The Fourcast

Wafa Mustafa has spent years searching for her missing father, who was arrested in Syria in 2013. Before his disappearance, he gave her a chilling warning: if he was arrested again, she would have to flee the country or Bashar al-Assad’s forces would torture her.
In this episode of The Fourcast, Syrian filmmaker Waad al-Kateab and activist Wafa Mustafa join Krishnan Guru-Murthy to discuss their upcoming documentary, Maybe Tomorrow, about Wafa’s search for her father, and the thousands of families still waiting for answers about loved ones who disappeared in Assad’s Syria.

As vote counts trickle in following Israel’s high-stakes national election, results indicate a stalemate. Neither Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing nationalist bloc nor the opposition coalition led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party appear to have secured the 61-seat majority required to form a government.
With both major factions falling short of a clear victory, the country faces a familiar deadlock, leaving Arab-led parties such as Hadash-Ta'al as potential kingmakers. Despite high voter turnout and full-throated campaign endorsements from US President Donald Trump, Netanyahu's bid to secure a stable coalition hangs by a thread.
In this episode of The Fourcast, Secunder Kermani is joined by pollster and former Netanyahu aide Mitchell Barak, Senior Analyst from Haaretz , Esther Solomon and Adalah founder and director Dr Hassan Jabareen.

Andy Burnham came to power promising radical change, a circuit breaker for Britain’s stagnant economy. This was his first budget, meant to lay out his bold vision for Britain. But are we left thinking, is that it? 
Chancellor John Healey announced measures meant to ease the pressure of soaring costs, including a £100 pay out for 20 million households, a rise in the minimum wage and some tax relief for small businesses. He’s targeting banks and the gambling sector with higher taxes to fund his plans.
But his opponents accuse him of kicking big decisions on defence and welfare spending into the long grass at a time when the UK is facing global turmoil driven by the conflict in the Middle East. 
So what are we to make of this budget? John McDonnell who was Labour’s Shadow Chancellor from 2015 to 2020 and Darren Jones, who held several key advisory roles in Keir Starmer’s government, but was sacked in Andy Burnham’s cabinet reshuffle, join to discuss for this episode of The Fourcast.

Israel is set to vote in its first election since October 7th in what could be one of the country’s most important elections ever.
With Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu having been in power on and off, for 19 of the past 30 years, his job looks under serious threat from challenger Gadi Eisenkot.
On this episode of the Fourcast, Matt Frei is joined by Channel 4’s Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Secunder Kermani, as well as the former deputy managing editor of the Jerusalem Post, Tovah Lazaroff.
They discuss whether Donald Trump’s full-throated support for Netanyahu will help him to remain in his job? And as Israeli voters are about to head to the polls, why are the humanitarian crises in Gaza and the West Bank barely mentioned by those running for office?

With the Budget just days away, Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey face some big decisions. How much can the government afford to spend? Who should pay more tax? And how on do they get Britain's economy growing at a faster rate?But what if we're asking the wrong questions altogether?Former chartered accountant Richard Murphy argues that the government's obsession with borrowing, debt and so-called fiscal headroom is holding Britain back. He believes we have far more financial freedom than politicians would have us believe.So is Britain really running out of money? Or is it running out of ideas?On this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy was joined by Richard Murphy, Professor Emeritus of Accounting Practice at University of Sheffield Management School, and economist Vicky Pryce, Chief Economic Adviser and a board member at the Centre for Economics and Business Research.