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Back again with the biggest quandaries afflicting the modern progressive movement as political canon events unfold at breakneck speed!

I don’t think I’ve ever felt more jaded by the perpetual shock and awe chain reaction of geopolitics. We’ve decided to create a little bit of distance from the dizzying mainstream media cycle to consider the wider tensions that are at play, especially for a Left-wing political project. Who better to get in this discussion than Marxist economist Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism.

Grace is one of the most salient commentators in the British Left movement, after being a key spokesperson during Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure as Labour leader. Having left Labour in 2024, Grace has gone on to endorse her friend Zack Polanski and join the Green Party. But her leftism stands in contrast to some of the Greens most important economic positions, such as its cornerstone project to rejoin the European Union.

In this episode, we dive into the great challenges that face modern socialists, including the fear that accelarationism could facilitate a lurch to the hard right, rather than any hope of progressive revolution. We also cast our minds back to the historical conditions that have formed the present: namely capital’s triumph over collective bargaining power (RIP Unions), which was prefigured by Marxist economist Kalecki, a critic of the much revered social democrat economist John Maynard Keynes.

We also touch upon one of our favourite topics on this podcast, the deeply polarised working classes in post-imperial nations. Grace laments the lack of a ‘class for itself’, a working class who understands their “real” collective interests. The question, of course, is what are those objective interests - are any of them cultural, what makes them ‘true’, and how do we ascertain them?

As always, please don’t forget to drop us a follow on @wtf_is.left and please consider supporting the show on Substack!

Chapters

00:00 Intro

03:17 The End of Corbynism

07:47 Should the Greens Want To Rejoin The EU?

14:17 Can You Trust The State?

20:20 Democratic Capitalism vs Democratic Socialism

25:50 How Keynes Led to Thatcher

32:30 Imperialism and Labour Aristocracy

39:40 Progressives and Protectionism

45:10 Can Greens Succeed Where Corbyn Failed?

56:04 How Liberalism Defeated Communities

1:02:10 Manosphere and Neoliberalism

1:06:30 Need for Cultural Revolution

1:10:20 Influence of David Graeber

1:14:23 Is Socialism in its Infancy?

1:18:30 Moving From Labour To The Greens

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When Asim agreed to do this podcast, I messaged all my bros from school days immediately. Asim's character Chabuddy G, of 'People Just Do Nothing' fame, was one of the biggest cultural influences on those hazy days. In the playground, we used to spit Chabuddyisms over a bit of 2 touch, while deep cuts of UK Garage (Peven Everett pls stand up) blared off an iphone speaker. If Reform was talking about a nostalgia to this past, maybe I'd get on board.

Asim has gone onto a stellar career in acting and screenwriting since his debut on the BBC. But it's his expertise in crossing the weather veins of cultural commentary with British character humour, that made him the perfect guest for our podcast.

Never shy to wind up pearl-clutchers on the left or right with his exciting inversions of stereotypes, Asim encapsulates the type of comedy that we believe can heal the UK. His jokes are rich in cheek and healthily inclined to the absurd.

So isn't it ironic, that as we sat lamenting the script-written transformations of once-idealised creators into right-wing grifters, all I felt was a glowing appreciation to be sat with one of my heroes - and him be exactly what I cracked him up to be.

If reality has indeed become satire, grab your popcorn and find some of your favourite people to laugh with. We must, at the very least, enjoy the show.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

03:30 Ending The Wasteman Life

11:42 Desperate For Male Validation

17:15 Making The Racists Laugh

22:04 Baiting Out Grifters

30:01 Finding Common Ground

40:22 Escaping Echo Chambers

47:17 What Figure Could Unite the Left?

54:15 How Powerlessness Fuels F@scism

1:03:30 Class, Agency and Finding Success

1:12:15 Staying Grounded

1:18:20 Ethics Of Chabuddy G

1:22:03 Privatisation of Water + Dirty Business

1:29:30 Comedy Is The Great Equalizer

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Ooooo yesss it's another WL x Novara crossover, as Ash Sarkar joins us in the studio! You know there's nothing we love more than a chaotic chat about political theory with a few gags mixed in – you are certainly entitled to question whether any of it is useful beyond a collective intellectual ego massage. We hope it is lol.

Ash joins us following the paperback launch of her latest book 'Minority Rule' which explores how the left is losing the culture wars, and needs to get serious about political organising if it is to resist the surge of the radical right.

In this convo, we drill into the deep fissures in class consciousness and whether there needs to be more than the condition of downward economic mobility to unite a political program that challenges the status quo. It's bleak reading on the current electoral map, where the left looks splintered and is tearing lumps out of itself, and any number of unpredictable outcomes could result from our first past the posts electoral system. So don't expect any prophesies from us...

