‘Chaotic and ruthless’ – Peter Hitchens & Camilla Tominey on Burnham’s first week

This week: has Andy Burnham really brought change to Downing Street – or merely repackaged Labour’s old guard? Has Ed Miliband been sidelined by being sent to the Foreign Office, a ‘non-job’ in which he can do little harm? The panel also asks whether Burnham is prepared to make the difficult decisions required of a prime minister – and why the Conservatives have been so reluctant to demand a general election.

Also: is America’s socialist left taking over the Democratic party? Candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America are gaining ground, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be underestimated as a future presidential nominee and parts of the radical left are beginning to embrace gun ownership. Could Bernie Sanders have beaten Donald Trump in 2016 – had the Democrats not chosen ‘the only person who could conceivably lose’ to him?

Plus: who really blew up the Nord Stream pipeline? The accepted account holds that a small band of Ukrainians carried out one of the most sophisticated acts of sabotage in recent history. But does the evidence look less like a professional intelligence operation than ‘somebody establishing an alibi’?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons, Oscar Edmondson and Gareth Roy.

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