The Another Europe Podcast

In an age of war and permanent crisis, is it all too easy to forget the fundamentals? How do we look after each other, care for one another and create economies that prioritise our human development? In this podcast, Seema Syeda and Zoe Williams welcome back Tim Jackson to talk about his new book, The Care Economy (Polity 2025). Going back to the philosophical fundamentals, the book re-centres the whole discussion of care. It urges us not think about the politics of care as types of support system for particular group of vulnerable people but as the basis for reproducing all organic life. We are all, in other words, carers, and it's time to recognise it.  As usual members of Another Europe get access to extra material as a benefit of membership. To join and support our work, go to AnotherEurope.org/Join 

The drift of the global billionaire oligarchy to the radical right is quickening its pace. The Arc conference - billed as a "far right Davos" and with ticket prices to match - recently descended on London, and was joined by the various luminaries and politicians from the British right. On this podcast, Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Stella Tsantekidou, a rising star in the UK media and an unusual category of progressive, who likes to wine and dine across the political divide. Stella spent three days and nights at the Arc conference. In the podcast she offers her fly-in-the-wall account of why we should be worried about this extremely well funded global network, drawing the mainstream right into discussion and collaboration with far more radical and in some cases extreme political forces.   For more from Stella and the Arc conference check out her Substack, the Human Carbohydrate, which includes a blog with her Arc Forum diary: https://humancarbohydrate.substack.com/p/jordan-peterson-and-pieter-thiel 

With the return of Donald Trump in the White House - and his insistence that Kyiv and Moscow strike a peace deal "in 24 hours - huge uncertainty now hangs over the future of Ukraine's democracy and freedom. In this podcast, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams discuss the huge challenges and hardships Ukraine has experienced in the war, drawing on insights from Luke's recent visit to Ukraine. They are joined by Ukrainian academic Yuliya Bidenko from Karazin University in Kharkiv. For more on some of the topics discussed in the podcast, check out these articles: On the Home Front: Ukraine's War Economy and the Spirit of Defiance Will oil decide the fate of the Russia-Ukraine War? Additional podcast material is available to members of Another Europe Is Possible. In this week's extra time, Luke and Zoe discuss the Labour government and to what extent its terrible lack of popularity in what should be its honeymoon period is a crisis of its own making. To join and support our work go to AnotherEurope.org/Join

Millions of people across the world have looked on at the American election result with a sense of dismay and fear. As the world tries to compute and digest a second Trump presidency, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams try to put the pieces of this catastrophe together and work out what comes next. A reminder that members of Another Europe Is Possible get access to extra material as a benefit of membership. In this extra time, Zoe and Luke have a long old chat about what it all means, from the nature of the new fascism to the difficulties facing those trying to de-dollarize from the global economy and the response of the UK government. To join and support our work go to https://www.anothereurope.org/join/ On the main show, they are joined by Graham Campbell, an activist with the SNP who is been in the United States campaigning for Kamala Harris. They also speak to John Feffer from Foreign Policy in Focus, Institute for Policy Studies, in the US about where the Democrats went wrong and what the result means for the rest of the world. If you want to hear more from Graham and John check out these links:  John's rapid response: https://fpif.org/the-plot-against-democracy/ Graham's election night report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3IHfZYpqIA

After 14 years of frankly horrendous Conservative rule, millions celebrated Labour's decisive victory. But since that fateful July day the new comms team at Number 10 has kicked into action. Their aim it seems is a simple one: to get you to put your hopes and dreams away and be as miserable as possible. So what do we make of it all? And what do we expect to happen next? In this podcast, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams try to find rays of hope in a murky sky. Going back to Starmer's original election as Labour leader and the small role Zoe played in his campaign, they discuss what it might reveal about the factions and networks now running the United Kingdom and where the opportunities may still lie for progressive victories in the years ahead.  An extended version of this podcast is available to members of Another Europe Is Possible, to join and support our work go to anothereurope.org/join

With white supremacist riots targeting Muslims and peoples of colour, this was a summer to forget for many of our communities in the UK. Building on the work that Another Europe has undertaken for several years on challenging anti-Muslim racism across Europe, Luke Cooper spoke to Shaista Aziz, a co-director of the anti-racist campaign group, Three Hijabis, a longstanding member of Another Europe and a friend of the podcast. They discuss the horrifying attacks we've seen on our communities and the enabling role played by mainstream Islamophobia. For some background reading check out Another Europe's statement on the riots here, our report on Islamophobia in France here and the UK and Germany here and the Three Hijabis website. Shaista has also been involved in a really important campaign, 'Safe Homes, Not Hotels', organised by Conversations About Borders. You can sign their petition to house asylum seekers here.  There's no 'extra time' this week as we thought we'd put the whole episode of the podcast out in full. We'd still urge you to join the campaign and support our work. Members of Another Europe get access to extra podcast material as a benefit of supporting the campaign. To join go to anothereurope.org/join 

A huge protest movement has taken to the streets in Georgia against the "foreign agent" law. This new legislation would require all organisations that receive foreign funding to declare it on a national register. Protestors have argued that this is the thin end of the wedge amid an increasingly authoritarian climate in the country for human rights advocacy and civil society organisations.  To discuss what this uprising tell us about our changing world, hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams reached out to an old friend of the Another Europe Is Possible campaign, Alex Scrivener, who campaigned with us back in the 2016 EU referendum. Today, he is the Director of the Democratic Security Institute, an organisation based in Tblisi that faces being declared a 'foreign agent' by the Georgian government. On this podcast he discusses the parallels between his activity on the streets of Georgia today, fighting a Putin-backed nationalist campaign, with the 2016 EU referendum in the UK, and what this tells us about the new imperialism engulfing our world. For some background reading from Alex, see his piece on 'hard power' here and his argument for a values-based foreign policy here.   An extended version of this podcast is available to members of Another Europe is Possible. To join and support our work go to anothereurope.org/join. On this podcast's extra time, we change the topic altogether to talk about the UK General Election. 

Liz Truss has managed to persuade herself of a very convenient (from her perspective) "truth": she wasn't a terrible prime minister with a flawed economic strategy, but the victim of a deep state conspiracy. Swinging aggressively to the far right, she has been courting Steve Bannon and the American Trumpists on a recent US tour. What does this mean for the future of British conservatism? What's the game plan of this group of radicalised Tories - and how worried should we be? To talk us through these questions, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to David Runciman, professor of politics at the University of Cambridge and the author of a number of books including How Democracy Ends. David's new podcast is called Past, Present and Future and can be found in the usual places. His recent Guardian essay on the strange world of the Truss phenomenon can be read here https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/30/she-still-carries-an-aura-of-spectacular-failure-why-hasnt-liz-truss-gone-away An extended version of this podcast is available to members of Another Europe is Possible. To join and support our work go to https://anothereurope.org/join  

He's the city trader that went rogue. But he didn't lose the bank money. Quite on the contrary, he made them hundreds of millions from the fallout of the financial crisis. Then he dared to speak out against a system that was broken for the many but working for the few. In The Trading Game former city trader and friend of the Another Europe podcast Gary Stevenson has now put his remarkable story down on paper. It's an incredible story and a brilliant read. In this podcast, Gary talks to Another Europe's Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper about the sociology of the City of London and how extreme wealth can so easily drive you mad. He also - in 'extra time' - offers his thoughts on the ecosystems of the political left. You can buy a copy of the Trading Game here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/455809/the-trading-game-by-stevenson-gary/9780241636602 You can also check out our earlier podcasts with Gary here: https://www.anothereurope.org/episode-88-the-cost-of-living-crisis/ https://www.anothereurope.org/episode-62-i-made-millions-from-the-financial-crisis-trust-me-the-system-is-broken/ 

George Galloway has done it again, in a byelection as predictable as it was depressing. But surely this is isn't just about one individual. It feels like a moment of crisis and disruption in British politics. After the dust had settled on the result, Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper spoke to James Meadway and Michael Chessum about what it means for British politics in this age of crisis and contention. Their conversation was kicked off by a discussion of Michael's Guardian article that can be read here. Members of Another Europe get access to extra podcast material as a benefit of membership. To join and support our work go to http://anothereurope.org/join  Production and editing by Malek Banat. 

Poland has dumped its far right government in a historic election victory for pro-democratic forces. After years of authoritarianism and anti-migrant racism, the Law and Justice party have been defeated by a coalition of pro-democratic parties.  In this podcast, Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Polish activist Ana Oppenheim about the historic triumph of liberals, pro-democrats and the left. A member of the Another Europe National Committee, co-host of the Polish news and history podcast Polkast and an activist with the left-wing party Razem (personal capacity), Ana offers her thoughts on the election, and what it means for European politics and Ukraine's resistance to Russian imperialism.  The podcast is published as part of the Ukraine and the World series, an initiative taken in collaboration with Foreign Policy in Focus – Institute for Policy Studies in the United States and our longstanding partner, European Alternatives. 

It was a scientific discovery that changed the world forever. The nuclear bomb was largely a brainchild of left wing scientists who were determined Nazi Germany would not win the race to build this terrible weapon. The recent Hollywood biopic focuses on the role of Robert Oppenheimer in this fascinating period in history, the man who led the team working under the direction of the American government in this top secret project, who would become a prominent victim of the McCarthyite purges in the 1950s.  In this podcast, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to LSE professor and Another Europe Is Possible member, Mary Kaldor, about this fascinating history. While she never met Oppenheimer himself, Kaldor met a number of other figures in the film and others that didn't make it into the script, particularly at the Pugwash conferences on disarmament that created a unique space for dialogue between scientists on either side of the Cold War divide.

In the first podcast in our Ukraine and the World series, Luke Cooper talks to Masha Shynkarenko, a Research Associate with the Ukraine in European Dialogue programme at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and an expert on the Russian colonisation of Crimea and the Crimean Tartar national movement.  They discuss the long history of Russian and Soviet imperialism in the Crimean peninsula, life under Russian occupation, and the need for nuance and complexity in discussion of what decolonisation of Crimea should look like in practice.  The Ukraine and the World series is an initiative taken in collaboration with Foreign Policy in Focus - Institute for Policy Studies in the United States and our longstanding partner, European Alternatives.  Members of Another Europe get access to extra material as a benefit of membership. In this pod's extra time, Masha and Luke discuss the implications of the decolonisation of Crimea for the wider appeals to decolonisation globally and the fall of empires in the 21st century.

It managed to unite Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in opposition. So why has the UK signed up to the CPTPP (the 'Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership')? In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to trade justice campaigner Nick Dearden about the Brexiter push for more global trade deals. In their rush to sign up to these corporate agreements the UK government is signing away the sovereignty it claims to treasure. Are these agreements now ushering in a new era of deregulation and hyper-globalisation? Or are they simply the last hoorah for a government on its way out? And what does this tell us about our changing world? In a wide-ranging conversation we offer some answers. An extended version of this podcast is available for members of Another Europe Is Possible. You can sign up as a member at AnotherEurope.org/join. 

Ukrainians have shown extraordinary heroism and resilience in pushing back the imperialism Russian invasion. But are Ukraine's successes on the battlefield at risk of being undermined by the government's economic policy on the 'home front'? In our latest podcast Alena Ivanova and Luke Cooper discuss the country's economic future and the risks ahead with Yuliya Yurchenko, senior lecturer in political economy at Greenwich University and author of Ukraine and The Empire of Capital: from Marketisation to Armed Conflict (Pluto, 2018). 

Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Another Europe Is Possible old-hand, Michael Chessum, about his new book, This is only the beginning (Bloomsbury, 2022). They reflect on a decade or two of tumultuous change and what it all means for the future of radical politics. Navigating hope, vision and realism, they ask whether the left's best days are still to come amid the fragmentation that Corbynism and Brexit have left behind. It's a not-quite-nostalgia-free discussion of the way ahead.  There is no extra time on this podcast. So, the whole episode can be heard on the podcast platforms.   

In our latest podcast, Luke Cooper talks to Lea Ypi about her extraordinary international bestseller, Free; Coming of Age at the End of History. A year since it first hit the bookshops, Lea reflects on the book's reception and the tremendous controversy it has sparked in Albania. Across their wide-ranging discussion they talk about the relationship between fact and fiction, the relationship between childhood and experiencing a communist society, the concept of freedom and the political philosophy of the 'friend-enemy' distinction. In extra time, they also touch base on how Albanians are discussing the Russian war on Ukraine. You can access extra time by joining Another Europe at anothereurope.org/join. 

Another year, another crisis. As inflation skyrockets, we talk to leading economic thinker and former City trader Gary Stevenson about the almighty hit, indeed the catastrophe, facing the incomes of working class people. What are the economics of the current crisis, and how do we build a people's alternative? You can also subscribe to Gary's Youtube channel here.

Asking whether "Brexit is racist" might be seen as the "is the pope a Catholic" question of our era. But calling out the racism of Brexit is often seen as unacceptable in contemporary British politics. In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Martin Shaw, emeritus professor in International Relations at the University of Sussex, about his new book, Political Racism; Brexit and its Aftermath. They discuss the history of the Brexit vote and the lessons that for anti-racists today. Listeners to the Another Europe podcast get a 30% discount on the book when they use the code EMAIL30 at the Agenda Publishing website. 

