A month ago the Artemis II crew landed safely in the Pacific Ocean, completing their historic space mission to the far side of the moon. It’s been several decades since the last human mission to the moon - although this time there was no landing. However, the 4 astronauts travelled further from earth than any human ever has so far. David Aaronovitch asks his guests whether space exploration is back in fashion and if so what’s next? And are we any closer to a human mission to Mars and what would ...
May 07, 2026•28 min
Ask Claude a question, Google a query, order from Amazon, chat with mates on WhatsApp, tune in to Youtube. And where ever you do it from, you’ll never be somehow not in America. Because Britain, like Europe is dependent on US tech and as the AI revolution unfolds, governments are increasingly worried about it. The new buzz phrase is digital sovereignty. But what does that mean? Is it even feasible? And can the UK and the Europe take back control? David Aaronovitch talks to: Stanley Pignal, Europ...
Apr 30, 2026•28 min
It’s almost two months since the United States and Israel went to war with Iran. And in spite of a ceasefire the vital Strait of Hormuz through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes on tankers, is still effectively closed. The oil price remains high, affecting economies around the world. The most recent assessment from the International Monetary Fund warned that the war could throw the world economy “off course” and a prolongued conflict risked causing a global re...
Apr 23, 2026•29 min
This month retired people saw their state pensions rise by 4.8 per cent. That’s comfortably above the current inflation rate and means that some pensioners have increases this year of as much as £575. That’s because of the Triple Lock guarantee which is a formula set 15 years ago and which some economists say is costing the government too much and should be scrapped. But it’s meant that the state pension has risen over recent years, pensioner poverty is far less of a problem and not surprisingly...
Apr 16, 2026•29 min
If you sail 90 miles from Key West in Florida you’ll make landfall on the island of Cuba, run by a regime that America has never liked. And since this is the year of bombs, drones and talk of regime change, the island has not escaped close attention. Donald Trump has talked about taking Cuba but could he? Would he? And And what would that even mean for Cubans and Americans? Step into the Briefing Room and together we’ll find out. Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Ben Carter, Sally Abrahams...
Apr 09, 2026•28 min
The world’s attention is currently fixed on the US-Israel war with Iran and the effect it’s having on the Gulf region and global energy prices. But it was only six months ago that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was agreed and President Trump launched his 20-point peace plan. Since then we’ve heard little about progress beyond the return of Israeli hostages - the first phase of the plan. David Aaronovitch and his guests discuss what's happening to the citizens of Gaza and what has to happen...
Apr 02, 2026•28 min
It's a tough time for any young person looking for a job at the moment. While overall unemployment is running at just over 5 percent, there’s particular concern about a large group of 16 to 24 year olds - almost a million of them (12.8%) who are not in employment, education or training. And that includes recent graduates in that age bracket. They’re known as NEETS. David Aaronovitch and guests discuss why they're in this situation - is it down to the state of the economy, their own ability to wo...
Mar 26, 2026•29 min
As contemporary hi-tech wars rage - Russia and Ukraine and the US-Israel war with Iran - The Briefing Room takes a hard look at the UK's armed forces. After telling his allies - including the UK - that he didn’t need them, President Trump called for them to help him open up the Strait of Hormuz, which has raised not just the question of should we, but could the UK do this? David Aaronovitch asks when it comes to big military operations what have we got? In this dangerous 21st century what do we ...
Mar 19, 2026•29 min
It could be that the US-Israel war with Iran ends soon. That was the message from Donald Trump this week. But it may not. The longer the war continues the more collateral damage to the world economy. Mostly because of the impact of energy prices. But why are we all so vulnerable still to events in one small part of the world and one tiny channel, the infamous Strait of Hormuz? David Aaronovitch asks what it tells us about the problems of global energy and oil dependency and what could be done to...
Mar 12, 2026•29 min
It's less than a week since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran. And it's already spread across the Gulf region as Iran retaliates. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader for 36 years, was killed in US and Israeli airstrikes on Saturday. The question now is who is in control in Iran and whether the regime in its current form will remain or if this will trigger major change. David Aaronovitch and guests discuss how the US-Israel war with Iran started and what comes next. Guests: Anshe...
Mar 05, 2026•29 min
It’s four years this week since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. And by this summer the conflict will have gone on for longer than the First World War. Casualties run into the hundreds of thousands. Peace talks brokered by the US have been off and on for the past few months, with President Putin demanding that Ukraine gives Russia full control of the eastern Donbas region, including the part it does not occupy. President Zelensky refuses. Meanwhile, Ukraine has experiened one of its harshest wint...
Feb 26, 2026•28 min
Pressure is building in the UK for a ban on social media use for young people as countries across the world watch Australia, which introduced its own ban for under 16s last December. Meanwhile, the government here is launching a public consultation on children’s use of social media which will look at a range of options, including a ban. It also said this week that it wants to create new legal powers so it can take action quickly. David Aaronovitch asks what the evidence so far tells us about soc...
Feb 19, 2026•29 min
In early January street protests in Iran turned deadly - thousands were killed by Iranian forces. What started as a demonstration about economic conditions had turned into demands for regime change. President Trump said he would come to the aid of protesters. But so far he hasn’t. He’s amassed a US armada in the Gulf. And last Friday talks were held in Oman between American and Iranian officials about reducing Iran’s nuclear capacity. There’s been no agreement yet but more talks are expected. Da...
Feb 12, 2026•29 min
Following the dramatic capture of the President of Venezuela and his wife by US special forces on January 3rd, The Briefing Room asks what’s next for Venezuela? Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores have been indicted on drug trafficking and weapons charges in a New York court while in Venezuela the deputy president, Delcy Rodriguez has been sworn in as the country’s interim president. Meanwhile Donald Trump says he is in charge of Venezuela. David Aaronovitch and a panel of Latin American experts dis...
Jan 08, 2026•28 min
As both the year and the current series of The Briefing Room draw to a close, Europe and much of the world have been digesting a lengthy document outlining the Trump administration’s view of foreign policy. The National Security Strategy covers much of the globe but extra special vitriol was reserved for Europe with dire warnings that the continent is facing “civilisational erasure” partly due to immigration. At the same time the growing influence of “patriotic European parties” (those on the fa...
Dec 18, 2025•29 min
In a few days time resident doctors -who used to be known as junior doctors - will go on strike. Just before Christmas and with flu on the rise. This will be the 14th strike by the doctors’ union since March 2023. The ostensible reason is pay but coming up behind it as an issue for younger doctors is the question of their futures- they're very unhappy about their working conditions and their career paths. David Aaronovitch and guests discuss what's going on and ask what the problem is with the w...
Dec 11, 2025•29 min
In her budget the Chancellor increased the state pension by 4.8 % in line with the government's triple lock formula. It was good news for pensioners but is it good news for the young? A constant background to spending and economic decisions for well over a decade now has been an argument about generational injustice. That the young are getting poorer. David Aaronovitch and guests look at the facts and ask whether the old are robbing the young and if so what should be done about it? Guests: Bobby...
Dec 04, 2025•29 min
President Trump wants an end to the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainians want peace too - but not at any cost. The past week saw the emergence of a leaked US 28 - point- plan which was wholly unacceptable to President Zelensky and European leaders. But how it originated and why it looked like a Russian wish list has led to intense debate. ( It included Ukraine giving up territory it still holds in the east, as well as the area already occupied by Russia, a cap on the Ukrainian army of 600 thousand, a ...
Nov 27, 2025•28 min
This week the government announced an overhaul of the UK’s asylum system with the stated aim of making Britain look a lot less attractive to those planning to make their way across the Channel on a small boat or outstay their visa if already here. A raft of proposals include ending a refugee’s effective right to stay in the country indefinitely, a quicker way of deporting those who fail in their asylum applications and a less sympathetic approach to refugee families. Denmark has been held up in ...
Nov 20, 2025•28 min
The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves has been widely trailing this month’s budget and the difficult decisions she’ll have to make in just under two weeks time. This is being taken as code for tax rises and a possible break in Labour’s manifesto pledge with a rise in income tax. She’s said one of the key reasons for this is that the government's official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility or OBR, is likely to lower its UK productivity growth forecast for the coming years. So why is UK prod...
Nov 13, 2025•29 min
Something is going in the southern Caribbean. The world’s largest aircraft carrier - the American USS Gerald R Ford- is on its way to the region. Small boats said to belong to Venezuelan drug smugglers are being blown up by the US military. Old US bases are being de-mothballed. And there’s media talk of Trump-induced regime change in Caracas, with Venezuela’s authoritarian, leftist president Nicolas Maduro in the crosshairs. In this week's Briefing Room, David Aaronovitch and guests ask what thi...
Nov 06, 2025•28 min
When a disaster or serious event happens, such as the Grenfell Tower fire, the Manchester Arena terrorist attack or the Covid pandemic, you can be pretty sure that a public inquiry will follow. They’re popular with the public as a means of investigating serious state failure. And for Governments they can be a good way of kicking a difficult issue into the long grass, as usually by the time the inquiry is finished a different set of politicians will have to deal with the report. There are current...
Oct 30, 2025•29 min
Some of the biggest figures in finance, from the CEO of JPMorganChase to the Governor of the Bank of England, have been warning of potential shocks to the global economy. As excitement continues to build about the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence, the US stock market has boomed, potentially forming a fragile bubble. Meanwhile, recent bankruptcies in America have raised worries that a rapid growth in lending by private companies (so-called shadow banks) might be built on shaky ...
Oct 23, 2025•44 min
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 have major question marks over their accuracy. The UK’s top stats agency, the Office for National Statistics, finds itself under considerable pressure as falling response rates to its surveys leave politicians flying blind. David Aaronovitch asks what this means for government decisions and how the ON...
Oct 20, 2025•29 min
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 hostage releases before, but then the death and destruction has resumed, so why is so much more hope being invested in the current plan? And what’s actually in it? Guests: Rushdi Abu-a-loaf, BBC Gaza Correspondent Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College London David Makov...
Oct 09, 2025•28 min
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, higher peak. There wasn’t a vaccine and we didn’t know when we might get one. Now it’s a memory. But another deadly pathogen might pop up in fifty years or it might be manifesting its early stages right now. In the final part of our three-part mini-series looking at how the resilient the UK might be in ...
Aug 26, 2025•42 min
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 as government defending critical infrastructure or as individuals guarding our digital identities. Guests: Sadie Creese, Professor of Cyber Security in the department of computer science, Oxford University Dr Aybars Tuncdogan, Associate Professor in digital innovation and information security, Kings C...
Aug 21, 2025•29 min
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 - resilience - how well are we coping with what’s going on now, and how advanced is our planning for what’s coming? In the first of our three part mini series looking at how the resilient the UK might be in dealing with potential future crises we ask how prepared are we to deal with the changing climat...
Aug 14, 2025•28 min
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 and homes heated after the Russian invasion of Ukraine has helped send our national debt up from £1.8 trillion to £2.8 trillion in recent years. But the question for the chancellor Rachel Reeves is how much more debt we can afford - and how much more debt do the markets think we can afford? So what’...
Aug 07, 2025•29 min
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 illegal and irregular migration never far from the headlines these days and with President Macron, during his recent visit describing the “pull factor” of illegal migrants being able to work in Britain, the debate is being resurrected. So, what is the history of ID cards in the UK, what form might th...
Jul 31, 2025•29 min
