Oh God, What Now?

Our fast reaction to Burnham’s victory in Makefield with the don of political commentators Steve Richards of Rock & Roll Politics talking to Andrew Harrison… Andy Burnham is heading back to Westminster after his landslide victory and despite dire warnings of a Reform surge, it wasn’t even close. After an early-morning celebratory pint, is he now on a fast track for the keys to No. 10? Should Keir Starmer fight or throw in the towel? Is Burnham’s coronation now inevitable? How big a blow was it all for Farage, Reform and the even-further-right Restore? Above all, what happens next?

• Hear Steve on Rock & Roll Politics. 

• Special offer! Get 20% off any vehicle history check at carVertical.com/OhGodWhatNow.

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

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Steve Richards. 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 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Surprise, surprise! The arson attacks on properties linked to Keir Starmer turn out to have been instigated by a Russian “diplomat” with a background in information warfare. Who’d have thought it? Has Vladimir Putin’s shadow war finally crossed the line?

Plus: Wes Streeting wants to scrap the ban on new fossil fuel production. The Greens are looking less green. The Lib Dems appear indifferent. And don’t get us started on Reform’s Richard Tice… So, is Ed Miliband the last true defender of net zero left standing? Special guest Sam Bright of Desmog talks us through the battle over clean energy. And in the Extra Bit, our panellists reveal their moments of meaningless happiness as an antidote to the doom and gloom. 

• Special offer! Get 20% off any vehicle history check at carVertical.com/OhGodWhatNow.

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

• Read Sam’s Substack and latest DeSmog articles

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Rachel has been listening to Steven Mangan and his sister Anita on the BBC’s Siblings Unpicked podcast

• James has been playing a remake of the retro video game Final Fantasy VII  

• Sam has been dipping into England vs. New Zealand in the second test (between investigations) 

• Matt has been binging Shrinking, the Apple TV’s hit from the makers of Ted Lasso on Apple TV+. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Matt Green with Rachel Cunliffe, James Ball and Sam Bright. 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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Labour surprises everyone with a ban on Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X for the under-16. Critics say the “Australia Plus” regime is riddled with contradictions. Will it work, is it fair or is it just Starmer trying to look tough ahead of the Makerfield by-election? Andrew Harrison puts Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson on the spot and then our panel dig into the detail. Plus, the defence row and the resignations of John Healey and ex-Armed Forces Minister Al Carns continue to rock Labour. Could they derail Andy Burnham’s plans to get back into Westminster?

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

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Hannah went to the Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends exhibition at the Young V&A 

• Marie just finished Joseph Roth’s classic The Radetzky March  

• Jonn has been reading the first in Patt Barker’s acclaimed Regeneration trilogy  

• Seth took a pit stop at the iconic Literary and Philosophical Society during a trip to Newcastle

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Seth Thévoz with Marie le Conte, Hannah Fearn and Jonn Elledge. 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 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What’s more revolting? The racist pogrom against innocent families in Belfast? Or the way the far-right is again using a violent attack to claim that every immigrant – legal or illegal – is a threat to the country? Our panel looks at how indulging the “legitimate concerns” mindset leads to kids being burned out of their homes.

Plus we answer your questions in our new monthly-ish But Your Emails special. And in the Extra Bit for Patreon people: do progressive protestors need to up their banner game?

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

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Jason has been reading A.I. by Belgian comedian Lieven Schiere 

• Seth saw Churchill’s Urinal starring friend of the pod Rosie Holt at the King’s Head Theatre, Islington. You’ve missed it, but it’s on in Edinburgh in August.   

• Zöe enjoyed Look What You Made Me Do by John Lanchester.

• Andrew has been listening to Inferno by Boards Of Canada

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Zöe Grünewald, Seth Thévoz and Jason Hazeley. 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 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The BBC gets in early with its “ten years since the Brexit Referendum” jamboree with a “star”-studded retro-documentary, Brexit: A Very British Civil War from legendary film-maker Norma Percy. Our panel bravely retraumatise themselves by watching it. What do we learn that’s new? Who comes out of it worst: Cameron, Corbyn, Johnson, Seumas Milne, Gove, Osbourne or Cummings? Could anything have averted this catastrophe? And have any of these egotists and hobby-horsers learned a damn thing in the past decade? 

Plus, in related matters… Why do we believe what we believe? Why are conservatives more disgusted by disgusting things than liberals? And why (good news!) do liberals have more interesting sex? Author Turi Munthe joins us to discuss the psychology behind our deepest impulses. 

• Buy Turi Munthe’s book Why We Think What We Think through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

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

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Rachel enjoyed A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering on audiobook – but you can read it on paper too. 

• Rafael has been listening to Paris 1919 by John Cale. 

• Turi Munthe recommends Other People’s Children by Ben Faccini. 

• Matt recommends crime comedy Deep Cover starring Nick Mohammed, Orlando Bloom and Bryce Dallas Howard, on Amazon Prime. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Matt Greene with Rachel Cunliffe and Rafael Behr. 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.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Farage and the far-right have been quick to seize on Henry Nowak’s horrific murder, ignoring pleas from the victim’s family for the killing not to be politicised. Instead the Reform leader decried “two-tier” policing and called for “pure, cold rage”. What does it all mean? Are we in for another summer of racially-triggered rioting? Plus: what would an Andy Burnham government actually look like? Can Manchesterism succeed where Starmerism stumbled? And in the Extra Bit… mantropreneurship irritant Steven Bartlett claims that two glasses of wine “ruined” his life for three days. Our panel examine the toxic cult of peak performance. 

• Buy tickets for Ahir’s Golden tour

• Because of developments in the news we’ve postponed the promised BUT YOUR EMAILS special by one week. But you can still send your questions to [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Ros has been watching the BBC’s hit drama Two Weeks in August

• Seth rewatched Lawrence of Arabia at Soho’s iconic Prince Charles Cinema

• Ahir has been binging darkly-comical superhero series The Boys, which led him to the comic

• Zoe has been reading Caro Claire Burke’s new novel Yesteryear about a time-travelling tradwife.  

When you buy books through our affiliate bookshop, you help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Zoë Grünewald with Seth Thévoz, Ros Taylor and Ahir Shah. 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 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• One last chance to get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing – our tenth birthday offer ends Wednesday morning.

If you’ve been telling yourself that Reform are only surging because people are unhappy with what the Government hasn’t delivered, the don of political research Sir John Curtice has bad news for you. New British Social Attitudes research shows it’s deeper than that: angry Reform voters are energised by divisive culture issues and won’t be easily persuaded back to either Labour or the Tories. Would Burnham or Streeting (or anyone) be able to overcome their new identity politics? Plus: Does the latest tranche of Mandelson messages and emails shine any more light on the whole ambassadorial mess?

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

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Sir John has been watching Dear England, the BBC’s new drama on England football manager Gareth Southgate

• Marie went to watch “charming thriller” Tuner at the movies. 

• Raf really hated Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu but hey, it’s still a distraction. 

• Andrew has been reading Adrian Tchaikovsky’s sci-fi epic Children of Strife. Buy it through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison with Marie Le Conte and Rafael Behr. Produced by James Liddell. 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 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing.

What else does a beleaguered PM like Keir Starmer need but… unsolicited advice from Tony Blair? In a new essay published by his think tank, the former PM calls on Labour to cosy up to Donald Trump and axe Ed Miliband’s net zero agenda or risk relegation from the “Premier League of nations”. Is Blair offering a genuine diagnosis or is he just dusting off the 1990s playbook?

Plus, jobs tsar Alan Milburn’s bombshell report on youth unemployment warns that young people are being “rewired” by their smartphones and trapped in a doom loop that’s keeping them out of work. Can they escape it? And Reform's candidate for the Makerfield by-election Robert Kenyon is facing a firestorm for a string of resurfaced sexist social media posts. In the age of the political lout, why do the rules always seem different for the right?

And in the Extra Bit: our panel reveals how they find their Zen in the age of doom-scrolling. 

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

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Hannah went to see Francois Ozon’s new movie adaptation of Camus' existentialist classic The Stranger. 

• Ros also visited the cinema to see Project Hail Mary 

• Jonn watched the first episode of the BBC’s Two Weeks in August

• Seth has been reading Being Liberal: The Liberal Disposition in Contemporary British Politics by Cambridge professor David Howarth

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Seth Thévoz with Jonn Elledge, Ros Taylor and Hannah Fearn. Produced by James Liddell. Audio Production by Jade Bailey. Art direction by 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 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Last chance to get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon support. 

Nigel Farage’s latest defence of his “gift” from a crypto magnate: you wouldn’t know about it if I hadn’t been hacked by pesky Russians! (Although erm I forgot to tell the National Cyber Security Centre). Has he finally pushed his luck too far? Plus, the right-wing press and Reform are busting their guts to paint Andy Burnham as a carpetbagging, conviction-free shapeshifter who’s simultaneously a far-left zealot. Will any of it stick? And why are Rupert Lowe’s ultra-right Restore UK much, much worse than just an amusing problem for Reform?

• We pinched the title of this edition from someone called AshWarp – but if you know the real originator, get in touch. 

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

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Jason recommends visiting Crossness Pumping Station on the Thames and also the Great Western Railway Museum in Swindon.

• Rachel is watching Rivals on Disney+. 

• James Ball is rewatching How To Get Away With Murder on Channel 4. 

• Matt recommends Thirst: 12 Drinks That Changed My Life by John Robins. Buy it through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Matt Green with James Ball, Rachel Cunliffe and Jason Hazeley. 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.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing.

And OGWN is nine years old! Today: A Labour candidate up against a local plumber in a North-Western by-election? It’s beginning to feel a lot like Groundhog Day. If Andy Burnham beats Reform’s Robert Kenyon in Makerfield his path to Number 10 gets a lot clearer. But has Burnham just walked into a Reform bear trap? Plus: Brexit is back, right on cue. Wes Streeting lobs a grenade into the Burnham campaign by raising the Europe question. Could this leadership battle finally break Britain out of its Brexit loop of denial?

And in the Extra Bit for Patreons, we do that Find Your Politics thing to discover whether we’re secret Leninists or Freemen of the Land without realising it. (And why no talk of the Greens, you ask? We did a big will-they-won’t-they bit and then they announced a candidate so we had to drop it. More next time). 

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

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Marie is getting set to host her Outsiders Art Club, a social club putting emerging artists in the spotlight

• Matt has been bingeing Imperfect Women on Apple TV. 

• Raf went to see Zambian singer and rapper Sampa the Great at the Brighton Festival 

• Andrew has been listening to Tomora, the new duo comprising Chemical Brother Tom Rowlands and Norwegian singer Aurora. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rafael Behr, Marie Le Conte and Matt Green. Producer: 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 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices