Donald Trump has just met both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the same week - two leaders locked in a war that has reshaped global security. For Putin, the meeting with Trump offered legitimacy and a chance to show that Russia is still a power the US must engage with. For Zelenskyy, it was about survival, pressing Trump to keep American support flowing as Ukraine fights for its future.So what really happened behind those closed doors and what does it mean for NATO, Europe and the wider world? In this episode of The Fourcast, Matt Frei speaks to Emily Ferris from RUSI and William Alberque, a specialist on arms control and NATO, to explore what Trump’s diplomacy tells us about the next phase of the war - and America’s role in it.
Charged with looking after the United Nations’ humanitarian projects - from Israel’s aid blockade in Gaza to the crisis in Sudan, Tom Fletcher was recently described as having the ‘toughest job in the world’. But he disagrees. “The toughest job in the world”, he says, “is sitting there watching your kid having his arm cut off in a hospital without an anaesthetic.”In this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to Tom Fletcher about why aid is not reaching those who need it most, in Gaza and beyond. He warns that global humanitarian needs are greater than ever, with crises in Sudan, Yemen and Ukraine, and makes a plea to the world to “step up” on Gaza crisis response.
Chris Bryant MP has lived many lives - from a childhood in Franco’s Spain to serving as a priest in the Church of England, and now more than two decades in Parliament. He reflects on growing up gay when it was still illegal, the abuse he endured as a young man in the National Youth Theatre, and how Section 28 drove him away from the Conservative Party.
In this episode of The Fourcast, he tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy what power looks like behind closed doors, and why speaking out about abuse matters.
This episode includes discussion about sexual assault. You can find where to access help and support with these issues at: www.channel4.com/4viewers/help-support
Is fashion the latest thing to be swallowed into politics, culture war and the backlash on woke?
Stick-thin models with protruding bones were the marketing choice of Zara for a new campaign - the ad has just been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority as irresponsible.
And the fallout from Sydney Sweeney's ad campaign for American Eagle jeans keeps growing - a few years ago accusations of white supremacy and promoting the right wing might have caused a share price to plummet.
But after Donald Trump described the ad as the hottest ad out there American Eagle stock rocketed. Are we back in the 90's or even the 30's?
Ad agencies have always looked for ways to get noticed - but is the war on woke also sweeping away years of progress on body positivity and diversity?
On this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined by Katie Glass, who writes for the Times and Megan Jayne Crabbe - a writer, presenter and activist for body positivity and feminism.
The world's eyes are on Gaza as the enclave faces mass starvation, but the war there is also emboldening Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.Odeh Hadalin is a Palestinian teacher and activist who campaigned against illegal Israeli settlements and settler violence. He also helped make this year's Oscar-winning film No Other Land which documents Israeli attacks on the Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta.It was there that he was shot dead, reportedly after a confrontation between villagers and settlers who were using a bulldozer to destroy property.An extremist settler, previously sanctioned by the US, has been arrested.Around a thousand Palestinians have reportedly been killed in the West Bank in the last two years amid an increasing wave of settler and Israeli military violence.Joining Matt Frei on this week's episode of The Fourcast is the Palestinian film-maker Basel Adra. He co-wrote and co-directed No Other Land and was a friend of Odeh.
A year ago, towns across Britain were in flames as far-right anti-immigration protests turned into riots, while this week the Police Federation called recent protests in Epping a 'signal flare’ for further unrest.
So with the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats actually up and social media - not to mention certain MPs - pumping out inflammatory comments, is another summer flare-up inevitable?
And how do the police , the politicians and the protesters themselves distinguish between the genuine concerns of dispossessed communities, and the gratuitous violence of far-right racists?
On this episode of The Fourcast, Jackie Long is joined by Sunder Katwala, director of the think-tank British Future which focuses on diversity and social inclusion, the academic Lisa McKenzie, who writes primarily about working-class communities and class inequality, and Adam Kelwick, imam of the UK's oldest mosque in Liverpool who came to prominence during last year's riots with his attempts at dialogue with protesters.
Donald Trump is under pressure, again, this time over his alleged ties to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. As the scandal grows, the Speaker of the House has shut down Congress, seemingly to avoid any further questions being raised on the floor.
Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s and Epstein’s longtime pilot, Lawrence Visoski, has testified that Trump flew on Epstein's private plane multiple times. Trump has denied ever being on the plane and there is no evidence he was involved in wrongdoing.
But now, even Trump’s usual allies in the alt-right world of podcasts and influencers are turning on him. So what happens when the support base that’s shielded Trump for years starts to crumble?
On today's episode of the Fourcast, David Pakman, host of The David Pakman Show and author of The Echo Machine, joins us to break it all down.
In America the Democrats are in crisis — leaderless, divided, and drifting after Donald Trump’s return to power, and on the left, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Bernie Sanders and the Democrat's New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani are seizing the moment, but is their radicalism the way to beat Trump's Maga bandwagon?
Or will they end up alienating the majority of working class America? Tim Ryan, a senior advisor for the Progressive Policy Institute, is the former Ohio Congressman who stood for the senate but lost to JD Vance. He also threw his hat in the ring for the Democrats Presidential nomination when Joe Biden won it. He wants to haul his party back to focus on what he sees as the central concerns of working class voters - their cost of living and the fairness of the system, as well as working with business not against it - what he sometimes calls more of a Bill Clinton style. But is that really the answer to a Democrat resurrection?
Donald Trump says he's 'disappointed' that Vladimir Putin keeps knocking down buildings in Kyiv despite all the great conversations they are having about ending the war in Ukraine, as the First Lady Melania Trump keeps pointing out to him.
So the president is ramping up the threats, offering 'top-of-the-line' weaponry to Ukraine and promising severe tariffs on Russia if there's no ceasefire within 50 days.Is that enough to get Putin to the negotiating table? Or just escalating an intractable conflict? And is Trump even serious about bumping his bestie in Moscow?On the latest episode of The Fourcast, Matt Frei is joined by Channel 4 News’ International Editor Lindsey Hilsum and historian and author Anne Applebaum.
Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have announced a "one in, one out" migration deal which would see France send one asylum seeker with a British family connection to the UK for every migrant sent back.
Under the terms of the deal, up to 50 people a week could be sent back to France.
But what impact will the new deal really have?
In today's episode of the Fourcast, Senior Political Correspondent Paul McNamara speaks to Charlotte Khan from Care4Calais and Peter Walsh, senior researcher at the Migration Observatory, about whether we can really expect to see a change to the number of people crossing the English Channel by small boat.
What comes first - a peace deal or a peace prize? The war rages on in Gaza - another 40 Palestinians were killed overnight in Israeli airstrikes, but Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been unable to thrash out a ceasefire deal despite two days of talks in Washington, though he did nominate Donald Trump for the Nobel peace prize.
Meanwhile in Gaza families continue to struggle for food and water amid the constant bombardments and with an aid system that is failing to deliver. Israeli officials say they are working with the UN and other bodies to “ensure necessary aid crosses the border”. So who is to blame for this catastrophe? And what needs to be done to alleviate it?
In this episode of The Fourcast, Cathy Newman speaks to James Elder, global spokesperson for UNICEF, the United Nations agency providing humanitarian aid to children worldwide. He is just back from Gaza - his fifth visit to the territory since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023.
Sir Keir Starmer pulled Labour’s flagship welfare reform plans at the last minute - a humiliating U-turn after days of rebellion, confusion and rising anger across his own party.
The government narrowly avoided defeat in the vote last night, but the cost may be far greater than any lost vote. Dozens of MPs defied the whip, disability campaigners condemned the reforms, and what was once a central policy platform now lies in ruins. Critics say Starmer has looked weak, indecisive - even irrelevant - in the face of pressure from within.
In this episode of The Fourcast, Matt Frei speaks to our social affairs editor Jackie Long and Channel 4 News’ Senior Political Correspondent Paul McNamara about the significance of what has just happened and what comes next. Has this bruising vote done lasting damage to Starmer’s premiership? and what will Rachel Reeves do now as another last minute U-turn has blown an even bigger black hole into the government’s finances?
Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury performance has dominated headlines and sparked a huge debate. The punk duo chanted “death to the IDF” to a live crowd of thousands, and millions more watched at home, as their set aired live on the BBC. The backlash was swift - some called it a bold act of protest, while others condemned it as deeply offensive and antisemitic. On-screen warnings issued by the BBC about discriminatory language were deemed “not good enough”, and both the festival and the BBC have since condemned the performance, issuing public apologies.In this episode of The Fourcast, Matt Frei is joined by journalist and founder of the Free Speech Union Lord Toby Young, and political activist Ash Sarkar - who was at the performance - to unpack the controversy. They discuss the reaction to Bob Vylan’s set, the BBC’s decision to broadcast it, and what this means for free speech and creative freedom in today’s media landscape.This episode of The Fourcast contains language that some may find offensive.
Does Westminster make good people awful or does it attract awful people? As far as Sarah Vine is concerned, it’s the former - corrupting those with the best of intentions, turning them “mad and toxic.”
For twenty years, Sarah Vine was on the frontline of UK politics - married to former Secretary of State Michael Gove, friend (and later, foe) of the Camerons and a tabloid columnist. She witnessed Brexit up close - so close in fact, that it cost her her marriage.
In this episode of the Fourcast, journalist and author Sarah Vine talks to Krishnan Guru-Murthy about her new book, ‘How Not to Be a Political Wife’. She talks about her ‘crush’ on Samantha Cameron and their devastating fallout, her view that MPs aren’t paid enough, the pressures of public scrutiny and the emotional toll of being married to power.
The ceasefire deal Donald Trump says he brokered between Iran and Israel already appears to be in jeopardy as the Israeli Defence Forces promise to "respond with force" after accusing the regime in Tehran of launching missiles at Israel.
Iran denies launching any missiles. The US president has expressed his fury at both countries and has called on them to pull back. So will the ceasefire hold? If so, what does this mean for the future of the region? Can the ayatollah’s regime survive? And will Donald Trump finally get the Nobel Peace Prize he’s been after for so long?
On the latest episode of The Fourcast from Washington DC Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined by Mark Kimmitt, former Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, and Negar Mortazavi, Iranian-American journalist & host of the Iran podcast, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy.
The United States and Israel have launched major airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and regime targets. Iran’s foreign minister is seeking diplomatic support in Moscow, while questions swirl around the true extent of the damage, and whether retaliation could spiral into a wider regional war.
In this episode of The Fourcast, which was recorded before the latest developments in Qatar, our International Editor Lindsey Hilsum joins Krishnan Guru-Murthy in Washington and Foreign Affairs Correspondent Secunder Kermani in Israel, to discuss what damage the strikes have caused to Iran’s nuclear programme, whether regime change is the real aim what options Iran has to retaliate.
Israel and Iran have continued attacking each other overnight with more airstrikes, as both countries wait for Donald Trump to decide if America will bomb nuclear sites in Iran.
What will happen next if the US decides to attack? Will the Ayatollah’s regime fall? And what will Israel do if America doesn’t intervene?
To discuss all this and more on the latest episode of The Fourcast, Matt Frei is joined by former Israeli Defence Forces general Amos Yadlin who also served as the head of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate for five years.
The air war between Israel and Iran has continued overnight after President Trump issued more warnings to Iran - saying Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was an “easy target”. So will he actually follow through with this threat? Will America join the fight? And what is Israel’s plan if they don’t? To discuss all this and more on the latest episode of The Fourcast Matt Frei is joined in Tel Aviv by Israeli journalist Gideon Levy who is a controversial and divisive critic of Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As simmering tensions between Israel and Iran explode in a barrage of missiles and drones, Krishnan Guru-Murthy talks to journalist Jonathan Rugman and RUSI’s Middle East Security expert, Burcu Ozcelik about whether the conflict might escalate.
After a number of Iranian nuclear scientists and military leaders including the head of the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard were killed, Iran has retaliated with 100 drones fired into Israel with more promised.
So what will Israel's next move be with Prime Minister Netanyahu saying strikes could continue 'for as many days as it takes?'
Rachel Reeves has unveiled her long-awaited spending review, with the NHS and defence seeing the most gains while many other departments face cuts - so, is this the kind of spending programme that will transform the UK economy and help Keir Starmer see off the threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK?
In this special episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined by our Economics Correspondent Helia Ebrahimi and Luke Tryl, the director of the More in Common polling company.