But what we defend is the important work of getting out into your community, meeting real people and searching for common ground. Getting organised is the only way real change becomes possible - and if the upshot of this conversation is that you open communications with people who think differently, then that is a good thing for our democracy whatever your political stripes.

As always, the one thing we're striving for here is more intellectual curiosity, a willingness to learn and the courage to change your beliefs if challenged with good evidence. None of us claim perfection and we're all on this maddening journey together.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

00:26 Rating the Political Class

07:07 Selecting Better Candidates on the Left

14:34 Local vs. Global Business

19:57 Ash’s Thesis in ‘Minority Rule’

27:10 Immigration and Identity

31:10 Constitution vs. Capitalism

36:12 Marx and the Middle Class

42:30 Identity Politics and Class Consciousness

49:40 Turning Critique Into Political Organisation

54:40 Cultural Loss in Britain

1:02:20 Reform, Restore and the Politics of Home

1:10:10 Your Party’s Capitulation

1:15:20 Do We Need To Get Offline?

1:19:40 Optimism of the Will

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YouTube OG, Josh Pieters, joins us for a deep cut into the ethics and cultural impact of YouTube and what has sustained his success through different eras of online culture. All of those questions stored up from spending hours and hours of our early teen years parasocially connecting with these slightly older teenagers, finally saw the light of day.

We discuss why Josh has given up on his pranking days, moving into a journalistic role with his documentaries, and the perverse incentives of gaming attention on YouTube and other social platforms. Is it possible to come up in today's saturated media landscape just by being optimistic and positive, with a slightly inflated personality? Or do you have to be a joke or have an enemy?

The one thing money can't buy is clout. But clout can definitely buy money. And you best believe that most kids understand this instinctively. No wonder they all want to be YouTubers. Big thanks to Josh for his honesty in such a wide ranging conversation and to guest host Sophie Peachey for coming through!!

Chapters

01:21 Intro

04:22 Truth About Lily Phillips Documentary

14:27 Talking to the Blokes in Lily Phillips’ 100 Men Challenge

20:03 Who Is Taking Advantage Of Young Men?

32:44 Why did Josh Switch from Pranks to Documentaries?

38:53 YouTube + Internet Has Changed Radically

49:11 Will Josh change the 'Goon Squad' Name?

52:00 The Fame of the Brit Crew

1:03:07 Does Josh Regret the Just Stop Oil Prank?

1:13:08 Are Billionaires the Problem?

1:17:10 How f*cked is the UK?

1:20:49 In Defence of Josh's Pranks

1:26:09 Archie Manners Joining Reform UK

1:33:05 Josh’s One Piece of Advice for Lefties Online

BONUS MINI-EPISODE!

After Labour's worst case scenario loss in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Freddie asks who still votes Labour and why?

JOIN US ON SUBSTACK: substack.com/@wtfisleft Early Access to Ad-Free Extended Interviews Ask our Guests Questions LIVEs with Jovan + Freddie WL Book Club + Community Discussion Articles + Exclusive Content

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Joe Biden’s Tech Adviser (2020-2) Tim Wu joins us for a deep dive into the ‘Age of Extraction’. Wu is a Columbia Law Professor who writes regularly for the Financial Times, The New York Times and The Economist. He’s published an array of literature that focuses on big tech, monopolies and how the attention economy has restructured modern economic life.

In this episode, we discuss what went wrong with the Biden administration, how big tech giants are extracting value from our economic system and what Progressives must do to win.

Too often, our discussions centre on everything going wrong with the world. Yes, there are myriad critiques we could make about our system based on the evidence available. But if there’s one thing we need to be better at, it’s coming up with a vision to fix things. What is our alternative?

And it’s at this juncture that the Left splinters into a kaleidoscope of political imagination. We believe there is space to unite factions that have been economically disempowered, perhaps with a more agnostic form of liberal social politics that respects different groups’ competing rights. An anti-polarisation, pro-economic populism politics without all the purity tests. A boy can dream.

Tim's latest book, 'The Age of Extraction' contributes greatly to this discussion, diagnosing a new strain of crony capitalism and prescribing a return of political power to the people not corporate interests. We want real democracy. And most of us want the same things.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

02:28 Starmer + Biden Parallels

13:28 Why We’re Living In The ‘Age of Extraction’

24:15 The Corrupting Power of Billionaires

33:45 Are We Returning To Feudalism

44:06 Is This Capitalism?

59:15 Europe Needs Sovereignty

1:10:04 How The Democrats Lost Their Way

1:21:50 Big Tech Is Too Powerful

1:25:30 Democrat Nominee For 2028

1:30:52 We’re Living Through A Revolution

1:38:01 The Death Of Neoliberalism

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Dr. Andrew Lownie has been vindicated. After putting his reputation on the line with his investigations into rogue members of the British Royal family, Lownie faced a barrage of criticism aimed at discrediting him. A well-respected academic historian, he trusted the veracity of his sources and stood by their claims with regards to the disgraced royal, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Lownie's latest book, 'Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York', has been flying off the shelves. It documents arguably the greatest crisis to grip the British Royal Family, following claims of corruption, criminal associations and cover ups.

In this interview, we explore the wider ramifications of the Epste1n files on the state of liberal democracy. When elites are not held to the same accountability as the rest of society, what happens to the legitimacy of our systems? Where are the checks and balances? What can be done to regain trust?

This really feels like a moral reckoning, where justice must be meted out for the victims and accountability must be returned to public life. Our leaders must be beyond being bought.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:55 Lownie's Investigations Into The Royals

07:12 Shocking Allegations Against Prince Andrew

11:15 Russian or Israeli Assets?

16:30 Royals Are Above The Law

21:27 Elites and Societal Breakdown

25:50 Royal Narcissism and Psychological Disorders

30:23 Globalisation and Elite Corruption

35:05 Are We Tending Toward Revolution?

39:15 How To Save Liberal Democracy

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Steve Tsang is a political scientist, Director of the SOAS China Institute and the author of 'Xi Jingping's Political Thought'. On Tuesday 27th January, We sat down with Steve as Keir Starmer landed in Beijing for the first visit of a British Prime Minister in China since 2018.

With the Davos consensus of globalisation and free seamless trade becoming a relic of modern history, how should Britain hedge its strategic bets in a bipolar world of Chinese and American competition? Does a third way even exist between these two undeniable superpowers?

In the UK and the West more broadly, we suffer from a paucity of understanding when it comes to the world's second largest economy. China is enormous, deeply complex and hidden behind a veil of propaganda and posturing from the ruling Communist Party.

Over the past decade, China's president Xi Jinping has consolidated absolute power in the executive, undoing many of the consultative reforms under previous regimes. But has this move, while making Xi omnipotent, actually made China vulnerable?

On the day before Starmer set off to Beijing, it was reported that General Zhang Youxia, one of Xi's most loyal acolytes, had been purged. The official story from the CCP was that he had passed on state secrets about China's nuclear deterrent to the United States. What seems more likely is that Zhang had a base of power that would not be tolerated by the supreme leader...

China's irrepressible rise to superpower status has been driven by its ruthless execution of long-term modernising policies. It's not merely a story of manufacturing dominance. Half a billion people have relocated from the countryside to the cities in 25 years. In 2025, they amassed a trade surplus over $1 trillion. And now they lead the world in electrification with giant leaps in solar technology, much to the chagrin of European counterparts who devised the 'Green New Deal'.

Indeed, there is much to admire about China, and with its economic dominance, much to fear. So what lessons should we learn from China's rise and what caveats must we bear in mind, when forging a path forward for Britain as a middle power in a world without rules...

Chapters

00:25 - Intro

01:16 - What Starmer Must Know About China

05:21 - Xi Jinping’s Total Control of China

16:36 - Have We Forgotten The Post-War Lessons?

24:42 - Is Freddie Chinese In The Eyes of Xi Jinping?

32:20 - The Two Tories Accused of Spying for China...

40:26 - What Western Narratives of China Get Wrong

51:05 - Xi's Purges + Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution

1:04:41 - Inequality From China's Economic Supremacy

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‘This could be the end for Starmer’. Pundits, sub-editors and political rivals have been drawn to this phrase more than any other over the past 18 months. Evidentially, it seems a spurious claim. The Prime Minister has trudged on, by all accounts unfazed, despite the merry-go-round of self-immolation (call it a self-destructive fireworks display) that’s dogged his premiership. Labour’s top-scorer, much like the PM’s beloved Arsenal, has been own goals. And yet with a soviet-style majority, Starmer still will think he is top of the league.

When Peter Mandelson, the ‘Prince of Darkness’ (I imagine he now calls this a ‘regrettable’ nickname), was chosen as US Ambassador there was consternation on many wings of the Labour Party.

