The Art of The Kneel

After Monday's European course-correction to Trump’s wobble, the situation is moving. The question is: in which direction? Plus regular features 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and special guest, More In Common boss Luke Tryl discuss the big stories. ***SPONSOR US AT ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠*** “It really aggravates me when I hear news programmes repeat ‘Russia is winning this war’. When you look at territorial gains, you’re looking at one per-cent of Ukraine’s land mass, at the cost of almost a million Russian lives. That’s not ‘winning the war’.” “In terms of strategic objectives outside Ukraine, Putin has ended up uniting Europe, hardening its resolve, boosting its defence spending to double what it was, uncoupling Europe from his energy infrastructure, and with Sweden and Finland as members of NATO. Some pretty catastrophic misjudgment must have gone into his initial decision to invade.” “What the US [security] guarantee does is, it makes it easier for European leaders to convince their publics of their piece of it, which is continuing support and even boots on the ground, potentially. Having a US assurance makes that easier to sell to their voters.”  “If nothing changes, I do not think it is inconceivable that the Tories end up in the high teens at the next election. There is some complacence in the centre-right that of course Farage will flake out, of course he always falls out with everyone, and they’ll come back to us.” “The group that has had the biggest swing to Reform since the election are Gen-X women. They’re often the most unhappy with the state of Britain. Lots of them face double care crises - they’ve got kids still at home who can’t move out and looking after ailing parents. But they are also inherently more cautious.” “There is a group of Conservatives, who have always wanted to be Reform and who obsess that the only way forward is to ‘unite the family’. And I find it hard to think of an example where a party competing with another party has been so reluctant to take them on directly.” ***SPONSOR US AT ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠*** CALLS TO ACTION: Please help Smart Medical Aid for Ukraine here. GRIN AND SHARE IT: Read about the Gallop global poll here. Buy something from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠our bookshop here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Or visit our website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.quietriotpod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices