The View From Here

Tommy Robinson's Unite The Kingdom March: Grievance, Propaganda, and Engaging the People Who March

I went to Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march to hear directly from people attending and left thinking we should engage MORE, not less, with them. Many people disagree, arguing that people who attend a march led by a convicted criminal who has been banned from multiple countries and social media platforms should be shunned or shamed. But my question is, if we don't talk to each other, what is the alternative? To unpack this question, I spoke to Julie Siddiqi and Ibrahim Said from the UK Muslim Network. Let us know what you think in the comments.

High Stakes Summit: Trump, Xi, and a changing world

President Donald Trump is in China this week for a high-stakes summit with President Xi Jinping and the world is watching the relationship that may define this century. For most people, US-China relations can feel abstract. A contest between two great powers, played out through issues like trade and technology. The reality is that this relationship affects almost every aspect of our daily lives: from the prices we pay at the pump and in grocery stores, to the technology we use, and even the information we consume online. China seems increasingly confident, while the United States is entering these talks under the weight of a war in the Middle East, economic anxiety at home, and growing questions about America’s role in the world. So what kind of relationship are these two countries, these two men, really building? Is it based on rivalry? Interdependence? Or something more complicated? This week I spoke to Ali Wyne, Senior Research and Advocacy Advisor for U.S.-China Relations, at the international crisis group and Author of the book, “America’s Great-Power Opportunity” (Polity, 2022)

How to Tackle Rising Antisemitism: My Conversation with a Rabbi

Antisemitism is on the rise, and Jewish communities around the world are ever more fearful for their safety. Meanwhile, the conversations in the media around how to tackle this growing problem are more often than not divisive and oversimplified. So I reached out to Rabbi Daniel Epstein, former Chief Rabbi at the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in London and now in Australia, to have what we knew would be a tough discussion. We have been in an ongoing conversation for over two years about many of the issues you will hear in this episode. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Trump, Starmer and the Special Relationship: What a UK Ambassador Really Thinks

Is the UK-US Special Relationship over, or has it just changed beyond recognition? This week, Britain's own ambassador to Washington admitted the US’s special relationship is "probably Israel." Meanwhile, Trump has rebuked Starmer over Iran, and King Charles flew to Washington on a charm offensive. I sat down with a former senior British diplomat in the United States and former Ambassador to Iran Sir Richard Dalton, to get a real--and brutally honest--perspective. We cover: → Is the Special Relationship with the US still intact? → What the King Charles state visit actually achieved → The UK's role in a world reshaped by Trump and the Middle East → What British foreign policy should look like right now

Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Talks: What comes next?

Lebanon is a tiny country of almost 6 million people, and it's always found itself being used as a proxy battleground between different states and actors around it. The Palestinian Liberation Organization set up camp there in the 1970s to fight Israel from Lebanese territory. The Syrians for years under the Assad regime had a strong military presence in Lebanon, described as a de facto occupation that finally ended in 2005. And of course, you have longstanding Iranian influence in Lebanon through Hezbollah, the Lebanese, Islamist Shia organization that is Iran's partner and proxy in the region. And whose massive arsenal of weapons has allowed it to operate essentially as a state within a state. All of these different factors have caused instability throughout the years in Lebanon and successive Lebanese governments have struggled to maintain a monopoly over the use of force, or to really maintain full control over their own country. After the October 7th attacks by Hamas on Israel in 2023, Hezbollah fired rockets into Northern Israel, and that started a renewed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that's lasted until today. On April 16th, a ceasefire was brokered by the United States between Israel and Lebanon. Just a couple of days before that, the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors in Washington DC met for what was a historic meeting. Their second meeting in Washington is scheduled for April 23rd, and the ceasefire is meant to expire on April 26th. Is this a moment where Lebanon could turn the page, or is it doomed to remain in endless cycles of conflict? Can it ever resolve the issue of Hezbollah's arms? Or is the state simply too weak? And what can countries do to support Lebanon? I'm Jasmine El-Gamal, and this is the view from here where every week we take you behind the headlines and into the lives of the people living them. To unpack all these questions this week, I spoke to Faysal Itani, a risk analyst and a Middle East expert at the Middle East Policy Council and a professor of security studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.