The Fourcast

Today marks one year since Russia began its latest invasion of Ukraine: one year since tanks rolled across the border, one year since missiles struck the capital and beyond, one year since the post Cold War world changed forever.

Now, the expected defeat of Ukraine is clearly a long way off, but any sense of how this war might end feels equally far from reality - with Joe Biden this week reaffirming the We...

On Monday last week, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria. The WHO has called this the "worst natural disaster" in 100 years in its European region, and the death toll has now surpassed 35,000. 

But that first quake was followed by a 6.7 magnitude aftershock 11 minutes later, while a 7.5 magnitude quake hit after 1pm. Three devastating earthquakes in nine hours.

2022 was the deadliest year for the Israel-Palestine conflict in nearly two decades, and just a month after Israel’s most conservative, right-wing government was formed - fronted by Benjamin Netanyahu - violence between Palestinians and Israel has flared up once again. 

Prime Minister Netanyahu has set out a raft of measures to crack down on Palestinians who attack Israelis, including making it easier for ...

Nearly a year after Putin invaded Ukraine, how might Western tanks change this war and should Nato countries go a step further and also supply Kyiv with fighter jets? 

Moscow’s aggression has been roundly condemned by the West, but words have been plenty and military aid less forthcoming. 

Having successfully fought back si...

Last year, Iran was rocked by some of the biggest protests the country has seen since the foundation of the Islamic Republic - as people were calling not just for women’s rights, but ultimately for regime change. 

Yet how realistic is regime change in a nation where the crackdown against the protests has been brutal and where the leaders are unwilling to alter t...

NHS strikes, hospital waiting times and nurses walking out - it’s a conversation that has stretched back for years: the NHS in crisis.

Almost 55,000 people waited more than 12 hours in A&E last month.

And the Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimates up to 500 people are dying a week as a result of these delays.

...

Last year there was of course one major story that transformed geopolitics - the war in Ukraine. 

Putin’s war has had knock-on effects across Europe and the world, so how will this year play out? What could happen to that conflict and the rest of the world in 2023. 

And what other global news stories can we expect to de...

This was the year where we saw Putin start a war in Ukraine, a winter of strikes, three prime ministers and two monarchs.

To look back at the past year and look a little bit ahead too, we sat down with our policy correspondent Paul McNamara, to take stock of the year that was 2022 - and the year that will be 2023.

Producer:...

Harry and Meghan’s documentary is now out in full and criticises the relationship between the monarchy and the media, and alleges racism in the treatment of Meghan Markle.

In today’s episode we speak to Anna Whitelock, professor of the history of the monarchy at City, University of London and Director of the Centre for the Study of Modern Monarchy, about the Duk...

After 10 months of war, Russian advances and Ukrainian counter-offensives, winter weather has arrived in Ukraine.

Russia may have retreated from Kherson in early November but Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the last month signal a new phase of the war, as Putin weaponises the cold weather.

So as parts of Ukraine plunge into sub-zero temperatures and pressure mounts on Putin to negotiate, how might this war ...

Three years after coronavirus was first detected in China, it remains the only major nation pursuing Zero Covid. So as maskless fans enjoy the World Cup and countries all over the world move on, China remains stuck and the people are protesting.

After the initial outbreak in Wuhan back in 2020, authorities were quick to clamp down on any emergence of the virus - pursuing a zero-Covid policy. 

That has seen China officially record a...

It’s been one month since Rishi Sunak became prime minister of the United Kingdom and so he’s now just three weeks off lasting longer at Number 10 than Liz Truss did.

After the disaster of the mini budget, Sunak has been the safe pair of economic hands needed to calm things down, reassure the markets and try to get the Conservatives back on track after disastrou...

Donald Trump has announced his Presidential run, undeterred by last week’s US midterm elections, where the red wave of Republican victories never came, and many in his only party blamed him for putting up bad candidates and spouting election lies.

In today’s episode, we’re joined by Patrick Murray, the Director of Monmouth Polling, one of America’s leading polls...

This week Chinese president Xi Jinping told his military to prepare for war in what he called an increasingly “unstable” security environment. 

China just had its 20th party congress, with Xi Jinping securing an unprecedented third term in power. And amid rising tensions between China and the US, the first in-person meeting between Xi and Biden has been confirme...

Has anything really changed since COP26?

In the year that Russia invaded Ukraine, triggering a global energy crisis, we’ve also seen the drastic impact climate change is having on our planet: with catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, a megadrought in the US and record-breaking heat waves across Europe. 

With COP27 fast approa...

The US midterms are approaching and polls suggest the Republican Party could take control of the House and could even secure the Senate too. But has the party gone from the grand old party of Abraham Lincoln to more like a Donald Trump fan club? What comes next?

In today’s episode, we speak to the Republican pollster and strategist Whit Ayres, about the shifti...