Podcasts about blairite

Michael Gove and Katy Balls join James Heale to discuss their interview with the Health Secretary Wes Streeting included in this week's special Easter edition of The Spectator. Michael identifies three key reasons why Streeting's fate is key to the success of the government: immigration, the cost-of-living crisis and faith in the NHS. Seen as the ‘golden child' of Number 10, Streeting has as many supporters in the Labour party as he has detractors – but his Blairite-coded image could help him take the fight to Reform.  Also on the podcast, Michael, Katy and James discuss Nigel Farage's progress in the local election campaign. Plus, as this is Katy's last podcast with Michael and James keep listening to the end for an ‘easter egg' from Michael – as well as why black cabs make the best podcast studios. Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Wake up with Morning Glory in full on YouTube, DAB+ radio, Freeview 280, Fire TV, Samsung TV Plus or the Talk App on your TV from 6am every morning. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Populism, MAGA, and Trump: Insights from Media and the Campaign Trail

Keir Starmer is in the crosshairs over Lord Alli buying his and his wife's clothes whilst having Whitehall access along with Blairite aides like Alan Milburn. That and Starmer's visit to see Giorgia Meloni on migration and Mike opens the floor to discuss assisted dying. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The UK's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer is a pro-war, neoliberal Blairite who is closely linked to British intelligence and the US government. He was backed by big business interests after the corporate media destroyed popular left-wing, anti-imperialist Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Ben Norton discusses how Britain is an oligarchy, not a democracy. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq7YDNrYsV8 Topics 0:00 UK PM Keir Starmer is Tony Blair 2.0 3:26 Biden & Starmer discuss new cold war on Russia & China 5:00 Keir Starmer's shady US government ties 7:13 CIA-linked Trilateral Commission 11:09 Neoliberalism: a class war 13:13 The coup against Jeremy Corbyn 19:12 Outro

In light of news that Labour plan to put shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves at the centre of their general election campaign, we are re-releasing this choice half-hour from an episode last year (RP271: Shoe Factory), in which we conclude a run-through Keir Starmer's then-new ultra-Blairite shadow cabinet with nods to key Reeves allies Pat McFadden and sister Ellie Reeves, before reading a truly weird Guardian profile of Rachel by Simon Hattenstone, which she insists be conducted at a shoe factory her grandparents did not work at.

Show Notes and Transcript Mike Yardley joins Hearts of Oak to discuss his varied background, including military service and journalism, addressing censorship in contemporary Britain, particularly concerning vaccines and lockdowns. We examine the impact of censorship on free speech, social media algorithms, and the consequences of opposing mainstream narratives.  The conversation delves into declining democracy, globalist agendas, and the suppression of individual liberties.  Mike highlights concerns about powerful entities controlling public discourse and a lack of open debate on critical issues.  We end on political changes in Europe and the necessity of open discussions to tackle societal issues, particularly the significance of critical thinking, diverse perspectives, and unrestricted dialogue to shape a better future. Mike Yardley is well known as a sporting journalist, shooting instructor, and hunter and has written and broadcast extensively on all aspects of guns and their use. His articles (2000+) have appeared in many journals as well as in the national press. He has appeared as an expert witness in cases which relate to firearms and firearms safety. He is a founding fellow of the Association of Professional Shooting Instructors, and has formal instructing qualifications from a variety of other bodies. He is listed one of The Field's ‘Top Shots.' He retired from the press competition at the CLA Game Fair after winning it three times. As well as his shooting activities he has written books on other subjects including an account of the independent Polish trade union Solidarity, a biography of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), and a history of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst itself. He is a contributing author and ‘Special Researcher' to the Oxford History of the British Army (in which he wrote the concluding chapter and essays on the army in Northern Ireland and the SAS). He is also a frequent broadcaster and has made and presented documentaries for the BBC. Mike has also been involved as a specialist ballistic consultant, and presenter, in many productions for various TV companies including the Discovery and History Channels. He has re-enacted on location worldwide the death of the Red Baron, the Trojan Horse incident from ancient history, and some of the most infamous assassinations, including those of JFK, RFK and Abe Lincoln. Michael has worked a photojournalist and war reporter in Syria, Lebanon, Albania/Kosovo, Africa, and Afghanistan. He was seized off the street in Beirut in 1982 (before Terry Waite and John McCarthy) but released shortly afterwards having befriended one of his captors. In 1986 he made 3 clandestine crossings into Afghanistan with the Mujahedin putting his cameras aside and working as a medic on one mission. In the late 1990s, he ran aid convoys to Kosovan Refugees in Albania and on the Albanian/Kosovo border. The charity he co-founded, ‘Just Help,' was honoured for this work which took 300 tons of relief to desperately needy people. Connect with Mike... X/TWITTER        twitter.com/YardleyShooting WEBSITE            positiveshooting.com Interview recorded 2.5.24 Connect with Hearts of Oak... X/TWITTER        x.com/HeartsofOakUK WEBSITE            heartsofoak.org/ PODCASTS        heartsofoak.podbean.com/ SOCIAL MEDIA  heartsofoak.org/connect/ SHOP                 heartsofoak.org/shop/ *Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast. Check out his art theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com and follow him on X/Twitter twitter.com/TheBoschFawstin  (Hearts of Oak) Hello Hearts of Oak, thank you so much for joining us once again and I'm joined by someone who I've been enjoying watching on Twitter for the last couple of years and delighted that he can join us today and that's Mike Yardley. Mike, thank you so much for your time today. (Mike Yardley) Yeah, great to be here and thank you very much for asking me Peter. Not at all, thoroughly enjoyed. I thought I would But let our audience also enjoy your input. And we had a good chat on the phone the other week about all different issues. And people can find you @YardleyShooting, which introduces the question, Yardley Shooting. Maybe you want to give just a one or two minute introduction of your background. I know you've written. You have a deep passion and understanding of history, along with many other things. But maybe give the viewer just a little bit of your background. Well, I've had a wide and varied career. I studied psychology at university. I went to the army. Wasn't really, you know, content in the army. And I resigned my commission in 1980. But I was in the army at a very interesting time. Height of the Cold War. I was on what was then the West German and East German border watching the East Germans and Russians watching us. So an intriguing place. And I really left the army to become a war reporter, a photographer, particularly initially. And also I went to Poland. I was in Poland for the rise of solidarity. I brought an exhibition back to the UK, which opened at the National Theatre. And memorably with Peggy Ashcroft doing the honours at that event, and Sir John Gielgud as patron. And then I've sort of made my way as an author and as a freelance. And I've also had a parallel career as an arms specialist. I've written a, probably millions of words in that area, but I've also written the final chapter of the Oxford History of the British Army, essays within that, books on the history of Sandhurst and co-written with another ex-officer, a book about the army, lots of technical stuff, a number of technical books. And I'm very interested in mass communication. I have made in the deep and distant past, some documentaries for the BBC. I made one on the history of terrorism for the BBC World Service. I made another on the media and the monarchy for the BBC World Service. And I think they actually let me broadcast once on another subject I'm very interested in, which is doubt. So since then, I've made my living with my pen and my camera. I was in Lebanon in the the early 1980s, again, not a good place to be there. And I made several sneaky beaky trips into Afghanistan, not as a soldier, but as a journalist when the Russians were there. And that was a very interesting time too. And, you know, gave me some ideas that perhaps other people didn't have the advantage of that experience. So yeah, quite an interesting career. I'm still a columnist for one well-known field sports magazine, The Field. And I am still at it. I don't know how long I'm going to be at it for. But one of the interesting things, I suppose, for me has been the advent of social media. And I thought social media was going to give me a chance to see what other people were thinking. But as well as what other people were thinking, to give me a chance for unfettered expression. Because I think it would be fair to say that I do feel that you cannot really say what you think in modern Britain. It comes with all sorts of disadvantages. As you get older and maybe you don't need the income as much, then perhaps not as important. You know, you can harder to cancel you as you get older and you don't really care. But I do think that's an issue in modern Britain. I think since the whole advent of lockdown and all the propaganda that was associated with it, and indeed with the Ukraine war, although I'm a supporter of the Ukrainians, I was rather horrified by the extent of the propaganda campaign to get us involved, as I have been rather shocked by all the propaganda surrounding lockdown and COVID, et cetera. And one other key point of my background is that I got very badly injured after I had the vaccine. I collapsed the next day. I had the worst headache of my life. I was in bed for a month or six weeks. I got a thrombosis in my leg, tinnitus, all sorts of other shingles, all sorts of other horrible stuff. I couldn't really walk. And even as I speak to you now, I've got shingles. I've got this blessed tinnitus ringing in my head, which a lot of other people have had post-vaccination and constant headaches. So I just have to live with that now, which means that you're always having to go through that to talk to people and to get your point across. Well, I've got a feeling that we may have you on a number of times, Mike, because there's so much to unpack there. But maybe we can start with a comment you made on censorship. And certainly we've seen this over the last four years. I've noticed in different areas, but specifically since being in the media space, I think since 2020, I've certainly seen it, had seen a little bit back in my days with UKIP during the Brexit campaign also but we have the BBC in the UK I guess they are the gatekeepers of information or have been up until this point and I know they've just the BBC have just done a series on misinformation or extremism and they of someone they employ full-time to actually cover what they see as misinformation and that kind of re-galvanizes their position as gatekeepers. But what are your thoughts on censorship? And I guess where state media fit into that? Yeah, I've been listening to that BBC series, and there's quite a lot of BBC stuff in that area at the moment. I think the first thing I'd say is this. I used to be one of the main voices heard in the media talking about security and terrorism. I hardly ever broadcast now. I don't get the opportunity because I'm not on narrative. And I think that's often because I present a nuanced position. And that doesn't seem to be popular in the modern media. Is censorship a problem now? Yes, it is. It's a problem because I can't easily broadcast anymore, having spent many years broadcasting and making lots of stuff for all sorts of different programs, as well as making a few programs of my own. I can't do that anymore. I think I may have made half a dozen or seven Discovery shows as well, but the phone no longer rings. And I'm pretty sure it doesn't ring particularly because I took up a vaccine sceptical position. And this is where it starts to get, this is the stuff we should unpack because it's really interesting. I was just listening before we started broadcasting to a BBC program that was talking about Russian operations promoting the anti-vaccine position. Well, I get that. I can see that the Russians have been involved in that. And we can come back to my own Twitter account, where I see clearly that if I put up a comment that is in any way critical of the Russians, it gets no support at all. But it might get probably half a dozen or 10 times as much pro-Russian support. And I've been trying to work out what's going on with that. It's almost as if the Russians have some way of manipulating that particular platform. But on the other hand, coming back to this point about vaccine scepticism, it's not just the Russians who are promoting that. Maybe it was in their interest to do that. But there are people in the UK, myself included, who were genuinely injured by the vaccines and who want to talk about it and feel that their point of view has completely been suppressed by these big social media platforms and by the BBC. It is just a non-subject. They don't really talk about excess deaths. They don't talk about widespread vaccine injury. You hear occasionally about VITT thrombosis with young women who've had these terrible thrombosis in their brains, but you do not hear about quite widespread vaccine injury. Now, I put up a comment on Twitter, do you know of anyone who's had a vaccine injury? I had something like, well, I think two, it depends on how you count them, but something like two million views, but 6,000 replies, and listing a lot more than 6,000 injuries. Now, I'm sure you can't necessarily take that as absolute gospel, but it is indicative of the fact that many people think they have been damaged by the vaccines, but also they can't talk about it. Their doctors aren't interested in it. The BBC don't seem to be interested in it. What in a free country are we meant to do? Well, we do this. We try and get our message out by other means, but it shouldn't be like that. And this seems to be a trend, this big state authoritarianism with a much more controlled media, which is facilitated by all the digitization that's going on. That is a real issue in modern Britain? Certainly, we came across that with YouTube putting videos up, and you daren't put a video up on YouTube critiquing the vaccine narrative or the COVID narrative. But recently, there has been some change. I know that there is legal action against AstraZeneca. I think in the last two days, there have been reports of AstraZeneca admitting that it did in in a tiny amount of cases but they haven't mentioned this before there were side effects. It does seem as though either it's the chipping away of those who've been vaccine injured demanding a voice, either it's been MPs becoming a little bit more vocal, obviously Andrew Bridgen, or it's been maybe a change in Twitter and the information out. I mean how do you see that because it does seem as though the message is slowly getting out? Well, Facebook's interesting because they've changed their policy, obviously, because before I couldn't say anything, it had come up with a note. And I have in the past had blocks from both Facebook and from Twitter. And I've also had apologies from both. I've done my best, because I don't think I ever say anything that is inappropriate or improper. That still doesn't prevent you being censored today. But twice, once with Facebook and once with Twitter, I've managed to get an apology out of them and been reinstated. So this is very disturbing stuff. And we're talking about this small number of injuries that are being acknowledged are about these brain thrombosis, the VITT thrombosis, which is an extremely rare condition, to quote an Oxford medic friend of mine. You know, rare as hen's teeth, hardly affects anyone. But it seems that thrombosis more generally, DVT and pulmonary embolism, and other things like myocarditis are comparatively common, and the re-ignition of possibly dormant cancers, which Professor Angus Dalgleish has been talking about at great length. And these are subjects which should be debated freely. I mean, when you see Andrew Bridgen in the House of Commons talking about excess deaths and he's almost talking to an empty Commons chamber. Albeit you can hear some fairly vociferous shouting coming from or cheering coming from the gallery, which the Speaker or the Assistant Speaker tried to close down, but that is a bit worrying. What has happened to British democracy? What has happened to our birth right of free speech? I mean, it isn't what it used to be. In fact, not only is it not what it used to be, on many subjects, we are not free to speak anymore. Not just the ones I discussed, there are all sorts of other things which might fall within the boundaries of PC and woke, which you simply can't talk about. You might even get prosecuted in some circumstances. I mean, we're living in some sort of mad upside down world at the moment. We've watched in Scotland the SNP collapsing, not least because of some of their very wacky legislation, which has also been enormously expensive. Meantime, I'm of the opinion, and I'm not particularly right wing, but I am of the opinion that ordinary people, sometimes they just want to see the potholes mended. You know, they don't want this sort of bit of PC legislation or another. There are far greater national priorities. And I'm not saying that there aren't small groups in society that haven't been badly treated in the past. They have. I can see that. and there has been real prejudice. But I think we have very immediate problems now. And they were all exacerbated by the COVID calamity and the government's reaction to it. I mean, I'm not afraid to say, did we really do the right thing? Should we have locked down? Should we have gone ahead with the vaccines? Or would it have made more sense to have given everybody in Britain a supply of vitamin C and vitamin D and maybe just vaccinated some people? But we don't talk about these things openly. It's a very controlled environment. And I was talking to a close friend of mine who's across the water in Northern Ireland and who's a very wise and sensible guy and involved in quite a lot of official stuff there. And I said to him, what is it? What is going on now? And he said, well, if I was to sum it up simply, Michael, I'd say that I don't feel free anymore. Well, I don't feel particularly free anymore. Peter, do you feel particularly free anymore? Have you sensed a change in the last 25 years, 20 years? Certainly in the last 10 years, I have. Well, I've certainly sensed a change, and I think that some of us actually want to speak what we believe is true, in spite of what happens, and other people cower away. And I always wonder why some of us accepted the COVID narrative and some didn't. And I mean, in the UK, I've been intrigued with the, I guess, few high profile people who are willing to talk. So you've got Andrew Bridgen in politics, but in the U.S. you've got many politicians. Or in the U.K. you've got Professor Dalgleish, on with us a few weeks ago. In the U.S. you've got much higher profile people like Dr. McCullough or Dr. Malone. And even with the statisticians, you've got Professor Norman Fenton doing the stats. But in the U.S. you've got people like Steve Kirsch who are very high profile. And I'm kind of intrigued at why in the US, those who are opposing the narrative maybe get more free reign, but are lauded more, I think. And those in the UK seem to be really pushing up a brick wall every time. I don't know if you've seen that as well. Of course I have seen that, yes. And in some senses, the US is freer than the UK, and they do have a First Amendment, which means a bit. There is a lot of, America's a strange society and I went to school there so I know it quite well and although America is free on paper and although they do have a first amendment traditionally there has been something of a tyranny of public opinion, but the people that have spoken out, as far as the vaccine is concerned, and indeed about the war in Ukraine. And I think often they're saying the wrong thing on that, but we can come on to that later. But those people have been speaking out in a way that we haven't really seen in the UK, sadly. And you have to ask, what is going on? Why is that? I heard a comment by Ahmed Malik the other day. Do you know how many doctors there are in the UK, qualified medical doctors? I was stunned when I discovered how many, but I believe it's about 300,000. And I think it's something like 75,000 GPs, which is quite a lot. But do you know how many doctors have spoken up and gone counter-narrative? I believe the correct number is 10. I mean, that is extraordinary, isn't it? 10. And I mean, just from our own experience of social media. It's very, very few. And those doctors who risk it, risk everything. They risk being cancelled. They're on comfortable livings. They're on £100,000 a year plus in most cases, sometimes quite a lot more than that. If they speak out, they risk being struck off. They risk losing a comfortable lifestyle, the mortgage, possibly the family and whatever. And the result that hardly any at all have spoken out. But what we can assume is that there are many, like one particular friend I'm thinking of, who are very sceptical of what's been happening, very sceptical of the way the vaccine was launched, the lack of testing, all this stuff that we might draw attention to. And they're not necessarily anti-vaxxers. They're just people that are normally sceptical. But it seems that we're not allowed to be normally sceptical anymore. You have to follow this big state, Big Brother, 1984 line or watch out. And that really does disturb me. And I was listening, as I said, just before we came on with this program to a BBC thing on censorship, where the BBC is chastising the Russians and the Iranians, and, all sorts, the Chinese and talking about the billions that the Russians and the Chinese spread on info spend on information now, which they do. And much of it is mis and disinformation, but they do not talk about their own authoritarianism. And how they limited discussion on anything to do with COVID and indeed on the Ukraine war. And my own position, I'll just interject very briefly. I mean, I think that, Putin has to be stopped and I'm fully with the Ukraine people in what they're doing. But it's also a fact that Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, arguably more corrupt than Russia. And if we're giving them billions and billions and lots of military materiel, some of that is going to go missing. Some of that's going to go to the wrong places. And we never really discuss that. And it's not a particularly democratic place. And it's also the case that we probably pushed it politically in a particular direction because it was to our strategic interest, which is probably the right thing to do. But we can't discuss any of this anymore. And that does disturb me. Open discussion, open intellectual discussion on military matters, on health matters is becoming more and more difficult. And that's not a healthy sign, Peter. It certainly is. And actually, it's intriguing because my line would be, actually, these are, when I was younger, it would be interventionist. No, actually, it's, well, it's a separate country. They can do what they want. And if they want to have a war, they can have a war. But talking to people who have been very supportive, maybe more of the Ukraine side, talking to Krzysztof Bosak, MP in Poland yesterday. Yesterday and he was saying that Poland have given so much actually now Poland have very little to defend themselves and you look at the UK military, we didn't have much before and now it seems that we're short of munitions, short of many items and it seems that the west have poured so much into this without thinking of how to defend themselves. I mean, you understand the military side. What are your thoughts on that? Well, my thoughts at the moment, and it's been something I've been thinking about a lot recently, is that Britain is hopelessly under-defended. Our army is probably half the size it needs to be. Our navy is incapable of undertaking independent operations. It's probably just generally incapable. I think we're down to tiny numbers of jet fighters, tiny numbers of main asset ships. And we're saying, we're being told the army's around 72,000, something like that now. I think in real terms, it's actually smaller than that. And it's not big enough to meet the threat. And what's quite clear from what's going on in Ukraine is that you have to have a supply of ammunition, of missiles, of men. And this is worrying because if they came to a global conflict, it would go nuclear very quickly now, if it did go nuclear, because would our politicians actually ultimately press the button or not? I don't know. But it would have to go nuclear or something because we don't have the conventional resources. You know, they're just not there anymore. And most people have no idea of this. They have no experience of the military. But I would say that, they're talking about increasing defence spending to, you know, something under 3%. I would say that our defence spending at the