What is at stake for Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic in terms of security, the economy and the politics, as Britain prepares to leave the EU.

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss.

GUESTS

Peter Taylor - BBC journalist who has covered Northern Ireland for nearly five decades.

There is little or no consensus in Westminster about what kind of Brexit, if any, MPs want. The government's plan was defeated by a whopping 232 votes. And Labour's vote of confidence in the government was then defeated.

Brexit has stretched the British parliamentary system to its limits. David Aaronovitch and guests examine Britain's constitutional crisis and ask if the current political system is irretrievably broken.

GUESTS

Work and Pensions Secretary, Amber Rudd, this week announced that the next stage of the Universal Credit roll-out is to be scaled back amid concerns about the controversial new benefits system.

So what were the origins of the Universal Credit policy and can its flaws be fixed?

CONTRIBUTORS

Roy Sainsbury - Professor of Social Policy at the University of York

Baroness Philippa Stroud - former government advisor and CEO of the Legatum Institute

Kayley Hignell - Head of Policy for Family, Welfare and Work at Citizens Advice

Fran Bennett - Senior Research Fellow at the Department for Social Policy and Intervention at Oxford University

Torsten Bell - Director of the Resolution Foundation

Deven Ghelani - Founder of Policy in Practice

In October, the IPCC, the UN body that reports on climate change, issued a stark warning. It said that if the world wanted to avoid catastrophic environmental damage, we needed to reduce carbon emissions by almost half in the next 12 years. So what needs to be done now if that target is to be reached? What's the position in China, the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide? And how important is the stated intention of President Trump to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on greenhouse gas emissions? We hear from, among others, Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, the author of the seminal Stern Review in 2006.

Theresa May has been back in Brussels to attend a meeting of EU leaders, a day after surviving a leadership challenge at home. Her mission: to try to extract some form of concession from the other 27 EU member states that might persuade MPs in Westminster to support the withdrawal agreement the UK has concluded with the EU. Few commentators give her much chance of success. It still seems likely that when the deal is finally voted on by Parliament, it will be rejected. So what would happen then? Would the UK be heading for the EU exit door with no-deal? Might there be a vote of confidence that could lead to a general election? Could MPs from both main parties form a temporary government of national unity? Or might the Prime Minister accede to demands for a new referendum? With the historian Peter Hennessy, Jill Rutter of the Institute For Government, Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska of the Centre for European Reform and Meg Russell from University College London.

In France a wave of protests has brought the country to a standstill in recent weeks. The original cause of the anger - the government's plan to raise the rate of tax on diesel - has now disappeared. President Macron responded this week to the mood in the country by withdrawing the tax, due to be introduced next year. The question now is whether that will temper the anger of the Gilets Jaunes, the protesters who take their name from the hi-viz vest that every French driver must carry with them in their vehicle. The protesters form an amorphous movement without leaders and their demands are many and various. President Macron is being criticised as much for his style and tactics as his policy. Where does France go from here? With Sophie Pedder of The Economist, the geographer Christophe Guilluy, the pollster Bruno Jeanbart, the writer Jane Weston-Vauclair and Professor Philippe Marliere of University College London.

Theresa May is urging her MPs to accept the deal she has struck with Brussels on the UK's withdrawal from the EU. The trouble is that few in Westminster believe this is a vote she can win and Brussels has said no further negotiations are possible. With the vote due on December the 11th the Prime Minister has less than two weeks to get MPs to change their minds. If Parliament does reject the deal, does that mean a no-deal in March next year? If not, how can no-deal be avoided.

Contributors:

Tim Durrant, Senior Researcher at The Institute for Government

Is Brazil embracing a more conservative political future?

In the wake of economic crisis, corruption scandals and rising levels of violent crime, Brazilians are shunning the left wing politicians who have run the country for the last two decades in favour of a right wing outsider: Jair Bolsonaro. In the first round of Brazil's presidential election, Bolsonaro won 46 per cent of the vote and appears on the cusp of victory in the second round on 28th October.

Having campaigned on an anti-gay, anti-migrant platform, Bolsonaro has built his base on his evangelical roots and clean public image. David Aaronovitch talks to guests about what a Bolsonaro presidency could bring and asks whether the left-leaning Worker's Party (PT) candidate, Fernando Haddad, could still win the second round.

CONTRIBUTORS

Dr Marukh Doctor - Reader in Political Economy at the Department of Politics at the University of Hull

Air pollution is creating big problems. Scientists say it is a leading cause of climate change, which will be the subject of a major report to be released next week by the IPCC, a UN body that is studying the issue.

Another problem is damage to health. Scientists believe that air pollution harms the quality of our lives, and shortens them too. So how bad is the air in the UK? And what can be done to improve matters?

CONTRIBUTORS

At its annual conference in Liverpool this week, the Labour party set out plans to nationalise a large range of industries that previous governments had sold off. The industries it wants to bring back into public ownership include water, rail, energy and the Royal Mail. But how would Labour’s ideas work? And what would the process be for implementing them? David Aaronovitch and his guests discuss.

Contributors:

Producer: Neil Koenig