RUSI Analysis Podcast: The Rt Hon Jack Straw Presents 'The English Job: Understanding Iran'
Release Date: 07/11/2019
RUSI In Context Episode 17: Alison Levitt on Life as a Silk
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Originally published 12 March 2021 In this episode, Karin talks to RUSI Trustee, Alison Levitt QC. Alison discusses her career as one of the leading criminal barristers in the UK, including several of her high profile cases. She also talks about gender, inclusivity and diversity, and even shares her favourite lockdown recipe!
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RUSI In Context Episode 16: Jan Hall on Finding the Woman for the Job
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Originally published 12 February 2021 In this episode, Jan Hall talks to Karin about her career as one of the UK’s top headhunters, identifying and matching the appropriate people for some of the most demanding executive positions in FTSE’s major companies. Hers is the story of not only enterprise, but also of the challenges of driving diversity on corporation boards, and on combining a life in the commercial sector with a dedication to non-for-profit activities.
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RUSI In Context Episode 15: Sir David Lidington on his Life in British Politics
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Originally published 8 January 2021 In this episode, Karin talks to the new Chair of the Institute, the Rt. Hon Sir David Lidington, KCB, CBE. Sir David discusses his career from the early days as a special adviser to eventually becoming Prime Minister Theresa May's de facto deputy, as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Sir David also reflects on the difficult choice of leaving government and on the poetry that best reflects the mood of 2020.
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On The Cusp Episode 14: General Riho Terras
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Originally published 22 September 2020 What can other countries learn from Estonia's defence against greyzone aggression? How to best involve youth in national security? And what was it like to do more than three years' military service in the Soviet Navy? In the season finale, Elisabeth Braw speaks with General Riho Terras, until 2018 Estonia's chief of defence and now a member of the European Parliament.
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On The Cusp Episode 13: Professor Henry Farrell and Professor Abraham Newman
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On The Cusp Episode 12: Nina Hellum
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On The Cusp Episode 11: Dr Markus Jakobsson
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Originally published 11 August 2020. Ever heard the term SIM-jacking? If not, you should familiarise yourself with this growing form of cyber aggression. Victims include Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. In this episode of On the Cusp, Elisabeth Braw discusses new forms of cyber aggression directed at individuals with Dr Markus Jakobsson, a leading cryptologist and former principal scientist at PayPal. Listen to the end for an interesting trail leading to a government.
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On The Cusp Episode 10: Stewart McDonald MP
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Originally published 21 July 2020 Elisabeth Braw speaks with Stewart McDonald MP, the SNP's defence spokesman, who has followed up on Elisabeth's proposal for teenager resilience training and initiated a Resilience Scotland proposal. In McDonald's Resilience Scotland plan, people from all parts of society will be able to attend resilience training and as a result help themselves and their communities in crises.
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On The Cusp Episode 9: Senator Angus King
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Originally published 7 July 2020. Elisabeth Braw speaks with Senator Angus King of Maine, one of two independent members of the US Senate and the co-chairman of the US Cyberspace Solarium Commission, about how to deter cyber attacks. Plus, how to keep the economy going in case of severe cyber attacks? How to incentivise companies and citizens to play a larger role in cyber preparedness? And how will the Commission get its excellent proposals through Congress?
info_outlineRecorded on 10 July 2019 at 18:15
In 2001, Jack Straw became the first senior British government minister to visit Iran since the 1979 revolution and has developed a growing interest in the country ever since. His latest book examines Britain’s extraordinary and tangled relationship with Iran, and why so many Iranians are obsessed with Britain’s role.
Rather as we in the United Kingdom continue to define ourselves by what happened nearly eighty years ago at the start of the Second World War, modern Iranians define themselves by their bloody experience of the Iran–Iraq war of 1980–88, where the country had stood alone against Iraq. The conflict was an act of unprovoked aggression by Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq. The rest of the world – France, the Soviet Union, later the US and the UK – all piled in to support Iraq, with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States bankrolling Saddam. It was this experience that has helped define Iran’s view of the world, and its attitudes to both its local rivals for power and those further afield.
In his presentation, Jack Straw shed new light on Britain’s difficult relationship with Iran and explore the culture, psychology and history of this fascinating country.
The Rt Hon Jack Straw is one of three senior Ministers to remain in Cabinet throughout the 1997 to 2010 Labour Government. He served as Foreign Secretary (2001 to 2006), Home Secretary (1997 to 2001), Leader of the Commons (2006 to 2007), and Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary (2007 to 2010). He was Member of Parliament for Blackburn from 1979 to 7 May 2015, when he retired from the Commons. Before becoming an MP, Jack practiced as a Barrister, and then worked as a Special Adviser in the Labour Government of 1974 to 1979. He served on the Opposition Front Bench from 1980 to 1997. He is a Distinguished Fellow of RUSI and a Visiting Professor at University College London School of Public Policy. Since 2015 he has been Chairman of the Blackburn Youth Zone, and from 2017 a Trustee of the Tauheedul Education Trust. He is a Trustee of the Global Strategy Forum and of the Atlantic Partnership. His other publications include: ‘Last Man Standing: Memoirs of a Political Survivor’ (Macmillan: 2012); Hamlyn Lectures 2012 on Law Reform (CUP).