Quiet Riot

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.

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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“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.

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

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Alex, up all night once more, looking for sanity inside the most ridiculous non-story so far. Has the British media lost its collective mind. It would seem emphatically "yes".

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

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When illness makes life unbearable, should we be permitted – and helped – to end our time in this place on our own terms?

The topic of assisted dying is back in the political spotlight thanks to a Private Member's Bill from Spen Valley MP Kim Leadbeater.

It's a difficult topic for many to discuss, encompassing morality, freedom and, often, religion. In this Quiet Riot special, Naomi Smith takes a nuanced look at the issues with Andrew Copson, CEO of Humanists UK.

Andrew is in favour of assisted dying but puts both sides of the argument. Some form of assisted dying is allowed in 31 countries but the law here has not been changed in six decades, although it is now under discussion in both Westminster and Holyrood.

Call to action

To find out more about the Humanist movement, visit https://humanists.uk/ and, for details on their campaigning on the issue of assisted dying, click here.

And for an interview with Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, setting out the counterargument, click here.

Assisted suicide is illegal under the terms of the Suicide Act (1961) and is punishable by up to 14 years' imprisonment. Trying to kill yourself is not a criminal act. The BBC summarises the main issues here.

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Naomi and Alex try to reach for some sort of balanced view of the first 100 days of Labour - away from the constant media MELTDOWN IN DOWNING STREET ridiculous coverage - and set out what needs to happen in the next 100 to turn things around.

In any case, is the American "100 Days" measure at all useful in a British context?

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“They’ve got five years ahead of them and a big majority, but they’re still acting so gingerly. It’s as if they’re still carrying ‘The Ming Vase’. Put the f**king vase down. The vase is done now.”

LINKS:

Download the Discord app here.

For The Reunion episode on 100 Days of Blair's first term 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.

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

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Alex talks to Layla Moran, the first British MP of Palestinian descent, to mark a year since not just the 7th of October - that day of horror for Israel - but the many days of horror that followed for the people of Palestine. It turns out to be, unlikely as it might seem, a quite uplifting conversation.

“History is still writing itself. There is still an opportunity for there to have been a positive outcome, from an absolutely tragic and horrific beginning.”

“This is not just about Israel and Palestine. This is about how nation states across the entire world - at a time of climate crises, migration crises, economic crises, huge inequalities - work together. There is only one mechanism, however flawed, and that is the UN. This is a time to bolster institutions - not undermine them.”  

“I hope there will be brave new leaders, both within Israel and Palestine. And our job, here, is to help raise those voices, to support them, to show that there are those willing to think differently, and they are valued in the international community.”

“People say: ‘Pick a side. Are you on the side of Israel or are you on the side of Palestine?’ I’m on the side of a two-state solution and international law. If you are against that, then you are on the side of continued violence. Those are the sides: peace or not. It’s actually quite simple.”

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Hosted by Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou, and produced by Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global.

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Naomi and Alex, with guest Laura Hood from The Conversation, discuss the latest shock elimination in the Tory Reality Soap Opera, Laura's new documentary Know Your Place, about the changing relationship between class and politics, and Labour's stuttering much-announced, but slow-moving, EU reset.

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Alex: “The net result is that there is now not going to be a conversation as to what direction the Conservative Party moves towards. There’s just going to be two different flavours of ultra-hard right to choose from.”

Laura: “What is the [class] status, for example, of people who work in the gig economy? They are earning some of the lowest wages in our economy. But they are ostensibly self-employed, their own masters. In fact, the algorithm is their boss.”

Laura: “2019 was not a ‘class’ election. We see it as the working class voter flocking to Boris Johnson, but something far more complicated  

Naomi: “We desperately need older voices to champion a UK-EU Youth Mobility Scheme. The typical response I get is: ‘What about me? Everyone should have freedom of movement.’ Please be an ally on this and advocate the case for younger people.”

CALLS TO ACTION

Subscribe here to The Conversation's newsletter.

You can find Laura's podcast Know Your Place here.

Dan Evans' A Nation of Shopkeepers is here.

Russia's new Escape The Woke visa scheme is here.

Grin And Share It good news story on Hempophilia treatments.

Join Best for Britain with a tree-planting donation here.

Guardian letters on Youth Mobility Schemes are 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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Naomi, Alex, And Kenny try to understand why everyone is losing their mind over the Chagos Archipelago deal, talk local election results and why they may be a problem for Labour, and present an alternative biography of Boris Johnson. One in which he doesn't get to gloss over the catastrophe that was his administration.

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BOOKS:

Sayeeda Warsi's Muslims Don't Matter.

Musa Okwonga's One of Them.

Alison Dupernex's Knitting for Absolute Beginners.

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.

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