Episode 169

The Tories won and the Labour Party was wiped out. The far right came second and two left-of-Labour parties rose significantly. But we’re not talking about a British election; these are the general election results of the Netherlands, but they don't tell the whole story. The Dutch Tory party, like Mrs Thatcher in the 1980s, suppressed the vote of the far right by internalizing much of the rhetoric and some of their politics. Nonetheless, Geert Wilders still increased his presence in parliament from 12 to 19 seats and that was supposed to be a cause for celebration. Joining Sputnik this week, as he promised when he was last on the show, is our specialist in European Politics Dr Russell Foster from King's College to discuss  this much anticipated election.

And the former British colony of Yemen fought itself free of empire, but seems to have been fighting a lot of the time since. The poorest Arab country has seen fighting between the South and North; a civil war between the periphery and the center and now an all-out assault by Saudi Arabia and its Western allies, including Britain and the US. British and US weapons have rained down on schools and hospitals, funerals and wedding parties, killing thousands of civilians and prompting demands for an end to arms sales to the Saudi invaders.  So we invited David Hearst, editor in chief of Middle East Eye, onto the show – a distinguished writer and editor of much of the best commentary on the Middle East.

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