Political Currency

Persephonica
  • 4.3 (48)
  • Politics
  • Updated Weekly

Ed Balls and George Osborne take us behind closed doors into the rooms where decisions are made. Having battled it out across the despatch box, the former Chancellor and shadow chancellor now meet in the studio to discuss the decisions that affect the nation’s pockets. Our frenemies have the knowledge and experience to explain how good politics follows the economics - and expose how the powerful become powerless when faced with market forces and political currents they can’t control. Join us every Thursday. Send your messages or voice notes to questions@politicalcurrency.co.uk Find us on social media @polcurrency Political Currency is a Persephonica production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  1. 3d ago

    EMQs: From Athelstan to Dollywood

    Off the back of our preview of the Bayeux Tapestry, The Rest is History’s own Tom Holland asks Ed Balls and George Osborne about another significant English date: 926. The show is broadcast from inside the British Museum and Tom asks whether we should celebrate this date, commonly thought to be the beginning of England as we know it, and if so how? Two listeners also ask about education;  one asks if we can achieve longstanding education reform through cross-party consensus and another seeks advice ahead of going to university in the coming weeks. Renowned biographer of British premiers Anthony Seldon then asks if his latest subject, Rishi Sunak, will see his legacy rehabilitated over time like another Tory prime minister: John Major. The pair compare Sunak’s achievements to Major’s, and suggest how he can continue to make an impact in life after No. 10. Finally, Sir Peter Wanless, a former colleague of Ed’s, reminisces on their meeting with Dolly Parton to ask what matters more: charisma or evidence. They also commemorate the success of her Imagination Library and get into a heated debate over her best song. You can vote for Good Morning Britain in the National Television Awards here: https://www.nationaltvawards.com/vote  We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question or send a question to our social media handles: 👉 X 👉 Instagram 👉 TikTok Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today: 👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency 👉 Apple Podcasts Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon. Credits: Production: Sam Burton Producer: Caillin McDaid  Video Editor: Louis Norris & Oliver Geraghty  Executive Producer: Henrietta Harrison Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    EMQs: From Athelstan to Dollywood

  2. 6d ago

    Inside the British Museum’s Bayeux Tapestry Coup

    In this week’s episode, George Osborne and Ed Balls broadcast from the magnificent Bayeux Tapestry exhibition at the British Museum - the only podcast allowed in the space.   Joined by curator Michael Lewis, they discuss the dramatic diplomacy that saw the delicate masterpiece travel from France to Britain, the real story this 70 metre long tapestry tells and the parallels with politics today.  They then turn from 1066 to 2026, with our new prime minister facing the Commons for the first time, they assess Burnham’s early premiership.  The pair praise his confidence in the role, but caution he has big challenges that could destabilise him; namely, early prison releases and a critical budget. Finally, they do a health check on the major opposition parties. Can Zack Polanski take Keir Starmer’s old seat? Will Kemi Badenoch’s reshuffle cement the Tories as the main opposition? And, can Reform’s conference this weekend put an agonising summer of scandal behind them? We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question or send a question to our social media handles: 👉 X 👉 Instagram 👉 TikTok Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today: 👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency 👉 Apple Podcasts Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon. Credits: Production: Sam Burton Producer: Caillin McDaid  Video Editor: Louis Norris & Oliver Geraghty  Executive Producer: Henrietta Harrison Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. Sep 1 ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    Bonus: Amol's summer takes

    If you couldn't get enough of our Amol Rajan interview, there's even more. Watch the full post-interview chat with George about his summer plans and hot takes. What books was he reading on holidays? Which Today Programme presenter would he go on holiday with? And which journalist is being trusted to plan a barbecue? We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question or send a question to our social media handles. Thanks for being a valued member of our Kitchen Cabinet or a Gold subscriber. Remember Kitchen Cabinet members get exclusive access to live EMQs recordings, briefings from the team, and an exclusive Political Currency mug.  Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon. Credits: Production: Sam Burton  & Nasreen Arain Producer: Caillin McDaid  Video Editor: Oliver Geraghty Executive Producer: Henrietta Harrison Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

  4. Aug 31

    EMQs solutions special: Burnham reviving Sunak’s national service plan?

    In this policy focused edition of EMQs, Ed Balls and George Osborne are thinking about the big ideas to help solve Britain’s big issues. They first consider whether steps should be taken to offer tax incentives for having children, as countries like Hungary have done. Ed and George explain why this is an ineffective measure, but an important debate governments must get on top of sooner rather than later.  Fellow podcaster Emily Dean and actor Sarah Hadland then ask the biggest questions: should there be dogs in Parliament? Should they have the vote? If yes, then what about cats!? This sends Ed and George down memory lane about various MPs and their own pets over the years within Westminster. They then consider whether Andy Burnham should revive Rishi Sunak’s national service scheme, as a way of contending with the NEETs crisis brewing. They look at the pros and cons of national service, and other ways previous governments have addressed this issue.  A Scottish listener queries whether the individual Secretaries of State for Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are necessary given each nation has devolved parliaments. The pair explain this idea has been previously explored, but abandoned for very good reasons. We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question or send a question to our social media handles: 👉 X 👉 Instagram 👉 TikTok Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today: 👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency 👉 Apple Podcasts Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon. Credits: Production: Sam Burton Producer: Caillin McDaid Video Editor: Sam Gruet Executive Producer: Henrietta Harrison Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    EMQs solutions special: Burnham reviving Sunak’s national service plan?

