The Owen Jones Podcast

The race to become Tory leader has become an eccentric mess. Just how bad are the candidates - and what do their campaigns tell us about where this country is headed? We're joined by Byline Times' political editor Adam Bienkov. Please subscribe - and help us take on the right-wing media here: https://patreon.com/owenjones84 Faqwj8quFHYm18PxL1pj Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-owen...

As Boris Johnson is finally turfed out by Tory MPs, we're joined by brilliant guests to talk over the Tory leadership campaign - and what it means for all of us. Please subscribe - and help us take on the right-wing media here: https://patreon.com/owenjones84 Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-owen-jones-podcast . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is US democracy in a death spin? That's now an increasingly mainstream debate as a radicalised Republican Party abandon democratic norms, the Supreme Court not only strikes down Roe v. Wade but facilitates the rigging of the electoral system, while an already heavily caveated US democracy increasingly enforces minority rule. Why is the Democratic response to this crisis so dire? What can be done t...

It's another blockbuster interview with Peter Hitchens - this is the best one yet - and we have a lot to cover. What does Boris Johnson stand for, and is he really 'hard left'? How does he think "the traditional family" can be saved? Why would a more punitive justice system work? Why was New Labour "the most radical government" since Oliver Cromwell? Why does he support English independence? And -...

Yanis Varoufakis - former Greek finance minister, economist and politician - is one the great intellectual superstars of the left. We have a lot to talk about: Britain's deporting of refugees to Rwanda, how Boris Johnson's 'oven-cooked' Brexit deal is unravelling, Keir Starmer's dishonest leadership of the Labour party, the political situation in Spain, the revival of the French left, how the horr...

With Britain in a cost of living crisis, the Tories have turned on their traditional scapegoats - migrants and refugees. The Conservatives’ policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda - a poor country with a bad human rights record - is just the latest stage of a racist campaign. But people are fighting back. We went to a mass demonstration outside the Home Office and spoke to MPs like Zarah Sult...

After over 40% of Conservative MPs voted no confidence in the scandal-ridden Prime Minister, is Boris Johnson politically speaking a dead man walking? Is it only a matter before he's booted out of office - perhaps after the upcoming by-election defeats, or after a new investigation by the standards committee found he misled Parliament? Or will he once again escape accountability? We're joined by A...

We should welcome some genuine honesty from the Tories. When Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries warned Tory MPs that kicking out Boris Johnson would infuriate rich Conservative donors - who she warned they depend on - she revealed just who her party exists to serve. From the very founding moment of the Tories to Margaret Thatcher to David Cameron to Johnson, the Tories have always championed the inte...

Johnny Depp won his defamation case against Amber Heard, after her 2018 Washington Post article in which she wrote: "I became a public figure representing domestic abuse." But what will the legacy of this trial - and particularly the coverage of it, including on social media - be? Will this fuel an already escalating backlash against the #MeToo movement, in which women who had suffered sustained s...

Woah! According to a former senior staffer for leading polling company YouGov, his former employer refused to publish polling data that was favourable to the Labour party in the 2017 election - and even manipulated methodology for the same reason - after coming under political pressure from a Tory MP who co-founded the organisation. But this scandal raises major questions about our democracy. YouG...

As the Queen celebrates her Platinum Jubilee, those of us who support an elected head of state are expected to shut up. But if we don’t make the case - then when? We are joined by Republic’s Graham Smith. In the aftermath of the Johnny Depp - Amber Heard libel trial, where does the verdict leave women who’ve survived the pandemic of male violence who aren’t believed? We’re joined by brilliant femi...

Keir Starmer won the Labour leadership by offering radical domestic policies combined with party unity. As reports emerge that Starmer intends to abandon his solemn pledge in the election to hike income tax on the top 5% of earners - literally his first pledge - I ask a very basic question. If you care about Boris Johnson's dishonesty, but not Keir Starmer's dishonesty, do you really care about di...

A few months ago, Boris Johnson's political fate seemed sealed: after revelations of rampant illegal partying in No. 10 during the pandemic, his personal polling collapsed and Tory MPs began demanding his resignation. But after the Sue Gray report, will the Tories commit regicide - or is Johnson leading the Tories into the next election? We're joined by the Financial Times' Sebastian Payne Please...

As over 200 monkeypox cases are reported in 21 countries, many are having flashbacks to early days of the Covid pandemic. How worried should we be? Oxford Professor Aris Katzourakis gives a masterclass on everything you need to know: what monkeypox is, whats its relationship with smallpox, what the symptoms are, how deadly it is, has it mutated or could it, will it spread to our pets, why the outb...

George Monbiot is one of Britain's most eloquent, intelligent and wise writers, a relentless defender of social justice and a fighter against the climate emergency and the human-made threat to our only planet, Earth. We talk about his epic new book Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet - from the truth about soil ecology, to whether plant-based diets are the way forward, to new...

The Israeli state not only killed iconic Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqla - the police force then attacked her funeral procession. Much of the world is shocked - but governments continue to arm and back the Israeli state, disregarding the conclusions of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and B'Tselem that it is guilty of Apartheid. Is the Israeli state overreaching so much that Wester...

Noam Chomsky is one of the world's pre-eminent intellectuals, and an icon of dissent going back literally generations. I speak to him about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and what anti-war activists should be saying. What does he think about the role of NATO? Should the left supporting arming Ukraine on the basis this is a naked war of aggression? What are Russia's war aims? What would a peace deal...

The Tories took a battering in the local elections, losing even more seats than they feared, including nearly collapsing as a political force in London, as well as suffering a drubbing across the South. Has a cost-of-living crisis and a scandal-ridden Conservative government defined by deceit and corruption finally collided with electoral reality? But there is little cheer for Labour here: outside...

First the Mail on Sunday launched a crude misogynistic attack on Angela Rayner; then Tory MP Neil Parish was caught watching pornography in the House of Commons. What does this say about misogyny in politics - and how should we discuss misogyny and pornography? We’re joined by Shaista Aziz - Labour councillor and campaigner against male violence against women - and Ivy Maddox from United Sex Worke...

Nish Kumar is a brilliant comedian and an all-round lovely guy, and we have a lot to chat about: his experiences working at the BBC, whether there's any truth to 'cancel culture', how monsters who've caused so much damage ended up being turned into national sweethearts, whether comedy has been dumbed down and become less fearless, and confronting racism. Please subscribe - and help us take on the...

Boris Johnson's whole career has been about defying the laws of political gravity, often aided and abetted by a supine media. But as both him and his government are convulsed by scandal - and the country is gripped by a cost of living crisis - has his luck finally run out? We are joined by two brilliant commentators: LBC's Iain Dale and the New Statesman's George Eaton! Please subscribe - and help...

With an epic showdown between the far-right's Marine Le Pen and neoliberal Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the French presidential election - is this really a done deal? How has the far right come closer to winning power in a Western European nation than at any time since 1945? What will those who voted for the left-wing insurgent Jean-Luc Mélenchon do? Why did five years of so-called 'mode...

As the French people are now forced to choose between the neo-liberal Emmanual Macron and the far-right Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election, we talk to the fascinating young French intellectual Edouard Louis - about what this means for France, for the left, and what hope there is in a bleak political landscape. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-owen-jones-...

On both sides of the Atlantic, the war on trans people is escalating - from Republican legislation in the United States, to an increasingly feverish moral panic in the UK. What can be done, including by cis allies - and what are the stakes? Joining us are three brilliant trans activists from both the UK and US: Arden Hart, Felix F. Fern and Arthur Webber. Help us take on the anti-LGBTQ media here:...

Much of the world were relieved when Donald Trump was defeated back in 2020 - but as Joe Biden's administration plunges new depths of unpopularity, how much of a mess is it in? Whose fault is the stalling of the domestic agenda? How serious are his gaffes on Russia's invasion of Ukraine? What hope of a progressive fightback - not least as midterms loom, and Trump is ahead in the polls? We're joine...