In the wake of October 7th and Trump's bid to become US President again, Rafael Behr sits down with fellow Guardian columnist and friend - Jonathan Freedland - to discuss the current state of geopolitics, liberal politics, Israel and Jewish identity. Events featuring Rafael Behr Shoreham, West Sussex, Wed 24 April An evening with Guardian columnist Rafael Behr and television producer Rob Burley in conversation with Ayesha Hazarika MBE, political commentator and broadcaster, and former special adviser to Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband. More details C ..read more

Rafael Behr talks to Tom Gray from Gomez about his bid to become a Brighton MP. Tom's had a hugely successful career in music with Gomez rocketing to fame in 1998, beating Pulp and Massive Attack, among others, to the Mercury Prize. More recently he launched the Broken Record campaign, calling for a fairer deal for musicians from streaming services, among other industry reforms. And now, having banged on the doors to demand political change from the outside, Tom wants to get on the inside. He's on the shortlist to be selected as Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for the Brighton ..read more

In a departure from our normal format Rafael Behr (host) and Philip Berman (the show's producer) agreed to press record when they met yesterday (Thursday 28 September) to discuss a new series idea for Politics on the Couch. And this podcast is the end result, instead of a meta-cast talking about what we could talk about this Autumn, it's more of a casual ramble around Phil's break from Twitter, his despair about the state of political discourse and Raf's one-stop solution for all. Topics covered (in no order of importance): Twitter Laurence Fox GB News Sunak's postion on net zero The mood i ..read more

This week Rafael Behr talks to The Lord John Alderdice about his incredible life as a politician, psychiatrist and psychotherapist. They discuss how his formative years living in Northern Ireland influenced his decision to train as a psychiatrist and then psychotherapist; how this then informed his whole approach to politics and his political philosophy; and how it also helped him as a key negotiator in the Good Friday Agreement talks. He also gives some advice to any intolerant liberal progressives out there! If you're interested in reading more about him and his work - this link will prove ..read more

This week our host Rafael Behr is in conversation with Dr Leor Zmigrod about how cognitive science can help us understand how political identities are formed, and how people's ideological affiliations might affect how they respond to a national crisis. If you want to delve further into the topic Reader-friendly essays Zmigrod, L. (2019). The partisan brain: cognitive study suggests people on the left and right are more similar than they think. https://theconversation.com/the-partisan-brain-cognitive-study-suggests-people-on-the-left-and-right-are-more-similar-than-they-think-123578 Zmigrod, L ..read more

Raf Behr talks to journalist, author and broadcaster David Aaronovitch about his recent visit to the National Conservatives conference, and what it taught him about state of the Tory party. They discuss: Was there really a re-alignment in British politics post-Brexit? What do the Nat Cons have to offer us Brits apart from a hardline anti-immigration vibes? Why do the Tories, and some parts of the commentariat, spend so much time talking about culture wars when there are so many other more important things in the world to report on? If, as expected, the next government is Labour and inheri ..read more

Ahead of the first bilateral summit between the two countries' leaders for five years, Rafael Behr talks to Georgina Wright, from the Institut Montaigne in Paris, about what the French really think about us Brits, and what we often get wrong about French discourse, customs and political culture. Quite a lot, as it happens. Georgina Wright is Senior Fellow and Director of Institut Montaigne’s Europe Program. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, associate of the Institute for Government in London and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Britain and Europe at ..read more

In this edition, Rafael Behr talks to England's most prodigious political screenwriter and playwright - James Graham. He's probably most well known for writing the recent BBC1 hit drama 'Sherwood', which aired on BBC One in 2022 to rave reviews, and will return for a second series. James also wrote Quiz (ITV) in 2020, which was one of the most watched UK television dramas of the year; and Brexit: An Uncivil War, which garnered huge public attention and critical acclaim in 2019. It was broadcast on Channel 4 and HBO, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding ..read more

One year on from Russia's Invasion of Ukraine, host Rafael Behr talks to Anne Applebaum about why so many US Republicans and conservatives are still seduced by Putin’s anti-West rhetoric and tropes. Anne, a Pullitzer-prize winning historian, is particularly well positioned to discuss this, and associated issues, given that her most recent book Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism looked at why some of her contemporaries had abandoned liberal democratic ideals in favor of strongman cults, nationalist movements, or one-party states. Anne Applebaum Anne Applebaum is a sta ..read more

Rafael Behr talks to Rob Hutton, parliamentary sketch writer at the Critic, about the uneasy relationship between Westminster lobby journalists and MPs. Often political journalists cultivate close relationships with politicians to find out what's really happening in the corridors of power. But does a journalist's 'insider status' cloud their judgement when working out how to write about political stories or policy ssues, or whether to cover them at all? Does it inevitably become a trade-off between, a steady stream of 'exclusives', and a fair and objective approach to reporting? If so, wha ..read more