Rachel Reeves’s spring not-a-budget has gone down like a cup of cold sick and many Labour supporters are asking what they’re backing the party for. Is Labour on the verge of losing popular confidence – and could it win it back? Plus, as Trump gets weirder and weirder we look at two movies that explain the trashy allure of American fascism: Paul Verhoeven’s hyperviolent sci-fi satires Robocop and Starship Troopers. Would you like to know more…? • Listen to The Bunker: Northern uproar – How Canada...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 429
Rachel Reeves’ Spring not-a-budget Statement is out and it’s hard to take. What’s in it, what’s not, and are we all going to be rich now (hard no)? Plus, the return of Donald Trump has been hard to ignore – but should we wean ourselves off American politics, in favour of sorting out our own problems closer to home? And in the Extra Bit for Patreon backers: Everyone on the panel speaks a second language. How important are they and is Duolingo the right way to go? We’re on YouTube!: https://www.yo...
Mar 28, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 428
Kemi Badenoch was supposed to reboot and re-energise the Tories. Now she’s tanking in the polls and flailing in the Commons. If she can’t beat Farage, will her leadership make it to the end of the summer? Plus, America’s slide from functioning democracy to autocracy summons up dark memories of when the same thing happened to the Ancient Roman republic. Classics lovers Rachel Cunliffe and Jonn Elledge join Zöe Grünewald and Andrew Harrison to ask whether the Fall of Roman democracy is a warning o...
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 427
It’s been five years since Boris Johnson announced the UK’s first Covid-19 lockdown. How much did that strange time in our recent history change the world we live in today? What lessons have we learned? And what hasn’t gone back to how it was before Covid-19 took hold of our lives? Christina Pagel is a professor of operational research at University College London and a member of Independent SAGE and joins the panel for an important two-part discussion. We’re on YouTube!: https://www.youtube.com...
Mar 21, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Season 2Ep. 426
Trump’s election win delighted Farage, the Telegraph, GB News and the Tory Right – but since then the President’s behaviour has horrified British voters. Has the British Right bet on the wrong horse? And will it pay a price for backing a man who seems intent in punishing Europe? Plus, if you like TV but haven’t seen Adolescence yet – do. The harrowing knife crime drama starring Stephen Graham takes in the ‘Manosphere’, social media and what that toxic mix can do to our young people. What does it...
Mar 18, 2025•57 min•Season 2Ep. 425
With defence spending rising and welfare cuts causing unease, is it finally time for Labour to bite the bullet and raise taxes? Plus, DOGE has been tearing the US government apart at breakneck speed. But are Elon Musk and his band of merry nerds doing it legally and what could the consequences be to everyday Americans? Dr. Casey Burgat, author of We Hold These “Truths”: How to Spot the Myths that are Holding America Back and host of the Mastering the Room podcast. joins the panel to get into it....
Mar 14, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 2Ep. 424
Has Keir Starmer finally found a crisis he can excel in? Will his supposedly boring manner and measured approach steer Britain and Europe through the Trump-Ukraine horror show? And will he eventually have to stop pretending he’s best friends forever with Trump? Plus, UK universities are going through a bit of a crisis. Are they still the pathway to bring young people out of poverty that they were? We find out from Exeter University’s Lee Elliot Major, the first UK professor on social mobility. •...
Mar 11, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 423
As Trump freezes aid for Ukraine and Vance appears to call the UK or France a “random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years" – have we reached the end of the post-war world? And will the second coming of Trump result in the death of NATO? Peter Apps is the author of Deterring Armageddon: A Biography of NATO and joins the panel. Plus, what parts of the media are covering the Trump administration particularly poorly, and how difficult has reporting on it all been? And in the Extra Bit...
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 422
After the callous and cowardly attack on Zelensky in the White House, will support from European leaders be enough to compensate for Trump’s contempt for Ukraine? And does Starmer have a new job as official Trump Whisperer? Plus, back home, can Labour get the growth it needs without finally delivering for the North? Matt Kelly, editor-in-chief of The New European, co-host of podcast The Two Matts and real-life northerner joins us to thrash it out We’re on YouTube!: https://www.youtube.com/@ohgod...
Mar 04, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 421
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
