Byline Podcast

As this podcast was recorded, European heads of state were holding an emergency summit in Paris having been blindsided by President Trump’s apparent willingness to enter negotiations with Putin about the future of Ukraine without President Zelensky.

The US has indicated that any military assistance it does give to Kyiv will be dependent on access to its mineral deposits, but Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has ruled out the country’s NATO membership,

Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK is willing to commit troops to a peace keeping force if a settlement can be reached, but there’s a bigger picture at play here...the reshaping of the world in accordance with the dictates of MAGA.

Trump and his accomplices see a world in which major powers operate spheres of influence – so that the Americas belong to the US and Eastern Europe is Russia’s...the people of Taiwan must be feeling very twitchy right now.

As for Europe, the President has made it clear that we’ll have to make a far greater contribution to our defence – at the same time as hobbling our economy with tariffs.

When it comes to freedom, is seems that America is no longer the Great Protector. Instead it’s the Great Protectionist.

Adrian Goldberg gets a view from Byline Times reporter Zarina Zabrisky in Odesa.

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the roll out of the Coronavirus vaccination programme gathers pace, campaigners are calling for all people with a Learning Disability to be given priority for the jab. Figures show that people with LD are six times more likely to die from Covid 19 than the general population.

We hear from Ciara Lawrence and Harry Roache who both have mild Learning Disabilities, Byline Times writer Saba Salman, Mencap CEO Edel Harris, and Gary Bourlet, founder of Learning Disability England.

This week's other story focusses on the plight of the 3 million self employed people excluded from the government's Coronavirus support schemes and features Byline Times writer Mike Buckley and Keith Webb from Forgotten Limited.

Presented and Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are Britain's universities doing enough to help disadvantaged students get a top class degree? Not according to Dr Suriyah Bi, who argues that Covid 19 has added further obstacles to the goal of securing wider access to higher education. Dr Bi, who grew up in inner city Birmingham draws on her own personal experience as well as research carried out for the Equality Act Review.

She is joined by recent graduate Alisa Anwar who reflects on her experience as part of the "Covid Cohort" who graduated in 2020.

Plus the Bye Bye Brexiters - Byline Times editor Peter Jukes reflects on the Leave campaigners who want Britain to leave the EU, but don't quite love the UK enough to permanently live here,

Funded by subscribers to the Byline Times. More details at Bylinetimes.com

Produced and presented in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adrian Goldberg reflects on three aspects of recent elections across Britain.

He talks to Amelia Womack, deputy leader of the Green Party about how they can build on a successful night in the local elections in England to become a force in Westminster.

Peter Geoghan, author of Democracy For Sale, reflects on the influence of "dark money" in the Scottish parliamentary elections.

Lauren White, editor of NE Beep in Gateshead and Steve Evans, a councillor in Wolverhampton assess Labour's defeat in the Hartlepool by-election and the loss of Councils in traditional strongholds Sheffield and Durham.

Presented by Adrian Goldberg.

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Was Keir Starmer’s speech unveiling new measures reduce immigration his 'Enoch Powell' moment?

Most people would acknowledge that it’s not intrinsically racist to discuss the scale of migration to the UK and have measures in place to regulate it. But as the Prime Minister laid out his plans in Downing Street this week, the language around it was horrifying to some Labour supporters.

At the same time as saying that he celebrated diversity, Starmer said that UK risks, “becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together”. As backbench MP Zarah Sultana pointed out, this echoed the infamous 'Rivers of Blood’ speech made by Enoch Powell in 1968.

Sultana – currently suspended from the Labour whip - said that Starmer’s words “add to anti-migrant rhetoric that puts lives at risk."

Adrian Goldberg is joined in conversation by Byline Times political editor Adam Bienkov.

This is the edited version of a live broadcast on BylineSupplement.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices