How is the new Labour government perceived in the EU? How much of a 'reset' is realistically achievable? What does the club we just left make of our slow change of heart? What does it want in return? And how much of a priority is our renegotiation in European capitals?  

Alex spoke to Professor Jacob Öberg for a European perspective on our long journey to rejoining.

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“There is a feeling that Labour haven’t really decided what to do and where they want to go with [the UK-EU reset] - particularly in terms of things that the EU would request or require from the UK. Labour has been very hesitant to give any space to that. And in that situation no-one gives in and nothing happens.”

“All of these things, if we talk youth mobility, vet agreement, things like these, it is a big complicated negotiation and you need everyone on board - the EU Commission the UK negotiation team, everyone needs to be fully focussed on this. If you do this with your left hand you’re not going to get much done.”

“The framing of an alliance - primarily by Thatcher in her later, rather mad period - as something hostile, over there, to which one must go prepared to handbag other leaders in order to not be somehow exploited is one of the most wrong-headed and damaging political narratives of the last few decades.”

LINKS:

Jacob's brief piece on imporving the TCA is here.

Jacob's free book can be downloaded here.

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With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global.

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Naomi and Alex, go over every aspect of the Budget, including the undercurrent of misogyny in much of the commentary, with very special guest prominent ecocomist, professor, and former joint head of the Government's Economic Service, Vicky Pryce. As well as Wokey Dokey and Grin And Share It.

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Vicky: “In reality you can redefine [debt] any way you want, as long as the capital markets believe it is sustainable and you convince them it makes sense. How do you get markets to lend this to you? The good thing is that we are now talking about longer term assessments of what benefits to the economy particular spending might bring.” 

Alex: “The last few weeks have been a parade of people saying: we need to invest much more in the country, but please not from my money. The chance [the gov’t is] taking is that people won’t mind paying more tax, provided they see an improvement in the public services they use.”

Naomi: "Is the Labour gov’t missing a trick by not going further and faster in liberalising our trade relationship with the EU?" Vicky: “Completely and utterly. The cost of bringing in the skilled people we need on complicated, costly visas, the extra bureaucracy, has been calculated by the Home Office to be nearly £40bn. Which is huge. It’s what Reeves just raised in taxes.”

LINKS:

On how the US avoided a recession in 2023, read here.

On how Germany just avoided a recession, read here.

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With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global.

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Naomi Smith chats to journalist Amanda Ferguson about a series of scandals which have rocked politics both north and south of the border. Sinn Féin were widely expected to win the next election. Is that still the case?

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LINKS:

You can link to Amanda and find her latest work here.

Brief explainer of why many think it will be an early election.

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With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global.

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Alex goes through the week's political events, and looks forward to next week, both here and across the Atlantic, with special guest Zoe Williams.

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Zoe: “I don’t want to get lectures from the right of manifesto promises, when the 2019 manifesto was insulting in its lack of detail. I mean what possible impact did ‘levelling up’ have? Does anyone even know what it meant? And yet lectures are what we’re going to get. And I don’t want to roll over to the idea that all politicians are the same - there is no conceivable comparison.”  

Zoe: “Everything [about the coming Budget] is about ‘don’t expect too much; don’t think we can help’ and that just strikes me as an incredibly sad and dangerous place to start. If you’re swept in on a wind of change and hope and the first thing you say is: ‘abandon hope’.”

Alex: “Imagine living there. Imagine being a woman in America right now. Imagine being a muslim woman or a trans woman. This is existential stuff.”

Zoe: “I do think there’s a kind of misogynistic groupthink [in polling], which just doesn’t take the things that women take seriously, seriously.”

Alex: “What makes [the Republican attack on women’s reproductive rights] doubly frightening is that it doesn’t feel random. It’s strategic. Because if you buy into notions like the Great Replacement Theory, it follows - although rarely articulated - that you need white women to stay home and have lots of babies. And that doesn’t happen with their consent.”

LINKS:

Vanity Fair interview with Stuart Stevens.

ABC report of Musk's contact with Putin.

The Bulwark on Washington Post spiking its endorsement of Harris.

NPR on the LA Times pulling its endorsement of Harris.