As the Russian invasion moves into its second month, in this special edition of the Another Europe podcast we were joined by a panel of experts to analyse this new age of catastrophe in a live podcast event with listener questions. How should we explain the rise of authoritarianism, fascism and ‘Putinism'? Can Ukraine win the war – and if so, how? How can we support Ukraine's civil society?  How is the war changing the European Union? What does it mean for the future of other international organisations and alliances like Nato? And what should the future of European and global security look like? To consider some of these – and your own! – questions, we talk to: Denis Pilash is a political scientist based in Kyiv and a member of the Ukrainian left media platform, Commons. Mary Kaldor is Emeritus Professor in Global Governance at the London School of Economics and director of the Conflict Research Programme. She is the author of numerous books and articles on war and conflict from the Cold War to today. Luke Cooper is a senior research fellow at LSE IDEAS and the author of Authoritarian Contagion; the Global Threat to Democracy (Bristol University Press, 2021). The discussion was hosted by Zoe Williams from the Guardian and co-host of the Another Europe Is Possible podcast. Some reading from the panel  Denis Pilash – We need a peoples' solidarity with Ukraine and against war, not the fake solidarity of governments Dmitri Makarov and Mary Kaldor – Why we need to unite for peace and human rights across the old divides Mary Kaldor – Putin is the product of a corrupt economic system that we must now reform Luke Cooper – Don't forget that Putin supported Brexit  Luke Cooper – The dangerous allure of ‘Europe first'

In the last twenty years Britons and Eastern Europeans have become closer and more intertwined than ever before. But it's often been a relationship of frustration, and, through the rise of anti-immigration and Eurosceptic politics, marked by xenophobia and racism. In this podcast hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to Yva Alexandrova and Alena Ivanova about Yva's new book, Here to Stay: Eastern Europeans in Britain (Repeater Books, 2021). They discuss the problems the left in the UK has had in engaging the issue of European migration and giving voice to these experiences, and reflect on the myriad of ways in which the peoples of these islands are now connected to Eastern Europeans.   Here to Stay is out now:  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/677207/here-to-stay-by-yva-alexandrova/ 

As his government lurches from scandal to scandal there is a new sense of hope that the Tories can be defeated. So what role can Another Europe play in building mass opposition and resistance? In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Seema Syeda, a new staff member in the Another Europe office, about our plans for 2022 and how you can get involved. She warns that despite the government's travails there is no room for complacency. They still have a massive parliamentary majority and a deeply reactionary agenda. We discuss Another Europe's campaigning work on resisting the Nationality and Borders Bill, the worrying new government 'consultation' that threatens to unravel the protections of the Human Rights Act, and our pan-European initiatives on resisting Islamophobia and building international solidarity and opposition to the Russian threat of war against Ukraine.  For more information on some of the ideas mentioned in the podcast check out these links:  Event: Is the Human Rights Act at risk Brexit Spotlight: for meaningful accountability in the Brexit era Ex-staff member Michael's Chessum report of the Chile elections

Spain has one of the most successful vaccination programmes in the world. It's also set to launch the most ambitious national investment strategy in its post Franco history. But its trailblazing left wing coalition are, despite these tremendous achievements, not as popular as we might expect. Meanwhile, the far right Vox party has established itself in public opinion in third place. In this podcast, to make sense of these difficulties and challenges, hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams, talk to Marga Ferra, one of the co-presidents of Transform! Europe, the education think tank connected to the European Left Party and a member of Izquierda Unida (United Left), the party that stands in elections with Podemos as part of a common platform – and together they are a junior partner in the Spanish government. Marga offers an un-tribal and frank assessment of the current situation, but with plenty of 'practical optimism' for the future of the European left.  

As COP26 comes to a close, we investigate the global environmental and economic challenge facing humanity. In this podcast, Luke Cooper talks to economist Laurie Macfarlane, a columnist at Open Democracy and a fellow at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, to get a digest on COP26 and discuss the relationship between social justice, global development and the green transition. It's a wide-ranging chat, taking in how we conceptualise the idea of development in the 21st century, the seeming paradox that societies most at risk from climate change, such a Australia, have often been the most trenchantly committed to fossil fuels, and the emergence of a new paradigm of capitalist extractivism with the dash for raw materials required to harness renewable energy.

It wasn't so long ago that Germany's declining social democratic party was seen as a a classic example of 'Pasokification' in Europe, a term referring to the steep decline of centre-left parties derived from the experience of the now deceased Greek party, Pasok. Polls at the start of the year put the party pretty clearly in third place. But the centre-left have now stormed to an - albeit narrow - general election victory. So, what happened? In this podcast, to make sense of it all, Luke Cooper talks to Jeremy Cliffe, the Berlin-based International Editor at the New Statesman on Germany's new political era.  For more from Jeremy check out his articles in the New Statesman and his podcast, The World Review:  https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/world-review-podcast  https://www.newstatesman.com/author/jeremy-cliffe 

