The Government was forced into a humiliating climbdown over its controversial benefits bill this week, and any savings the Treasury had hoped to make were wiped out. The politics of this is a subject on its own, but the underlying problem the government was trying to solve, however, remains. David Aaronovitch asks his guests why the cost of disability benefits has ballooned so unexpectedly, who gets them and why and whether the system works for disabled people.Guests:Paul Lewis, Presenter Moneybox, BBC Radio 4
Tom Waters, Associate Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Louise Murphy, Senior Economist, Resolution Foundation
Ruth Patrick, Professor of Social and Public Policy, University of GlasgowPresenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight and Sally Abrahams
Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound engineers: Sarah Hockley and Gareth Jones
Editor: Richard Vadon
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28:30
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28:30
Iran: What happens next?
President Trump says the conflict between Israel and Iran is over after 12 days. For the US and Israel the declared objective has been to destroy Iran’s capacity to make a nuclear bomb, with a side order of regime change if possible. They have damaged Iran’s capacity to build nuclear weapons but for how long? And what now is the objective for Iran? To rebuild their nuclear weapons programme? Or just for the regime to stay in power? David Aaronovitch and his guests discuss what's next for Iran.Guests:
Dr Patricia Lewis, arms control and nuclear physics expert
Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor at The Economist,
Dr Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow at the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House
Professor Ali Ansari, founding director of the Institute of Iranian Studies at St Andrews UniversityPresenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Editor: Richard Vadon
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28:36
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28:36
Explainer: Tensions over Kashmir
Following a deadly terrorist attack in Indian administered Kashmir in April a short military conflict broke out between India and Pakistan. For a brief history of the tensions over Kashmir Caroline Bayley spoke to former BBC India correspondent, Andrew Whitehead, who’s an expert on Kashmir and its history and author of “A mission in Kashmir”.
This is part of a new mini-series called The Briefing Room Explainers. They’re short versions of previous episodes of the Briefing Room.
Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producer: Caroline Bayley
Editor: Richard Vadon
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7:27
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7:27
Explainer: Putin’s motivation for war with Ukraine
As the Ukraine war grinds on with little sign of Russian president, Vladimir Putin agreeing to a ceasefire we trace the evolution of his attitude towards Ukraine. David Aaronovitch spoke to Vitaly Shevchenko who is Russia editor for BBC Monitoring and co-presenter of the BBC’s Ukrainecast.This is part of a new mini-series called the The Briefing Room Explainers. They’re short versions of previous episodes of the Briefing Room.Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producer: Caroline Bayley
Editor: Richard Vadon
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7:09
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7:09
Explainer: A history of US tariffs
Tariffs have dominated the first few months of President Trump’s second term. But where did he get the idea from? Ben Carter spoke to Douglas Irwin, professor of economics at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in the US.This is part of a new mini-series called the The Briefing Room Explainers. They’re short versions of previous episodes of the Briefing Room.Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producer: Ben Carter
Editor: Richard Vadon
UK