Most people in the UK would take pride in the fact that whatever your political persuasion you can take part in free and fair elections. But two new reports suggest that this right isn’t always all it seems.

 

The Electoral Commission – the government’s own watchdog – has warned that hundreds of thousands of people could be excluded from voting the next time the country goes to the polls because of new laws on voter ID. 4% of those who didn’t vote in the local council elections in May told the Commission that ID was an issue for them, and that figure rose for those who were from minority backgrounds, younger voters and people with disabilities.

And when we do vote? Well a new report by Institute For Government and the Bennett Institute For Public Policy concludes that many people feel disempowered, not least because our first past the post system means that many who vote for smaller parties can feel their vote has been wasted.

Adrian Goldberg hears from Byline Times political editor Adam Bienkov, Dr Jess Garland, Director of Research and Policy for the Electoral Reform Society Shaun Roberts, Director of Campaigns, at Unlock Democracy.

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.

 

Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.

 

Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times.

 

On the weekend that this podcast is released, Saudi Arabia will be playing two international football matches at Newcastle United’s St James Park, against Costa Rica and South Korea - but the results won’t really matter, and not just because the games are friendlies.

 

Critics say that whatever the final scores, the despotic regime of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) will already have won, simply by virtue of being allowed to host such prestigious games at a venerated English football stadium.

 

The Saudi Public Investment Fund bought Newcastle in 2021, which many observers regarded as a classic case of "sportswashing"; a regime notorious for human rights abuses seeking to create a more positive image for itself. The staging of these friendlies is being seen as another step towards the 'normalisation' of a state renowned for its human rights abuses.

 

Ahead of the Saudi friendlies, Adrian Goldberg travelled to St James Park to meet John Hird, a lifelong Newcastle United fan and founder of NUFC Against Sportswashing, and Lina Al Hathloul, from Saudi human rights organisation ALQST. 

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.

 

Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.

 

Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times.

London is about to have the world’s largest pollution charging area, as the capital’s outer suburbs are added to the inner city Ultra Low Emission Zone - ULEZ. Drivers of vehicles that don’t meet emissions standards will be charged £12.50 a day – with motorists facing the threat of a £180 fine if they don’t comply.

 

ULEZ expansion was widely regarded as a key factor in the Conservatives holding onto Boris Johnson’s old Uxbridge seat in a recent by election; and unlike in other English cities the government is refusing to fund a scrappage scheme for non compliant cars. That's led to claims by London Mayor Sadiq Khan that they are weaponising air pollution.

Adrian Goldberg hears from mum of two Parisa Wright from Bromley, the founder of the charity Greener and Cleaner; and Oli Lord, Head of Strategy at Clean Cities Campaign UK.

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.

 

Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.

 

Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times.

The life and death of Yevgeny Prigozhin tells us much about modern Russia. After spending years in prison, he launched a business career in St Petersburg in the 1990s, supported by former KGB agent Vladimir Putin.

Prigozhin became the figurehead of the Wagner mercenary group, whose troops supported the regular Russian army in Ukraine before launching a short-lived rebellion against Putin, now his country's President.

 

The cause of crash in which he died is still unknown, but it conforms with a familiar pattern of those who’ve crossed Putin.

 

Adrian Goldberg talks to reporter Zarine Zabrisky in Odessa, Ukraine about Prighozin's rise - and demise.

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.

 

Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.

 

Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times.

Adrian Goldberg hears from Nathan Akehurst a British volunteer, working on a search and rescue boat in the Mediterranean. The vessel - the Sea Eye IV - has been impounded by the Italian authorities after saving 114 migrants who'd been drifting for days without food, fuel, and water. 

 

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.

 

Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.

 

Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times.

Adrian Goldberg hears from former US congressman Joe Walsh, once a member of the low tax, socially conservative Tea Party faction of the Republican party, who supported Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016. Joe has since been on a remarkable political journey that led him to challenging Trump for the 2020 presidential nomination.

He now calls himself 'woke' and is on a mission to heal the divides caused by populism through his White Flag podcast. He warns that the US needs "marriage therapy" to avoid a violent divorce.

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg.

 

Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.

 

Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times.

Adrian Goldberg hears from Byline Times writer Iain Overton, freshly returned from Ukraine, about how Russia’s invasion has led to a plummeting birth rate. This is perhaps understandable at a time of war, but many Ukrainians see it in the context of attempts to downplay their culture, destroy their history and erase their language.

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg.

 

Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.

 

Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times.

Journalist Daniel Knowles talks about his new book 'Carmageddon - How Cars Make Life Worse and What To Do About It'.

 

Daniel tells Adrian Goldberg that, “car manufacturers are really not much different to the oil industry or big tobacco”. 

 

He explores the racialised road building helped segregate the US, discusses how UK cities were rebuilt around after the Second World War in ways that militated against pedestrians; and looks at the urban areas pointing the way to a car free future.  

 

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg.

 

Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.

 

Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times.

As we stand on the brink of a new football season, is there an alternative to the global financial and political interests now dominating the national sport?

 

There are clubs like Newcastle United which are owned by the oil state of Saudi Arabia – keen to greenwash its reputation and desperate to promote its sporting credentials rather than discuss its human rights abuses. Or Manchester United – leveraged to the hilt by US owners The Glazer family, who have somehow managed to get ordinary supporters to pay the interest costs on their investment.  The Glazers, already billionaires, now stand to benefit from an auction between rival bidders for their club.

 

Lower down the divisions, directors with eyes on the financial prize of a place in the Premier League are taking huge financial risks – so much so that since the League was created in 1992, 64 clubs have gone into administration. Some such as Bury and Macclesfield folder altogether.

 

The government is promising an independent regulator to curb the worst excesses of the sport, but is there another way of running footbsll altogether?

 

Adrian Goldberg talks to Niall Couper, CEO of Fair Game, which wants to reward clubs who are run sustainably.

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.

 

Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.

 

Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times.

As Mediterranean countries grapple with an unprecedented heatwave, the UK is dealing with April showers in July. It seems that we’re now starting to experience the extreme andf unpredictable weather, climate scientists have long predicted. Is it too late to act – and what can we as individuals do.

 

Adrian Goldberg is joined by Erika Coppola, a climate scientists working at the Abdus Salam International Centre in Trieste Italy – she’s been lead author on reports for the IPCC - and Gareth Redmond King, internation lead at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a non-profit that supports informed debate on energy and climate issues.

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.

 

Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.

 

Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times.