The Lowdown from Nick Cohen

Send us a textThis week, Nick Cohen gets the Lowdown from Dr Dave Rich, Head of Policy for the Community Security Trust (CST) - an organisation that provides security for Jewish communities and institutions. Dave is also an expert in left wing anti-semitism and the author of the book Everyday Hate: How antisemitism is built into our world – and how you can change it  (Biteback.)Jews in the UK often suffer instances of antisemitism when there is conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Dave reports that such incidents have increased four-fold in the wake of the tragic and horrific Hamas attacks on Israel and the retaliatory strikes on Gaza by the Israeli military.But it seems only Jews suffer from this phenomenon. For example, Russians in the UK seemingly experience no such back-lash despite Putin's illegal attack and genocide against Ukraine. Why is antisemitism alive and kicking in the UK, both on the left and on the right, and what can be done to counter it?Support the showListen to The Lowdown from Nick Cohen for in-depth analysis of the issues and events that shape our lives and futures. From Ukraine to Brexit, from Trump to the Tories - we hope to keep you informed - and sane! @NickCohen4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yascha Mounk, political scientist and author, discusses the astonishing rise of 'Woke ideology' and how it fixates on identity. Right-wing extremists are already manipulating fears over 'The Great Awokening' for the 2024 presidential elections. The podcast explores the origins and power of woke ideology, its connection to social justice movements, and the oversimplification of the world by woke ideology.

Send us a textNick Cohen talks to James Hawes, Renaissance man, historian, writer and novelist about the Tories' southern English tribe and the threat it poses to the rest of the UK.James, the author of The Shortest History of England,  predicts the Tories will become ever more extreme and nationalist in electoral defeat and that the eventual break up of the UK looks unavoidable. The UK's curse - its first-past-the -post electoral system has guaranteed virtual Tory hegemony for long periods of contemporary history, and the chronic decline of the country.James Hawes thinks PR could help transform the UK's political map, and its fortunes.  But without it,  the Tories will inevitably reassume power and continue their damaging revolt against Europe and the whole of the UK, leading inevitably to the eventual collapse of a 220 year old union.Support the showListen to The Lowdown from Nick Cohen for in-depth analysis of the issues and events that shape our lives and futures. From Ukraine to Brexit, from Trump to the Tories - we hope to keep you informed - and sane! @NickCohen4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a textThis week, Nick Cohen gets The Lowdown from Jonathan Portes , Professor of Economics and Public Policy at King's College London, ex- Chief Economist at the Cabinet Office.  Jonathan is also  a Senior Fellow of the Economic and Social Research Council's UK in a Changing Europe initiative, which examines the UK's now troubled relatIonship with the EU.Can anything be done to prevent the UK's growing economic crisis? Is decline inevitable? Jonathan reveals how the UK's growth rate shrank by three-quarters following the 2008 crash. Now the country's annual growth rate is an anaemic half a percent with the economy projected to double every 120-140 years instead of the pre-2008 35-year period. Inevitably, Brexit's not helping as it  hits trade and tax revenues. But there are other systemic failures.Jonathan says there's plenty of things a new Labour government could do - despite the calamity of Brexit - to try and run things around:  build homes, reform social ansd tax policy plus up-date our dysfunctional and decrpit voting systemSupport the showListen to The Lowdown from Nick Cohen for in-depth analysis of the issues and events that shape our lives and futures. From Ukraine to Brexit, from Trump to the Tories - we hope to keep you informed - and sane! @NickCohen4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a textProfessor Tim Bale of the Queen Mary University of London is widely looked on as the UK's keenest academic observer of the Conservative Party.  Tim's latest book The Conservative Party after Brexit  (published by Polity) charts the Party's dizzying descent into populist and radical hard right Brexit populism. Have the Tories truly transmogrified into to the far right europhobic party they appear to be  or are they merely aping one to appeal to the ageing reactionaries controlling local Tory constituencies, and, against the odds, cling onto power whatever the cost to the country?Tim Bale argues the Tories are almost certainly on the way out  of power- and thatb Rushi Sunak doesn't appear to have what it takes to save them.Support the showListen to The Lowdown from Nick Cohen for in-depth analysis of the issues and events that shape our lives and futures. From Ukraine to Brexit, from Trump to the Tories - we hope to keep you informed - and sane! @NickCohen4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a textRussia expert and author Dr Jade McGlynn joins Nick Cohen from Kyiv to talk about Ukraine's tragedy - a Russia that has been badly run by bad men - with a couple of rare exceptions here and there. And how this also happens to be Russia's tragedy.  Jade explains how the recent "Mad March on Moscow" by Wagner militia mafioso Yevgeny Prigozhin is a symptom of Vladamir Putin's dysfunction and despotism, and how hatred flows now flows between Ukraine and Russia like drones and missiles.Jade McGlynn - widely acknowledged as a brilliant and insightful author and Russian observer - is the author of two recent landmark books relating to the tragedy now playing out in Ukraine - Russia's  War,  published by Pushkin House, and Memory Makers, just published by Bloomsbury.  Memory Makers, The Politics of the past in Putin's Russia,  is based on Jade's analysis since 2014 of the start of Russia's illegal incursions into Ukraine. The book examines how Russia's repeated misadventures into its neighbour's territories are driven by the obsessive lies and myths it's gaslit into believing by Putin, and too many of his predecessors.Support the showListen to The Lowdown from Nick Cohen for in-depth analysis of the issues and events that shape our lives and futures. From Ukraine to Brexit, from Trump to the Tories - we hope to keep you informed - and sane! @NickCohen4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a textThe Lowdown from Nick Cohen this week examines the issue of race and diversity in the UK with the freelance writer and author Tom Owolade.Tom's brilliant and ground-breaking book This is not America - published by Atlantic  - argues that too much of the debate about race in Britain has been viewed through the prism of American experiences and history.  This prism fails to reflect the  challenges – and achievements – of an increasingly diverse black British population and distorts how many people view the issue of race in the UK.Tom tells Nick that too few  Brits understand the ethnic changes that are taking place in the UK or even the wide diversity of black British communities themselves, especially given the arrival of people from west and east Africa in recent years. Tom also believes class is a hugely important additional factor in the UK. Tom and Nick  explore the significant differences in the history and experiences of black Brits and Black Americans.  You can read Nick's assessment of Tom's important debut book in his Substack column,  Writing from LondonSupport the showListen to The Lowdown from Nick Cohen for in-depth analysis of the issues and events that shape our lives and futures. From Ukraine to Brexit, from Trump to the Tories - we hope to keep you informed - and sane! @NickCohen4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a textNick Cohen speaks in depth about Britain's growing Brexit food crisis with Liz Webster from the campaigns, Save British Farming and Save British Food.#Brexit has already smashed food supply lines and jeopardised Britain's food security. Now new Brexit checks on EU imports scheduled for October look certain to lead to even more empty supermarket shelves and further fuel food inflation. Liz Webster explains how  Brexit threatens to worsen even further Britain's already chronic food shortages, a crisis already exacerbated by climate change and Putin's illegal aggression against Ukraine.Support the showListen to The Lowdown from Nick Cohen for in-depth analysis of the issues and events that shape our lives and futures. From Ukraine to Brexit, from Trump to the Tories - we hope to keep you informed - and sane! @NickCohen4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.