Going Underground: The future without austerity & demonising Putin and Russia (EP 202)

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Afshin Rattansi looks at the connection between a former CIA director, General Petraeus and one of Britain’s most infamous generals, a torturer in Kenya who is now accused of murder.

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Sirio Canos Donnay - “Democracy is not just something we talk about, it’s something we do at every level”- Podemos’s London spokesperson Sirio Canos Donnay on the future without austerity

Sirio Canos Donnay, London’s spokesperson for Spain’s anti-austerity party Podemos tells “Going Underground” host Afshin Rattansi why she is optimistic about her party’s future. With Britain’s new GDP figures signalling that we may be on a brink of another recession, is there any hope that our future government will follow in the steps of Podemos and Syriza? Afshin Rattansi asks what we can learn from Podemos, and Sirio Canos Donnay explains why economics should be at the service of democracy, and not the other way round.

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Is 60 too old to fight fires?
One month after the government raises the retirement age of fire fighters Going Underground celebrates International Fire Fighters Day. We question why the government is ignoring the Fire Brigade union and scientifically proven tests that show that 2/3 of fire fighter passed the age of 55 would not be able to maintain the fitness levels necessary to do the job. Plus they are not just fighting fires, fire fighters all over the country have been called to aid an overstretched ambulance service by assisting on emergency calls and hospital runs. Even though many have not even been trained in first aid!

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Anthony James, author of Orwell’s Faded Lion: The Moral Atmosphere of Britain 1945-2015, talks to Afshin about the importance to successive British governments of demonising world leaders to sway public opinion and serve internal interests. He says it’s helped British interests to demonise Putin and Russia in the current climate, as it previously did to demonise Nasser during the Suez crisis. And he lists the importance of ensuring inquiries into scandals and human rights abuses are not carried out by an establishment involved in the controversies themselves.

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Do 60,000 people in the UK every year die from pollution?
The Supreme Court has ruled that something must be done about the high levels of pollution in the UK. But with London allegedly being the most polluted capital in Europe how will they deal with the reported 60,000 people that die every year from inhaling nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants. Plus the UK has three of the top 50 super polluting power stations in Europe. Will the government have to introduce low emission zones and a complete ban on diesel cars to solve the problem that cost the UK 10 billion pounds a year.