PHOTO: Julian Assange, via videolink, at a press conference on February 5

The Political WorldView panel — the University of Birmingham’s Adam Quinn, Christalla Yakinthou, and Scott Lucas — take on Britain, Europe, and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange this week.

In the first discussion, the panel look at the political maneuvers before Britain’s referendum on membership of the European Union, likely to take place in June. We ask if the Conservative Government is being clever or clumsy in its negotiations with the EU, hoping to defuse the arguments of those who are clamoring for a European exit.

Later we turn a UN panel’s finding that Assange — living in the sanctuary of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012 — has been deprived of his liberty into a debate. Adam Quinn is not sympathetic to Assange’s attempts to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning about an alleged sexual assault, but Scott Lucas wants a look at the wider context of legal abuses in the “War on Terror”. Christalla Yakinthou plays referee.

In between, our Numbers of the Week move from the serious — the growing refugee crisis from Syria’s civil war — to the slightly ridiculous of the Republican candidate for President, Marco Rubio.