Talks of life: can Israel and Lebanon find peace?
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After six weeks of Israel’s offensive against Hizbullah, Lebanon’s president and Israel’s prime minister are due to talk today. What can they achieve? Britain’s “triple lock” pensions are unsustainable. And Uzbekistan’s footballers prepare for the World Cup.
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Guests and host:
- Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent
- Josh Roberts, capital markets correspondent
- Jon Fasman, senior culture correspondent
- Rosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”
Topics covered:
- Israel, Lebanon, Hizbullah, Netanyahu
- State pension, Britain, triple lock, inflation
- World Cup, Uzbekistan
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Economist |
| 0:02.0 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:10.0 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:14.0 | I'm your host Rosie Bloor. |
| 0:16.0 | Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:25.3 | Pensions can be both a political headache and a weight on public finances. So how does |
| 0:30.4 | Britain sustain its pension pot? And how could it do that better? And ahead of the World Cup, we're looking at some of the teams competing. |
| 0:41.0 | Today, our correspondent considers the role of football in Uzbekistan. |
| 1:03.0 | Thank you. But first... |
| 1:14.3 | The leaders of Israel and Lebanon may finally be about to talk. |
| 1:19.9 | This morning, an Israeli cabinet minister confirmed that direct discussions could happen today. |
| 1:22.6 | There'll be a lot to mull over. |
| 1:26.1 | More than six weeks into Israel's offensive in Lebanon, |
| 1:29.2 | Israeli forces continue to pound targets. |
| 1:38.8 | Last night, Israel's Prime Minister Biniam and Netanyahu, once again laid out his goals for that war in Lebanon, |
| 1:44.2 | dismantling his bowler and what he called sustainable peace achieved through strength. |
| 1:49.8 | Direct talks between the leaders of Lebanon and Israel will be a historic moment. |
| 1:53.7 | The question is what the two can really achieve. |
| 2:01.7 | The war in Lebanon is continuing. Israel's been carrying out air strikes on Hisbola targets throughout Lebanon. |
| 2:05.9 | Around a million Lebanese civilians have been uprooted by the strikes. |
| 2:08.7 | Anshulfeffer is our Israel correspondent. |
| 2:14.2 | Hezbollah has fired missiles and drones at towns in northern Israel. |
... |
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