Talking Politics

David talks with Lea Ypi about her astonishing new memoir Free: Coming of Age at the End of History

David and Helen are joined by Politico’s chief Europe correspondent Matthew Karnitschnig to explore the consequences of the German elections. Who were the real winners and losers? Are there lessons for centre-left parties in other countries, including the Labour Party in Britain? And what are the choices facing Germany as it decides on its place in an increasingly unstable world? Plus we ask whether this was a Covid election. If not, why not?

David and Helen are back from the summer break and are joined by Adam Tooze.

David Runciman and Helen Thompson answer a third round of listener questions, starting with Trump and moving on to where we get our ideas from, what we've learned from all our failed predictions, and whether the 1990s were really the decade of missed opportunity.

The second part of Talking Politics answering your questions, this week covering British politics. Helen and David tackle whether Labour can win, what happened to the Lib Dems, where the Greens are heading and what’s in store for the Union. Plus, how much is being held together by the Queen and what will happen when she is no longer around?

David Runciman and Helen Thompson answer questions from Talking Politics listeners on the geopolitics of vaccines, Germany as a 'useful idiot', the Great Game in the 21st century, oil prices, green finance and the risks and rewards of 'Japanification'.

David Runciman talks to Ed Miliband about the thinking behind his new book Go Big. What are the ideas that have the power to change British politics? If they have been shown to work elsewhere, why are they so hard to make happen? Is it the politicians or the public who are reluctant to make the shift? And might the Tories be better at the politics of change than Labour?

This week David and Helen take stock of the state of British politics, looking at how the big themes of the last year fit together.

David talks to historian Linda Colley about her new global history of written constitutions: the paper documents that made and remade the modern world. From Corsica to Pitcairn, from Mexico to Japan, it’s an amazing story of war and peace, violence, imagination and fear.

David and Helen talk to the historians Robert Tombs and Robert Saunders about the history of England and the future of the Union.

David and Helen are joined by the historian Colin Kidd to try to make sense of last week's elections in England, Scotland and Wales.

David and Helen talk to Michael Lewis about his new book The Premonition, which tells the story of the people who saw the pandemic coming and asks why they couldn't get a hearing.

David and Helen talk to Hans Kundnani about the prospects for German politics in the run-up to September’s federal elections, now that the cast list of possible successors to Merkel is known. Can Laschet escape from her shadow and does he want to? Would a Green led government be radically different from the alternatives? Is the age of the ‘grand coalition’ over?

David Runciman and Helen Thompson talk to Mike Kenny about what devolution has done to the politics of the UK as seen from Westminster and Whitehall. How have we ended up with a Unionism that is both complacent and aggressive?
What has the pandemic revealed about the need for co-operation? And can the UK survive without a fundamental constitutional rethink?

As part of the series about the future of the Union, David and Helen talk to Dan Wincott of Cardiff Law School about the history of Welsh devolution and the possibility of Welsh independence.