Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown

It’s a once-in-a-generation season of discontent in the United Kingdom. The soaring cost of living is creating a giant inequality gap, with welfare unable to keep up for the most vulnerable and the poorest. Many people are literally having to choose whether to eat or heat this winter. Britain is also facing the chaos of mass strikes from sectors like rail, mail, paramedics, and more. The British chancellor is warning the country’s economy will get worse before it gets better. Gordon Brown knows the stakes well. He served as chancellor under Tony Blair before becoming prime minister and is credited with coordinating the global response to the 2008 financial crisis. He’s also led agreements on tackling poverty and climate change and is now a special United Nations envoy on global education and health. He joins Christiane to discuss all this, as well as pressing international issues.

Also on today's show: Dror Moreh, director of The Corridors of Power; Garrett Fisher, founder of the Global Glacier Initiative. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices