The Long View

Jonathan Freedland explores parallels between Brexit and a major dispute between King Offa of Mercia and Charlemagne, King of the Franks in the 790s.In the 790s, King Offa of the English kingdom of Mercia found himself at loggerheads with Charlemagne, King of the Franks on the other side of the Channel. Jonathan and guests examine how the dispute was resolved and explore how the difficulties compare to Britain's relations with the EU in the postwar era.Jonathan is joined by historian Dr Rory Naismith of King's College London and Sir Stephen Wall, former Private Secretary to John Major and former Europe advisor to Tony Blair. Stephen Wall was also Britain's ambassador to the EU in the late 1990s and is the author of an official history of Britain's relations with the European Community 1963-75. Produce: Laurence Grissell

Jonathan Freedland takes the long view of pioneering invention and the trials and tribulations thereof in the form of Elon Musk's Hyperloop and Isambard Brunel's Atmospheric Rail system. Both men were driven and capable of challenging accepted engineering norms but in their two rail systems they struggled to make a break through. Elon Musk believes that his Hyperloop system can shoot passengers at breakneck speed through a vacuum tube, cutting journey times and revolutionising rail travel. Ever the coy publicist he refers to his Hyperloop as the "fifth mode of transport" after road, rail, sea and air. Brunel was convinced that steam wasn't the only way of providing cheap, efficient mass transport. Using a sealed tube in the centre of the rails to deliver vacuum propulsion, his system ran on a 20-mile section of track between Exeter and Newton Abbot and was a match for the speeds available to the best steam trains of the day. But both systems have proved more than challenging and in Brunel's case the challenges became insurmountable and the inventor's appetite for new adventures saw it fall quickly into disuse. How will Elon Musk's plans mature? Historian Colin Divall is on hand to help tell the parallel stories of these two men and their transport dreams.Producer: Tom Alban

A new figure on the world stage with enormous influence, is creating confusion. Heralded as a reformer he is also responsible for extreme intolerance towards those who exhibit disloyalty or threaten to cross him. That was the story in the 11th century with Pope Gregory Vii, and it's also the story now with the Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Pope Gregory appeared to be leading major reforms within the church including attitudes towards clerical celibacy. But while there may have been suggestions of a willingness to accept change and to be flexible in the face of changing pressures he was also capable of ruthless intolerance. He was accused of necromancy, torture of a former friend, assassination attempts and unjust excommunications. His conflict with King Henry iv, Holy Roman Emperor dominated the European stage in the 1070s and 1080s. Conrad Leyser, associate Professor at Worcester College, Oxford helps Jonathan tell the story of a man billed as a reformer but whose reputation underwent a dramatic change during his time as head of the church in Rome.

Jonathan Freedland compares Theresa May's woes now with those of Arthur Balfour in 1903-06, taking the long view of prime ministers confronted with deep divisions in their own party.In the early 1900s Prime Minister Arthur Balfour was faced with a seemingly irreconcilable split in his party. Back then, Balfour’s Conservatives were tearing themselves apart over Imperial Preference - a proposal for a free trade zone within the British Empire. Advocates of Imperial Preference saw it as vital to maintaining Britain's place in the world. Opponents saw it as a dangerous folly. Jonathan Freedland looks at what lessons can be drawn from Balfour's experiences. Producer: Laurence Grissell

Jonathan Freedland and guests take the Long View on the expulsion of Russian diplomats - both in 2018 after the Skripal poisionings and in 1927 after a notorious raid of a building in London's Moorgate.The story begins in 12 King's Bench Walk in London's Inner Temple, where on 9th May 1927 MI5's head of anti-Soviet work met with Edward Langston a whistle-blower who revealed that a secret military document had been in the possession of the Soviets in the Head Quarters of the All Russian Co-Operative Society, located at 49 Moorgate. And the story ends in Victoria Station where the expelled Russians started their journey home, sent off by crowds of supporters which included MPs and trade unionists. Joining Jonathan Freedland to take this Long View are: Timothy Phillips: Historian, and author of "The Secret Twenties: British Intelligence, The Russians And The Jazz Age" Edward Lucas: Times columnist, espionage expert and author of "The New Cold War: Putin's Russia and the Threat to the West", "Deception: The Untold Story of East-West Espionage Today", and "Cyberphobia: Identity, Trust, Security and the Internet" Oksana Antonenko: Visiting Fellow at Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics and former Programme Director for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Sir Tony Brenton: Former British Ambassador to Russia (2004-08), including during the Litvinenko case Tim McMullan: Actor who played Arthur Valentine, an MI5 operative in Foyles WarProducers: Ben Mitchell and Paul Kobrak.

Jonathan Freedland compares safety on the railways in the 1830s to the debate around driverless cars today.The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened to great fanfare on 15 September 1830. It was clear this new form of transport would radically transform society. Yet the day was overshadowed by the death of William Huskisson MP who stepped on the tracks and was struck by Stephenson's Rocket as it steamed down the line. With the the first death to result from driverless vehicles in Arizona a few weeks ago, Jonathan Freedland and guests tell the story of Huskisson's death and explore the implications for the development of self-driving vehicles today.Producer: Laurence Grissell.

Jonathan Freedland and guests compare the Facebook Cambridge Analytica data row with Luther's rejection of Purgatory and a loss of trust in the Church in pre-Reformation Europe. With Diarmaid MacCulloch. Professor of the History of the Church; Mic Wright, technology writer; Emily Taylor, associate fellow of Chatham House and editor of the Journal of Cyber Policy; Liam Byrne MP, Shadow Digital Minister and actor Anton Lesser.Producer: Georgia Catt.

The Long View marks a year to go to Brexit. Jonathan Freedland & guests consider multiple historical scenarios when Britons faced a new and uncertain direction for their collective island fate. Dr Erin Goeres uncovers a little known story of 11th Century Brexit & unhappy Anglo Saxons. David Andress details how Britain weathered war & a Napoleonic trade ban but workers rights were challenged. Whilst in May 1940 a strengthened alliance with France promised a second chance for Europe and then it was gone in a Blitzkreig. As David Reynolds reveals , Churchill's heroic words masked the desperation of a leader who had no idea what awaited his people. Jonathan and contemporary commentators, Conservative M.P. Kwasi Kwarteng & Eloise Todd, C.E.O. of Best for Britain, gather to learn from the past in this lengthened Brexit Special. Ian Harte, one of the stars of the BBC's The Last Kingdom reads the chronicles of yesteryear.Producer: Mark Burman.

Jonathan Freedland and guests take The Long View of Donald Trump's trade plans. The United States slapping hefty tariffs on goods from abroad in order to protect their industries at home is the story now, but also just a few years after the founding of the American Republic. The man imposing the tariffs, the then Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. Producer: Georgia Catt.

Jonathan Freedland compares the Catalonia crisis with a moment in Cornish history.

Jonathan Freedland explores the parallels between recent alleged Russian state interference in the American and other foreign elections, and covert British activities of the British Security Coordination (BSC), a secret arm of MI6 founded in May 1940. The motivations in each case are very different of course but some of the methods used then and now are very similar and offer an interesting parallel.Based in New York, BSC was initially simply the MI6 regional station in North America, it's mission - to gather intelligence and to help get American aid in the form of munitions. But the greatest obstacle to getting American aid is American isolationism. America at this point is almost in a civil war of ideas between those who want to go to war; and those who do not - the isolationists. The maverick head of BSC, a Canadian named William Stephenson, soon realises they have to win the civil war of ideas before anything can happen. and takes matters into his own hands.By the spring of 1941- after the effects of Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain - Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the Foreign Office, wary of using propaganda as they know the Americans are watching out for it, come to accept that without America, Britain would undoubtedly lose the war.On the panel with Jonathan are historian Henry Hemming, the novelist William Boyd, Russian foreign policy expert Dr Alex Pravda at Oxford University; Dr Leslie Vinjamuri, associate fellow with the US Programme at Chatham House, and Sir Mark Lyall Grant, the former national security adviser to the Prime Minister. Reader: Tobias Menzies.Producer: Mohini Patel.

Jonathan Freedland compares the plight of black cab drivers with the fate of London's watermen. For centuries watermen had a monopoly on Thames river crossings until advances in new technology allowed for bridges to be built across the river in the mid 18th Century. The men who ferried passengers on the Thames lost their jobs and livelihood. Today, technology threatens the modern day taxi business with the rise of smartphone app Uber and the dawn of the driverless car. As automation and artificial intelligence technologies improve, Jonathan Freedland and panellists explore what history can tell us about how workers might fare today.Producer: Sarah Shebbeare.

Jonathan Freedland compares Theresa May's weakened premiership with that of Liberal prime minister Lord Rosebery in 1894-5. MPs Iain Duncan Smith and Grant Shapps join Jonathan to examine what lessons can be learned.Rosebery was appointed to the premiership as a unity candidate, chosen to heal rifts in the Liberal Party caused by the issue of Home Rule. But Rosebery had powerful rivals in his cabinet - most notably the chancellor Sir William Harcourt. As the months passed, Rosebery's leadership was increasingly called into question with the government accused of being in office but not in power.Also on the panel, former spokesperson for Theresa May, Joey Jones, Katy Balls of The Spectator and historian Dr Luke Blaxill. Actor Anton Lesser performs the historical readings.Producer: Laurence Grissell.

In the space of a few short years the male beard has made a striking return to British life. Footballers, actors, fashionable hipsters and hirsute labourers are far more likely to wear some form of facial hair than they were in the recent past. The beard used to be the marker of a particular mindset, usually involving real ale, wholesome living and a disregard for the strictures of conventional living. Now the wearing of a tidy, well-barbered beard is far less likely to raise an eyebrow. And so it was in the 1850s when, after many years of shaving, a fashion for wearing a full beard swept the British Isles. Charles Dickens lead by example and wrote in his journal 'Household Words' extolling the virtues of 'whisker, beard, and moustache, reverently worn, and trimmed discreetly and with decency'. Within a few years beards were everywhere and claims for their practicality in the face of industrial dirt and grime only encouraged more. They were also worn by heroes beginning with those returning from the Crimean war and then the sportsmen like Spencer Gore, first Wimbledon champion in 1877 and the greatest celebrity of the age, W.G.Grace. Jonathan asks historians Dr Alun Withers of Exeter University and Professor Caroline Cox what drove the passion for beards then and what fuels it now and he visits a barbers shop to find out whether the damaged to the razor industry was more than compensated in both eras by the passion for developing and sustaining the perfect beard. He also hears from Areeb Ullah who wears his beard as a proud Muslim and has thoughts on the impact this new fashion has on his own bearded identity. Pognophiles versus Pognophobia, a story for our times as much as for Victorian Britain, in The Long View.Producer: The recently bearded Tom Alban.

In 1883 a grass-roots political organisation was founded that re-shaped Victorian politics. The Primrose League signed up a million members and an army of Conservative activists who helped win elections by reaching out to new Tory voters in industrial cities and rural shires. Today another innovative grass-roots organisation is proving influential. Emerging from Jeremy Corbyn's 2015 leadership campaign, Momentum has proved highly effective at winning over new Labour voters, swapping the magic lantern shows and Stately Home fetes of the Primrose League for a cutting edge social media campaign. Jonathan Freedland and his guests compare electioneering in the nineteenth century and today and explore the often troubled relationship between grass-roots organisations and the parliamentary parties they support . They also ask whether the Conservatives need a latter-day Primrose League to boost their electoral appeal, particularly with younger, urban voters. Joining Jonathan are Dr Jon Lawrence of the University of Cambridge, James Kanagasooriam of Populus and the journalists Sebastian Payne and Ellie-Mae O'Hagan. Laura Morgan is the reader. Producer: Julia Johnson.