PoliticsJOE Podcast

Donald Trump’s second presidency has been marked by a striking lack of resistance. While figures inside his first administration regularly challenged his decisions, Trump 2.0 has seen politicians, business leaders, media organisations and institutions fall into line. So why has America’s political establishment become so reluctant to stand up to him? In this interview, Jacob Weisberg, journalist,...

Skip to 9:20 if you want straight economy chat. Andy Burnham's Chancellor John Healey gave his first budget, and the first of Andy Burnham's reign as Prime Minister. Ava and Seán headed into the content dungeon to chew the fat. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebuildbritain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robin Wigglesworth, Financial Times journalist and author of The Fabulous Debt, joins us to explain how government borrowing works, why rising gilt yields matter, and what the legacy of Liz Truss's disastrous mini-budget tells us about the limits of political power. Robin also explains why government debt isn't necessarily a bad thing, how Britain historically used borrowing to industriali...

Andy Burnham’s position on Brexit has been murky since the 2016 referendum, and he's recently called for a debate about Britain’s future with the EU. So what exactly is going on? Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebuildbritain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Feinstein is one of the most versatile people in British politics today. Formerly a member of the South African Parliament for Nelson Mandela's ANC, he has gained notoriety in the UK in recent years, most notably for running against Keir Starmer in Holborn and St Pancras in the 2024 General Election. Today, he sits down with Ava to talk about the recent by-election in the seat, the fail...

Today Andy Burnham's government decided to approve new gas licences for the Jackdaw field in the North Sea. Ava and Seán jumped into the studio to chew over the plan. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebuildbritain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In France, protests over education cuts have grown into a movement involving unions, farmers, environmental campaigners and pensioners. Anger over declining public services, stagnant wages, and the cost of living has mobilised people across society. But isn't Britain facing the same issues? Seán and Ava dive deep on a generation that's grown up entirely under austerity. Subscribe to How to...

Tariq Ali is one of Britain's foremost figures on the left of politics, and following a busy recess for Andy Burnham, he came in to the studio to react to the Prime Minister's speech to Labour conference, his first few months in charge, and how Britain should position itself in a world in complete flux. Get Tariq Ali and Rashid Khalidi's new book The Neck and The Sword here: https://ww...

Helena is a Green Party member and the streamer NoJusticeMTG. As someone who was in the room during the Green Party's Zionism is Racism motion that passed at their annual conference, she came by the PolJOE dungeon to break down the motion for us, and delve deeper into what it means for Green voters and the wider British left. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebu...

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor are fighting for the living world. Their new book charts an alliance between Silicon Valley billionaires, Donald Trump, and the far right, who they suggest are working against humanity in the name of profit and power. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebuildbritain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zack Polanski did not win the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. But is there a world where he could have? Ava and Seán breakdown the result, what it means for the Greens, and why it went Labour's way. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebuildbritain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Could Zack Polanski's leadership represent something much bigger than a change of direction for the Green Party? Ava was joined live by Green Party leader Zack Polanski and author Russell Warfield on the launch of Russell's book "The Green Socialist: Zack Polanski and the Battle for Britain’s Future" to discuss the rise of the Greens, the crisis facing British politics and the po...

Jeremy Corbyn has been no stranger to international solidarity in his long career as a politician. He sat down with Ava to discuss his campaigning for the blockade to be lifted on Cuba, after a summer of campaigning which led him to travel to the Caribbean island to show his support for its people. Corbyn also breaks down his assessment of Andy Burnham's time as Labour leader to this point, an...

Ava and Seán take to the studio to chat through Ava's appearance on the beeb last week, on the topic of immigration. Having had a couple of chances to speak on a crammed show, she and Seán get into the meat of the arguments started on the telly. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebuildbritain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daron Acemoglu is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and author of What Happened to Liberal Democracy. He joined Ava to explain why liberal democracy is facing one of its biggest crises in generations — and what needs to change to save it. Acemoglu argues that the problems facing democracies go much deeper than individual politicians. Across the UK, US and Europe, trust in political institutions has...

Owen Jones makes his PolJOE debut to talk all things Western decline, chatting to Ava about where everything went wrong. His new book, The Fall of the West, recaptures the narrative of our present economic, military, and moral crises. From Western support for Israel to Trump's creeping authoritarianism, to the legacy of Iraq and deindustrialisation, Owen exposes the hypocrisy and danger of con...

Ava is once again joined by friend of the podcast Scott Lucas to break down the latest in the world of Donald Trump. He had a busy couple of days in New York where he met Andy Burnham face-to-face, but another of the big stories at the UN was the long-awaited "deal" on Greenland. Scott breaks down what actually happened in the US/Denmark/Greenland trilat. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Brit...

Ed Sheeran dropped Macklemore from his tour over the artist's pro-Palestine platform. He played his last gig alone, after all of his supporting artists (and his backing band) dropped out in solidarity. Ava and Seán break down what on earth happened, and react to Sheeran's apology. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebuildbritain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

Arthur Downing is an energy expert. His new book, Power and the People, charts the history of British energy, and, critically, how things got so bad. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebuildbritain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's only one story in town at the moment. With Dario Amodei running around telling us all how dangerous he and his acolytes are, while Trump tells us we need to deregulate more than we already have, everyone's asking: Is AI about to end the world? Cory Doctorow joins Ava to discuss this, breaking down the good and bad of the industry, and why the problem is far deeper than just the latest soft...

Ava was joined by journalist for the Middle East Eye and author of Complicit, Peter Oborne. They break down the latest scandal engulfing Nigel Farage, and the Labour Party's change of heart on Palestine, by slapping sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebuildbritain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...

In what may be Gary Stevenson's last ever interview, he spoke to PoliticsJOE about his new documentary How To Get Filthy Rich, the need for wealth taxes, and how we got into this mess in the first place. How To Get Filthy Rich is available now on Channel 4 streaming. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebuildbritain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...

Gerry Adams is one of the most significant political figures on these islands of the last fifty years, and he has taken time out of his busy schedule to speak to PoliticsJOE. In a conversation just days before the coronation of Andy Burnham and days after the burning of nationalist effigies on bonfires across his hometown, Adams speaks to us about the necessary next steps for Burnham's government,...

Baroness Beeban Kidron is a filmmaker and tech campaigner, and she joined Ava at Sunday Papers Live recently to speak about her book Users: How Big Tech Took Control and How to Fight Back. During the course of the conversation, Kidron breaks down the ways in which big tech have wormed their way into democracy to warp regulatory structures for their own benefit. She also explains how they've knowin...

Labour's leadership nominations opened today and, so far, Burnham remains unopposed on his march to Number 10. But who is Andy Burnham, and what does he want for Britain? Andy and Seán recap what we know so far, and speculate as to how Burnham might build a cabinet. Subscribe to How to Rebuild Britain now: https://linktr.ee/howtorebuildbritain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inform...