Politics on the Couch

Rafael Behr talks to the Rt Hon. Liam Byrne, Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill & Solihull North, Chair of the Commons Business & Trade Committee, former minister under Blair & Brown, and author of Why Populists Are Winning and How to Beat Them.They cover:The "three chords" of populism — national renewal, nostalgia, and crisis. Liam breaks down the deep emotional structure behind every populist message, from Orbán to Farage.Why the economic conditions are ripe —The populist media machineWhy Farage is differentHow the left fights backTaking aim at the "selfish minority"Why Liam is optimistic — the new generation of MPs who are "entrepreneurial, energetic, super smart, and deeply rooted in their communities.Link to Liam's book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Politics feels angrier, harsher and more tribal than it used to - but how much of the blame can be laid at the door of social media?Rafael Behr talks to NYU Psychologist Professor Jay Van Bavel, about how our ancient group instincts collide with 'god-like' digital technology to distort what we see, reward outrage, and erode trust in democratic institutions. Drawing on datasets of millions of social media posts, Professor Van Bavel discusses how; a tiny minority can dominate the online political conversation; platforms can make people seem more extreme, and silence the moderate voices. He also discusses what can be done about it; from redesigning incentives and rebuilding solidarity across group lines; to the small, practical choices individuals can make to resist the pull of performative moral outrage.Jay Van Bavel's professional website - with links to academic papershttps://www.jayvanbavel.comInside the funhouse mirror factory: How social media distorts perceptions of normshttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X24001313How to strengthen democracyhttps://news.stanford.edu/stories/2022/08/how-to-strengthen-democracyHeineken Adverthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3a8MdloAAM&themeRefresh=1 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rafael Behr talks to Demos' CEO Polly Curtis about the urgent case for upgrading our democracy and repairing the broken relationship between citizen and state.The conversation is loosely based around this new Demos paper released today (2 July) that sets out the challenges of the global democratic emergency, how this is threatening the political landscape in Britain and what we can do about it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A conversation between Rafael Behr and writer and broadcaster David Aaronovitch, about ripples from the pandemic that still shape politics, with a digression on the ways that Britain is not America and whether that makes 'Maga-populism' less contagious.LinksDavid Aaronovitch's substack - https://davidaaronovitch.substack.comBBC's Briefing Room presented by David Aaronovitch - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002bj77This is a Behr and Berman podcast production Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To coincide with the launch of her new book (The Ideological Brain - A Radical Science of Susceptible Minds) Rafael Behr talks to Dr Leor Zmigrod, a political psychologist and neuroscientist, about the ingredients of dogmatic thinking, why some of us are more prone than others, and how we can protect ourselves. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Rafael Behr talks to author, policy expert and podcaster Sam Freedman about his new book Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How We Fix ItSam Freedman is a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and an Ark Schools adviser. He writes about policy and politics for numerous outlets, including the Financial Times, Sunday Times, Guardian and New Statesman. With his father, he runs ‘Comment is Freed’, Britain’s most popular politics Substack. He has spent his career working in different policy-focused roles around Westminster, including as an adviser to the then opposition leader, David Cameron, and as a senior policy adviser at the Department for Education for three years, working with (friends of the podcast) Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings. Feedspot has chosen Politics on the Couch as one of the Top 25 UK Psychology and Political Science Podcasts on the web.https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_psychology_podcastshttps://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this summer bonus episode, Raf and (producer) Phil discuss the changing mood around British politics since Labour's election victory, the restoration of seriousness after years of triviality, why some people can't adapt, why others want to believe that Keir Starmer can deliver the change he has promised and whether they are right.Links to stuff mentioned in the podcastMore in Common reportTony Judt's essayReform came 2nd in 89 of the seats that Labour won.Lowest voter turnout for a General Election since universal suffrage beganThis is a Raf Behr and Larchmont Productions podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 television producer Rob Burley in conversation with Ayesha Hazarika MBE, political commentator and broadcaster, and former special adviser to Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband.More detailsCentral London, Thursday 25th AprilWhat Everyone Knows About Britain* Except The British: Michael Peel in conversation with Rafael BehrMore detailsJ Freeland linksAward-winning edition of Unholy podcast The latest edition of the Guardian's weekly US politics podcastJonathan Freeland and Israeli author Amos OzNew York Times columnist Thomas Friedman  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 from Twitter, his despair about the state of political discourse and Raf's one-stop solution for all.Topics covered (in no order of importance):TwitterLaurence FoxGB NewsSunak's postion on net zeroThe mood in WestminsterState captureDemocratic back-slidingThe preface to the paperback version of Rafael's new book.https://rafaelbehr.