Oh God, What Now?

At last, at last… After suffering two years of shame, cruelty and corruption, Americans render a devastating verdict on Trump, his war, his careless greed and the entire Republican establishment. An electoral wave of Biblical proportions sweeps away Trump stooges and raises up a new, diverse generation of progressive superstars. So what happens next? Will the Democrats have the guts to use their new power? And how will a humiliated Trump respond? Marquette University politics professor Julia Azari joins us to sift through the ruins of MAGA. 

Plus: Why Shabana Mahmood’s revised policy on Indefinite Leave to Re...

The BBC created Nigel Farage. Endless “spiky” guest slots led to a sense of legitimacy, then inevitability, and now a fear of NOT covering the man they still think – despite Reform’s declining polls – is the PM-in-waiting. Why can’t our public broadcaster quit marketing a man and a party which wants to destroy it? Or is it caught in a Catch-22 where they either promote Reform or, by ignoring them, let them off the hook? Will it all pay off in Prime Minister Farage attempting to destroy the BBC forever? Plus, in related matters… Are we finally, finally at the end of...

Have YOU done YOUR emergency stash of sardines, toilet paper and Kit-Kats? The government’s warnings to stockpile tinned food and water set off a mix of panic, confusion and (from the usual suspects) mockery… but should we all be taking preparedness more seriously? Is Britain going to have to accept bigger changes in our society as the world gets more dangerous? 

Plus: We look into what the “fiscal devolution” and a hundred quid off energy bills in John Healey’s first Budget all mean. It was boring, but is boring good in these straitened times? And in the Extra...

Fast reaction to the Budget with Jonathan Portes, King’s College London economics and public policy professor… It was billed as the “boring” Budget, and to be fair Chancellor John Healey mostly delivered – with a few surprises. It was good news for pensioners, motorists and first-time buyers. Banks, meanwhile, were furious about a temporary tax hike, calling it “end of Rome levels of stupidity”. So what did the Chancellor actually announce? And what does it mean for YOU? 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

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Like the Democrats we’ve been pinning our hopes on the 2026 US mid-terms to end (or at least interrupt) Trump’s cruel circus… and now they’re finally here. Will the Republicans get the devastating punishment they deserve when America votes on Tue 3 Nov? Are the Democrats now so traumatised by poll upsets that they’re imagining a defeat into existence? And what happens after – if! – the Democrats take both Houses? Congressional staffer turned politics professor at George Washington University Casey Burgat joins us to explain what it all means. 

Plus: John Healey’s first Budget is coming. Liz Truss’s...

Who ordered the heated debate about Englishness? Open any newspaper or social media feed and you’ll stumble on some histrionic handwringing about “what it means it be English”. Who decided we needed to talk about this, all the time? And how thin is the cover it provides for your good old actual homegrown racism? We debate the debates in a conversation which contains cricket, Suella Braverman, Paddington, an “orchestra of dogwhistles”, Norman Tebbit, GB News’s “British-only radio station”, and surprising revelations about both of Seth’s grand-dads. Guaranteed relevant to Scottish, Irish and Welsh listeners too, honest. 

Plus: the Jac...

Rupert Lowe of Restore UK claims that street violence is not just inevitable but necessary “if we are to save our home”. Elsewhere, the far-right pals up with street thugs – and its leaders walk right up to the line of endorsing extra-legal direct action because democracy has supposedly failed. Is the rising tide of violent rhetoric spilling over into actual physical attacks? We talk about why politics is sounding increasingly violent – and how it’s not just on the far-right. Plus: Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine sinks deeper into perfidy, can Burnham ban loudcasting on public transport, and why we should sen...

• This edition recorded before Trump cancelled livestreaming the execution of the Fort Hood killer. 

Televised executions, machine-gunning illegal migrants in the Channel, renaming technology and water features as a loyalty/sycophancy test… why are the populists’ big ideas so dumb, performatively cruel and only made to wind up the liberals? We ask whether the era of Trolliticians will ever end. Plus: The crime! The immigrants! The wokeness! Everyone is desperate to leave Britain if you believe the Telegraph and Mail. But are they really? We dig into Exodus Propaganda (also the most popular baby name of 2027). 

• Get yo...

Andy Burnham has finally said what we’ve all been thinking: Russia meddled in Brexit. Is this brave honesty – or the first step on the long road back to Brussels? Plus, the Greens are still in turmoil with Zack Polanski’s leadership now in doubt. What does it mean for everyone else on the left? Is a progressive alliance just a pipe dream now? Are the Tories back from the dead – and has anyone checked on Reform?

• Use the code OGWN at https://www.eightsleep.com/whatnow to get up to £200 off the Pod 6.

• Listen to Robin Maher...

Labour wins the Holborn & St Pancras handily – but the Greens had staked a lot on Zack Polanski winning and he failed. Is Polanski’s nightmare week over the Zionism vote a symptom of deeper weaknesses in his leadership? Is far-left entryism destroying the Greens? And why Labour’s victorious candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali symbolises the best of Britain. Steve Richards of Rock & Roll Politics joins Andrew Harrison for the Holborn postmortem. 

• Hear Steve’s Rock & Roll Politics special on Polanski’s troubles and why Kemi Badenoch’s speech to the Tories was misreported. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts...

Has Burnham really broken Britain’s bizarre, self-enforced silence around the disaster that is Brexit? What would a real pro-EU membership stance from Labour mean for British politics? And would killing off Brexit inadvertently give a flagging Farage his mojo back? Plus, in the week that Jeffrey Archer died we discuss why establishment Britain will give a pass to any charlatan, bullshitter and perjurer provided he’s amusing at parties. And our special guest Sebastian Salek – good news columnist at LabourList – explains why he fights the good fight on GBNews. 

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Kemi Badenoch has promised to revitalise the Tory party at the Conservatives' conference – but can she drag it out of the doldrums? Plus, the Green Party conference descended into acrimony after members voted to declare that “Zionism is racism” – can leader Zack Polanski withstand the fallout? And… Andy Burnham faces heavy scrutiny over historic ties to Manchester City’s owners, after the club was found guilty of serious financial rule breaches. Could Manchesterism come back to bite him? Dr Jan Zglinski, associate professor at LSE Law School who specialises in sports law, weighs in. 

• Questions for Bu...

Andy Burnham’s powerful and emotional speech at the Labour Conference left the Party full of righteous energy and its enemies scrabbling for attack lines. Has he succeeded in setting out a new direction for the Government? The OGWN Conference Away Team of Jonn Elledge and Hannah Fearn talk it over with Andrew Harrison and special guest Paul Richards – veteran Labour commentator, candidate and once chair, now treasurer of the Fabians.

(Yes, the Fabians, and yes we do ask him if they secretly control the world like all the nutters think. Spoiler: they don’t). 

• Because of...

BONUS EDITION: Well, we weren’t expecting THAT… Andy Burnham stuns and rouses Labour’s Liverpool conference with a bold, emotionally powerful speech that amounted to the promise of a new era. Will Britain respond to his open-hearted scally dad message of unity? Was there detail among the vibes? Have we just heard the ‘Wonderwall’ of political speeches? James Ball of The New World was there and he tells Andrew Harrison how Burnham’s speech gave even hardened, cynical journos actual goosebumps. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

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Andy Burnham's first Labour conference as PM is underway. So… will he and his government make a good impression on the party and voters? First the PM proposed an NHS-style social care system; a day later his chancellor John Healey promised a Budget that injects hope into Britain’s beleaguered economy. Ros Taylor, Rachel Cunliffe and James Ball discuss everything we know so far and what it all means. 

• Questions for the panel? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Rachel has been rewatching the noughties sci-fi hit Heroes in memory o...

Actual blackshirts are blockading ports, doxxing lifeboat volunteers and intimidating people across the South Coast, and the most senior political figure to come out against them is… Rishi Sunak? We ask why Andy Burnham won’t make a full-throated condemnation of the new wave of far-right street thugs – and whether his new National Centre for Information Defence will work. Plus: With £72m of donations in the bank, are Reform UK now the political wing of the crypto industry? Special guest Peter Geoghegan of Democracy for Sale joins us to explore what happens if angry Britain votes for an anti-immigration party but...

Bonus episode with James Ball and Jacob Jarvis… Andy Burnham finally meets Donald Trump at the UN General Assembly in New York. The pair hit it off, as Trump hails the PM as a “natural businessman” and claims he “gets it”. So what did we learn from the meeting? How long can Burnham keep the good vibes going? And can he avoid both bending the knee and picking a fight with the quick-tempered US president? 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

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Andy Burnham promised politics with a “sense of optimism” – now the PM is warning that “difficult decisions” lie ahead. So can he keep up the smiles as next month’s budget looms and the reality of government sets in? Plus, the Liberal Democrats gather in Brighton where Ed Davey is promising “insurgent liberalism”. What does it mean? And why are some Lib Dems unhappy with their leader? 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

• Get up to £350 off the Eight Sleep Pod 5 here with the code OGWN 

ESCAPE ROUTES

•...

It’s the most important by-election ever since the last by-election! The candidates are finalised for the fight for Keir Starmer’s old St. Pancras and Holborn seat. It’s a test for Burnham’s Labour and for Green leader Zack Polanski. Who’s most likely to win? And what would victory and defeat mean for each figurehead? Plus, Mark Carney is having a moment – if Canada can be an “associate member” of the EU, why can’t we?! Matt Green is joined by Hannah Fearn, Jason Hazeley and Rachel Cunliffe to discuss. 

Escape routes: 

• H...

Reform has been bolstered with £72 million from crypto billionaires – is it enough for Nigel Farage to buy his way to power? What will the money be spent on? And what rules could change in the wake of this? Plus, Ed Miliband is reshaping Britain’s foreign policy, what is motivating him and what are his goals? Ros Taylor is joined by Marie Le Conte, Rafael Behr and Seth Thévoz to discuss. 

Escape Routes

• Seth has been reading The Man Who was Thursday.

• Marie has been reading Eurotrash by Christian Kracht. 

Another of our weekend bonus editions… When author Jon Ronson’s son texted him from a supposed party in a medieval castle (?) and said it was getting “very weird”, Jon had no idea that it would open the door into some of the strangest reaches of the manosphere. In the resulting book The Castle, he meets a fantasist who thinks he’s the new Hugh Hefner; a man who cranks out far-right rage videos that he doesn’t even believe just because the algorithm drives him to it; and a dad whose “fun” family videos ended up with him being denounced o...

Andy Burnham wants to change who holds the power in Britain, taking the levers of government out of Whitehall’s hands. Plenty of his predecessors have tried – and failed – to make their vision stick. So, can the PM’s model survive contact with reality? Veteran journalist Phil Tinline joins us to weigh in. 

Plus: poor old Tommy Robinson is apparently skint, de-banked and has “nothing to hide”. So how did a brand-new Channel 4 investigation allegedly find a live bank account, a Portuguese shell company and £250,000-worth of questions? And in the Extra Bit... does nicking a pint glass make you...

Nigel Farage’s family has even urged him to “pack it in” and “walk away” amid recent scandals. Can he and his party survive the latest scrutiny? The beleaguered Reform leader tried to appear unruffled at his party conference after a bombshell Channel 4 documentary raised fresh questions about foreign donations. What will come next? Plus: masked anti-migrant protestors took to the streets of Dover and Portsmouth over the weekend trying to take the law into their own hands. Is the rule of the mob on the rise?

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Rachel was reminded of Frank Tur...

Weekend bonus episode… Britain still mired in Brexit, Europe divided, economic stagnation in the West and Donald Trump’s disastrous culture wars and actual wars. Are they all just a blip in human history or does the West’s decline mark the beginning of a new world order? What if that future belongs to rising powers of the East – China and India?

That’s the premise of Sir Vince Cable’s new book, Eclipsing the West: China, India and the Forging of a New World. The former Liberal Democrat leader talks to Rafael Behr about how China and India ar...

