Oh God, What Now?

Is the hysteria around digital I.D. cards justified? Or should we simply realise this is the future and get on with it? Plus, how deep is the UK university crisis? Professor Glen O’Hara is a voice at the forefront of this issue and joins us to shed some light on the dire situation. And in the Extra Bit for Subscribers, the Channel 4 documentary 1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story has created a media storm about sex, morality and censorship. Why have one woman’s actions caused such angst? Escape Routes: • Rachel went to A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Bridge Theatre  • Glen watched The Fantastic Four: First Steps (other cinemas are available) • Jonn went to the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition  • Dorian watched Mix Tape on iPlayer www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow • 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 Presented by Dorian Lynskey, Jonn Elledge and Rachel Cunliffe. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join Alex Hern, A.I. writer at The Economist, as he unpacks the complicated landscape of artificial intelligence. Discover the timeline for achieving artificial general intelligence and the jobs at risk of being wiped out. Hern discusses the promises of growth versus the specter of dystopia. Engage in debates about ethical implications, the rivalry between the U.S. and China in AI development, and how AI could reshape our economy and environment. Get insights into why experts are more concerned about AI's impact than the general public!

Far-right agitators are amping up protests against a migrant hotel in Epping and Farage claims Britain is “close to civil disobedience on a vast scale”. We look at why populists are so desperate for chaos on the streets. Plus, as our brand new podcast Talk ’90s To Me launches, host Miranda Sawyer joins the panel to explain how the decade of Cool Britannia, Britpop and New Labour changed everything. And in the Extra Bit: The Internet is horrible but is it just a few people ruining it for everyone?  • Don’t miss the very first episode of Talk ’90s With Me: Oasis! presented by Miranda Sawyer.  ESCAPE ROUTES • Rachel has been bingeing on Only Connect on BBC iPlayer.  • Jarv recommends Memoir of a Snail on the BFI Player.  • Miranda is enjoying Baxter Dury’s new album Allbarone. • Alison is off to see Superman at the pictures (verdict TBC).  • Back us on Patreon for ad-free listening, bonus materials and more.  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 Presented by Alison Phillips with Rachel Cunliffe and Jacob Jarvis. Audio production by Tom Taylor and Robin Leeurn. Theme music by Cornershop. 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

OK, the launch might have been a bit shambolic and the name isn’t settled – but will Corbyn and Sultana’s “Your Party”* have more impact than the average new party, yes we’re looking at you Change UK? Specifically, will it split the left of centre vote and put Farage in No.10? Plus – Vanity Fair is now running adverts featuring AI models. Is there any job the slop machine can’t destroy, even Kate Moss’s? And if women can’t live up to unrealistic human beauty standards, how about going up against literally unreal heights of perfection? [* Name TBC] • Don’t miss the very first episode of Talk ’90s With Me: Oasis! presented by Miranda Sawyer.  ESCAPE ROUTES • Zoe recommends Amy Bradley Is Missing on Netflix.  • Seth recommends Le Canard Enchaîné – practice your French first.  • Ava recommends The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives on Disney+  • Andrew recommends (after a fashion) Trainwreck: Poop Cruise on Netflix.  • Back us on Patreon for ad-free listening, bonus materials and more.  Presented by group editor Andrew Harrison with Zöe Grünewald, Seth Thévoz and Ava Santona. Audio production by Tom Taylor. Theme music by Cornershop. Produced by Chris Jones. 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

