Byline Podcast

New official figures have revealed record sewage spills in in England’s rivers and seas…3.6 million hours of waste dumped in 2023 compared to 1.75 million hours the year before. Sewage works are sometimes overloaded during heavy downpours meaning waste sometimes legally flows out untreated but these occasions should be kept to a minimum. This all begs questions about the regulation our privatised water companies who paid out £1.4 billion to shareholders last year, but are now seeking an additional £10bn from customers to deal with sewage. Adrian Goldberg hears from Charles Watson, founder of the charity River Action and Johnbosco Nwogbo, from the anti privatisation campaign group We Own It. Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg. Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times. Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New UK government figures have revealed the sharpest increase in absolute poverty in the UK for more than 30 years. According to official statistics, 600,000 extra people came into this category last year. Rising energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are partly to blame, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation the trend has been getting worse for decades. Their most recent report published in January outlined how current levels of poverty are around 50% higher than they were in the 1970s – before Margaret Thatcher came to powe. Adrian Goldberg hears from Joe Elliott, analysis manager at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and Jospeh Howes, from Chief Exec of Buttle UK, which provides grants for children and young people in crisis. He is also Chair of the End Child Poverty Coalition.Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg. Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times. Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adrian Goldberg explores the wider meaning of 'tragedy chanting' aimed at supporters of Liverpool FC. He's joined by writer Tony Evans, who survived the the Hillsborough tragedy in 1989.Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White. Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times. Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The apartment where Byline Times correspondent Zarina Zabrisky and war photographer Paul Conroy are living in Kherson has come under attack from Russian rockets. Adrian Goldberg gets their responses to a lucky miss. There's also an update on Odessa from Zarina while Paul assesses the state of international backing for Ukraine. Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White. Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times. Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adrian Goldberg interviews Grace Blakeley about her new book 'Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts and the Death of Freedom". (Bloomsbury) Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White. Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times. Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Bannon – former Chief strategist to Donald Trump - recently shared a platform with Liz Truss in which he called Tommy Robinson a 'hero'. Truss appeared to agree. This was at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland and in an article you can read now at Byline Times.com Byline Times executive editor Peter Jukes has sounded a warning about the emergence of a darker, dangerous form of right wing conservatism. He shares his thoughts with Adrian Goldberg. Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg. Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times. Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New findings from a team at Oxford University suggest that privatisation bad for your health.   Researchers looked at 13 long-term studies from well-off countries including the UK to examine what happened ‘before’ and ‘after’ public health provision was outsourced.  Their conclusion: Increases in privatisation generally corresponded with worse quality of care. Adrian Goldberg talks to one of the researchers Ben Goodair, and Cat Hobbs, Director of the campaign group We Own It. Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White. Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times. Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Galloway has won victory in the traditionally safe Labour seat of Rochdale by election, after standing on a platform opposing Keir Starmer's stance on Gaza.  Does Gallwoway’s victory - as he suggests - reflect a shift in the tectonic plates of British politics? Or is it just a one off caused in part at least by Labour decision to disown its own candidate Azhar Ali after made anti semitic remarks.Adrian Goldberg talks to Jon Tonge is a professor of politics at Liverpool University.Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg. Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times. Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Has Islamophobia been mainstreamed? It certainly looks like it. Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman recently wrote in the Telegraph that Islamists are “bullying Britain into submission", while ex Tory party Chairman Lee Anderson told GB News that Islamists had "got control" of London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Tory MP Paul Scully has also weighed in claimed that Tower Hamlets in London and Sparkhill in Birmingham which both have large Muslim populations are no go areas.Adrian Goldberg hears from with Amna Abdullatif, an independent councillor in Manchester, and Raheel Mohammed founder and director of Maslaha, a charity that tackles inequalities and discriminations faced by Muslim communities. Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg. Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times. Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is special episode to mark the second anniversary of invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Russia had already annexed Crimea in 2014, and separatists backed by Moscow also sparked fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region in the same year. The world mostly looked the other way, until Russia launched a full scale invasion of its neighbour two years ago on the false pretext that it was seeking to deNazify Ukraine.Since then more than 42,000 Ukrainian troops are thought to have been killed and 11,000 civilians. Russia’s losses are thought to exceed 150,000 soldiers.Reporter Zarina Zabrisky, who’s been covering the conflict from Ukraine for the Byline Times, has been talking to politicians, military experts, artists and 'ordinary' people to get a sense of how Ukraine is dealing with the conflict. The episode is narrated by her colleague, the war photographer Paul Conroy.Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg. Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times. Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices