Peter Mandelson and Epstein: how much did Starmer know?

As a UN commission concludes that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and international pressure grows with more nations, including the UK, moving toward recognising a Palestinian state, is there any hope for a two-state solution?Can Israel and Palestine ever coexist side by side in peace, or has the violence, mistrust and the events of October the 7th and its aftermath made that dream impossible?In this special extended episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined in Jerusalem by Alan Baker, a former legal adviser to Israel’s foreign ministry who helped draft the Oslo Accords, Yariv Oppenheimer, a human rights lawyer, Dr. Hassan Jabareen, the head of Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights, and the former managing editor of the Jerusalem Post Tovah Lazaroff. In relation to some of the claims made in the podcast, Israel's Foreign Ministry has categorically rejected the UN commission's report calling it "distorted and false" and Israel has always strenuously denied all claims of genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid in relation to the Palestinian people.

18 Sep 1h 10min

A UN commission investigating the Gaza war has concluded that Israel is committing genocide, adding its voice to growing international concern from legal scholars and human rights organisations.It doesn’t have the force of a court or the UN Security Council. But as a commission of eminent legal experts, its findings carry significant moral weight.Arab Barghouthi is the son of Marwan Barghouthi, who is perhaps the most popular Palestinian leader in the occupied territories. He has been in jail for two decades after refusing to take part in the legal process that ultimately convicted him of being involved in attacks that led to the deaths of five people. He denied involvement.In the podcast Arab Barghouthi makes claims about his father's alleged mistreatment in prison. The Israeli prison service has previously responded to these allegations by saying that they have been examined in court which concluded that there had been no violation of the law by the Israeli Prison Service. It also said that all detainees have the right to file a complaint that will be fully examined by official authorities.Israel's Foreign Ministry has categorically rejected the UN commission's report calling it "distorted and false". Israel has always strenuously denied all claims of genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid in relation to the Palestinian people.

16 Sep 31min

Angela Rayner has resigned as Deputy Prime Minister following revelations that she failed to pay the correct tax on a new home. But what does her departure mean for Keir Starmer, the Labour Party, and the future of the government?In today’s episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined by Tom Baldwin, former Labour communications chief, Guardian columnist Zoe Williams and Sir Craig Oliver, ex-Director of Communications for David Cameron, to unpack the political fallout and what it means for Labour’s leadership.

5 Sep 31min

The Green Party in England and Wales has a new leader and by an overwhelming majority members picked the candidate from the radical left-wing of the party - Zack Polanski. His campaign focussed on poverty and Palestine rather than plants or the planet. He’s a former actor, a member of the London Assembly, though not actually a member of parliament. So, is he now the voice of progressive populism that can take on Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn?

2 Sep 32min

Nigel Farage has put mass deportations at the centre of his new immigration plan — promising to detain and remove hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers from the UK.While Reform UK currently has only four MPs, polling suggests they could win the next election and be in a position to implement this.It's a striking escalation in the rhetoric around immigration — raising the question of whether this marks a turning point in British politics.Has anything like this been attempted before, is it even possible, and how does it fit into the long, often heated history of immigration policy in the UK?On this episode of The Fourcast, Cathy Newman is joined by Jacqueline McKenzie, a partner at the human rights law firm Leigh Day who specialises in immigration and asylum cases, and journalist and author David Goodhart who is the head of demography, immigration and integration at the Policy Exchange think tank.

26 Aug 19min

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.

19 Aug 31min

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.

14 Aug 25min