267 | Twilight of Democracy

David talks to the writer Anne Applebaum about her highly personal new book, which charts the last twenty years of broken friendships and democratic failure.  We start in Poland with the story of what happened to the high hopes for Polish democracy, including what we've learned from this week's presidential election.  But we also take in Trump and Brexit, Hungary and Spain. What explains the prevalence of conspiracy theories in contemporary politics? Why are so many conservatives drawn to the politics of despair?  Is history really circular?  And is democracy doomed?

266 | Helen's History of Ideas

David talks with Helen to get her take on the history of ideas - both what's there and what's missing.  Why start with Hobbes?  What can we learn from the Federalist Papers?  Where's Nietzsche?  Plus we talk about whether understanding where political ideas come from is liberating or limiting and we ask how many of them were just rationalisations for power.

256 | James Meek on Healthcare: from WHO to NHS

David talks to the writer James Meek about what the Covid crisis has revealed about how we understand healthcare and how we think about the organisations tasked with delivering it.  A conversation about hospitals and community care, about Trump's America and Johnson's Britain, and about WHO and NHS. More of James' writing on these themes is available on the LRB website.

255 | Brexit in the Age of Covid

We have passed the deadline for any extension to the Brexit trade negotiations - now it's 31 December or bust.  We catch up with three of our resident experts to explore what this means, what the chances are of getting a deal and where the sticking points might be.  Plus we asses the impact of the Covid crisis on the fate of Brexit and its implications for what might happen later this year.  With Anand Menon, Catherine Barnard and Helen Thompson.

254 | Burma's Hidden History

In this extra episode David talks to Thant Myint-U about the fraught recent history of Burma (Myanmar) and asks what it can teach us about twenty-first century politics.  Why did the West have so many illusions about Aung San Suu Kyi?  Can democracy really rescue the country?  What model of development might work in the age of Covid and climate change?  A wide-ranging conversation about the forces shaping our world.

253 | Britain Wrestles with its Past

We talk with the writer and political commentator Fintan O'Toole about how British politics can and should deal with its imperial past in the age of Brexit.  From battles over statues to fights over nationalism we explore whether history has become the new democratic divide.  Why does Churchill loom so large over our politics?  Can Labour reclaim the mantle of patriotism?  Will the Union survive the history wars?  Plus we ask whether there has been a generational shift in attitudes to race and identity.  With Helen Thompson.