The Owen Jones Podcast

The Labour party is in turmoil after mostly disastrous election results in England and Scotland. Devoid of a vision, the leadership is preparing to attack the left. How can Labour be saved - or can it? Joining me are former Shadow Cabinet ministers John McDonnell and Jon Trickett, Labour MPs Kim Johnson and Nadia Whittome - while Preston Council Labour leader Matthew Brown explains how they bucked...

Labour's cataclysmic by-election result in Hartlepool - and bad results in much of England and Scotland - has plunged the party into crisis. The party has been stripped of a vision - of any sense of what it stands for or who it stands for. Unless that changes, oblivion awaits. Help us take on the right wing media here: https://patreon.com/owenjones84 Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/th...

With a critical by-election looming there, I headed to Hartlepool in England's North East to find out if Labour are about to lose another crucial brick in the crumbling so-called 'Red Wall'. I meet with the party's candidate, candidates standing for the Northern Independence Party and Reform, the current and former leader of the council, Labour canvassers and voters on the ground to ask - why is a...

According to the polls, it should be in the bag for London's Labour mayor Sadiq Khan in this week's elections - but his camp are rattled that complacency will suppress turnout and help his opponents. We talk about his policies on housing, transport, decriminalising cannabis, reforming the police - and whether Keir Starmer should resign if election results are bad. Support us challenging the right-...

As Robbie Gibb - Theresa May's former spin doctor - is appointed to the BBC Board, we're joined by author and journalist Tom Mills discuss how the government's stranglehold over the broadcaster has tightened - and why that threatens our democracy. Help us take on the right-wing press: https://patreon.com/owenjones84 Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-owen-jones-podcast . Hosted on Ac...

As Human Rights Watch condemn Israel's occupation of Palestine as apartheid, I speak to Hanan Ashrawi - one of Palestine's most prominent figures. She explains the brutality the Palestinian people are subjected to by an Israeli occupation which is in violation of international law; about a recent attack by extremists chanting 'death to Arabs' against Palestinians in Jerusalem; about whether there...

Count Binface is running to be London mayor, and he joins me live from the Martian surface to discuss his campaign pledges, including naming London Bridge after Phoebe Waller, and people who put their speaker phones on public transport to be forced to watch the movie version of Cats every day for a year. We talk about standing against Boris Johnson and Theresa May - and what he thinks of the other...

What does it say about a country which locks up young black men for drug offences, while the Prime Minister not only presides over mass death, but talks of letting the bodies pile up and COVID-19 let rip? The bodies did pile up - all because of the conscious decisions taken by our rulers. That they are set to get away with it speaks of a country devoid of justice. Help us take on the right-wing me...

When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared that Biden's administration had exceeded progressives' expectations, she caused fury: from some on the US left who believed it sowed undeserved illusions in the US President, and from conservatives who believed it confirmed his dangerous radicalism. What's the truth? I'm joined by author Kate Aronoff and leading political organiser Waleed Shaheed to discuss w...

Revelations about lobbying and the Tories has descended into a psychodrama involving Dominic Cummings - but this is really about corruption, and it is undermining British democracy. Joining me to explain how is journalist Adam Bienkov, Transparency International Chief Executive Daniel Bruce and Spinwatch campaigner and author Tamasin Cave. Help us take on the right wing media here: https://patreon...

Multiple award-winning actor Robert Lindsay has been a fixture on our screens and the stage for decades - from Citizen Smith to My Family. We talk about the crisis in acting, how he's shifted to the left, Ricky Gervais and the genuinely hilarious real story of Extras, and COVID-19. Help us take on the right wing media here: https://patreon.com/owenjones84 Support this show http://supporter.acast.c...

While many companies have struggled badly during the COVID-19 pandemic, not so for online gambling which thrived during the crisis. Matt Zarb Cousin and James Grimes are two former gambling addicts turned campaigners who tell me how they were driven to the very edge, how the industry exploits the vulnerable, how cosmetic reforms have made little difference - and how the worst post-war emergency al...

As the football Super League collapses, footballing icon Jamie Carragher told me why the fan revolt was so massive, whether this fight will have to be had all over again, whether football can be separated from the profit-driven economic system we all live under, about how young and working-class fans are priced out of football - and how this successful struggle can encourage others to fight for ju...

The ill-fated Super League exposes the real dark beating heart of capitalism: this was all about profit for the few, not football for the many. What has happened to football over the last generation - and what does it say about the system we all live under? How can football be reclaimed - and how can this fight be taken against capitalism in all its forms? Tribune's Ronan Burtenshaw gives us a mas...

As India is overwhelmed by a devastating new wave of COVID, a new variant has sent shockwaves across the world. How serious is it? Is there too much sensationalism? Could it threaten the UK's relaxation timetable? Why isn't it on the Government's travel 'red list'? What about other variants? How can we confidently escape this nightmare? I'm joined by Deepti Gurdasani from Queen Mary University of...

How does toxic masculinity hurt men? From promoting violence to stopping men from seeking help when they suffer mental distress, there’s so many reasons. Is machismo and aggression really inherently part of being a man - and how can young men who want to change get help? JJ Bola has written a brilliant new book Mask Off: Masculinity Redefined, and we discuss not just how men are hurt - while women...

So-called 'conversion therapy' is a form of torture used against LGBTQ people in Britain and beyond: the human consequences are beyond horrific. Justin Beck is a survivor, who endured years of the practice at a Pentecostal Church: he tells me how he got there, the utter turmoil that was unleashed, how he was driven to the brink of suicide - and how he finally got help. He tells me about finding ha...

Last year, Sinn Fein stunned observers in the Irish elections by coming top. Now Leader of the Opposition in Ireland, Mary Lou McDonald tells me about Britain's history of collusion with loyalist paramilitaries, the British Government's refusal to have a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane, what Brexit means for Britain and Ireland - and why Irish unity is coming within a decade. This i...

It's the story everyone should be talking about. David Cameron lobbied Chancellor Rishi Sunak about funds for Greensill Capital as it teetered on the edge of collapse. What was the nature of the lobbying, how serious is the scandal - and what does it tell us about politics and money in the UK? Joining me are the Sunday Times' Gabriel Pogrund, the Financial Times' Robert Smith, and Riley Quinn from...

As scenes of violence in Northern Ireland cause shock and fear, is the 23-year-old Good Friday Agreement which ended The Troubles in danger? What's really going on - is this all about Brexit and the Bobby Storey funeral, or are other factors at play? This show interviews four voices to uncover the real truth: the writer and solicitor Sarah Creighton, loyalist commentator Julie-Anne Corr-Johnston,...

The Northern Independence Party has become an online sensation, and found itself furiously denounced by Labour figures and receiving growing media attention. Is it for real? Is it just dividing working class people? Why not federalism? Is the north really a nation? What's its gameplan? Could it really do to Labour what the SNP pulled off North of the Border? If it does badly in the Hartlepool by-e...

A year ago, Keir Starmer won a resounding victory in the Labour leadership election promising to preserve radical domestic policies and combine them with electability, competence and party unity. We ask: has he kept to that mandate? I'm joined by commentator Rachel Shabi and Young Labour chair Jess Barnard. Help us take on the right wing media here: https://patreon.com/owenjones84 Support this sho...

Dave Ward leads the Communications Workers' Union - one of Britain's biggest unions. He tells me how workers applauded by politicians and bosses have been screwed over by them, why a 'New Deal for Workers' is overdue, how the union fighting back succeeded in winning Royal Mail workers improved terms and conditions, how the unions can make themselves stronger and more relevant - and why Keir Starme...

After falsely claiming their officers had been seriously injured, Bristol police brutally assaulted protesters and journalists during a demonstration against the repressive Policing Bill. We're joined live by Adam Cantwell-Corn from The Bristol Cable and Ben Smoke from Huck Magazine - both of whom were eyewitnesses - as well as protester Louis, and discuss what this means for Britain's continuing...

How were 'white people' invented in 1661, and what is 'whiteness'? How can genuine coalitions against racism be built, how can white people avoid being 'white saviours', what's the role of capitalism in all of this, and why is "this shit killing you too"? I interview the incredible Emma Dabiri about her astonishing new book 'What White People Can Do Next' - don't miss this. Help us take on the rig...