Oh God, What Now?

Is Brussels’ hamfisted approach to resurrecting the European economy really a danger the EU’s own existence? Will Boris Johnson’s hospitalisation expose the flaws in his Corona policy? Where in the world is Priti Patel? And we’re joined by Fleur Anderson MP, the only Labour gain in the 2019 General Election, to look at Keir Starmer’s options to regenerate Labour – and the party’s future position o...

Will the seismic trauma of COVID-19 provide the moment of clarity we need to change the way we live? Authoritarian governments seize on Corona to enact the repressive moves they’ve always craved. Chemicals and ventilators: is the Government’s slipperiness with facts undermining its Corona message? Transition denialism drags us towards the abyss. And our special guest, former Labour MP for Bury Jam...

REMOTELY RECORDED FOR YOUR HYGIENE… Has the deepening Corona crisis rendered the Brexiteers’ plans for economic nirvana obsolete? Why the EU’s big financial guns are coming out. Special guest Charlotte Potts – London political correspondent for Deutsche Welle – tells us what Germany thinks of Britain’s efforts on transition, Johnson’s wayward handling of COVID-19… and Angela Merkel’s unexpected la...

RECORDED FROM SECRET BUNKERS ACROSS EUROPE… As the Corona Crisis deepens, is the Government blowing its response? Will Fortress Britain have to request an extension to our transition out of EU arrangements? Guest Mike Galsworthy of Scientists 4 EU tells us what’s really going on with the science of the COVID battle. Plus, the truth about Dominic Cummings’ secret science army. The heroic return of...

Crisis? What, MORE crisis? How well is plucky Brexit Britain set up to cope up with the Coronacession? (Spoiler: badly). Investigative academic Seth Alexander Thévoz shows the breathtaking power of untraceable dark money in UK elections – and how it helped the Tories knock down the Red Wall. The EU shames itself in the Greece-Turkey refugee crisis. Toilet paper: Britain displays its Bumkirk Spirit...

As the Coronavirus bites, the government decides it’s a good time to cut us off from the EU Pandemic Warning system. PLUS: who makes the Nazis? HOPE Not Hate’s Nick Lowles on how Brexit rolled out the carpet for the extreme right, up to and including actual Nazi Satanists.  Red tape bad, blue tape good: the 50,000 customs officers nobody asked for. And how mad do you have to be to think that No.10...

On Radio Free European Britain this week… The Independent’s sketch writer Tom Peck on our politics’ descent into self-lacerating madness. Heroes of Remain and creators of our theme tune Cornershop join us to discuss their new album ‘England Is A Garden’ and making defiant, multicultural pop in a xenophobic era. The Brexiters’ ongoing Culture War turns into an actual war on culture. The Points-base...

The Government’s immigration plans are out and yes, they’re every bit as narrow, vindictive, boneheaded, vicious and philistine as we expected. What next when the hostile environment leaves the people who voted for it without the health care and other workers they need? Plus former Lib Dem MEP Caroline Voaden explains what Brussels and Strasbourg really think of us. And RTÉ’s London Correspondent...

(This episode recorded just before Sajid Javid got Cummingsed…) The long campaign for our EU friends and neighbours is on. As Johnson’s government breaks its promises to UK-resident EU citizens daily, MONIQUE HAWKINS of campaigning group the3million updates us with horrific stories of government indifference and incompetence. Plus: If Remainers are now the “fruitcakes and loonies” as Farage says,...

Clear the lobby for special guest JOHN BERCOW, the most controversial Speaker in recent history. He visits Remainiacs to talk about his time in charge of Commons at war, his new autobiography Unspeakable, what Remain got wrong, David Cameron’s disastrous miscalculations, whether he’d do Strictly… and those incendiary bullying allegations.  Plus: The Government starts its relationship with the EU a...

If there was ever a good day to try our new, no-Brexit politics podcast THE BUNKER then it’s today, Friday 31 Jan. Every Wednesday we’ll be talking about the wider world of politics with voices both familiar and new. Subscribe to THE BUNKER (or bookmark it) on… APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-bunker/id1496246490 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/1g7XYt7lI0XNVZ4Ze8mDa...

Our bloody but unbowed Brexit Day edition. As Britain slopes out of the EU like an embarrassed pub drunk, Leaver triumphalism is strangely muted. Is the Brexiters’ victory is beginning to feel a little hollow? Maybe the REAL Brexit was the enemies we made along the way.  Plus, period of reflection latest! The Labour Party sets the “days since we decided Jeremy did everything right” clock back to z...

This week: fish, food, agriculture, immigration, Scotland and our special guest, Labour’s deputy leadership candidate and only Scottish MP, IAN MURRAY. On the menu: Labour’s existential crossroads, why the party lost Scotland, the Brexit vs Corbyn blame game, and what Labour needs to do to win back Britain’s confidence. Plus: Why crossing the imaginary Brexit finish line won’t change Britain’s ine...

As Britain spirals down to a Bonkers Big Ben Brexit Day Breakdown, we avert our eyes and look to the future, specifically the policies Labour might need in (gulp) 2024. Plus, has the UK actually done the EU a favour in the long term by Brexiting? And we fill up the swear jar as we ask whether Johnson can govern on a “F*** business” platform. Also: Has Brexit really cost us $170bn, more than the co...

The battle to keep Britain in the EU is over but with Parliament neutered, Brexit needs more scrutiny than ever. This week: Does Boris Johnson’s “plea for unity” amount to a pass-agg order to shut up and accept whatever Brexit be fancies? From continuity Corbynistas to closet Centrist Dads, we run the rule over the Labour leadership candidates. Uri Geller applies for a job with Classic Dom. And In...

Brexit roasting on an open fire! Rees-Mogg nipping at your toes! Yes, it’s a miserable old Christmas for Remainers, but whatever. We need to gird our loins for a big year in 2020, so we present inspirational messages from a few of our regulars: Ros Taylor, Ian Dunt, Dorian Lynskey, Ingrid Oliver, Alex Andreou and Andrew Harrison. (Naomi Smith wasn’t feeling up to it, so she sent a very special gue...

We got knocked down but we’ll get up again. Join the panel of REMAINIACS for our last live show of 2019 and our last full podcast of the decade – recorded onstage in London’s Leicester Square Theatre on Tuesday 17 December. It’s election post-mortem time but there’s no room for misery. How did the Remain parties blow it so spectacularly? Was it really all down to Corbyn’s massive turn-off factor?...

Yes, we got a kicking. Remain parties might have edged the popular vote but it didn’t stop Boris Johnson winning the majority he always craved. So what now? Is Remain dead? Where do we put our energies from now on? Are lies and contempt for basic scrutiny the new normal for political campaigns? Will Labour face its culpability for the hard right’s greatest success since Thatcherism? And exactly ho...

“GET IN THE FRIDGE!” As the polls tighten on the eve of the vote, we tell you exactly where to vote tactically, how to persuade waverers, and why a Johnson majority might prove to be a curse... on Boris Johnson.  Plus: Will the PMs’ foul attitude to a sick kid in a Leeds A&E finally, finally move the needle among his supporters? Ian’s tips on how to stay awake for the full horror of Election Night...

Deck the balls with Multi-level Regression and Post-stratification polling! Our penultimate live show of the year saw a full-panel turnout for a festive evening of the latest Brexit analysis, campaign horror stories, pre-election recrimination and the hellishly difficult Have I Got Brexit For You quiz. If you were there you can relive it. If not, you can pretend you were. Hold tight for Naomi Smit...

With less than two weeks to go, how is this simultaneously the most terrifying and consequential – yet somehow boring – General Election in history? Even with the Conservatives looking to stack every aspect of the constitution permanently in government’s favour? Plus: what the party leaders’ stock reactions to the London Bridge terror attack reveal about how they see the electorate. Did Labour’s l...

It’s halfway through the election campaign… Producer Andrew is away for Thanksgiving this week, so our regulars are off the leash and the metaphors get a little… colourful. In the wake of updated tactical voting data, we discuss the possibilities that lie ahead on polling day and try to bring some cheer to proceedings while keeping references to “flesh piñatas” to a minimum.  Campaign speed bumps...

The first episode of Remainiacs to be verified by "Fact Check UK” as “proper good, five stars on iTunes from us…” Who won the first debate of the campaign between Johnson, Corbyn and Corbyn’s enormous specs?  We discuss manifestos, polls and potential landmines for the main parties, and how wave after wave of scandals like CCHQ's @factcheckUK con, dubbed Actually Orwellian by our Orwell expert Dor...

A first for Remainiacs as we welcome a guest from the Telegraph! But don’t worry, it’s their eminently sensible Europe Editor PETER FOSTER with a tour d’horizon of the frosty future that Britain faces if Johnson gets the Brexit he says he wants.  Plus! Why can’t we read this Russia report, then? As Nigel Farage pulls a wheeze too far, the Jacobin Rebellion finally comes home in the Brexit Party. W...

In a special mini-episode, Alex Andreou puts his mellifluous voice to a Twitter thread he did with Best for Britain earlier this week, about the need to start saying “No” to the so-called strongmen who don’t understand the meaning of the word…  The column is dedicated to Ruth, on her birthday.  Follow Alex @sturdyAlex on Twitter, and B4B @BestForBritain. Get every new episode of Remainiacs a whole...