The Government was forced into a humiliating climbdown over its controversial benefits bill this week, and any savings the Treasury had hoped to make were wiped out. The politics of this is a subject on its...

President Trump says the conflict between Israel and Iran is over after 12 days. For the US and Israel the declared objective has been to destroy Iran’s capacity to make a nuclear bomb, with a side order of...

Following a deadly terrorist attack in Indian administered Kashmir in April a short military conflict broke out between India and Pakistan. For a brief history of the tensions over Kashmir Caroline Bayley...

As the Ukraine war grinds on with little sign of Russian president, Vladimir Putin agreeing to a ceasefire we trace the evolution of his attitude towards Ukraine. David Aaronovitch spoke to Vitaly Shevchenko...

Tariffs have dominated the first few months of President Trump’s second term. But where did he get the idea from? Ben Carter spoke to Douglas Irwin, professor of economics at Dartmouth College in New...

Rare earths and critical minerals are precious resources everyone seems to want but what are they and what are they used for? David Aaronovitch speaks to Ellie Saklatvala, head of Nonferrous Metal Pricing at...

Rare earths and critical minerals are precious resources everyone seems to want but what are they and what are they used for? David Aaronovitch speaks to Ellie Saklatvala, head of Nonferrous Metal Pricing at...

In the past few weeks Marks & Spencer, the Co-op and Harrods have all been grappling with the effects of cyber attacks. The most profitable form of cyber attack at the moment is ransomware where criminals...

Dire warnings of famine in Gaza, a broken ceasefire and the threat by the Israeli government of a new “intense” offensive which would forcibly displace Palestinians to an area in the south of Gaza and perhaps...

President Trump has signed a minerals deal with Ukraine, which will give the US access to some of Ukraine’s natural resources. The US president also said he’d like to take over Greenland and even Canada....

Tension is high in Indian administered Kashmir following the killing on 22nd April of 26 civilians almost all of whom were Hindu tourists. They were visiting Pahalgam - an area often described as the...

The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer wants the UK to become “one of the great AI superpowers”. Earlier this year the government published a plan to use artificial intelligence in the private and public...

President Trump’s fury with China shows no sign of abating. High tariffs - first imposed by the US but now on both sides - are giving way to a very real trade war between the world’s two biggest economies....

Rarely has it been so difficult to see the wood for the trees. The trees being Donald Trump’s new tariffs announced on what he called Liberation Day and which took effect this week, plus the immediate...

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Turkey in the past two weeks in protest at the arrest and jailing of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu. He’s seen as one of President Recep...

Securing peace in Ukraine is proving harder than President Trump first thought. Separate talks between US officials and Ukrainian and Russian representatives were held in Saudi Arabia a few days ago. But the...

The Government is reorganising the way the NHS is run in England by scrapping the body that’s been in charge and giving direct control to the Department of Health and Social Care. Jobs will go and the...

There’s huge pressure on special educational needs and disabilities, known as SEND. The number of children and young people who need extra support has rocketed as more and more are diagnosed with autism,...

Donald Trump has only been US president for just over a month and yet the world order seems to be changing by the day. Ukraine has been cut adrift with the pausing of US military aid and intelligence...

We talk through the history of the military alliance.

A quick run down on how the conflict developed - from attempted coup to war of attrition.Guest: Michael Clarke, Visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies, King’s College, London and former Director...

A number of studies have shown the amazing weight loss potential of a new group of drugs, known to many by their brand names as Ozempic (which is for diabetes), Wegovy and Mounjaro. But how do these new...

A short history of electric cars in the UK. The UK government wants to ban the sale of petrol cars by 2030. But how is the move to electric vehicles going? This episode is part of a new mini-series called...

President Trump wants more tariffs - what are they? And what happened last time he was in office? This is part of a new mini-series called The Briefing Room Explainers. Even though we're not on BBC Radio...

Donald Trump says he wants to introduce more tariffs on imports during his second presidency. He’s mentioned targeting imports from countries including Mexico, Canada, China and Demark as well as floating the...

Encouraging everyone to make the change to electric vehicles has been a major part of government green and industrial policy for some time now. The government has announced a consultation on how to speed up...

The Arctic is going through changes to its climate, economics and geo-politics. What does it mean for the region and the rest of the world? The fact that glaciers are melting and the white landscape is...

In his election campaign President Milei set out his chainsaw approach to cutting spending and inflation. A year on, how has his presidency turned out? David Aaronovitch and guests explore - why was...

New weight loss drugs known commercially as Wegovy and Mounjaro have been demonstrated to have a big effect in helping people to lose weight, and have recently been approved for use in obesity treatment in...

Syrian rebels launched an offensive taking most of a major city - Aleppo - from the forces of the government. Suddenly there has been talk about the possible collapse of the regime that rules most of a...

North Korean troops are fighting Ukrainians in Russia and while Ukraine has finally been permitted to use US missiles deep into Russian territory. Meanwhile Iranian rockets land on targets in Ukraine. It’s...

Our prisons are overcrowded, the Government recently released a group of prisoners early to ease the pressure. Britain seems to incarcerate more people per head of population compared to any other Western...

All over Europe and in the corridors of Nato policy makers are discussing the implications for the continent of the Trump victory in the American presidential election. For 70 years the alliance with the USA...

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has delivered the first Labour Budget in 14 years. Naturally there was a flurry of instant responses to individual tax measures, but what about the big picture? Well, more than a...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss the recent events in Lebanon. Israel has been widely blamed for a series of pager and walkie-talkie attacks targeting members of Hezbollah. Does this mark the invention of...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss the challenges facing Germany. Worries over the economy and immigration have seen the far right AfD party gain support in the former east Germany.Guests:Guy Chazan, Berlin...

Last month the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, warned that "things would get worse before they got better". The Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already said that there's a £22 billion black hole in the...

The first human cases of MPox were detected in 1970. But a new strain detected in Congo in 2023 has got scientists confused. How worried should we be and are we prepared for it?Dr Jonas Albarnaz, a Research...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss the risk of escalation on Russian borders and further afield and explore what form that might take if it were to happen.Guests:Natia Seskuria, founder and executive...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss China's desire for 'peaceful reunification' with Taiwan. Can it really be done peacefully and what happens if it can't?Guests:Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC Asia...

In the first of three programmes, David Aaronovitch explores the risk of escalation and wider conflict in the Middle East. What would all out war look like and how likely is it?Guests:Shashank Joshi, The...

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss Labour's plans for planning reform. This week the Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner announced a new National Planning Policy Framework. Will it boost economic growth?Sir...

Machine learning has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years. Bigger, more powerful computers can crunch ever more amounts of data, analysing complex information just as accurately, it’s claimed, as the...

Machine learning has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years. Bigger, more powerful computers can crunch ever more amounts of data, analysing complex information just as accurately, it’s claimed, as the...

Surveys suggest that at least one in four of us will suffer from anxiety and depression during our lifetimes. The prevalence of these conditions is one of the reasons given for poor school attendance. And...

Surveys suggest that at least one in four of us will suffer from anxiety and depression during our lifetimes. The prevalence of these conditions is one of the reasons given for poor school attendance. And...

Half the UK population will get cancer during their lifetime - and rates are rising. Each year, around 385,000 people in the UK are diagnosed and around 167,00 lives are lost to the disease. But scientists...

Half the UK population will get cancer during their lifetime - and rates are rising. Each year, around 385,000 people in the UK are diagnosed and around 167,00 lives are lost to the disease. But scientists...

2024 is the year of elections and already hundreds of millions of people around the world have been to the polls. A few months ago The Briefing Room looked ahead to elections in South Africa and India. Both...

David Aaronovitch and guests dissect Sudan's ongoing civil war. This conflict is now one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. How can it be brought to an end?Guests:James Copnall - presenter of...