“A bingo card of Tory sleaze…” It’s COP26 week so naturally the Tory Government puts the recycling out – bringing back 90s corruption by overturning the suspension of self-enriching paid lobbyist MP OWEN PATERSON. What were they thinking, will it bite them back in the end, what exactly were Randox getting for their money, and can we consign “standards in public life” to the box of quaint historic relics? Plus our guest this week is PAUL HAWKEN, author of Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis i...
Nov 05, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 61
The Government sanctions explosive leaks of noxious material, leaving the country nauseated. But enough about the Budget. As National Sewage Week comes to a glorious end, we reach around the political S-Bend to see what Rishi Sunak has left in Britain’s economic pan. Also we welcome guest MICHAEL BRADDICK, author of 'A Useful History of Britain: The Politics of Getting Things Done’ to ask if ‘Britishness’ really exists. Plus, what would our panel do if they were dictators? * “Clean water would b...
Oct 29, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 60
MPs want the Online Harms Bill to be tightened to take in “hateful speech” – yet the murder of David Amess appears to have had nothing to do with social media. Are they trying to insulate themselves from criticism. Special guest, news and policy blogger David Allen Green , joins us to look at the fallout from David Amess’s killing, plus the confirmation that, yes, the UK government signed the Withdrawal Agreement always intending to break it. “Just because extremists are on social media, it does...
Oct 22, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 59
Brexit’s back! Unelected bureaucrat Lord Frost resurrects the nightmare by tearing into the disgraceful deal and NI Protocol negotiated by dastardly unelected bureaucrat Lord Frost. Wait til he finds that guy… Plus, Johnson re-enacts the late 70s by going on holiday during a national crisis and unfortunately misses the interim COVID report which pins a large chunk of blame on Boris Johnson. Just another perfectly normal week in a perfectly normal country. “Johnson is like a man who has pissed th...
Oct 15, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 58
An extra for Oh God What Now listeners! Every Monday morning we put out an exclusive, brand new microcast for our Patreon backers , called (inevitably) OH GOD, WHAT ELSE? Our regulars tide you over between episodes by talking about politics but also politics-adjacent stuff like movies, food and the terrible decisions they’ve made in life. Here’s a supercut taster edition so you can hear what you’re missing. If you’d like to get OH GOD WHAT ELSE every Monday morning, search PATREON OH GOD WHAT NO...
Oct 13, 2021•20 min•Season 2Ep. 57
As the Conservatives drift through a self-congratulatory conference, special guest David Gauke – former Conservative Justice Secretary, now rōnin of old-school Toryism – joins us to sieve Johnson’s speech for an atom of real content. Plus, does the BBC’s Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution give us new insight into the TBGBs? And after Facebook goes down, would we miss it if it went away forever? “Johnson’s speech was jibbered nonsense, like a human jelly spitting at you for 45 minutes.”...
Oct 08, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 56
So, how did that Labour conference go? Did Keir Starmer snatch victory from the jaws of fratricidal defeat with that closing speech? Special guest Clive Lewis MP joins us to work out whether Labour is back on the road to recovery – and what was missing from the Conference. Plus, the German elections a row of light for the centre-left? And is it really so terrible if politicians call other politicians “scum”? “If you were casting hecklers to look mad and unsympathetic, you couldn’t have done a be...
Oct 01, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 55
This week, Mr Spaff Goes to Washington. But as Boris Johnson chums up to Joe Biden, an energy crisis is looming back home. With two providers collapsing and more on the way, what does the winter have in store? And on Saturday the Labour Party conference kicks off at the scene of Neil Kinnock's seaside tumble in Brighton. Can Keir Starmer capture a post-Covid comeback with his own Militant moment? Guardian journalist and host of Politics on the Couch RAFAEL BEHR joins the panel to hash out this w...
Sep 24, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 54
Recorded before this week’s reshuffle was finalised. For full analysis, listen to our Emergency Pod! As Boris Johnson kicks Gavin Williamson out from the cabinet, the issues of trade with the EU, especially in Northern Ireland , have been kicked into the long grass once again. Independent MLA Claire Sugden joins the panel for the view from across the Irish Sea. Plus, as the chess pieces move around him, Health Sec Sajid Javid announces the government’s plan to tackle Covid in England over the wi...
Sep 17, 2021•56 min•Season 2Ep. 53
The mince pies and P45s arrive on the shelves earlier every year. That’s right, it’s reshuffle season - and we’re here with an emergency pod to assess the latest shower of sycophants. With Oliver Dowden taking over as party chair, are the Tories now on election footing? What awaits the justice system with Dominic Raab in charge? Can the panel bring themselves to speak the name of the new Culture Secretary, Nadin- Nadine Do- Na- oh, never mind, we can’t do it either. “It’s sense of moral despair ...
Sep 16, 2021•25 min•Season 2Ep. 52
Does it matter when a Government breaks a keystone promise? Former Blair advisor John McTernan joins us to look at Boris Johnson’s punitive National Insurance hike and ask whether even a serial liar can get away with a whopper like this. What sort of devil is in the detail of the Government’s social care plans? Plus, on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 we ask whether the baleful effects of the terrorist attacks on Western politics could ever have played out differently. “Breaking a promise is a prof...
Sep 10, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 51
With Afghanistan left to the mercies of the Taliban, Dominic Raab filibusters his own Foreign Affairs committee and ensures that no lessons are learned. Ian gives his verdict on the Pen Farthing pet evacuation spectacle. Plus, the five big issues on the Government’s plate in the autumn. And with Michael Gove out dancing in Aberdeen, we ponder the loneliness of the single politician on the pull. “Pen Farthing made me so angry I could burst through my skin.” – Ian Dunt “The very wealthy old men wh...
Sep 03, 2021•59 min•Season 2Ep. 50
As Dominic Raab tries to get his deposit back from Tui, we ask how he got here and what he wants. Meanwhile the pandemic recedes, exposing supply chains and worker pools dangerously denuded by Brexit – meaning empty shelves, shuttered shops, care homes without carers, and missing milkshakes at McDonald’s. How is the Government going to get out of this one? Our special guest is Independent sketchwriter Tom Peck . “If you’re fleeing the Taliban, you don’t have time to fill in a form and wait for a...
Aug 27, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 49
The Government’s flat-footed and callous response to the collapse of Afghanistan and the resultant refugee crisis has enraged even the House of Commons. What should Britain do to help the people who helped us? And was the whole enterprise for nothing? Also, after the the horrific killings in Plymouth, should we see the incel culture as terrorism? “This is cutting deep into the Tories’ idea of who we are… They have woken up to the fact that Biden like Trump is pursuing an America First policy.” –...
Aug 20, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 48
As the shine comes off the Prime Minister and the Cabinet gets fractious, is the country ready for a brutal Rishi-on-Boris battle? Special guest Gracie Bradley , interim director of Liberty, takes us through the Government’s suite of repressive civil liberties legislation. What can listeners can do about them? Plus, in the Extra Bit, the frankly astonishing tale of teenage Minnie Rahman’s meeting with… David Cameron? “Boris Johnson has no principles. Rishi Sunak has terrible principles. Take you...
Aug 13, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 47
With new cases of COVID declining, are we really seeing COVID dwindle? Or is this the calm before the next wave? The expert’s expert Christina Pagel of independent SAGE joins us to explain whether we really are turning the corner. Plus, what does the Tories’ ‘Advisory Board’ tell us about cronyism, nepotism and how our governing party preserves its privilege? Ete operae pretium sit Latine discendi? “It’s fair to say that nobody was expecting the decline in COVID infections… What this ISN’T is he...
Aug 06, 2021•58 min•Season 1Ep. 46
What if they held a Culture War and nobody turned up? A new report says Jo and Josephine Public are less riled by hot button rage issues than we think. Plus, all of a sudden Johnson is wobbling, with a disastrous crime policy launch, his vapid “levelling up” speech, and cratering approval numbers. Are Labour finally making headway on policy or is Johnson getting found out? Plus, the world’s least sporty panel discusses the Olympics. “Maybe the Government’s plan is to make the roads so unsafe we ...
Jul 29, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 45
As Cummings:Kuenssberg gives us yet more Classic Dom content, are we now fine with unelected advisors trying to topple Prime Ministers – or for that matter, Prime Ministers giving the Queen COVID? Freedom Week : has the Government just given up trying to control the virus? Special guest Charles Arthur , author of Social Warming: The Dangerous and Polarising Effects of Social Media , explain the forces that make Facebook and Twitter increasingly noxious. And 60 glorious years of Prime Minister’s ...
Jul 23, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 44
Johnson and Patel’s dog-whistling finally brings all the racists to football’s yard (who could have predicted this??) but England’s young black players are making fools of their critics. As the country lines up behind Rashford, Saka, Sancho and Mings, is the Culture War about to consume the chancers who started it? Plus, libertarian dogma is frogmarching us towards the indiscriminate unlocking of ‘Freedom Day’ – but what are we going to do with the fun-hating 26% of the population who think club...
Jul 16, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 43
As the Government abandons clear rules for “common sense” and “personal responsibility”, even Sajid Javid admits we’re entering “uncharted territory”. We find out why Priti Patel’s latest immigration regulations amount to one big xenophobic, mendacious grey area. Our special guest is Sara Gibbs , comedy writer for HIGNFY, Dead Ringers and The Mash Report and author of the memoir of her autism diagnosis Drama Queen . And friend of the podcast Gavin Esler risks his status as a Scot by telling us w...
Jul 09, 2021•55 min•Season 2Ep. 41
Labour wins something shocker! As Kim Leadbeater ’s victory in the most rancid by-election of modern times ignites a festival of pundit hindsight, we bring the panel together to assess Labour’s tight squeeze in Batley and Spen. How did she do it? What does it mean for Starmer? Did Galloway’s 8,000 votes constitute some sort of success? Can the Tories really blame their defeat all on Hancock? And was it Naomi Smith’s leafletting wot won it? “Kim Leadbeater ploughed her own furrow and was rewarded...
Jul 02, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 40
Does LOVE RAT MATT’s embarrassing self-own tell us anything we didn’t already know about Boris Johnson’s moral universe? And should we stop chortling given that his replacement Said Javid is promising “irreversible” unlocking? Why is Batley and Spen the ugliest by-election in recent history, and how much of that is George Galloway’s fault? Plus, the fiasco of isolation for hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren. And what’s going wrong at GB News ? • “You can’t have ethics and standards as a res...
Jul 02, 2021•54 min•Season 2Ep. 39
“Happy” Referendum-versary! Special guest Ailbhe Rae of the New Statesman joins us to look at the meaning of the Lib Dem victory in Chesham and Amersham – don’t mention the Blue Wall – and explain what the DUP’s current game of Musical Stegosauruses means for Northern Ireland. Plus as Dido Harding offers to head the NHS and rid it of those pesky foreign nurses, we take a look at the Toryverse’s most inveterate failer-upper. And what would we do if WE were forced to take the plum job of Governmen...
Jun 25, 2021•55 min•Season 2Ep. 38
As yet another self-justifying Dominic Cummings megablog arrives, will this latest real-life No.10 Spider-Man meme affect actual politics? Barrister Jolyon Maugham joins us to explain “de facto opposition” the Good Law Project’s work on the Government’s breathtaking cronyism and back-handers, and what happens in a country where there’s no cost to lawbreaking. And five years on from the Brexit vote, Tom Peck of The Independent joins us to look at the Referendum winners who lost – and the losers w...
Jun 18, 2021•57 min•Season 2Ep. 37
Will US journalist Tom McTague’s lengthy profile for The Atlantic help us comprehend the dumbfounding appeal of Prime Minister Posh Benny Hill? Plus, what does the G7’s Biden-boosted tax rate for multinationals tell us about legislating against companies that are bigger than countries? And on the eve of the Euros, our not-very-football panel ponder the most political preamble to a sporting tournament ever. • “Johnson is a master of getting away with it. He’s that breed of privileged person who f...
Jun 11, 2021•49 min•Season 2Ep. 36
As Britain’s hostile border environment starts to entrap visitors from the EU, is the Home Office’s Brexit-infected immigration arm out of control? And why does the Home Office turn reasonable Ministers into monsters? Plus, new Netflix documentary Nail Bomber: Manhunt unravels the story of the neo-Nazi terrorist who bombed Brick Lane, Brixton and the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho in 1999. What it teach us now that far right terror is once again on the rise? • “The Home Office is like a giant game o...
Jun 04, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 35
It’s our FOURTH BIRTHDAY edition! And what a sumptuous spread Classic Dom has laid on for us. The classic line-up of Dorian, Naomi, Ros, Alex and Ian reassemble in an actual physical studio (!) to discuss Cummings’ committee drive-by on Johnson and his vendetta against multi-sackable Matt Hancock, and why he supported a PM he knew was unfit for the job. Plus a special treat for listeners: yes, we’re talking about the Progressive Alliance! This edition out early as a special bonus for our loyal l...
May 27, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 34
So, Brexit five months in – how’s it going? As the Government prepares to pauperise Britain’s farmers with its Australian trade deal, and as Unionists compare the NI Protocol to the Vichy Regime, are the wheels finally off the Brexit bus? Plus the FT’s Chief Political Correspondent Jim Pickard joins us to look at David Cameron’s performance in committee and how the Greensill saga is playing out. And we say goodbye to a beloved friend of the podcast. Audio warning: Jim is recording from inside a ...
May 21, 2021•56 min•Season 2Ep. 33
As the Government celebrates its electoral victories with a bout of naked voter suppression and intimidation of protest, we look at Labour’s farcical response and where the party goes from here. Plus we talk to Jonathan Calvert and George Arbuthnot, co-authors of Failures Of State: The Inside Story Of Britain’s Battle With Coronavirus. Exactly what went wrong in the pandemic response and how can a colossal crime of Government negligence happen in plain sight – and go unreported? • “It’s almost a...
May 14, 2021•58 min•Season 2Ep. 32
On the eve of what looks like a not-great election day for everyone who isn’t Boris Johnson, the SNP, a Labour metro mayor or Count Binface, are we witnessing the final mopping up of the 2019 General Election? The Independent’s sketchwriter TOM PECK joins us for Election Doomwatch ’21. Plus, the Conservatives pack cultural institutions in an act of Home Counties Orbanism. And why do politicians insist on being photographed with pints? • “If I could tell you why people aren’t angry, believe me I’...
May 07, 2021•56 min•Season 2Ep. 31
