Politics on the Couch

In the wake of October 7th and Trump's bid to become US President again, Rafael Behr sits down with fellow Guardian columnist and friend - Jonathan Freedland - to discuss the current state of geopolitics, liberal politics, Israel and Jewish identity.Events featuring Rafael BehrShoreham, West Sussex, Wed 24 AprilAn evening with Guardian columnist Rafael Behr and telev

Rafael Behr talks to Tom Gray from Gomez about his bid to become a Brighton MP.Tom's had a hugely successful career in music with Gomez rocketing to fame in 1998, beating Pulp and Massive Attack, among others, to the Mercury Prize.More recently he launched the Broken Record campaign, calling for a fairer deal for musicians from streaming services, among other industry reforms.And n

In a departure from our normal format Rafael Behr (host) and Philip Berman (the show's producer) agreed to press record when they met yesterday (Thursday 28 September) to discuss a new series idea for Politics on the Couch.And this podcast is the end result, instead of a meta-cast talking about what we could talk about this Autumn, it's more of a casual ramble around Phil's break f

Raf Behr talks to journalist, author and broadcaster David Aaronovitch about his recent visit to the National Conservatives conference, and what it taught him about state of the Tory party.They discuss:Was there really a re-alignment in British politics post-Brexit?What do the Nat Cons have to offer us Brits apart from hardline anti-immigration vibes?Why do some parts of the commen

Rafael Behr talks to Rob Hutton, parliamentary sketch writer at the Critic, about the uneasy relationship between Westminster lobby journalists and MPs.Often political journalists cultivate close relationships with politicians to find out what's really happening in the corridors of power.But does a journalist's 'insider status' cloud their judgement when working out how to write ab

On this edition Rafael Behr talks to Professor Ben Ansell about his new book Why Politics Fails: The Five Traps of the Modern World & How to Escape ThemBen Ansell is Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. He was made Fellow of the British Academy in 2018, among the youngest fellows at that time. His work has been widely

Host Rafael Behr talks to Claudia Hammond about political empathy, its power and its limits.Claudia is probably best known as the presenter of BBC Radio 4's long-running show, 'All in the Mind' which covers psychology, neuroscience & mental health.She is also the Visiting Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Sussex.Her latest book, 'The Keys

In this wide-ranging and informal conversation*, Rafael Behr chats to former colleague Helen Lewis about whether Whatsapp has changed the way politics is conducted, her favourite Tik Tok channel, the incestous nature of Scottish politics, what's really behind the UK government's immigration policy, what we can learn from Florida culture wars, why the middle ground is so hard to occ

Rafael Behr talks to Meg Russell, Director of the Constitution Unit and co-author, along with Research Fellow Lisa James, of a new book called: The Parliamentary Battle over Brexit, a detailed account of the extraordinary way the Brexit process played out in parliament.Since the 2016 referendum, the hotly contested issue of Brexit has raised fundamental questions about the workings

Host Rafael Behr talks to Prof. Tim Bale about why people join political parties and how the members impact democracy.Topics covered inlcude:what people get from joining a political party;what parties get from their members;why membership of parties has declined;in particular why so many Conservative women joined, and then left in their droves;how membership differs between the two