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. Subscribe Instagram Website

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… RelativelyThe Exchangein the pages of the LRBConfronting LeviathanDisordercolumn for the New Statesmanwebsite In grateful memory of our colleagues Aaron Rapport and Finbarr Livesey

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 aftermath was hugely consequential. The shale boom was a double-edged sword: it also destabilized the alliance with Saudi Arabia and increased competition between the US and Russia. QE created a wholly new situation in the Eurozone. One of the risks of democracy is democratic excess. But democracies can also experience aristocratic excess. Mentioned in this Episode: Helen’s book, DisorderJames Macdonald, A Free Nation Deep in Debt Further 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 crisis And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking

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.

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. Boris won’t go voluntarily. But can he survive? In 2015, Ed Miliband was leading in the headline polls. But there were signs of weakness. The politics of scandal are different from the politics of crisis. This particular scandal is bound up in Johnson’s appeal. Were the pandemic years a dress rehearsal for the politics of climate change? Mentioned in this Episode: Recent polling data Further 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

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? What would Putin count as a success in the current crisis? Kiev seems less convinced about the imminence of an invasion. What is different today from 2014? NATO allies should still feel reasonably secure. 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 integration And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking

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. What will be the next big technological shift? Are we in a kind of lull? Does the Chinese system show us that there is another choice on technology? Technology has undeniably changed our lives, but the liberatory promise does not seem to have been realized. 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 Democracy Further Learning: What is the metaverse, exactly? What is Web3? More on Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking

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. What would Biden’s presidency look like if Democrats did not have a majority in the Senate? Are fears about a looming American civil war overblown? 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 Order Further Learning: Is Civil War coming to America? More on Merrick Garland’s investigation Eric Foner for the LRB on the electoral college And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking

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. What complicates things now is the Scottish question. Is there potential for serious opposition to climate-centric politics in the coming years? Is there an unoccupied political space between techno-utopianism and net zero skepticism? Mentioned in this Episode: Keir Starmer’s new year speechMichael Crick’s forthcoming biography of Nigel FarageRobert’s Twitter account Further Learning: More on Conservative opposition to Net ZeroHelen on the timid political debate over green energyAdam Tooze on realism, progressivism, and Net Zero And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking

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.

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. These were revolutions about political and social order, but also about national order. What accounts for the simultaneity of these revolutions? Why wasn’t there a revolution in Britain? The forces of counterrevolution were primarily those of monarchism and money. The revolutions of 1848 combined radical street politics with legislative politics. The institutional side of the revolution seemed to win. 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

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. These were revolutions about political and social order, but also about national order. What accounts for the simultaneity of these revolutions? Why wasn’t there a revolution in Britain? The forces of counterrevolution were primarily those of monarchism and money. The revolutions of 1848 combined radical street politics with legislative politics. The institutional side of the revolution...

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.

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? Talking Points: Before the pandemic, the central questions about China in the West revolved around Hong Kong. Now we don’t talk about it so much. China is trying to repair its territorial claims. This is a precarious situation: the risks of miscalculation are enormous. The CCP apparatus is incredibly opaque. How ideological is Xi’s project? Mentioned in this Episode: Cindy’s podcast, Chinese WhispersCindy’s podcast episode with Oriana Skylar MastroVictor Shih at UC San Diego Further Learning: More on the Biden-Xi virtual summitThe Talking Politics Guide to… The Chinese Communist Party And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking

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. There is a clash between climate ambition and energy reality. During a lockdown that shut down half of the global economy, carbon emissions only fell 6%. In many parts of the world, energy use will actually need to increase in the coming decades. Some people, like John Kerry, hoped that the U.S. and China might find a point of consensus on climate. 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? 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 Exchange Further 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

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 Prize Talking Points: Albania was a socialist country that went through various alliances. For Albania, the key year was not 1989 but 1990. How do we conceptualize freedom? For Lea, freedom is about being the author of your own fate, even when it seems overdetermined. Mentioned in this Episode: Lea’s new book, FreeLea on political legitimacy in Marxist perspectiveBook tickets for our upcoming event with Hilary Mantel Further 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’