One of the privileges of my career was to interview Judge Ted Meron - 96 year old Holocaust survivor, international human rights lawyer, president of the former Yugoslavia & Rwanda war tribunals & adviser to the International Criminal Court. A former Israeli government lawyer & diplomat who now believes that West Bank settlers are carrying out pogroms. His story is powerful & moving. His views are controversial & uncompromising. Do listen to Political Thinking on @BBCSounds

Watch Keir Starmer’s friend, fellow lawyer & ally Richard Hermer explain why he believes the PM will fight to stay in power; the values which drive them both & how the son of a Tory councillor from Cardiff became the human rights lawyer the right loves to hate Listen in full on @BBCSounds bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0…

“The job of a lawyer is to help, assist, and enable.” Attorney General Richard Hermer KC on @BBCRadio4 Political Thinking with @bbcnickrobinson argues his role is to help turn policy into reality as effectively as possible, while upholding the law. #Lawyers

The Attorney General says some people who want to remove human rights law for small boat migrants seem to want to 'let people drown in the water’. Lord Hermer tells @bbcnickrobinson 'some of the rhetoric is deeply, deeply concerning’.

In these globally turbulent times one man has regularly acted as a wise, thoughtful and witty guide for listeners of @BBCr4today. The former Head of MI6 Sir Alex Younger has analysed, explained and contextualised the actions of Trump, Putin, Xi and the Ayatollahs. After he first appeared in the programme I was lucky enough to get to know Alex and call him my friend. I’m desperately sad to hear the news I’ve long feared was coming. Alex has died after months trying to cheat the prognosis he was given whe. They discovered the tumour he nicknamed “Putin”. We’re always told not to speak of a fight with cancer because it risks implying that only those strong enough survive. I understand that. I really do but sod it. Alex fought so hard to find a treatment to give him a little longer to be with Sarah and their lovely children. And he used every last minute of the short time he did have to be with family and friends and to do what he spent a lifetime in the shadows doing - using his intelligence to understand the world, to explain it but, above all, to keep us all safe.

"Is what matters the perception of those who feel threatened... should the law be on their side?" @bbcnickrobinson asks the new chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, whether many British Jews are right to feel personally at risk when pro-Palestinian protesters chant 'from the river to the sea'. 🔊Political Thinking: bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002x3…

3 train lines to Heathrow. All down this morning. No extra buses. Happy holidays 😱

Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson says if people don't like the new guidance on single-sex spaces, 'change the law'. The new chair of the EHRC says the law around single-sex spaces ‘is very clear’ and many women 'do really value single sex spaces'. 🔊 Political Thinking: bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002x3…

"Back to the 70s?" Former PM Sir Tony Blair questions Andy Burnham's comments on '40 years of neoliberalism', and says there 'wasn't enough explanation' by Sir Keir Starmer why Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership was wrong.

I know the heat can make us all light headed but i think I just heard the ex Chair of @Ofcom Michael Grade tell @katierazz on #mediashow that @bbcr4today or any other BBC News programme could be presented by a politician just like @GBNEWS. Can anyone remind me when parliament, the public, licence fee payers or anyone else was asked their opinion on this ?

Treasury Minister Dan Tomlinson is asked by @bbcnickrobinson whether the government should still be listening to former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair.

An ice cold shower for the Labour Party & the country. Our analysis of what Tony Blair was up to with his essay & Interview on @bbcr4today bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0nnhb…

"Trust has been breached at the most significant level." Former SNP MSP Michelle Thomson calls for first minister John Swinney to implement an independent inquiry into the embezzlement of more than £400,000 from the SNP by its former chief executive Peter Murrell.

"It encapsulates a whole host of very important themes... but in a very fun and entertaining way and football is the lens." Joseph Fiennes, who plays Gareth Southgate in the TV adaptation of James Graham's Dear England, talks about the message ahead of the 2026 World Cup.