180. The Only European Leader Defying Trump? (Pedro Sánchez)
16 March 2026
330. The US Election: One week to go
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Podcast
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29 October 2024
With one week to go until the US election, what media outlets can you trust? Is Australia immune to the populist wave that seems to be sweeping Europe? What do the elections in Austria and Georgia convey about the growth of far-right politics in Europe and beyond?
Rory and Alastair answer all these questions and more in today's The Rest Is Politics.
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I couldn’t help smirking when you both got on to the subject of Orban and the EU and the elections in Georgia and why is (the rest of) the EU not being more aggressive in promoting their cause in places like Georgia.
I scraped this from an EU website (which I already knew): “Between 1 July 2024 and 31 December 2024, Hungary will hold the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the second time. The presidency of the Council of the European Union rotates among the 27 EU member states every six months.” . I was sort of surprised that this fact didn’t get a mention. It is relevant since, amongst other reasons: in fact, Orban is representing the EU since he is President of the EU Member State which holds the presidency of the EU.
Also the EU Commission is actually trying to strong arm Orban into behaving better by withholding several Billion Euro of financial aid. He of course knows how to push back by threatening to use his veto where he has one.
On a related topic, since you are both so vehemently of the belief that Brexit was(is) a disaster, that Starmer is not doing enough to get the UK closer to the EU etc. Why not do a podcast (or two – it’s a big subject) on the EU and how it works. One topic that Alastair might enjoy is the the public perception of the EU and how this is formed. EG. how we reconcile the meme (not just in the UK during Brexit) that: “the EU is an undemocratic monster run by faceless unelected burocrats in Brussels where the Member States have no say” [bad], with the other one where: “the EU is leaderless rabble that can’t come to a concerted decision” [also bad]. And what are the realities and how did they come about during the evolution of the EU?
One can but dream…