The Briefing Room

What happened after the buses left eastern Aleppo in December? After four and a half years of siege, the residents of eastern Aleppo were evacuated before Christmas. But the evacuees didn't disappear when they left the city and the Syrian Civil war didn't end with the end of the siege. Abdelkafi, an English teacher from Aleppo, relates his experience of leaving Aleppo by bus with his wife and youn...

Liberalism died in 2016. This bold statement has been made by both right and left wing media in recent months. But what is liberalism - and can such a broad idea really be that vulnerable? Edmund Fawcett, author of Liberalism: The Life of an Idea, charts the rise and rise of liberalism, from Gladstone's social reformers to the economic liberalism of Margaret Thatcher. Sir Oliver Letwin MP played a...

Civil war in Yemen has become a full regional conflict, with global implications - but how did it start in the first place? This week the Disasters Emergency Committee launched a major appeal for aid, with Yemeni children dying of malnutrition following 20 months of war. But what are the causes of Yemen's civil war and who is fighting? Is it correct to describe it as a "proxy war" between Saudi Ar...

What are the policies and political decisions which led to the current crisis in prisons? Prison life isn't meant to be easy but it is supposed to be safe and secure. Drugs, violence, self-harm and suicide are all increasing problems. David Aaronovitch examines what's gone wrong and hears stories from inside the prison system. He explores what over-crowding and under-staffing means for prisoners a...

The Investigatory Powers Act - or Snoopers' Charter to its critics - is a highly controversial new law. On one hand, it clarifies a host of vague laws which were out of date with modern technology - but it also enshrines new powers of digital observation and surveillance, which will be available to the British intelligence services, the police, and a host of government agencies. In this programme,...

An independent review of police investigations into VIP sex abuse has found 43 police failings - but why did the police drop the ball with so many high-profile cases? The Henriques Review looked into the police investigations of public figures, including former Home Secretary Lord Brittan, retired army chief Lord Bramall and Harvey Proctor, a former Conservative MP. Justice Henriques criticises th...

Theresa May has promised new trains, faster broadband and improved infrastructure. Critics accused her of adopting Labour Party politics. But is it left-wing to invest in infrastructure? During the Great Depression, John Maynard Keynes encouraged governments to dig holes until the economy was restored. The explosion of building in 1930s America is often seen as Keynes' words in action - but the Ne...

What does Black Lives Matter stand for in the UK? In the United States it is a protest movement formed in reaction to the killing of black people by police, and now there are BLM chapters in Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester and London. The British organisation's most high profile action so far has been a blockade of airports and major roads - but what are the key issues driving the Black Lives M...

Illiberal democracy is gaining traction across Europe - a political philosophy which in part draws support from the far right, championing anti-migrant and anti-EU sentiment. Among the most visible illiberal democrats' is Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban who believes in the idea of nation states that govern in the interests of their indigenous populations, unencumbered by concepts like human...

As part of its response to the Brexit vote, the Bank of England will buy an extra £70 billion of bonds and will create new money to do so. The aim is to stimulate the economy and try to meet the government's 2% inflation target. But will it work? The Bank of England began its programme of quantitative easing back in 2009 following the financial crisis. It began buying bonds, mostly government debt...

Why has it been so difficult to find peace in Syria, and what are the complicating factors which are getting in the way of a deal? In early September the US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced a new agreement to reduce hostilities in Syria - the second attempt this year to initiate a ceasefire in a 5 year long civil war which has so far cost around ha...

It's one of the strangest developments in a very strange election campaign. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, says Donald Trump is "colourful and talented". For his part, the Republican nominee says Putin "is very much a leader ... far more than our president has been a leader." More than flattering words, on specific policy points - such as the civil war in Syria, the influence of NATO in Ea...

The Labour deputy leader Tom Watson has warned that his party could be taken over by old Trots - Trotskyist entryists, who have no interest in winning elections but instead see Labour as a vehicle for revolutionary socialism. But what is a Trot, who was Leon Trotsky and what do his followers in Britain actually want? David Aaronovitch is joined by: Prof John Callaghan, Salford University Amy Leath...

Jesse Morton was once a radical jihadi involved in the American offshoot of the banned British extremist group Al-Muhajiroun. Al-Muhajiroun's leader, Anjem Choudary, was convicted of inviting others to support the so-called Islamic State, and is awaiting sentencing. And Morton himself crossed the line and was sentenced to 11 1/2 years in prison for making violent threats in America. But while he w...

David Aaronovitch speaks to Milo Yiannopoulos about Donald Trump's new political base - the 'alt-right'. It's a mostly young, disparate movement which organises and congregates online, which has little in common with traditional Republicans. However, it's thanks to this new political base that Donald Trump clinched the Republican Party nomination, despite angering a long list of key groups of Amer...

Grammar schools are back on the agenda courtesy of Theresa May. Why has the Conservative party's love affair with an almost extinct system of educational selection endured? Step into The Briefing Room with David Aaronovitch to discover the history of the Conservatives' attitude to grammar schools - and the impact the system has on exam performance and social mobility. Contributors: Newsnight's Pol...

When the BBC obtained exclusive pictures of Special Air Service soldiers fighting Islamic State militants in Syria, the Ministry of Defence refused to comment. British Special Forces are now on the ground in Libya as well - although nobody ever voted in favour sending them, and there has never been a debate in Parliament about it. In fact, it's a long-standing cross-party tradition that the govern...

Britain faces big decisions when it comes to generating electricity - and ones we will all end up paying for. So what's the right choice? Theresa May surprised many by one of her first acts as prime minister: delaying a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. She says she wants more time to consider the deal before making a final decision later this year. Hinkley Point C - if it's...

There was jubilation among many who were on the winning side of last month's EU referendum. But the vote, more than any in recent memory, laid bare the UK's divisions - not only in demographics but also social attitudes. Many of the 16m people who voted Remain expressed shock, sadness and even grief after the result. Two weeks ago The Briefing Room visited Wakefield in West Yorkshire to find out a...

Turkey's president put the blame on the Gulen movement for an attempted coup - but what is it? The Briefing Room explores the roots and influence of this transnational Islamic religious and social movement. More than 50,000 people in the military, the judiciary, schools and other state institutions were arrested, sacked or suspended by the Turkish government since the thwarted coup attempt and Pre...

BHS was one of the biggest names on the high street, but it is now in administration and faces an uncertain future. What exactly happened, and who is responsible for its decline? Much of the focus has been on Sir Philip Green who sold the firm a little over a year ago to a little-known group called Retail Acquisitions. BHS had undergone a period of high growth during the first part of Green's 15 y...

Why did so many people in the UK vote to Leave the EU? David Aaronovitch talks to residents in the pro-Leave city of Wakefield and finds out from experts why personal prosperity was a poor indicator of referendum voting intention. Guests include: Stian Westlake, Executive Director of Policy and Research, NEST, and author of 'The Intangible Economy' with Jonathan Haskel Ben Shimshon, BritainThinks,...

The Chilcot Report revealed that a key source of flawed intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war was a man known as Curveball. How did this obscure figure come to influence Britain's decision to go to war? David Aaronovitch and guests discuss the story of Curveball and what it tells us about why intelligence sometimes fails. Presenter: David Aaronovitch Guests: Peter Taylor, BBC reporter and pre...

Immigration to the United Kingdom remains at a near-record high - but what are the political decisions and global trends which led to its rise in the first place? Unprecedented levels of immigration motivated many Leave voters in the EU referendum and in this week's programme David Aaronovitch charts a short history of immigration over the past two decades. Joined by a panel of experts bringing un...

Northern Ireland-related terrorism now represents a “substantial” threat to Great Britain, according to MI5 - the security service. It believes that a terrorist attack is a "strong possibility" in Britain and "highly likely" in Northern Ireland itself. This reflects the continuing threat from dissident republicans. This week David Aaronovitch asks who are the New IRA? Joining him in The Briefing R...