It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

Original recording of this special episode was on video, references to slides are mentioned throughout the recording. This episode is part 1 of 2 of a education series special. Part 2 of the education series is available on our Compasstv YouTube channel   Covid-19 has exposed the vast inequalities baked into the way we educate children in the UK. But there’s a whole lot more that needs changing –...

Stella Creasy is one of the most dynamic back-benchers in Parliament. She campaigns nationally on issues such as abortion rights, making Westminster a child friendly workplace, and how to deepen democracy. Locally, Stella put her constituency, Walthamstow, on the map with clever campaigns and even smarter social media. We were delighted to welcome her to It’s Bloody Complicated. We talked all thin...

Another world is possible.  A professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London, Geoff Mulgan is a prolific writer, thinker and doer.  He was a strategy adviser to former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as well as governments around the world, with his expertise also running think tanks like Nesta and Demos. His latest book Another W...

Basic income is a regular payment everyone receives. Forever. Now, the Welsh and Irish governments have followed the examples of the United States and elsewhere, and are piloting basic income programmes for real. In this special episode Jonathan Williams, co-founder of UBI Lab Wales, gives us the inside track on the Welsh pilot. It's Bloody Complicated is recorded every second and fourth Tues...

What would your life look like with less time spent at work? Across the UK, thousands at workers at 70 companies are taking part in the biggest-ever trial of a four-day working week. Joining It’s Bloody Complicated to discuss the trial and a potential future of reduced working hours are representatives from digital marketing firm Literal Humans and brewery Pressure Drop , both of which are partici...

From fines for the prime minister to shocking allegations of harassment, bullying and sexism in the workplace, Parliament has been bedevilled by scandal once again. We’re joined by Dr Hannah White, Jennifer Nadel and Darren Hughes to explore What about the structure and culture of our politics results in such awful behaviour – and how we build a new politics. Hannah White is Deputy Director of the...

It’s Bloody Complicated brings you a special episode on a fascinating set of elections across the UK. Joining us is elections guru Professor Rob Ford. What were the progressive triumphs and tragedies – where did progressive alliances win out, and where could they have helped score wins? Rob Ford is Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester. He is the author, with Maria Sobolew...

Orwell Youth Fellows Jamie See and Noah Robinson meet poet Tishani Doshi to explore protest, poetry and performance. Tishani Doshi is an award-winning poet, novelist, dancer and journalist. The episode begins with Jamie and Noah reading their poems. Read ' A Love Symphony to the World ' by Jamie See ( https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-youth-prize/2018-youth-prize/runners-orwell...

On Monday 11th April we saw the consequences when progressives divide and centrists ignore the ground to their left. A rightward-shifting Emmanuel Macron finds himself in a second-round matchup with the far-right Marine Le Pen in France.  Left-of-centre parties split the vote in the first round, allowing Le Pen to narrowly make the run-off.  Current polling suggests that left-wing voters will only...

This week on the Compass podcast we are joined by Helen Thompson, author of the book Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century , published by Oxford University Press. A chronicle of three recent political histories - in our geopolitics, world economy and todays western democracies, Helen shows us the ways  that energy, global finance and democracy interact - forcing us to think hard about why and h...

After a year-plus on the job, having inherited a deeply divided country, Joe Biden and the Democrats are still facing multiple interlocking crises – from the war in Ukraine, to the ongoing impact of the pandemic, to climate catastrophe. But amidst all this, can we count some wins – on infrastructure, Covid and a once-in-a-generation Supreme Court nomination? Top Democratic organisers Sky Gallegos...

Orwell Youth Fellow Jessica Tunks joins Professor Donna Hall to discuss family, community, reimagining public services and her scorching essay 'Knifepoint'. Donna Hall is Chair of New Local and of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust. The episode begins with Jessica reading her essay 'Knifepoint'. Read ' Knifepoint ' by Jessica Tunks ( https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwe...

Orwell Youth Fellow Rosaleen Tite Ahern joins Guardian journalist John Harris to discuss place; the successes, failures and hopes of social housing; and her brilliantly evocative essay 'Streets in the Sky' on Manchester's Hulme Crescents. John Harris is a columnist at the Guardian and host of the podcast Politics Weekly UK. ( https://www.theguardian.com/profile/johnharris ). The epi...

Jon Alexander, author of the new book Citizens, joins the podcast to tell us how can we start to think and act like Citizens, not Consumers. Joining Jon is conversation is author and political scientist Sue Goss. But first we hear from Luke Cooper of Another Europe is Possible for an update on the terrible events in Ukraine. Luke helps us think through what we can be doing about this awful war. Ci...

Chief Executive of Demos Polly Mackenzie joins It’s Bloody Complicated to look at what's gone wrong with our democracy and how we can fix it. Polly builds on the insights from her series of papers for Demos – Making Democracy Work. Polly Makenzie was Director of Policy to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg from 2010–15, helping to write the 2010 Coalition Agreement. After leaving Government, Po...

Tommy Sheppard MP joins It’s Bloody Complicated to discuss the future of the Scottish independence movement, the prospects of the SNP supporting a Labour government and his remarkable political life. Tommy Sheppard is the Scottish National Party MP for Edinburgh and the SNP’s Spokesperson for Constitutional Affairs. It's Bloody Complicated is recorded every second and fourth Tuesday of the mo...

Frances Foley goes behind the scenes of Labour–Liberal Democrat cooperation in the 1997 General Election with former Lib Dem Policy Director Duncan Brack, political commentator Peter Kellner, and Compass Director and 1997 Labour electoral negotiator Neal Lawson . In ’97 an informal arrangement between Labour and the Lib Dems helped drive tactical voting – and a landslide election victory for Labou...

We take a look at coalition governments – what they are, how they are formed, lessons from the new 'traffic light' coalition in Germany and why the UK’s progressive parties need to be thinking about them right now. Joining the podcast are Henning Meyer , Publisher of Social Europe , Fellow at the German Ministry of Finance and member of the SPD's Basic Values Commission, and George...

Political commentators and Guardian journalists John Harris and Zoe Williams join us to break down the political year that was and look ahead to 2022. From tackling the climate catastrophe to the state of the current Conservative party and challenges facing a progressive alliance – as well as some political reasons to be cheerful in 2022. It's Bloody Complicated is recorded every second and f...

Across the nations, regions, towns and cities of the UK, a new way of doing politics is emerging. Far from the adversarial politics encouraged by Westminster’s first-past-the-post electoral system, politicians and people are working together across parties for progressive change. Joining us to discuss the art, benefits and challenges of progressive alliances are: Anthony Slaughter , Leader of the...

Author, journalist and political commentator Ece Temelkuran joins the podcast to talk about her new book  Together: 10 Choices for a Better Now , faith vs. hope, the parallels between the UK's slide towards authoritarianism and her experience in Turkey, and the power of young women. Ece was in conversation with special guest host Jon Alexander of the Social Liberal Forum. Together: 10 Choices...

On a special bonus episode of It’s Bloody Complicated, the Compass podcast, we welcome First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford MS. Mark spoke to Compass Director Neal Lawson about progressive alliances, his support for proportional representation, basic income and why he's vowed to stand down after five years. Under Mark Drakeford’s leadership, Labour in Wales bucked the party’s national trend...

83% of Labour members backed proportional representation . So did 80% of the membership’s representatives on the conference floor. But the Labour machine didn’t, and the motion to make PR party policy fell at last month’s party conference. We welcome leading Labour for a New Democracy campaigners Laura Parker and Caroline Osborne to the podcast to get the inside track on the campaign for Labour to...

The election in Germany has seen progressives surge and conservatives suffer at the polls. John Kampfner and Michèle Auga join It's Bloody Complicated to make sense of the SPD and Olaf Scholz's (relative) surge, the CDU's collapse, and the 'traffic light' (red/yellow/green) coalition talks. Will Scholz’s late embrace of the climate agenda be born out in practice? And what...

Orwell Youth Fellow Tom Finlayson joins Labour MP Jon Cruddas to discuss impending environmental disaster, automation, AI and the future of work – themes brought vividly to life in Tom's dystopian short story 'Not So Welcome Break'. Jon Cruddas is the Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham and a leading thinker on the meaning of work. His book, The Dignity of Labour , is out now from Po...