The 2 Best The Briefing Room Podcast Episodes
1) What is happening to the Uighurs in China?
The Chinese Communist Party is accused of locking up hundreds of thousands of Uighurs in internment camps. In the Uighurs' homeland in Xinjiang, the state operates a system of mass-surveillance and is...Show More
2) Is Your Local Council Going Bust?
Child services in Northampton are under pressure - and it's partly due to where long-distance lorry drivers choose to take a pee. In fact, Northampton County Council as a whole is under huge finan...Show More
3) Is the UK in a data crisis?
As Rachel Reeves approaches a tricky budget, her job has got that much harder. Some of our most fundamental economic data, statistics that policymakers are used to accepting at face value, suddenly ha...Show More
4) Will the Gaza peace plan work?
There have been in celebrations in Israel and Gaza at the announcement of a ceasefire and the beginning of a longer term plan for peace and reconstruction in Gaza. There have been ceasefires and hosta...Show More
5) UK Resilience 3: How prepared are we for the next pandemic?
Five years ago we in the UK were in the false lull between the first wave of covid and the second, between the first variant and the second, between the first peak of covid deaths and the second, high...Show More
6) UK Resilience 2: How prepared are we for cyber threats?
From councils disrupted by ransomware, leaked defence data or individuals duped by deep fakes, the UK faces increasing cyber threats. David Aaronovitch asks his guests how prepared we are - whether ...Show More
7) UK Resilience 1: How prepared are we for climate change?
The UK is getting hotter. And wetter. Extreme weather events in the UK are happening more often. And that trend won’t stop any time soon. It all means more flooding and fire risk. Enter the R word -...Show More
8) Should the government worry about debt?
In a time of sluggish economic growth, the favourite way of squaring the circle of spending more but not increasing taxes is to borrow - and we have. Keeping everybody’s lights on during the pandemic ...Show More
9) Why don't we have ID cards in the UK?
For years there has been an argument, sometimes loud, sometimes subdued, on whether Britain needs an ID card system. One big reason given for wanting them is simply to know who is here legally. With ...Show More
10) How close is the UK getting to the European Union?
'Britain is back on the world stage' said Prime Minister Keir Starmer in May following the first UK-EU summit since the UK left the EU in January 2020. Outline agreements were reached to remove red t...Show More