In fact, over a year before he was made US Ambassador, the FT had uncovered a JP Morgan report from 2019 which found Epstein and Mandy had kept a ‘particularly close relationship’ - and that he had stayed at Epstein’s home in 2009, shortly after his conviction for ‘soliciting an underage girl’. One would think Mandelson’s close friendship with an astonishingly powerful convicted nonce would be enough to stave off his proximity to a party preparing for government. But clearly assurances were made.

The public were well aware of just how implicated Mandelson was in the Epstein affair. You don’t need to be a PR expert to realise that much more was to come. When faced with the treachery of the latest revelations in the Epstein files, it looks quite unforgivable that Mandelson was allowed to return to high office. Our own security services had briefed No 10 that he was compromised. Were they aware that Mandelson had been forwarding highly sensitive information to Epstein (sometimes within seconds) from his personal email account? That he had told JP Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon to ‘mildly threaten’ then-Chancellor Alistair Darling over a Bankers’ bonuses tax?

My gut feeling is that this is very very bad news for Starmer, who has never been much of a Mandelson whisperer, and his under-fire chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who has been accused of personally backing Mandelson’s appointment. Mandelson’s response to ‘own the narrative’ has revealed just how out of touch he is - a few posed magazine shots with your dog and grumbles about how ‘unfortunate’ the whole affair is, isn’t going to cut the mustard. You were best mates with the world’s most notorious nonce, allegedly took money from him and leaked sensitive information against your own country’s interests. You’re a disgrace.

This has really cut through and solidified the distrust many feel towards a faction of the Labour Party obsessed with power. As Anoosh Chakelian put it in the New Statesman, voters are fed up with “the dark triad of New Labour’s Third Way: a distant political class; rule by political spin; amoral liberal pragmatism”. We shouldn’t be making decisions just for the sake of saying ‘we got to make them’. There must be morality in our mission.

Chapters

00:00 - Intro

00:33 - How Dan Neidle Broke the Mandelson Affair

01:55 - The Financial Crash and Mandelson's Correspondence w Epstein

10:22 - Is This Treason?

19:54 - Did Mandelson Know the Epstein Leaks Were Coming?

26:05 - The Legal Ramifications of Reporting on Epstein/Mandelson

32:00 - The Consequences for the Labour Government

37:54 - Will Mandelson Face Criminal Proceedings?

43:24 - Have the Conspiracy Theorists Been Vindicated?

51:28 - What did Dan find out about Ghislaine Maxwell and Mandelson?

54:54 - Will This Change the Media's Relationship with Powerful People?

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Now this is cricket.

Horatio Gould, comedian + podcast virtuoso (and OG fan of What's Left), joins us in the studio with author James Bloodworth (Hired, Lost Boys) guest-hosting.

Post Davos, Western elites are checking their bank accounts and stock portfolios, considering the premium paid for their unerring loyalty to the market. Their rationale is clear: follow the wind and back the military 'might-is-right' agenda of Donald Trump, or argue with the sails and be blown off course. They don't need any invitation to make hay while the sun shines.

But amongst the more seaworthy, there was cause for reflection. Mark Carney, the Canadian PM, had done the unthinkable: made a relatively memorable Davos speech. That's harsh. It was actually a very good speech – a candid indictment of the hypocrisy of the Western liberal 'rules-based' order, who better to tell it than one of the lead hypocrites. Accepting that the US and its allies had told the world a useful fiction to advance its interests, Carney argued that such a narrative can no longer stand up to scrutiny.

The 'new' rules are dead. Long live the old rules: bully and win.

Of course, there is a rejoinder. Cowering to bullies keeps their fiction alive. But standing up to them, collectively, offers another path. Carney made it clear to the elites, deep into their thus-far profitable hedge, that a choice remains on the table. Middle powers must stand side by side if they are to have any collective bargaining power.

We've been making this argument since September (please see our episode with Hassan Damluji). And we should be clear, the costs are real: decoupling from the US and taking on a world of hard power alone will be very dangerous. But what is at stake is bigger than us as individuals. It's about Britain being in charge of her own destiny. It's about sovereignty; the power to choose at all.

And it's at this juncture that every Brit should be considering what makes us British and how we stand stronger together. Yes, it's incredibly trite to talk about how divided our society is. But I think it's a edifying to be anti-polarisation. We're on an island, wouldn't it be better if we all got along?

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:30 - Politics and comedy

22:55 - Most right-wing views as a leftie

35:29 - What is masculinity?

39:56 - Do other world leaders have Trump's charisma?

50:41 - Who would join Trump's Board of Peace?

60:22 - Tories defecting to Reform and Trumpism in the UK

74:02 - Britain is a heritage trail for tourists 86:58 - What is the guiding light for left-wing politics?