Last year there was of course one major story that transformed geopolitics - the war in Ukraine. Putin’s war has had knock-on effects across Europe and the world, so how will this year play out? What could happen to that conflict and the rest of the world in 2023. And what other global news stories can we expect to develop in 2023? In today’s episode we speak to Channel 4 News’ our international editor, Lindsey Hilsum, as she previews the year ahead in geopolitics - not offering predictions but ...
Jan 13, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast This was the year where we saw Putin start a war in Ukraine, a winter of strikes, three prime ministers and two monarchs. To look back at the past year and look a little bit ahead too, we sat down with our policy correspondent Paul McNamara, to take stock of the year that was 2022 - and the year that will be 2023. Producer: Freya Pickford
Dec 23, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Harry and Meghan’s documentary is now out in full and criticises the relationship between the monarchy and the media, and alleges racism in the treatment of Meghan Markle. In today’s episode we speak to Anna Whitelock, professor of the history of the monarchy at City, University of London and Director of the Centre for the Study of Modern Monarchy, about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix series. We ask her about what the documentary says, the fall out and what it means for the future of t...
Dec 16, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast After 10 months of war, Russian advances and Ukrainian counter-offensives, winter weather has arrived in Ukraine. Russia may have retreated from Kherson in early November but Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the last month signal a new phase of the war, as Putin weaponises the cold weather. So as parts of Ukraine plunge into sub-zero temperatures and pressure mounts on Putin to negotiate, how might this war evolve as we enter the winter months? In today’s episode of the F...
Dec 09, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Three years after coronavirus was first detected in China, it remains the only major nation pursuing Zero Covid. So as maskless fans enjoy the World Cup and countries all over the world move on, China remains stuck and the people are protesting. After the initial outbreak in Wuhan back in 2020, authorities were quick to clamp down on any emergence of the virus - pursuing a zero-Covid policy. That has seen China officially record a low number of both cases and deaths, a message to the world of ho...
Dec 02, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s been one month since Rishi Sunak became prime minister of the United Kingdom and so he’s now just three weeks off lasting longer at Number 10 than Liz Truss did. After the disaster of the mini budget, Sunak has been the safe pair of economic hands needed to calm things down, reassure the markets and try to get the Conservatives back on track after disastrous poll numbers. But how long can the new prime minister keep the country and his party calm and quiet? In this episode, our political ed...
Nov 25, 2022•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump has announced his Presidential run, undeterred by last week’s US midterm elections, where the red wave of Republican victories never came, and many in his only party blamed him for putting up bad candidates and spouting election lies. In today’s episode, we’re joined by Patrick Murray, the Director of Monmouth Polling, one of America’s leading pollsters, to dig down into last week’s results and understand why the Democrats bucked the historical trends to have a very decent Midterms,...
Nov 18, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week Chinese president Xi Jinping told his military to prepare for war in what he called an increasingly “unstable” security environment. China just had its 20th party congress, with Xi Jinping securing an unprecedented third term in power. And amid rising tensions between China and the US, the first in-person meeting between Xi and Biden has been confirmed next week. But with no immediate loosening of the zero-Covid policy, we ask what’s next for Xi? In this week’s episode of the Fourcast,...
Nov 11, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Has anything really changed since COP26? In the year that Russia invaded Ukraine, triggering a global energy crisis, we’ve also seen the drastic impact climate change is having on our planet: with catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, a megadrought in the US and record-breaking heat waves across Europe. With COP27 fast approaching; diplomats from across the world will gather once again to try and get global warming under control. Including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who after saying he’d be a no-sh...
Nov 04, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast The US midterms are approaching and polls suggest the Republican Party could take control of the House and could even secure the Senate too. But has the party gone from the grand old party of Abraham Lincoln to more like a Donald Trump fan club? What comes next? In today’s episode, we speak to the Republican pollster and strategist Whit Ayres, about the shifting nature of the party, from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump. We ask him whether the Republican Party is now fully beholden to Trump or whet...