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Find us on Facebook and Twitter as @quietriotpod and on Bluesky. Click here for your Quiet Riot Bluesky Starter Pack. Email us at [email protected]. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com.

With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou, and Kenny Campbell - in cahoots with Sandstone Global.

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American polls are pointing to a perilously close result in the looming presidential election but can they be trusted?

Naomi Smith talks with Luke Bailey, Head of Digital at inews.co.uk, to find out more about the strengths, weaknesses and sundry foibles of Stateside polling.

Discover how corporate group-think may play a role, find out all about Recall Weighting – and gasp as we reveal that even gambling markets are not the reliable indicators many thought.

It wouldn't be Quiet Riot without a dollop of positivity though, and Luke does offer some grains of hope to our nervous listeners. Grab them and cherish them, people.

Show notes

Read more of Luke's insight on US polling here

Follow him (and his Herculean profile photo) on Bluesky, where he is @lukebailey.bsky.social

As for us, you can find us on Facebook and Twitter (shudder) as @quietriotpod or, best of all, hook up with @quietriotpod.bsky.social on Bluesky, where our Starter Packs will supercharge your introduction to politicos and sundry fine people.

If email is your thang, we're at [email protected] and our website is an extremely predictable www.quietriotpod.com

Oh, we're a tiny team without the backing of media behemoths, so we will be eternally grateful if you support us in any way on Ko-fi – heartfelt thanks to all who have already chipped in.

Quiet Riot, in case you already forgot, is Alex Andreou, Naomi Smith and Kenny Campbell, in Cahoots with SandStone Global. Seeya.

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Naomi and Alex, with guest Salma Shah - a former No.10 advisor under Cameron - explore how mich of the Trump Campaign's complaint against Labour is real and how much is trolling. And then discuss the future of the Tory Party. Or lack thereof. And the most momentous by-election coming up (possibly). As well as Wokey Dokey and Grin And Share It.

If you can afford to help, you can back Quiet Riot on Ko-fi.

“It probably is a mountain out of a molehill. But it is a legitimate line of questioning for anyone, especially a journalist in this country, to ask: how much is the Labour party trying to associate itself with the Harris campaign, and is that wise on a diplomatic level?”

“It’s not just about Trump or Labour. It’s about the world being more difficult, about the way we perceive Western liberal democracies becoming fractured, the way we think about engagement with other states and politics internationally - all of that is fraying.”  

“In the same way that previously the left had this identity crisis, the right is having its identity crisis, we’re all having one big identity crisis. Because what we’ve understood as left and right for the last 40 years is no longer true.”

“In 2019, Boris Johnson - like him or loathe him - did this amazing thing, where he stretched the Overton Window, beyond its natural conventions. But we always knew that elastic would snap back at some point and it snapped at the last election.”

“If Rishi Sunak does step down and that amazing gem-of-a-Tory-seat comes up, there will be a lot of people contesting it, but who wins that selection will be totemic about the future of the Conservatives. Are we looking back or are we looking forward?”

CALLS TO ACTION

Subscribe to Aaron Rupar's newsletter and his YouTube channel.

Donate to Meidas Touch News here.

For the Grin And Share It on magic crystals click here.

Find us on Facebook and Twitter as @quietriotpod or use our Starter Pack on Bluesky. Email us at [email protected]. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com.

IF YOU CAN AFFORD TO CONTRIBUTE, PLEASE DO. Click here to back Quiet Riot on Ko-fi.

With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou, and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global.

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Alex quizzes special guest, Emmy-award-winning Luke McGee, on how a referendum in a country like Moldova, interconnects with everything from EU immigration policy, to the war in Ukraine, the US election, and a secretive meeting - the first of its kind - between NATO and South Korea. A truly mind-bending episode.

If you can afford to help, you can back Quiet Riot on Ko-fi.

“Ultimately what you’re seeing is - I don’t like using the term “Axis of Evil”, I think “Axis of Autocracies” is the better way to think of it, Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea - what you’re probably seeing is these new alliances, these new dividing lines forming.”

“[The US Election] does feel like it’s a coin flip. Both sides now aren’t really campaigning to try and flip voters. What they’re trying to do is get voters who are perhaps uninspired by their campaign, but really hate their opponent to bother and turn out to vote.”  

LINKS:

Luke in Prospect Magazine: To help itself, Europe must do more for Ukraine.

