The Lowdown from Nick Cohen

WHERE DOES TRUMP'S DEFEAT IN THE MIDTERMS LEAVE UKRAINE? In his latest Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen talks to Jimmy Rushton, the British journalist and Kyiv-based security analyst, about the current state of the war in Ukraine and the role of the Trump administration in foreign policy. Jimmy describes a chaotic US diplomatic process where amateurish Trump acolytes like John Cole, Jared Kushner,...

WE NEED TO CUT THE CHORD WITH ISOLATIONIST U.S. - THE MID-TERMS CHANGE NOTHING In his Weekend Blast, Nick Cohen criticises the assumption that the world, including Britain, understands America. For far too long, we Brits have obsessed about U.S politics and trusted too much to U.S. security guarantees. It's high time that we, with our European friends, decided to cut the chord with an unreliab...

THE DANGEROUS FUTURE LAME PRESIDENCY DUCK DONALD TRUMP In this special pre-mid terms Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen talks to legendary Never Trump commentator and podcaster Charle Sykes about corrupt U.S. president Donald Trump and his greedy, grifting family and its potential impact on the upcoming U.S. midterm elections. Charlie and Nick discuss how Trump’s financial scandals had become blatant and...

WILL ANDY BURNHAM GO TO THE COUTRY FOR HIS OWN MANDATE FOR CHANGE? In his weekend blast, Nick Cohen criticises his own previous belief that political opponents should simply be removed from power without considering what comes next. He argued that Labour's massive 2024 election victory with a 165-seat majority was cursed by self-imposed restrictions that prevented implementing any meaningful p...

TRUMP IS SELLING OUT UKRAINE TO BUDDY TYRANT VLADIMIR PUTIN - & ALL FOR A QUICK BUCK! In this week's Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen interviews Sir Bill Browder , where they discuss Browder's experiences with Russian corruption and Putin's regime. Browder shared how he ran a successful investment fund in Russia in the 1990s exposing corporate corruption, but faced expulsion in 2005 and...

AN EPITAPH ON 2 TYRANTS - VLADIMIR PUTIN & DONALD TRUMP In his latest Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen talks about what happens when power passes from autocrats, using Donald Trump as a primary example. The great British-American poet W.H Auden would have recognised the deeply sinister but darkly ridiculous figures of Trump and Putin in his 1939 poem Epitaph on a Tyrant [*see below] and the lines:...

The UK's Labour Tory Punch and Judy show could be back with a vengeance! In his latest podcast interview, Nick Cohen talks to doyen pollster Peter Kellner, founder of YouGov, to discuss the current state of British politics and the potential return to a two-party system dominated by Labour and the Conservatives. Peter and Nick talk about how Reform Party support has declined from around 30% to...

TORY OBSESSION WITH LEAVING ECHR COMPOUNDS THE EXTRAORDINARY FOLLY OF BREXIT Nick Cohen argues that the Conservative Party's latest obsession with leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is stupid, wrong headed, is deeply damaging to the UK, destroys the basis of our human rights and and replicates the Tories' enduring stupidity in dragging the country out of the European Un...

THE UK MUST NOT WASTE PRECIOUS TIME MOURNING THE DEATH OF THE OLD U.S. In the latest episode of The Lowdown , Nick Cohen talks to David Frum , the former George W. Bush speechwriter turned leading “Never Trump” conservative and Atlantic writer, for a wide-ranging discussion on Trump, the deteriorating UK-U.S. relationship, America’s place in the world, and the crisis facing the democratic right. D...

The Holborn by-election result is a disaster for the Greens Nick Cohen delivers his thoughts on the recent Holborn and St Pancras by-election results, where Labour comprehensively defeated the Green Party candidate, and its leader, Zack Polanski. Cohen criticises Polanski's leadership, particularly his absence during the controversial Green Party conference where motions on Israel and Palestin...

CLIMATE CHANGE - COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU! In his latest The Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen talks to author & former diplomat Arthur Snell about the growing climate crisis and its global impacts. Aftera summer of 2026 & that will be remembered for its relentless record-breaking heatwaves, A rthur, the author of Elemental, h is latest book, describes the grim s tate of climate change response...

Nigel Farage & the radical right have tried to use the strange events at RAF Fairford to feed the politics of hate In his latest Lowdown podcast short, Nick Cohen discusses Nigel Farage's extraordinary and irresponsible attempts to make political capital from the strange events at RAF Fairford this week, including allegations of an alleged Iranian-linked terrorism. Without any evidence, an...

TRUMP'S "EMPIRE OF GRIFT" - WHY THE U.S. WE ONCE KNEW & TRUSTED MAY BE STONE COLD DEAD In this episode of The Lowdown, Nick Cohen talks with author and journalist Anne Applebaum about her recent essay in The Atlantic , which describes the current U.S. administration under Trump as an "empire of grift." Anne Applebaum explains that this administration has abandoned Ameri...

HOW CRYPTO BUYS AND SELLS POLITICANS ON THE FAR RIGHT ACROSS EUROPE In this Lowdown short, Nick Cohen discusses the influence of the crypto industry on politics, focusing on how crypto billionaires have been buying support from radical right politicians. He highlighted cases such as Christopher Harbourne and Ben Delo's large donations to Nigel Farage and his party, and Donald Trump's invol...

PUTIN IS AT WAR WITH US - WHETHER WE'RE WILLING TO RECOGNISE THE FACT, OR NOT! WITH LUKE HARDING OF THE GUARDIAN In his latest Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen discusses the Kremlin's current Russian influence operations against and other countries in Europe with Luke Harding, Guardian foreign cortrespondent, and the author of "Betrayal: Trump, Putin, and A New Age of Conquest." Luke explains how Russi...

Trump has swamped the U.S. in corruption - Nick Cohen argues that the UK must act now to escape the same fate Nick Cohen delves into the history of past political donations as he argues that the UK must do all it can not to be plunged into the brazen corruption of Donald Trump's crooked White House. The controversial gift of £1 million to the Labour Party by former Formula One boss Bernie Ecclesto...

Labour must confront the far right & its fascism head-on - with Rafel Behr In this week's Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen talks to author and leading Guardian columnist Rafael Behr about the interconnectedness of ultra-capitalism and reactionary right-wing forces in politics. They discuss how both radicalised elderly voters nostalgic for the past and wealthy tech billionaires like Elon Musk are su...

Labour must take on Farage and the UK's new blackshirts but where is Andy Burnham? Hundreds of anonymous men turn up at Dover dressed in black shirts and balaclavas; Reform leader and Brexit con artist Nigel Farage threatens to scrap the House of Lords, purge the civil service and judiciary and use emergency decrees to pass sinister legislation if he ever takes power; women hecklers are beaten wit...

The growing debt crisis of no-growth Brexit Britain In his latest Lowdown podcast, host Nick Cohen interviews economics and geopolitics commentator and columnist Simon Nixon about the UK's national debt crisis and broader economic challenges. Simon explains that while the UK faces significant debt sustainability concerns, the current high bond yields reflect primarily inflation expectations rather...

BURSTING THE BREXIT BUBBLE! HOW BREXITEERS ARE CAUGHT IN THEIR OWN "PURTY SPIRAL" In his latest Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen interviews Roland Smith, one of the few Brexit supporters who has publicly admitted the Brexit project was a mistake. Roland discusses how British right-wing politics has descended into a purity spiral since 2016, with no senior conservative politicians acknowledging failures...

ISRAEL - THE NEW WEDGE ISSUE OF U.S. POLITICS In this week's Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen talks to the journalist Jo-Ann Mort about Israel, Jews, and anti-Semitism in left-wing politics. Jo-Ann Mort,who is also former founder of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), discussed how the DSA has shifted dramatically from its original anti-communist, anti-totalitarian stance to a position that is...

THE CENSORS' THREAT TO ART In his latest Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen talks to Sally Gimson, editor of Index on Censorship , discussing her report on censorship and the lack of political drama in the British arts scene. Sally explains that despite a strong left-wing political passion in the arts, there is a dearth of political theatre, with institutions playing it safe to avoid controversy. She des...

HOW TRUMP'S U.S. STUPIDLY ENGINEERED ITS OWN HUMILIATION This week, Nick Cohen interviews Phillips O'Brien, a professor of strategic studies at St. Andrews University, about the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran. O'Brien explained how Iran has effectively "toyed with America" by continuing attacks despite Trump's attempts to de-escalate, forcing the U.S. to resume military operat...

No end in sight to Trump's moronic war of choice with Iran Nick Cohen and Charlie Sykes discuss what they describe as Donald Trump’s two reckless “wars”: the shooting conflict with Iran and the trade war with Canada. Sykes argues both are driven largely by Trump’s personal whims, lack public support, and have not been properly authorised or explained to Americans. On Canada, Sykes says almost no o...

The Right has power & money to destroy our world Nick Cohen talks to academic Emma L.Briant about a neglected threat: right-wing attacks on free speech. While acknowledging that left-wing censoriousness has damaged liberal politics, he argues that conservatives who claimed to defend open debate are now adopting authoritarian methods. The central example is the Trump administration’s attempt, t...