Oh God, What Now?

Starmer is Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party – but does he feel totally in charge of things? Plus, the race to be Deputy Leader of the Labour Party is down to the final two. Who’s the most likely to take the role? And Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham is being increasingly tipped to swoop back to Westminster. Could he be the answer Labour has been searching for, realistically? Join Ros Taylor, Jonn Elledge, and Rafael Behr for all of that and a deep dive into the reality of party democracy. Escape Routes: • Jonn: Buy Clown Town through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Oh God, What Now? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Ros: Buy Waterland through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Oh God, What Now? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. She also watched Hostage on Netflix. • Raf recommends a band called This Is The Kit - specifically a song called Our Socks Forever More www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Ros Taylor with Rafael Behr and Jonn Elledge. Audio/ Video Production by: Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Reform UK kicked off party season in the weirdest way possible – will any of the other parties be able to overshadow them in the coming weeks? Perhaps not for singing and conspiracy theories, but hopefully in policy. The panel previews party conference season. Plus, we discuss who should be the next Labour deputy leader and in the extra bit dive into some dodgy Boris Johnson accusations.  • Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here. It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money back guarantee!  • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more • Back us on Patreon or ad-free listening, bonus materials and more.  Presented by Alison Phillips with Zoë Grünewald, Jason Hazeley and Hannah Fearn.  Audio Production by: Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The (former) Deputy Prime Minister resigns literally two minutes before we press “record”. Regulars Rafael Behr and Andrew Harrison plus special guest Steve Richards of the Rock’n’Roll Politics podcast rage at the brutal destruction of Angela Rayner and the uncontrolled power of the far-right press – and ask if there’s any place for flawed humans or the working class in politics at all. Plus: As Steve publishes Tony Blair a razor-sharp analysis of Britain’s last great Prime Minister, we look at the long reign of the leader they once called “Bambi” and ask whether Labour will ever get over it.  • Buy Tony Blair [through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund OGWN by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here. It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money back guarantee!  ESCAPE ROUTES  • Steve has been watching classic Michael Parkinson interviews on YouTube, especially this one with Peter Sellers.  • Raf has been playing folk-style live shows with a bit of blues with Theo Bard.  • Andrew recommends the scorching Swedish rock’n’roll of The Hives. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more • Back us on Patreon or ad-free listening, bonus materials and more.  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison with Rafael Behr. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Cornershop. Art direction: James Parrett. Produced by Chris Jones. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Angela Rayner’s out. The resignation, which most of us saw coming, finally happened on a Friday afternoon. Was her position really untenable, or could she have toughed it out? Plus – what now and how does this leave Starmer’s party? Jacob Jarvis is joined by Ros Taylor, to react to Rayner’s decision and ask what it means for the future of the Labour government.   • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more   • Back us on Patreon for ad-free listening, bonus materials and more.    • Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here ⁠⁠https://nordvpn.com/ohgodwhatnow⁠⁠. It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money back guarantee!   Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Ros Taylor. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Cornershop. Art direction: James Parrett. Produced by Liam Tait. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.   www.podmasters.co.uk   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Equality and Human Rights Commission new guidance on trans people’s rights is coming up. What will this mean for trans people in the UK and how did we get here? Plus: Reshuffle fun! Will Zack Polanski’s vow to never do a deal with Starmer be a gift to Reform? Labour succumbs to flags madness! And after a very special mid-show announcement we talk about how to keep yourself together when all about you is falling to pieces.  ESCAPE ROUTES  • Ros recommends Mix Tape on BBC iPlayer.  • Jonn has been reading No Second Changes by Morgan Jones and This Way Up: When Maps Go Wrong by the Map Men.   • Marie recommends In Search Of Nomads by John Ure.  • Dorian recommends loads of new albums: CMAT, Wolf Alice and Wet Leg.  When you buy books through our affiliate bookshop, you help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here ⁠⁠https://nordvpn.com/ohgodwhatnow⁠⁠. It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money back guarantee!  • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more • Back us on Patreon for ad-free listening, bonus materials and more.  Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey with Ros Taylor, Marie le Conte and Jonn Elledge. Audio production by Robin Leeburn and Tom Taylor. Theme music by Cornershop. Art direction: James Parrett. Produced by Chris Jones. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Warning: contains hope for tomorrow! It sometimes feels like the polycrisis of global heating, collapsing democracy, job-killing A.I. and radicalisation can’t be solved – but what if there are answers in similar turning points from the past? Roman Krznaric, author of History For Tomorrow : How The Past Can Inspire Our Future, joins Andrew Harrison and Zöe Grünewald for a surprisingly uplifting tour of invaluable lessons of the past, from the fight to end slavery to the battle to control artificial intelligence.  • Don’t forget you can watch full video on Spotify.  ESCAPE ROUTES  • Zoë recommends Animals by Emma Jane Unsworth.  • Roman has been watching (and cooking to) the latest series of The Bear on Disney+.  • Andrew saw Sea Power, Jane Weaver, Stewart Lee and a good few OGWN listeners at the Krankenhaus festival near Ravenglass.  • Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here ⁠https://nordvpn.com/ohgodwhatnow⁠. It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money back guarantee!  When you buy books through our affiliate bookshop, you help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more • Back us on Patreon for ad-free listening, bonus materials and more.  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison with Zoë Grünewald. Audio and video production by Chris Jones and Tom Taylor. Theme music by Cornershop. Art direction: James Parrett. Produced by Chris Jones. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who let the flags out? We look at the mania for running a Cross of St George or Union Jack up the nearest lamp-post, who’s fomenting it and why it’s smart but dangerous politics for the far-right. Meanwhile Nigel Farage launches his completely uncosted, unrealistic, fantasy plan for mass deportations. Are the press so completely on the Reform bandwagon that they’ll just let it go unquestioned? Our special guest David Klemperer puts the case for compulsory voting and why it solves more problems than you think. And in the Extra Bit for Patreon people: TfL and the Tories team up against the scourge of people playing music on their phone speakers on public transport. Will they succeed – and what would we ban if we could? ESCAPE ROUTES  • David recommends Love and Death in Long Island by Gilbert Adair.  • Marie recommends French Exit by Patrick deWitt.  • Hannah recommends Evenings And Weekends by Oisin McKenna.  • Ros recommends A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bridge Theatre (but it’s finished and you can’t see it).  When you buy books through our affiliate bookshop, you help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more • Back us on Patreon for ad-free listening, bonus materials and more.  Written and presented by Ros Taylor, Hannah Fearn and Marie le Conte. Audio and video production by Chris Jones, Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Theme music by Cornershop. Art direction: James Parrett. Produced by Chris Jones. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of the best-liked MPs in Westminster, Chris Bryant has led an incident-packed life as the title of his new autobiography A Life And A Half  proves. In a frank, astonishing, sometimes dark but also very funny interview he explains how he went from a painful childhood to becoming an Anglican priest to winning a very traditional South Wales seat as an out gay man. From early encounters with Boris Johnson to bizarre stories in Brussels, it’s one of the most remarkable interviews we’ve done. “My mum looked after Shirley Bassey’s wigs, which may explain my sexuality,” he tells Seth Thévoz and Marie le Conte.  • Don’t forget you can watch full video on Spotify.  Warning: This episode contains discussion of sexual abuse which some listeners may find difficult. ESCAPE ROUTES  • Chris saw the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Edinburgh Festival.  • Marie recommends The Door by Magda Szabó. • Seth has been watching old episodes of Doctor Who with Tom Baker, some of which were good... ... and some of which weren’t. When you buy books through our affiliate bookshop, you help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here https://nordvpn.com/ohgodwhatnow. It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money back guarantee!  • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more • Back us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow for ad-free listening, bonus materials and more.  Written and presented by Seth Thévoz and Marie Le Conte. Audio and video production by Chris Jones and Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Cornershop. Art direction: James Parrett. Produced by Chris Jones. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robert Jenrick’s hanging out with the far-right at the migrant hotel protests, the Express claims “tens of millions” of Britons want a full-blown revolution, and Alison Pearson is hoping for a military coup. Why are the former law-and-order right so desperate for political violence to erupt? Plus, will Sally Rooney’s reign of terror ever end? As calls mount for her to be banned (somehow) or prosecuted (somehow) for backing Palestine Action, we ask if the proscription of the Gaza protest group could get any more absurd. And in the Extra Bit: Do the right-wing anti-academia mob have a point? Is university just not worth it for some people?  ESCAPE ROUTES  • Marie recommends Out of Sheer Rage by Geoff Dyer.  • Jonn recommends the Hamad Butt retrospective Apprehensions at the Whitechapel Gallery. • Dorian recommends people watching. Just go out for a walk. It’s summer.  When you buy books through our affiliate bookshop you help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here. It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money back guarantee!  • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more • Back us on Patreon for ad-free listening, bonus materials and more.  Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Marie le Conte and Jonn Elledge. Audio production by Simon Williams and Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Cornershop. Art direction: James Parrett. Produced by Chris Jones. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It seems like there’s no end to the horrors in Gaza, the torment of the Israeli hostages and Netanyahu’s expansionism. And the more events escalate, the less we understand this nightmare. Today we’re joined by UCL politics professor Julie Norman to take as sober a look as possible at how the Middle East has changed after the October 7 attacks and Israel’s devastating response. Is Netanyahu prolonging the war to say in power? Does it fit the description of a genocide? And what happens next? Plus we have excellent questions on this topic in a special But Your Emails.  This episode was recorded before the anti-war protests in Israel over the weekend. • Don’t forget you can watch full video of our panel editions on Spotify.  If ever we needed ESCAPE ROUTES it’s this week… • Julie recommends Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run on its 50th anniversary.  • Raf recommends The Genius Myth by Helen Lewis.  • Andrew recommends Alien Earth on Disney+.  When you buy books through our affiliate bookshop you help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here https://nordvpn.com/ohgodwhatnow. It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money back guarantee!  • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more • Back us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow for ad-free listening, bonus materials and more.  Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rafael Behr. Audio and video production by Chris Jones. Theme music by Cornershop. Art direction: James Parrett. Produced by Chris Jones. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices