The Expert Factor

A week is a long time in politics, but it is even longer in international relations. Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the US and Americas programme at Chatham House, joins Paul and Anand to work out what the complex combination of Trump, tariffs and trade negotiations means for Keir Starmer and the UK.   What will Donald Trump’s tariffs mean for the US’s closest trading partners – and the EU and the UK? How should Keir Starmer approach relations with the unpredictable US president? Can the PM improve the UK’s deal with the EU, and if so then what might the ‘reset’ look like? And is the UK actually facing a choice between Trump’s America and the EU – and, if so, what does he do… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

To mark the fifth anniversary of the UK’s departure from the EU, Anand, Paul and Hannah took a trip to Oxford of the Expert Factor. So how has the Brexit worked out for the UK? What questions are still being asked – and unanswered? And how might Keir Starmer and the Labour government approach the UK’s ever-evolving relationship with the EU? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The robots are taking our jobs, we’re going to be a nation run by chatbots, and an all-seeing, all-powerful computer is set to know everything about all of us. Well, not really.   But Keir Starmer says AI is poised to generate “incredible change in our country” So what exactly is he talking about?  Helen Margetts, professor of Society and the Internet at the University of Oxford and director of the Alan Turing Institute’s public policy programme, joins Hannah and Paul to explore what AI could mean for the private sector, for the public sector, and whether there are good reasons to be worried about what the future might hold... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Why is the social care challenge so complicated? Why can’t the nation’s politicians find a way forward? What is a possible solution? And what could Baroness Casey do to succeed when nobody else has managed to do so?   This week’s Expert Factor sees Hannah and Paul joined by Andrew Dilnot, who chaired the Commission on Funding of Care and Support, to explore three decades of disagreement and delay, look at how social care currently works – or doesn’t, and discuss what Louise Casey should do to deliver lasting change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

We’ve had missions. We’ve got foundations. We had some first steps. And now we have milestones.   So what are they? Are targets a sensible way to go about governing? How do they change the way civil servants work? Whose heads roll if targets aren’t met? And has Keir Starmer even chosen the type of targets that the voters care about.   Anand, Paul and Hannah have read every word (probably) in Keir Starmer’s Plan for Change, and are here to tell you exactly what the targets say, whether they can be reached, and what they mean for Starmer and his Labour government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]