Keir Starmer’s decision to raise defence spending and cut foreign aid has raised a whole load of questions (but not any asked by Kemi Badenoch because she’s, like, really bad at that). Is cutting aid the right choice? Are we ready for war? And is this the start of Starmer being tougher towards Trump? Plus: is centrism dead? Award-winning pollster and former President of YouGov Peter Kellner joins us to discuss why it just might be. And in the Extra Bit for Patreon backers, Boris Johnson keeps re...
Feb 28, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 420
Even though the AFD didn’t win the German election, the far-right party still doubled its vote. Has Germany dodged a bullet? And is America now the enemy of Europe? German politics Professor Rudi Wurzel joins the podcast to get into it all. Plus, How can we deal with a world where politics forces itself into everything? We’re on YouTube!: https://www.youtube.com/@ohgodwhatnow www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison, with Hannah Fearn, and Gavin Esler. Producer: Chris Jones Audi...
Feb 25, 2025•59 min•Season 2Ep. 419
Trump’s decision to rip up 80 years of transatlantic security co-operation leaves Europe in a panic. What happens when America lines up with a despot like Putin? Can Europe afford to defend itself? Dr Julie Norman of UCL joins us to look at the alarming new security environment. Plus, with Badenoch’s Tories in an apparent doom spiral, we look at why politics needs a functioning opposition. And in the Extra Bit for Patreons: White Lotus is back and the Murdoch family hate each other. Why do we lo...
Feb 20, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Season 2Ep. 418
US Vice President JD Vance proves himself to be as much an arse as his boss with a hateful, trollish performance at the Munich Security Conference. Will his culture war insults and support for the European far-right signal the final end of the Atlanticist dream… and is Ukraine now doomed? Plus, only 40% of 18-27 year olds say they’re proud of Britain. Can we blame them? And should we persuade them otherwise? And we go inside Labour’s pledge to build 12 new towns nationwide by the next election t...
Feb 18, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 417
Labour’s ‘crackdown’ on illegal workers was an obvious ploy to tame Reform UK’s growing influence. But will Starmer’s Labour alienate its own supporters just to chase voters who’ll always hate them? Plus, only one in five Brits approve of the government’s handling of crime. Will Labour turn that around with the PM’s experience of the justice system? Are the police even fit for purpose? Former Met Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe joins the podcast. And in the Extra Bit for Patreons… After J...
Feb 14, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 416
Keir Starmer may have been enduring stormy weather since winning power – but is the sky really falling in, as parts of the media think? And why are so many UK commentators and pundits addicted to the idea that we’re living in times of ultimate crisis? Plus, it’s 100 days since Kemi Badenoch took on the Tory leadership. Has she turned the party's fortunes around and made her party a laughing stock no longer? No, no she hasn’t. Why not? And what type of leader has she shown herself to be? • We’re ...
Feb 11, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 2Ep. 415
Donald Trump and his evil nerd henchman Elon Musk continue to “flood the zone” with new harmful executive orders and bullshit headlines. How do we figure out what matters and what doesn’t? Plus, Reform UK has – somehow – topped a poll as the UK’s most popular political party. Should we stop paying so much attention to polls, and letting them set the agenda? Plus in the Extra Bit for supporters: research suggests some people get as many as two scam phone calls a day! The panel discusses how to sp...
Feb 07, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 414
As Keir Starmer visits Brussels for a meeting with European Union leaders, Trump has the EU in his sights. But Trump says Starmer is “nice”, so will Britain get away unscathed from new tariffs? It’s quite the predicament for the British PM – will he have to choose between one or the other? And what’s with all the DISRUPTION? From electoral politics to business to popular culture, we’re told that “move fast and break things” is the way to go. Is that why we’re knee-deep in loads of broken stuff? ...
Feb 04, 2025•58 min•Season 2Ep. 413
It’s five years this week since we left the EU. Isn’t everything going brilliantly? Special guest Anand Menon of UK In A Changing Europe joins us to assess the many, many achievements of Global Britain. Has Brexit changed Britain irrevocably? What destroyed the Tory party: leaving the EU, Liz Truss or Boris Johnson’s own hubris? What’s the real reason why Labour won’t touch this issue? And what happens if a radicalising Europe stops looking like such a secure place to rejoin after all? Plus, in ...
Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 412
BBC politics coverage is in trouble: browbeaten by the Mail and Telegraph, still reeling from Tory intimidation, and addicted to ever-shorter, cheaper, surface coverage in an age that wants depth and complexity. Special guest Steve Richards of the Rock and Roll Politics podcast, himself an ex-BBC politics correspondent, joins us to work out what’s wrong with BBC politics and how to fix it. Plus: Was it so bad that Kemi Badenoch chose ‘Yellow Submarine’ as her favourite Beatles song? And if Keir ...
Jan 28, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 411
Trump starts as viciously as he means to go on, with a confected state of emergency on immigration, attacks on gay and trans people, withdrawals from the Paris Climate agreement and the World Health Organisation, and pardons for the anti-democracy rioters of Jan 6. Reed Galen, co-founder of the anti-MAGA Republican group The Lincoln Project and host of The Home Front podcast, joins us to assess Trump’s first moves and the state of the resistance against him. And in the Extra Bit for Patreon back...
Jan 24, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 2Ep. 410
And so it begins. The second age of Trump is upon us. Are we all braced? All eyes are on what executive orders he will enact in his first week. So, how do we handle Trump’s politics of chaos? Or will we simply have to grin and bear it? Plus, Labour promised “a new deal for working people” before winning the election. Has it kept its promise with the new employment rights bill? General Secretary of the TUC Paul Nowak joins the podcast to get into it all. And, in a special extra, Judge Dredd does ...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 409
As Musk and Zuckerberg vie to enshittify Twitter and Facebook, is the Right’s victory over social media final? Is there something intrinsic to social media that drives its users rightwards (and crazy)? Does Zuckerberg believe in anything at all? Expert in digital politics and radicalisation Alan Finlayson joins us to look at the abasement of Big Tech before Trumpism. Plus: Has Starmer drunk the A.I. Kool-Aid or is it really the key to Britain’s growth conundrum? And in the Extra Bit, why saying ...
Jan 17, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 408
As Britain’s economic growth slows and gilt returns go up (no, we can’t remember what it means either) the Tory press are eager to construct a narrative of “Labour’s mess”. How real is it – and is Chancellor Rachel Reeves really at risk? Plus: Trump wants to annex Canada, Greenland and possibly your house. Are we back to 19th century foreign policy where the world is basically a game of Risk? Seth Thévoz, The New Statesman’s Rachel Cunliffe, comedian Matt Green and Andrew Harrison try to make se...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 407
Senior Tories like Badenoch and Jenrick are cynically following the lead of far-right wackos like Elon Musk to stoke the grooming gangs story. Are there any red lines left for a desperate Conservative Party that will now say things even Nigel Farage won’t? Former editor of The Mirror Alison Phillips joins the panel to get into it all. Plus, it’s a But Your Emails special as we answer as many of our Patreon backers’ questions as we can. And in the Extra Bit for subscribers, is January secretly th...
Jan 10, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 406
We did it, we survived 2024. Now, we face 2025 – a year where the world’s most influential country is headed by a convicted felon. How consequential will Donald Trump and his nerdy henchman, Elon Musk, be? And back home, Labour is taking on its first full year in charge. Keir Starmer has made a lot of promises, can he and his government get any of it done? And what will happen to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK? Our first panel of the year gets into the biggest issues of 2025 and the cast of characters...
Jan 07, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 2Ep. 405
• Last chance to get 20% off a year’s Patreon support for OGWN! Rishi in the rain? Musk ruining everything? Boris Johnson’s stupid book? In the OGWN Political Awards of the Year we choose the defining moments of the year – but also the heroes, villains, and even the reasons to be optimistic for 2025. Dorian Lynskey, Marie le Conte, Ros Taylor and Rafael Behr gather to pore over the entrails of 2024 and name the totemic people and events of the year. Plus, in the Extra Bit for Patreon people: Wha...
Dec 20, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 404
As bad Brexit news piles up, a new poll says that even Leave voters would welcome freedom of movement if it meant access to the Single Market. But is the question of Britain rejoining the EU ever going to make it into mainstream politics conversation? We look at the hurdles. Plus, the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has put the American people’s hatred of their health system in the spotlight. How deep does this resentment run and how did it get so bad that someone would kill over i...
Dec 17, 2024•59 min•Season 2Ep. 403
• Our Cyber Monday sale is still on. Get 20% off a year’s Patreon support for OGWN. Back from the interval? Got your drinks and crisps? Return to London’s legendary Comedy Store to hear Dorian Lynskey, Marie le Conte, Jonn Elledge and special guest John Crace – parliamentary sketchwriter for The Guardian – delve into the wreckage of the French elections, sift the entrails of US Presidential Election 2024, and cheer us up with some party games too. Support us on Patreon to get early access to all...
Dec 13, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 402
• Our Cyber Monday sale is still on. Get 20% off a year’s Patreon support for OGWN Is it that time of year again? Join Dorian Lynskey, Marie le Conte, Jonn Elledge and special guest John Crace – parliamentary sketchwriter for The Guardian – LIVE at London’s Comedy Store for the OGWN Christmas Show 2024. In part one, we look back with disbelief on the UK election and what it all meant… Support us on Patreon to get early access to all our live tickets plus mugs, t-shirts and more. Written and pres...