moment should be probably at least 5% and maybe quite a lot more than that. This is a very, very unstable period in the history of the world. And we are not ready to meet the threat that exists. And of course, the Russians, I mean, they're routinely saying on their media that they're going to sink, you know, they'd sink Britain. They talk about sinking Britain specifically. And I don't think that they could do that. I don't think they would act on that. But we are incredibly vulnerable. We are essentially one big, you know, landing strip and It's not a good situation at all. And most people just block it. It's not that they're not worried about it, but they don't want to be worried about it. It's just one thing more and too much to think about. And they don't have any experience of the military anyway. But we're now looking to Ukraine and we're wondering, will the Ukrainians manage to hold off the Russians before the increased aid reaches them? I don't know. I don't know. No, I think the situation is not as positive for the Russians as some people might think. They do have problems. They can act at a small level. They can act operationally, but they can't necessarily act strategically. They don't have the resources to that, but they are building up resources. And I think something like, is it 30 or 40% of their available national resources are now going into defence, which is a remarkable figure. Now, they've lost a lot of men. we don't know really how many people have died in the Ukraine. It's certainly tens of thousands and maybe into the hundreds of thousands. It's a meat grinder. And the Russians, of course, just threw all their troops into this sort of first world war-like encounter. And they didn't really care about losses initially. It's not the Russian style, but also they were throwing people who'd been recruited from prisons, Pezhorin, the Wagner group, you know, many of those people were sacrificed, and I don't think anyone really cared about them in Russia very much. A dreadful situation. We won't go into the ethics and morality of that. Pretty scary, though. They will want to try and overwhelm those Ukrainian lines, and it's a huge front line. I mean, we're talking a front line, I think it's extending over a thousand kilometres or something. It's massive. They will try and overwhelm that line, and probably with the help of US and our own intelligence and a few other things, they'll probably stem the tide. But it's a 50-50. It's by no means a given. And that is worrying, because what would happen then? What would happen to the Poles? What indeed would happen to us? So yeah, good question. I was, it was fun watching the response from NATO members to Trump's call for them to actually pay the bills. Because I think it was, I remember watching Desert Storm and being just, consumed by it I guess as a young teenager and you've got the cameras following it all, now we come to whenever Britain sent tornadoes supposedly to help Israel and we were just told that's what happened, there was very little independent reporting, who knows if it happened or not. I think it was probably, it hit me, the reduction size of our military, whenever we bought, it was 67 apache attack helicopters, I think 67, wow, what are we going to do with those, I mean, half of them won't work half the time if they're in the desert with sand in their engines. But you realize that if the West do not have a strong military, then that deterrent basically is removed. And it means that other countries like Russia, who will spend more in defence, actually think, well, we can do what we like. They can do what they like because the West just aren't, one, aren't able to intervene, I guess, because of weakness in leadership, which we see in the EU, the US, Europe and in the UK, but also because of lack of military firepower. And I guess that's just a changing of the guard from the power of the West over to other centres of power. Well, I think the strategic implications of the weakness and the perceived weakness of our leadership are big. And, you know, that is in looking from Moscow. I mean, the farce we've seen in Westminster in recent years must be very encouraging to you where, you know, they have the strong, the classic Soviet era and now Russian era strongman. Putin is developing this aura as the strong man, which is a popular one in Russia. He has complete dominance of his home media, so he manages to mislead people as to what's actually going on elsewhere as well. He's looking for an external foe, an external threat, a long-time ploy of any authoritarian leader trying to make sure he stays in power. And of course, Putin doesn't have much choice, does he? If he doesn't succeed in staying in power, he's got a very scary future ahead of him. So that's another intriguing issue. The only good thing I would say, and this is, I don't think I'd like to fight the Poles or indeed the Ukrainians. They're both very, very tough nations. But where this now leads, and this is another critical question, we don't really know what's going on. When this conflict started, and I was a reporter in Lebanon, for Time, I was a photojournalist for Time in the Lebanon and we were sending stuff back that was really from the front line and it was really interesting and people, what I noticed when I went there, intriguingly to Lebanon in the 80s, was I was familiar with it all because i'd seen it all on the evening news. But I wasn't familiar with the feeling and the smell. Now, I can't say that with Ukraine, because for most of this conflict, I didn't know, and most people didn't know what the hell was going on. The quality of the reporting, I thought, was very, very poor. I've seen some better reporting since, but generally, I thought the reporting initially was awful. And there was also a tremendous amount of pro-war propaganda. I know somebody who went to the theatre in London and apparently, you know, when it came to the intermission or something, a huge Ukrainian flag came down and the whole audience were expected to cheer as we're all expected to cheer for the NHS or for all the vaccine stuff. I'm just temperamentally opposed to that sort of control, that sort of psychological manipulation. It concerns me that people should be made to support anything unthinkingly and that seems to be what's happening now and you've got Facebook for example, I mean they were at one stage I think advertising how they could turn opinion to potential advertisers and we've seen all the Cambridge Analytica stuff, we're incredibly vulnerable now to all this online stuff and the thing that bothers me if I go back to Twitter where I have something of a presence, is I can't really tell my stuff now because nobody sees it, there is some sort of censorship algorithm or something in place. I've got 77 000 followers there allegedly, I don't know how many of them are bots but sometimes it's clear that hardly anybody sees something that I put out particularly if it concerns the vaccines or if I'm making critical comment about Mr Putin. I think I blocked 2000 odd, what I thought were probably Russian accounts. But ironically, I'm actually getting taken down myself sometimes by the Twitter algorithms. I don't know who's controlling them. I don't know if they're controlled by Twitter Central or they're controlled somewhere else. But hey, I hope so. I think I'm one of the good guys. But you're not allowed to be a good guy. You've got to be a black and white guy now. That's the thing I think you see on social media, which is also meantime, in a very unhealthy way, polarizing people. It encourages the extremes. You can't be a traditional conservative very easily. You can't be a moderate very easily or a classical liberal very easily. You've got to go to one pole or the other pole. I think that's just very unhealthy. It's unhealthy apart from anything else as far as intellectual debate's concerned. Let me pick up on that with where we fit in and the ability to, I guess, speak your mind and have a position where you put your country first, which I thought was always a normal position, but now supposedly is an extremist position. But how, I mean, I'm curious watching what's happening in Europe which is me slightly separate, the European parliamentary elections and the wave of putting nations first and it's called nationalism. I think it's putting your country first which actually should be what a nation is about and the second thing is your neighbour and those around you, but we haven't really seen that in the UK. I mean do you think that will be a change of how your because Europe is really a declining force in the world, not only economically, but militarily. And of course, we haven't made the best of leaving the EU at all. We've cocked up big time on that. But then you look across to Europe and it is a declining power. And I'm wondering whether this new change, this opposition to unfair immigration. Opposition to control, central control from Brussels, wanting to put the nations first, whether that actually will be a change in Europe's fortunes. Bring me back to central control. But before we say anything else, just look at Norway. They had the wonderful resource of their oil reserves, and they spent it well. They created a sovereign national fund. And I think it means that everyone in Norway's got half a million quid or something like that. We, on the other hand, have squandered our national resources. And the country appears to be in tatters at the moment, and they can't even mend the potholes. Going to this business of Europe and the decline, yes, it's worrying that, Europe almost is losing the will to defend itself, or it seems to. But beyond that, if you look at Brexit, I mean, I was a Brexiteer, and I was a Brexiteer who could see some of the economic arguments for Remain. So again, I had a nuanced position on it. But overall, I wanted to preserve British sovereignty and democracy, and I thought it was disgraceful that we should be turning over that to some body in Brussels. But what we didn't realize, those of us who were pushing for Brexit, that the real threat wasn't Brussels, but the real threat probably was some globalist entity that we didn't even understand. And nobody was really much talking about globalism at that point. They weren't talking about Davos and all that sort of stuff. They were talking about the threat from Brussels but what we've seen since Brexit I think is an even greater threat from, I think what that Greek ex-foreign minister calls techno feudalism and the sort of, the onward march of somewhat Marxist influenced, capitalism facilitated by the whole digital deal, And you have WEF stuff where, you'll own nothing and you'll be happy, although they're withdrawing from that comment now. But who are these people? Did we elect them? We had a sort of interest in the people in Brussels, sort of, but as far as these globalist characters are concerned, they have no democratic mandate whatsoever. And that is pretty scary. Their only mandate is enormous wealth and a sort of arrogance that they know best for us, the peons, what our future should be. I do find that a bit terrifying, but I also, this is where it gets interesting, Peter, because I see where it came from. If you look at the era after the Second World War, the Americans and us, we were very worried about Soviet influencing operations. So we started to do stuff. And one of the things, the European community was perhaps one of those things, NATO was the most obvious, but there were also all sorts of influencing operations to counter the then very common, prolific, and increasingly dangerous Soviet influencing operations directed at Europe, directed at Latin America. So, for example, at Harvard, and I found this out from reading a biography of Henry Kissinger recently. At Harvard in the early 50s, they were running young leaders courses for foreign influencers. And it looked very much like the same sort of deal that the WEF was doing with everyone's Trudeau et al. They've all been a WEF young leader. Now, I would guess that that comes, that WEF stuff probably comes from Harvard or something like that via the State Department pushing into academia and then creating the WEF, maybe or having a hand in it as an influencing op. But this is where it gets really interesting. Has somebody penetrated that influencing op? Has it been turned? Whose interests does it actually operate in now? We know big money. Yeah, big money. But is it really in our individual interest as citizens of these countries and as customers of these massive corporations that seek to influence so much now and trespass onto the realm of politics and social engineering? By what right? You know, what happened to democracy? Aren't we meant to be deciding what's going on in our country, what our values are? It seems not. Democracy seems less important, I mean you look at Andrew Bridgen lecturing to an almost empty House of Commons on excess deaths and you think what on earth is going on there, what is this? I don't get it and I don't get why there is not free discussion on many other subjects in parliament now and it disturbs me. We developed this system, it's a pretty good system with faults as Churchill said, the problem with it is more the case that all the other systems are worse. And I think that's probably true. I mean, I'm a believer in democracy, but our democracy is in a pretty bad way. And it's not just our democracy, all over the Western world. We seem to have rolled over. And I do wonder to what extent the Russians, the Chinese and others have deliberately undermined us, captured our institutions, maybe captured our media. You know, these are things that one isn't allowed to say normally, but I'm saying them now. I mean, to what extent have we been captured and who by? If you saw the Yuri Bezmenov film from the 70s and 80s, have you seen that? Oh, you must, Yuri Bezmenov, about subversion and the long-term KGB operations to subvert the West. Very interesting, and it all seems to have come true. Yuri Bezmenov, you'll find it on YouTube. Yeah. What has happened to us? Our society is almost unrecognizable. Go back 20 years. I mean, think of the restrictions on driving in London, on smoking, let alone lockdown and vaccines, and thou shalt do this, and you must do that, and if you don't, we'll fine you, and you've got no power at all, and we've got complete control over your life, and it's a 200-pound fine for this and for whatever. We are so controlled and put down now. And again, I have an interesting theory and I don't get the chance to talk about it much, but I wonder if when you see a lot of crime and you see a lot of crime, particularly amongst young people, and you see a lot of strange, violent crime, I wonder if that is a consequence of too much central control. I wonder if that's a psychological and sociological consequence of a society which is becoming too controlled. And that's a subject I never hear discussed, but it's a very interesting one because I think a lot of us are concerned about crime, street crime, you know, mad people on the roads, which you see, I noticed personally, a lot more crazy driving than I was aware of maybe five or 10 years ago. But we don't discuss this stuff. We don't discuss the fact that the average person isn't really very happy now, that the average kid, this does get discussed a bit, is very anxious, maybe having treatment for this or that sort of psychological problem, that what used to be the normal tribulations of life now become things that you need to seek out treatment for. Well, maybe what you really need to do is seek out treatment for your society because your society is creating people that just aren't happy. And we should explore that. But again, that's another big subject. Well, I've been intrigued talking to friends growing up behind the Iron Curtain and talking about the Stasi or the state police reporting on people, turning everyone into informers, and then having Xi Van Fleet on the other day. And she was talking about the Red Guards, who were Mao's army, in effect, in communist China. And you realize that control whenever individuals are called out by the media because they go against the narrative. We've seen that under the COVID tyranny or seen that when Andrew Bridgen spoke the last time, the leader of the House, Penny Mordaunt, warned him to be very careful of the dangerous language he is using on social media. She meant that he is saying something which is different than government, and that's not accepted. And in effect, it's the same, I guess, control as you saw under communism that we are now seeing here, where people are called out for having a different opinion and being threatened that if they continue, there will be consequences. Would you have seen that sort of control 50 years ago or before the Second World War? I mean, you know, I'm no communist, but there used to be communist members of parliament. There used to be an extremely wide range of opinion represented in parliament. Now it seems we're entering the age of the monoculture and the mono-party, and alternative opinions just aren't acceptable anymore. There is one canonized text, and you've got to repeat that mantra, and if not, you're a non-person. I mean, where did that come from? That isn't our tradition. But is that the push of the woke agenda, is it the decline of Christianity, is it weak leadership, I mean you kind of look and I want to understand where this is coming from, because if you understand where it's coming from then you can begin to tackle it. But it does seem to be many different facets of it from different angles. I think, was it GK Chesterton 'once we stop believing in anything, we'll start believing in everything' I think that is part of it, I think people don't believe in very much so they just believe in their own selfish bubble and materialism and I think this actually goes back to Oxford, I think there is actually some school of philosophy that encouraged this idea that as the old authorities declined, whether that was the the monarchy or whatever it might be, a faith in authority that you would have to find a new way of controlling the public and that the simplest way to do that was by their material self-interest and this is what Thatcher and Reagan essentially appeared to do, well actually looking back at Reagan now I actually think he said some very sensible stuff, but it appears that we were manipulated by our material desires. That replaced the old world. But it's meant that we're living in a rather scary, chaotic, morally upside down and confused world now. And it's certainly not the world that you and I remember. And it must be very scary for kids. I mean, I was speaking to a young person the other day, and I was really surprised because they told me that they didn't watch the news and they were a bright kid. And they said, well, why? They said, well, I don't want to. I don't want to have anything to do with it. And I don't want to have anything to do with history either. And I thought to myself, my God, if you have a young person who was soon to be a voting age, who's not watching any news, who doesn't want to have anything to do with history, how are they going to be able to make the right decisions for our future? And what sort of world are they living in? You know, where's their thought space now? Yeah, I thought that was very worrying. But that's, I mean, to finish on that, that's really just part of the information war because now young people get, I don't know how to define young people, but they get their information, their worldview from TikTok. So you've got the Chinese government actually pushing that and forcing that. And it is concerning whenever, from a 60 second video someone can decide what the world is and how they fit into it and that's the depth of knowledge they're going to find and I think that shallowness is where we are with the next generation coming. Yeah I mean I've got to hope that there's some young people that aren't as shallow as that and I certainly do talk to to some who aren't, I mean I've got kids of my own, four kids, and generally speaking, they're pretty switched on. We don't have the same views, generally speaking, but they're pretty switched on. But it is scary that there's a whole generation of young people that, I mean, you see them, you wander down the street, you see every kid has got, there they are, they've got the mobile phone and they're like zombies looking at the mobile phone. And it's not just kids for that matter. It's, you see middle-aged people doing the same thing. You see them sitting at tables in a restaurant and they're still tapping at the screen. Whoever controls this controls you, controls your mind, controls what you think are your opinions, because many of your opinions are not really your opinions. They're things that have been implanted in you by these massively influential modern means. Now, television always did that to a degree. The newspapers always did it to a degree. But this seems to be a more direct route into people's heads, particularly young people's heads. And that is genuinely disturbing. Now, if you look to Europe, you mentioned Europe earlier. If you look at Europe, it seems to be swaying to the right. My guess is that, Britain will probably sway to the left until maybe there's a failure of the Starmer dream after probably, they might run for two terms. And then our future is very uncertain and again, rather scary. But what I don't see is enough discussion, enough activity. I don't see a dynamic middle. Hopefully, I mean, very intriguing, isn't it? Who is Starmer? What does he represent? Is he a Blairite? So is that some sort of globalist, centrist, capitalized position? I don't know. I tend to think it is. I tend to think that's where it's coming from. It's not the traditional left. But of course, Starmer has some history of being on the left, not to a great extreme. But it is worrying that the left could still creep into power via Starmer's government. It's also a bit frightening, and am I saying this, that what happens if Starmer's government fails? I mean, as it probably will. The economics are against it. Britain is not looking in a good place at all. But what I think we need, the one thing that will save us is open discussion, proper, unfettered, open discussion about politics, about health, about philosophy, about everything else. And I try in my life in a small way to start those conversations with people. And I do it across politics. I do it across religion. I talk to almost everyone I meet, if I can, and I think I get away with it, and start bringing up some of these difficult subjects. Mike, I really do appreciate coming on. As I said at the beginning, I've really enjoyed your Twitter handle. And I know we've touched on many things on censorship, military and politics. And I'm sure we will have you back on again soon. So thank you so much for your time today. Well, I've really enjoyed the opportunity. And I'll just say this in conclusion. I've actually managed this. I've had the tinnitus and this terrible migraine all through the interview, but we got through it, which is great. I do say to people out there, do take seriously the people who tell you they've been vaccine injured because it's a big deal if you have. God bless you Peter.

