Induction

Nigel Farage isn't the only scandal-ridden far-right political leader right now. His former MEP colleague, and French Presidential hopeful, Marine Le Pen, has just been found guilty (yet again) of the misappropriation of public funds. Yesterday afternoon, the leading figure in France’s far-right National Rally party headed to court to hear the verdict in her appeal against her conviction, last yea...

Two alleged instances of dodgy dealings with dodgy funders, including fresh allegations revealed this weekend of undeclared support from a convicted fraudster have opened up a path to Nigel Farage, the Reform Party leader, being removed from office. In today’s episode of SND , we’re going to take a look at those allegations, as well as explain what the potential consequences of these are. Could th...

In this special episode of Slow News Day, you ask the questions and Tom answers! Last week, we asked you to message in on what topics you would like Tom to cover and we've got a selection of Tom's hottest takes on everything from voting reform to Doctor Who's cancellation. If you would like to see another Q&A SND, please email your questions over to snd@tomnicholas.com The Slow News Day Team C...

The presumed next Prime Minister of the UK, Andy Burnham, has said that he plans to move at least part of 10 Downing Street to the north of England. Not physically. The door and Larry the Cat are staying where they are. But, in a speech this Monday, he said he was looking at establishing an additional office for his Prime Ministerial activities in Manchester, where he had been mayor for nine years...

Can anyone stop Andy Burnham from becoming Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister of the UK? No, is almost certainly the answer to that. And yet that’s not going to stop politicians on the right wing of the Labour Party (who aren’t super keen on Burnham) from trying. If there is to be a challenge to Andy Burnham taking over as Prime Minister, rather than him simply becoming leader of the La...

Keir Starmer has officially announced that he will be standing down as Prime Minister, and Leader of the Labour Party, leaving the door wide open for Andy Burnham to replace him. Having just found his way back to Parliament, as the winner of the Makerfield by-election, the “King in the North” is all but certainly our next Prime Minister. But what does Andy Burnham actually believe? What kind of po...

Keir Starmer’s future as Prime Minister will be decided today, in the most unusual of ways: a by-election in the North West of England. Usually, Prime Minister's fates are decided in General Elections, and by-elections are somewhat inconsequential, outside of the constituency. Makerfield, however, is different because Andy Burnham is standing for Labour. If he is elected to Parliament, he may just...

Donald Trump will be celebrating his 80th birthday this Sunday, and he will be celebrating with style. If by style we mean gaudy excess. Donald Trump’s big birthday bash will consist of a specially-arranged, double title fight night of UFC matches being held on the South Lawn of the White House. The meeting of the American Presidency and the UFC might seem a little odd. So, today, I want to both t...

The 2026 FIFA World Cup begins this week, and even before kick off, the tournament has been caught under a mountain of scandal. We can put the blame for the situation at the feet of just one man: FIFA president Gianni Infantino. He may have been the man elected to save FIFA after a wave of arrests and rampant corruption, but has he saved or doomed the beautiful game? The Slow Newsroom Creator and...

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is due to go public next week. In effect, this means it will go from being a privately-held company owned by Musk and a number of friends and colleagues to being a publicly-tradable company which you, yes you, can buy stocks in too. There’s a real risk that SpaceX might be massively, massively over valued, meaning retail investors (and retirement funds) might end up being forced...

Hasan Piker, the American Twitch streamer has been banned from entering the UK, along with The Young Turks host (and Piker’s uncle) Cenk Uygur. I’ve seen a few attempts to explain what’s going on here online, often by Americans and so I wanted to try and provide an explainer grounded a bit more in UK politics and law. So here we go. The Slow Newsroom Creator and Host: Tom Nicholas Editor: Georgia...

Elon Musk might be in the process of sabotaging the British far-right and inadvertently handing the Labour Party a massive win. Better still, I don’t think he knows he’s doing it or particularly cares. All of this relates to the by-election which is currently taking place in the constituency of Makerfield, where Andy Burnham’s biggest challenge to winning that seat should be Nigel Farage’s Reform...

New rules around single-sex spaces, such as changing rooms and bathrooms, were published towards the end of last week. These govern how businesses and organisations in the UK are (and crucially are not) allowed to provide for trans people. It's another win for British transphobes, I'm afraid. The Slow Newsroom Creator and Host: Tom Nicholas Editor: Georgia Burrows Producer: Jack Carter See Privacy...

The so-called “steroid olympics” (officially called the "Enhanced Games") are taking place this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. Happening in a purpose-built stadium (for some reason) just off the Las Vegas strip, it will feature more than 40 athletes souped up on personalised regimens of performance-enhancing drugs to see just how far the human body can go (you know, if you add a bunch of performanc...

Can Britain Undo Brexit? We're just shy of a decade since the UK voted to leave the EU, but could we be bracing for another big debate about EU membership? Recently, Wes Streeting announced that it would be part of his platform for Britain to rejoin the EU, should he became a candidate to replace Keir Starmer. Could this actually happen, or is there something else going on? The Slow Newsroom Creat...

The Eurovision Song Contest is in crisis this year, with five countries: Spain, Iceland, Ireland, The Netherlands, and Slovenia having pulled out of the competition, with some refusing to broadcast, due to Israel's participation. Critics have accused Israel of using the show to distract from the genocide and human rights abuses in Gaza and the West Bank. There have also been investigations into vo...

Keir Starmer is (almost) gone. Nearly 100 Labour MPs have publicly called for him to resign. But, when he goes, there will be a leadership contest for Leader of the Labour Party and, by extension, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. So I want to dedicate some time in the coming week or so to lifting the lid on some of the key contenders for that role. To...

It's election day in Britain and Keir Starmer is in trouble. Will he resign? Apparently not! Argh! In his steadfast refusal to resign despite election losses, scandal, and terrible polling fast turning him into Britain's Joe Biden? The Slow Newsroom Creator and Host: Tom Nicholas Editor: Georgia Burrows Producer: Jack Carter See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy No...

The stock market might be broken. Really broken. The massive AI bubbles has shown everyone that. But can we really just blame over-enthusiastic investors, or might there be another trend which is keeping the bubble from bursting too? The Slow Newsroom Creator and Host: Tom Nicholas Editor: Georgia Burrows Producer: Jack Carter See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy...

It’s a bad week to be a dodgy landlord in the UK, as a new piece of legislation comes into force bringing much-needed security for tenants, and reducing the power landlords have to turf out residents at short notice. The BBC earlier this week were billing it as “one of the biggest changes to housing law in history”. But I’m here to tell you that that’s not quite true. In fact it’s really just reve...

The King's Going on Holiday! Sorry, I mean an official "state visit" to America in order to salvage some from of working relationship with Donald Trump. This trip puts the Monarchy in an awkward position, as having the King merely stand with Trump implies that he endorses the President's views. It's also incredibly unpopular with the British people. The Slow Newsroom Host and Creator: Tom Nicholas...

Keir Starmer is on his way out. Whether it takes a month or a year, he is going to be a Prime Minister whose tenure is shrouded in failure. But could he be about to take down the entire Labour Party with him? A new poll by YouGov was released recently that showed that the Labour Party could be facing an existential crisis in the local elections on the 7th May. The Labour Party could lose control o...

The US-Iran ceasefire expires tomorrow, and all eyes are on Pakistan as it looks like peace talks may, possibly, fingers crossed go ahead, and we might avoid a recommencement of strikes. Donald Trump has accused Iran of violating the ceasefire and continued his streak of threats and brinkmanship, however, whilst Iran has threatened that it is preparing 'new cards on the battlefield'. Tensions are...

This feed is changing... Join me, Tom Nicholas, for discussion and updates about the ups and downs of UK global politics twice a week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

In recent decades, more and more energy has been put into developing interventions to either reduce fossil fuel emissions or, in some cases, remove them from the atmosphere entirely. But, which of those interventions actually have the potential to turn the tide in our fight against global heating and which are all talk and no substance? In today's episode of Induction, Tom chats with Dr Simon Clar...