Warning: this episode contains strong language and a term of racist abuse. 

Just when we thought the disasters of the government couldn’t get any worse… New Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has made it her “moral mission” to raise Nish and Coco’s blood pressure. Cruel new plans to end the permanent status of refugees and curb housing and support for asylum seekers do perhaps justify the government’s slogan of the biggest overhaul of the system “in modern history” - but at what cost?

But - not to be outdone in terms of parties completely out of touch with reality - Your Party’s latest act of in-fighting leaves Nish and Coco with palms glued to their faces. Let’s face it - things have never been anything but fractious within the upstart political movement, but as their conference approaches the wind has never seemed further from their sails. 

And ahead of the budget next week Chancellor Rachel Reeves is entertaining big cuts to the Warm Homes Plan in efforts to bring down energy bills. Nish and Coco chat to Robert Palmer, Deputy Director of environmental organisation Uplift, about why this quick fix is wrong-headed and short sighted. 

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GUESTS 

Robert Palmer, Deputy Director of Uplift

USEFUL LINKS 

Claims of racism and antisemitism in Nigel Farage’s adolescence 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2025/nov/18/deeply-shocking-nigel-farage-faces-fresh-claims-of-racism-and-antisemitism-at-school

CREDITS

Shabana Mahmood / X

Reform UK

Parliament TV 

Ed Miliband / IG

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.

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Are knives being sharpened by disgruntled MPs planning a coup against the PM? As Keir Starmer’s team dig in against a supposed threat to the Prime Minister from Health Secretary Wes Streeting - has the Tory-brand of Westminster psychodrama come back for a new series? 

Meanwhile the BBC is under fire from the left, the right, the centre and the US president. Nish and Coco dig into an existential crisis for the public broadcaster. 

And as COP30 kicks off in Brazil - can we rescue the 1.5C climate target? Alex Reid from Global Witness drops in to give us a reality check. 

Later - as Robert Jenrick begins posting AI generated slop to attack his political rivals -  Coco speaks to the AI and Online Safety Minister Kanishka Narayan.

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AUDIO CREDITS 

BBC Radio 4

GUESTS

Alex Reid, Head of Forests team at Global Witness

Kanishka Narayan MP, AI and Online Safety Minister 

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.

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Nish and Coco celebrate the win of Progressive New York Democratic Mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani - and ponder what British lefties can learn from his social-media friendly campaign. 

And is Chancellor Rachel Reeves about to rip up Labour’s manifesto promise not to introduce any new taxes on “working people”? She certainly seems to be laying the groundwork for it, after an unusual pre-budget speech on Tuesday. Nothing was announced - but it’s what wasn’t denied that tells a story… 

Later - Nish and Coco discuss the disturbing influence of American anti-abortionist lobbies on the UK’s political system and what we can do about it with New York Times investigative reporter Jane Bradley and campaigner for sexual and reproductive health and rights Lisa Hallgarten. To nobody’s surprise, Nigel Farage is involved. 

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GUESTS

Lisa Hallgarten - advocate, educator and campaigner for sexual and reproductive health and rights with a recent focus on young people’s right to better sex education. You can follow her on Instagram and Bluesky @FundamentalWrites 

Jane Bradley - UK investigative reporter at the New York Times 

USEFUL LINKS

Crooked Christmas Gear 

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Jane Bradley's NYT article

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/world/europe/uk-abortion-farage.html

AUDIO CREDITS

CNN

Sky News

Reform UK

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It’s been a painful week for the government, with a migrant sex offender accidentally released from prison and a damning report on the spiralling costs of the asylum system. But is a plan to house asylum seekers on military sites really the answer? 

Political journalist Zoë Grünewald - standing in for Coco as Nish’s co-host this week - dives into how this re-hashed Conservative plan has managed to piss off, well, just about everyone. 

In better news - it’s curtains for the hated section 21 ‘no-fault evictions’ notices. The long-awaited Renters’ Rights Act has become law! Nish and Zoe talk to housing journalist Vicky Spratt about how big a deal this is for renters across England. 

Plus - why Housing Secretary Steve Reed's Maga-style 'build, baby, build' crusade looks likely to end in affordable housing targets more pathetic than they are now.

Then later – from spending £75,000 on flags to their only black party chair quitting - is Reform out-reforming Reform? And why is Jeremy Corbyn swapping parliament for panto this Christmas.

GUESTS

Vicky Spratt

USEFUL LINKS

Peckham Not For Sale

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/acapeckham/

CREDITS

Sky News

X / Steve Reed 

Talk TV

LBC

Reform UK

ITV News

IG / Pleasance Theatre 

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.

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Enough is enough! Nish stages an intervention with Coco about her troubling relationship with Chat GPT. Or as Coco puts it: her mate “Chatty G”. 

But Coco’s not the only one embracing generative AI - it’s creeping into politics. From MPs using it in their daily work to the Swedish prime minister turning to it for a second opinion on running the country. Is AI a useful and harmless political tool or will it erode trust even further?

Despairing, Nish catches up with internet pioneer and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. What can our increasingly polarised and trust-depleted world learn from the man who turned a crazy idea into one of the most popular websites in the world? Nish and Jimmy cover Musk’s “Wokepedia” attacks, the rise of AI and the Online Safety Act. 

And Nish and Coco check in on some other questionable distortions of reality - featuring everyone’s favourite charlatan Nigel Farage and Prince Andrew’s infamous inability to sweat.

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GUESTS

Jimmy Wales

CREDITS

Al Arabia

BBC

The Sun 

Reform UK

Donald Trump

Bloomberg

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.

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It’s been an emotional week after the arrival of a Hamas-Israel ceasefire. This is good news - but issues of humanitarian aid, human rights, and accountability are all still up in the air. The struggle for a lasting peace continues... 

Closer to home - Nish and Coco check in with Plaid Cymru's leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, to talk about seeing off Reform, what a new co-operative era in Welsh politics might look like and why voters may find themselves a little "indie-curious".

If Oasis can bury the hatchet, so can we! That's Your Party's message, but Nish and Coco aren’t  totally sold on the Corbyn-Sultana reunion. In the wake of a Green membership surge, the party without a name is drawing dividing lines…  But are they picking the right battles?  

And - the Iron Lady turns 100 - as lavish celebrations begin Nish and Coco ask why the UK is soooooooooo obsessed with Mags. From Right to Buy to Section 28 - her legacy isn't looking so great in 2025. And a scary revelation that Coco is spookily good at imitating her.

NB. A previous version of this episode contained an incorrect fact about Katy Perry. We regret the error.

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GUESTS

Rhun ap Iorwerth 

CREDITS

The World Transformed

Turn Left Media

CNBC

USEFUL LINKS 

Medical Aid for Palestinians

https://www.map.org.uk

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“Shocking... but not surprising” - the words of Stephen Bush, Associate Editor at the Financial Times and Chair of the Commission on Racial Inclusivity in the Jewish Community  for the Board of Deputies of British Jews in 2020. Stephen joins Nish and Coco to discuss the fallout from the shocking attack on a synagogue in Manchester last week. 

The trio discuss solidarity and protest, and why the government’s response to the Manchester attack is not making all British Jews feel safer. 

Stephen has also spent the weekend in an all-but empty exhibition hall, at Tory conference in Manchester. It’s a land of misspelt chocolate bars and retro racism - have the Tories given up the ghost? 

Later - Coco and Nish try their hand at some data analysis - introducing Pod Save the UK’s brand-spanking-new diarrhoea index - before checking in on a bold new idea straight out of the Green’s conference - abolishing landlords. 

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GUESTS

Stephen Bush 

CLIP CREDITS

ITV

The Green Party of England & Wales

BBC

The Guardian 

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.

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It’s conference season, and at the Labour conference in Liverpool - flagshagging, snake-oil merchants and leadership jockeying - is it Keir Starmer’s final chance for a reset? Nish and Coco are joined by political journalist Zoë Grünewald.

And later - as Trump reveals his plans for peace in Gaza, including a bizarre role for former PM Tony Blair - is the UK doing enough for Gaza? Nish speaks to Labour MP for Stroud, Dr Simon Opher, who earlier this month was denied entry into the occupied West Bank. Simon also fills Nish in on an innovative new prescription medicine - Laughter. 

Finally - we open the mailbag to share your wonderful stories of immigration in the UK - and Nish furthers his feud with a beloved British comedy icon.

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GUESTS

Zoë Grünewald

Simon Opher MP

USEFUL LINKS

I am an Immigrant Podcast

https://iceandfire.co.uk/project/i-am-an-immigrant/

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.

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Oh dear lefties… We just can’t stop tearing each other apart, huh? One short month into the evolution of the new political party experiment undertaken by independent MPs Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn - and the whole thing has descended into acrimony. After a weekend of legal threats, “your” party is suddenly seeming to be a house of cards built amidst a hurricane.

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage has seized the moment to vomit out a new wave of inflammatory anti-migrant rhetoric. The need for a unified left movement has never been more urgent - and new Green Party leader Zack Polanski is ready to meet the moment. 

Zack joins Nish and Coco in our (fully powered) studio - to talk about his vision for the future of the left, his plans to fight inequality and why he’s not actually thrilled to see Zarah and Jez at each others throats. He also brings up his ever-so-slightly hypnotherapy boobjob and in revenge, helps us pip the Sun to the post on a saaaaaucy exclusive. 

Later - Nish weighs in on the Jimmy Kimmel saga… It couldn’t happen here, right? Oh, wait… 

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GUESTS

Zack Polanksi - Green Party Leader

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It’s been a hellish week for our Disunited Kingdom. First Tommy Robinson mobilised ten of thousands in his ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march. Before we could recover from that toxic side show,  the headline act arrived: President Trump.  He was kept behind a ring of steel in Windsor where he enjoyed British brown nosing at its best from flatterers-in-chief, the Royal Family. What a state we’re in. 

Coco and Nish reflect on what they learned about their fellow Brits this week and the conclusion is scary. But before they abandon hope there was another march. Thousands of ‘Stop Trump’ protestors came out onto the streets of London - to hear from a range of the UK’s  loudest progressive voices, from Zarah Sultana, to Zack Polanski and Jeremy Corbyn. Two protests, two faces of Britain. Can we ever bridge the divide? 

Finally - to round off the show, an injection of hope. Josie Naughton CEO of charity ‘Choose Love’ joins the pod to show us that there definitely is a way through this.

USEFUL LINKS 

Choose Love

https://choose.love/ 

Stop Trump Coalition

https://stoptrump.org.uk/protest/ 

Guests

Josie Naughton 

Zarah Sultana

Zack Polanski

Jeremy Corbyn

George Monbiot

Zoe Gardener

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.

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