Recording of the debate at the Battle of Ideas Festival 2018.
Visiting Europe in the summer, President Trump lambasted Germany’s relationship with Russia, took a dig at Theresa May’s Brexit strategy and seemingly sided with Vladimir Putin against America’s own intelligence agencies. The UK’s former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, also famously made numerous diplomatic gaffes. Once diplomacy was regarded as a careful art, furthering national interests through back-channels and coded language, and pursued by highly educated diplomats. But in recent years, politicians have seemed keener to make loud public statements at the expense of cool negotiation. Why do politicians seem to respond to events on the hoof rather than pursuing a long-term strategy? Are they playing with fire?
MARY DEJEVSKY
former foreign correspondent in Moscow, Paris and Washington; special correspondent in China; writer and broadcaster
PROFESSOR BILL DURODIÉ
chair of international relations, University of Bath
DR SEAN LANG
senior lecturer in History, Anglia Ruskin University; author, First World War for Dummies
CARNE ROSS
author, The Leaderless Revolution; executive director, Independent Diplomat
#LockdownDebates: Can we cancel ’cancel culture’?
#Arts&SocietyForum: Gabriella Swallow on JS Bach and Helmut Lachenmann
#SocialPolicyForum: Behind the NHS frontline
#EconomyForum: The Covid-19 global economy - from Italy to South Africa
Book Launch: Why borders matter, with Professor Frank Furedi
#Arts&SocietyForum: Gericault, Picasso and the art of composition
#Arts&SocietyForum: Morality and hell - the power of Dante’s Inferno
#EducationForum: After toppling statues, is it time to rewrite the curriculum?
#LockdownDebates: From furlough to mask-wearing: can we ever return to normal?
#BookClub: Burning books and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451
#LockdownDebates: How innovation works, with Matt Ridley
#SportscastOfIdeas: Sporting life beyond lockdown
#LockdownDebates: Has the NHS had a good crisis?
#Arts&SocietyForum: The shock of the old in Steven Berkoff’s ‘Greek’
#BookClub: Sally Rooney’s Normal People and the triumph of intimacy
#EconomyForum: The oil industry in times of Corona
#EducationForum: Can we go back to school?
#BookClub: When art imitates life - Albert Camus’ The Plague in lockdown
#LockdownDebates: What does George Floyd’s killing mean for British society?
#LockdownDebates: Morality during a pandemic, with Susan Neiman and Frank Furedi
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free