The Another Europe Podcast

106: What would an alternative "strategic defence review" look like?

To much fanfare, Britain has announced yet another "strategic" defence review - the fifth that a UK Government has undertaken in the last 15 years. The peculiar thing, however, is that despite the frequency of these reviews, they have a strong tendency to assert continuity over change. This is certainly the narrative of the present UK Government's latest review: that nothing has changed in UK and US transatlantic relations, apart from the willingness, they suggest, of the UK to spend more on defence. Trump's close friendship with Vladimir Putin and sympathy towards Russia's geopolitical narrative - and the broader turbulence of American politics he forms part of - is, apparently, unimportant for Britain's future defence and security arrangements. And rather than address the varied range of threats and challenges, the review advocates more submarines and nuclear weapons as its big-ticket proposals. In this podcast, Zoe Williams, Luke Cooper and Mary Kaldor discuss this muddled and small-c conservative thinking. They lay out what an alternative defence policy would be, at the centre of which should be a closer relationship with our European allies.  For more on the discussion in this podcast, check out Luke and Mary's recent blog, "‘Organised irresponsibility’: How Britain’s defence strategy clings to a bygone world"

105: The Care economy: bringing wellbeing back into our politics

In an age of war and permanent crisis, is it all too easy to forget the fundamentals? How do we look after each other, care for one another and create economies that prioritise our human development? In this podcast, Seema Syeda and Zoe Williams welcome back Tim Jackson to talk about his new book, The Care Economy (Polity 2025). Going back to the philosophical fundamentals, the book re-centres the whole discussion of care. It urges us not think about the politics of care as types of support system for particular group of vulnerable people but as the basis for reproducing all organic life. We are all, in other words, carers, and it's time to recognise it.  As usual members of Another Europe get access to extra material as a benefit of membership. To join and support our work, go to AnotherEurope.org/Join 

104: A far right Davos? The inside story on London's Arc conference

The drift of the global billionaire oligarchy to the radical right is quickening its pace. The Arc conference - billed as a "far right Davos" and with ticket prices to match - recently descended on London, and was joined by the various luminaries and politicians from the British right. On this podcast, Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Stella Tsantekidou, a rising star in the UK media and an unusual category of progressive, who likes to wine and dine across the political divide. Stella spent three days and nights at the Arc conference. In the podcast she offers her fly-in-the-wall account of why we should be worried about this extremely well funded global network, drawing the mainstream right into discussion and collaboration with far more radical and in some cases extreme political forces.   For more from Stella and the Arc conference check out her Substack, the Human Carbohydrate, which includes a blog with her Arc Forum diary: https://humancarbohydrate.substack.com/p/jordan-peterson-and-pieter-thiel 

103: Ukraine in 2025: what now?

With the return of Donald Trump in the White House - and his insistence that Kyiv and Moscow strike a peace deal "in 24 hours - huge uncertainty now hangs over the future of Ukraine's democracy and freedom. In this podcast, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams discuss the huge challenges and hardships Ukraine has experienced in the war, drawing on insights from Luke's recent visit to Ukraine. They are joined by Ukrainian academic Yuliya Bidenko from Karazin University in Kharkiv. For more on some of the topics discussed in the podcast, check out these articles: On the Home Front: Ukraine's War Economy and the Spirit of Defiance Will oil decide the fate of the Russia-Ukraine War? Additional podcast material is available to members of Another Europe Is Possible. In this week's extra time, Luke and Zoe discuss the Labour government and to what extent its terrible lack of popularity in what should be its honeymoon period is a crisis of its own making. To join and support our work go to AnotherEurope.org/Join

102: What does Trump 2.0 mean for the world?

Millions of people across the world have looked on at the American election result with a sense of dismay and fear. As the world tries to compute and digest a second Trump presidency, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams try to put the pieces of this catastrophe together and work out what comes next. A reminder that members of Another Europe Is Possible get access to extra material as a benefit of membership. In this extra time, Zoe and Luke have a long old chat about what it all means, from the nature of the new fascism to the difficulties facing those trying to de-dollarize from the global economy and the response of the UK government. To join and support our work go to https://www.anothereurope.org/join/ On the main show, they are joined by Graham Campbell, an activist with the SNP who is been in the United States campaigning for Kamala Harris. They also speak to John Feffer from Foreign Policy in Focus, Institute for Policy Studies, in the US about where the Democrats went wrong and what the result means for the rest of the world. If you want to hear more from Graham and John check out these links:  John's rapid response: https://fpif.org/the-plot-against-democracy/ Graham's election night report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3IHfZYpqIA