This week, it's Armando's term to recommend something, and he makes the case for a little known up-and-coming writer, William Shakespeare. Richard II doesn't get its due among the other historical plays. Armando wonders why? It's full of drama and it's written in verse, what's not to love? Helen also discusses it in the context of the time, and what made it such a brave piece of writing.

We also discuss which Shakespearean historical figure modern politicians might be.

Join Helen and Armando over the summer for more cultural recommendations, available weekly on BBC Sounds.

Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls

Strong Message Here: Strong Recommend is produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies and is a BBC Studios production for Radio 4.

This week, Helen picks a book she's enjoyed recently. Jason Roberts' book from this year, Every Living Thing, details Carl Linnaeus and Du Buffon's attempts at taxonomy.

The naming conventions of various parts of our world have informed so much of our lives. From what we call different animals and plants, to how relatively arbitrary classification of human races may have helped justify the slave trade.

Join Helen and Armando over the summer for more cultural recommendations, available weekly on BBC Sounds.

Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls

Strong Message Here: Strong Recommend is produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies and is a BBC Studios production for Radio 4.

To start off this mini-series, Armando picks a film he's enjoyed recently. Tim Key and Tom Basden's hit film The Ballad of Wallis Island started life as a short film, and has won plaudits for its offbeat, funny and warm story. How do films get made, when is the British film industry at his best, and what makes a film like this so special?

Join Helen and Armando over the summer for more cultural recommendations, available weekly on BBC Sounds.

Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls

Strong Message Here: Strong Recommend is produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies and is a BBC Studios production for Radio 4.

This week, Helen and Armando look back at a year of the Labour government. What language has come out of if, and why is it struggling to define itself?

Looking at phrases from the year, like "The tepid bath of managed decline" and "National Health Recovery Mission Champions", does their language connect, and are their opponents any better?

Strong Message Here will be back on Radio 4 in September, but subscribe to BBC Sounds to hear Helen and Armando over the summer in Strong Message Here: Strong Recommend; a series of short episodes with their language-based cultural recommendations.

Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Helen and Armando to decode? Email them to us at [email protected]

Sound Editing by Chris Maclean

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.

This week, Helen Lewis is back! In the longer edition, you can hear what Helen has been up to in her absence, before Helen and Armando set their sights on the language around Net Zero.

They ask, Why has it taken long for them to cover it on the show? Is it being framed in a relatable enough way? And, does it suffer from being part of an 'omnicause'?

Listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday at 9.45am on Radio 4 and then head straight to BBC Sounds for an extended episode.

Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Helen and Armando to decode? Email them to us at [email protected]

Sound Editing by Chris Maclean

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.

Comedy writer Armando Iannucci decodes the utterly baffling world of political language.

This week, Helen Lewis is still away, so Journalist Marina Hyde steps in to join Armando. They discuss what an ordinary person might be, and examine if politicians use them as cover? Why is it always that things 'ordinary people' are saying 'on the doorstep' just so happen to be the exact things they wanted to do anyway?

We also look at delivery in politics. Do we believe politicians when they say they'll deliver? And do we reward them fairly when they do?

Listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday at 9.45am on Radio 4 and then head straight to BBC Sounds for an extended episode.

Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Helen and Armando to decode? Email them to us at [email protected]

Sound Editing by Chris Maclean

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.

This week, Helen Lewis is still away, so comedian Sara Pascoe steps in to join Armando. They reminisce over their first meeting on the set of a classic episode of The Thick of It - which was also in a radio studio - and then go on to discuss politicians on both sides of the Atlantic having thunderous breakups, and then making up in record time. Musk regrets his posts about Trump, and Zia Yusuf returns to Reform, despite some in the party 'popping champagne' at his departure.

And we examine more politicians' linguistic tricks to find out what a racism row in Scotland and the U-turn on winter fuel payments have in common.

Listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday at 9.45am on Radio 4 and then head straight to BBC Sounds for an extended episode.

Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Helen and Armando to decode? Email them to us at [email protected]

Sound Editing by Charlie Brandon-King

Produced by Sasha Bobak & Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.

Comedy writer Armando Iannucci decodes the utterly baffling world of political language.

This week, Helen Lewis is away, so comedian and writer Stewart Lee joins Armando to look at Robert Jenrick's flashy video in which he takes aim at 'weird Turkish barber shops', among other things. They discuss how the way politicians, entertainers and journalists are changing and overlapping, and Armando recalls the time he read politician's jokes in a comedy club (spoiler alert, it was a disaster).

Listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday at 9.45am on Radio 4 and then head straight to BBC Sounds for an extended episode.

Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Helen and Armando to decode? Email them to us at [email protected]

Sound Editing by Chris Maclean

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.

This week, we have a very special guest, Jon Stewart! Jon joins Armando and Helen to discuss whether Trump is the political equivalent of Miles Davis, the quaintness of UK politics compared to the US, Jon does a flawless Margaret Thatcher impression and they answer the age old question... are escalators the most emasculating form of travel?

Listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday at 9.45am on Radio 4 and then head straight to BBC Sounds for an extended episode.

Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Helen and Armando to decode? Email them to us at [email protected]

Sound Editing by Charlie Brandon-King

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.

Comedy writer Armando Iannucci and journalist Helen Lewis decode the utterly baffling world of political language.

This week, we're looking at inflammatory language. From Immigration to EU deals, we've heard talk of of 'betrayal' 'surrender' 'invasion' and of course 'an island of strangers'. When is this hyperbole appropriate and when is it egregious? And, can we ever forgive Boris Johnson for the mental image of the Prime Minister as the 'orange ball-chewing manacled gimp of Brussels'?

Listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday at 9.45am on Radio 4 and then head straight to BBC Sounds for an extended episode.

Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Helen and Armando to decode? Email them to us at [email protected]

Sound Editing by Charlie Brandon-King

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.