Mid-Atlantic - conversations about US, UK and world politics

Philippe Marlière, Professor of French and European Politics at University College London, joins Roifield Brown in conversation to examine the tensions shaping French politics. They explore the polarisation between Marine Le Pen’s far right and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical left, the argument that France’s electorate has shifted to the right, and what that could mean in a hypothetical presidential...

Can English football enforce its rules when the stakes include Gulf wealth, political influence and Britain’s relationship with the UAE? On Mid Atlantic, Roifield Brown is joined by John Gunnison in Dublin and Tonye Altrade in London to explore the Manchester City controversy. John, a City supporter who spent eight years living in Abu Dhabi, offers an insider’s perspective on the emirate’s ambitio...

What does a ceasefire mean when Palestinians are still being killed—and what future can a people build when their homes and land keep disappearing? Roifield Brown welcomes Palestinian analyst Mouin Rabbani back to Mid Atlantic for a searing examination of Gaza, the occupied West Bank and the politics behind the promises of peace. Rabbani argues that Trump’s Board of Peace risks entrenching foreign...

Roifield Brown is joined by Logan Phillips, founder of Race to the White House, to ask whether America is heading for a historic Democratic blue wave in the 2026 midterms. They explore how frustration over living costs, healthcare and the Iran war is shaping the election, why races in Iowa and Kansas are suddenly competitive, and what Democratic control of the House and Senate could mean for Donal...

The episode discusses Prime Minister Mark Carney’s push to reduce Canada’s economic dependence on the United States after escalating tensions with Donald Trump, including tariffs and repeated comments threatening Canadian sovereignty such as calling Canada a “51st state” and referring to Canadian prime ministers as governors. Carney toured Europe and proposed a broad Canada–Europe “alliance for th...

Is the pressure on Donald Trump turning into a political backlash and is America ready for an even bigger upheaval? On this episode of Mid Atlantic, Roifield Brown joins Mike Donahue in Las Vegas to discuss the Iran war, rising fuel prices and Democratic hopes ahead of November’s midterms. Mike argues that household finances are doing more to erode Trump’s support than outrage over his conduct, wh...

Does American liberty depend on God, and what happens when the country’s actions contradict its founding ideals? On this episode of Mid Atlantic , Roifield Brown welcomes author, West Point graduate and former Army officer Randy DeSoto to discuss the updated edition of We Hold These Truths . DeSoto argues that God-given rights and divine providence have shaped America’s defining moments. Roifield...

The political map of Birmingham has been redrawn. After decades of Labour dominance, the May elections left Birmingham City Council with no overall control. Anger over the city's financial crisis, the prolonged bin strike, rising council tax and declining public services produced one of the most dramatic electoral shifts in the city's modern history. In this wide-ranging conversation, Roifield Bro...

Mid-Atlantic Podcast Summary This week's Mid-Atlantic examined two stories where sport, politics, identity, and power collided. In the first half, Roifield Brown was joined by John Gunnerson and Tonye Altrade to discuss the 2026 World Cup. The conversation explored FIFA's relationship with political power, visa refusals affecting officials and visitors, Gianni Infantino's leadership, Donald Trump'...

Episode summary Westminster was meant to be projecting calm. Instead, this episode of Mid-Atlantic finds Labour staring into a leadership crisis, with Keir Starmer under pressure after bruising local election results and a party increasingly unsure what, or whom, it represents. The panel weighs whether Starmer can survive, how a Labour leadership contest would work, and why Andy Burnham, Angela Ra...

Episode Summary On this week’s Mid-Atlantic , Roifield Brown convenes his transatlantic panel to examine two democracies straining under the weight of power, personality and public distrust. In Washington, President Trump’s State of the Union address is dissected less as governing document and more as performance art, heavy on self congratulation, generous with medals and applause lines, and sharp...

The Mandelson affair didn’t arrive as a shock so much as a delayed detonation. On Mid-Atlantic , Roifield Brown and his panel argue that the controversy surrounding Peter Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to the US was neither unforeseeable nor accidental. It was the result of a conscious political decision one that traded judgment and party trust for perceived expediency, and one now threa...

In this episode of Mid-Atlantic , Roifield Brown sits down with Canadian political commentator and host of The O Show , Laura Babcock, to dissect Canada’s unexpected political upheaval and its new identity on the world stage. With Mark Carney now prime minister, what was once unimaginable has become policy: a technocratic, globally respected leader is now seen by many Canadians as their country’s...

