96 | Iran, Israel, Korea, the World

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This week we try to make sense of what's happening to the international order, from the end of the Iran deal to the on-again-off-again US-North Korean summit to opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.  Can Europe carve out a separate foreign policy from the Trump administration?  Is regime change still the name of the game?  And what has it all got to do with the price of oil?  Plus we ask if anything is left of Obama's legacy and why it was so easy to undo.  With Helen Thompson, Aaron Rapport and Chris Bickerton.

95 | The Politics of Mental Health

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This week we discuss how and why mental health has become a growing political issue.  What are the differences in the way the political parties approach this problem?  Is it something that unites or divides people across generations and classes?  And what can politicians do to help us cope?  Plus we talk about whether politics itself has become a more stressful job than it used to be.  With Helen Thompson and Chris Brooke.
 

94 | Strike

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After the largest strike in the sector for a generation, we talk to Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, about the politics of higher education.  How did the issue of pensions become so politically charged?  What are the long-term consequences of treating students as consumers?  How should universities respond to the challenge of Brexit?  Plus we return to the question of why having a university degree is now one of the main dividing lines in contemporary politics.  With Helen Thompson and Chris Brooke.

93 | How Democracy Ends - The Book

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An extra episode this week to talk about David's new book How Democracy Ends, out next week.  With a clip from the lecture we put out at the start of the year and a chat with Helen and Chris Bickerton.  The book is available with a special discount for Talking Politics listeners  (£12 including free P&P from profilebooks.com using the code TALKINGPOLITICS at the check out)

92 | What's wrong with GDP?

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We talk with economist Diane Coyle about what's wrong with our main measure of economic performance and how it impacts on politics. She tells us what we're missing in our measures of economic activity and she explains how we could do it better.  Plus we discuss whether the unemployment figures still tell a true picture of the world of work and we ask whether the dollar's days as the global reserve currency may be coming to an end.  Numbers and why they matter.  With Helen Thompson and Chris Bickerton.
 

91 | James Williams

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We catch up with James Williams, winner of the Nine Dots Prize, ahead of the publication of his prize-winning book Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy.  What is the relentless competition for our attention doing to our well-being?  How can we fight back against the endless pull of the phone in our pocket?  And what does it all mean for politics?  The book will available free to download from Cambridge University Press on 31 May.