Battle Lines

Xi Jinping is purging again. Generals once seen as untouchable are gone, rivals erased, loyalty enforced through fear. Is this the move of a leader under real threat or the paranoia of a man who has ruled too long and trusts no one? To find out more, Venetia talks to Oriana Skylar Mastro, director of the Indo-Pacific Policy Lab at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been to Beijing, the first British leader to do so in eight years, talking trade, visas and whisky tariffs while security concerns barely made the script. We hear from The Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith, behind the smiles come burner phones, burner laptops, fears of honey traps and even planes being bugged. Economic opportunity versus national security. Values versus power.

Meanwhile Britain faces its own reckoning. Spies in Parliament. Phones hacked inside Downing Street. A vast Chinese mega embassy rising in central London amid warnings from MI5. Venetia is joined in the studio by The Telegraph’s Gareth Corfield and Rozina Sabur to discuss the extent of the national security threat posed by China.

Read Rozina Sabur's hacking scoop: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/26/china-hacked-downing-street-phones-for-years/

Read Gareth Corfield's embassy scoop: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/12/revealed-china-embassy-secret-plans-spy-basement/

Read Colin Freeman's analysis: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/27/general-zhang-youxia-chinas-nuclear-secrets/

Producer: Peter Shevlin
Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

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Gaza has entered the next phase of the peace process but is the ceasefire actually bringing peace?

This week, Venetia Rainey and Arthur Scott-Geddes speak to Tess Ingram, UNICEF spokesperson who has just returned from four months on the ground. She outlines the humanitarian situation following the ceasefire, from winter shelters and malnutrition to unexploded ordnance, orphaned children, and the daily challenges facing civilians.

Plus, The Telegraph’s Global Health Security Editor Paul Nuki examines Donald Trump’s controversial Board of Peace: how it works, why it has divided international allies, and what it could mean for disarming Hamas and the future of the conflict.

Read Paul's article on how Northern Ireland can provide a roadmap for Gaza: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/23/how-northern-irelands-peace-can-provide-a-roadmap-for-gaza/

Producer: Sophie O'Sullivan
Executive Producer: Louisa Wells
Studio Operator: Meghan Searle

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

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For more than a decade, Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria were America's most trusted ally, spearheading the war against Isis, taking responsibility for guarding thousands of jihadi prisoners of war, and in the process carving out an autonomous statelet that seemed poised to realise the dream of Kurdish independence. Over the past few weeks, that dream as has been crushed.

In a sudden offensive, Ahmed Al Sharaa's transitional Syrian government has evicted the Kurds from vast territories including the country's biggest oilfield. Abandoned by their American allies, the Kurds have been forced to cede ground including the sprawling Isis prison camps. What now for the Kurds, for Syria, and for the jihadists Isis veterans?

To answer this and more, Roland is joined by The Telegraph's senior foreign correspondent Sophia Yan and Senior Research Fellow, Middle East Security, Dr Burcu Ozcelik from RUSI.

Read Dr Burcu's research paper on northern Syria: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27342855

Producer: Peter Shevlin
Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

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Donald Trump has abruptly backed down over the US takeover of Greenland. From the icy streets of Nuuk our correspondent James Rothwell reports from the centre of an unusual geopolitical spotlight as Greenlanders try to make sense of their island’s sudden importance and the anxiety of being discussed by faraway powers.

Greenland itself emerges not as a prize but as a place with its own history identity and quiet resilience. James paints a picture of a small Arctic capital balancing fishing tourism and everyday life while navigating long memories of colonial rule and new questions about sovereignty security and self determination.

Back in the studio Venetia and Roland are joined by Chief Foreign Commentator David Blair to unpack what Trump’s partial retreat really means and to explore the wider implications of Mark Carney’s striking Davos speech. Carney argues we are living through a rupture not a transition and urges middle powers to face reality and work together in a world where power politics is once again shaping events.

Read James Rothwell's Greenland dispatch:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/24/trump-provokes-a-rare-emotion-in-greenland-blind-rage/

Read David Blair's analysis of the Greenland deal: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/22/predicted-greenland-deal-not-good-one/

Read Roland Oliphant on Trump's Board of Peace: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/22/monarchs-and-pariahs-join-trumps-board-of-peace-parade/

Producer: Peter Shevlin
Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

Contact us with feedback or ideas:
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After five years of brutal civil war, Myanmar’s ruling military is holding an election that many say is a sham.

But it has a major backer: China. So why is Beijing suddenly interested in democracy in this conflict-stricken country?

Venetia Rainey and Arthur Scott-Geddes speak to the Telegraph’s Global Health Security correspondent Sarah Newey about her recent trip to Yangon and Joe Freeman, researcher for Amnesty International.

Read Sarah's dispatch: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/why-china-is-forcing-myanmars-junta-to-stage-an-election/

Watch Sarah talking about scam centres in Laos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nRBG037FT0

Producer: Sophie O'Sullivan
Executive Producer: Louisa Wells
Studio Operator: Meghan Searle

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

Contact us with feedback or ideas:
[email protected]
@venetiarainey
@ascottgeddes
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.