The Briefing Room

In February India's governing party, the BJP, congratulated itself and its “visionary” leader, the prime minister, Narendra Modi,, for “defeating Covid.” Two months on India is in the midst of what one historian has termed “the gravest crisis the nation has faced since Partition” in 1947. Hundreds of thousands of new infections are reported every day and thousands of deaths. The peak may come in a few weeks. Meanwhile the country is short of hospital beds, oxygen and even wood for the funeral pyres. So what’s gone wrong? And what does India’s plight tell the rest of the world about the trajectory of the pandemic and when it might finally end?Producers: Tim Mansel, Kirsteen Knight, Paul Moss Studio Engineer: James Beard Editor: Jasper Corbett

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel bows out of politics later this year after 16 years at the head of the German government. She seems likely to be replaced by one of two people; the man Merkel’s party, the CDU, has designated as her successor, Armin Laschet; or the relative political novice, Annalena Baerbock, from the Greens, a party with its origins in the environmental movement. Most commentators agree that however the cards fall after the September election the Greens will be in government, whether at the head of a coalition or as its junior partner. David Aaronovitch asks how the Greens have gained ground so dramatically in such a short time and what a Green German government might mean for Britain.Producers: Tim Mansel, Paul Connolly, Kirsteen Knight Sound Engineer: James Beard Editor: Jasper CorbettThe German flag flying in front of the Reichstag, home of the German parliament (Bundestag), Berlin, Germany. Credit BBC.

There’s been violence on the streets of Northern Ireland in recent days, most of it in Protestant areas. On occasion it spilled over the sectarian divide. The proximate cause appears to be twofold: the refusal of the Northern Ireland prosecution service to bring charges against Sinn Fein members who apparently broke lockdown rules to attend a funeral last summer; and the Northern Ireland Protocol, which under the Brexit deal, means that checks apply to goods travelling from Britain to Northern Ireland. There are other, longer term grievances, in particular a perception that the Good Friday Agreement privileged the Catholic community at the expense of Protestants. Many fingers are now pointing at Westminster where the British government is accused of inactivity and indifference. More protests have been promised. So, how fragile is the peace process?Producers: Tim Mansel, Kirsteen Knight, Paul Moss Editor: Jasper Corbett

When the 400 metre long Ultra Large Container Vessel, Ever Given, got wedged diagonally across the Suez Canal at the end of March, it brought one of the world’s most important trade routes to a standstill for six days. Around ten per cent of global shipping passes through the canal. Shipping itself is responsible for some 90 per cent of global trade. The blockage served to revive worries that global supply chains have become a source of vulnerability for economies that rely on international trade. The immediate effect of the Ever Given accident for the UK may not become clear for several weeks. The Briefing Room asks what longer term vulnerabilities has it exposed and how might these best be mitigated?Presenter: David Aaronovitch Production team: Tim Mansel, Paul Moss and Kirsteen KnightSatellite image shows stranded container ship Ever Given in Suez canal. Egypt March 25th 2021. Credit: Reuters

No crisis has had the global reach and impact of Covid-19. There have been more than 120 million recorded cases of the Coronavirus and 2.7 million people have died and curbs on people’s freedoms have become a familiar part of daily life in many parts of the world. Just over a year since the world started to get to grips with the first global pandemic in more than a century, what can we say about how different countries have dealt it? Which countries have been worst-affected and why? Which public health systems have held up best? Why did test and trace work in some countries but not in others? Around the world governments have propped up their economies accruing eye-watering amounts of debt, but was it money well spent? Where and why has the vaccine roll out been most successful? And what could be the lasting legacy of the pandemic? Contributors: Dr.Thomas Hale, Oxford UniversityProf. Martin McKee, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.Nazmeera Moola, Ninety One, a South African asset management companyDr Monica DeBolle, Peterson Institute for International EconomicsJerome Kim, Director General of the International Vaccine InitiativeRasmus Bech Hansen, founder and CEO of AirfinityDr. Jennifer Cole, Royal Holloway, University of LondonKishore Mahbubani, Asia Research Institute at National University of SingaporeProducers: Tim Mansel, Paul Moss, Kirsteen Knight Sound Engineer: James Beard Editor: Jasper Corbett

Britain's transition period with the EU ended on December 31st. For the first time since the inception of the single market in 1992, British companies were on the outside. A trade agreement was reached meaning that no tariffs would be paid on imports or exports, but it did mean that trade would no longer be entirely friction free. It’s still early days, but what do we now know about the extent of that friction and its possible consequences? How representative are the frustrations of Cornwall’s daffodil growers who say they can’t find labourers or UK companies that are now setting up production facilities in the EU in order to avoid red tape and its cost? To what extent have difficulties been mitigated by new trade deals that the UK is now free to negotiate. And what’s the view from the EU?With Peter Foster of the Financial Times; Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform; Vandeline von Bredow of The Economist; and Maddy Thimont Jack of the Institute for Government.Producers: Tim Mansel, Sally Abrahams, Kirsteen Knight Editor Jasper Corbett

The prime minister is due to announce on Monday his plan for lifting the current lockdown in England. He says he wants progress to be cautious but irreversible. And he, like many, is saying that decisions on how and when to lift lockdown need to be driven by data not dates. So what are the risks, for example, in sending primary age children back to school? Of opening pubs? Of opening non-essential shops? To what extent would any of this be possible without the rollout of the vaccination programme? And why is vaccination alone not a magic bullet? With Professor Azra Ghani of Imperial College, London; Professor Stephen Reicher of St. Andrews University; and Dr. Mike Tildesley of Warwick University.Producers: Tim Mansel, Sally Abrahams and Kirsteen Knight Editor: Jasper Corbett

The prospect of independence for Scotland may never have been brighter for the SNP. Elections to Holyrood are due in May and the party has promised to seek a new referendum on independence if it gains a majority. Yet, at the same time, a prominent SNP MP concluded this week that the “turmoil” within her party was “unprecedented”. Others have talked about the “fight to the death” that’s currently being waged between supporters of the leader, Nicola Sturgeon and supporters of her predecessor, Alex Salmond. The feud has its roots in a government investigation of Mr Salmond in 2018 that led to him being charged with a number of sexual offences. A jury cleared Mr Salmond on all counts in a trial last year. So what’s going on in the SNP? How can it be so apparently popular while being so deeply divided? And how might this affect its chances of realising its ambition of an independent Scotland?With BBC Scotland editor, Sarah Smith,; journalist Dani Garavelli; and Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, Sir John Curtice.Producers: Tim Mansel, Sally Abrahams, Kirsteen Knight Editor: Jasper Corbett

There was pandemonium on the US stock market when shares in a chain of video game shops went through the roof. At one point GameStop’s stock, which averaged just seven dollars last year, was valued at more than 480 dollars. The frenzy was fuelled by cheerleaders on Reddit. Investors were being encouraged to buy the stock even as it became clear that they would probably lose most of their investment. There was a mood of rebellion online and clear hostility to millionaire hedge fund managers. Then one of the platforms that offered small investors free access to the market said it would temporarily no longer allow new purchases of GameStop stock. This prompted furious claims of unfairness; accusations that Wall Street had shut out the little guy; that there was one rule for the big investor and another for the amateur. So what did actually happen? Was this truly a battle between the Davids and the Goliaths of the financial world? What will happen next? And why does it matter?Contributors:Elizabeth Lopatto, The VergeSebastian Mallaby, The Council on Foreign Relations and Washington PostPhilip Coggan, The EconomistSusannah Streeter, Hargreaves LansdownProducers: Tim Mansel, Sally Abrahams, Kirsteen Knight Editor: Jasper Corbett

This year marks 100 years since the creation of Northern Ireland, in May 1921. But in the light of Brexit, which has left Northern Ireland inside the EU’s single market and customs union, creating, in effect, a border in the Irish Sea, conversations about the possibility of Irish reunification are getting louder. One opinion poll suggested there is now a slender majority in Northern Ireland in favour of holding what’s known as a “border poll”, a referendum on the reunification of Ireland, within five years. So has Brexit made reunification any more likely? With Margaret O’Callaghan of Queen’s University, Belfast; Alan Renwick of University College London; Sam McBride of The News Letter; and Etain Tannam of Trinity College, Dublin.Presenter: David Aaronovitch Editor: Jasper Corbett Producers: Tim Mansel, Sally Abrahams, Kirsteen Knight