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Oh God, What Now?

Podmasters
  • 4.5 (144)
  • POLITICS
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

Making sense of our political hell every Tuesday and Friday! Oh God, What Now? is the no-bulls**t politics podcast, making the unbearable bearable with top quality guests and analysis, plus poor quality jokes.  Regulars include: Guardian writer Rafael Behr • Rachel Cunliffe of the New Statesman • New Statesman columnist Jonn Elledge • Writer and host of This Is Not A Drill Gavin Esler • Social affairs journalist Hannah Fearn • Comedian Matt Green • The Lead's Westminster Editor Zoë Grünewald • Group Editor Andrew Harrison • Podmasters Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis • Journalist Marie Le Conte • Writer and commentator Ros Taylor Sign up and get ad-free shows earlier than anyone else: patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow. Oh God, What Now? is a Podmasters production

  1. 24 Hours In Police Custody: Royal Edition

    1D AGO

    24 Hours In Police Custody: Royal Edition

    The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on Epstein-related allegations of misconduct in public office stuns the world. He has not been charged with any offence – but is the former Prince’s past damaging the Monarchy irreparably? And when will the victims of Epstein and his circle get justice? Plus, as the vindictive Gorton & Denton by-election enters its last few days we talk to Jack Walton of local news site Manchester Mill about the vibe on the ground… and whether it’s worse for Labour if the Greens or Matt Goodwin of Reform win.  • Manchester Mill is part of the Mill Media group creating good old-fashioned local journalism for British cities including Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow and Bristol.  ESCAPE ROUTES • Rachel has been watching the Winter Olympics as a chaser to Heated Rivalry on Sky.  • Jack has been reading Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov • Andrew recommends escaping modern politics by diving into ’90s politics and C4’s The Tony Blair Story. Keep Oh God, What Now? in fine health by backing us on Patreon. Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rachel Cunliffe. Audio and Video Production by Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    52 min
  2. Withstanding the Farage Barrage – Can we Reform-proof the UK?

    5D AGO

    Withstanding the Farage Barrage – Can we Reform-proof the UK?

    Could Reform really carry out a Trump-style, Project 2025-inspired shock-and-awe assault on Britain’s institutions and politics if they get into government? America’s much-vaunted system of checks and balances turned out to be made of tissue paper. Is Britain’s hand-me-down constitution any more robust? We look at the firewalls in our politics with special guest James Ball of The New World paper. Plus, what did we make of Channel 4’s epic Tony Blair documentary? Did it let Tonty off too lightly? And in the Extra Bit for Patreon people: Barack Obama thinks aliens are real. Why do UFOs hold such a weird grip on the political imagination?  ESCAPE ROUTES • Jonn recommends Hijack with Idris Elba on Apple TV+  • Jason recommends Ghost Signs: Poverty and the Pandemic by Stu Hennigan. You can hear our vintage 2023 Bunker with Stu Hennigan on Apple, Spotify and everywhere else.  • James loved White House murder comedy The Residence on Netflix.  • Seth recommends the Panorama documentary Our Man in Moscow. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Seth Thévoz with Jonn Elledge and Jason Hazeley. Audio Production by Simon Williams and Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Produced by Chris Jones. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1h 3m
  3. Is Britain ready for war with Russia?

    FEB 17

    Is Britain ready for war with Russia?

    “There is no British security without Europe,” Keir Starmer told the Munich Security Conference this weekend. Nobody wants a wider war in Europe, but we might get one anyway – and Britain’s military isn’t ready for it yet. So how can we change our armed forces and our wider society to ensure that Putin won’t want to risk a conflict with Britain and our allies? Ed Arnold of the Royal United Services Institute joins Ros Taylor and Raf Behr to talk about how Russia uses hybrid “grey zone” attacks on democracies which stop just short of open warfare… the sobering truth about NATO Article 5… and why we have to budget for the next threat but one, because “What comes after Putin may be worse.”  ESCAPE ROUTES • Raf rewatched Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. • Ed has been enjoying England in the Six Nations rugby. • Ros recommends the comedy drama about stand-up comedy, Is This Thing On? , out now in cinemas.  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Ros Taylor and Rafael Behr. Audio and video production by Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Produced by Chris Jones. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1h 8m
  4. The End of the Keir Show?

    FEB 13

    The End of the Keir Show?

    First thing on Monday it looked like Keir Starmer was organic sourdough toast. By teatime he’d riled up Labour MPs and looked – somehow – safe for now. Can the PM weather the brutal months ahead? Is it still a case of “when not if” he goes? Plus, we look at how far the toxic misogyny of the Epstein horrorshow spreads. Special guest Morgan Jones takes us back to the anti-Brexit campaign for a second referendum in 2016-19 and we look for lessons for a possible Rejoin campaign. And in the Extra Bit for Patreon people: Does Lord Of The Flies still resonate in its new psychedelic BBC incarnation? • Buy Morgan’s book No Second Chances: The Inside Story of the Campaign for a Second EU Referendum through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. ESCAPE ROUTES • Hannah has been enjoying eyeliner pop-rock reprobate Yungblud.  • Rachel loved the musical Ballad Lines at the Southwark Theatre. • Morgan has gone old WWII movies mad with Went The Day Well? and In Which We Serve. • Comic book guy Andrew recommends mind-bending time-crash series Assorted Crisis Events  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rachel Cunliffe and Hannah Fearn. Produced by Chris Jones. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1h 7m
  5. Is Trump a psychopath? – The cruel psychology of modern power

    FEB 11

    Is Trump a psychopath? – The cruel psychology of modern power

    Remember Trump’s first term when we talked about “kakistocracy”: rule by the worst of the worst? They’re back and they’re worse than ever – not just Trump and his entourage but his corrupt Mini-Mes around the world. Why is our time so cursed with venal, cruel, nihilistic and apparently mentally damaged leaders? Where do these personalities come from? Are Trump and his entourage true psychopaths in the psychological sense? Ian Hughes, author of Disordered Minds : How Dangerous Personalities Are Destroying Democracy, joins Zoë Grünewald and Jonn Elledge to discuss our age of “malignant normality”, Hitler, Mao, and the psychopathology of cruel rule. As one African proverb says: “The child who does not feel love will burn down the village to feel its warmth.” • Buy Disordered Minds through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. ESCAPE ROUTES • Jonn recommends Star Trek: Starfleet Academy  streaming on Paramount+.  • Ian Hughes has been rewatching Carl Sagan’s classic space documentary Cosmos on YouTube.  • Zoë recommends Industry on the BBC iPlayer.  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Zöe Grünewald with Jonn Elledge. Audio and video production by Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    52 min
  6. Morgan McSweeney: So gone, what now? – Emergencycast!

    FEB 9

    Morgan McSweeney: So gone, what now? – Emergencycast!

    Keir Starmer’s now former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney has gone, so what does this mean for the Prime Minister’s project and government? Zoë Grünewald is joined by Rafael Behr to discuss the fall out and where we go from here in a special bonus emergencycast.  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow    Presented by Zoë Grünewald with Rafael Behr. Audio Production by Simon Williams. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.  www.podmasters.co.uk   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    40 min
  7. Mandel In The Wind – Will the scandal destroy Starmer too?

    FEB 5

    Mandel In The Wind – Will the scandal destroy Starmer too?

    “I’m Mandy – buy me.” Peter Mandelson’s career finally collapses in a scandal more poisonous than Profumo, more serious than Partygate, and more shameful than Suez. How did Mandelson get away with his shifty behaviour for so long? Will Starmer’s errors of judgment taint his government irrevocably? And how come it’s on British figures like Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor who are suffering the consequences of their associations with Epstein?  ESCAPE ROUTES • Raf recommends the app DJay Pro for Mac, Windows, iOS and Android. • Ros went to see the National Theatre production of Terence Rattigan’s Man And Boy.  • Jonn is watching A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, the Game of Thrones spin-off, on Sky Atlantic.  • Andrew recommends the Marvel series Wonder Man on Disney+.  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison with Jonn Elledge, Ros Taylor and Rafael Behr. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn and Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    58 min
  8. The Universities’ Doom Spiral – Can Britain avert disaster?

    FEB 3

    The Universities’ Doom Spiral – Can Britain avert disaster?

    A forty-year slow-motion disaster in higher education is reaching its climax – and Labour is left holding the bag. If young people decide a degree isn’t worth the massive debt, where does that leave British cities that depend on free-spending undergraduate populations – and universities that are hooked on no-longer-welcome foreign students? Can academia expect much sympathy from graduate generations whose aspirations are held back by crushing loan repayments? And can Labour do anything about it?  In a fascinating conversation Oxford Brookes history professor and education commentator Glen O’Hara walks Ros Taylor and Hannah Fearn through the unfolding mess. Abstract: “The only way to wake up Westminster and Whitehall is to have a crisis.”   • Buy Glen O’Hara’s book New Labour, New Britain through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.  ESCAPE ROUTES  • Hannah recommends Intermezzo by Sally Rooney.  • Glen recommends Kingdom Come by JG Ballard.   • Ros has been watching David Baddiel’s Cat Man on C4.   Support us on Patreon. Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more Presented by Ros Taylor with Hannah Fearn. Audio Production by Chris Jones and Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.  www.podmasters.co.uk   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1h 4m
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4.5
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144 Ratings

About

Making sense of our political hell every Tuesday and Friday! Oh God, What Now? is the no-bulls**t politics podcast, making the unbearable bearable with top quality guests and analysis, plus poor quality jokes.  Regulars include: Guardian writer Rafael Behr • Rachel Cunliffe of the New Statesman • New Statesman columnist Jonn Elledge • Writer and host of This Is Not A Drill Gavin Esler • Social affairs journalist Hannah Fearn • Comedian Matt Green • The Lead's Westminster Editor Zoë Grünewald • Group Editor Andrew Harrison • Podmasters Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis • Journalist Marie Le Conte • Writer and commentator Ros Taylor Sign up and get ad-free shows earlier than anyone else: patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow. Oh God, What Now? is a Podmasters production

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