Who is María Corina Machado - the woman who won the Nobel Peace Prize? Is the Gaza 20-point plan anything more than a ceasefire with a wishlist attached? And what is Trump up to inside the US?

ALSO - Reform UK councils seem to be finding it more difficult than predicted to find any savings. Has swagger met reality?

PLUS - Jilly Cooper, queen of the steamy beach read is gone, but what are our favourite guilty reads?

Alex and Naomi talk through the week's news.

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“Is peace merely the absence of war? Or is it something else that involves wellbeing, prosperity, democracy, and the rule of law, so conflict can be resolved in a civilised way? That seems a more positive and more enduring vision than ‘we’ve stopped shooting each other for now’. On that basis, Trump is moving America in the opposite direction.”

“The idea of Trump as a senile old kaker is optimistic. The darker interpretation is that all this - what happened in Los Angeles and Washington DC, and now in Chicago and Portland - is getting people used to army in their streets, that it is leading somewhere.”

“This was very predictable. Quite a few people welcomed Reform taking control of a few councils, this far out from a general election, in the full knowledge that they could not find the savings they promised; that they would fail on their own terms.”

“Reform seems to do very well at gaining elected officials, but not so well at keeping them. Since May, they have shed a remarkable 24 councillors for a variety of very embarrassing reasons, including losing eight, in September alone. They have also lost staff from HQ.”

“Most journalists compliment policies as ‘eye-catching’. What does that even mean? Are they realistic? Practical? Ethical? ‘Eye-catching’ brought us Brexit. ‘Eye-catching gave us Johnson. ‘Eye-catching’ resulted in Trump. Maybe it’s time to interrogate the concept.”

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With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. Quiet Riot is a Cooler Heads podcast.

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