Steve Richards presents the Rock N Roll Politics podcast

With the nationalisation of the railways, the need for economic growth, climate change and a focus on addressing regional inequalities, transport should be at the top of the government's priorities. But is it? I'm joined by transport guru, author and podcaster, Christian Wolmar, to discuss why Transport is often overlooked by prime ministers and chancellors and how hopeful or gloomy he is now. Rock & Roll Politics - The Christmas Special is live at Kings Place on the 8th of December. Tickets are available now at the Kings Place website here. Subscribe to Patreon to take part in an exclusive live event on the 20th November, plus ad-free podcasts arriving in your feed a day early, bonus podcasts and live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Most of the time the right-wing media scream that government should not interfere with the police. But when the police make a decision the media disapproves of, it screams the opposite. In doing so this tells us much about the blurred lines of responsibility and the confusion about the role of the state – that partly explains why 'nothing works' remains a powerful motif in British politics. Rock & Roll Politics - The Christmas Special is live at Kings Place on the 8th of December. Tickets are available now at the Kings Place website here. Subscribe to Patreon for ad free podcasts arriving in your feed a day early...plus bonus podcasts and live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a recording of a recent Rock & Roll Politics live show, the audience became Rachel Reeves… and I became Emma Barnett interviewing some of them. There were many ideas for the real Chancellor in advance of next month's budget and some mighty dilemmas explored. Here it is! Rock &Roll Politics - The Christmas Special is live at Kings Place on the 8th of December. Tickets are available now at the Kings Place website here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. https://www.patreon.com/RockNRollPolitics  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The post of deputy leader is ill-defined at best. Yet delving deep, and going back to contests in the 1970s, shows they change the course of Labour's history. The current one will also make waves when the result is declared. Plus Donald Trump.. the peacemaker.  Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Conservative Party conference gathers with the party way behind in third place and being hit by defections to Reform, a threat from the right they have never faced before. Can they survive?  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts including the latest on Labour's Deputy leadership contest, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Labour Party conference is in a febrile mood – there's much talk of leadership, and also of Farage. Can Starmer bring together those horrified by a Reform government? Or is he too unpopular, not least with those on the left?  Please subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. https://www.patreon.com/RockNRollPolitics  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who are the Liberal Democrats? The coalition years exposed a deep split between social democrats and free market liberals. Are those divisions healed? Is Ed Davey right to party play for laughs? Is he making the correct pitch in the current multi-party mayhem?  Tickets for Thursday's epic live show in the main concert hall at Kings Place are available here. Please subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Predictably, Peter Mandelson's return to the centre of the political stage has ended in crisis. Mandelson's influence on Keir Starmer grew after Labour lost the Hartlepool by-election in the early days of Starmer's leadership. The fashionable narrative is that Starmer changed his strategy for the better after Hartlepool, but is that when the seeds were sown that have led to the current crisis around his leadership? • Rock & Roll Politics is live in the main concert hall at Kings Place on Thursday September 25th at the end of the Labour Party Conference week! Tickets available here.   • Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Keir Starmer has kept more or less the same Cabinet but given most of them new jobs. Will it work as Reform UK soars in the polls?  Rock & Roll Politics is live in the main concert hall at Kings Place on Thursday September 25th at the end of the Labour Party Conference week! Tickets available here. https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/words/steve-richards-presents-rock-n-roll-politics-6/     My biography of Tony Blair is published this Thursday and is available here. https://www.waterstones.com/book/tony-blair/steve-richards/9781800754409   Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. A bonus podcast is coming soon! https://www.patreon.com/RockNRollPolitics  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With Labour languishing in the polls, Keir Starmer has reshuffled his top team… yet again. His leadership has been punctuated by changes in senior personnel, so does that tell us more about him or them?  My book on Tony Blair is published next Thursday. You can pre-order it here. Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place on Thursday September 25th at the end of the Labour Party Conference week! Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Here's a recording of the final show at this year's festival, where there was a different show every day. The final one looked ahead via four political figures, but many other themes and characters were explored over the fourteen shows. It was great seeing so many of the co-operative in Edinburgh! Subscribe to Patreon⁠ for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The run of Rock & Roll Politics shows is in full swing, with host Steve Richards delivering a different show each day.  Here's an update for the co-operative on the various themes and the audience predictions, plus questions on the political drama being played out in Wales, and much more.  Rock & Roll Politics is live at the Edinburgh Festival right now, with a different show every day. Tickets here.  Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Labour government has endured a traumatic first year on many fronts, but its opponents are in different ways extremely vulnerable. If its opponents cannot win next time Labour will secure a second term, yet the mood music suggests a government in near fatal trouble...  Rock & Roll Politics is live at the Edinburgh Festival with a different show each day. Tickets available here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. https://www.patreon.com/RockNRollPolitics  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a Question Time Special the Rock N Roll Politics co-operative reflects on the 'pause' of some rail electrification schemes, the degree to which the UK's independent nuclear deterrent is not independent, and what's wrong with digital ID cards?  RocknRoll Politics is live at the Edinburgh festival from this Sunday August 10th, with a different show every day. Tickets here.  Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Keir Starmer drops everything to meet Trump on the President's golfing holiday, but to what end? Post-war Prime Ministers, with two exceptions, assume Britain has a special relationship with the US, only to discover that the US has different views... Some context (our favourite word) for the co-operative!  Rock & Roll Politics is live at the Edinburgh Festival from Sunday August 10th. Time to make sense of it all. Tickets available here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The rushed water privatisation after the 1987 election was one of several calamitous policies launched by Margaret Thatcher –with the consequences still being played out today. Yet Tory leaders, potential leaders, and even their Labour counterparts still pay homage to Thatcher. Why? RocknRoll Politics is live at the Edinburgh festival from Sunday August 10th, with a different show every day. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Number 10's media strategy is fairly old-fashioned: the morning round for the broadcasters, interviews with the TV political editors and placing articles in right wing newspapers. Does any of this do them any good? And if not, what should they do instead? And this is partly an excuse to look at the wild media landscape! Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place this Thursday. There are only a few tickets left, and streaming tickets are available too. Get tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Normally media frenzies exaggerate the scale of a government crisis - a distorting frenzy that feeds on itself. But this time, has it played down the significance of recent days? Rock & Roll Politics - The End of the Political Year Special is live at Kings Place on July 17th. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Labour MPs flex their muscles, the government concedes, welfare reform is still in chaos and taxes will have to rise to pay for concessions. How has a landslide government landed on such rocky terrain just a year after its historic election victory? Rock & Roll Politics - The End of the Political Year Special is live at Kings Place on July 17th. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Don't miss tonight's live Zoom event, exclusive for Patreon subscribers! Join Steve for an exclusive chat, live on Zoom and FREE to all Patreons. Steve will be covering hot topics from the current political news and answering your questions. For access to this event, plus all the other benefits like bonus podcasts and the main podcast a day early and ad free, subscribe on Patreon here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Not for the first time, a US military intervention triggers greater instability and many questions about what follows. It's time for the co-operative to delve deep into the context and consequences! To join our exclusive live Patreon event on Thursday, and also get bonus podcasts and the main podcasts a day early and ad free, subscribe to Patreon here. Rock & Roll Politics - The End of the Political Year Special is live at Kings Place on July 17th. Tickets here. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel Reeves' spending review was a mixed bag, with some impossibly tight spending settlements combined with significant investment. But will voters make the connections between decisions at Westminster and their own lives, especially when conveyed through a hostile media? • Rock & Roll Politics - The End of the Political Year Special is live at Kings Place on July 17th. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sarah Vine, the journalist and former wife of Michael Gove, has written a book that partly chronicles their lives in the court of David Cameron and the Notting Hill Conservatives. In doing so she is the latest insider chronicler to shine light on the shallowness of the Cameron project, with dark consequences for the Conservative party and the country. Rachel Reeves has a chance this week to reframe the government's confused narrative. Will she take it? Plus brilliant questions and latest news of Rock & Roll Politics live at the Edinburgh Festival. Rock & Roll Politics - The End of the Political Year Special is live at Kings Place on July 17th. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Keir Starmer is an evasive leader but on one point he is clear: he is a pragmatist, has no time for ideology and there will be no ‘Starmerism'. But without strong ideological convictions can a leader flourish? Plus, brilliant questions from the Rock & Roll Politics co-operative. Rock & Roll Politics is live in the main concert hall at Kings Place on July 17th.. The End of the Political Year Special. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While researching the 1929 Labour government for a new book I found myself thinking repeatedly “this reminds me of now”. The yearning to follow economic orthodoxies of the past, the desire to be agents of ‘change' while being fearful of change etc… and then I came across a Tony Blair interview from the 2001 election. This week, we look at the many lessons for now from a distant and another more recent Labour government. Rock & Roll Politics is live in the main concert hall at Kings Place on July 17th... The End of the Political Year Special. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I spoke to Michael Heseltine at the Cambridge Literary Festival about his remarkable career, how he would have changed the Tory party's approach to Europe had he won the leadership contest in 1990, his reflections on Thatcher, his radical ideas if he were prime minister now… and much more. The Cambridge Winter Festival is held on the 22nd and 23rd of November. Rock & Roll Politics is live in the main concert hall at Kings Place on July 17th. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Labour government has signed a deal with the EU that brings significant improvements to the agreement negotiated by Johnson and Lord Frosty Frost… their deal being a reminder of the many calamitous developments in the wild fourteen years of misrule. Can the Tory  Party recover from such a record or is it doomed to be replaced by Reform? Rock & Roll Politics is live in the main concert hall at Kings Place on July 17th. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper have played their migration cards, but will they be enough to counter Farage's populist policies? Will they work in practical terms? And if they do, what will be the impact on growth and any hope for the urgently needed National Care Service? So many questions erupt when moving on to this thorny terrain… Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Labour was elected to deliver ‘change' but Starmer, Reeves and Morgan McSweeney have been cautious and vague about their ambition to move on from the recent past. Instead Labour communications use the term ‘reform' as if it were a policy in itself. Now Labour faces the Reform Party, the Greens, the SNP and Lib Dems, all pitching bolder versions of change. Yet in government Labour is trapped by fiscal rules, the power of the Office for Budget Responsibility and a lack of clarity and coherence at the top. Can Starmer become a clear-sighted political teacher? • Rock'n'Roll Politics is live at Kings Place this Thursday, May 8th. Tickets available here. • Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There is a big UK/EU summit in May which ministers are confident will be a significant event – and not just a talking shop. Meanwhile Rachel Reeves has dared to state the obvious – that a deal with the EU is the biggest prize for the British government, as Trump oscillates wildly. Are these signs that a government so fearful of raising Brexit is beginning to turn towards Europe? And what would be the consequences?  Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place on May 8th and streaming live, just days after the local elections and the Runcorn by-election. A new landscape? Tickets available here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The right are obsessed with Miliband and his zeal for net zero policies, but is there any basis for the argument that his net zero policies threaten economic growth? And what is their alternative strategy? Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place on May 8th… there'll be a lot going on. Tickets available here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For decades nationalisation was the great taboo in British politics, while privatisation was deemed the great triumph of Thatcherism. Blair and Brown were opposed to any attempt to renationalise – but now there is cross party support for the nationalisation of British Steel, the railways are being renationalised and there is huge support for the government to take over water companies. What's happening… and why? Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place on May 8th. Tickets available here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is there a hint of British exceptionalism in the early days of the Trump-induced economic crisis? Apparently the UK got off lightly, while Keir Starmer can be a ‘bridgehead' between Europe and the US. Let's see…  Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place on the 8th of May, just days after local elections and the Runcorn by-election. Tickets available here. Subscribe to Patreon here for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump has said ‘tariff' is his favourite word, but will US consumers agree with him when prices rise? Plus - does the UK need a Department for Economic Growth? Subscribe to Patreon here to join Thursday's live discussion and get a vault of timeless bonus podcasts. Rock & Roll Politics is live at the main concert hall in Kings Place on May 8th. Tickets here. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week Rachel Reeves announces more spending cuts in order to meet her fiscal rules, and the OBR's verdict on her ‘fiscal headroom'. But what was the original purpose of ‘the fiscal rules' and has Reeves learned the lessons from past Labour chancellors? Some context in a week that could doom a landslide government to being trapped rather than liberated by a chancellor's ‘ironclad' rules. Rock & Roll Politics is live at the main concert hall in Kings Place on May 8th. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The decision to scrap NHS England is a rare example of clear thinking in relation to delivery of public services. Can such clarity be applied more widely or will chaotic lines of management from the BBC to the railways continue to prevail? Some context from the 1980s, the New Labour era and David Cameron's shallow and confused thinking when he set up NHS England. Rock & Roll Politics is live at the main concert hall in Kings Place on May 8th. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel Reeves is looking to save billions from the welfare budget. What are the lessons from New Labour's attempts to cut welfare and what is the purpose of the latest focus on benefits? Will the government succeed in its hastily planned mission? Plus, brilliant questions on the international crisis and the internal turmoil in Reform. Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place on May 8th. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Keir Starmer is enjoying his best media coverage since the election – but the UK commentariat always hails the appearance of ‘strong leadership' during the early phase of an international crisis. Tough choices can still be avoided, but what happens when the consequences are played out and these vaguely defined choices must be made? The commentariat in the UK can turn speedily… and so can voters. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The moving parts in the international crisis continue to move. Macron and Starmer in Washington, a new government to form in Germany and Trump never far away from a TV screen. But to what end are all the diverse parts moving? Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump has instigated peace talks with Putin. The UK, France and Germany are alarmed, but what did they expect? And in their responses are they making a war with Russia more likely, and with what consequences? Plus more on ‘disrupters vs non-disrupters' - the silliest and most shallow framing in the history of modern politics. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts including the current series ‘The Defectors', and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The new fashionable term in politics is ‘disrupter' or ‘insurgent'. Morgan McSweeney briefs that the government must be insurgents, but does he mean it? The cautious Number 10 operation seems wary of genuine change making ministers, so who are the insurgents? And can Starmer be one? Plus, brilliant questions from the Rock & Roll Politics co-operative. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The chancellor hails her fiscal rules and iron resolution, but in her search for stability is she taking routes that are riskier than they appear to be? Plus five years of Brexit, the real Walden/ Thatcher interview and brilliant questions from the Rock & Roll Politics co-operative. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel Reeves is going for growth, but will she succeed? Plus, as Channel 4 screen James Graham's new drama on Brian Walden's last interview with Margaret Thatcher, what are the lessons for today's media and top politicians? Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place next Monday 3rd of February for the first live show in what will be a wild political year. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump has won again as a disruptor, reflecting the mood of an impatient electorate aching for change. Starmer won the election last year arguing for ‘change' – but can he become a confident changemaker? And why are hardline Brexiteers so content with Trump's power to determine the fate of the British economy, while obsessing over Westminster sovereignty in relation to the EU? Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place on the 3rd of February for the first live show in what will be a wild political year. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nigel Farage commands the airwaves with only four MPs – and the two bigger parties obsess about the threat posed by Reform. Yet it's the Lib Dems that made sweeping gains in Tory areas and have 72 MPs. As Keir Starmer's cautious government gives them space on issues such as social care and Europe, and the media focuses on Reform, could they become a force again? Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place on the 3rd of February for the first live show in what will be a wild political year. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The announcement that a national care service will be the subject of another review shines light on a government with a landslide majority, but that is reluctant to use it in order to achieve challenging but historic change. Plus, the Reform UK latest, and Musk disowns Farage. Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place on the 3rd of February for the first live show in what will be a wild political year. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join Steve Richards for a special end of year political deep dive - straight from the Rock & Roll Politics Patreon vaults. In a bumper double episode Steve looks at the careers of Enoch Powell and Tony Benn - on the face of it, two very different figures. Yet the pair remain connected by their capacity to play the role of political troublemaker - a theme to be explored by Steve in a forthcoming new book. Thanks to all the listeners in the Rock & Roll Politics co-operative for your support in 2024, and stay tuned for more in the new year. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Give or get 20% off a year's Patreon support for the pod in our Black Friday sale.  Here's a recording of the final live show of 2024, recorded at Kings Place, where we tried to make sense of the epic politics of 2024. Including excellent questions from the Rock & Roll Politics co-operative. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Give or get 20% off a year's Patreon support for the pod in our Black Friday sale.  Farage is a formidable campaigner but the UK has a party based system, and running a party is a nightmare after the early euphoria of making waves has passed. Here's why. Plus, the co-operative's never ending debate on assisted dying, the future of Starmer and much more. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Give or get 20% off a year's Patreon support for the pod in our Black Friday sale.  What happens if thousands flee Syria? Where do they go? Can borders be ‘closed' when asylum demands rise? The movement of people is the second crisis of the global economy after the financial crash, but there has been no global response.  Plus brilliant questions from the Rock & Roll Politics co-operative and important assembly notices. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Give or get 20% off a year's Patreon support for the pod in our Black Friday sale.  Keir Starmer will make a big speech on Thursday that is being perceived as a ‘relaunch', though Number 10 are keen to insist it is nothing of the sort. But is this a government with a clear sense of purpose? And if so, do voters know what that purpose is? Plus brilliant questions from the Rock & Roll Politics co-operative and important assembly notices. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices