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PODCAST

The Briefing Room

David Aaronovitch and a panel of experts and insiders present in-depth explainers on big issues in the news

news news commentary

All Episodes

28:43

Why does the UK have a problem with productivity?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/11/13

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves has been widely trailing this month’s budget and the difficult decisions she’ll have to make in just under two weeks time. This is being taken as code for tax rises and a possible break in Labour’s manifesto pledge with a rise in income tax. She’s said one of the key reasons for this is that the government's official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility or OBR, is likely to lower its UK productivity growth forecast for the coming years. So why is UK

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28:21

What's happening in Venezuela?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/11/06

Something is going in the southern Caribbean. The world’s largest aircraft carrier - the American USS Gerald R Ford- is on its way to the region. Small boats said to belong to Venezuelan drug smugglers are being blown up by the US military. Old US bases are being de-mothballed. And there’s media talk of Trump-induced regime change in Caracas, with Venezuela’s authoritarian, leftist president Nicolas Maduro in the crosshairs. In this week's Briefing Room, David Aaronovitch and guests ask what this

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28:48

How should we handle historic public inquiries?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/10/30

When a disaster or serious event happens, such as the Grenfell Tower fire, the Manchester Arena terrorist attack or the Covid pandemic, you can be pretty sure that a public inquiry will follow. They’re popular with the public as a means of investigating serious state failure. And for Governments they can be a good way of kicking a difficult issue into the long grass, as usually by the time the inquiry is finished a different set of politicians will have to deal with the report.There are currently 25

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44:14

Is there a crash coming?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/10/23

Some of the biggest figures in finance, from the CEO of JPMorganChase to the Governor of the Bank of England, have been warning of potential shocks to the global economy. As excitement continues to build about the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence, the US stock market has boomed, potentially forming a fragile bubble. Meanwhile, recent bankruptcies in America have raised worries that a rapid growth in lending by private companies (so-called shadow banks) might be built on shaky

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28:24

Is the UK in a data crisis?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/10/16

As Rachel Reeves approaches a tricky budget, her job has got that much harder. Some of our most fundamental economic data, statistics that policymakers are used to accepting at face value, suddenly have major question marks over their accuracy.The UK’s top stats agency, the Office for National Statistics, finds itself under considerable pressure as falling response rates to its surveys leave politicians flying blind.David Aaronovitch asks what this means for government decisions and how the ONS can

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28:06

Will the Gaza peace plan work?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/10/09

There have been in celebrations in Israel and Gaza at the announcement of a ceasefire and the beginning of a longer term plan for peace and reconstruction in Gaza.There have been ceasefires and hostage releases before, but then the death and destruction has resumed, so why is so much more hope being invested in the current plan? And what’s actually in it?Guests: Rushdi Abu-a-loaf, BBC Gaza Correspondent Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College London David Makovsky,

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41:46

UK Resilience 3: How prepared are we for the next...

The Briefing Room ·

2025/08/26

Five years ago we in the UK were in the false lull between the first wave of covid and the second, between the first variant and the second, between the first peak of covid deaths and the second, higher peak. There wasn’t a vaccine and we didn’t know when we might get one. Now it’s a memory. But another deadly pathogen might pop up in fifty years or it might be manifesting its early stages right now. In the final part of our three-part mini-series looking at how the resilient the UK might be in

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28:42

UK Resilience 2: How prepared are we for cyber threats?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/08/21

From councils disrupted by ransomware, leaked defence data or individuals duped by deep fakes, the UK faces increasing cyber threats. David Aaronovitch asks his guests how prepared we are - whether as government defending critical infrastructure or as individuals guarding our digital identities.Guests:Sadie Creese, Professor of Cyber Security in the department of computer science, Oxford University Dr Aybars Tuncdogan, Associate Professor in digital innovation and information security, Kings

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28:24

UK Resilience 1: How prepared are we for climate change?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/08/14

The UK is getting hotter. And wetter. Extreme weather events in the UK are happening more often. And that trend won’t stop any time soon. It all means more flooding and fire risk. Enter the R word - resilience - how well are we coping with what’s going on now, and how advanced is our planning for what’s coming? In the first of our three part mini series looking at how the resilient the UK might be in dealing with potential future crises we ask how prepared are we to deal with the changing climate

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28:41

Should the government worry about debt?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/08/07

In a time of sluggish economic growth, the favourite way of squaring the circle of spending more but not increasing taxes is to borrow - and we have. Keeping everybody’s lights on during the pandemic and homes heated after the Russian invasion of Ukraine has helped send our national debt up from £1.8 trillion to £2.8 trillion in recent years.But the question for the chancellor Rachel Reeves is how much more debt we can afford - and how much more debt do the markets think we can afford?So what’s the

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28:53

Why don't we have ID cards in the UK?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/07/31

For years there has been an argument, sometimes loud, sometimes subdued, on whether Britain needs an ID card system. One big reason given for wanting them is simply to know who is here legally. With illegal and irregular migration never far from the headlines these days and with President Macron, during his recent visit describing the “pull factor” of illegal migrants being able to work in Britain, the debate is being resurrected. So, what is the history of ID cards in the UK, what form might they

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28:26

How close is the UK getting to the European Union?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/07/24

'Britain is back on the world stage' said Prime Minister Keir Starmer in May following the first UK-EU summit since the UK left the EU in January 2020. Outline agreements were reached to remove red tape for British farm exports and energy trading with the EU as well as plans for a security and defence partnership. Then a few weeks laterthe Prime Minister held summits in London with first the French President, Emmanuel Macron and then the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz. David Aaronovitch asks

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28:31

Is the tide turning in the Ukraine war?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/07/17

It’s been 3 1/2 years since Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of its Ukrainian neighbour. Ukraine’s capacity to resist has depended on two things: its own will to fight and support from its allies. Until January this year the US was one of those allies. Then things changed. But in the last week President Trump seems to have taken a turn against Russia. The US president said he was “very unhappy” with President Putin over the lack of progress towards a ceasefire agreement to end the war in

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28:41

The Trump hokey cokey is back - what happens to world...

The Briefing Room ·

2025/07/10

The Trump hokey cokey is back. Tariffs on, tariffs reduced - now they’re heading back up again. It really got going on April 2nd- President Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” - when he announced a swathe of punitive tariffs on trading partners across the world. The markets tanked and then there was a pause. Countries had 90 days to strike a trade deal - 90 deals in 90 days - we were told. But there weren’t. There were only 2. The deadline was this week but now it’s next month. But in the

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28:30

Why is there a row about disability benefits?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/07/03

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 own, but the underlying problem the government was trying to solve, however, remains. David Aaronovitch asks his guests why the cost of disability benefits has ballooned so unexpectedly, who gets them and why and whether the system works for disabled people.Guests:Paul Lewis, Presenter Moneybox,

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28:36

Iran: What happens next?

The Briefing Room ·

2025/06/26

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 regime change if possible. They have damaged Iran’s capacity to build nuclear weapons but for how long? And what now is the objective for Iran? To rebuild their nuclear weapons programme? Or just for the regime to stay in power? David Aaronovitch and his guests discuss what's next for

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7:27

Explainer: Tensions over Kashmir

The Briefing Room ·

2025/06/19

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 spoke to former BBC India correspondent, Andrew Whitehead, who’s an expert on Kashmir and its history and author of “A mission in Kashmir”.This is part of a new mini-series called The Briefing Room Explainers. They’re short versions of previous episodes of the Briefing Room. Presenter: David

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7:09

Explainer: Putin’s motivation for war with Ukraine

The Briefing Room ·

2025/06/12

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 who is Russia editor for BBC Monitoring and co-presenter of the BBC’s Ukrainecast.This is part of a new mini-series called the The Briefing Room Explainers. They’re short versions of previous episodes of the Briefing Room.Presenter: David AaronovitchProducer: Caroline Bayley Editor: Richard

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7:44

Explainer: A history of US tariffs

The Briefing Room ·

2025/06/05

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 Hampshire in the US.This is part of a new mini-series called the The Briefing Room Explainers. They’re short versions of previous episodes of the Briefing Room.Presenter: David AaronovitchProducer: Ben Carter Editor: Richard Vadon

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7:47

Rare earths

The Briefing Room ·

2025/05/29

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 Argus – a provider of market intelligence for the global commodity markets.GuestEllie SaklatvalaPresenter: David Aaronovitch Producer: Caroline Bayley Editor: Richard Vadon

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