Keir Starmer has rolled up his sleeves, taken off his tie and headed to Essex to unveil his six first steps for government. Is Starmer looking for Blairite comparisons? Is there the same enthusiasm for change as there was in 1997? And what are the hard questions Labour still needs to answer, but won't?Later we speak with Lewis in Tblisi ahead of another critical day of protests by those fighting the Russification of democracy in Georgia. And the big reveal today comes from Jon. Right at the end. Don't miss it!Editor: Tom HughesProducer: Laura FitzPatrickField Producer: Gabriel RadusSocial Media Editor: Georgia FoxwellVideo Production: Shane Fennelly, Rory Symon & Arvind BadewalYou can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agentsJon's brand-new book, Strangeland: How Britain Stopped Making Sense, will be available on 26th September 2024. To pre-order a copy or buy a ticket to Jon's tour, please click this link: lnk.to/StrangelandsBook.Unlock priority booking for Jon's tour with the presale code NEWSPRIORITY. General sale booking opens at midday on 17th May.

This is a ray of sunshine for the ears. Siobhain isn't just positive, she is inspiringly pragmatic. A Labour MP since 1 May 1997 and a passionate Blairite, she stayed in the party during its darkest period and is now hopeful of a Labour victory at the next election. This is about more than politics. It's about life and what it's about. Siobhain's sister, Margaret, was the General Secretary of the party during its most successful period and is revered across politics. She sadly passed away last year. As well as raising awareness about brain cancer, Siobhain is also raising money for the UCLH Charity. You can donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/margaretmcdonagh1 Follow @mattforde on Twitter for the latest news Email the show: politicalpartypodcast@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sir Keir Starmer is on the pre-campaign trail this week, promoting his five missions that Labour are pledging to achieve if they win the upcoming election. It comes after the most detailed polling yet predicted a landslide majority to rival Tony Blair's 1997 win. So what would Starmer actually do in government? And what lessons is he taking from the Blairite playbook? This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. Guest: Philip Collins, Columnist, The Times. Host: Manveen Rana. Clips: BBC Newsnight, Times Radio, ITV News, Sky News, The Rest is Politics, Labour, The Guardian, The Times, Novara Media, BBC News. Get in touch: storiesofourtimes@thetimes.co.uk Find out more about our bonus series for Times subscribers: 'Inside the newsroom' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A bonus New Year episode for all in the Rock N Roll Politics Co-operative: With Keir Starmer following a Blairite pre-election strategy, Steve Richards thinks Rishi Sunak has only one route to reduce Labour's lead. But will he fail to take it?  Support Rock & Roll Politics on Patreon and get exclusive benefits including bonus episodes and exclusive merchandise only available to subscribers: https://www.patreon.com/RockNRollPolitics Buy Steve's book Turning Points: Crisis and Change in Modern Britain, from 1945 to Truss 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. Tickets for the next Rock n Roll Politics Live: Kings Place on  26th March 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jack, Geraint and Yair run down the latest ultra-Blairite changes to Sir Keir Starmer's top team, read Simon Hattenstone's excellent Guardian profile of shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/10/if-you-want-cartwheels-im-not-your-person-rachel-reeves-on-charisma-u-turns-and-rescuing-the-economy), and discuss Ed Balls and Robert Peston's "surprisingly punk" new rock band Centrist Dad. For bonus material (out tomorrow) for this and all other new episodes, subscribe for a very modest fee at patreon.com/reelpolitik

We certainly cover a lot of ground in this week's episode.Kicking off ( pun definitely intended) with the retreat by Richard Turfitt on the draconian proposed restrictions on travelling Scottish football fans. The consultation document resulted in almost unanimous consensus in opposition right across the political spectrum.The decision by the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain that it would “not be in the public interest to prosecute drug users” possessing drugs within a consumption room were one to be created." has also sparked surprising agreement among political parties with even the Scottish Tories supporting the ruling and the establishment of a pilot scheme in Glasgow. However Suella Braverman and the UK government seem set against the idea. Will this lead to a Scottish Tory rebellion?The Conservatives staved off a backbench revolt,led by Alok Sharma, on maintaining the ban on on-shore wind farm developments. However the latest auction of offshore licences proved a predictable disaster.One of several facing an increasingly chaotic UK government sailing in the face of expert and public opinion.This followed on from the report by the Commons International Development Committee on the unintended consequences of the Illegal Migration Act,which we explore.There has also been vehement and complete opposition to the Northern Ireland Troubles Legacy and Reconciliation Act from all Northern Ireland's political parties, the Irish government, victims' families and civic groups. Is the act a cover up for the so called "Dirty War"?Meanwhile there's trouble at t'mill or at least the TUC Congress 2023 with Unite leading the campaign for Labour not to roll back on workers rights and public ownership. The level of trust in an incoming Labour government might be judged by the motion passed calling for employment law to be devolved to Scotland.However, it does appear from all that's coming out of Labour HQ that all this has fallen on Blairite deaf ears.If you're interested in the "Break Up of Britain" conference memtioned by Lesley you can find out more and book tickets herehttps://thebreakupofbritain.net/https://www.tickettailor.com/events/thebreakupofbritain/936799All this plus reports back on Lesley's Thrive tour, house sitting adventures, and Pat's technical demands. ★ Support this podcast ★

In this episode, Tom McTague chats to Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Pat McFadden—the man tasked with making Starmer's sums add up—on the lessons of Labour's history, from Kinnock to Blair to Starmer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following a misguided attempt to crack the American market, Jack and Geraint desperately try and cling onto their remaining UK fans with a tight hour of Blairite-bashing and Starmer-slagging.

A Jam Tomorrow special: Identity cards. What happens when principles come up against panic? When a high minded determination not to collect private info runs up against a society which depends on data? Ros Taylor charts the history of “show us your papers” from wartime security concerns to football hooliganism, benefit fraud crackdowns, Blairite control freakery and our modern obsession with asylum seekers. Speaking to experts including New Labour ID card advocate Liam Byrne she finds that this is one post war nightmare that could return. Is State ID coming whether we like it or not? We've got more Jam Tomorrow specials coming over the summer. Follow us so you don't miss any. • “Every decade or so there's been a problem where somebody says the ID card is the solution.” – Jon Agar • “If you are from a marginalised group you know we already live in a papers, please society.” – Rob Ford • “Yes, people are happy to unlock their device is using biometric data. That's not the same as the government storing everybody's name or face on the database.” – Edgar Whitley Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Jade Bailey. Voiceovers by Imogen Robertson. Original music by Dubstar. Lead producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Jam Tomorrow is a Podmasters production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is taxation a form of theft or is it a price we pay for a civilised society? Listen into this episode where Rob interviews Dominic Frisby all about the history of taxation, his thoughts on how we tax now and what he thinks would be better solutions for society. KEY TAKEAWAYS The evidence is that tax is as old as civilisation itself. There has been examples of voluntary taxation, such as Ancient Greece. But in the modern world it is forced. Privatisation of state services isn't a solution as it is usually a monopoly so prices are high and value is low for consumers. The first thing people spend money on after essentials is on self-improvement, on education. The free market provided the means for people to learn. If you look at any event in history you will find a tax story behind it, including the right for women to vote; it meant they would then pay taxes. Dominic believes that the lockdowns and restriction over covid were too much and caused more damage than they prevented. It's ruined lives and businesses. However, it has also accelerated some more positive aspects of life, including remote working. Dominic said that the world economic forum is awful. He doesn't agree with the viewpoints that this group project. Dominic believes we should replace as many taxes as possible and just have one flat, single tax based around land and transparency.  BEST MOMENTS “It was intended for the rich but it impacted the poor the most” “Fix money, fix the world” “You're seeing a new rise of a workforce that's harder to tax” “I don't believe in that Blairite world view” VALUABLE RESOURCES For access to Rob's FREE toolkit including video training and resources, head to bit.ly/robtoolkit http://rob.team bit.ly/Robsupporter https://robmoore.com/podbooks ABOUT THE HOST Rob Moore is an author of 9 business books, 5 UK bestsellers, holds 3 world records for public speaking, entrepreneur, property investor, and property educator. Author of the global bestseller “Life Leverage” Host of UK's No.1 business podcast “The Disruptive Entrepreneur” “If you don't risk anything, you risk everything”   CONTACT METHOD Rob's official website: https://robmoore.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robmooreprogressive/?ref=br_rs LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/robmoore1979  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Past Imperfect is a podcast from The Times hosted by Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thomson. Hear stories from outstanding people about how moments in their early lives informed their identities, their careers and their drive to succeed.Wes Streeting is a Labour politician who is already being tipped as a potential future leader of his party. He is a former president of the National Union of Students, who worked for the Blairite campaign group Progress before winning his Ilford North parliamentary seat from the Conservatives in 2015. He then served as shadow Secretary of State for child poverty before becoming shadow health secretary.Wes Streeting is a centrist who supporters say could win back the party's traditional working-class voters without alienating middle England. He is a gay Christian Cambridge graduate who is also tough on crime and patriotic.But this rising star of the Labour Party hasn't had an easy time climbing the ladder. Rachel and Alice sit down with Wes to talk about his childhood experiences growing up in poverty on a council estate in East London and how grandparents, who spent time in prison, impacted his life. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Wes Streeting is a Labour politician who is already being tipped as a potential future leader of his party. He is a former president of the National Union of Students, who worked for the Blairite campaign group Progress before winning his Ilford North parliamentary seat from the Conservatives in 2015. He then served as shadow Secretary of State for child poverty before becoming shadow health secretary.Wes Streeting is a centrist who supporters say could win back the party's traditional working-class voters without alienating middle England. He is a gay Christian Cambridge graduate who is also tough on crime and patriotic.But this rising star of the Labour Party hasn't had an easy time climbing the ladder. Rachel and Alice sit down with Wes to talk about his childhood experiences growing up in poverty on a council estate in East London and how grandparents, who spent time in prison, impacted his life. CPAG: www.cpag.org.ukUK Community Foundations: www.ukcommunityfoundations.orgStonewall: www.stonewall.org.uk This podcast has been produced in association with Speakers for Schools: www.speakersforschools.org Producers: Anya Pearce and Lucy Dichmont Series producer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Subscribe to our new YouTube channel and check out the full video! Must we condemn Putin before commenting on the situation in Ukraine? Where does Žižek's NATO op ed go wrong? Where did the 'DumDum Left' come from? What is Žižek thinking? PLUS Boris Johnson, Blairite feminist. Subscribe for loads of exclusive episodes: www.Patreon.com/ThePopularPod. Please also consider donating at: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/thepopularshow https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thepopularshow cash.app/£ThePopularShow

Is taxation a form of theft or is it a price we pay for a civilised society? Listen into this episode where Rob interviews Dominic Frisby all about the history of taxation, his thoughts on how we tax now and what he thinks would be better solutions for society. KEY TAKEAWAYS The evidence is that tax is as old as civilisation itself. There has been examples of voluntary taxation, such as Ancient Greece. But in the modern world it is forced. Privatisation of state services isn't a solution as it is usually a monopoly so prices are high and value is low for consumers. The first thing people spend money on after essentials is on self-improvement, on education. The free market provided the means for people to learn. If you look at any event in history you will find a tax story behind it, including the right for women to vote; it meant they would then pay taxes. Dominic believes that the lockdowns and restriction over covid were too much and caused more damage than they prevented. It's ruined lives and businesses. However, it has also accelerated some more positive aspects of life, including remote working. Dominic said that the world economic forum is awful. He doesn't agree with the viewpoints that this group project. Dominic believes we should replace as many taxes as possible and just have one flat, single tax based around land and transparency.    BEST MOMENTS “It was intended for the rich but it impacted the poor the most” “Fix money, fix the world” “You're seeing a new rise of a workforce that's harder to tax” “I don't believe in that Blairite world view” VALUABLE RESOURCES https://robmoore.com/   bit.ly/Robsupporter     https://robmoore.com/podbooks   ABOUT THE HOST Rob Moore is an author of 9 business books, 5 UK bestsellers, holds 3 world records for public speaking, entrepreneur, property investor, and property educator. Author of the global bestseller “Life Leverage” Host of UK's No.1 business podcast “The Disruptive Entrepreneur”   “If you don't risk anything, you risk everything”     CONTACT METHOD Rob's official website: https://robmoore.com/     Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robmooreprogressive/?ref=br_rs     LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/robmoore1979     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jack and Geraint present your semi-regular RP politics roundup ON: Sir Keir Starmer's ultra-Blairite new shadow cabinet and appointment of David Blunkett to an advisory role, newly surfaced evidence of Jeffrey Epstein hanging out at the Queen's private Balmoral pad, the typically vapid annual British Journalism Awards, and - on a less political note for this politics roundup - the death of great reggae bassist Robbie Shakespeare, which inspires us to look back on Tory singer-songwriter Gary Barlow's most Tory album ever. PLUS we read some of Bob Dylan's Gapesiest lyrics.

Jack and Geraint are joined by guru of Reel Politik Thought Tom Blackburn (@malaiseforever on Twitter), a writer and editor for New Socialist and contributor to Tribune and the Guardian. Tom breaks down the labyrinthine political developments that took place over the week or so surrounding Labour's annual conference, in which Kieth Starmer delivered an endless speech written by the *politically* bald Phil Collins and rigged the party rules to shut the left out of the leadership indefinitely. Tom is an informed and erudite voice on any number of political matters, and especially the (arduous) struggle for socialism within the Labour Party, so those who want a clear-eyed take on Starmer's right-wing ideological project should check this episode out: along the way we read ridiculous pieces by Robert Peston, by Tanya Gold for the-other-cow-site (alongside mikegapes.co.uk) Unherd, and some stuff from the now-buried leaked Labour report into how the party's right purposefully threw elections while Corbyn was leader.

Out early for Patreon people…When a government fails to deliver the basics – like getting petrol to the pumps – can it ever win back the confidence it has lost? Is Keir Starmer pulling off the relaunch he needed at the Labour conference? We ask special guest Stephanie Lloyd, former deputy director of Blairite think tank Progress, if the Party's centrists have enough to offer beyond “Not Corbyn Any More.” And can James Bond still be a fantasy of omnicompetent Britishness in an age when Britain is falling apart?“The Army and the public quite like it when crises like this happen. The military enjoy being the people who clean up the mess.” – Arthur Snell“We are eighteen months into the pandemic, and five years into Brexit. Where was the planning?” – Stephanie Lloyd“James Bond allows Britain to see itself as bigger than it really is.” – Arthur SnellPresented by Andrew Harrison with Yasmeen Serhan and Arthur Snell. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic . Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As conference season approaches, how can Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer sell himself to the nation, as well as to the Party itself? One man with a plan is Lord Peter Mandelson, Blairite grandee and one of the architects of New Labour. He tells Christopher Hope whether he thinks Starmer needs a "Kinnock moment", why he thinks the Party needs to lead a "complete rewiring", and in the political bombshell of the century, reveals whether he really mistook mushy peas for guacamole. Also on the podcast, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle looks ahead to this weekend's G7 Speakers' Summit in his hometown of Chorley and gives Chris an ultimatum about the Speaker's wig. And the Telegraph's own Lucy Fisher gives us a rundown of the movers and shakers of this week's Cabinet reshuffle.Read more from Christopher Hope: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/c/cf-cj/christopher-hope/ |Read more from Lucy Fisher: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/l/lu-lz/lucy-fisher/ |Sign up for the Chopper's Politics newsletter: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/newsletters |For 30 days' free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/chopper |Listen to Planet Normal: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/planetnormal |Email: chopperspolitics@telegraph.co.uk |See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Listeners may recall Peter Mandelson, the veteran UK Cabinet Secretary appointed EU Commissioner for Trade in the late 2000s upon helping orchestrate Labour's social-liberal pivot as one of Tony Blair's “spin doctors”. Mandelson's incarnation of the party's notorious “Third Way” didn't just owe to his Europhile credentials and support for Blairite programs. By racking up a string of landslide victories in the northeastern constituency of Hartlepool, his career showcased Labour's potential to press ahead with market-based and socially progressive reforms whilst retaining its historic foothold in working-class communities. Fast forward to May 6th this year, and the party's gradual loss of its core electorate in the intervening decade was nowhere in better display than in the by-election that saw the Tories flip the Hartlepool seat with a voting share 23 points larger. The political realignment underway in British politics is often chalked up to Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn's radical neo-socialism. Yet its contours are in fact proving deeper and more lasting, as voters get to weigh Boris Johnson's promises to level up the North-South divide against Keir Starmer's declared reversion to centrist politics. Beyond local variations, the trajectory for the working-class vote is one of unprecedented disaffection with Labour. This week's episode gauges the causes, extent and nuances of this trend with Paul Embery and Nick Timothy. As always, rate and review Uncommon Decency on Apple Podcasts, and send us your comments or questions at @UnDecencyPod or uncommondecencypod@gmail.com.

Jack recently joined friend-of-the-show Sinan Kose on his Twitch stream to review arch-Blairite political commentator and ancient supernatural entity John Rentoul's new book, which seeks to positively reappraise the New Labour government (well, not so much the three years Gordon Brown was in charge) in the passionate manner Rentoul has utilised throughout his storied, centuries-spanning career. Jack had not actually read the book, so had a big stack of other books about Blair and his govts behind him just to make him look cleverer, which will no doubt be somewhat lost on listeners. Check out Sinan's Twitch stream over @ https://www.twitch.tv/skthecrusader

Support Pushback at Patreon: www.patreon.com/aaronmate Former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been suspended by his successor, neoliberal Blairite Keir Starmer, even as a new report confirms that claims of a Labour "anti-Semitism crisis" under Corbyn's watch were without merit. Former UK Labour MP Chris Williamson, a Corbyn ally who has denounced the anti-Semitism allegations as a smear campaign, discusses the report and the Blairite wing's ongoing war on the Corbyn movement. Guest: Chris Williamson, former UK Member of Parliament for the Labour Party.

In this segment of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Asa Winstanley, investigative journalist and Associate editor with The Electronic Intifada, to discuss the suspension of progressive UK leader Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party, how claims of antisemitism in the Labour Party were seemingly exaggerated for political purposes, and why it now seems the campaign to silence vocally pro-Palestinian Members of Parliament is only beginning.

Jeremy Corbyn suspended by Labour leadership in latest outrage during Blairite anti-Semitism witch-hunt / As US smashes records for new coronavirus infections, Ford and Fiat Chrysler report blowout profits / FBI raids neo-Nazi camp in Michigan as national connections of Whitmer plotters emerge

In our latest episode of Marxist Voice, Labour activist and Socialist Appeal writer Joe Attard joins us to discuss Keir Starmer's dismissal of Rebecca Long-Bailey, and what this means for the fight inside the Labour Party. Last week, Starmer crossed the Rubicon by sacking Long-Bailey from the Shadow Cabinet, based on spurious charges of anti-semitism. This is a declaration of war on the left. Join us to discuss the ongoing battle inside the Labour Party, and how activists should get organised to fight back against this Blairite aggression. Get involved in the fight for socialism: Join - socialist.net/join Donate - socialist.net/donate Subscribe - socialist.net/subscribe Follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and our podcast, Marxist Voice: Facebook - facebook.com/SocialistAppeal YouTube - youtube.com/c/SocialistNet1917 Twitter - twitter.com/socialist_app Podcast - wavve.link/marxistvoice

Government intervention on an unprecedented scale has propped up the British economy - and society at large - during the pandemic. But what should be the state's role from now on? Can Conservatives successfully embrace an enduring central role for government in the economy given their small-state, Thatcherite heritage championing the role of the individual, lower spending and lower taxes? And can Labour, instinctively keener on a more active state, discipline its impulses towards more generous government so that they don't end up thwarting its ambitions for greater equality and fairness? Four eminent political thinkers join Edward Stourton to debate the lessons of political pivot points in Britain's postwar history and how these should guide us in deciding what the borders of the state should be in the post-pandemic world - and who's going to pay. Those taking part: Andrew Harrop of the Fabian Society, who draws inspiration from Labour's 1945 landslide victory to advocate a highly active and determined state to promote opportunity, fairness and equality; former Conservative minister David Willetts of the Resolution Foundation, who sees the lessons of the Conservative revolution in 1979 as relevant as ever about the limits of the state but also argues core Conservative beliefs are consistent with bigger government; former Blairite thinker, Geoff Mulgan, who, drawing on the lessons of 1997, resists notions of a catch-all politics in the face of the multi-faceted demands on today's state; and Dean Godson of Policy Exchange, influential with the Conservative modernisers of the Cameron era, who insists a Thatcherite view of the state shouldn't rigidly define how the centre-right responds to our new circumstances. Producer Simon Coates Editor Jasper Corbett

Gapes is called to a mob sitdown with the four bosses of London's criminal underworld, each of whom happens to be a Blairite celebrity of varying stature; namely Eddie Marsan, Frances Barber, Tony Robinson and JK Rowling. But does Michael have a cunning plan in store? With Mr Richard Miller in disguise as crack mob mediator "Sexy" Stephen Stephens, Gapes listens solemnly to the gangster geezers complain about their vampire problem, and quietly hatches his own ruse to take their territory.

In this episode Zac and Franck talk: Blairite wreckers, organising legal sector workplaces and how to sue your god damn landlord.

In our latest episode of Marxist Voice, we're joined again by Rob Sewell - editor of Socialist Appeal - to discuss the explosive revelations surrounding Blairite sabotage against the Corbyn movement. The recently released report documenting the right wing's shenanigans proves what grassroots activists have long known: that the Blairites and bureaucrats actively campaigned for years against the election of a socialist Labour government. We must organise and mobilise to sweep this damaging detritus into the dustbin of history. Support us in the struggle for socialism: Join - socialist.net/join Donate - socialist.net/donate Subscribe - socialist.net/subscribe Follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Soundcloud: Facebook - facebook.com/SocialistAppeal YouTube - youtube.com/c/SocialistNet1917 Twitter - twitter.com/socialist_app Podcast - soundcloud.com/socialist-appeal

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Subin Dennis, an economist and a researcher at Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, to talk about how decades of de-funding and privatization have left the public sector in many countries wholly unprepared for the coronavirus crisis, how the ruling class' fixation on forcing workers back to work—before the threat of the virus has abated—reveals the deep irrationality of our economic system, and why the leftist government in Kerala is so much better-prepared for the crisis than the portion of India more directly governed by far-right President Narendra Modi. In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Asa Winstanley, investigative journalist and Associate editor with The Electronic Intifada, to talk about the leaked "Labour report on anti-semitism" which revealed a pro-establishment faction of the Labour party not only engaged in racist, misogynist behavior but sabotaged their own party's campaign to tank the electoral prospects of former party leader Jeremy Corbyn, how moves by new Labour leader Keir Stamer reveal a renewal of ties between Blairite centrists and the Israeli lobby, and why accusations that Winstanley's pro-Palestinian reporting constituted 'anti-semitism' suggest the Zionist movement deploys the term cynically and selectively against its perceived enemies.In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by technologist Chris Garaffa to talk about the news that Google and Apple are partnering to create an application which would allow for tracing the spread of the virus by tracking the movements of its carriers, why such a program would be hindered by the lack of widely-available testing in the US today, and what kind of consequences the program could have for our privacy. Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by James Early, Former Director of Cultural Heritage Policy at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution and board member of the Institute for Policy Studies, to talk about why Barack Obama's endorsement of Joe Biden marks the culmination of a coordinated campaign to consolidate power behind the aging Delaware Senator, why those on the left must engage with supporters of Bernie Sanders to establish a viable alternative movement to confront the two-party capitalist duopoly, why Joe Biden's successful Democratic nomination run isn't a victory for Black people, and why the Trump Administration's deadly sanctions against its Latin American and Middle Eastern neighbors constitute "crimes against humanity."

We have a guest! I managed to bodge together a WhatsApp interview with the brilliant Stephen Grant. After a brief catch-up with us guys, myself and Stephen discuss his filthy Blairite view on the crisis, and how he was in the unusual position of having to lay himself off. We also come to the conclusion that the entire England squad should each build a hospital. Follow Geoff on: TWITTER - https://twitter.com/geoffnorcott FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/Geoffnorcottcomedy/ INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/geoff_norcott/ YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffNorcott Sign up to Geoff's mailing list here: http://bit.ly/GeoffNorcott

I take a keep calm & carry on view on the old Billy Ray Coronavirus. We also look at how the Tory’s Blairite budget pissed on Labour’s parade. I also reflect on some of the odd things that go with the territory of having an International Women’s Day. All that plus I throw in a few of my original Dad gags for free! (plus the worst ever idea for a game show).   Follow Geoff on: TWITTER - https://twitter.com/geoffnorcott FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/Geoffnorcottcomedy/ INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/geoff_norcott/ YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffNorcott Sign up to Geoff's mailing list here: http://bit.ly/GeoffNorcott

Today, former Member of Parliament from Northern Derby, Chris Williamson joins us. As an active member of the Labour Party since 1975, we talk about Britain’s entry into the European Common Market, the 1975 referendum. We got through a history of the “dark ages” with Margaret Thatcher at the helm of the United Kingdom. We also talk about the transformation of Labour into a Blairite party in the 1990s and finally Chris talks about his plan to ensure a strong left in Britain and the world. I will keep you updated on the conference that Chris is organizing. Get full access to Historic.ly at historicly.substack.com/subscribe

In our second and final release from Jack's visit to Southampton Transformed, Reel Politik present an unedited recording of the panel he spoke on, New Left Culture, which asked "How can we change the ways we live and think to raise our consciousness and experience true collective joy?" The panel was chaired by Marika Rose (@MarikaRose on Twitter) and Rose Holyoak (@RoseHolyoak) of Southampton's Radical Reading Group (@radical_reading) and also featured writer and New Socialist culture co-editor Rhian Jones (@RhianEJones), 'Authentocrats' author and former Reel Politik guest Joe Kennedy (@joekennedy81) and Alex Niven, author of books such as 'Folk Opposition', the forthcoming 'New Model Island', and - apparently - a book on Oasis' seminal debut Definitely Maybe. To paraphrase the great Tim Heidecker, when you got panels like Rhian Jones, Joe Kennedy and Alex Niven in 'em, you can't lose! PS. If you make it to the Q&A you can hear Jack's VICIOUS TAKEDOWN of some besuited Blairite nerd in the audience.

It’s a bit of a smart episode (a dangerous idea). Riley (@raaleh), Milo (@Milo_Edwards), and Nate (@inthesedeserts) speak with economist and returning guest James Meadway (@meadwaj) about the logic of socialist government in Britain versus the logic of Blairite neoliberalism. Did you know there’s a Cornish fishing village trying to crowdfund getting a GP? Did you know that Phillip Hammond denies that people in Britain live in poverty? We discuss all of this and more. If you like this show, sign up to the Patreon and get a second free episode each week! You’ll also get access to our Discord server, where good opinions abound. https://www.patreon.com/trashfuture *LIVE SHOW ALERT* On June 15, we’ll perform at Wolfson College Bar (Wolfson College, Cambridge CB3 9BB) in Cambridge. The show starts at 8:30 pm, so be there and be ready to hear about Gundams. Tickets are £8 for students and £10 for general admission: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/trashfuture-podcast/trashfuture-live-in-cambridge-15062019/ *COMEDY KLAXON*: Come to Milo’s regular comedy night on June 13 at The Sekforde (34 Sekforde Street London EC1R 0HA), This show also starts at 8 pm and features Milo himself and Ben Pope, with previews of their Edinburgh shows. Tickets are £5—sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/edinburgh-previews-ben-pope-and-milo-edwards-tickets-63000380835 If you want to buy one of our recent special-edition phone-cops shirt, shoot us an email at trashfuturepodcast[at]gmail[dot]com and we can post it to you. (£20 for non-patrons, £15 for patrons) Do you want a mug to hold your soup? Perhaps you want one with the Trashfuture logo, which is available here: https://teespring.com/what-if-phone-cops#pid=659&cid=102968&sid=front

Democratic socialism is on the rise in the United States, but it’s been a dominant force for far longer in Europe. Ask Bernie Sanders to define his ideology and he doesn’t start naming political theorists; he points across the Atlantic. “Go to countries like Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden,” he says. The populist right is on the rise in the United States too, and that’s also been a powerful force for far longer in Europe. The mix of economic populism and resentful nationalism that Donald Trump ran on in 2016 and Tucker Carlson offers up nightly on Fox News might be unusual here, but it’s commonplace there. Understanding Europe’s politics, then, is of particular help right now for understanding our own. Sheri Berman is a political scientist at Barnard College, as well as the author of multiple books on European social democracy. We discussed what separates social democrats from progressives and neoliberals, how the populist right co-opted the European left, why social democrats lost ground in the ’90s to Blairite technocrats, whether multi-party political systems work better than our own, and why identity issues tend to unite the right and split the left. Berman is masterful in clearly synthesizing politics across countries and time periods, so there’s a lot to learn in this one. Book recommendations: Nation Building: Why Some Countries Come Together While Others Fall Apartby Andreas Wimmer The Meaning of Race: Race, History, and Culture in Western Societyby Kenan Malik Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognitionby Charles Taylor and Amy Gutmann Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tony Blair was arguably the most electorally successful Prime Minister in recent British history. And yet, if you ask British voters today what they think of the man behind New Labour the answer is not exactly an enthusiastic thumbs up. Just 22 per cent think Blair did a good job, while 49 per cent think he did a bad job.Nowhere is the repudiation of Blair clearer than at the top of the Labour Party. For those with their hands on the reins today, ‘Blairite’ is about the worst insult going. And it is impossible to understand the rise of Corbyn without appreciating Blair’s legacy.My guest this week is someone who takes a very different view of Blair. John Rentoul is the Independent’s chief political commentator who, unusually for a Westminster journalist, also teaches a course on Tony Blair with Jon Davis at King’s College, London.Davis and Rentoul have just published a book on the Blair government aptly titled Heroes or Villains? The Blair Government Reconsidered. They make generous use of fascinating first-hand testimony to paint a more flattering portrait of New Labour than many on both the left or the right would agree with.For this week’s episode of Free Exchange, I spoke to John Rentoul about things Blair: what were his biggest achievements? How much of the blame does he deserve for contemporary political problems? Why was his relationship with Gordon Brown quite so dysfunctional? And how, ultimately, will history judge him? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this video from the recent national conference of the Marxist Student Federation, Ian Hodson (president of the bakers' union) and Rob Sewell (editor of Socialist Appeal) discuss the turbulent political situation in Britain and the misery facing workers under capitalism. Ian Hodson highlights the devastating impact of Tory austerity on working class communities, and emphasises how Brexit has divided workers and acted as a distraction from the cuts. Ian also notes the enthusiasm that Corbyn and his left-wing policies have generated amongst workers and youth, in contrast to the disdain held towards the Blairite backstabbers. In his contribution, Rob Sewell explains the history of Clause IV, Labour's original commitment to socialism, and outlines the role that Marxists have historically played in the development of the labour movement. Above all, Rob stresses that the crisis in Britain today is a reflection of the world crisis of capitalism. This is why workers and students must unite and fight for a socialist Labour government.

On this week's bonus episode preview, we're joined by Jack Frayne-Reid (@frayne_jack)from the Reel Politik Podcastto discuss Our Meltiest MP's recent sad letter to the Guardian. We cover Labour's lack of broad-churchiness and there variety of ways in which the Blairite faction has become politically irrelevant (save for the pages of every stupid newspaper in Britain). If you want to hear the full epsiode, sign up on the Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/21916656 Don’t forget that you can commodify your dissent with a t-shirt from http://www.lilcomrade.com/ — support our comrade's business and get some extremely soft gear.

Matt Chorley is joined by Daniel Finkelstein, who argues only one person can lead a new Blairite party, and that's Tony Blair. Sam Coates, The Times deputy political editor, tackles the most contentious issue in politics: trans rights. And Anne Ashworth, The Times money editor, wonders why ministers care so little about how much we are saving for old age. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After another short break, the Reel Politik team are back with their definitive historical account of the Labour Party's 2016 leadership contest, an ill-fated challenge by a banter-loving sub-mediocre former Viagra salesman from the Blairite hack-SpAd-MP conveyor belt to genuinely significant and inspiring politician Jeremy Corbyn. Laura (@thisgeordielass) joins the gang for her first full episode as a co-host, and duly brings the house down with her no-holds-barred melting of the melts. We came here to fuck windmills and salt slugs, and we're all out of windmill. PS. The frogs are not what they seem.

There’s much to celebrate in the new Reel Politik: there’s Jeremy Corbyn’s triumphant Glastonbury appearance, and Paul Mason bringing hell to the nerds at the Progress Annual Conference, defibrillator paddles strapped to both ass cheeks – as well as that utterly malign Blairite organisation’s precarious financial situation. Tune in to hear Tom, Jack and Kieran answer questions including; who is the one unambiguously good Labour-Cooperative MP? Who is the single thickest journalist in the fiercely competitive field of the British media? And much, much more.

It's our Election Review – covering all of the options available as we go to the polls, and answering the questions that no-one was asking such as “How did the Mays fall in love?”, “Can a Blairite work for a Corbyn victory?”, and “Will the Greens ever get some airtime?” It's half-an-hour of laughs which the audience at London's Etcetera Theatre described as “really outstanding”, “didn't stop laughing”, and “exceptional writing”. Presented by Jack Blackburn With Sarah Anson, Tristan Rogers, Ben Mepsted & Joe Mills Written by Jack Blackburn With additional material by Tristan Rogers Studio engineering by Hugh Edwards Recorded at the Etcetera Theatre, Camden, London on Wednesday 7th June 2017

In this episode Amy, a Blairite backbench MP and former cabinet minister is deeply troubled by the impending election and the increasing likelihood of her losing her job. Let's take a trip to Harley Street and dip in to her therapy session from a few weeks ago to hear her working through her depression with London's foremost psychotherapist, Stuart Loveridge. Starring: Anna Morris & Dave Jackson

Lessons in a landslide: 20 years after New Labour A Red Box podcast series of interviews with all of the key players in the 1997 campaign, and their fears for the future of the party. Tony Blair reflects on his paranoia that he might blow it in 1997, his unsolvable conflict with Gordon Brown and his sadness at Blairite now being a dirty word in the party in led to three election victories. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Craig Murray, scourge of the Blairite establishment during his time at the Foreign Office, and critic of the SNP after the party's refusal to let him stand as an election candidate, is always an interesting listen. This weekend he visited the Newsnet studio to discuss current event in the US and elsewhere with our regular host Derek Bateman. And, in true form, the man who was Ambassador to Uzbekistan until he objected to that country's oppressive style of government, has a book to promote. He has written a fascinating account of Scots-born Sir Alexander Burnes, a distant relative of the great poet Rabbie Burns, and one of the British Empire's earliest and best-known spies. Burnes died in Kabul as he attempted to make peace during the first Afghan War in the 1830s in one of the most colourful episodes of the British Empire.

What is this strange thing called the Bilderberg Group? Is it something that we should we be concerned about? Or is it, as many people say, essentially just a "talking shop" for rich people? To put us in the picture, we welcome back to the programme Tony Gosling, investigative radio journalist and former BBC reporter. Tony, who came on TMR back in 2013 to discuss the "official" and "unofficial" histories of this infamous Group, now joins us to share his experience of covering the 64th Bilderberg Meeting, which was held recently in Dresden, Germany, between the 9th and 12th of June. We also discuss the political climate here in the UK following the EU Referendum, and the anti-Corbyn coup by the parliamentary Labour Party. (For show notes please visit http://themindrenewed.com)

What is this strange thing called the Bilderberg Group? Is it something that we should we be concerned about? Or is it, as many people say, essentially just a "talking shop" for rich people? To put us in the picture, we welcome back to the programme Tony Gosling, investigative radio journalist and former BBC reporter. Tony, who came on TMR back in 2013 to discuss the "official" and "unofficial" histories of this infamous Group, now joins us to share his experience of covering the 64th Bilderberg Meeting, which was held recently in Dresden, Germany, between the 9th and 12th of June. We also discuss the political climate here in the UK following the EU Referendum, and the anti-Corbyn coup by the parliamentary Labour Party. (For show notes please visit http://themindrenewed.com)

Maria Miller has resigned. After the public's patience ran out, David Cameron finally pulled the plug on his Culture Secretary – only to write a letter of condolence saying that he hopes some day she'll return to frontbench politics. The voters may feel different. We ask Charles Moore what the scandal tells us about Mr Cameron's quixotic leadership style, which Charles says suffers from a lack of Thatcher-style vision. John McTernan, a former Blairite enforcer, tells us how a crisis should be handled by Number 10. And Iain Martin ponders if the PM is out of touch. Also: it's our birthday! After one year of podcasts, we try to look back at some of the highlights of the last 12 months, but instead argue about Doctor Who, Pope Francis and Nigel Farage.