The Briefing Room

BBC Radio 4
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David Aaronovitch and a panel of experts and insiders present in-depth explainers on big issues in the news

  1. 13 HR AGO

    How should we handle historic public inquiries?

    When a disaster or serious event happens, such as the Grenfell Tower fire, the Manchester Arena terrorist attack or the Covid pandemic, you can be pretty sure that a public inquiry will follow. They’re popular with the public as a means of investigating serious state failure. And for Governments they can be a good way of kicking a difficult issue into the long grass, as usually by the time the inquiry is finished a different set of politicians will have to deal with the report. There are currently 25 public inquiries in progress in the UK today - the most ever, with six announced so far this year. They range from one into Scottish child abuse, which is the longest current inquiry, to another into a police restraint death which has just lost its chair and the lawyers working for the inquiry, to Covid 19 - the largest currently underway. And which by the end of June this year had cost 177 million pounds. David Aaronovitch and guests discuss how these public inquiries work, what they achieve and who, if anyone, benefits from them? Guests: Judith Moritz: BBC Special Correspondent Deborah Coles, Executive Director, INQUEST Emma Norris, Director of Policy and Politics at IPPR think tank, Professor Lucy Easthope, emergency planner and responder and visiting Professor at the Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath. Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight, Cordelia Hemming. Sound engineer: Duncan Hannant Editor: Richard Vadon.

    29 min

  2. 23 OCT

    Is there a crash coming?

    Some of the biggest figures in finance, from the CEO of JPMorganChase to the Governor of the Bank of England, have been warning of potential shocks to the global economy. As excitement continues to build about the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence, the US stock market has boomed, potentially forming a fragile bubble. Meanwhile, recent bankruptcies in America have raised worries that a rapid growth in lending by private companies (so-called shadow banks) might be built on shaky ground - and have invoked memories of the subprime mortgage debacle that kicked off the Great Financial Crisis in 2007. And if that wasn’t enough, the threat that Donald Trump might reignite his tariff-driven trade war still looms over the global economy. So how worried should we be? David Aaronovitch speaks to the top experts to find out. Guests: Katie Martin, markets columnist at the Financial Times Duncan Weldon, economist and author of Blood and Treasure Simon French, Chief Economist and Head of Research at investment company Panmure Liberum Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Nathan Gower, Kirsteen Knight Editor: Richard Vadon Programme Coordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound Engineer: Duncan Hannant

    44 min

  3. 20 OCT

    Is the UK in a data crisis?

    As Rachel Reeves approaches a tricky budget, her job has got that much harder. Some of our most fundamental economic data, statistics that policymakers are used to accepting at face value, suddenly have major question marks over their accuracy. The UK’s top stats agency, the Office for National Statistics, finds itself under considerable pressure as falling response rates to its surveys leave politicians flying blind. David Aaronovitch asks what this means for government decisions and how the ONS can rebuild confidence in its most vital statistics. Guests: Georgina Sturge, research affiliate at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford Professor Denise Lievesley, former Principal of Green Templeton College, Oxford Chris Giles, economics commentator at the Financial Times. Peter Lynn, Professor of Survey Methodology at the University of Essex Presenter: David Aaronovitch Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Producers: Nathan Gower, Kirsteen Knight, Cordelia Hemming Studio engineer: Duncan Hannant Editor: Richard Vadon

    29 min

  4. 9 OCT

    Will the Gaza peace plan work?

    There have been in celebrations in Israel and Gaza at the announcement of a ceasefire and the beginning of a longer term plan for peace and reconstruction in Gaza. There have been ceasefires and hostage releases before, but then the death and destruction has resumed, so why is so much more hope being invested in the current plan? And what’s actually in it? Guests: Rushdi Abu-a-loaf, BBC Gaza Correspondent Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College London David Makovsky, Director of the Program on Arab-Israel Relations at the Washington Institute of Near East Policy Dr Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House. Presenter: David Aaronovitch Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Producers: Charlotte McDonald, Kirsteen Knight, Cordelia Hemming Studio engineer: Dave O’Neill Editor: Richard Vadon

    28 min

  5. 26 AUG

    How prepared are we for the next pandemic?

    Five years ago we in the UK were in the false lull between the first wave of covid and the second, between the first variant and the second, between the first peak of covid deaths and the second, higher peak. There wasn’t a vaccine and we didn’t know when we might get one. Now it’s a memory. But another deadly pathogen might pop up in fifty years or it might be manifesting its early stages right now. In the final part of our three-part mini-series looking at how the resilient the UK might be in dealing with potential future crises, we’re asking…..how prepared are we to deal with the next pandemic? Guests: Dame Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at the Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford; Sir Peter Horby, Professor of Emerging Infections and Global Health, and Director of the Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford; Malik Peiris, Emeritus Professor of Virology in the School of Public Health at The University of Hong Kong Presenter: David Aaronovitch Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Producers: Ben Carter, Kirsteen Knight, Sally Abrahams Studio engineer: Neil Churchill Editor: Richard Vadon

    42 min

  6. 21 AUG

    How prepared are we for cyber threats?

    From councils disrupted by ransomware, leaked defence data or individuals duped by deep fakes, the UK faces increasing cyber threats. David Aaronovitch asks his guests how prepared we are - whether as government defending critical infrastructure or as individuals guarding our digital identities. Guests: Sadie Creese, Professor of Cyber Security in the department of computer science, Oxford University Dr Aybars Tuncdogan, Associate Professor in digital innovation and information security, Kings College, London Emily Taylor, CEO of Oxford Information Labs and Associate Fellow, Chatham House Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Ben Carter, Sally Abrahams and Kirsteen Knight Production co-ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge Sound Engineers: Dave O’Neill and James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon

    29 min

  7. 14 AUG

    How prepared are we for climate change?

    The UK is getting hotter. And wetter. Extreme weather events in the UK are happening more often. And that trend won’t stop any time soon. It all means more flooding and fire risk. Enter the R word - resilience - how well are we coping with what’s going on now, and how advanced is our planning for what’s coming? In the first of our three part mini series looking at how the resilient the UK might be in dealing with potential future crises we ask how prepared are we to deal with the changing climate? Guests: Mark Maslin, professor of Climatology at University College London Richard Dawson, professor of Engineering at Newcastle University Jess Neumann, Associate professor of hydrology at the University of Reading Producers: Ben Carter, Kirsteen Knight and Sally Abrahams Productions co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound engineer: Neil Churchill Editor: Richard Vadon

    28 min

  8. 7 AUG

    Should the government worry about debt?

    In a time of sluggish economic growth, the favourite way of squaring the circle of spending more but not increasing taxes is to borrow - and we have. Keeping everybody’s lights on during the pandemic and homes heated after the Russian invasion of Ukraine has helped send our national debt up from £1.8 trillion to £2.8 trillion in recent years. But the question for the chancellor Rachel Reeves is how much more debt we can afford - and how much more debt do the markets think we can afford? So what’s the answer to that? Guests: Duncan Weldon, economist and author of 'Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through' Mehreen Khan, economics editor of The Times Chris Giles, economics editor of The Financial Times Producers: Ben Carter, Kirsteen Knight and Sally Abrahams Productions co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound engineer: Neil Churchill Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

    29 min
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Hosts & Guests

About

David Aaronovitch and a panel of experts and insiders present in-depth explainers on big issues in the news

Information

  • Creator
    BBC Radio 4
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2025
  • Episodes
    365
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2025
  • Show Website
    The Briefing Room

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