In this week’s episode of Mid-Atlantic , the panel dissects two unsettling scenes of political drama — one on the streets of Minneapolis, the other in the corridors of Westminster. The fatal ICE shooting of a civilian in Minneapolis, initially misrepresented by the Trump administration, has unleashed a bipartisan backlash. Tensions flare as footage shows an unarmed veteran stepping in to aid a pro...

If you thought the idea of the US buying Greenland was a historical curiosity, think again. In this episode of Mid-Atlantic, Roifield Brown returns to YouTube with geopolitical analyst Pyotr Kurzin of The Global Gambit to peer into the mess that is Trump-era foreign policy is creating in the North Atlantic. Spoiler: It’s not just about a frozen island with more musk oxen than people. It’s a full-b...

A defection, a photocopied resignation, and an airborne crisis: welcome to politics in 2026. In this week’s episode of Mid-Atlantic , Royfield Brown leads a transatlantic panel through the latest signs of fracture on the British right and a chaotic shift in U.S. foreign policy. Robert Jenrick’s defection from the Conservatives to Reform UK is dissected not as a grand ideological realignment, but a...

Host: Roifield Brown Producer: Connor Begley Guests: Mike Donahue, Mike Holden, Tony Alltrade Episode summary This week, Mid-Atlantic looks at what happens when the “rules-based international order” stops behaving like a system and starts behaving like a slogan. The conversation centres on the US seizure/extraction of Venezuela’s president and the eerie normalisation of an act that by the usual st...

In this week’s episode of MidAtlantic , host Roifield Brown asks whether Donald Trump’s corrosive rhetoric is a momentary blip or a seismic shift in the way American presidents speak and more importantly, lead. Is the bar for political discourse permanently lowered, or are we just watching a uniquely toxic figure dominate a uniquely toxic moment? The transatlantic panel includes Steve Krone in LA,...

In this episode, RoyField Brown revisits his Birmingham radio roots with an interview that blends the local and the political. Green Party councillor Julian Pritchard joins from his ward of Druids Heath and Monyhull, a place that even the most civic-minded Brummies might struggle to locate on a map. But that’s the point. Pritchard has been trying to change that for over seven years, turning up, kn...

What do a Democratic Socialist in New York and a Green Party leader in Britain have in common? Charisma, clarity, and, apparently, a hatred of high bus fares. In this episode of Mid-Atlantic , host Roifield Brown and the transatlantic panel tackle the political rise of Manami in NYC and Zack Polanski in the UK—two left-wing politicians who’ve gone from fringe to front page without watering down th...

In this charged episode of Mid-Atlantic , host Roifield Brown is joined by Palestinian analyst Mouin Rabbani , along with regular contributors Cory Bernard in Manchester and Mike Donahue in Los Angeles, to lay bare the harrowing conditions in Gaza and the political cowardice of the West. With over 60,000 Palestinians killed and famine declared by the IPC, the panel asks a blunt question: why does...

Mid-Atlantic: Gaza—Moral Clarity and Complicity Guests: Dave Smith (North London), Michael Donahue (Los Angeles), Tonye “T” Trade (East London), Safana “Saf” Monajed (East London) Host: Roifield Brown Episode summary Roifield opens with a stark personal statement: Gaza is a genocide, and Britain’s leadership—particularly the Labour government—has failed morally and politically. The panel examines...

This week’s Mid-Atlantic served up a blistering transatlantic roundup, with host Roifield Brown and a sharp panel of commentators dissecting political dysfunction from the White House to Westminster. First, Elon Musk’s abrupt departure from the Trump administration drew collective side-eye. Denise Hamilton called it a “planned grift,” while Michael Donahue reminded us Musk’s firms are still swimmi...

British politics post-local elections resembles less a democracy in action and more a therapy session with occasional shouting. In this episode of Mid-Atlantic , the panel tears into the latest electoral results, with Reform UK bulldozing their way through local councils, Labour sleepwalking through governance, and the Tories doing their best impression of a political hospice. Dave Smith kicks thi...

In this post-election special of Mid-Atlantic , host Roifield Brown and Canadian political analyst Adam Schaan break down what might be the most consequential Canadian election in recent memory—not just for the results, but for what they signal about the country’s identity. In a week where Donald Trump’s bombastic threats of annexation echoed from below the 49th parallel, Canada’s electorate respo...