All over Europe and in the corridors of Nato policy makers are discussing the implications for the continent of the Trump victory in the American presidential election. For 70 years the alliance with the USA has been the foundation stone of European defence. During his last term in office, it was reported that Trump wanted to take the US out of Nato. That didn’t happen but he made clear his discontent at the lack of defence spending among member states. Can that alliance can be maintained,...

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has delivered the first Labour Budget in 14 years. Naturally there was a flurry of instant responses to individual tax measures, but what about the big picture? Well, more than a week has passed, and the dust is settling. We thought it was time to return to a panel of experts who we spoke to in September. Is this really a once in a generation budget? What will it mean for the government’s finances and services? Will it bring much needed growth? And what might the...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss the recent events in Lebanon. Israel has been widely blamed for a series of pager and walkie-talkie attacks targeting members of Hezbollah. Does this mark the invention of a new kind of warfare and what might the wider consequences be for the region? Guests: Shashank Joshi, The Economist's defence editor Professor Lina Khatib, Director of the Middle East Institute at SOAS University of London Ronen Bergman, Israeli investigative journalist for The New York...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss the challenges facing Germany. Worries over the economy and immigration have seen the far right AfD party gain support in the former east Germany. Guests: Guy Chazan, Berlin bureau chief at the Financial Times Dr Constanze Stelzenmuller, Director of the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings Institution Marcel Fratzscher, President DIW Berlin - German Institute for Economic Research and Professor at Humboldt University Berlin Thiemo Fetzer,...

Last month the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, warned that "things would get worse before they got better". The Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already said that there's a £22 billion black hole in the government's finances left by the Conservatives. The budget at the end of October, we're told, will be "painful". But just how bad a state is the UK economy really in? And how constrained is the new government by manifesto promises it made not to raise the main taxes on working people? Guests:...

The first human cases of MPox were detected in 1970. But a new strain detected in Congo in 2023 has got scientists confused. How worried should we be and are we prepared for it? Dr Jonas Albarnaz, a Research Fellow specialising in pox viruses at The Pirbright Institute Dr Lilith Whittles, lecturer and Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow in the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis Dr Josie Golding, head of epidemiology at The Wellcome Trust Trudie Lang, Professor of Global...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss the risk of escalation on Russian borders and further afield and explore what form that might take if it were to happen. Guests: Natia Seskuria, founder and executive director of the Regional Institute for Security Studies (RISS), a Tbilisi-based think tank Dr Jack Watling, Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, Michael Clarke, Professor of Defence studies and Specialist Advisor to the Joint Committee on the...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss China's desire for 'peaceful reunification' with Taiwan. Can it really be done peacefully and what happens if it can't? Guests: Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC Asia correspondent based in Taipei Amanda Hsiao, Crisis Group's Senior Analyst for China Dr Lauren Dickey, Taiwan analyst at the China Power Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Shashank Joshi, defence editor at The Economist Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Ben Carter,...

In the first of three programmes, David Aaronovitch explores the risk of escalation and wider conflict in the Middle East. What would all out war look like and how likely is it? Guests: Shashank Joshi, The Economist's defence editor Professor Lina Khatib, Director of the Middle East Institute at SOAS University of London Dr Burcu Ozcelik, Senior Research Fellow for Middle East Security within the International Security department at RUSI. Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Ben Carter,...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss Labour's plans for planning reform. This week the Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner announced a new National Planning Policy Framework. Will it boost economic growth? Sir John Armitt, Chairman of the UK's National Infrastructure Commission Catriona Riddell is an independent planning consultant and commentator who advises on planning policy Anthony Breach, Associate Director at Centre for Cities Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Ben Carter and...

Machine learning has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years. Bigger, more powerful computers can crunch ever more amounts of data, analysing complex information just as accurately, it’s claimed, as the best specialists and at speeds humans can never achieve. With the potential to make a significant difference to healthcare - helping to diagnose disease, summarise patients’ medical notes, even predict health conditions years before any symptoms appear. But how long before the potential...

Surveys suggest that at least one in four of us will suffer from anxiety and depression during our lifetimes. The prevalence of these conditions is one of the reasons given for poor school attendance. And it's estimated that these mental health disorders account for 12.5% of all sickness leave in the UK. So what’s caused such an explosion in mental distress and what, if anything, can be done to bring down the numbers? Join David Aaronovitch and a panel of guests to find out. Guests: Professor...

Half the UK population will get cancer during their lifetime - and rates are rising. Each year, around 385,000 people in the UK are diagnosed and around 167,00 lives are lost to the disease. But scientists are developing new therapies, including personalised vaccines and targeted drugs, that attack cancer cells directly and more effectively. It's hoped this pioneering work could lead to better survival rates. David Aaronovitch and guests discuss promising developments in cancer care -...

2024 is the year of elections and already hundreds of millions of people around the world have been to the polls. A few months ago The Briefing Room looked ahead to elections in South Africa and India. Both have since delivered shocks to their ruling parties which failed to win parliamentary majorities. So why did the main parties in both countries do worse than expected? And what does this mean for the governments they’ve formed and the immediate future of both South Africa and India?...

David Aaronovitch and guests dissect Sudan's ongoing civil war. This conflict is now one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. How can it be brought to an end? Guests: James Copnall - presenter of Newsday on the BBC World Service and former BBC Sudan correspondent Mohanad Hashim - Sudanese journalist working on Newshour on the BBC World Service Dame Rosalind Marsden - associate fellow of the Africa programme at Chatham House and former UK ambassador to Sudan Professor Alex De Waal -...

David Aaronovitch and guests examine Joe Biden's ceasefire deal and ask whether - despite some positive noises from both sides - Israel and Hamas are interested in making it work. Guests: David Makovsky, Ziegler Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of the Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations Anshel Pfeffer, columnist and Israel correspondent at The Economist Lina Khatib, Director of the Middle East Institute at SOAS University of London Hussein Ibish, senior...

David Aaronovitch and guests assess the fallout from France's EU elections and President Macron's subsequent decision to call parliamentary elections later this month. Guests: Hugh Schofield, BBC Paris Correspondent Sophie Pedder, Paris bureau chief at The Economist Mujtaba Rahman, Managing Director for Europe at Eurasia Group who advise investors on political risk Dr Françoise Boucek, Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for European Research in the School of Politics and International...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss Donald Trump's conviction in the hush money case, examine the cases yet to be heard and ask whether any of this hurts his election chances? Guests: Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America correspondent Jack Chin, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of California, Davis Wendy Schiller, Professor of Political Science at Brown University Production team: Caroline Bayley, Miriam Quayyum, Kirsteen Knight and Ben Carter Editor: Richard Vadon Production...

David Aaronovitch and guests assess the latest developments in Ukraine. In 2022, Russia was expected to win the war easily. That didn't happen. But is Russia gaining the upper hand now? Guests: James Waterhouse, BBC’s Ukraine Correspondent Polina Ivanova, FT correspondent covering Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia Michael Clarke, Professor of Defence Studies at Kings College London and Specialist Advisor to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy Ann Marie Dailey, Senior Fellow...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss the current financial crisis facing UK universities and ask what can be done about it. Guests: Branwen Jeffreys, BBC Education Editor Nick Hillman, Director of The Higher Education Policy Institute Madeleine Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford and member of the Migration Advisory Committee Alan Manning, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics Production team: Sally Abrahams, Kirsteen Knight, Miriam...

The H5N1 strain of avian flu isn't new. It was discovered in China in 1996. But in recent years it's started passing from mammal to mammal and it's now rife on cattle farms in the United States. How much should humans worry? David Aaronovitch speaks to: Professor Wendy Barclay, action medical research chair in virology at Imperial College London Kai Kupferschmidt, science journalist and molecular biologist Dr Caitlin Rivers, epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Public...

David Aaronovitch and guests explore the troubled state of the water industry in the UK. How do companies solve the sewage problem, fix the leaks and reduce the debt mountain? Guests: Kate Bayliss, research associate in the Department of Economics at SOAS, University of London David Hall, visiting professor in the Public Services International Research Unit at the University of Greenwich Sir Dieter Helm, Professor of Energy at the University of Oxford Julie Bygraves, public policy analyst...

Democrats and Republicans have promised to solve the border crisis in recent times but they've failed and it remains a huge election issue. How does the problem get resolved? David Aaronovitch talks to: Gustavo Solis, investigative border reporter at KPBS television station in San Diego Doris Meissner is Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program Edward Alden, senior fellow at the Council on Fore­­­ign Relations and author of When the World Closed Its Doors: The Covid-19...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss the reasons why millions of people in the UK aged between 16 and 64 are neither working nor looking for work and what we can do about it. Tony Wilson, Director of the Institute for Employment Studies Sam Avanzo Windett, Deputy Director at the Learning and Work Institute Torsten Bell, Chief Executive at the Resolution Foundation Production team: Sally Abrahams, Kirsteen Knight and Ben Carter Editor: Richard Vadon Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Sound...