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Hello and welcome to Spectator Out Loud, where each week we choose some of our favourite pieces from the magazine and ask their writers to read them aloud.

I'm Patrick Gibbons and on this week's podcast. Gavin Mortimer reports on the battle between the EU and farmers.

John Campbell explains Lord Haldane's significance to politics today.

Reviewing Polar War by Kenneth R. Rosen, Mark Piesing ponders who will rule the Arctic.

And finally, Daisy Dunn celebrates the history of poems on the underground.

Up first, Gavin Mortimer.

It was a weekend of mixed emotions for the European Union. There was the news from Donald Trump

that he would impose a 10% tariff on eight European countries in retaliation for their opposition

to his plans to take control of Greenland. But on a brighter note, the EU finally signed the Mercosur trade agreement with several South American countries.

The European Commission held the agreement as the creation of a free trade zone of roughly 700 million people,

one which they promise will save EU companies more than 4 billion euros a year in customs

duties. The Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, we choose fair trade over tariffs, we

choose a productive long-term partnership over isolation. The Federation of German Industries praise the deal is a strong signal for free trade,

delighted with what it will mean for the automotive industry, mechanical engineering and the pharmaceutical

sector. Currently, car exports to Mercosur countries are subject to a 35% tariff.

The response in France wasn't quite as ecstatic.

...