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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...