Oct 28, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week, the United Nations General Assembly held a vote to condemn Russia’s illegal annexation of four regions in Ukraine. The resolution was supported by 143 countries but four voted against and 35 abstained. As bombs reigned down on Ukrainian cities and killed civilians, why is it that 39 nations either still support Russia, or remain neutral in this war? Today, our International Editor Lindsey Hilsum tells us about the countries that still back Moscow and explains whether any of them are b...
Oct 21, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Liz Truss was always inheriting a difficult job, with a war in Ukraine, a cost of living crisis and a party in need of a fresh start after 12 years in power and the scandals of Boris Johnson. She’s certainly made a mark. Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget has been anything but mini, it’s had a huge impact on the markets, mortgages, gilts, and the pound. It’s also had an impact on how her party and the public view her and that’s what could be really lethal. Today, our political editor, Gary Gibbon, tak...
Oct 14, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Russia's Vladimir Putin is obsessed with his legacy. He has compared himself to Peter the Great, the tsar who founded St Petersburg and created the modern Russian empire. That was Putin’s plan but with Ukrainian forces now pushing back and Russian men fleeing the country, it’s not going the way he had hoped. So is he losing his hold on power? We speak to Angela Stent, an author, professor and an expert in all things Russia and Putin. She explains that while Putin’s legacy is damaged and his hold...
Oct 07, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Russian President Vladmir Putin is expected to announce the annexation of four regions of Ukraine - just like he did with Crimea in 2014. But this isn’t total deja vu, because this time, he’s on the backfoot and he's in trouble. Following months of stalemate after his failure to take the capital Kyiv, Putin’s forces were surprised by a Ukrainian counteroffensive that either pushed his forces back, or made them flee. And so now, he’s had to hold sham referendums and initiate a partial mobilisatio...
Sep 30, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia’s first military mobilisation since World War Two. He also warned he would use "all means [he has]" to defend Russian territory, raising concerns around the world and saying it wasn’t a bluff. With the United Nations General Assembly taking place this week, Nato leaders attacked Putin’s announcement. But Nato-Russia relations weren’t always quite so frosty. In this episode we speak to Lord Robertson, the tenth Secretary General of that alliance, who met Putin 9 ...
Sep 23, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast For the past few days, young and old, Britons and beyond, David Beckham too, have descended on London to join what must be the world’s longest queue. The line to file past Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second’s body as she lies in state at Westminster Hall. At one point, the queue reached capacity, it was five miles long and the wait was 14 hours and so for several hours no one could join the queue. So they formed a queue for the queue. When queuing resumed, the wait was even longer, 24 hours....
Sep 18, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Wednesday, the body of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will travel in a public procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, carried on a gun carriage, with King Charles leading the procession behind his mother’s coffin, which will be draped in the Royal Standard. Once in Westminster Hall, the coffin, topped with the Imperial State Crown, orb and sceptre, will lie in state for four days, with each corner guarded 24-hours-a-day by soldiers from units that serve the Royal Household. Whe...
Sep 14, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast This was a day we knew would come, but which somehow remained inconceivable. The Queen, the only monarch most of us have ever known, has died at 96. Today, we will hear from some of the many tributes from around the world, as we enter a period of historic mourning for our monarch. And speak with the Royal Historian Ed Owens about this moment in our history, what we can learn from the past as we enter a completely new present without a Queen whose reign was historic in so many ways. Sources: AP A...
Sep 08, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast A nation constantly under the threat of a much larger power. A nation with an invasion always at the back of its mind. A nation that does have allies, but is still not sure whether those friends will help if war comes. Taiwan, on the face of it, appears just like Ukraine. But with tensions rising in the region because US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could make a controversial visit there this week, any future conflict would engulf the two great superpowers of this century - the US and China. In to...
Aug 02, 2022•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Thousands of people are jetting off on their first holiday abroad in three years, but will you actually make it to your destination? Cancelled flights, hour-long delays, never-ending queues - this was not the postcard ending we were promised. So is our travel industry in chaos? Today, Minnie Stephenson speaks to travel journalist and international global trotter Andy Mossack about why our airports are under the most pressure they’ve ever experienced. Sources: ITV News, France 24, Al Jazeera Prod...
Aug 01, 2022•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Inside the Houses of Parliament, they make the rules for the rest of us but, with claims of harassment and bullying, is it time Westminster got its own house in order? After an exclusive Channel 4 News investigation reveals claims of bullying and sexual harassment in Parliament, right across the political spectrum, we spoke to our presenter and Investigations Editor Cathy Newman about the scale of misconduct in Westminster. (The testimonies you will hear have been voiced by actors) Produced by: ...
Jul 27, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’re down to the final two. We know our next Prime Minister will be either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak. But what will the party and country look like with someone new at Number 10? And is this simply a coronation for a leader who is set to lose the next election whenever that might be? Today, our political editor Gary Gibbon details what to expect from the weeks ahead in the Tory leadership election - and whether the party is ready to properly start a new chapter after Brexit, Covid and Boris - or...
Jul 25, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The hearings into the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 th 2021 are yet to finish and the revelations have been stunning. But the hearings are just one issue among many right now in America: the end of Roe versus Wade, an increasingly conservative Supreme Court, and a Donald Trump who still looms large. On Today’s episode we’re in Washington DC with Christine Emba, a columnist and editor at the Washington Post to talk about what all this could mean for not just November's elections, ...
Jul 20, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump’s slogan ‘America First’ wasn’t just about nationalism at home, it also meant isolation abroad. So, Joe Biden was always clear when he came into power that America was back on the world stage, no longer the unpredictable supower that it was under Trump. In this episode we speak to the Atlantic Council’s Christopher Preble, who leads a team that analyses and questions American policies abroad. He tells us about Trump’s ability to rip up the rule book and to go against diplomatic norm...
Jul 18, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast On the 5th of June this year, a 10-day search for two men began in the deep of the Amazon. British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira had travelled into the rainforest as part of research into Phillips’ new book: “How to Save the Amazon”. Both had championed the cause of Brazil’s indigenous communities against those forces threatening their very existence. In today’s episode, we talk to Latin America Correspondent Guillermo Galdos, who was with the team when they discove...
Jul 13, 2022•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast It took seven months of Partygate, a disgraced MP, 50 resignations, one sacking, but it did eventually happen. He never said the word resign, and he’s still sticking around inside Number 10, but the days of Boris Johnson’s premiership are certainly numbered, while his days as Tory leader are done and dusted. Today, our presenter and investigations editor, Cathy Newman, unpacks why Johnson finally decided to step down, what state he leaves the party and country and who might be the person to pick...
Jul 11, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast For more than 15 years, the extremist group Al Shabaab has been fighting a bloody insurgency in Somalia. They are one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist organisations - responsible for killing hundreds of people including innocent civilians. Our Africa correspondent, Jamal Osman, is the first journalist that has been al lowed to film the group in years, speaking to one of the group’s leaders about why they continue to kill and hurt fellow Muslims in Somalia. Today, Kiran talks to Jamal abou...
Jul 06, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast We all know that the War in Ukraine has up-ended peace in Europe and shaken geopolitics on the continent. Nowhere more so that in Germany - where the Chancellor spoke of a turning point - with the country pledging to ditch its ties to Moscow and arm Ukraine. But months later, that turning point appears to have been more words than action - with European allies frustrated with Germany’s apparent inability to fully commit to the Ukrainian cause. Today, our Europe Editor Matt Frei looks at the reas...
Jul 04, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast It was a decision that America knew was coming. Jubilation from those who want abortion banned across the US but a devastating blow for those who’ve fought for women to retain the right to choose. The Supreme Court has reversed five decades of legal protection for abortion rights created by the 1973 landmark judgement, Roe v Wade that gave women the constitutional right to have an abortion. Now, the Supreme Court with it’s Conservative majority has done what pro-life campaigners have desired for...
Jun 29, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast The war in Ukraine continues, with no end in sight. Ukraine says to end this war they need weapons from the west - that’s the only way they can win. But Kyiv says that they’re not getting what they want and when they want it. So, how long will this war drag on and what does victory look like for Ukraine, for Russia and for the West? Today we speak to Lindsey Hilsum, our international editor, who spent weeks in Ukraine since the war began and has covered countless conflicts around the world. She ...
Jun 27, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
