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All Episodes

The Briefing Room — 387 episodes

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Title
1

Ten years of The Briefing Room

2

Are we still going to Mars?

3

Can Europe build digital sovereignty?

4

What's the conflict in Iran doing to the world economy?

5

Is the triple lock pension guarantee sustainable?

6

Will Trump take Cuba?

7

What's happened to the Gaza peace plan?

8

Why is youth unemployment in the UK so high?

9

What's the current state of the UK's armed forces?

10

Why does the war with Iran threaten the global economy?

11

Why did the US and Israel launch a war with Iran, and what comes next?

12

Four years of war in Ukraine - when will it end?

13

Should the Government ban social media for young people?

14

Iran - how vulnerable is the regime?

15

Venezuela – what now?

16

Should we worry about America’s security strategy?

17

Why are early career doctors angry?

18

Are the old robbing the young?

19

What's happening with the Ukraine peace plan?

20

What can the UK learn from the rest of Europe about asylum reform?

21

Why does the UK have a problem with productivity?

22

What's happening in Venezuela?

23

How should we handle historic public inquiries?

24

Is there a crash coming?

25

Is the UK in a data crisis?

26

Will the Gaza peace plan work?

27

How prepared are we for the next pandemic?

28

How prepared are we for cyber threats?

29

How prepared are we for climate change?

30

Should the government worry about debt?

31

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

32

How close is the UK getting to the European Union?

33

Is the tide turning in the Ukraine war?

34

The Trump hokey cokey is back - what happens to world trade now?

35

Why is there a row about disability benefits?

36

Iran: What happens next?

37

Explainer: Tensions over Kashmir

38

Explainer: Putin’s motivation for war with Ukraine

39

Explainer: A history of US tariffs

40

Explainer: Rare earths

41

What is ransomware and what can be done to stop it?

42

What is Israel's plan for Gaza?

43

What are rare earths and why does everyone want them?

44

Are India and Pakistan on the brink of war over Kashmir?

45

Can the UK become an AI superpower?

46

What cards does China hold?

47

What's Trump's tariff hokey cokey all about?

48

What's happening in Turkey?

49

What is Putin's bottom line?

50

What's the government trying to do to the NHS?

51

Why is there a crisis in special educational needs?

52

Europe's defence dilemma

53

Explainer: What does Nato do?

54

Explainer: A short history of conflict in Ukraine

55

Explainer: How do weight-loss drugs work?

56

Explainer: Who made the first electric car?

57

Explainer: What is a Tariff?

58

Why does Trump love tariffs?

59

Is the push for the electric cars in trouble?

60

Why we need to care about the Arctic

61

Is chainsaw economics working in Argentina?

62

Will new weight loss drugs save or bankrupt the NHS?

63

What’s going on in Syria?

64

Ukraine - what’s next?

65

Why do we have such overcrowded prisons?

66

European defence in the new Trump era

67

What does the Budget mean for the UK’s economy?

68

How do the Lebanon attacks alter the equation in the Middle East?

69

Is Germany in trouble?

70

How much trouble is the UK economy in?

71

What we know (and don't know) about the new Mpox outbreak

72

Global Tensions 3: Russia and the West

73

Global Tensions 2: China, Taiwan and the South China Sea

74

Global Tensions 1: The Middle East

75

Can planning reform really boost economic growth?

76

Health 3: How far could artificial intelligence transform medicine?

77

Health 2: Why is anxiety and depression increasing in the UK?

78

Health 1: Advances in cancer research and treatment

79

South African and Indian elections: the aftermath

80

What's happening in Sudan?

81

What's the Biden ceasefire plan and will it work?

82

What does Macron's gamble mean for France?

83

Are Trump's legal cases really a problem for him?

84

Ukraine: Who's winning the war?

85

How much trouble are UK universities in?

86

Avian flu is evolving but what risk does it pose to us?

87

Why is the water industry in so much trouble?

88

How does America fix its border crisis?

89

Are Britain's missing workers really a problem?

90

India: Is democracy under threat?

91

What does Iran want?

92

What's happened to Hamas?

93

What's the future of the state pension?

94

Election special 3. Uncertain times for the ANC in South Africa

95

Election special 2. Elections without democracy

96

How is technology changing warfare?

97

Russia: State of the Nation

98

The synthetic opioids claiming lives in the UK

99

The crisis in dentistry: why is it happening and what should we do about it?

100

What’s the point of Ofsted?

101

Is the UK prepared for more floods?

102

Why is local government in such trouble?

103

Israel-Gaza: Is it turning into a regional conflict?

104

Brexit: Could we rejoin the EU even if we wanted to?

105

Aliens: Are we closer to finding intelligent life beyond Earth?

106

What’s behind the record homelessness figures?

107

What can the UK learn from other countries about assisted dying?

108

Ukraine: what's the counter-offensive latest?

109

Net migration: What’s happening in the UK?

110

Israel-Gaza war: What's going on in the West Bank?

111

Israel/Gaza: What happens next?

112

What was Hamas thinking?

113

If Trump gets re-elected what does the world do?

114

What a murder in Canada tells us about India's place in the world

115

The UK’s financial headache

116

Who do we think we are now?

117

No concrete plans?

118

What's the problem with Airbnb?

119

How much trouble is Donald Trump in?

120

The UK and the European Convention on Human Rights

121

What’s behind the Niger coup?

122

Is it Saudi's century?

123

Can we meet the net zero challenge?

124

The China Threat

125

What can schools do about record absences?

126

What happened to the Israel/Palestine peace process?

127

Why is Britain getting inflation so wrong?

128

Ukraine: the long game

129

The Online Safety Bill

130

Ukraine: Is it all about to change?

131

Sudan conflict: what led to this?

132

Does Rishi Sunak's maths calculation add up?

133

The AI Revolution

134

Trump's Legal Woes

135

The Windsor Framework

136

Who's Afraid of The Wagner Group?

137

Why was the Turkey-Syria earthquake so bad?

138

How worried should we be about avian flu?

139

How do we get over-50s back into work?

140

How to Fix Britain's Railways

141

Britain's Energy Crisis: An Update

142

NHS: Are there any quick fixes?

143

Ukraine: How will the war evolve in 2023?

144

Our Ageing World

145

Can we colonise the Moon?

146

Strikes: How can we avoid a return to the 1970s?

147

House of Lords reform

148

China's winter of discontent

149

UK Trade Deals

150

Could Vladimir Putin use nuclear weapons?

151

Public Spending

152

Protests in Iran

153

Turmoil on the markets

154

Britain's productivity puzzle

155

Ukraine: Have we reached a turning point in the war?

156

Can we keep the lights on this winter?

157

The staffing crisis in the NHS

158

Fighting drought

159

The Cost of Living Crisis

160

Scotland's drugs problem

161

Adapting to a hotter Britain

162

Ukraine: Who is winning?

163

Covid - how worried should we be this time?

164

What's wrong with the NHS, and how do we fix it?

165

What's happening in Afghanistan?

166

Is the crypto bubble bursting?

167

What impact will the Northern Ireland election have?

168

How has the war in Ukraine changed German politics?

169

What's the impact of the Shanghai lockdown?

170

Will the Rwanda plan work?

171

Russia's invasion: what more can the west do to help Ukraine?

172

Russia's invasion: what could a peace deal look like?

173

Russia's invasion: what level of support does Putin have at home?

174

Russia's invasion: what's the military strategy?

175

Russia's invasion: will sanctions work?

176

What do drones mean for the future of warfare?

177

Will the levelling up plans work?

178

Is the Prime Minister’s Office fit for purpose?

179

How do we learn to live with Covid?

180

BBC Funding

181

Inflation

182

Brexit: What Have We Learned?

183

Who Do We Think We Are?

184

Space Wars and Laws

185

Ukraine: Could There Be War?

186

Afghanistan: What Now? What Next?

187

Living in a Variant World

188

Europe's Covid Surge

189

China Crisis?

190

Social Care - What's Changing?

191

Britain's Dirty Rivers

192

Non-Fungible Tokens

193

The UK's Energy Crisis

194

Vaccine Passports and Booster Jabs

195

Universal Credit: The Challenge Ahead

196

The Afghan Refugee Crisis

197

HS2: On Track?

198

What next for President Biden’s foreign policy?

199

Who's supporting the Taliban?

200

Taiwan and the Threat to Peace

201

Where Are All the Workers?

202

COP26: Floods, Fire, and the Future

203

Stepping into the Unknown

204

How Unsettled is EU Status?

205

The Ransomware Threat

206

Hamas

207

Hong Kong: Beijing Tightens Its Grip

208

India's Covid Catastrophe

209

Could Germany Go Green?

210

Northern Ireland: how fragile is the peace process?

211

Global supply chains: is the UK vulnerable?

212

Covid-19 and the World

213

Brexit Business

214

Out of Lockdown

215

“Turmoil” in the SNP

216

GameStop Shock

217

The Irish Question

218

Putin vs Navalny

219

Covid and the NHS

220

America: what just happened?

221

Facebook's Monopoly Problem

222

The Climate Crisis: Are We Moving Fast Enough?

223

Living with the Taliban

224

Brexit: Is It Oven Ready?

225

How Broke is Britain?

226

The President's In Tray

227

Education: A Testing Issue

228

Covid-19: Regional Differences

229

Britain's Immigration Dilemma

230

Covid-19: are we still following the rules?

231

Sweden and the Pandemic

232

Covid-19: Six Months On

233

Will the US election be free and fair?

234

Football and the Pandemic

235

Brexit: deal or no deal?

236

Belarus: the end of a dictatorship?

237

Covid-19: the return to school

238

Scottish Independence: Hope and Fear

239

How to beat obesity

240

The UK's place in the world

241

What is happening to the Uighurs in China?

242

Can the NHS recover from coronavirus?

243

The Leicester lockdown

244

Can Britain avoid mass-unemployment?

245

China and the Pandemic

246

Coronavirus and the economy

247

Covid-19 and the Care Sector

248

Easing the lockdown

249

The psychological impact of the coronavirus pandemic

250

The Inequalities of Lockdown

251

Covid-19: What Next?

252

UK fishing and Brexit

253

Sinn Féin's rise

254

Treating Terror

255

How to do a trade deal

256

How dangerous is the coronavirus?

257

Powering Up The North

258

Iran's Revenge

259

News Review of the Year 2019

260

How Do We Get Brexit Done?

261

Middle East Youthquake

262

Malta: Shady People in a Sunny Place

263

General Election Promises: Tax and Spend?

264

Brexit: a pivotal week?

265

Turkey, Syria and the Kurds

266

Climate change and meat: what's the beef?

267

Trump, Ukraine and impeachment

268

Britain’s constitutional dilemma: who now runs the country?

269

What are the Risks of Vaping?

270

The Battle for Britain

271

The United Kingdom, Brexit and its History

272

Has Narendra Modi changed India?

273

Could the United States and Iran go to war?

274

Should vaccinations be compulsory?

275

Does the UK have an opioid problem?

276

What drives religious intolerance?

277

What's in the Mueller report?

278

What Next For Europe?

279

How divided are we?

280

Britain's Future

281

Should we worry about Huawei?

282

Should we scrap GCSEs?

283

Britain's car-making future under threat

284

Why are so many people sleeping rough in Britain?

285

Brexit and Ireland: What's at stake?

286

Is Britain’s political system broken?

287

Universal Credit: What's gone wrong and can it be fixed?

288

Climate Change: is time running out?

289

Brexit: Where Next?

290

Les Gilets Jaunes

291

Deal or no deal?

292

A new political direction for Brazil?

293

How bad is the air we breathe?

294

Nationalisation - how would it work?

295

Another Brexit Referendum?

296

Can a new political party win?

297

What's at stake in the US midterm elections?

298

Britain's Housing Crisis

299

Is Greece out of the woods?

300

Is Turkey imploding?

301

Is the Student Finance System Working?

302

Chaos on the railways

303

Imran Khan and Pakistan: what's going to change?

304

What does the UK want from the EU?

305

Trump vs NATO

306

Brexit decision time

307

Why are the British Armed Forces short of personnel?

308

Could Italy bring down the European Union?

309

Macron: One Year On

310

Is the Home Office a problem department?

311

What is the problem with plastic?

312

A new Cold War?

313

Violent Crime

314

Can you win a trade war?

315

The EU after Brexit – A special programme together with The Bottom Line

316

The Mueller Indictment

317

Is ISIS still a threat?

318

Is Your Local Council Going Bust?

319

Britain, China and the new Silk Road

320

Syria: who wants what from the conflict?

321

John Worboys: Understanding the Parole Board

322

Would you pay more for the NHS?

323

Who are the protesters in Iran and what do they want?

324

Correspondents Look Ahead

325

What Next for the Democrats?

326

President Trump's End of Year Report

327

What's Russia up to?

328

May's Brexit Dilemma

329

Saudi Arabia's Radical Crown Prince

330

A world without antibiotics?

331

President Xi and the Chinese Dream

332

Capitalism in Crisis

333

Could Spain split?

334

Is Big Tech Out of Control?

335

Why are Myanmar's Rohingya persecuted?

336

What are the consequences of lifting the public sector pay cap?

337

What does the EU want from Brexit?

338

The North Korean Missile Threat

339

The AI Revolution

340

The Far Right in America

341

Is Venezuela on the brink of collapse?

342

A Great Day at the White House?

343

Why is there still a migrant crisis in Europe?

344

The Crisis in Conservatism

345

Where does Labour stand on Brexit?

346

The Cost of Abandoning Austerity

347

Labour's Election Result: A Successful Failure?

348

Trump, Russia and the FBI

349

How Do We Pay for the UK?

350

How Does France Work?

351

The Problem of North Korea

352

Snap General Election

353

Should we worry about Turkey?

354

Can the NHS Survive?

355

Britain's Broken Housing Market

356

Does IS Need a State?

357

Is It Time to Renationalise the Railways?

358

Trump and Trade

359

Trump and the Economy

360

India's Bonfire of the Bank Notes

361

Drugs in West Yorkshire

362

Aleppo: After the Evacuation

363

Liberalism's Horrible Year

364

Yemen: A Global Conflict

365

The Prison Problem

366

The Investigatory Powers Act a.k.a The Snoopers' Charter

367

VIP Sex Abuse Allegations

368

Infrastructure: The Roads to Recovery?

369

Black Lives Matter UK

370

Europe's Illiberal Democracies

371

Quantitative Easing

372

A Ceasefire in Syria?

373

Trump and Putin

374

Trotsky, Trotskyism and Trotskyites

375

Jesse Morton: The Jihadi Who Changed His Mind

376

Milo Yiannopoulos and the Alt-Right

377

Grammar Schools

378

Who are the Special Forces?

379

Britain's Nuclear Dream

380

What Do Remainers Feel Now?

381

Fethullah Gulen and Turkey's Failed Coup

382

The Truth About BHS

383

Why Did People Vote Leave?

384

The Chilcot Report: The Source Who Lied

385

Immigration: Why Did it Rise?

386

The New IRA

387

Anti-Semitism on the Left