Talking Politics

We talk about the current election by talking about two previous ones: the February and October general elections of 1974. A lot of 2019 politics started back then, from the rise of the SNP to Liberals getting squeezed by the electoral system. But it was different too and we have stories of campaigning by landline and hovercraft, MPs on acid, naked civil servants and experts being taken seriously. Plus we discuss how the 1974 elections led to the rise of Thatcherism and changed British politics forever. With Helen Thompson, Chris Brooke and Peter Sloman.Talking Points: The election of February 1974 was the last winter election.The Conservative Edward Heath called the election, and tried to frame it as ‘Who governs Britain?’The election took place amid the National Union of Mineworkers strike, increased oil prices after the Yom Kippur War, and concerns about inflation. Heath’s policies were not aligned with the kind of election he wanted.The bigger backdrop was a deep sense of politica

We have a first look at what's happening in the election campaign by asking whether it's really one election or many. Do national vote shares mean much any more, given all the regional variations? How is the Remain Alliance meant to work? Is this a Brexit election? And is 2015 or 2017 (or neither) a better guide to 2019? Plus we discuss the recent election in Spain and explore parallels between gridlock there and possible gridlock here. With Helen Thompson, Chris Bickerton and Mike Kenny.Talking Points:One month out from the election, what do we know? Why do commentators still rely on polls and betting markets? What is the appropriate unit of analysis for this election? Is it regional? National? The rural/urban divide seems to cut across the regional effects. But tactical voting pulls things down to a more granular level: you have to look at particular seats.Many people thought this would be a Brexit election, but it doesn’t really look like that.The big theme

David and Helen talk to Nobel Prize-winning economist (the youngest ever!) Esther Duflo about how to do economics better. From investing in left-behind places to helping people adapt to change, we discuss good and bad economic ideas about some of the biggest challenges we face, and how it all connects back to politics. Plus we talk about what some of the world's richest countries can learn from some of the poorest. Esther's new book, with Abhijit Bannerjee, is Good Economics for Hard Times https://bit.ly/33q6uOmTalking Points: Why do economists believe “Invest in People not Places?” And why are they wrong? The idea is that it’s better to target interventions at individual people than places, in part because people will move.But research shows that people are remarkably sticky. They don’t really move.Even faced with really high costs, and the complete freedom to move to another place, people don’t. During the Greek financial crisis, very few people left.Mobility is easier at younger ages.Wh

On the night the UK parliament voted for a general election, David and Helen talk to former Conservative leadership candidate Rory Stewart about the state of our democracy. Is the constitution broken? Can the Union survive? Has the Tory party changed for good? And why does he want to be Mayor of London anyway? Recorded in front of a live audience at Church House in Westminster, near enough to parliament for Rory to run out halfway through our conversation to vote, and then run back in again to carry on talking. It's all here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After two significant votes in the House of Commons pointing in two different directions - one towards a Brexit agreement and the other towards a general election - we discuss where we might be heading. Does Johnson have enough to persuade the wavering MPs he needs to get his Brexit deal over the line? Do his opponents have enough to stop him? Can European leaders still force the issue? And if there is an election, does it all change again? Plus we ask: what's actually in the WAB? With Helen Thompson, Catherine Barnard and Chris Brooke.Talking Points:Last night was the first time since the Brady amendment that Parliament voted positively on something.The stop Brexit MP’s seem to be implementing tactics without a strategy.Are there any conditions under which the 14 Labour MPs would vote for Johnson’s deal for real?The Labour whipping operation is still working. So it seems unlikely that a WA will go through this House of Commons.Johnson’s deal is mostly Theresa May’s deal, with th

In a special live edition as part of the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, David talks with journalist, comedian and former special adviser Ayesha Hazarika and Helen Thompson about the state of British politics. As three years of Brexit torture (maybe) reach a climax, we explore what it feels like on the inside, for politicians and for voters. What's been the psychological toll?? What's going on inside the Labour party? And is politics really worse than it's ever been? Recorded live at the Cambridge Junction on the evening of Weds 16 October, to celebrate our 3rd birthday.Talking Points: UK politics today feels different—but what explains this change?Labour’s collapse in Scotland changed the dynamics. Labour now needs the SNP to govern.Another change is that there are no longer fiscal constraints on government spending.Brexit has brought Parliament into people’s lives in a whole new way.Although, it’s important to note, that not everyone is obsessed with Brexit.Discourse within Parlia

We catch up with Gary Gerstle and Helen Thompson about the state of the Trump presidency, from impeachment and cover-ups to Syria and Ukraine. We ask what it would take for Republican senators to desert him and what the collateral damage is likely to be for the Democratic presidential candidates. Plus is Hillary really - really?! - back in the game?Talking Points:What are the grounds for impeaching Trump?There’s a legal argument: Trump breached campaign finance laws.There’s also a constitutional argument: that Trump is trading American interests for personal gain.More specific charges are less open to counter-attack. Politically, it may be advantageous for the Democrats to focus on Ukraine. But a too narrow charge might not resonate. The Democrats need to make the case that this matters morally and link it to a broader American narrative.Elections are a sacred event in American democracy. But the U.S. electoral system also depends on a certain amount of corruption to work.Is fear of foreign int

A special edition recorded in front of an audience at the Podcast Live festival in London on Saturday: David, Helen and Chris Brooke discuss what we can learn from the early twentieth century about holding elections in the depths of winter. Constitutional crises, threats of civil breakdown, broken coalitions and very grumpy voters: we may have been here before. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David and Helen take a step back to unpick the tortuous history of how we got to the Brexit referendum in the first place. Does the justification Cameron offers in his new memoirs stack up? What was he trying to achieve? And why did we end up with an in/out vote when the political risks were so great? A conversation linked to David's review of Cameron's book in the current 40th anniversary issue of the LRB. https://www.lrb.co.ukTalking Points: Why did Cameron call for an in/out referendum?He wanted to reconfigure Britain’s relationship with the EU, not abolish it.Let’s take the story back to 2004-2005 and the new constitutional treaty.The key question was consent.In Britain, there was a push for a referendum. Although Blair was initially opposed, he made a u-turn. But the Dutch and the French voted the treaty down before it could happen.Then came the Lisbon Treaty. Brown decided that this was different than the constitutional treaty and he ratified it without a referendum.Th

David talks to novelist Ian McEwan about his new Brexit parable, The Cockroach, and a lot else besides: counterfactual history, Labour party conferences, eighteenth-century satire, humanising judges and turning the economy on its head. But yes, it's all about the Brexit nightmare.Further Learning: You can buy The Cockroach hereAn extract from The CockroachMentioned in this Episode:Selected quotes from Johnson’s UN speechThe Children ActA Modest Proposal by Jonathan SwiftMachines like MeUpcoming Events:On 5 Oct. David, Helen, and Chris Brooke will be LIVE in London. Tickets here!And on 16 Oct. David and Helen will be LIVE at Cambridge Junction with Ayesha Hazarika. Get your tickets here.And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David and Helen try to lower the temperature by looking at the strategic choices behind the vitriolic clashes in the Commons this week: from the date of the next election to the prospects of a coalition government. Plus they consider the fall-out from the Labour party conference and ask what price a second Scottish referendum. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A packed episode: we catch up with Catherine Barnard on the Supreme Court's unanimous decision against prorogation and we discuss what's going on in Italian politics. Plus we explore the links and differences between the two, from fears of an election to the role played by presidents and monarchs. Boris, Berlusconi, Baroness Hale and politics on the beach: it's all here! With Lucia Rubinelli and Chris Bickerton.Talking Points:Is it surprising that the Supreme Court’s judgement was unanimous?There’s a strength in unanimity—it also makes it harder to attribute political motives to individual judges.This is only the beginning of what could be a series of contentious judgments, but because the decision was unanimous, it’s hard to read the room.The Supreme Court didn’t want to get into motive… or monarchy, so it focused on the effect of prorogation.If the power to prorogue were unlimited, it could be used for unconstitutional purposes.But Parliament did have an opportunity to hold the government to

David talks to Brett Frischmann about how so-called 'smart' machines may be producing more machine-like humans. From GPS to Fitbit to Alexa to the Internet of Things: what is our interaction with new technology doing to change the kind of people we really are? https://www.reengineeringhumanity.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the middle of the epic prorogation battle at the Supreme Court, we ask what's at stake: for the government, for Brexit, for the constitution and for democracy. Is this a case of legal precedent, common law practice or higher constitutional principle? Is the UK constitution becoming more European in the act of leaving the EU? And what are the things lawyers on neither side can say? Plus we ask how Jo Swinson's case for revoking article 50 is going and we discuss whether we could really have a 2nd referendum without another general election. A packed episode! With Catherine Barnard, Helen Thompson and Chris Bickerton.The prorogation case has reached the Supreme Court.Traditionally the courts are reluctant to second guess political decisions. The high courts of England and Wales ruled that the case wasn’t justiciable. The Scottish court took a different line.This case is really looking under the bonnet of the constitution.If there is no judicial control, the right to pr

David and Helen try to make sense of where we've got to, though things are moving fast (*episode recorded before the Scottish court judgment*). Can parliament force Johnson's hand in the Brexit negotiations if he is still PM? Will Labour hold together now that it's become a second referendum party? Could the revocation of article 50 become a real prospect? Next week, on to the Supreme Court. We also pay tribute to our dear friend and colleague Finbarr Livesey, who very sadly died last week.Talking Points:People have claimed moral victories and rhetorical victories this week, but what actually happened?Boris is still Prime Minister, and the opposition organized behind legislation that requires him to ask for an extension.But the EU will want a reason. And Boris wouldn’t be breaking the law if he said there was no reason, or that it was purely political.Is it possible that all this turmoil actually gives Johnson more leverage with the EU?Unless there’s movement from the Irish government

Helen Thompson and Adam Tooze take us beyond Brexit to look at the global situation and the bigger threats we face. Italy, Germany, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Russia, Trump vs. the Fed, the US vs. China, Hong Kong, the dollar, the euro, climate change, oil: an amazingly wide-ranging conversation that somehow manages to connect it all up.Talking Points: Christine Lagarde will take up her post at the ECB relatively soon. Does her most recent speech fit into a narrative of a French victory in the euro struggles?Lagarde has clearly asserted the necessity of continuing the Draghi agenda, but augmenting it with fiscal action. That’s the big question mark.There are still fundamental, unresolved issues: banking union and Italy’s sovereign debt.The condition for making Italian fiscal activism safe would be some agreement to collectivize a large portion of Italy’s sovereign debt. How that’s accounted for, and whose balance sheet it would fall onto is the real issue.Do you really want to activate a major f

With British politics in disarray, we try to sort out what's a stake - legally, constitutionally and electorally. Can Johnson refuse to do what parliament demands? Can Corbyn get the election he wants? What is Dominic Cummings playing at? And how much is the Fixed-term Parliaments Act to blame for the mess? Plus we explore the likely choices ahead for voters and politicians and we ask the big question lying behind all the drama: is this a question of politics or is it a matter of law? With Helen Thompson and Kenneth Armstrong.Talking Points:What was Johnson trying to achieve with prorogation? Deliberately provoking the opposition? Making it look like Parliament had been defeated to push the EU to work toward another agreement? A lot is going wrong for the government right now and it is struggling get to the general election it wants to fight.Helen thinks that the actual goal is an orderly exit from the EU.But people don’t believe Johnson wh

We talk to political philosopher Clare Chambers about marriage as a political institution. How does it reflect the power of the state?  How does it alter power relations between individuals? Should everyone be allowed to get married or should we move away from marriage altogether? A fresh, radical look at something we often take for granted.Talking Points:What makes marriage political?Marriage is an institution recognized by the state. It also structures the way people relate to each other along gendered lines, as well as those of race and class.Most of the clear legal inequalities in marriage have been reformed in contemporary Britain, but there is still significant practical and symbolic inequality.Different sex married couples tend to exhibit more gendered behavior than unmarried couples.We still view marriage as a goal, particularly for women. And for women, marriage often comes with a number of identity changes.When the state recognizes marriage, it is en

Special cross over episode with the FiveThirtyEight politics podcast from America, hosted by Galen Druke.On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he had asked the queen to suspend parliament in September, reducing the amount of time lawmakers will have to debate legislation related to Brexit. John Bercow, the speaker of the House of Commons ,called the move a “constitutional outrage.” In this episode of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, Helen Thompson and David Runciman discuss what qualifies as a constitutional crisis and whether they think Britain has reached that point. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David gives another in his series of talks about democracy. This one draws on the theme of his new book Where Power Stops: The Making and Unmaking of Presidents and Prime Ministers. From Lyndon Johnson to Boris Johnson, does power reveal the true character of politicians or do politicians reveal the true character of power? What sets the limits to what presidents and prime minsters can do? And how do we find them? https://profilebooks.com/where-power-stops-hb.htmlThe books that have had the single largest influence on modern Western politicians are Robert Caro’s biographies of Lyndon Johson.These books are a love letter to politics: the glory, the grind, the graft.Johnson’s life is a tale of redemption: he was a terrible man, but he did some great things.Johnson’s life shows that individual politicians can make a difference. This is a story that a lot of politicians want to hear.Caro says that the lesson of Johnson’s life is that power corrupts, but power also reve