Dec 12, 2024•55 min•Season 2Ep. 401
• Get 20% off a year’s Patreon support in our Cyber Monday sale. Why not ask for it for Christmas? Panic stations? Reform UK has overtaken Labour in the polls for the first time. Is this just a standard mid-term setback (albeit a bit early) or is Labour’s real battle with Farage not the Tories? The Guardian’s Polly Toynbee joins us to explore it. Plus, after the Assisted Dying debate, is religion creeping into famously secular British politics? And the highs and lows of the panel’s week. Support...
Dec 10, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 400
• Get 20% off a year’s Patreon support in our Cyber Monday sale. Why not ask for it for Christmas? • Last chance for tickets to our Christmas Live Show on Tue 10 Dec at the Comedy Store London. All we want for Christmas is… a feisty front-foot reset from Labour? Can Keir Starmer turn round the Government supertanker and get the Civil Service to be a little more co-operative towards the Labour agenda? Plus, after Biden’s decision to give his son Hunter an absolute pardon, is there any point mithe...
Dec 05, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 2Ep. 399
• Get 20% off a year’s Patreon support in our Cyber Monday sale. Why not ask for it for Christmas? • Last few tickets for our Christmas Live Show on Tue 10 Dec at the Comedy Store London. 🎵 Shoulda left my phone at home/Cos this is a disaster. 🎵 What does the surprise resignation of Louise Haigh tell us about propriety and forgiveness in the new government? Is it one strike and you’re out? Plus as Labour and the countryside clash we welcome Guy Shrubsole, author of the brilliant book The Lie O...
Dec 03, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 2Ep. 398
• Get 20% off a year’s Patreon support in our Black Friday sale. Why not ask for it for Christmas? • Get your tickets for our Christmas Live Show on Tue 10 Dec at the Comedy Store London. Is Rachel Reeves a Thatcher 2.0 for simply standing by her budget? Or is she right to stick to her guns? Plus, did 1990s lad culture pave the way for the toxic masculinity we see today? We unpack the new Loaded magazine documentary and the lasting impact of lad mag media. Our special guest is The Guardian’s Joh...
Nov 29, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 397
• Get 20% off a year’s Patreon support in our Black Friday sale. Why not ask for it for Christmas? • Get your tickets for our Christmas Live Show on Tue 10 Dec at the Comedy Store London. Barbour-ism begins at home… Could the farm protests become the centre of a new right-wing opposition to Labour? Can Starmer’s team fix their messaging on the inheritance tax issue? And maybe there is two-tier policing, but it benefits you if you’ve got a tractor. Former Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe is ou...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 396
• Get 20% off a year’s Patreon support in our Black Friday sale. Why not ask for it for Christmas? • Get your tickets to our live show at the Comedy Store on Tue 10 Dec here! Keir Starmer’s global adventures have grabbed headlines – and while some think he should spend more time at home, others say he's doing what he needs to do to revive the UK’s international image. Our panel wades into the debate. Plus, is local media dead and buried or can upstarts revive it? Jim Waterson was the Media Edito...
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 395
• Get 20% off a year’s Patreon support for OGWN in our Black Friday sale. Why not drop a heavy hint to the family…? • Get your tickets for our Christmas Live Show on Tue 10 Dec at the Comedy Store London. The X-odus continues – but if we all quit the platform everyone still calls Twitter, are we handing a powerful social media engine to the worst of the far-right? Donald Trump continues to make cabinet appointments “so appalling they seem like performance art”. We get updates on the nightmarish ...
Nov 19, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 394
Get your tickets to our 10th December live show at the Comedy Store here! Trump has started to appoint his evil minions to his cabinet – and we take a breath to look at Badenoch’s new gang back home too. Andy Kroll, investigative reporter for ProPublica and author of A Death on W Street: The Murder of Seth Rich and the Age of Conspiracy, joins the panel to talk through the US side of things, and Dorian, Jonn and Zoe get into the UK news. And, in the Extra Bit for Subscribers, how do you deal wit...
Nov 14, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 393
• Get your tickets for our Christmas Live Show on Tue 10 Dec at the Comedy Store London. The Trump aftermath rumbles on. Farage, Tommy Robinson and the populist right think the GOP’s triumph is theirs too. Are they right? Will an isolationist America really want to export populism around the world? And will Keir Starmer have to choose between the EU and the USA? Plus, as the Democrats tear at one another, what should progressives really confront in the years to come? Could they at least start by...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 2Ep. 392
• Get your tickets to our 10th December live show at the Comedy Store London here! It’s happened, Trump has retaken the White House. How did the orange felon who’s also racist win the election and what might he do now? Andrew Rudalevige is a professor of government at Bowdoin College and joins the panel to confront it all. Plus, in the run-up to Remembrance Day, we dig up the strange evolution of poppy mania. And in the Extra Bit for subscribers, the panel ventures out of their comfort zones to ...
Nov 07, 2024•59 min•Season 2Ep. 391
