Oh God, What Now?

Who ordered the heated debate about Englishness? Open any newspaper or social media feed and you’ll stumble on some histrionic handwringing about “what it means it be English”. Who decided we needed to talk about this, all the time? And how thin is the cover it provides for your good old actual homegrown racism? We debate the debates in a conversation which contains cricket, Suella Braverman, Paddington, an “orchestra of dogwhistles”, Norman Tebbit, GB News’s “British-only radio station”, and surprising revelations about both of Seth’s grand-dads. Guaranteed relevant to Scottish, Irish and Welsh listeners too, honest. 

Plus: the Jackdaw gas field, the US mid-terms, Liz Truss’s book and other ecological disasters. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Hannah recommends The Diplomat on Netflix.  

• Jason thinks you should go and see the documentary NAZA, in which Israeli whistleblowers expose Netanyahu’s military methods.

• Marie was “blown away” by the two de Gaulle movies, Résistance and Liberté. 

• Seth recommends Michael Crick’s Twittex feed Tomorrow’s MPs which does what it says on the tin. 

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Presented by Seth Thévoz with Hannah Fearn, Jason Hazeley and Marie le Conte. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Rupert Lowe of Restore UK claims that street violence is not just inevitable but necessary “if we are to save our home”. Elsewhere, the far-right pals up with street thugs – and its leaders walk right up to the line of endorsing extra-legal direct action because democracy has supposedly failed. Is the rising tide of violent rhetoric spilling over into actual physical attacks? We talk about why politics is sounding increasingly violent – and how it’s not just on the far-right. Plus: Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine sinks deeper into perfidy, can Burnham ban loudcasting on public transport, and why we should send squirrels to the White House. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Raf the Raver recommends Fantazia: The House Collection vol.2, the Jon Pleased Wimmin, Tony de Vit and Boy George hard house DJ mix. 

• Rachel is going to see Legally Blonde: The Musical for the third time.

• Matt recommends the movie Tuner, a new thriller about a man with hyper-acute hearing – and Tom Cruise’s notorious flop Digger which he really enjoyed, despite everything. 

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Presented by Matt Green with Rafael Behr and Rachel Cunliffe. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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• This edition recorded before Trump cancelled livestreaming the execution of the Fort Hood killer. 

Televised executions, machine-gunning illegal migrants in the Channel, renaming technology and water features as a loyalty/sycophancy test… why are the populists’ big ideas so dumb, performatively cruel and only made to wind up the liberals? We ask whether the era of Trolliticians will ever end. Plus: The crime! The immigrants! The wokeness! Everyone is desperate to leave Britain if you believe the Telegraph and Mail. But are they really? We dig into Exodus Propaganda (also the most popular baby name of 2027). 

• Get your copy of 31 Inventions that Built Our World by Jonn Elledge – perfect Christmas present etc etc. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Rachel recommends My Promised Land by Ari Shavit. 

• Jason visited the Museum of Brands in London. 

• Jonn “devoured” Robert Harris’s new ancient Rome blockbuster Agrippa

• Andrew raved over the Rogue Trooper movie, adapting a classic 2000AD comic strip and directed by Duncan Jones. 

Buy books through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund OGWN by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

Back us on Patreon for the Extra Bit, early ad-free episodes, merch and more. 

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rachel Cunliffe, Jason Hazeley and Jonn Elledge. Audio Production by Tom Taylor and Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Andy Burnham has finally said what we’ve all been thinking: Russia meddled in Brexit. Is this brave honesty – or the first step on the long road back to Brussels? Plus, the Greens are still in turmoil with Zack Polanski’s leadership now in doubt. What does it mean for everyone else on the left? Is a progressive alliance just a pipe dream now? Are the Tories back from the dead – and has anyone checked on Reform?

• Use the code OGWN at https://www.eightsleep.com/whatnow to get up to £200 off the Pod 6.

• Listen to Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, on the latest episode of American Friction

• And head on over to The Bunker for your daily news deep dive

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Ros has been watching De Gaulle: Part 2 – Liberté, the second instalment of  Antonin Baudry's two-part biographical epic 

• Raf has been reading Joan Didion’s memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking. 

• Zoë has finished the audiobook of Touching the Void, the harrowing true mountaineering story.

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Written and presented by Zoë Grünewald, with Rafael Behr and Ros Taylor. Produced by James Liddell. Audio Production: Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune: Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

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Labour wins the Holborn & St Pancras handily – but the Greens had staked a lot on Zack Polanski winning and he failed. Is Polanski’s nightmare week over the Zionism vote a symptom of deeper weaknesses in his leadership? Is far-left entryism destroying the Greens? And why Labour’s victorious candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali symbolises the best of Britain. Steve Richards of Rock & Roll Politics joins Andrew Harrison for the Holborn postmortem. 

• Hear Steve’s Rock & Roll Politics special on Polanski’s troubles and why Kemi Badenoch’s speech to the Tories was misreported. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Audio Production by: Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

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Has Burnham really broken Britain’s bizarre, self-enforced silence around the disaster that is Brexit? What would a real pro-EU membership stance from Labour mean for British politics? And would killing off Brexit inadvertently give a flagging Farage his mojo back? Plus, in the week that Jeffrey Archer died we discuss why establishment Britain will give a pass to any charlatan, bullshitter and perjurer provided he’s amusing at parties. And our special guest Sebastian Salek – good news columnist at LabourList – explains why he fights the good fight on GBNews. 

• Get the Bunker Deep Dives every day here  

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Jonn has been enjoying the HBO legal drama War with Dominic West and Sienna Miller.  

• Jason has been watching a 20-minute documentary about the invention of Hula-Hoops from 1972, and other things on BBC Archive. 

• Sebastian Salek is off to see As You Like It at Shakespeare’s Globe.  

• Seth recommends going to Italy. Just because. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Seth Thévoz with Jason Hazeley and Jonn Elledge. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk

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Kemi Badenoch has promised to revitalise the Tory party at the Conservatives' conference – but can she drag it out of the doldrums? Plus, the Green Party conference descended into acrimony after members voted to declare that “Zionism is racism” – can leader Zack Polanski withstand the fallout? And… Andy Burnham faces heavy scrutiny over historic ties to Manchester City’s owners, after the club was found guilty of serious financial rule breaches. Could Manchesterism come back to bite him? Dr Jan Zglinski, associate professor at LSE Law School who specialises in sports law, weighs in. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]

• Listen to Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor discuss “End Times Fascism” on The Bunker: https://linktr.ee/bunker_pod 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Raf went to watch Kian Soltani perform Dvořák's Cello Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Brighton Dome

• Matt saw an early screening of the new film Ghosts: The Possession of Button House

• Jan has been reading Injury Time: Football in a State of Emergency

• Zoë has started watching HBO’s legal drama, War (streaming on Now TV)

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Zoë Grünewald, Rafael Behr and Matt Green. Produced by James Liddell. Audio Production: Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

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Andy Burnham’s powerful and emotional speech at the Labour Conference left the Party full of righteous energy and its enemies scrabbling for attack lines. Has he succeeded in setting out a new direction for the Government? The OGWN Conference Away Team of Jonn Elledge and Hannah Fearn talk it over with Andrew Harrison and special guest Paul Richards – veteran Labour commentator, candidate and once chair, now treasurer of the Fabians.

(Yes, the Fabians, and yes we do ask him if they secretly control the world like all the nutters think. Spoiler: they don’t). 

• Because of developments in the RAF Fairford story we had to re-record a small part of this show remotely. See if you can spot the join. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Hannah has gone all-in on Strictly Come Dancing even though she doesn’t like the new format. 

• Jonn has been watching the top-notch romcom Colin From Accounts on BBC iPlayer. 

• Paul Richards has been watching the wartime simulation docu-drama The Wargame featuring our own Zoë Grünewald.  

• Andrew went to see Saint Etienne for the very last time in Brighton and it was brilliant. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison with Hannah Fearn and Jonn Elledge Audio Production by Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

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BONUS EDITION: Well, we weren’t expecting THAT… Andy Burnham stuns and rouses Labour’s Liverpool conference with a bold, emotionally powerful speech that amounted to the promise of a new era. Will Britain respond to his open-hearted scally dad message of unity? Was there detail among the vibes? Have we just heard the ‘Wonderwall’ of political speeches? James Ball of The New World was there and he tells Andrew Harrison how Burnham’s speech gave even hardened, cynical journos actual goosebumps. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

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Andy Burnham's first Labour conference as PM is underway. So… will he and his government make a good impression on the party and voters? First the PM proposed an NHS-style social care system; a day later his chancellor John Healey promised a Budget that injects hope into Britain’s beleaguered economy. Ros Taylor, Rachel Cunliffe and James Ball discuss everything we know so far and what it all means. 

• Questions for the panel? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Rachel has been rewatching the noughties sci-fi hit Heroes in memory of its star, Hayden Panettiere, who passed away last month

• James has been replaying Slay the Spire II

• Ros has been watching the new season of The Great British Bake Off

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Ros Taylor with James Ball and Rachel Cunliffe. Produced by James Liddell. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

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