Quiet Riot

Accident stats are terrifying: UK accidental deaths exceed 20,000 a year and accidents (mostly at home) are the most common cause of preventable death among under-40s. And, since 2013, accidental deaths in the UK have risen by 50 per cent. You read that right. What on earth is going on? Wasn't 'Elf 'n' Safety madness' supposed to put a stop to this? Naomi Smith talks to someone who knows more than...

Naomi and Alex, with regular guest More in Common's Luke Tryl, discuss Lords reform, Kemi Badenoch's start, COP26, and the rise of the (very) long form bro-cast. Plus the return of regular features POLL THE OTHER ONE, WOKEY DOKEY, and GRIN AND SHARE IT. A packed show. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Luke: “When it comes to climate change, Britain is not the US. When we asked recently: W...

Naomi and Alex, dig into the data underlying the US result, what a Trump term means for Ukraine, the discuss Kemi Badenoch's front bench choices, and the coming elections in Ireland and Germany. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “There was something in a YouGov poll that really rang alarm bells. Young men aged 18 to 29, sixty-per-cent of them are thrilled or happy with Trump’s win. That r...

Naomi and Alex, go over the US result, with a special focus on what it means for the UK and Europe, and what leassons we can learn from it. With two extraordinary guests: Former diplomat and UN Deputy Secretary General, Lord Mark Malloch Brown, and former Obama campaign staffer and CEO of 38 Degrees Matthew Mc Gregor. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Mark: “There is, frankly, a class-ver...

Alex Andreou talks to Rose Wang, BlueSky Chief Operations Officer in SanFrancisco - one of two women at the top of this social media startup. about the rollercoaster of the last few months, the coming election, and what is next for the platform. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “It was happening in real time for all of us. I don’t think the team slept for 48 hours, trying to keep the ser...

Alex and Naomi discuss Kemi Badenoch's prospects and Rachel Reeves' budget, before an extended therapy session about the coming US Election. With star cameos from Salma Shah and Henry Hill. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “Kemi Badenoch has been elected with only a third of MPs and just over a third of the membership behind her. In a party addicted to factional strife, is that enough su...

How is the new Labour government perceived in the EU? How much of a 'reset' is realistically achievable? What does the club we just left make of our slow change of heart? What does it want in return? And how much of a priority is our renegotiation in European capitals?   Alex spoke to Professor Jacob Öberg for a European perspective on our long journey to rejoining. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIE...

Naomi and Alex, go over every aspect of the Budget, including the undercurrent of misogyny in much of the commentary, with very special guest prominent ecocomist, professor, and former joint head of the Government's Economic Service, Vicky Pryce. As well as Wokey Dokey and Grin And Share It. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Vicky: “In reality you can redefine [debt] any way you want, as...

Naomi Smith chats to journalist Amanda Ferguson about a series of scandals which have rocked politics both north and south of the border. Sinn Féin were widely expected to win the next election. Is that still the case? ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** LINKS: You can link to Amanda and find her latest work here. Brief explainer of why many think it will be an early election. Find us on Fa...

Alex goes through the week's political events, and looks forward to next week, both here and across the Atlantic, with special guest Zoe Williams. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Zoe: “I don’t want to get lectures from the right of manifesto promises, when the 2019 manifesto was insulting in its lack of detail. I mean what possible impact did ‘levelling up’ have? Does anyone even know w...

American polls are pointing to a perilously close result in the looming presidential election but can they be trusted? Naomi Smith talks with Luke Bailey, Head of Digital at inews.co.uk, to find out more about the strengths, weaknesses and sundry foibles of Stateside polling. Discover how corporate group-think may play a role, find out all about Recall Weighting – and gasp as we reveal that even g...

Naomi and Alex, with guest Salma Shah - a former No.10 advisor under Cameron - explore how mich of the Trump Campaign's complaint against Labour is real and how much is trolling. And then discuss the future of the Tory Party. Or lack thereof. And the most momentous by-election coming up (possibly). As well as Wokey Dokey and Grin And Share It. If you can afford to help, you can back Quiet Riot on...

Alex quizzes special guest, Emmy-award-winning Luke McGee, on how a referendum in a country like Moldova, interconnects with everything from EU immigration policy, to the war in Ukraine, the US election, and a secretive meeting - the first of its kind - between NATO and South Korea. A truly mind-bending episode. If you can afford to help, you can back Quiet Riot on Ko-fi. “Ultimately what you’re s...

Naomi and Alex have their weekly debrief, talking through the Budget rumours, the Tory leadership election, and then a bit of a deep dive into US Election polling. If you can afford to help, you can back Quiet Riot on Ko-fi. LINKS: Chaminda Jayanetti piece on Bloomberg: Tories Are Lost Because Their Ideology Failed. Electoral Calculus Starmer v Badenoch/Jenrick MRP poll. Five Thirty Eight's rating...

It's easy to bash our railways – oh, how easy it is. But why does the system struggle and what could be done to make things better? Naomi Smith is joined on this Quiet Riot journey by author, podcaster and (perhaps accidental) campaigner, Gareth Dennis. He also happens to be a railway engineer and transport policy specialist. Gareth's new book is out on November 12th and its title should give you...

Naomi and Alex, with guest award-winning journalist Tristan Kirk from the Evening Standard, discuss the latest economic figures, budget rumours, and the parlous state of our justice system. Another thing for the new gov't to fix - and urgently. Followed by a discussion of the outrageous practice of Single Justice Procedure - where anyone can end up with a criminal conviction after a magistrate loo...

Alex, up all night once more, looking for sanity inside the most ridiculous non-story so far. Has the British media lost its collective mind. It would seem emphatically "yes". If you want more, find us on Facebook and Twitter as @quietriotpod or use our Starter Pack on Bluesky. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. IF YOU CAN AFFORD TO CONTRIBUTE, PLEASE DO...

When illness makes life unbearable, should we be permitted – and helped – to end our time in this place on our own terms? The topic of assisted dying is back in the political spotlight thanks to a Private Member's Bill from Spen Valley MP Kim Leadbeater. It's a difficult topic for many to discuss, encompassing morality, freedom and, often, religion. In this Quiet Riot special, Naomi Smith takes a...

Naomi and Alex try to reach for some sort of balanced view of the first 100 days of Labour - away from the constant media MELTDOWN IN DOWNING STREET ridiculous coverage - and set out what needs to happen in the next 100 to turn things around. In any case, is the American "100 Days" measure at all useful in a British context? If you can afford to help, you can back Quiet Riot on Ko-fi. “They’ve got...

Alex talks to Layla Moran, the first British MP of Palestinian descent, to mark a year since not just the 7th of October - that day of horror for Israel - but the many days of horror that followed for the people of Palestine. It turns out to be, unlikely as it might seem, a quite uplifting conversation. “History is still writing itself. There is still an opportunity for there to have been a positi...

Naomi and Alex, with guest Laura Hood from The Conversation, discuss the latest shock elimination in the Tory Reality Soap Opera, Laura's new documentary Know Your Place, about the changing relationship between class and politics, and Labour's stuttering much-announced, but slow-moving, EU reset. If you can afford to help, you can back Quiet Riot on Ko-fi. Alex: “The net result is that there is no...

Naomi, Alex, And Kenny try to understand why everyone is losing their mind over the Chagos Archipelago deal, talk local election results and why they may be a problem for Labour, and present an alternative biography of Boris Johnson. One in which he doesn't get to gloss over the catastrophe that was his administration. If you can afford to help, you can back Quiet Riot on Ko-fi. BOOKS: Sayeeda War...

Here is the full - AND VERY FRANK - conversation between Alex Andreou and More In Common's chief Luke Tryl on all four Conservative leadership hopefuls. And if you think “why should I care?” - this is why: our entire political system, for good or ill, is adversarial in nature. The quality of the opposition to the government shapes policy. Ideas that have had their tyres properly kicked, will alway...

An absolutely jam-packed episode on the Tory leadership contest and the US Election VP debate. Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell are joined by Guardian quill-wielder Zoe Williams, US omni-expert Brian Klaas, and More In Common gros fromage Luke Tryl to dig out the genuinely interesting stuff from these debates (and there is plenty of genuinely interesting stuff). We craft two political silk purses f...

Alex stays up all night to bring you the quickest, freshest, and most sleepless, reaction to the VP debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance. The answer of who won will surprise you. A special thank you to everyone who has helped Quiet Riot smash through the 500,000 downloads milestone (smilestone?) in just four short months. If you want more, find us on Facebook and Twitter as @quietriotpod or use ou...