Luke in The New Statesman: Ursula von der Leyen has lost the Europhiles.

Find us on Facebook and Twitter as @quietriotpod or use our Starter Pack on Bluesky. Email us at [email protected]. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com.

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With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou, and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global.

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Naomi and Alex have their weekly debrief, talking through the Budget rumours, the Tory leadership election, and then a bit of a deep dive into US Election polling.

If you can afford to help, you can back Quiet Riot on Ko-fi.

LINKS:

Chaminda Jayanetti piece on Bloomberg: Tories Are Lost Because Their Ideology Failed.

Electoral Calculus Starmer v Badenoch/Jenrick MRP poll.

Five Thirty Eight's rating of US pollsters.

Find us on Facebook and Twitter as @quietriotpod or use our Starter Pack on Bluesky. Email us at [email protected]. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com.

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With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou, and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global.

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It's easy to bash our railways – oh, how easy it is. But why does the system struggle and what could be done to make things better?

Naomi Smith is joined on this Quiet Riot journey by author, podcaster and (perhaps accidental) campaigner, Gareth Dennis. He also happens to be a railway engineer and transport policy specialist.

Gareth's new book is out on November 12th and its title should give you a clue about this expert's views on the iron road: How The Railways Will Fix The Future.

From the disaster that is Euston to the embarrassment that is HS2, via the glory of rail companies that once provided a health care model for the NHS, we look at the specific reasons Britain's rail network has been creaking for so long.

And, being Quiet Riot, we also buy a day return for the Rail Solutions Express, to find out what could be done to make Britain's railways fit for purpose.

By the way, some of the recording quality on this episode is to podcasts what the British Rail sandwich was to culinary excellence – apologies to you Riotous audiophiles.

Show links

Pre-order that fascinating Gareth Dennis book which transports readers to railways around the world, and argues that the iron roads are a critical tool for humanity to survive and thrive.

If you like your train chat digitally, Gareth hosts the #Railnatter podcast on all the usual platforms, and he loiters on Bluesky (yay!) with easy-to-spot handle @garethdennis.bsky.social

Find us on Facebook and Twitter as @quietriotpod or use our Starter Pack on Bluesky. Email us at [email protected]. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com.

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With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou, and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global.

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Naomi and Alex, with guest award-winning journalist Tristan Kirk from the Evening Standard, discuss the latest economic figures, budget rumours, and the parlous state of our justice system. Another thing for the new gov't to fix - and urgently. Followed by a discussion of the outrageous practice of Single Justice Procedure - where anyone can end up with a criminal conviction after a magistrate looks at a case for 45 seconds, behind closed doors, with no scrutiny or reasoning. Plus an early Christmassy Wokey Dokey and a brilliantly touching Grin And Share It.

If you can afford to help, you can back Quiet Riot on Ko-fi.

“The court system has been effectively obliterated by years, if not decades, of being cut back and cut back, whereas health has been looked after as best it can. Justice is of equal importance to society and yet has been the first stop for cutbacks.”

“You’ve got a system set up so things happen incredibly quickly. And we’ve now got an enormous bank of evidence that mistakes are being made. People are being wrongly prosecuted, people are being wrongly convicted, not enough consideration, no transparency. It’s a conveyor belt.”  

“Every single case I talk about is someone in a vulnerable position, a difficult period of their life, if not the worst period of their life and then they have a criminal conviction heaped on top of them. And I think there is a lack of understanding as to just how devastating that can be.”

CALLS TO ACTION

For Tristan's petition on SJPs click here.

For the Magistrates Association recommendations click here.

For the Appeal charity click here.

For the Transform Justice organisation click here.

For Joshua's piece on fee-paying schools click here.

For the consultation on the VAT exemption click here.

For the Grin And Share It on turtles click here.

For Anglesey Sea Zoo click here.

For Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium click here.

UPDATE 17-Oct-2024: Tristan's latest piece is here.

Find us on Facebook and Twitter as @quietriotpod or use our Starter Pack on Bluesky. Email us at [email protected]. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com.

IF YOU CAN AFFORD TO CONTRIBUTE, PLEASE DO. Click here to back Quiet Riot on Ko-fi.

With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou, and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global.

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