The Young Fabians Podcast

Podcast regulars Carolina Saludes, Redha Rubaie and Mark McVitie are joined by political and public policy strategist Kendall Aitcliffe to break down the Dominic Cummings scandal that gripped the UK last weekend. Will Boris Johnson be able to shake off the bad publicity from Dom’s behaviour? Can the Government be taken seriously after its most senior advisor ignored the rules to travel half way ro...

On May 14th, Labour Housing Group and the Young Fabians interviewed Thangam Debbonaire MP, Labour's new Shadow Secretary of State for Housing. They talked about how Labour can tackle the housing crisis and homelessness in the 2020s - whether from community halls, council chambers or Whitehall offices. The talk was then picked up by LabourList, sparking debate about whether the ‘cancel-rent’ p...

Victoria Parrett, chair of the Arts and Culture Network at the Young Fabians and Gender Studies graduate from LSE, interviews lawyer and activist Deeba Syed. Deeba, who is herself an ex-Young Fabians executive committee member, and a lawyer specialising in sexual harassment, comes on the Pod to talk about what made her want to dedicate her life to women’s rights at work, how she became a lawyer, a...

Rishi Sunak had his maiden budget speech yesterday, and of course we had to get together and do some appropriately Fabian analysis on it. Led by YF and economist Jeevun Sandher and Pensions Actuary Kyalo Burt-Fulcher, they discussed the headline spend pledges, measures to fight Covid-19, some of Dominic Cummings’pet projects (Maths Academies anyone?) and what it all means in the current political...

The world is going to hell in a handcart, but in the middle of that a bunch of democrat politicians in the US are fighting for control of the steering wheel. The team discuss in detail how Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders could win or lose the nomination, what happened to Warren, where did Bloomberg’s millions in ads go, and why Pete can’t use his McKinsey slides to win elections. Joining us are Redha...

This week, the team get together to discuss what happened to that most incorrectly-named ‘Red Wall’, why Northern communities switched to the conservatives in droves, and how we win them back in 2024. Joining the podcast are Young Fabians Milo Barnett, Isaac Hanson, Tom Platter and producer Carolina Saludes. We had two fantastic female colleagues due to join who had to cancel last minute, so pleas...

Now that the election is over, we turn our attention to… the climate emergency. But, before you switch off in despair and go drink mulled wine, we encourage you to listen to this engaging (and at times heated!) discussion that took place at Labour Conference in September.   The speakers, chaired by Mhairi, explained what Labour is doing on environmental policy locally, and what it aims to do natio...

Well that happened... After a weekend of shock, sadness and mince pies, the podcast team is back with all the stats and takes from election night, plus one or two suggestions for our next Labour leader.  Join Jeevun, Victoria, Blaze, Matt, Mark and Carolina as they talk through the stories of the campaign, party strategy, the leadership contest, and what we can do to start winning again. Plus Vict...

With less than 48h to go until the 2019 General Election, we get together to discuss Friday’s BBC debate, Labour’s (slim) chances of winning, and our hot hot hot predictions of what happens next. Redha Rubaie, Victoria Parrett, Dan Wood, Adam Allnutt and Carolina Saludes give their views, and Redha forgets how to read a poll.  This episode was recorded on Saturday 7th December in London. Follow us...

In the last conference special we get a very special team to analyse the effects of the Supreme Court ruling on the Tuesday agenda, Jeremy Corbyn’s speech, and all da parties. Join Victoria Parrett (who works in Parliament), Charlotte Norton (who was a delegate), Mark McVitie (who always gets into all the cool parties), and Carolina Saludes (who has no special take but bumped into Laura Kuensberg)...

Carolina, Mhairi, Holly, Victoria, Amrita, Adam, Jack, Amarvir AND David Elliott from Trees for Cities chat about their highlights of day two of Labour conference. There was the magnificent Launch of the Environment Network pamphlet ‘Ways to Save the World’, David Lammy on cannabis legalisation and dreamy Keir (aka Mr Darcy) on all things Europe and coming from Kent. Plus THAT Brexit vote, of cour...

Day 1's come and gone, and a select group of Young Fabians have told us their fringe highlights, the latest gossip and even some policy announcements (not really). Join Mark, Helen, Jen, Mhairi, Lucy and Carolina while they go through the best fringe snacks, Ken Loach appearances, the abolition of Parliamentary democracy and Len McCluskey's lunch. We recorded this on our phone at the Con...

The 2019 Labour Conference is upon us and we don’t know if and when we’ll have yet another General Election (sorry Brenda), so we got together with three healthcare professionals to chat about how we can make a progressive case for the NHS. Join Tom Gardiner (Junior Doctor), Martin Edobor (GP), Ade Adeyemi (Senior Policy Consultant) and Carolina Saludes (Podcast Producer), plus a very special litt...

The Arts + Culture Network presents the Young Fabians Book Club, which so far this year has been dealing with the topic of ‘migration’. Dan Wood (Book Club coordinator), Carolina Saludes (YF podcast producer) and Victoria Parrett (Book Club enthusiast and general top sport) discuss Sam Selvon’s classic 1956 short novel about the tribulations of young Caribbean men in post-war London, from the name...

'The only way to have your cake and eat it is to keep growing the cake’.  Listen to this fascinating panel from the YF Economy and Finance network on Britain’s productivity, as part of their ‘A Decade Since the Great Recession’ series.  Since the great recession in 2008, the UK’s productivity growth, especially labour productivity, has been weaker than in many other OECD countries. So much so...

The Environment and Arts + Culture Networks present this panel event and Q&A about sustainability in the UK fashion industry. Mhairi Tordoff, chair of the Environment Network, chairs the conversation with Mary Creagh MP, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC); Edwina Ehrman, senior curator at the V&A; Tamara Cincik, CEO and Founder of Fashion Roundtable; Jenny Holloway, CEO at UK...

The BAME group presents this informal conversation and Q&A with author, political advisor and comedian Ayesha Hazarika. Former civil servant, spad to Ed Miliband and chief-of-staff to Harriet Harman, Hazarika gives an account of her career in politics and standup through the eyes of a ‘gobby’ working class BAME woman from Glasgow. With her usual plainspokenness and wit, she answers questions o...

Join Young Fabian exec member Stella Tsantekidou and a panel of current Speaker's Parliamentary Placement Scheme participants on how to make it into and within MP’s staff offices. Set up to help people from all walks of life get work as Parliamentary Assistants, the programme offers 13 positions with MP’s from different parties, doing a wide range of tasks.  Stella, herself a now seasoned PA,...

New Statesman political editor Stephen Bush talks to Young Fabian national executive committee member Stella Tsantekidou about how to make a career as a UK political journalist. Having previously worked at the Telegraph, and with a brief stint at an (impossibly under-frequented) London bookshop, Stephen talks candidly of his experiences, skills and lack thereof. The talk is followed by a Q&A w...

Like debating, and good policy chat? We thought so. Welcome to the Young Fabians, the under-31s section of the Fabian Society, a progressive think tank and founding organisation of the Labour party. For our intro episode we're joined by Andrew Harrop, the general secretary of the Fabians, and Charlotte Norton, the current chair of the Young Fabians. They explain policy research, events, socia...