Fascism - the twentieth century's most barbaric ideology - is back and winning support on the streets and at the ballot boxes all over the world. What can we learn from the struggles against fascism in the past? How do we understand the source of the potency of the fascist appeal? In this podcast hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Paul Mason about his new book, How to Stop Fascism (Allen Lane, 2021). It's a harrowing outline of how fascism is on the march. But it also outline a strategy to defeat this deadly threat. We explore the contents of the book and ask Paul why he remains optimistic for humanity.  Links to material mentioned on this podcast:  How to Stop Fascism (Allen Lane, 2021)  https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/442/442868/how-to-stop-fascism/9780141996394.html  Authoritarian Contagion (Bristol University Press, 2021)  https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/authoritarian-contagion  Eric Hobsbawm's Age of Extremes (Little, Brown Book Group)  https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Eric-Hobsbawm/The-Age-Of-Extremes--1914-1991/859532  Karl Kautsky's critique of the Soviet Union  https://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1918/dictprole/index.htm  Novecento (film)  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074084/  Arditi del Popolo - The First Anti-Fascists https://libcom.org/library/arditi-del-popolo-first-anti-fascists 

The crisis in Afghanistan has dominated the airwaves this summer - and rightly so. In this episode, Luke Cooper talks to Shukria Rezaei, an Afghan living in London about her family's decade-long battle to flee the Taliban and resettle in Britain. It's a shocking story of oppression and the global border policing regime. Now she fears for those she left behind, as the Taliban seize power - with members of the Hazara community particularly fearful of a new round of sectarian bloodletting. In part two, Luke speaks to LSE professor and regular on the show, Mary Kaldor. They discuss whether, despite all the talk from the US administration about 'ending the forever wars', any lessons have actually been learnt, as development aid runs dry and the US military continue to drop bombs on Afghan targets, without regard to international law and perpetuating the cycle of violence.  Readings referred to in this episode of the podcast:  Personal story: I am Hazara – and I fear for my persecuted people https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2021/08/personal-story-i-am-hazara-and-i-fear-my-persecuted-people  Only action against corruption can solve the world's biggest problems https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/19/action-against-corruption-russian-sanctions-oligarchs-alexei-navalny The main lesson from Afghanistan is that the ‘war on terror' does not work https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/24/lesson-afghanistan-war-on-terror-not-work  Producer: Luke Cooper  Editor: Jake Pace Lawrie 

Can Englishness be anti-racist? After a remarkable football tournament, where the England football players made such a strong anti-racist statement we draw out some of the political implications for anti-racism and the constitutional future of the United Kingdom after Brexit. To get a handle on these issues Luke Cooper talks to two impeccably qualified guests. Shaista Aziz is an avid and lifelong England fan, anti-racist activist, and member of the FA's Asylum Seeker and Refugees Network, and John Denham, the former Labour MP who is now a professor at Southampton University and Director of the Centre for English Identity and Politics.  For more on the ideas discussed in today's podcasts, see:  https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/dear-england-gareth-southgate-euros-soccer  https://labourlist.org/2021/07/when-uk-labour-talks-only-of-britain-we-cannot-speak-for-england/  And Shaista's 1m strong petition:  https://www.change.org/p/football-association-and-oliver-dowden-sec-of-state-dcms-pm-boris-johnson-ban-racists-for-life-from-all-football-matches-in-england?use_react=false&v2=false  Editor: Camilo Tirado Producer: Luke Cooper 

Does June 2016 seem like only yesterday? Or does it seem like an eternity? Fives years on from the referendum hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams meet up with Laura Parker from the Another Europe National Committee to reflect on a period of dramatic change in UK politics. They uncover some small shoots of hope, despite all the problems we face, and lay out a strategy for the movement going forward from here. We also hear from some other members of the Another Europe National Committee with Zoe Gardner, Alex Fernandes, Julie Ward, and Shaista Aziz, offering their thoughts on five years of pain but also tremendous resistance.   Producer: Luke Cooper  Sound editor: Camilo Tirado 

The fight is on to replace Germany's centrist chancellor, Angela Merkel, who is stepping down after dominating the country's political scene for a decade and a half. With new elections scheduled for September will Germany embrace change, or choose the centrist status quo? To get a handle on Germany's next political chapter, hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams are joined by Franziska Heinisch, an activist with the Justice is Global Europe collective and author of the book, Wir haben keine Wahl / We Have No Choice, a manifesto against giving up, and Christos Katsioulis, a foreign policy analyst and director of the London office of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the political education foundation loosely aligned with the German social democracy. We pick their brains on where Germany is going after the Merkel era, what the big controversies are in the run to the September elections, and how hopeful they are on the prospects for progressive social change.  

The European Super League was dead almost on arrival. An uprising of fans, the football authorities and governments swiftly killed the project. It seemed to encapsulate everything that had gone wrong in a beautiful game where greed has long been king. In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to David Kogan. The Premier League's media rights advisor from 1998 to 2015, Kogan has been described as a ‘key architect of its financial success'. But away from big money football, David is also a figure in Labour politics. His 2019 book, Protest and Power: The Battle for the Labour Party, chronicles the history of the party's factional conflicts over its soul and direction. We pick his brains on whether the big money revolution in football has gone too far.    

In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to ecological economist, Tim Jackson, about his new book, Post-Growth; Life After Capitalism. Every society in the world shares a fundamental cultural assumption about how our economies work: that growth is good. But what if this is running up against both its material and ecological limits? As capitalism in Western states struggles with the problem of low or stagnant growth do we need to rethink how we understand the economy and prioritise redistribution and ecological and social justice, over the drive to squeeze more and more juice out of the same orange? Politicians often don't like talking about post-growth but many argue that its an idea whose time has come.  For more information on the ideas discussed on this podcast, check out these links:  Tim's book Post-Growth Hannah Arendt's classic work, The Human Condition  The novel, Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson and a paper by Luke on it here  

By now it should be clear. Coronavirus is a ‘strategic', not episodic, crisis for human development in this century. It poses sweeping social and economic change to our societies – as we try to come to terms and deal with mounting ecological crises. To get a handle on what these changes might be, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to economist James Meadway on what ‘building back better' should look like.   For more information on the issues discussed on today's podcast, see James' article on Open Democracy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/covid-19-here-stay-now-we-must-redesign-our-economies-around-it/   Producer: Luke Cooper Editor: Camilo Tirado

Britain's migrant workers are living through a huge moment of change. The country's immigration system has now fundamentally changed after the exit from the European Union and vast numbers of migrants have left Britain during the Coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of the most vulnerable EU nationals risk falling through the cracks and losing their right to remain as the settled status deadline looms. Meanwhile, despite a historic new level of immigration control, the Tory government appear desperate to find a new scapegoat with threats to clampdown on asylum seekers and activist lawyers. To take stock of these changes, and shed light on the quiet struggles underway for human dignity, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Zoe Gardner, from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and Alena Ivanova, from the Another Europe office and Right to Stay campaign. 

As the four nations of the United Kingdom struggle to reconcile themselves to life outside the EU are we witnessing the gradual unravelling of the illusions and delusions that have dominated the traditional British political elite? Is this end of the "era of self-deception" the one positive aspect of Brexit? And, if the project itself is overwhelmingly English, what does this mean for the future of the union between the four nations? To answer these questions hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by historian David Edgerton, a professor at Kings College London and author of The Rise and Fall of the British Nation.  For more information on the ideas covered in the podcast see:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/01/brexit-bonfire-national-illusions-labour-alternative-future  https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/David-Edgerton/The-Rise-and-Fall-of-the-British-Nation--A-Twentieth-Century-History/14131279  Producer: Luke Cooper Sound editor: Ben Higgins Milner 

The Coronavirus pandemic can be seen as a huge ecological warning: a sign that our footprint on planet Earth is becoming terribly unsustainable. And while that crisis continues to - rightly - dominate global headlines it is still rarely seen as the environmental crisis that it is. In the year that the UK will host COP26, the annual global climate conference in Glasgow, and following Joe Biden's victory in the United States, we ask whether campaigners can turn this to our advantage, and get the much more ambitious commitments we need? To answer this question and more hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Green Party co-leader, Sian Berry, to appraise the current state of the global climate emergency and what we need to do next. 

Will he do it? If Boris Johnson leads the UK to a no deal crash out from the transition period he'll surely be remembered as the most irresponsible prime minister in British history. His flag waving jingoism risks an economic and social disaster. Is it all a bluff? Will he climb down at the 11th hour? To find some answers hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Katy Hayward, professor of political sociology at Queens University Belfast and senior fellow with UK in a Changing Europe. In a wide ranging discussion they talk about the current state of play with the talks, how the promises of the 2016 referendum fit with the reality of 'no deal', the contradictions of the UK view of 'sovereignty' and the implications of Brexit for the politics and economics of Northern Ireland. 

After what seemed like a lifetime, the final results are in: America has said "no more" to Donald Trump. Collectively the world breathed a sigh of relief as the results came in. But many questions still remain unanswered. How much damage can Trump do between now and his exit day, the 20th January next year? Will his racism and unfounded attacks on the democratic process prompt 'white riots' in America's streets? Where will the American radical right and Trump dynasty go next? And what kind of impact can we expect Biden to have, either domestically or on world politics, especially without control of the Senate? Nick Dearden, Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper meet up to make sense of it all and ponder the future of global democracy in a century of crisis.  

We talk about authoritarianism a lot on this podcast and how it's resisted from below by grassroots movements. But we haven't yet broached what the principles are in how democratic states should operate in an increasingly dictatorial world order. In this podcast we talk to Mary Kaldor, emeritus professor of global governance at the London School of Economics, on what an ethical foreign policy should look like. Drawing on her experience advising the late Labour foreign secretary, Robin Cook, in the 1990s, she outlines the principles of a progressive foreign policy today. A critical part of this is seeing supporting pro democratic civil society movements as part of foreign policy - not simply something that is beyond what democracies should do. She also offers an explanation of the roots of American authoritarianism that goes beyond the "Trump is evil" statement and explores the problematic structures of contemporary US power. 

This definitely isn't normal is it? The world feels increasingly like a strange absurdist theatre we have all found our collective selves in. A new book tells the story of the last four years and how we got here. Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Will Davies, professor of political economy and co-director of the Goldsmiths Political Economy Research Centre. His new book offers a timeline and chronology from the Brexit referendum to the 2019 general election and is full of fascinating insights into the changing politics, economics and culture of these new and dangerous times.  For more on the ideas discussed in the podcast check out:  This Is Not Normal by Will Davies  Neoliberalism is over – welcome to the era of neo-illiberalism by Reijer Hendrikse The difficulty of 'neoliberalism' by Will Davies  

As American democracy faces the most troubling moment in its modern history, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to one of the world's leading experts on the far right about where it all went wrong. Cas Mudde is Professor of International Affairs at the University of Georgia he challenges the conventional wisdom that sees Trump as 'evil' and the Republican party as 'moderate'. Instead he explains how Trump is a symptom of the shift in American Republicanism towards the populist radical right - a move that has huge implications for American democracy in the century ahead. We also pick his brains on the challenge the authoritarian right represents to the future of democratic societies this side of the Atlantic and ask - above all - what we can do about it.  For more on the ideas discussed in today's podcast check out these links:  The Republican convention is proof that traditional Republicans have given up The Far Right Today (Book)  One thing all sides agree on: the 2020 election is about the soul of America How Orbán played Germany, Europe's great power

It is no exaggeration to say that dark money is now a major factor in our politics - and the lack of transparency threatens the democratic process. The 2016 Brexit referendum was the pilot episode of a new global horror show: nationalistic politics fuelled by hidden global donors. In this episode hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to Peter Geoghegan on his path-breaking new book, Democracy for Sale. In a jaw dropping discussion he explains how we still have no idea about the ultimate source of the huge amounts of cash that the Democratic Unionist Party and Arron Banks spent in the 2016 referendum.  This podcast is part of an on-going collaboration between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible. For more information on the ideas discussed in this podcast check out Peter's book:  https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Peter-Geoghegan/Democracy-for-Sale--Dark-Money-and-Dirty-Politics/24294091

In this podcast Another Europe's Zoe Williams talks to Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, about his new book, Trade Secrets. They unravel the corporate agenda at the heart of modern trade policy and the terrible implications it has for our food standards, consumer rights and environmental protections. To get your copy of the book go to the Global Justice Now website.

He made a fortune in the last financial crisis betting against a recovery. Now one-time City trader Gary Stevenson tells his jaw-dropping story. He won his job in a card game at one of the world's top universities and was the most profitable trader globally at Citigroup in 2011. But his maths-based predictions of currency movements hit upon a problem: global inequality was paralysing the economic future of the entire world. In this podcast, Gary tells hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper why the system has to change. He laments the failure of the Economics discipline to steer a new course and believes we are on the cusp of the total destruction of social mobility in every country in the world.  This podcast is part of an on-going collaboration between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible. For more information on the ideas discussed in this podcast check out these bits of reading:  Gary's Stevenson's articles for Open Democracy  For a more technical, economics-take on the issues discussed see this paper from the economists Gary mentioned in the podcast. 

Paul Mason and Christabel Cooper ... The Coronavirus crisis has turned on its head many assumptions about how politics works. It used to be taken for granted that the Tories want to make the state smaller, and the market bigger. But does that assumption still hold? And if not what is the nature of the new Toryism being formed through the course of the Coronavirus crisis? On this episode hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams are joined by journalist and author Paul Mason and data scientist and Labour councillor Christabel Cooper, to discuss how the centre-right is evolving. They place the analysis in a global and historical perspective and ask if Thatcherism is indeed coming to an end, then what happens next? The alternative, sadly, isn't necessarily better and could even be seen as continuity neoliberalism but with a big dose of nationalism and authoritarianism.  This podcast is part of an on-going collaboration between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible. For more information on the ideas discussed in this podcast check out these bits of reading: Paul Mason's Clear Bright Future The Devastating Defeat The Dangers Ahead

The killing of George Floyd unleashed a huge global uprising. Black Lives Matter has become a global movement against racism and for social and political justice. In Britain and across Europe discussion of American politics can sometimes serve as a convenient way to avoid discussing the issues faced by people of colour on this side of the Atlantic. In this podcast we set out to challenge this tendency by politely pointing out that black lives often don't matter in Europe too. And mass movements have erupted to demand that we too have a reckoning with the huge injustices faced by ethnic minorities. To explore these linkages we talk to Ndindi Kitonga, a Black Lives Matter activist based in Los Angeles, Quinsy Gario, a performance artist and activist in the movement against Zwarte Piet from Amsterdam. And Shaista Aziz, a Labour councillor in Oxford involved in the Rhodes Must Fall campaign.  This podcast is part of an on-going collaboration between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible.