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 about political stories or policy ssues, or whether to cover them at all?Does it inevitably become a trade-off between, a steady stream of 'exclusives', and a fair and objective approach to reporting?If so, what does this mean for democracy?Rob Hutton is an author and freelance journalist. He spent 16 years covering the British government for Bloomberg, taking in five prime ministers, as many elections, and the odd referendum. Before that, he worked for the Mirror and the Financial Times. He now has a regular spot as sketchwriter for The Critic. His career has been a mix of seriousness and satire. While he was a reporter for Bloomberg, unquestionably The Global News Organisation Least Likely To Tell A Joke, he wrote Romps, Tots & Boffins, a satirical book about the words only journalists use. He followed that up with Would They Lie to You?, about the way politicians got around reality without actually uttering untruths (it was a more innocent age). According to Rob, his most recent book, Agent Jack, doesn’t have quite so many laughs, although he says there’s an incident with a jar of marmalade and a blueprint for a Vickers tank. 'Oh, and there’s a naked German in a wardrobe.' Here's a link to his Podcast - A Pod Too FarRafael Behr's first book was released in May, 2023**'Politics, A Survivor’s Guide,'** is all about the infuriating toxicity of politics, how it got that way and how to resist the slide into cynicism and pessimism that are so corrosive of democracy. It’s about the challenge of staying engaged without getting enraged; the need to empathise with people whose views we cannot share and how that is different to appeasement of politics we believe to be dangerous.Available from Waterstones:https://www.waterstones.com/book/politics-a-survivors-guide/rafael-behr/9781838955045Or, for those who are interested in signed copies, from City Books in Hove:https://www.city-books.co.ukPolitics on the Couch has been chosen by Feedspot as both one of the Top 25 UK Psychology Podcasts and Political Science Podcasts on the web.https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_psychology_podcastshttps://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 to Kindness,' looks at what constitutes kindness, effective strategies to build more of it into our lives and the benefits of being kind.She draws on the latest research from psychology and neuroscience, and her work in collaboration with the University of Sussex and the BBC, including the largest global survey ever undertaken into attitudes to kindness.Linkshttps://claudiahammond.com/the-keys-to-kindnesshttps://claudiahammond.com/the-kindness-testhttps://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/centres/kindness/indexhttps://www.sussex.ac.uk/schools/psychologyRafael Behr's first book is released today - Thursday 4 May, 2023'Politics, A Survivor’s Guide,' is all about the infuriating toxicity of politics, how it got that way and how to resist the slide into cynicism and pessimism that are so corrosive of democracy. It’s about the challenge of staying engaged without getting enraged; the need to empathise with people whose views we cannot share and how that is different to appeasement of politics we believe to be dangerous.The themes include migration, nationalism, family, identity, culture wars, technology, ideology, Europe, Brexit and a little bit of cardiology.Available from Waterstones:https://www.waterstones.com/book/politics-a-survivors-guide/rafael-behr/9781838955045Or, for those who are interested in signed copies, from City Books in Hove:https://www.city-books.co.ukRaf will be speaking at literary festivals, theatres, pubs all around the UK. Often he will be in conversation with fellow journalists and authors, hopefully also in conversation with you in the audience. Below is a list of places and times. Click on date for tickets. There may be more to come...10 May Brighton Festival17 May Bath Festival21 May Aye Write, Glasgow Book Festival23 May 1000 Trades, Birmingham25 May Hay Festival7 June The Elephant and Castle Pub, Lewes (no link yet)12 June Guardian Live, Kings Cross, LondonPolitics on the Couch has been chosen by Feedspot as both one of the Top 25 UK Psychology, and Political Science podcasts.https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_psychology_podcastshttps://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 of British democracy. Nowhere was this more true than regarding the role of parliament. This book addresses important questions about parliament's role in the UK constitution, and the impact on this of the Brexit process. While initially intended to re-establish 'parliamentary sovereignty', Brexit wrought significant damage on the reputation of parliament, and the wider culture of UK democracy.This book is published as part of the ‘Brexit, Parliament and the Constitution’ project, funded through Constitution Unit Director Meg Russell's Senior Fellowship with the ESRC-funded UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) programme.For more about the book (and a 30% discount code) see this link:https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/parliamentary-battle-over-brexit Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ahead of the first bilateral summit between the two countries' leaders for five years, Rafael Behr talks to Georgina Wright, from the Institut Montaigne in Paris, about what the French really think about us Brits, and what we often get wrong about French discourse, customs and political culture. Quite a lot, as it happens.Georgina Wright is Senior Fellow and Director of Institut Montaigne’s Europe Program. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, associate of the Institute for Government in London and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Britain and Europe at the University of Surrey.Before joining Institut Montaigne, she was senior researcher at the Institute for Government (2019-2020) and research associate at Chatham House (2014-2018). She has also worked for the European Commission and NATO in Brussels.Georgina regularly represents Institut Montaigne on national and international news media, and has written widely for foreign policy outlets. She studied at the University of Edinburgh and the College of Europe (Bruges).https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/experts/georgina-wrightThis podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.