  5. Aug 27

    Amol Rajan: Why I’m leaving the BBC

    In our final special summer interview, George Osborne sits down with Amol Rajan as he leaves the Today Programme for a new venture. Amol gives George the scoop on his latest endeavour on YouTube and how he sees the media landscape shifting from his old stomping grounds of newspapers, radio, and television. They reflect over his career, touching on rumours of feuds among the Today Programme hosts, to his upcoming role on Celebrity Traitors, and what it's like editing a newspaper in the age of social media.  Amol gets into the very meaning of life with George, as they debate the impact AI will have on jobs, relationships, and podcasts like this one. They take it all the way back to Marx, before reflecting on the value of connections, which Amol will carry forward into his next undertaking. Next week we’re back to our regular schedule, but with a twist. Ed and George will be back covering politics, but not from our Hoxton studio. We’ll be broadcasting from the British Museum with the Bayeux Tapestry. Stay tuned for that, you won’t want to miss it. We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question or send a question to our social media handles: 👉 X 👉 Instagram 👉 TikTok Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today: 👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency 👉 Apple Podcasts Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon. Credits: Production: Sam Burton & Nasreen Arain Producer: Caillin McDaid Video Editor: Oliver Geraghty  Executive Producer: Henrietta Harrison Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Amol Rajan: Why I’m leaving the BBC

  6. Aug 25 ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    Bonus: Sue Gray's summer takes

    If you couldn't get enough of our Sue Gray interview, there's even more. Watch her full post-interview chat with Ed about her summer plans and hot takes. What book will she be reading on holidays? Where is the best holiday destination in the UK? And which politician would she go on holiday with? We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question or send a question to our social media handles. Thanks for being a valued member of our Kitchen Cabinet or a Gold subscriber. Remember Kitchen Cabinet members get exclusive access to live EMQs recordings, briefings from the team, and an exclusive Political Currency mug.  Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon. Credits: Production: Sam Burton  Producer: Caillin McDaid  Video Editor: Sam Gruet Executive Producer: Henrietta Harrison Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

  7. Aug 24

    EMQs What If: Ed and George had never entered politics?

    For our third summer EMQs we’re returning to our What Ifs. Ed Balls and George Osborne first consider how Britain would change had they never entered politics? Would the Bank of England become independent? Would there be a Manchester mayoralty? Or, would it have had no impact? What if George got the US Ambassador gig over Peter Mandelson? The pair consider how George would approach the job differently, blowback from within Labour, and whether Keir Starmer would still be in post without the controversy of Mandelson.  They then go back in time to February 1974, where a hung Parliament saw Labour form a minority government. What if negotiations between the Conservatives and Liberals panned out? How long would this coalition survive? Would it stop Margaret Thatcher becoming PM? Who leads Labour after Harold Wilson?  Finally, what if Labour were the largest party in 2015? If it’s a hung Parliament who do they go into coalition with? Can they work with the SNP? Does it stop Brexit? What happens with the Tories and UKIP? We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question or send a question to our social media handles: 👉 X 👉 Instagram 👉 TikTok Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today: 👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency 👉 Apple Podcasts Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon. Credits: Production: Sam Burton Producer: Caillin McDaid Video Editor: Sam Gruet Executive Producer: Henrietta Harrison Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    EMQs What If: Ed and George had never entered politics?

  8. Aug 20

    Sue Gray: Why working under Keir Starmer became ‘unbearable’

    The third of our exclusive summer interviews sees Ed Balls sit down with the former Chief of Staff for No. 10 Sue Gray. In her first major interview since her dramatic split from Keir Starmer’s team, she details the lead up to entering Downing Street and just where things went wrong.  Gray explains how she tried to prepare Starmer’s team for government in 2023, where things went wrong at the beginning, and what it’s like to be on the receiving end of an internal briefing war. In this tense and emotional conversation, she shares her raw reflections two years on and why things were not working at the top of government. Born in Tottenham to immigrant Irish parents, they also discuss her background, her meteoric rise through the civil service and what went on behind the scenes with her report into Partygate and the end of Boris Johnson.  We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question or send a question to our social media handles: 👉 X 👉 Instagram 👉 TikTok Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today: 👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency 👉 Apple Podcasts Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon. Credits: Production: Sam Burton & Nasreen Arain Producer: Caillin McDaid Video Editor: Sam Gruet Executive Producer: Henrietta Harrison Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Sue Gray: Why working under Keir Starmer became ‘unbearable’
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Hosts & Guests

4.3
out of 5
48 Ratings

About

Ed Balls and George Osborne take us behind closed doors into the rooms where decisions are made. Having battled it out across the despatch box, the former Chancellor and shadow chancellor now meet in the studio to discuss the decisions that affect the nation’s pockets. Our frenemies have the knowledge and experience to explain how good politics follows the economics - and expose how the powerful become powerless when faced with market forces and political currents they can’t control. Join us every Thursday. Send your messages or voice notes to questions@politicalcurrency.co.uk Find us on social media @polcurrency Political Currency is a Persephonica production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Persephonica
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    334
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Persephonica
  • Show Website
    Political Currency
  • Provider
    PERSEPHONICA LTD

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