How Silicon Valley lobbied to put delivery robots on UK pavements, and won
Revealed: Ministers allowed our streets to become ‘test ground’ for robots amid lobbying from Starship Technologies
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MPs willing to rebel if Treasury doesn’t keep new miners’ pension promise
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From the archive
Podcasts
See allIn this episode Sian Norris speaks with The Guardian’s Luke Harding about his book Betrayal: Putin, Trump and the New Age of Conquest, covering Harding’s 2007–2011 Moscow posting, FSB harassment and his expulsion while investigating Litvinenko and Putin’s wealth.
Luke argues Putin’s worldview is neo-imperial and explains how Western leaders misread Russia before the February 2022 full-scale invasion. He describes Biden’s fear of nuclear escalation and slow delivery of weapons, and says some Ukrainians hoped Trump might end the war, but Harding believes Trump behaves like a Russian asset, citing deference to Putin, policy shifts, cuts to Ukraine aid, and possible kompromat.
We also explore Kremlin ties to the British right, Brexit-era influence, Nigel Farage’s Russia Today appearances, and the Nathan Gill bribery case, before ending on Ukraine’s resilience, drone innovation, and a strategy of degrading Russia’s war economy.
00:00 Introduction
01:13 Expelled From Moscow
03:34 FSB Harassment Campaign
07:05 Warnings Before Invasion
10:17 Putin Mythology Ukraine
13:56 Biden Zelensky Tensions
17:51 Alaska Summit Deference
20:03 Why Trump Aligns Russia
23:42 Oval Office Ambush
26:15 Britain Right Russia Links
29:27 Nathan Gill Bribery Case
35:12 Far Right Influence Network
37:18 New Age Of Conquest
40:05 Drone Warfare Template
40:54 Ukraine Resilience Winter
43:49 Ukraine Innovation Victory
Credits:
Presented by Sian Norris
Produced by Harry Beney
Latest Episode
Trump, Putin and the Betrayal of Ukraine
Luke Harding on Putin’s war, Biden’s hesitancy, Trump acting as a Russian asset, and Kremlin links to Brexit and Britain’s hard right.
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Lula Won. The Markets Want a Third Round
Brazil’s voters rejected austerity, and its candidate fled to Florida. The markets that backed him stayed, and Lula’s finance minister has begun to give them what the ballot box refused. In Britain, the script is familiar.
‘Nice face of the devil’: Google whistleblower on AI, Gaza, and breaking NDA
Sofia Liguori tells openDemocracy about Project Nimbus and resignation that led to Google U-turn on silencing ex-staff
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Evie Breese
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Advertising industry must stop funding online hate, whistleblowing execs warn
‘We’re partially responsible,’ ad insiders tell openDemocracy, as report finds YouTube makes millions on hate speech
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Evie Breese
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Read allJohn Berger
John Berger was an English art critic, novelist, painter, poet and author. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize.
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