Fast reaction with News Statesman’s associate political editor Rachel Cunliffe and Jacob Jarvis. Nigel Farage and Reform are facing another crisis after two – now former – senior officials were filmed in an undercover sting appearing to plot how to circumvent electoral law to bag a £500,000 foreign donation… Reform says it’s all a “hoax”, predictably… Can Reform weather the storm? Is Farage totally done for? And what might happen next?

• Find out if you’re owed on car finance at refundclub.co.uk/OGWN

• Refund Club is a trading style of Sandsford Law Limited, authorised...

Facebook owners Meta hit the headlines with an $18bn settlement in the US over accusations that its products had harmed kids. But was the bill really so onerous, or just the price of keeping Zuckerberg out of the witness box? Special guest Baroness Beeban Kidron OBE – activist, digital rights champion and former film director – talks us through the reality of the fight to protect kids online; whether Britain’s digital curfews for teens will work; and the dirty digital deals done behind doors to protect Big Tech.

Plus, Andy Burnham promised more problem solving than point-scoring in his Pr...

Andy Burnham is feeling a sudden wave of the back-to-school blues. Not only did Keir Starmer tactlessly decide to quit Parliament just before his first Commons speech, but a long list of challenges is also piling up in the PM’s in-tray. So, what’s causing Burnham the biggest headaches? Is the Burnham bounce finally over? And what happens next?

Plus: Badenoch reshuffles her shadow cabinet, Iceland rejects the EU and Trump tries to rename yet more geographical features… and questions Britain’s claim to the Falklands.

•  Listen as Gavin Esler explores the breakneck evolution of military...

The first of our occasional weekend bonus episodes… Bewildered by the tangled stories of Putin’s war on Ukraine, Trump’s incomprehensible loyalty to the Russian tyrant, and Russia’s interference in British politics? The Guardian’s foreign correspondent Luke Harding ties all the threads together in his riveting new book Betrayed: Trump, Putin And The New Age Of Conquest – laying bare how thoroughly Putin played Trump and the enormity of what has happened to our old world of rules.  

He talks to Andrew Harrison about the big picture that daily news misses, the return of Great Power polit...

Good news for newsrooms: Harry and Meghan are back in Britain and editors are beside themselves. We might say we don’t care about “Reverse Megxit” but why does the clickrate say otherwise? Plus: Giftgate was only two years ago, but MPs are still accepting freebies. They’ve taken almost £400,000 of hospitality this year alone – including tickets to Harry Styles and the F1. But is that necessarily so bad? Are freebies a serious conflict of interest or do we just want politicians to live in a hair shirt? And in the Extra Bit: people are queuing to take photos at beauty s...

Is communism having a mini revival? Marxist critiques and socialist ideas are becoming the in thing with Gen Z, while Donald Trump is harking back to the Red Scare of his youth to attack the Democrats. Is it anything more than a resurrected bogeyman for the right? Man of the left, veteran journalist and friend of the pod Paul Mason joins the panel to discuss Reds: A Global History of Communism, his sweeping new history of the movement. Plus: Andy Burnham heads to Ukraine with missile plans in hand, Reform’s bullshit policy of the week and much, much mo...

The climate crisis got horribly real this summer – but is it really true that ordinary people can’t do anything about it? The National Emergency Briefing is a growing movement around a stunning documentary film that makes clear the reality of the crisis and what we CAN do about it. Green economist Angela Francis joins us to explain where the fight for a liveable climate is heading; how to beat the  Reform angle that it’s just too expensive so we might as well not bother; and bring surprisingly good news about tech, investment and the coming battery. 

Plus, h...

The shocking death of former Cambridge University professor Jason Arday raises serious questions about the press investigation of his career and the claims he made about his life. Some blame the right-wing press for his death, others the university. Some blame the litany of racist and abusive messages Arday received online. Where should responsibility lie?

Plus, Andy Burnham is clearly more comfortable navigating today’s online world than Keir Starmer. But does he fully grasp the forces he’s up against? Are Russia, China and malign actors closer to home “flooding the zone” with disinformation to drown out the...

Fast analysis of the Clacton by-election with Steve Richards and Andrew Harrison. Two and half cheers for plucky underdog Nigel Farage who defeated the “establishment” candidate Count Binface in a by-election of his own making. And in the end, he didn’t even bother to show up to claim his victory… Now the stunt is over, the parliamentary standards watchdog is back investigating Farage’s £5m “gift” from a crypto billionaire. So was this entire exercise completely futile? Could Farage’s own gambit come back to bite him? And with his – and Reform’s – polling slipping, has the tide finally turned?

...

Barring a bin-shaped asteroid strike on the Essex Coast, Nigel Farage will win the Clacton by-election – but his problems won’t be over. What will Reform’s slippery leader face in the months to come? And can, should, would his party strike a deal with either Restore or the Conservatives? Plus our special guest, journalist Rachel Wearmouth, has the date of the next General Election, for real! And we answer a wealth of YOUR questions in a But Your Emails special. 

• Get up to £350 off the Eight Sleep Pod 5 here with the code OGWN. 

• Don’t miss the Clacton...

No drinking pints standing up in London’s nightlife hotspot? No new reservoirs until 2040? Welcome to Veto Britain – where infrastructure, housing and even a round at the bar are all subject to the mercy of endless local objection. So how did we become a country that seems incapable of building, changing or enjoying itself anymore? Plus, racist disorder erupts in Norfolk, scrutiny of Andy Burnham’s early prisoner release plan intensifies and the PM’s crackdown on “subscription traps” gives cancel culture a whole new meaning. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]...

The earth is burning, Britain is parched brown and rain is a distant memory. Yet the Tories are purging the last of their Net Zero advocates, the Greens seem to have lost interest in green policies, and Burnham’s Labour are teetering on the edge of reopening oil and gas in the North Sea. Saving the planet is just so expensive! What will it take to get British politicians to take the climate emergency seriously?  

Plus, will the real Kemi Badenoch please sit down? The current and quite possibly final leader of the Conservative Party stood by con...

Fifteen days in… Is Burnham’s government actually shaping up to be quite good? Impossible to say for certain, but the PM’s policy blitz seems to be landing pretty well, buoyed by Labour’s Greater Manchester mayoral win. Is the Age of Andy working out as well as it seems – and can the momentum last? Plus, following the astonishing scenes of migrants breaking into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta over the weekend, how is Europe’s far-right weaponising it? And Gianni Infantino face open revolt from his own top brass and football associations worldwide after trying to sell off the Worl...

Andy Burnham is promising to spend “whatever political capital” he has to fix the crumbling social care system after decades of political failure. As the right-wing press dusts off its “Death Tax” headlines, can he actually do it?

Plus… He leads Restore Britain, an openly extreme right party committed to driving non-white people out of the country, and he’s becoming a persistent headache for his former boss Nigel Farage. But who exactly is Rupert Lowe? The panel sizes up the man behind the common-sense cosplay. And in the Extra Bit: the new Euro banknote designs are live, but wh...

He’s a communist! He wants to drag us back to the 70s! He’s going to tax you to death! He’s weak! He’s a tyrant! He’s gone to war with the South! His jackets are too expensive! Burnham has only been PM for a week and the right-wing press are already losing their minds. Is Burnham Derangement Syndrome stalking what’s left of Fleet Street? Plus: Is letting artificial intelligence do your thinking for you leading people into “cognitive surrender”? We talk about a new survey that unveils the dire consequences of outsourcing your brain to Claude and Ch...

Burnham arrives promising a “cost of living” government but can he make it happen? And does his mix of ideas and promises add up? TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak returns to the pod to talk about Burnham’s first steps, go to bat for unions in an age of A.I. tumult, make the case for reindustrialisation, and wind up Andrew about Jeff Bezos possibly buying Liverpool FC (Paul’s an Evertonian. So is Andy Burnham. It’s a conspiracy). And in the Extra Bit: What are the little luxuries that our panel and guests spend a bit too much on? <...