Strikes across Europe have thrown the continent into chaos just as summer travel takes off. Emily Tamkin, Alona Ferber and Alix Kroeger discuss what is driving workers across the public sector to take to the picket line, and they speculate where the “summer of discontent” is headed. In Israel, the coalition government has dissolved, prompting the fifth election in almost four years, and giving Israel’s longest-serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu another shot at returning to power. The team...
Jun 23, 2022•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the final episode of this series of France Elects Ido Vock, Europe correspondent, is joined by the New Statesman’s writer-at-large Jeremy Cliffe to digest France’s legislative election, at which Emmanuel Macron’s party failed to win a majority and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally had its best ever result. Macron will now be the first president in 20 years to govern without a parliamentary majority. They discuss whether Macron and his party could have done more to prevent the far right...
Jun 21, 2022•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine heading towards its fifth month, Europe correspondent Ido Vock speaks to the former Nato general secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen. They discuss what else can be done to support Ukraine, what form security guarantees for a neutral Ukraine might look like, and why democracies need to stand up to autocrats. Further reading: Europeans were united in support of Ukraine, but that consensus is fraying . The war in Ukraine should have strengthened Europe’s co...
Jun 20, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast On 7 June, the former German chancellor Angela Merkel appeared at a speaking event at a Berlin theatre, to discuss how she has spent the past six months since leaving office and reflect on present politics. Jeremy Cliffe in Berlin joins Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC to assess Merkel’s defiant stance on her policies towards Moscow and ask whether we should reappraise her international legacy. Could she have done more to prepare Germany, Ukraine and the rest of Europe for Russia...
Jun 16, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the first of a two-part special of France Elects , as the united left comes ahead of Emmanuel Macron’s party in the first round of the French legislative elections, we look at what this might mean for the French president and what’s to play for in Sunday’s second round. Europe Correspondent Ido Vock discusses the result with Alix Kroeger. They talk about how the left managed to unite, what has happened to the far-right, and what it could mean for Macron if he fails to keep his ma...
Jun 14, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Fresh from his reporting trip to Kharkiv in Ukraine, Bruno Maçães talks to Katie Stallard about the mood in Ukraine. They discuss how Kharkiv is at the heart of a new national movement, why Ukraine needs long-range artillery capabilities and how Macron’s “off-ramp” offer to Putin will not help end the war. Further reading: Bruno Maçães’s Diary : Kharkiv is shelled, streets are renamed, and soldiers on a break head for the cafés How will the Ukraine war end? “Russia cannot afford to l...
Jun 13, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast After narrowly missing out on making the second round of the presidential election, the leader of the left in France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, is battling Emmanuel Macron’s renamed Renaissance party to win this weekend’s legislative elections. Could he give the president a tough five years? The New Statesman 's Europe correspondent, Ido Vock, joins Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard to look ahead to the vote. Also this week, as a progressive district attorney is recalled in San Francisco, the panel disc...
Jun 09, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Bessborough House, a grand mansion on the outskirts of the city of Cork, was one of Ireland’s largest mother and baby institutions, open from 1922 to 1998. Thousands of women and girls confined there had their babies taken from them and placed for adoption, often without maternal consent. In her new bestselling book, Bessborough: Three Women, Three Decades, Three Stories of Courage , the BBC journalist Deirdre Finnerty recounts the stories of three women who spent time there across three d...
Jun 06, 2022•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast As the EU claims victory with a partial oil embargo on Russia, Ido Vock, Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard discuss whether Hungary’s right-wing populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is weakening the West's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They also look at the significance of Russia’s latest advances in the east of Ukraine. Then, in You Ask Us, they answer a listener’s question on France’s policing of the Liverpool vs Real Madrid Champions League final in Paris. If you have a question...
Jun 02, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast When the site of the Chernobyl disaster was occupied by Russian troops during their invasion of Ukraine, fears of further contamination put the safety of nuclear power in the spotlight once again. In his latest book, Atoms and Ashes: From Bikini Atoll to Fukushima , the Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy looks at the history of nuclear disasters and asks whether there are better ways to tackle climate change than nuclear power. He speaks to Alix Kroeger about his book and the dangers of a la...
May 30, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Australia has a new prime minister, but how much of an impact did climate change have on the defeat of Scott Morrison? Environment and sustainability editor Philippa Nuttall joins Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard to discuss Labor’s election win. Plus, with Covid spreading rapidly in North Korea, is there any sign the regime will accept international help? And after at least 19 children and two teachers were killed in an elementary school in Uvalde in Texas, they answer a listener’s questio...
May 26, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast As millions of Ukrainians flee from the Russian invasion of their country, could those seeking refuge be vulnerable to exploitation? Alix Kroeger speaks to Suzanne Hoff, international coordinator at La Strada International, a European NGO that campaigns against human trafficking, about the organisation's new report on the dangers facing Ukrainian refugees. They talk about the different forms exploitation can take, the worries around unvetted help offered through social media, and what government...
May 23, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast The mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday (14 May) by a white nationalist appears to have shown the real consequences of the racist “great replacement theory”. Emily Tamkin in Washington, DC, Megan Gibson in London and Ido Vock in Berlin discuss how this far-right conspiracy theory evolved from being a fringe notion in France to entering mainstream political discourse in the US, and the worrying frequency of racist shootings. Sweden and Finland, meanwhile, have formally applied ...
May 19, 2022•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Thus far, international concern for the Chinese Uyghur ethnic minority has been focused on their persecution within China itself. But the reach of the Chinese government's campaign against them extends to countries around the world. Katie Stallard is joined by Bradley Jardine, a research director at the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs and a global fellow at the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the US. They discuss his new publication, Great Wall of Steel: China...
May 16, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, son of the Philippines’ former dictator, who was ousted in 1986, won a decisive victory in the presidential election on Monday 9 May, according to unofficial results. Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC discuss what the Marcos dynasty’s return to power will mean for the country, as well as its relations with China. Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine observed Victory Day on the anniversary of Germany’s defeat in the Second World War. Katie and Emily di...
May 12, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast South Korea’s new president Yoon Suk-yeol takes office on Tuesday 10th May. Emily Tamkin speaks to Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a professor at Kings College London and author of Shrimp to Wale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop , about the challenges facing this political outsider. They discuss relations with North Korea after Kim Jong Un conducted another weapons test ahead of his inauguration, his promise to take a more combative stance against China, and how far his appeal to the “anti-femi...
May 09, 2022•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast A leaked draft decision suggests the US Supreme Court is about to repeal Roe vs Wade , threatening abortion rights across the United States. Emily Tamkin is joined by Katie Stallard and Rachel Cunliffe to discuss what this ruling could mean, how dangerous a moment this is for women, and how the decision is reverberating across the world. Plus, after Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov sparked a row with Israel by suggesting that Hitler was of Jewish descent, they discuss the role that ...
May 05, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, the way the Russian regime is attempting to retell its own history is crucial to Vladimir Putin’s hold on power at home. Katie Stallard talks to Emily Tamkin about how authoritarian regimes manipulate history, what the parallels are between Russia, China and North Korea, and how the Kremlin has twisted the past in its attempt to justify the invasion of Ukraine. Katie’s new book, Dancing on Bones: History and Power in China, Russia and North Kore...
May 02, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emmanuel Macron has defeated Marine Le Pen to be re-elected as president of France. Emily Tamkin in Washington DC, Ido Vock in Paris and the New Statesman’s associate business editor Emma Haslett in London discuss the response in Europe, Macron’s relationship with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the future of the far-right in France. Then they move to Twitter, which Elon Musk is set to purchase for $44bn. They discuss the potential reasons for the deal and how the self-described “free sp...
Apr 28, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast With populist movements gaining ground in Europe, the New Statesman 's international managing editor Alix Kroeger speaks to the journalist and political scientist Yascha Mounk. They discuss how populists play on divisions in society, why some of the ways in which the left tries to fight back can make the problem worse, and how to make diverse democracies more stable. Monk's book The Great Experiment is available in book shops now. If you have a You A...
Apr 26, 2022•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast The results of France’s presidential election are in: Emmanuel Macron has won a second term as the French president with a comfortable majority. However, this victory is tempered by the fact that the far right, led by Marine Le Pen, achieved its best result in the history of the Fifth Republic. Ido Vock discusses Macron’s success and Le Pen’s relative gains with the New Statesman executive foreign editor, Megan Gibson. They cover the reaction in France and across the world, the sincer...
Apr 25, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a special episode of France Elects supported by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), we discuss its latest report on the far right, "Understanding Right-Wing Populism and What to do About It". As Marine Le Pen faces Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the French presidential election, her National Rally party is on course for the far-right’s best ever result in the country. We’re joined by one of the report's co-authors, Daphne Halikiopoulou from the University of Re...
Apr 21, 2022•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast As discontent rises in Shanghai during another Covid lockdown, Katie Stallard, the New Statesman 's senior editor, China and global affairs, and Emily Tamkin, senior editor, US, discuss how China has ended up in this situation and why it could struggle to find a way out. They also examine the increasing communal violence in India. Then in You Ask Us, they answer a listener’s question on the role of diplomacy in Russia's war in Ukraine. If you have a question for You Ask...
Apr 20, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Under a week before Emmanuel Macron faces Marine Le Pen in the final round of the French presidential elections, we have a special episode looking at the latest polling and what the candidates will be trying to achieve in the final days of their campaigns. Europe correspondent Ido Vock is joined by Paul Hilder, the founder of Datapraxis, – a strategy company which has been polling the French election – to discuss whether Macron is doing enough to win over left-wing vot...
Apr 19, 2022•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Alix Kroeger speaks to Olia Hercules, a London-based Ukrainian chef and food writer who has become an unexpected activist following the Russian invasion of her home country. They discuss her parents’ recent escape, her reunion with them, her journey from writer to campaigner, and what British people can do – and cook – to welcome Ukrainians. Donate to Olia's #CookForUkraine fundraiser here . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 18, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast On the eve of the 2022 French presidential election, the New Statesman ’s writer-at-large Jeremy Cliffe caught a train from Courseulles-sur-Mer on the north coast of France to Marseille on the Mediterranean. Stopping in Caen, Paris and Vierzon along the way, he heard how contemporary France is reshaping itself in the long shadow of Charles de Gaulle – and against the backdrop of Europe’s biggest war since 1945. What does the future hold for the Fifth Republic? Written ...
Apr 16, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Finland and Sweden are poised to make a historic decision as the countries consider joining Nato. Polls have shown a surge in support for the move following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Emily Tamkin in Washington, DC and Megan Gibson in London discuss this extraordinary move and its possible consequences as Sweden’s elections approach, as well as the Ukrainian response. Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen will go head to head with President Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential election run-off...
Apr 14, 2022•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast As Russia’s war on Ukraine enters a new phase, the New Statesman ’s Europe correspondent Ido Vock speaks to the Russian investigative journalist and security services analyst Andrei Soldatov. They discuss how Russia got its pre-war planning so wrong, how the Kremlin is responding to military setbacks, and why a palace coup to overthrow Vladimir Putin is unlikely to happen. If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk . Podcast listen...
Apr 12, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a special episode of France Elects , Ido Vock looks at the results of the first round of the French presidential election with New Statesman executive editor Megan Gibson. They examine how Macron beat his 2017 performance, and why he could nevertheless find the second round much tougher this time. Also under discussion: how Marine Le Pen successfully detoxified her brand and the death of the traditional parties in French politics. Ido and Megan also answer a listener’s question on why French ...
Apr 11, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Harrowing images and reports from Bucha – a town where hundreds of Ukrainian civilians appear to have been massacred – have shocked the world. US president Joe Biden has joined calls for Putin to face trial for war crimes. Emily Tamkin in Washington, DC and Alix Kroeger in London discuss the atrocities, lessons learned from the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and why, despite huge public pressure, it is so difficult to prevent war crimes from being committed and to prosecute those responsible. Also on ...
Apr 07, 2022•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