As Boris Johnson is set for a video conference negotiation with the EU next week, we look at the sorry state of his Brexit negotiations. Hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams are joined by Laura Bannister of the Trade Justice Movement and Christos Katsioulis, the director of the London office of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung to talk about the state of the Brexit negotiations. As the world is facing multiple, deeply serious crises, Brexit appears as an absurd distraction. But the results of the UK-EU talks will have a huge impact on the future economic prosperity of the UK (and to a lesser extent, the EU too) and the ability to recover from Covid-19. We discuss how the EU's ideas for this trade deal are quite different from their traditional approach to other trade deals such as the failed attempt to strike a deregulating deal with the United States. Laura explains how the Trade Justice Movement have developed a new plan for trade deals that prioritises the public interest and environmental regulations, not the profits of big multinationals. This podcast is part of an on-going collaboration between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible. For more information on the ideas discussed in the podcast check out: Sustainable Regulation and Trade Agreements for the EU-UK relationship As Brexit talks continue, we need a deal fit for a post-Covid world

We are at a pivot moment in history. The choices we make today could determine the fate of future generations. Coronavirus has been correctly recognised as a giant wake up call to the realities of a failing system. Without question huge opportunities exist to catalyse positive change. But what comes next might well be worse: a much more authoritarian system, with huge inequalities protected by the state and legitimised by political nationalism. In this podcast hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to writer, academic and campaigner for universal basic income, Guy Standing, about his analysis of 'rentier capitalism' and the threat it represents to 'the commons'. He tells the story of the 'free market' myth. At every stage in the development of the system often referred to as 'neoliberalism', state intervention has been mobilised to protect the interests of the hyper wealthy minority.  It's time for change. But how? Find out in a great discussion.  This podcast is part of an on-going collaboration between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible. 

There aren't too many good news stories about. But here's a great one. A new model for financing sustainable development projects in a democratic and participatory way. Hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to democratic finance geeks Bruce Davis and Mark Davis about type of debt they've developed for local councils. It's a whole new mission for local government to put itself at the heart of green sustainable investment. By raising money through local municipal bonds local councils can develop local forms of energy production but also fund other things like social housing. It really could transform our economy.  For more on the ideas discussed in the podcast check out their report.  Production: Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper  Editing: Ben Higgins Millner 

It seems some things don't change after all. A now familiar row has broken out in the Labour Party over the idea of patriotism and nationality. This has been a continuous theme of the party's travails in the post-Blair era. But as debates go it's pretty thin gruel: lots of angst but little in the way of ideas. In this episode we try to go a little deeper and lay out the pitfalls and power of patriotism as a way of doing politics. To shed light on these topics, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Labour MP Jon Cruddas, who has argued for some time now the left need to engage pragmatically with the politics of land and territory associated with nationality, and Ash Sarkar, Senior Editor at Novara Media, who has repeatedly told the likes of Piers Morgan and David Starkey that criticising your country doesn't mean you hate it. They discuss George Orwell's famous essay, 'notes on nationalism', and the work of Stuart Hall, the founder of Cultural Studies and one of the most eminent figures on the post-war new left.  Editor: Camilo Tirado  Producer: Luke Cooper  The podcast is published as a collaboration between the Another Europe Is Possible team and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung London office.  For more information on ideas discussed in today's podcast check out these links:  George Orwell's "Notes on nationalism" Stuart Hall interview: "we need to talk about Englishness"  Jon Cruddas critque of "cyborg socialism" 

Increasingly it looks like there's a way of doing politics that suits the terrible ravages of capitalism in the twenty-first century. It's authoritarianism spliced with racism. And it rejects the international cooperation needed to put humanity back on the right footing. As the latest moment of this extended crisis grips the planet with the Covid-19 pandemic, hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams are joined by Cambridge scholar and author of Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance & British Dissent, Priyamvada Gopal. She tells the story of how extreme racism became normalised in India. And draws out the terrible implications this had for the country's Muslim population and the people of Kashmir. It's essential listening for anyone who wants to understand the scale of the reaction that humanity must face down in this century.