questions about the Union.Welsh Labour politicians played a critical role in tying the UK together during that period. Labour moved away from home rule after WWI, but as things got more complicated in the 1970s, Labour ended up struggling with devolution questions without an English majority. When Labour came back into power in 1997 it set up the first version of the devolution settlements.Labour’s weakness in England from 2010 is central to the current situation.For New Labour, Welsh devolution was an afterthought. They were more concerned with Scotland.The majority of Wales who voted in the referendum voted Leave.Wales is probably the part of Britain where patterns of national identity are most complex.In Wales, those who prioritize British identity tended to vote Leave. But in England, those who prioritize British identity generally voted Remain. People are at least curious about what more devolution might look like in Wales.Although there is still anti-devolution sentiment in Wales in a way there isn’t in Scotland.As long as the Labour Party can’t win a majority in Westminster, there is going to be curiosity about greater independence.Mentioned in this Episode: From our Union series on… Scotland From our Union series on… Northern IrelandBenedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities‘Analysing vote choice in a multinational state: national identity and territorial differentiation in the 2016 Brexit vote’Further Learning: More on COVID in Wales‘Crisis, what crisis? Conceptualizing crisis, UK pluri-constitutionalism and Brexit politics’More about Weslh independenceAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

This week David talks to the celebrated film-maker Adam Curtis about his new series Can't Get You Out of My Head, which tells the history of the rise and fall of individualism. Why do so many people feel so powerless in the age of the empowered individual? How has digital technology turbo-charged our feelings of alienation? And what has all this got to do with behavioural psychology? Plus much more: Nixon, China, Dominic Cummings, complex systems, Max Weber and conspiracy theories. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p093wp6h/cant-get-you-out-of-my-headTalking Points:In his newest series, Adam identifies the 1970s as the wellspring of a global system that feels irrational and beyond political control. The Nixon shock—when the dollar became detached from the gold standard—was something that Nixon, at the time, saw as temporary.But as the Watergate scandal carried on, banks realized they could start trading currencies against each other. Out of this came the global financial system.The opening to China was seen as a great stroke of statesmanship.But what was happening at that time in China was the collapse of the certainty of Mao’s revolution. What emerged was a system run by Deng Xiaoping who essentially substituted money for ideology.Deng turned China into a giant production house of cheap goods. The generation that came out of WWII was terrified of big ideologies. What replaced ideology? Money.In an age of mass democracy, where individualism reigns, states become extremely difficult to govern.By the late 70s/early 80s, politicians started to realize that you couldn’t assemble stable groups behind you. Instead of representing the people, they tried to become managers. Adam thinks that to call this neoliberalism is to oversimplify things.Under Thatcher and Reagan, industrial policy essentially failed. The politicians gave up before we realized they had given up.On the surface, behaviouralism seemed like a challenge to the notion of the rational, self-interested individual.But actually, behaviouralists concluded that if people are irrational, we need to find ways to nudge them to behave in rational ways so that the system will work better. The Internet, as it is currently constructed, is like a modern ghost story. It’s always looking at patterns in the past.The Internet as a feedback system can’t imagine something that hasn’t already happened. It’s a form of management that renders the world static and repeatable. Fake stability has led to a kind of blindness: think about the collapse of the Soviet Union, or the financial crisis, or Trump.Again and again the people in charge fail to anticipate what’s coming.Has the ability of Big Data to predict been oversold? Mentioned in this Episode: Adam’s newest series, Can’t Get You Out of my HeadMax Weber’s ‘iron cage’DId eBay just prove that paid search ads don’t work? Further Learning: The Talking Politics Guide to... 1970s (with Helen)

