I had the great pleasure of playing the part of the commander of the Russian Northern Fleet for the Sky News/Tortoise podcast series The Wargame.

Deborah Haynes of Sky News and Robert Johnson who heads the Changing Character of War Centre at Oxford University gathered up a very strong team of former ministers, generals and top civil servants led by Ben Wallace to see what would happen if Russia decided that it wasn’t the Baltics who were the weakest link, but the devious Anglo-Saxons. Meanwhile, noted Russia expert Keir Giles as president Putin had gathered what he described as “a small crew of experienced military analysts and Russia-watchers” including yours truly” who “worked hard to spoil their day”. Without revealing anything, I believe it is safe to say we did ensure that the opposition did not have a nice and relaxed session.

The whole thing was great fun, and all five episodes are now found wherever you get your podcasts, including on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcast. While the scenario is a UK-one, I do believe that in particcular the political discussions are very revealing and of interest to anyone following this blog.