Alex Andreou and Naomi Smith talk through the week's news, with a focus on Trump and Musk's assault on federal government - and how it might just turn against them. A detailed report by Frontier Economics AND a megapoll by YouGov, commissioned by Best for Britain, outline stunning growth opportunities - if Starmer goes for the right UK-EU reset. The public is fully behind the idea. Plus, as Reform UK continues to gaslight the country about Brexit and ride high in the polls, there may be a giant ...
Feb 16, 2025•49 min•Season 2Ep. 20
Alex Andreou talks to special guest FT science editor, Michael Peel, about his book "What Everyone Knows About Britain, Except The British". Nostalgia is the disease from which our dysfunctional politics flows. How can we change course? And what could modern Britain be in the future, if it stopped longing for the past? ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “There are probably two types of voter, those who vote emotionally and those who vote emotionally but don't admit that they do.” “The wa...
Feb 14, 2025•37 min•Season 2Ep. 19
Alex Andreou and Naomi Smith welcome special guest founder of Scientists for EU and chair of European Movement UK, Mike Galsworthy to discuss whether it is better to unite pro-European forces behind one mission or let them be a lively, symbiotic ecosystem. Plus a deepdive into the UK's science and technology strategy. Join the US in deregulating? Or join Europe and actively drain science capacity from it? And of course 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPO...
Feb 13, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 18
Alex Andreou and Naomi Smith talk through the week's news, with a focus on Trump and Musk's assault on federal government - and how it might just turn against them. A detailed report by Frontier Economics AND a megapoll by YouGov, commissioned by Best for Britain, outline stunning growth opportunities - if Starmer goes for the right UK-EU reset. The public is fully behind the idea. Plus, as Reform UK continues to gaslight the country about Brexit and ride high in the polls, there may be a giant ...
Feb 09, 2025•45 min•Season 2Ep. 17
Alex Andreou and Naomi Smith (fresh from Brussels) welcome special guest Rachel Shabi to discuss her new book on antisemitism, Trump's proposed cash + ethnic cleansing deal, Starmer trying to make himself invisible, while negotiating with Europe, and the general fever dream we seem to be living through. Plus a stunning audio letter from Arthur Snell in Israel. And of course 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “The only way to stand up to Trump is col...
Feb 06, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Naomi Smith and Kenny Campbell discuss Trump's vile comments on the Washington air disaster and his economically illiterate view of tariffs. Also, the atmosphere in Germany, with three weeks to the election, could not be more febrile. Plus 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “Is there any evidence that people with, to quote Trump, ‘severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities’ can become air-traffic controllers? Or is it more likely that they just end President of...
Feb 02, 2025•43 min•Season 2Ep. 15
Alex Andreou, Naomi Smith with special guest migration, policy one-woman army, Zoe Gardner ask what happened to the sunlit uplands, the magical cake, the oven ready pie - and all the other things we were promised in 2016. Also, a frank discussion about Britain's true immigration problem: that numbers are dropping off a cliff. Plus 'Wokey Dokey' and a Dramatic Reading of Daniel Hannan. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “The arguments for Brexit were masking something much more sinister a...
Jan 30, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Alex welcomes special guest, former diplomat Arthur Snell to discuss the future of NATO, Ukraine, Gaza, Syria - and whether The West, capitalised as one entity, may be coming to the end of the unity of purpose which has sustained it since the 40s. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Arthur's Behind the Lines is here. Conclusive video evidence that Trump is definitely the same height and weight as Gavin Newsom can be found here. ______________________ “Trump picks these crazy appointments,...
Jan 26, 2025•45 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Alex Andreou, Naomi Smith with special guest USA Politics Guru, Dr. Brian Klaas, look at the flurry of executive orders and try to sort the wheat from the chaff. And how should Europe respond? Which fights are not worth fighting and where the red lines should be drawn. Plus 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin and Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “Donald Trump simultaneously says we should execute drug dealers and pardoned the largest drug market creator in human history. And so he is cr...
Jan 24, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Join us for some group therapy! Naomi and Alex welcome back 38Degrees CEO and former Obama campaign staffer Matthew McGregor with some first impressions of Trump's low-energy inauguration speech, his high-energy overflow speech, Melania's get-away-from-me-energy hat and Musk's chemically-enhanced-energy salute. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** "So much of it was about him. So much of it was about how he's the best and how he's suffered and how he's the victim. Contrast that with 'ask n...
Jan 21, 2025•46 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Naomi and Alex look at the week's news, focussing on Starmer's visit to Poland and Donald Tusk's dream of a "Breturn". Also, the markets have made a remarkable recovery and the media, obsessed with gilt rates until last week, appear not to have noticed - it's almost like there's an agenda there. Plus, TikTok "goes dark" in the US, but has Trump changed his mind? ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “Tusk is successful where the Remain campaign was not. He makes the emotional appeal. He goe...
Jan 20, 2025•42 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Alice Jolly taught at Oxford for 16 years ... until she had the temerity to complain about her pay. Sacked from a job she loved, she took the university to court over her employment rights and won a famous victory. But what are the broader lessons for the world of academia? In this Quiet Riot special, Naomi Smith talks with Alice, an award-winning writer and academic, about a sector that contributes £265billion to the economy yet where a deeply disturbing number of universities are running at a ...
Jan 17, 2025•23 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Alex Andreou, Naomi Smith with special guest Guardian columnist Zoe Williams assess Labour's first 200 days in power, in pretty frank, no-holds-barred conversation. And, as the Trump cabinet confirmation hearing stun Capitol Hill, the gang engage is some preemptive group therapy on how to survive the next four years of Trump. Plus 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin and Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “There is a real problem with Keir’s cabinet and Keir’s government… He will not let a...
Jan 16, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Naomi and Alex look at the week's news, focussing on the market turmoil and pressure on Reeves, Trump's felony conviction, and Farage under increasing pressure from his own members for - WAIT FOR IT! - being too moderate. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “Trump did this before his 2017 inauguration. He is manipulating markets. Causing a volatile period with negative movement. He threatens lots of stuff. He then gets sworn in and tones it down. Everything resets and he comes out and cla...
Jan 13, 2025•44 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Alex Andreou talks to top economist Vicky Pryce, to get to the bottom of what is behind market volatility and high gov't borrowing rates, how much of it is inherited, how much of it international, how much down to the gov't, what can be done to fix it, and why it isn't being done. Much of it not as you might expect. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “The US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England missed a trick. The confidence of central banks was impacted quite badly when they were see...
Jan 10, 2025•30 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Alex Andreou, Naomi Smith with special guest Dame Emily Thornberry try to decipher the incoherent tweets of Musk, the incoherent strategy of Badenoch, and the incoherent ramblings of Trump. Plus 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin and Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** "The idea that they can just play political games on the bodies of these girls, whose lives would have been turned upside down by what happened, to have it all raked over again and again for petty point scoring. The stakes ...
Jan 09, 2025•56 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Naomi and Alex give their instant reaction to the rapidly spiralling Musk breakdown, Starmer's strong response, the Tory Party's weak response - and Justin Trudeau's resignation. "One thing that UK gov't could do straight away, is to move all of its departments and ministries off X. What are they still doing there? What are official gov't accounts still doing on X, while the PM is saying that it is now a site dedicated to disinformation?" ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Stephen Bush's...
Jan 08, 2025•28 min•Season 2Ep. 4
In the words of Jon Snow, "winter is coming". Naomi and Alex look at the cold winds blowing in from the East, as Ukraine cuts Europe off its Putin habit, from the West, as Musk goes too far right even for Farage's taste, and from the South, where Suella Braverman can be found admiring the Italy-Turkey border. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Statista's monthly figures on boat crossings. Click here for your Quiet Riot Bluesky Starter Pack. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit ou...
Jan 05, 2025•43 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Alex chats to eminent scenario planner, futurologist, and best-selling author Richard Watson about whether there is any point predicting anything in such a volatile environment and finds that scenario planning is not a passive pursuit but about shaping the future. A wide-ranging, illuminating, and inspirational conversation. Stay tuned to the end for a goodies giveaway! ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “I’m not trying to be right about things. I’m trying to help people be less wrong. W...
Jan 03, 2025•37 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Alex, Naomi, and Kenny discuss the most important trends of 2024 and what they might augur for 2025. PLUS their most out-there predictions! ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Alex: “The reaction to progress is not an attempt to stand still, to remain the same, but an active attempt to reverse progress. Progress is not some axiomatic force that will do its thing without our shoulder to the wheel.” Naomi: “Big Tech enjoying access will continue and end up crossing every conflict of interes...
Jan 01, 2025•44 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Attention polling geeks, politics geeks and students of the world ... what can Taylor Swift tell us about the world of politics? How about Beyoncé? And, sticking with a pop theme, how about Waterloo? Naomi Smith returns with the second part of her festive Poll The Other One special, this time with Focaldata chief research officer James Kanagasooriam who, as well as being heroically knowledgeable about all things polling, also coined the phrase Red Wall. Yes, *that* Red Wall. This episode is abso...
Dec 29, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 112
LOBBY JOURNALISTS DO BATTLE FOR THE QUIZ CHAMPION CROWN. Quizmaster Naomi grills The Guardian's Zoe Williams, The Times' Caroline Wheeler, Politics Home's Adam Payne, Conservative Home's Henry Hill, and award-winning Welsh politics guru, Will Hayward. And they also share their political moment of the year. Which one will triumph and who will disgrace themselves? ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Find us on Facebook and Twitter as @quietriotpod and on Bluesky. Click here for your Quiet R...
Dec 26, 2024•33 min•Season 1Ep. 111
Alex Andreou and Naomi Smith welcome two very special guests - their best friends Nigel Smith and Nigella Lawson. Recorded with a special live audience of many of our previous guests, in this PART II we look forward to 2025, take questions from the audience, and - of course - talk all about FOOD!!! ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “If you hurry the cooking of an onion, all is lost.” “I would win Ready, Steady, Cook. I would be very good at that.” “I don’t like gadgets that lock you out...
Dec 26, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 110
Alex and Naomi talk to a pantheon of special guests to dissect the week's news. Arthur Snell on the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas Market and a new breed of self-radicalised individual who fits no profile. Ian Dunt on the latest peers elevated to the Lords. Zoe Williams on the backlash over gov't denying compensation to WASPI women. Peter Geoghegan on the first cracks appearing in the Trump/Musk bromance and dark money. A special episode to end the year. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPO...
Dec 22, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 109
***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Hallmark has pumped out over 800 of these original movies - and I use the term original very loosely. Its countdown to Xmas generates over a third of its entire revenue during this one month. But where do these films have their roots? Are they a new phenomenon or just the modern version of Pride & Prejudice? Are they an anti-capitalist subversion teaching that work and materialism do not equal happiness? Or a MAGA misogynist festival that seeks to h...
Dec 21, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 108
Alex Andreou and Naomi Smith welcome two very special guests - their best friends Nigel Smith and Nigella Lawson - to look back at a momentous year, the moments that have depressed, delighted, and surprised them, the people they have admired and the telly they have binged. As well as an incredible six months of Quiet Riot. Recorded with a special live audience of many of our previous guests! Plus the 'Wokiest Dokiest' of 2024. PART II is out on Christmas Eve and is all about FOOD!!! ***SPONSOR U...
Dec 20, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 107
***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Naomi is joined by a Quiet Riot regular, More in Common's Luke Tryl, to discuss polling trends of 2024, what pollsters got right, what they got wrong, the horseshoe theory, the differences between online and telephone polls, why blending focus groups with polling helps improve predictions and what are the indications for next year. Fill yer boots, as they say. PLUS the insight you have all been waiting for: what is the most popular Xmas movie respective...
Dec 17, 2024•33 min•Season 1Ep. 106
***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Naomi and Alex look at yet another two horrible consequences of Brexit - the grift that keeps on taking - in the rather esoteric GPSR that seems to have caught both government and business unaware, as well as the labour shortages that may scupper gov't plans to build 1.5m homes. Plus, Laura Kuenssberg gets an award and Steven Bartlett explains his views on medicine. Have we sacrificed accuracy in the service of balance? Click here for your Quiet Riot Bl...
Dec 15, 2024•41 min•Season 1Ep. 105
Alex Andreou talks to former diplomat and host of the Behind The Lines podcast, Arthur Snell, to try and construct some order out of the recent chaos in Syria. Who are the good guys? What does this mean for Israel? How exposed is Iran? Is it an opportunity for the Kurds to carve out a state? What is Türkiye's agenda? How does this impact Russia and Putin in both practical and reputational terms? What is next for Assad? ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “Who can rebuild a country, after ...
Dec 14, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 104
Alex Andreou, Naomi Smith and special guest investigative journalist Peter Geoghegan discuss the huge amounts of money that is currently flowing into our politics, the ways in which it is corrupting our democracy, and what we can do about it. And in Part II, the very narrow path left to the Labour government, because of a lack of money. Plus 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin and Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** "In 2023 two-thirds of all the money raised in British politics came from ...
Dec 12, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 103
