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Hot takes on Australian politics scandals.
Backbench editors and writers offer their thoughts on the most interesting political stories from the UK and abroad.
Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad, presented by distinguished writers, journalists and academics.
Corbynism: The Post-Mortem is a limited Podcast series investigating Corbynism, and the impact Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure as Labour leader had on British politics, hosted by Oz Katerji.
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Andy Burnham on Kier Starmer, Homelessness, the North-South Divide and Devolution
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In the last episode of this series, Ed chats to the Mayor of Manchester about his well-publicised negotiations with the Government, the North-South Divide, the assignment of Covid Tiers in the North, devolution and why he got into politics all those years ago. Andy also reflects on entering politics and how working in Gordon Brown's Cabinet compare…
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UK Implosion, Brexit, and an Ageing Historian
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Ed and Will chat to Dr Martin Farr from Newcastle University about lecturing during Covid-19, Brexit, the Special Relationship and the breakup of the United Kingdom. Listen to hear Martin chat about why he went into academia and to hear his honest views on Brexit, Nicola Sturgeon, the Special Relationship, ageing and what he sees as the biggest thr…
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Daisy Cooper on School Uniform, Swords in Parliament, Civil Liberties, and Becoming Lib Dem Deputy Leader
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In this episode Ed chats to Daisy Cooper, Deputy Leader and Education Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats. Daisy chats about her early experience of campaigning at a CND march and on issues such as school uniform and acid rain. Daisy also talks about some of the archaic rituals in Parliament including 'bobbing' and the hooks to hang your sword. …
We live in a world of unicorns. From hailing taxis to ordering pizza to renting a holiday home, the world has come to rely on huge tech startups known in Silicon Valley as unicorns. But in a post-pandemic world, can these mythical beasts survive? In tech lingo, a unicorn is a rare start-up company valued at $1 billion dollars or more in private mar…
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Corbynism: The Post-Mortem
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13: The Suspension Of Jeremy Corbyn
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Joining us on this very special edition of the podcast, to discuss the EHRC report into Labour's institutional antisemitism, Corbyn’s suspension, and where the Labour Party goes from here, we are privileged to be joined by Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, human rights barrister Adam Wagner, former Labour MP Ruth Smeeth and the New Statesman's…
Increasingly, Western governments see China as a problem to deal with because, as it has grown more powerful, it has re-committed to being a Leninist state. But under President Xi Jinping, how far does it still conform to the Leninist model and how far does it reflect much more traditional forms of Chinese statecraft? Is a country with a massive bu…
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US Election Response: What is Happening in America?
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Podcast Editor Ed Sawyer chats to George Evans-Jones and frequent guest Will Pascall about the ongoing US Election result. This episode tries to explain what is going on in America, looks at the strengths of both campaigns, whether Trumpism is dead and how Trump retained support with different ethnic groups.…
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Ann Widdecombe on Brexit, Prisons, Climate Change and 'Wokeness'
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In this episode, Ed Sawyer talks to Ann Widdecombe, former Conservative Party MP and prominent Brexiteer. Never afraid to say what she thinks, Ann proves a very interesting, if somewhat controversial, guest for Ed. Ann shares her views on everything from climate change to 'wokeness'. Though these may seem provocative to some listeners, this podcast…
On February 1st this year nearly every news bulletin began with the words 'the UK has officially left the European Union'. Boris Johnson could have been forgiven for congratulating himself for fulfilling his constitutional promise to 'get Brexit done'. But there was another story in the news that day too - health officials were trying to find anyon…
The furlough scheme, introduced in response to Covid-19, has raised a question: should Britain’s social insurance be a bit more German? Germany has what’s known as an earnings-related contributory system – individuals pay quite a lot in, and if they lose their job, they receive quite a lot out - around 60% of their previous salary, for at least a y…
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Caroline Voaden on Nationalism, the British Press, Europe and the Future of the Lib Dems
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In the second episode of the new series, Ed Sawyer interviews ex Lib Dem MEP Caroline Voaden. Listen to hear Caroline talk about accidentally becoming an enemy of the Croatian state in the 1990s, working in the European Parliament, her views on the British Press, and why she got into politics.
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The Rise and Fall of the Bond Market Traders
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In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher famously said that 'You can’t buck the markets' and Governments back then feared that, if they borrowed too much, they'd pay a terrible price in the markets in terms of higher borrowing costs. But now governments around the world are borrowing record amounts but paying record-low rates. In this programme Philip Cogga…
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Analysis
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Trouble on the backbenches? Tory Leaders and their MPs
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By BBC Radio 4
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Monty Panesar on Cricket, Trump, Biden and Race
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Backchat is relaunching! Our new podcast editor Ed Sawyer and guest Will Pascall interview ex-England cricketer and current TV personality Monty Panesar in this first podcast. Give it a listen to hear Monty's thoughts on sport, politics and everything in between
How ready are we for the next pandemic, cyber attack, volcanic eruption, or solar storm?Our world, ever more interconnected and dependent on technology, is vulnerable to a head-spinning array of disasters. Emergency preparedness is supposed to help protect us and the UK has been pioneering in its approach. But does it actually work? In this edition…
The internet is a cornerstone of our society. It is vital to our economy, to our global communications, and to many of our personal and professional lives. But have the processes that govern how the internet works kept pace with its rapid evolution?James Ball, author of 'The System - Who Owns the Internet, and How It Owns Us', examines whether the …
There were two narratives that emerged in the week before we locked down on 23rd March that could go some way to explaining why the UK was relatively slow to lockdown. One was the idea of “herd immunity” - that the virus was always going to spread throughout the population to some extent, and that should be allowed to happen to build up immunity. T…
As Covid-19 forced humans into lockdown, memes emerged showing the earth was healing thanks to our absence. These were false claims – but their popularity revealed how seductive the dangerous idea that ‘we are the virus’ can be. At its most extreme, this way of thinking leads to eco-fascism, the belief the harm humans do to Earth can be reduced by …
"The origin of civil government," wrote the Scottish philosopher David Hume in 1739, is that "men are not able radically to cure, either in themselves or others, that narrowness of soul, which makes them prefer the present to the remote." Today, Hume's view that governments can help societies abandon rampant short-termism and adopt a more long term…
Government intervention on an unprecedented scale has propped up the British economy - and society at large - during the pandemic. But what should be the state's role from now on? Can Conservatives successfully embrace an enduring central role for government in the economy given their small-state, Thatcherite heritage championing the role of the in…
Wellness is easy to lampoon. A vast, trillion-dollar industry, at its worst it offers bogus cures, prescribing over-priced paraphernalia and dubious advice for ailments that might be treated elsewhere. But there is a forgotten political and philosophical history of self-care, taking in the Black Panthers and feminist activism, that is all too often…
More time and money is being spent on children than ever before. And it's a global trend. Professor Tina Miller, who has studied how parenting styles have changed over several decades, considers what this investment in our sons and daughters tells us about the modern world. She considers whether the gold standard of educational achievement goes han…
What does the way in which rival political systems around the world have managed the Covid-19 pandemic tell us about the global political future?Writer and broadcaster, John Kampfner, considers what has made a "good leader" during the months of the outbreak and how that is likely to affect the vitality and long-term future of individual regimes. Ar…
Before Covid-19 hit, the latest research showed we were more polarised than ever. We broadly agree on the issues - it's the emotions where things get tricky. If someone is part of the other tribe then we want little to do with them. And the more polarised we are, the more prone we are to what philosophers call 'knowledge resistance' - rejecting inf…
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Identity Wars: lessons from the Dreyfus Affair and Brexit Britain
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The episode "tore society apart, divided families, and split the country into two enemy camps, which then attacked each other …” A description by some future historian looking back at Britain after Brexit? No - it is how the late French President Jacques Chirac described the so-called “Dreyfus Affair”, which shook France from top to bottom a centur…
Dissent within minority communities is often not only badly reported in the media but is actually actively silenced under the guise of political correctness. On the final episode of this season of Backchat, Podcast Editor Mihir Joshi talks to Maryam Namazie from the One Law for All campaign group. They discuss honour based violence, blasphemy and t…
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Back to the Future: Looking Back at Political Predictions
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Join Podcast Editor Mihir Joshi and Backbench General Editor Tom Westgarth for a look back at how their predictions they made in October have fared in what has been a tumultuous year. To help you navigate this mammoth podcast here are some timestamps: Tory engineering for the election : 2.40, the United Kingdom's future relationship with the Europe…
As Sir Kier Starmer began his leadership of the Labour Party, an explosive internal party dossier allegedly drafted in response to the EHRC investigation leaked online after news broke that Labour's own lawyers advised against submitting it. Joining us in Episode 12, our first episode of the Post-Corbyn era, to discuss the Labour Leak, the party’s …
Keir Starmer is the new leader of the Labour Party but the ideology it represents if over 100 years old. In this episode of Backchat we discuss what the left means, what the left represents and what the future of the left might bring in the United Kingdom and Europe.
Discussing foreign policy, anti-imperialism and who stands on ‘the right side of history’ we are joined by the chair of the Foreign Affairs committee, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, and, also sitting on the select committee, the SNP’s Defence spokesperson, Stewart McDonald. For a Labour perspective, we are also privileged to be joined by former for…
With just over a week left to go of the Labour leadership election we are exploring life in Jeremy Corbyn’s office during his tenure. With us for Episode 10 to explore factionalism, Corbyn's response to the antisemitism crisis and Labour’s election results, we are privileged to be joined by a very special guest, James Mills, former special adviser …
When Sajid Javid resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer in February rather than accept Boris Johnson's reported demand that he dismiss his own team of special advisers and accept a new one drawn up in 10 Downing Street, many saw the episode as a crude attempt by the Prime Minister to wrest control of economic policy from the Treasury. But would su…
Even a fortnight ago a total lockdown of the United Kingdom seemed implausible and unprecedented, but here we are in the 5th day of a lockdown with no real end in sight. In today's episode Mihir chats to Sindhu Ram an LSE Masters student who is currently self-isolating about the government, the media and our communities have responded to the challe…
Barack Obama condemned it. Black American activists championed it. Meghan Markle brought it to the Royal Family. “Wokeness” has become a shorthand for one side of the culture wars, popularising concepts like “white privilege” and “trigger warnings” - and the idea that “language is violence”. Journalist Helen Lewis is on a mission to uncover the roo…
The loss of Labour's traditional northern heartlands was one of the most devastating elements of the 2019 general election defeat. In Episode 9, we explore just how Labour's 'Red Wall' turned blue as we are joined by the former MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, Ruth Smeeth. A full transcription of the episode can be found at our website. If you would li…
Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies explores what the world of work can tells us about inequality and why some towns and cities feel left behind. He finds England is one of the most regionally unequal economies in the developed world. He looks at the differences in wages and opportunities across the county and seeks to understand why t…
Corbyn swept aside all competitors for the Labour leadership contest by promising a radical rethink of the British economy and ending years of Tory austerity. But what are Corbyn’s economic principles, and were they really as popular with the electorate as Labour say? Here to explain those questions and more, Episode 8 of Corbynism: The Post-Mortem…
If you want to understand the global reach of a rising China, visit Vancouver. Canada has been sucked in to an intractable dispute between the US and China after the arrest on an American warrant of Meng Wanzhou, an executive with the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. Beijing’s furious response caught Canada off guard. Two Canadians have been detained…
What exactly is Corbynism? That is the question we set out to answer on Episode 7 of Corbynism: The Post-Mortem, with our special panel of guests featuring the left wing academics behind the book Corbynism: A Critical Approach, Frederick Harry Pitts and Matt Bolton, and music journalist Taylor Parkes, author of one of the most prescient and damning…
If the future of politics must include tackling climate change, it holds that the future should be bright for the Greens. In parts of Europe, their influence is growing. In Germany the Green Party is enjoying unprecedented support. But in the UK there’s only ever been one Green MP and the party won just 2.7 per cent of the vote in last year's elect…
Episode 6 of Corbynism: The Post Mortem we are joined by the Labour Party's MP for Walthamstow Stella Creasy to discuss antisemitism, Brexit, backbench dissent and the fight for the future soul of the Labour Party. A full transcription of the episode can be found on our website. If you would like to support the show, please consider subscribing to …
In a poll last year, two thirds of people suggested that Britain’s exit from the EU was negatively affecting the nation’s mental health. But is that really about customs unions and widget regulations, or is it a more a product of how we think about politics? James Tilley, a professor of politics at Oxford, finds out how our distorted ways of thinki…
In Episode 5 of Corbynism: The Post-Mortem, we take a look at what life was like under Corbyn's tenure for Jewish MPs and how tension grew between the leader's office and the Parliamentary Labour Party, featuring Labour's MP for Barking, Dame Margaret Hodge MP. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan also makes a cameo appearance at the end of the show to share…
The government spends billions on free early years education. The theory goes that this is good for children, their parents and society as a whole. But does the evidence stack up? Despite the policy's lofty intentions, Professor Alison Wolf discovers that the results aren’t at all what anyone expected.Contributors include:Steven Barnett - National …
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4: The 2019 General Election Defeat
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Episode 4 focuses on Labour’s crushing 2019 General Election defeat featuring the BBC’s election wizard Professor Sir John Curtice, the New Statesman’s political editor Stephen Bush, and Labour councillor and data analyst Christabel Cooper, who has recently just co-authored a report into the 2019 result for Europe For The Many. Christobel Cooper's …
The NHS has a unique resource - data. David Edmonds asks whether a combination of data and Artificial Intelligence will transform the future of the NHS. The programme features among others Sir John Bell, who leads the government’s life-sciences industrial strategy and Matthew Gould chief executive of NHSx, the unit set up to lead the NHS's digital …