70 days into the first 100 days we take the temperature of the Biden presidency and ask how he's doing, and how he's doing so much. What made sleepy Joe such an active president? Is it him or the people around him? And how should the Republicans respond? Plus we discuss what it would take to restore America's standing in the world - does anyone want that anyway? With Helen Thompson and Gary Gerstle.Talking Points: The message of Biden’s early presidency is that he understands the challenge of the moment.His first 70 days are more like FDR’s first 100 days than any recent president.This has also led to a more critical reassessment of the Obama years.Biden has put Harris in charge of the situation at the border; this is a strange move if he’s setting her up to be his successor.Biden essentially has a two year window to get things done—maybe less.Biden is betting on his legislative achievements to get him through the midterms; he’s unveiling ambitious projects that will affect all Americans.The pandemic has enabled some of this, but the stimulus and the infrastructure bill also reflect the monetary and fiscal environment.The reigning paradigm of U.S. politics since Reagan has been deregulation. There’s now a sense that this paradigm has exhausted itself.Perhaps the paradigm really shifted in 2016. Many of the things that Biden has done—for example, infrastructure—are things that Trump said he wanted to do. Biden is trying to occupy ground that Trump was unable to occupy. Most Americans will benefit from the stimulus, and the infrastructure bill will create millions of new jobs.Republicans are trying to focus on cultural issues. They are also gutting democratic institutions.What will happen when the pandemic ends? Will this create opportunities for a skillfully led opposition?Joe Biden is not backed by clear legislative majorities. The border issue might become more politically salient when the pandemic ends.Is Pax Americana over?There’s an increasing view both within and outside the United States that American leadership can’t be counted on.There were foreign policy continuities between Obama and Trump. Key differences were on Iran and climate.Biden has returned to the Paris Climate Accord and is trying to work with China on climate. Mentioned in this Episode: Biden’s recent press conference Samuel Huntington, The Crisis of DemocracyFurther Learning: More on Biden’s secret meeting with American historiansMore on Biden’s infrastructure planEvan Osnos talks about Joe Biden with Ezra KleinAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David and Helen talk to Chris Bickerton about how technocracy and populism have come together to create a new form of democratic politics. From New Labour to Macron's En Marche, from Dominic Cummings to Five Star, we discuss what these different forms of politics have in common and whether the pandemic has entrenched the hold of technopopulism or whether we are on the brink of something new. Technopopulism: The New Logic of Democratic Politics  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David talks to Helen Thompson and Adam Tooze about the choices facing the world in addressing climate change. Can we transition away from fossil fuels while maintaining our current ways of living? Will we act in time if we also insist on taking our time? Can the West uphold its values while getting its hands dirty with China? Plus we discuss whether American democracy is the worst system of all for doing what needs to be done.Talking Points: The transition away from fossil fuels to non-carbon energy sources is, for now, constrained by the laws of physics around energy use.Converting one source of energy to another wastes a lot of energy.Do we make a bet on transcending the laws of physics via technological innovation when we have to deal with the timescales imposed by climate change? Or is this way of framing things too negative? The story of modernity is about making technological bets against existing ways of life.Is a bet with a ticking clock different? How do we actually get to carbon neutrality by 2050?Republicans in the US who take climate change seriously are betting on breakthroughs in carbon capture that will allow people to continue burning fossil fuels.The target itself is artificial. We are picking out of probabilistic outcomes of more or less dire futures. There are different timescales at play here.There’s the inexorable progression of the problem itself; there’s political time, which is choppier but has rhythms to it; and there’s innovation time, which is not smooth at all. There is no collective climate solution that doesn’t involve China. China is moving on the climate issue regardless of the West.China can do so in part because its market is so big, but also because its market is so new.The drama of the political economy of climate change right now is largely Asian. The Biden administration does not have a coherent climate change policy. The American debate seems frozen in the 1990s. In the background of the American debate about climate is geopolitics.Mentioned in this Episode: Helen’s article on the geopolitical fight to come over green energyThe Guardian on Princeton’s decarbonization by 2050 modelFurther Learning:More on the inversion of the Gulf StreamAdam Tooze talks to Gideon Rachman about the climate crisisAdam on the pandemic and the world economyAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

This week we discuss the government's post-Budget economic strategy and the new dividing lines in British politics. Have the Tories stolen Labour's clothes? Is there a new consensus emerging on tax and pend? What can Keir Starmer do to carve out a distinctive economic position? Plus we consider whether a new Labour leader in Scotland can kickstart a revival of the party's fortunes there. With Helen Thompson and Chris Brooke.Talking Points: Rishi Sunak’s plan in the short-term is to concentrate on economic recovery and to end pandemic support in a reasonably—but not entirely—gradualist fashion.In the medium-term, he’s saying there has to be an emphasis on paying for the pandemic and bringing the level of debt as proportion of GDP back down.Sunak wants the Conservatives to go into the next election as the party that claims to be serious about the economy, ie, cautious about debt.Both of the parties seem to be hoping that the past will come back—but it probably won’t.Starmer put a heavy bet on the competence case against Johnson. That worked well for much of 2020. The bet was that Brexit would make things chaotic. But the pandemic has gone on longer than people expected, and the vaccine rollout is going well. The furlough scheme has also been continued. In two-party politics, the two parties often tend to converge. Is this happening in the UK?Both parties have an interest in constructing the convergence as an illusion; but is it?Brexit has produced some convergence because Labour isn’t trying to rejoin Europe.Financial and monetary market conditions make it possible to sustain huge levels of debt. Most of the Western world have responded to China’s industrial strategy by calling for an industrial strategy.The Tories are now putting a big emphasis on green energy; this also brings them closer to Labour.The politics for each party are different.Labour needs to persuade people it has a plausible growth strategy because that is what they need to flourish. The big risk for the conservatives is unemployment.Labour needs to expand its electoral coalition; this won’t be easy, but the return of mass unemployment might provide one way of doing this.Further Learning: More on Rishi Sunak’s budgetJohnson’s green energy plansWhy public debt is not like credit card debtOn Starmer’s response to the budgetWho is Anas Sarwar?And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

 In the latest in our series on the fate of the Union, we talk to historians Richard Bourke and Niamh Gallagher about the history of Northern Ireland's relationship to the rest of the UK. From the Anglo-Irish Union to partition to the Troubles to the Peace Process to Brexit and beyond, we discuss what makes Northern Irish politics so contentious and whether consensus is possible. Plus we ask if Irish re-unification is coming and what it might look like.Talking Points: The Anglo-Irish union was a response to the 1798 rebellion. It was a means of pacification through incorporation.The union in Ireland came before Catholic Emancipation, which took place in 1829. By then, a political movement based on disaffection had already commenced.In material terms, the union added 5 million new subjects (England at that time had a population of roughly 8 million). It also added a new dimension of grievances.The home rule movement was seeking a devolved administration, but failure to deliver that made the Irish Catholic movement more committed to independence.Meanwhile, Northern opinion became more alarmed about being subject to Southern jurisdiction.The Government of Ireland Act in 1920 formalized partition.Many politicians at the time hoped to see reunification within the context of the British Empire, but that did not come about.In Northern Ireland, proportional representation was abolished in local elections in 1923, and in general elections in 1929. In practice, Northern Ireland became a single party state with a large, disempowered minority.Political activism in the 1960s was also influenced by the civil rights movement in the US and the increase in the Catholic student body in universities. At some point during the 20th century, the dynamics of Northern Ireland became seen as a problem that didn’t apply to the rest of Britain.The 1998 solution was creative: the talks were taken out of the UK context and put into a wider context with the United States and the EU.The Good Friday left the categories of nationalists vs. unionists intact. Today, Unionism in the North has become a new phenomenon focused on its own domestic welfare and constituency. The worst nightmare of Unionism is coming true: when the Troubles started, 33% of the population was Catholic. This summer, there will probably no longer be a culturally Protestant majority.Brexit has revived talk of unification. But reunification could take many different forms.Mentioned in this Episode:Niamh’s book, Ireland and the Great War: A Social and Political HistoryRichard’s book, Peace in Ireland: The War of IdeasThe Good Friday AgreementFurther Learning: David McKittrick and David McVea, Making Sense of the TroublesAlvin Jackson, The Two UnionsMarking the centenary of Northern IrelandAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be...  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

This week we talk to Suzanne Heywood about her memoir of her late husband, Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood - the man who helped to run Britain for more than two decades, working with four different prime ministers. From Black Wednesday to Brexit, from the Blair/Brown battles to the surprising successes of the Coalition, Jeremy Heywood had a unique position at the heart of British politics. We discuss what he did, what he learned and what he wished had turned out differently. Talking Points:The book starts with the ERM crisis.This was the start of a story that arguably runs through Brexit.Jeremy told David Cameron that he would need to address immigration with Europe, but he knew that this would be difficult.Blair had a huge parliamentary majority; this meant he could do many of the things that Jeremy wanted to see done.Jeremy was positive about how much had been achieved, particularly in public services.Progress was more difficult under Brown. The financial crisis created enormous strain.Jeremy and Gordon Brown worked very closely together on the financial crisis.During political transitions, all the ‘in-flight’ initiatives pause. Any one of them may or may not land as you previously expected.As a civil servant, you also have to be able to switch your personal loyalties.The change in style between governments can be significant. New administrations come in with a new language, a new tone.Civil servants have to keep the show on the road, and also adapt.At what point do civil servants have to swallow their personal objections and get on with things? Ministers represent the electorate; civil servants support ministers in delivering on their promises.Civil servants can push and make certain arguments, but once a decision is made, they have to move forward with implementation.Jeremy’s real genius was in relationships.He inspired people; they wanted to do their best for him.Mentioned in this Episode:What Does Jeremy Think? Suzanne HeywoodFurther Learning: The Talking Politics Guide to … Being a Civil Servant‘Remembering Jeremy Heywood,’ in The GuardianBronwen Maddox reviews Suzanne’s book for the FTFrom our archives… The Next Referendum? And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David and Helen talk to Nick Timothy, former chief of staff in Downing Street under Theresa May, about the future for Boris Johnson's government. Is he now safe from leadership challenges? Can he hold together the coalition that won the 2019 election? Is Keir Starmer the one under pressure? Plus we discuss where the next big destabilising threat to this government might come from: Scotland, Northern Ireland, the EU, China?Talking Points:Is Johnson’s political position more secure now?If the government can end on a high note with the vaccine rollout, that might be what people remember.Boris probably doesn’t want to be an austerity prime minister.Sunak wants to get the economy moving and send some signals to the market that there’s fiscal responsibility.Sunak may also want to create a fiscal dividing line with Labour.But without financial market pressure, it’s hard to see how Sunak is going to win this argument about fiscal probity.Political reality, and new voters, may push the Tories toward more spending against the instincts of many MPs.Starmer still faces serious structural problems: Labour is in trouble in Scotland and the increasing importance of cultural issues create problems for Labour in the Red Wall.Although the government has made mistakes with the pandemic, public opinion has been fairly understanding.Starmer hasn’t really been able to talk about anything other than the pandemic.Who is in the biggest trouble in Scotland?Johnson faces big issues around the union, but in terms of electoral outcomes, it’s probably Starmer.What would happen if a government without an English majority has to act as an English government again due to a crisis? Johnson is particularly unpopular in Scotland. The Tories are worried about the union, but there aren’t obvious solutions. Northern Ireland is at the center of these problems. Mentioned in this Episode:Tom McTague in the Atlantic, ‘Britain’s pandemic story can still be rewritten’Nick Timothy in The TelegraphFurther Learning:Are MPs out of sync with their voters? What is the Union? On Johnson’s unpopularity in ScotlandMore on the Northern Irish Protocol And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

David talks to Bronwen Maddox, Director of the Institute for Government, about how well the Johnson government has performed over the past year of the pandemic. There have been some successes - the furlough scheme, vaccines - and plenty of failures - education policy, health outcomes. But which were the key choices? Who can claim the credit? And where does the blame really lie? Plus we discuss how much personality still matters in political decision-making.Talking Points:What has the government done well over the last year?It got financial support to a lot of people, surprisingly quickly.Building this infrastructure was inadvertent—it was for Universal Credit. Vaccines have been heralded as a success story; can the government really claim credit?It has been funneling money to some of the groups that were successful.The government did a good job in buying vaccines and choosing where to invest.In the rollout, you get something analogous to test and trace. Much of this is being done through the NHS, which makes it easier.What went the most wrong?There were at least 20,000 care home deaths in the first few months. And just about half of the deaths have happened since mid-November. These both look avoidable.The education mistakes were disastrous. A case often made against this government is that one of their key problems is timing. Johnson’s instinct to delay a decision in the middle of uncertainty might in other circumstances be more positive, but so many times the delay has been damaging. The government says it’s been following the science, but science is often uncertain too.It’s hard for politicians to communicate uncertainty.Still, people in the UK still trust scientists despite the government’s communications failures.With coronavirus, Starmer opted for a politics of competence.If your opponents start doing something competently (ie the vaccine rollout), then what do you do?The politics of competence doesn’t get people fired up in the streets.People often take competence for granted. They want something on top of that.Mentioned in this Episode:What Does Jeremy Think? By Suzanne HeywoodFurther Learning: Bronwen’s recent report, ‘Coronavirus: no going back to normal’Covid chaos: How the UK handled the coronavirus crisis, from the Guardian‘How the UK boosted its vaccine manufacturing capacity,’ from the FTThe latest on the vaccine rolloutAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

In this extra episode David catches up with Thant Myint-U to discuss the latest developments in Burma (Myanmar), following the overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi's government. What prompted the generals to act? What do the protestors want? And what does it mean for the future of Burmese democracy? Thant Myint-U is the author of The Hidden History of Burma.Further Readinghttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v41/n22/thant-myint-u/not-a-single-year-s-peacehttps://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Myanmar-should-use-COVID-crisis-to-end-30-years-of-crony-capitalismhttps://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/myanmar-needs-to-reimagine-its-economic-future/http://themimu.info/sites/themimu.info/files/documents/Policy_Note_Poverty_Food_Insecurity_Social_Protection_during_COVID-19_IFPRI_Nov2020.pdf  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

For this first in our series looking at the future of the UK, we talk to the historian Colin Kidd about the origins of the Union and the ideas that underpin it. Is the island of Britain a natural territorial political unit? Is nationalism compatible with Unionism? What changed in the 1970s? Plus we discuss how the shifting character of the SNP has shaped the arguments for and against the Union.Talking Points:Historically, the Kings of England considered themselves rulers of the whole island.But any large community must be imagined. It’s inherently artificial.Those who have tried to impose unified rule over the island by force have historically struggled.England has served as a quasi-imperial power on the island.The union in 1707 was a product of contingency, part of a succession crisis. At the time, the real drama was Jacobitism, not the English versus the Scots.What united Britain in the 18th century is not so much positive factors, but an ongoing series of wars.The height of British consciousness came during the two world wars.What happened in the 60s and 70s that made the union look less attractive?The 70s with the election of Thatcher are the crucial decade. Asymmetrical devolution has been destabilizing for the union.Secularization led to Scots moving away from private identities being linked to denominational allegiances to a broader, more secular national identity.The SNP in the 1930s had little traction; the communists were more influential.It’s only in the 1960s that the SNP made a breakthrough. For at least a time, there was a sense of coexistence between patriotism and Britishness.The BBC from the 1920s to 1970s helped cement an authentic sense of British nationhood.Labour played an important part of this story; British patriotism was tied to collective war experiences, the welfare state. When those things came under pressure in the 1970s, finding an outlet for union patriotism became more difficult.The SNP is a curious hybrid: it includes hard-core nationalists, but also social democrats, like Sturgeon, who think the best way to preserve the welfare state in Scotland is by going it alone.The unionist/nationalist binary might not be helpful; arguably the most important binary is within the SNP itself. Mentioned in this Episode:Colin’s book, Union and UnionismsBenedict Anderson, Imagined CommunitiesLinda Colley, BritonsThe Guardian on the Labour Party’s new strategy Further Learning: Sturgeon vs Salmond (from the New Statesman) From Brexit to Scottish IndependenceAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here:

This is episode 1 of the new HISTORY OF IDEAS series from Talking Politics. To hear the remaining 11 episodes, please subscribe to History of Ideas!Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality (also known as the Second Discourse) tells the story of all human history to answer one simple question: how did we end up in such an unequal world? David explores the steps Rousseau traces in the fall of humankind and asks whether this is a radical alternative to the vision offered by Hobbes or just a variant on it. Is Rousseau really such a nice philosopher?Free online version of textRecommended version to purchaseGoing deeper…Leo Damrosch, Jean Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius (2005)David Edmonds and John Eidinow, Rousseau’s Dog (2007)Pankaj Mishra, ‘How Rousseau predicted Trump’, The New Yorker (2016)(Audio) In Our Time, The Social Contract  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics.

We look at two countries where things may be changing: Germany, as it starts to imagine life beyond Merkel, and Italy, after the resignation of the prime minister. Would Armin Laschet as Chancellor mean business as usual? Can Conte cobble together a new government? Where are the biggest challenges to the established order coming from? Plus we talk about the new politics of vaccine nationalism. With Helen Thompson, Hans Kundnani and Lucia Rubinelli.Talking Points:In some ways Germany is in a state of continuity, rather than flux.Armin Laschet is a continuity candidate. Though it’s not clear that he will be the candidate for chancellor in the September election.Were Laschet to become chancellor, you would probably have a Black-Green coalition. Has the pandemic made coalition formation less difficult? If so, it would be because the Christian Democrats are in a stronger position than they were.The German Greens may be different from other Green parties.When the Greens emerged in the late 70s/early 80s, it wasn’t clearly a left-wing party.The Greens have become more centrist on economic issues, and the Christian Democrats have moved left on environmental questions.As environmental politics becomes bigger, is there a constituency that will oppose this? Anti-Americanism in Germany is now quite high.Ultimately, the Germany-US relation is more driven by structural factors; Germans don’t believe that they need the United States in the way they did during the Cold War.How committed is Germany to other European states that do feel threatened by Russia? Conte resigned yesterday; he has 72 hours to try to come back.Conte resigned because Renzi decided to recall two of his ministers plus an undersecretary.Renzi said he no longer shares the method that the government is using, and he accused Conte of undermining democratic institutions through emergency legislation.Renzi accused Conte of not having a long-term plan for economic development and criticized his statist plans for the recovery fund.He also wants the government to accept the European Stability Mechanism for healthcare.These are a lot of demands for someone polling at close to nothing. The other two coalition partners don’t want anything to do with Renzi anymore. The question is whether they will stick to it and find a different majority, which seems difficult, or, whether they decide to bring Renzi back into government and get rid of Conte.The only disciplining effect here seems to be a fear of elections—and Salvini.Conte was initially meant to be a placeholder prime minister.That changed with the second Conte government (from Summer 2019). The new coalition gave him more power. This grew with the pandemic.The conflict over how Italy spends its money is coming back in full force.Further Learning: More on Laschet and the struggle to unite the partyHans’ essay on the costs of convergence More from Hans on Germany’s democratic dysfunctionality More on Conte’s decision to quit

David, Helen and Gary reflect on what lies ahead for American politics and for the Biden administration. Does Trump pose more of a threat from inside or outside the Republican party? Is immigration about to become the central partisan dividing line once again? How much good can calls for unity do in such a fractured country? Plus, we look at Trump's list of entrants for his garden of national heroes. From Emily Dickinson to Hannah Arendt to Woody Guthrie - but no Bruce Springsteen. What's going on?Talking Points:Many in the Republican Party, including McConnell, have never liked Trump—are they now breaking with him?Attempts to establish new parties can shake up American politics, but they rarely succeed.The Trump candidacy was a disaster for the Republican establishment from the beginning. McConnell is willing to consider impeachment because Trump still represents a threat to the mainstream Republican Party.Success in American party politics requires party organization in all 50 states.This is not the kind of work that generally appeals to Trump.He will probably want to influence the political process from the outside, to make the existing system ungovernable.The Biden administration wants to be much more ambitious on immigration.Previous attempts at immigration reform have failed.Biden has an opportunity to demonstrate government competence by focusing on vaccinations.Biden has made clear that climate is a priority.This is politically useful for holding together the Democratic party.Biden has already pledged to cancel the Keystone Pipeline; at least on some issues he’s willing to take on the oil and gas industry.This quickly gets into foreign policy issues, especially re China.Biden’s initial window is really two years, not four.Democrats should not be counting on a majority in the 2022 elections.They need to demonstrate the competence of the federal government. Though it may be difficult for any government to appear competent these days.Mentioned in this Episode:‘The Garden of American Heroes’ On Fred Trump and Woody GuthrieThe text of Joe Biden’s inaugural addressFurther Learning: More on Biden’s immigration planGreen New Deal? Talking Politics American Histories… Monopoly and MuckrakingAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David and Helen are joined by Diane Coyle and Anand Menon to have another go at pinning down the long term consequences of Brexit. Now we have a deal, what are the prospects for rebalancing the UK economy? Do EU politicians want a post-Brexit UK to succeed or to fail? Can Labour really avoid re-opening the Brexit wars for the next four years? Plus, an update on the next series of History of Ideas.Talking Points: Because of Brexit there is more friction in trade with the EU. People will feel the friction more and more as we get back to normal volumes of trade.Right now the volume is relatively low both because of Covid and because of seasonal fluctuations (things slow down after the holidays).It will be hard to disentangle Brexit effects from Covid effects. We will be talking about Brexit for a long time.Future governments will be able to score easy economic wins by aligning more closely with the EU, although this may involve political trade offs. This may not be true when it comes to financial services. This trade agreement means that choices have to be made over and over again.The British economy is taking two shocks: separating from the EU but also separating from what Osborne and Cameron called a golden era of UK-China economic relations.EU policy and British policy on China are diverging.The Uk government may focus more on India and other non-Chinese Pacific economies.Brexit does create some opportunities.The UK is a world leader in AI, and there is a commitment to investing in energy technology, especially green energy.The UK is also a world leader in higher education and the creative sector; the problem is that the government has declared a sort of culture war.A German-led EU tends to treat geopolitical questions as primarily economic questions rather than long-term security questions. China is going to put that commitment, formalized in the China Investment pact, to the test.Britain is now the liberal European state when it comes to foreign policy.The institutions that have been so successful at managing intra-European imbalances now prevent the EU from being an effective actor in international relations.Mentioned in this Episode:Johnson’s piece for The Financial Times on green energyAnand on the HuffPo podcast with Rosie DuffieldThe UK in a Changing Europe‘Who Killed Soft Brexit?’ Jill Rutter and Anand for ProspectFurther Learning: EU and China agree new investment treaty (from the FT)More on Germany and EU politics on ChinaAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David talks to historian Jill Lepore about what took place at the Capitol on January 6th. What should we call it? What can we compare it to? And what should happen next? Plus we ask how Biden ought to address what happened in his inaugural next week. Are we past the time for talk about reconciliation?Talking Points:Is there a word for what happened in the US on 6 Jan? Many Republicans are still defending the insurrection. The likes of Limbaugh and Gingrich are calling it a ‘march.’The American Right always wants to resurrect the American Revolution and the Left wants to resurrect the Civil War.To call it an ‘insurrection’ is to evoke the language used to bar former Confederates from holding federal office.A problem with Trump’s entire presidency has been that reporters and commentators have sought precedents in American history, but Jill thinks nothing in American history has been like this.Should we be looking to other countries, other failed democracies, for lessons? How do we balance the uniqueness of Trumpism with the familiarity of the things it draws upon?Unlike right-movements in countries like Hungary and Turkey, the Trump project did not successfully co-opt the institutions of the state.American democracy is older than some of these other examples.The Conservative movement over the last few decades has managed to capture many institutions, namely the courts—although this is not necessarily Trumpism.When Trump is out of office will it be easier for him to become a ‘martyr?’ Conviction in an impeachment proceeding could be good for mainstream Republicans. It may also make a split in the party more likely.Mentioned in this Episode:Jill in The New Yorker, ‘What Should We Call the Sixth of January’Jill on inaugural addresses for The New YorkerThe Article of Impeachment against TrumpJill in The Washington Post on letting history judge TrumpFrom our archives… Jill on the American NationAnd as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.