Has our perception of what it is to be patriotic been skewed by the likes of angry protesters parading outside a refugee hotel in Essex? And can the idea of patriotism ever be reclaimed from furious far-right groups like Britain First? Plus, what’s the latest on the Brexit reset with the EU? Director of UK in a Changing Europe Anand Menon joins the panel to discuss. And in the Extra Bit for subscribers, we’re wondering if we’ll EVER be able to retire. Escape Routes: • Ros recommends Inter Alia at the National Theatre. • Matt has been watching Yellowstone on Netflix.  • Hannah recommends Lush by Rochelle Dowden-Lord.  • Anand recommends Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan.  Buy Lush or Caledonian Road 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. Follow us on BlueSky Back us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Ros Taylor with Hannah Fearn, and Matt Green. Audio Production by Tom Taylor & Robin Leeburn. Music by Cornershop. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The government wants to lower the age of voting to 16. Does anyone really know why? Do most 16-year-olds even care about politics? And will it make even a shred of difference to election outcomes? Plus, Donald Trump’s Jeffrey Epstein meltdown continues. He’s now suing Rupert Murdoch over an article published by the Wall Street Journal last week linking him to the disgraced financier. How damaging is this for the US president? And finally, with more suspensions than the Humber Bridge, has the Labour Party become addicted to heavy-handedness? Escape Routes: • Andrew went to see all-female Slade tribute band Slady • Seth recommends Doctor Who: Warriors’ Gate And Beyond by Stephen Gallagher • Jonn went to see Nye at the National Theatre.  • Marie recommends Model Behaviour by Jay McInerney. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison with Jonn Elledge, Marie Le Conte and Seth Thévoz. Audio Production by: Robin Leeburn. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Keir Starmer suspended 4 ‘persistent rebels’ on Wednesday. Clive Lewis was not on that list, despite his many disagreements with his party, but he is on our podcast this week. We sat down with the MP for Norwich South to discuss those suspensions, why Labour's not delivering on its promise for ‘change’, and why the UK should move back closer to Europe. Plus, campaign group More in Common’s latest study categorises the electorate into seven groups. Is it useful? And who are these types of studies really for? And in the Extra Bit for subscribers – is there an argument FOR air con?  Escape routes: • Clive Lewis recommends Andor on via Disney Plus • Zoë recommends Dept Q on Netflix.  • Matt watched England vs India in the cricket. The 4th test is available to watch on Sky Sports from July 23rd • Dorian recommends Nye at the National Theatre. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Zoë Grünewald and Matt Green. Audio Production by: Tom Taylor and Robin Leeburn. Video Production by: Chris Jones. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Macron-Starmer love-in during the French President’s UK visit was guaranteed to enrage the Continuity Brexiters. But will their one-in-one-out migration plans actually deliver? Plus, is Britain’s justice system broken beyond repair? Jury-less trials are on the horizon but are they the fix that an impoverished, dysfunctional courts system needs? And Greater Manchester’s mayor Andy Burnham is back with a bold Ten Year Plan for the city. Ambitious or just aspirational? We explore what the rest of the UK could learn from his northern blueprint. • Listen to The Bunker episode Watch The Spies – Can the CIA survive Trump? • Get a month of The New World in print and digital for just £1 here. ESCAPE ROUTES • Rachel recommends the Mitfords drama Outrageous on the U channel.  • Matt recommend the Philosophise This podcast and The Crisis Of Narration by Byung-Chul Han.  • Seth had his mind blown by Bayeux Cathedral.  • Alison saw Olivia Rodrigo live.  NOT FOR PATREON • Back us on Patreon for ad-free listening, bonus materials and more.  Presented by Alison Phillips with Rachel Cunliffe, Seth Thévoz and special guest Matt Kelly. Audio production by Robin Leeburn and Simon Williams. Theme music by Cornershop. 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

Donald Trump’s bill, we won’t be calling it beautiful, which takes from the poor and gives to the rich has passed into law. What’s in it and how easily did it get through Congress? Dr Colin Provost is an associate professor of public policy at University College London and joins the panel to get into it. Plus, Palestine Action has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK government. Has this gone too far and what does this say about our right to protest in the UK, if anything? And in the Extra Bit FOR EVERYONE this week, is Angela Rayner’s Employment Rights Bill an attack on banter?  Sign up to our Patreon to get the Extra Bit exclusively for subscribers every week! Escape Routes:  • Colin recently read Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work  • Zoe recently watched America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy’s Cheerleaders on Netflix  • Ros watched Saltburn now it’s on iPlayer  • Dorian has been watching Such Brave Girls Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/ohgodwhatnow.bsky.social  Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Ros Taylor and Zoë Grünewald. Audio Production by: Tom Taylor. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fragmentation special! It’s all kicking off on the right and the left. Are our panic-stricken political classes talking Britain into a Farage premiership just by making it sound inevitable? And could Zarah Sultana’s (possibly premature) launch of a new party of the anti-war left turn into a genuine threat to Labour? We’re calling it CorbTana. It’s going to catch on. Really.  ESCAPE ROUTES • Hannah recommends Couples Therapy on BBC iPlayer.  • Jonn recommends the US version of Ghosts.  • Raf saw War at the A Love Supreme festival.  • Andrew saw Goat and Infinity Song at Glastonbury.  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rafael Behr, Jonn Elledge, and Hannah Fearn. Audio Production by: Simon Williams. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices