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Good Sunday morning to you,I am just on a train home from Glasgow, where I have been gigging these past two nights. I've had a great time, as I always seem to do when I go north of the wall.But Glasgow on a Saturday night is something else. My hotel was right next to the station and so I was right in the thick of it. If I ever get to make a cacatopian, end-of-days, post-apocalyptic thriller, I'll just stroll through Glasgow city centre on a Friday or Saturday night with a camera to get all the B roll. It was like walking through a Hieronymus Bosch painting only with a Scottish accent. Little seems to have changed since I wrote that infamous chapter about Glasgow in Life After the State all those years ago. The only difference is that now it's more multi-ethnic. So many people are so off their heads. I lost count of the number of randoms wandering about just howling at the stars. The long days - it was still light at 10 o'clock - make the insanity all the more visible. Part of me finds it funny, but another part of me finds it so very sad that so many people let themselves get into this condition. It prompted me to revisit said chapter, and I offer it today as your Sunday thought piece.Just a couple of little notes, before we begin. This caught my eye on Friday. Our favourite uranium tech company, Lightbridge Fuels (NASDAQ:LTBR), has taken off again with Donald Trump's statement that he is going to quadruple US nuclear capacity. The stock was up 45% in a day. We first looked at it in October at $3. It hit $15 on Friday. It's one to sell on the spikes and buy on the dips, as this incredible chart shows.(In other news I have now listened twice to the Comstock Lode AGM, and I'll report back on that shortly too). ICYMI here is my mid-week commentary, which attracted a lot of attentionRight - Glasgow.(NB I haven't included references here. Needless to say, they are all there in the book. And sorry I don't have access to the audio of me reading this from my laptop, but, if you like, you can get the audiobook at Audible, Apple Books and all good audiobookshops. The book itself available at Amazon, Apple Books et al).How the Most Entrepreneurial City in Europe Became Its SickestThe cause of waves of unemployment is not capitalism, but governments …Friedrich Hayek, economist and philosopherIn the 18th and 19th centuries, the city of Glasgow in Scotland became enormously, stupendously rich. It happened quite organically, without planning. An entrepreneurial people reacted to their circumstances and, over time, turned Glasgow into an industrial and economic centre of such might that, by the turn of the 20th century, Glasgow was producing half the tonnage of Britain's ships and a quarter of all locomotives in the world. (Not unlike China's industrial dominance today). It was regarded as the best-governed city in Europe and popular histories compared it to the great imperial cities of Venice and Rome. It became known as the ‘Second City of the British Empire'.Barely 100 years later, it is the heroin capital of the UK, the murder capital of the UK and its East End, once home to Europe's largest steelworks, has been dubbed ‘the benefits capital of the UK'. Glasgow is Britain's fattest city: its men have Britain's lowest life expectancy – on a par with Palestine and Albania – and its unemployment rate is 50% higher than the rest of the UK.How did Glasgow manage all that?The growth in Glasgow's economic fortunes began in the latter part of the 17th century and the early 18th century. First, the city's location in the west of Scotland at the mouth of the river Clyde meant that it lay in the path of the trade winds and at least 100 nautical miles closer to America's east coast than other British ports – 200 miles closer than London. In the days before fossil fuels (which only found widespread use in shipping in the second half of the 19th century) the journey to Virginia was some two weeks shorter than the same journey from London or many of the other ports in Britain and Europe. Even modern sailors describe how easy the port of Glasgow is to navigate. Second, when England was at war with France – as it was repeatedly between 1688 and 1815 – ships travelling to Glasgow were less vulnerable than those travelling to ports further south. Glasgow's merchants took advantage and, by the early 18th century, the city had begun to assert itself as a trading hub. Manufactured goods were carried from Britain and Europe to North America and the Caribbean, where they were traded for increasingly popular commodities such as tobacco, cotton and sugar.Through the 18th century, the Glasgow merchants' business networks spread, and they took steps to further accelerate trade. New ships were introduced, bigger than those of rival ports, with fore and aft sails that enabled them to sail closer to the wind and reduce journey times. Trading posts were built to ensure that cargo was gathered and stored for collection, so that ships wouldn't swing idly at anchor. By the 1760s Glasgow had a 50% share of the tobacco trade – as much as the rest of Britain's ports combined. While the English merchants simply sold American tobacco in Europe at a profit, the Glaswegians actually extended credit to American farmers against future production (a bit like a crop future today, where a crop to be grown at a later date is sold now). The Virginia farmers could then use this credit to buy European goods, which the Glaswegians were only too happy to supply. This brought about the rise of financial institutions such as the Glasgow Ship Bank and the Glasgow Thistle Bank, which would later become part of the now-bailed-out, taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).Their practices paid rewards. Glasgow's merchants earned a great deal of money. They built glamorous homes and large churches and, it seems, took on aristocratic airs – hence they became known as the ‘Tobacco Lords'. Numbering among them were Buchanan, Dunlop, Ingram, Wilson, Oswald, Cochrane and Glassford, all of whom had streets in the Merchant City district of Glasgow named after them (other streets, such as Virginia Street and Jamaica Street, refer to their trade destinations). In 1771, over 47 million pounds of tobacco were imported.However, the credit the Glaswegians extended to American tobacco farmers would backfire. The debts incurred by the tobacco farmers – which included future presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (who almost lost his farm as a result) – grew, and were among the grievances when the American War of Independence came in 1775. That war destroyed the tobacco trade for the Glaswegians. Much of the money that was owed to them was never repaid. Many of their plantations were lost. But the Glaswegians were entrepreneurial and they adapted. They moved on to other businesses, particularly cotton.By the 19th century, all sorts of local industry had emerged around the goods traded in the city. It was producing and exporting textiles, chemicals, engineered goods and steel. River engineering projects to dredge and deepen the Clyde (with a view to forming a deep- water port) had begun in 1768 and they would enable shipbuilding to become a major industry on the upper reaches of the river, pioneered by industrialists such as Robert Napier and John Elder. The final stretch of the Monkland Canal, linking the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port Dundas, was opened in 1795, facilitating access to the iron-ore and coal mines of Lanarkshire.The move to fossil-fuelled shipping in the latter 19th century destroyed the advantages that the trade winds had given Glasgow. But it didn't matter. Again, the people adapted. By the turn of the 20th century the Second City of the British Empire had become a world centre of industry and heavy engineering. It has been estimated that, between 1870 and 1914, it produced as much as one-fifth of the world's ships, and half of Britain's tonnage. Among the 25,000 ships it produced were some of the greatest ever built: the Cutty Sark, the Queen Mary, HMS Hood, the Lusitania, the Glenlee tall ship and even the iconic Mississippi paddle steamer, the Delta Queen. It had also become a centre for locomotive manufacture and, shortly after the turn of the 20th century, could boast the largest concentration of locomotive building works in Europe.It was not just Glasgow's industry and wealth that was so gargantuan. The city's contribution to mankind – made possible by the innovation and progress that comes with booming economies – would also have an international impact. Many great inventors either hailed from Glasgow or moved there to study or work. There's James Watt, for example, whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the Industrial Revolution. One of Watt's employees, William Murdoch, has been dubbed ‘the Scot who lit the world' – he invented gas lighting, a new kind of steam cannon and waterproof paint. Charles MacIntosh gave us the raincoat. James Young, the chemist dubbed as ‘the father of the oil industry', gave us paraffin. William Thomson, known as Lord Kelvin, developed the science of thermodynamics, formulating the Kelvin scale of absolute temperature; he also managed the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable.The turning point in the economic fortunes of Glasgow – indeed, of industrial Britain – was WWI. Both have been in decline ever since. By the end of the war, the British were drained, both emotionally and in terms of capital and manpower; the workers, the entrepreneurs, the ideas men, too many of them were dead or incapacitated. There was insufficient money and no appetite to invest. The post-war recession, and later the Great Depression, did little to help. The trend of the city was now one of inexorable economic decline.If Glasgow was the home of shipping and industry in 19th-century Britain, it became the home of socialism in the 20th century. Known by some as the ‘Red Clydeside' movement, the socialist tide in Scotland actually pre-dated the First World War. In 1906 came the city's first Labour Member of Parliament (MP), George Barnes – prior to that its seven MPs were all Conservatives or Liberal Unionists. In the spring of 1911, 11,000 workers at the Singer sewing-machine factory (run by an American corporation in Clydebank) went on strike to support 12 women who were protesting about new work practices. Singer sacked 400 workers, but the movement was growing – as was labour unrest. In the four years between 1910 and 1914 Clydebank workers spent four times as many days on strike than in the whole of the previous decade. The Scottish Trades Union Congress and its affiliations saw membership rise from 129,000 in 1909 to 230,000 in 1914.20The rise in discontent had much to do with Glasgow's housing. Conditions were bad, there was overcrowding, bad sanitation, housing was close to dirty, noxious and deafening industry. Unions grew quite organically to protect the interests of their members.Then came WWI, and inflation, as Britain all but abandoned gold. In 1915 many landlords responded by attempting to increase rent, but with their young men on the Western front, those left behind didn't have the means to pay these higher costs. If they couldn't, eviction soon followed. In Govan, an area of Glasgow where shipbuilding was the main occupation, women – now in the majority with so many men gone – organized opposition to the rent increases. There are photographs showing women blocking the entrance to tenements; officers who did get inside to evict tenants are said to have had their trousers pulled down.The landlords were attacked for being unpatriotic. Placards read: ‘While our men are fighting on the front line,the landlord is attacking us at home.' The strikes spread to other cities throughout the UK, and on 27 November 1915 the government introduced legislation to restrict rents to the pre-war level. The strikers were placated. They had won. The government was happy; it had dealt with the problem. The landlords lost out.In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, more frequent strikes crippled the city. In 1919 the ‘Bloody Friday' uprising prompted the prime minister, David Lloyd George, to deploy 10,000 troops and tanks onto the city's streets. By the 1930s Glasgow had become the main base of the Independent Labour Party, so when Labour finally came to power alone after WWII, its influence was strong. Glasgow has always remained a socialist stronghold. Labour dominates the city council, and the city has not had a Conservative MP for 30 years.By the late 1950s, Glasgow was losing out to the more competitive industries of Japan, Germany and elsewhere. There was a lack of investment. Union demands for workers, enforced by government legislation, made costs uneconomic and entrepreneurial activity arduous. With lack of investment came lack of innovation.Rapid de-industrialization followed, and by the 1960s and 70s most employment lay not in manufacturing, but in the service industries.Which brings us to today. On the plus side, Glasgow is still ranked as one of Europe's top 20 financial centres and is home to some leading Scottish businesses. But there is considerable downside.Recent studies have suggested that nearly 30% of Glasgow's working age population is unemployed. That's 50% higher than that of the rest of Scotland or the UK. Eighteen per cent of 16- to 19-year-olds are neither in school nor employed. More than one in five working-age Glaswegians have no sort of education that might qualify them for a job.In the city centre, the Merchant City, 50% of children are growing up in homes where nobody works. In the poorer neighbourhoods, such as Ruchill, Possilpark, or Dalmarnock, about 65% of children live in homes where nobody works – more than three times the national average. Figures from the Department of Work and Pensions show that 85% of working age adults from the district of Bridgeton claim some kind of welfare payment.Across the city, almost a third of the population regularly receives sickness or incapacity benefit, the highest rate of all UK cities. A 2008 World Health Organization report noted that in Glasgow's Calton, Bridgeton and Queenslie neighbourhoods, the average life expectancy for males is only 54. In contrast, residents of Glasgow's more affluent West End live to be 80 and virtually none of them are on the dole.Glasgow has the highest crime rate in Scotland. A recent report by the Centre for Social Justice noted that there are 170 teenage gangs in Glasgow. That's the same number as in London, which has over six times the population of Glasgow.It also has the dubious record of being Britain's murder capital. In fact, Glasgow had the highest homicide rate in Western Europe until it was overtaken in 2012 by Amsterdam, with more violent crime per head of population than even New York. What's more, its suicide rate is the highest in the UK.Then there are the drug and alcohol problems. The residents of the poorer neighbourhoods are an astounding six times more likely to die of a drugs overdose than the national average. Drug-related mortality has increased by 95% since 1997. There are 20,000 registered drug users – that's just registered – and the situation is not going to get any better: children who grow up in households where family members use drugs are seven times more likely to end up using drugs themselves than children who live in drug-free families.Glasgow has the highest incidence of liver diseases from alcohol abuse in all of Scotland. In the East End district of Dennistoun, these illnesses kill more people than heart attacks and lung cancer combined. Men and women are more likely to die of alcohol-related deaths in Glasgow than anywhere else in the UK. Time and time again Glasgow is proud winner of the title ‘Fattest City in Britain'. Around 40% of the population are obese – 5% morbidly so – and it also boasts the most smokers per capita.I have taken these statistics from an array of different sources. It might be in some cases that they're overstated. I know that I've accentuated both the 18th- and 19th-century positives, as well as the 20th- and 21st-century negatives to make my point. Of course, there are lots of healthy, happy people in Glasgow – I've done many gigs there and I loved it. Despite the stories you hear about intimidating Glasgow audiences, the ones I encountered were as good as any I've ever performed in front of. But none of this changes the broad-brush strokes: Glasgow was a once mighty city that now has grave social problems. It is a city that is not fulfilling its potential in the way that it once did. All in all, it's quite a transformation. How has it happened?Every few years a report comes out that highlights Glasgow's various problems. Comments are then sought from across the political spectrum. Usually, those asked to comment agree that the city has grave, ‘long-standing and deep-rooted social problems' (the words of Stephen Purcell, former leader of Glasgow City Council); they agree that something needs to be done, though they don't always agree on what that something is.There's the view from the right: Bill Aitken of the Scottish Conservatives, quoted in The Sunday Times in 2008, said, ‘We simply don't have the jobs for people who are not academically inclined. Another factor is that some people are simply disinclined to work. We have got to find something for these people to do, to give them a reason to get up in the morning and give them some self-respect.' There's the supposedly apolitical view of anti-poverty groups: Peter Kelly, director of the Glasgow-based Poverty Alliance, responded, ‘We need real, intensive support for people if we are going to tackle poverty. It's not about a lack of aspiration, often people who are unemployed or on low incomes are stymied by a lack of money and support from local and central government.' And there's the view from the left. In the same article, Patricia Ferguson, the Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Maryhill, also declared a belief in government regeneration of the area. ‘It's about better housing, more jobs, better education and these things take years to make an impact. I believe that the huge regeneration in the area is fostering a lot more community involvement and cohesion. My real hope is that these figures will take a knock in the next five or ten years.' At the time of writing in 2013, five years later, the figures have worsened.All three points of view agree on one thing: the government must do something.In 2008 the £435 million Fairer Scotland Fund – established to tackle poverty – was unveiled, aiming to allocate cash to the country's most deprived communities. Its targets included increasing average income among lower wage-earners and narrowing the poverty gap between Scotland's best- and worst-performing regions by 2017. So far, it hasn't met those targets.In 2008 a report entitled ‘Power for The Public' examined the provision of health, education and justice in Scotland. It said the budgets for these three areas had grown by 55%, 87% and 44% respectively over the last decade, but added that this had produced ‘mixed results'. ‘Mixed results' means it didn't work. More money was spent and the figures got worse.After the Centre for Social Justice report on Glasgow in 2008, Iain Duncan Smith (who set up this think tank, and is now the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) said, ‘Policy must deal with the pathways to breakdown – high levels of family breakdown, high levels of failed education, debt and unemployment.'So what are ‘pathways to breakdown'? If you were to look at a chart of Glasgow's prosperity relative to the rest of the world, its peak would have come somewhere around 1910. With the onset of WWI in 1914 its decline accelerated, and since then the falls have been relentless and inexorable. It's not just Glasgow that would have this chart pattern, but the whole of industrial Britain. What changed the trend? Yes, empires rise and fall, but was British decline all a consequence of WWI? Or was there something else?A seismic shift came with that war – a change which is very rarely spoken or written about. Actually, the change was gradual and it pre-dated 1914. It was a change that was sweeping through the West: that of government or state involvement in our lives. In the UK it began with the reforms of the Liberal government of 1906–14, championed by David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, known as the ‘terrible twins' by contemporaries. The Pensions Act of 1908, the People's Budget of 1909–10 (to ‘wage implacable warfare against poverty', declared Lloyd George) and the National Insurance Act of 1911 saw the Liberal government moving away from its tradition of laissez-faire systems – from classical liberalism and Gladstonian principles of self-help and self-reliance – towards larger, more active government by which taxes were collected from the wealthy and the proceeds redistributed. Afraid of losing votes to the emerging Labour party and the increasingly popular ideology of socialism, modern liberals betrayed their classical principles. In his War Memoirs, Lloyd George said ‘the partisan warfare that raged around these topics was so fierce that by 1913, this country was brought to the verge of civil war'. But these were small steps. The Pensions Act, for example, meant that men aged 70 and above could claim between two and five shillings per week from the government. But average male life- expectancy then was 47. Today it's 77. Using the same ratio, and, yes, I'm manipulating statistics here, that's akin to only awarding pensions to people above the age 117 today. Back then it was workable.To go back to my analogy of the prologue, this period was when the ‘train' was set in motion across the West. In 1914 it went up a gear. Here are the opening paragraphs of historian A. J. P. Taylor's most celebrated book, English History 1914–1945, published in 1965.I quote this long passage in full, because it is so telling.Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman. He could live where he liked and as he liked. He had no official number or identity card. He could travel abroad or leave his country forever without a passport or any sort of official permission. He could exchange his money for any other currency without restriction or limit. He could buy goods from any country in the world on the same terms as he bought goods at home. For that matter, a foreigner could spend his life in this country without permit and without informing the police. Unlike the countries of the European continent, the state did not require its citizens to perform military service. An Englishman could enlist, if he chose, in the regular army, the navy, or the territorials. He could also ignore, if he chose, the demands of national defence. Substantial householders were occasionally called on for jury service. Otherwise, only those helped the state, who wished to do so. The Englishman paid taxes on a modest scale: nearly £200 million in 1913–14, or rather less than 8% of the national income.The state intervened to prevent the citizen from eating adulterated food or contracting certain infectious diseases. It imposed safety rules in factories, and prevented women, and adult males in some industries,from working excessive hours.The state saw to it that children received education up to the age of 13. Since 1 January 1909, it provided a meagre pension for the needy over the age of 70. Since 1911, it helped to insure certain classes of workers against sickness and unemployment. This tendency towards more state action was increasing. Expenditure on the social services had roughly doubled since the Liberals took office in 1905. Still, broadly speaking, the state acted only to help those who could not help themselves. It left the adult citizen alone.All this was changed by the impact of the Great War. The mass of the people became, for the first time, active citizens. Their lives were shaped by orders from above; they were required to serve the state instead of pursuing exclusively their own affairs. Five million men entered the armed forces, many of them (though a minority) under compulsion. The Englishman's food was limited, and its quality changed, by government order. His freedom of movement was restricted; his conditions of work prescribed. Some industries were reduced or closed, others artificially fostered. The publication of news was fettered. Street lights were dimmed. The sacred freedom of drinking was tampered with: licensed hours were cut down, and the beer watered by order. The very time on the clocks was changed. From 1916 onwards, every Englishman got up an hour earlier in summer than he would otherwise have done, thanks to an act of parliament. The state established a hold over its citizens which, though relaxed in peacetime, was never to be removed and which the Second World war was again to increase. The history of the English state and of the English people merged for the first time.Since the beginning of WWI , the role that the state has played in our lives has not stopped growing. This has been especially so in the case of Glasgow. The state has spent more and more, provided more and more services, more subsidy, more education, more health care, more infrastructure, more accommodation, more benefits, more regulations, more laws, more protection. The more it has provided, the worse Glasgow has fared. Is this correlation a coincidence? I don't think so.The story of the rise and fall of Glasgow is a distilled version of the story of the rise and fall of industrial Britain – indeed the entire industrial West. In the next chapter I'm going to show you a simple mistake that goes on being made; a dynamic by which the state, whose very aim was to help Glasgow, has actually been its ‘pathway to breakdown' . . .Life After the State is available at Amazon, Apple Books and all good bookshops, with the audiobook at Audible, Apple Books and all good audiobookshops. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

Good Sunday morning to you,I am just on a train home from Glasgow, where I have been gigging these past two nights. I've had a great time, as I always seem to do when I go north of the wall.But Glasgow on a Saturday night is something else. My hotel was right next to the station and so I was right in the thick of it. If I ever get to make a cacatopian, end-of-days, post-apocalyptic thriller, I'll just stroll through Glasgow city centre on a Friday or Saturday night with a camera to get all the B roll. It was like walking through a Hieronymus Bosch painting only with a Scottish accent. Little seems to have changed since I wrote that infamous chapter about Glasgow in Life After the State all those years ago. The only difference is that now it's more multi-ethnic. So many people are so off their heads. I lost count of the number of randoms wandering about just howling at the stars. The long days - it was still light at 10 o'clock - make the insanity all the more visible. Part of me finds it funny, but another part of me finds it so very sad that so many people let themselves get into this condition. It prompted me to revisit said chapter, and I offer it today as your Sunday thought piece.Just a couple of little notes, before we begin. This caught my eye on Friday. Our favourite uranium tech company, Lightbridge Fuels (NASDAQ:LTBR), has taken off again with Donald Trump's statement that he is going to quadruple US nuclear capacity. The stock was up 45% in a day. We first looked at it in October at $3. It hit $15 on Friday. It's one to sell on the spikes and buy on the dips, as this incredible chart shows.(In other news I have now listened twice to the Comstock Lode AGM, and I'll report back on that shortly too). ICYMI here is my mid-week commentary, which attracted a lot of attentionRight - Glasgow.(NB I haven't included references here. Needless to say, they are all there in the book. And sorry I don't have access to the audio of me reading this from my laptop, but, if you like, you can get the audiobook at Audible, Apple Books and all good audiobookshops. The book itself available at Amazon, Apple Books et al).How the Most Entrepreneurial City in Europe Became Its SickestThe cause of waves of unemployment is not capitalism, but governments …Friedrich Hayek, economist and philosopherIn the 18th and 19th centuries, the city of Glasgow in Scotland became enormously, stupendously rich. It happened quite organically, without planning. An entrepreneurial people reacted to their circumstances and, over time, turned Glasgow into an industrial and economic centre of such might that, by the turn of the 20th century, Glasgow was producing half the tonnage of Britain's ships and a quarter of all locomotives in the world. (Not unlike China's industrial dominance today). It was regarded as the best-governed city in Europe and popular histories compared it to the great imperial cities of Venice and Rome. It became known as the ‘Second City of the British Empire'.Barely 100 years later, it is the heroin capital of the UK, the murder capital of the UK and its East End, once home to Europe's largest steelworks, has been dubbed ‘the benefits capital of the UK'. Glasgow is Britain's fattest city: its men have Britain's lowest life expectancy – on a par with Palestine and Albania – and its unemployment rate is 50% higher than the rest of the UK.How did Glasgow manage all that?The growth in Glasgow's economic fortunes began in the latter part of the 17th century and the early 18th century. First, the city's location in the west of Scotland at the mouth of the river Clyde meant that it lay in the path of the trade winds and at least 100 nautical miles closer to America's east coast than other British ports – 200 miles closer than London. In the days before fossil fuels (which only found widespread use in shipping in the second half of the 19th century) the journey to Virginia was some two weeks shorter than the same journey from London or many of the other ports in Britain and Europe. Even modern sailors describe how easy the port of Glasgow is to navigate. Second, when England was at war with France – as it was repeatedly between 1688 and 1815 – ships travelling to Glasgow were less vulnerable than those travelling to ports further south. Glasgow's merchants took advantage and, by the early 18th century, the city had begun to assert itself as a trading hub. Manufactured goods were carried from Britain and Europe to North America and the Caribbean, where they were traded for increasingly popular commodities such as tobacco, cotton and sugar.Through the 18th century, the Glasgow merchants' business networks spread, and they took steps to further accelerate trade. New ships were introduced, bigger than those of rival ports, with fore and aft sails that enabled them to sail closer to the wind and reduce journey times. Trading posts were built to ensure that cargo was gathered and stored for collection, so that ships wouldn't swing idly at anchor. By the 1760s Glasgow had a 50% share of the tobacco trade – as much as the rest of Britain's ports combined. While the English merchants simply sold American tobacco in Europe at a profit, the Glaswegians actually extended credit to American farmers against future production (a bit like a crop future today, where a crop to be grown at a later date is sold now). The Virginia farmers could then use this credit to buy European goods, which the Glaswegians were only too happy to supply. This brought about the rise of financial institutions such as the Glasgow Ship Bank and the Glasgow Thistle Bank, which would later become part of the now-bailed-out, taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).Their practices paid rewards. Glasgow's merchants earned a great deal of money. They built glamorous homes and large churches and, it seems, took on aristocratic airs – hence they became known as the ‘Tobacco Lords'. Numbering among them were Buchanan, Dunlop, Ingram, Wilson, Oswald, Cochrane and Glassford, all of whom had streets in the Merchant City district of Glasgow named after them (other streets, such as Virginia Street and Jamaica Street, refer to their trade destinations). In 1771, over 47 million pounds of tobacco were imported.However, the credit the Glaswegians extended to American tobacco farmers would backfire. The debts incurred by the tobacco farmers – which included future presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (who almost lost his farm as a result) – grew, and were among the grievances when the American War of Independence came in 1775. That war destroyed the tobacco trade for the Glaswegians. Much of the money that was owed to them was never repaid. Many of their plantations were lost. But the Glaswegians were entrepreneurial and they adapted. They moved on to other businesses, particularly cotton.By the 19th century, all sorts of local industry had emerged around the goods traded in the city. It was producing and exporting textiles, chemicals, engineered goods and steel. River engineering projects to dredge and deepen the Clyde (with a view to forming a deep- water port) had begun in 1768 and they would enable shipbuilding to become a major industry on the upper reaches of the river, pioneered by industrialists such as Robert Napier and John Elder. The final stretch of the Monkland Canal, linking the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port Dundas, was opened in 1795, facilitating access to the iron-ore and coal mines of Lanarkshire.The move to fossil-fuelled shipping in the latter 19th century destroyed the advantages that the trade winds had given Glasgow. But it didn't matter. Again, the people adapted. By the turn of the 20th century the Second City of the British Empire had become a world centre of industry and heavy engineering. It has been estimated that, between 1870 and 1914, it produced as much as one-fifth of the world's ships, and half of Britain's tonnage. Among the 25,000 ships it produced were some of the greatest ever built: the Cutty Sark, the Queen Mary, HMS Hood, the Lusitania, the Glenlee tall ship and even the iconic Mississippi paddle steamer, the Delta Queen. It had also become a centre for locomotive manufacture and, shortly after the turn of the 20th century, could boast the largest concentration of locomotive building works in Europe.It was not just Glasgow's industry and wealth that was so gargantuan. The city's contribution to mankind – made possible by the innovation and progress that comes with booming economies – would also have an international impact. Many great inventors either hailed from Glasgow or moved there to study or work. There's James Watt, for example, whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the Industrial Revolution. One of Watt's employees, William Murdoch, has been dubbed ‘the Scot who lit the world' – he invented gas lighting, a new kind of steam cannon and waterproof paint. Charles MacIntosh gave us the raincoat. James Young, the chemist dubbed as ‘the father of the oil industry', gave us paraffin. William Thomson, known as Lord Kelvin, developed the science of thermodynamics, formulating the Kelvin scale of absolute temperature; he also managed the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable.The turning point in the economic fortunes of Glasgow – indeed, of industrial Britain – was WWI. Both have been in decline ever since. By the end of the war, the British were drained, both emotionally and in terms of capital and manpower; the workers, the entrepreneurs, the ideas men, too many of them were dead or incapacitated. There was insufficient money and no appetite to invest. The post-war recession, and later the Great Depression, did little to help. The trend of the city was now one of inexorable economic decline.If Glasgow was the home of shipping and industry in 19th-century Britain, it became the home of socialism in the 20th century. Known by some as the ‘Red Clydeside' movement, the socialist tide in Scotland actually pre-dated the First World War. In 1906 came the city's first Labour Member of Parliament (MP), George Barnes – prior to that its seven MPs were all Conservatives or Liberal Unionists. In the spring of 1911, 11,000 workers at the Singer sewing-machine factory (run by an American corporation in Clydebank) went on strike to support 12 women who were protesting about new work practices. Singer sacked 400 workers, but the movement was growing – as was labour unrest. In the four years between 1910 and 1914 Clydebank workers spent four times as many days on strike than in the whole of the previous decade. The Scottish Trades Union Congress and its affiliations saw membership rise from 129,000 in 1909 to 230,000 in 1914.20The rise in discontent had much to do with Glasgow's housing. Conditions were bad, there was overcrowding, bad sanitation, housing was close to dirty, noxious and deafening industry. Unions grew quite organically to protect the interests of their members.Then came WWI, and inflation, as Britain all but abandoned gold. In 1915 many landlords responded by attempting to increase rent, but with their young men on the Western front, those left behind didn't have the means to pay these higher costs. If they couldn't, eviction soon followed. In Govan, an area of Glasgow where shipbuilding was the main occupation, women – now in the majority with so many men gone – organized opposition to the rent increases. There are photographs showing women blocking the entrance to tenements; officers who did get inside to evict tenants are said to have had their trousers pulled down.The landlords were attacked for being unpatriotic. Placards read: ‘While our men are fighting on the front line,the landlord is attacking us at home.' The strikes spread to other cities throughout the UK, and on 27 November 1915 the government introduced legislation to restrict rents to the pre-war level. The strikers were placated. They had won. The government was happy; it had dealt with the problem. The landlords lost out.In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, more frequent strikes crippled the city. In 1919 the ‘Bloody Friday' uprising prompted the prime minister, David Lloyd George, to deploy 10,000 troops and tanks onto the city's streets. By the 1930s Glasgow had become the main base of the Independent Labour Party, so when Labour finally came to power alone after WWII, its influence was strong. Glasgow has always remained a socialist stronghold. Labour dominates the city council, and the city has not had a Conservative MP for 30 years.By the late 1950s, Glasgow was losing out to the more competitive industries of Japan, Germany and elsewhere. There was a lack of investment. Union demands for workers, enforced by government legislation, made costs uneconomic and entrepreneurial activity arduous. With lack of investment came lack of innovation.Rapid de-industrialization followed, and by the 1960s and 70s most employment lay not in manufacturing, but in the service industries.Which brings us to today. On the plus side, Glasgow is still ranked as one of Europe's top 20 financial centres and is home to some leading Scottish businesses. But there is considerable downside.Recent studies have suggested that nearly 30% of Glasgow's working age population is unemployed. That's 50% higher than that of the rest of Scotland or the UK. Eighteen per cent of 16- to 19-year-olds are neither in school nor employed. More than one in five working-age Glaswegians have no sort of education that might qualify them for a job.In the city centre, the Merchant City, 50% of children are growing up in homes where nobody works. In the poorer neighbourhoods, such as Ruchill, Possilpark, or Dalmarnock, about 65% of children live in homes where nobody works – more than three times the national average. Figures from the Department of Work and Pensions show that 85% of working age adults from the district of Bridgeton claim some kind of welfare payment.Across the city, almost a third of the population regularly receives sickness or incapacity benefit, the highest rate of all UK cities. A 2008 World Health Organization report noted that in Glasgow's Calton, Bridgeton and Queenslie neighbourhoods, the average life expectancy for males is only 54. In contrast, residents of Glasgow's more affluent West End live to be 80 and virtually none of them are on the dole.Glasgow has the highest crime rate in Scotland. A recent report by the Centre for Social Justice noted that there are 170 teenage gangs in Glasgow. That's the same number as in London, which has over six times the population of Glasgow.It also has the dubious record of being Britain's murder capital. In fact, Glasgow had the highest homicide rate in Western Europe until it was overtaken in 2012 by Amsterdam, with more violent crime per head of population than even New York. What's more, its suicide rate is the highest in the UK.Then there are the drug and alcohol problems. The residents of the poorer neighbourhoods are an astounding six times more likely to die of a drugs overdose than the national average. Drug-related mortality has increased by 95% since 1997. There are 20,000 registered drug users – that's just registered – and the situation is not going to get any better: children who grow up in households where family members use drugs are seven times more likely to end up using drugs themselves than children who live in drug-free families.Glasgow has the highest incidence of liver diseases from alcohol abuse in all of Scotland. In the East End district of Dennistoun, these illnesses kill more people than heart attacks and lung cancer combined. Men and women are more likely to die of alcohol-related deaths in Glasgow than anywhere else in the UK. Time and time again Glasgow is proud winner of the title ‘Fattest City in Britain'. Around 40% of the population are obese – 5% morbidly so – and it also boasts the most smokers per capita.I have taken these statistics from an array of different sources. It might be in some cases that they're overstated. I know that I've accentuated both the 18th- and 19th-century positives, as well as the 20th- and 21st-century negatives to make my point. Of course, there are lots of healthy, happy people in Glasgow – I've done many gigs there and I loved it. Despite the stories you hear about intimidating Glasgow audiences, the ones I encountered were as good as any I've ever performed in front of. But none of this changes the broad-brush strokes: Glasgow was a once mighty city that now has grave social problems. It is a city that is not fulfilling its potential in the way that it once did. All in all, it's quite a transformation. How has it happened?Every few years a report comes out that highlights Glasgow's various problems. Comments are then sought from across the political spectrum. Usually, those asked to comment agree that the city has grave, ‘long-standing and deep-rooted social problems' (the words of Stephen Purcell, former leader of Glasgow City Council); they agree that something needs to be done, though they don't always agree on what that something is.There's the view from the right: Bill Aitken of the Scottish Conservatives, quoted in The Sunday Times in 2008, said, ‘We simply don't have the jobs for people who are not academically inclined. Another factor is that some people are simply disinclined to work. We have got to find something for these people to do, to give them a reason to get up in the morning and give them some self-respect.' There's the supposedly apolitical view of anti-poverty groups: Peter Kelly, director of the Glasgow-based Poverty Alliance, responded, ‘We need real, intensive support for people if we are going to tackle poverty. It's not about a lack of aspiration, often people who are unemployed or on low incomes are stymied by a lack of money and support from local and central government.' And there's the view from the left. In the same article, Patricia Ferguson, the Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Maryhill, also declared a belief in government regeneration of the area. ‘It's about better housing, more jobs, better education and these things take years to make an impact. I believe that the huge regeneration in the area is fostering a lot more community involvement and cohesion. My real hope is that these figures will take a knock in the next five or ten years.' At the time of writing in 2013, five years later, the figures have worsened.All three points of view agree on one thing: the government must do something.In 2008 the £435 million Fairer Scotland Fund – established to tackle poverty – was unveiled, aiming to allocate cash to the country's most deprived communities. Its targets included increasing average income among lower wage-earners and narrowing the poverty gap between Scotland's best- and worst-performing regions by 2017. So far, it hasn't met those targets.In 2008 a report entitled ‘Power for The Public' examined the provision of health, education and justice in Scotland. It said the budgets for these three areas had grown by 55%, 87% and 44% respectively over the last decade, but added that this had produced ‘mixed results'. ‘Mixed results' means it didn't work. More money was spent and the figures got worse.After the Centre for Social Justice report on Glasgow in 2008, Iain Duncan Smith (who set up this think tank, and is now the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) said, ‘Policy must deal with the pathways to breakdown – high levels of family breakdown, high levels of failed education, debt and unemployment.'So what are ‘pathways to breakdown'? If you were to look at a chart of Glasgow's prosperity relative to the rest of the world, its peak would have come somewhere around 1910. With the onset of WWI in 1914 its decline accelerated, and since then the falls have been relentless and inexorable. It's not just Glasgow that would have this chart pattern, but the whole of industrial Britain. What changed the trend? Yes, empires rise and fall, but was British decline all a consequence of WWI? Or was there something else?A seismic shift came with that war – a change which is very rarely spoken or written about. Actually, the change was gradual and it pre-dated 1914. It was a change that was sweeping through the West: that of government or state involvement in our lives. In the UK it began with the reforms of the Liberal government of 1906–14, championed by David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, known as the ‘terrible twins' by contemporaries. The Pensions Act of 1908, the People's Budget of 1909–10 (to ‘wage implacable warfare against poverty', declared Lloyd George) and the National Insurance Act of 1911 saw the Liberal government moving away from its tradition of laissez-faire systems – from classical liberalism and Gladstonian principles of self-help and self-reliance – towards larger, more active government by which taxes were collected from the wealthy and the proceeds redistributed. Afraid of losing votes to the emerging Labour party and the increasingly popular ideology of socialism, modern liberals betrayed their classical principles. In his War Memoirs, Lloyd George said ‘the partisan warfare that raged around these topics was so fierce that by 1913, this country was brought to the verge of civil war'. But these were small steps. The Pensions Act, for example, meant that men aged 70 and above could claim between two and five shillings per week from the government. But average male life- expectancy then was 47. Today it's 77. Using the same ratio, and, yes, I'm manipulating statistics here, that's akin to only awarding pensions to people above the age 117 today. Back then it was workable.To go back to my analogy of the prologue, this period was when the ‘train' was set in motion across the West. In 1914 it went up a gear. Here are the opening paragraphs of historian A. J. P. Taylor's most celebrated book, English History 1914–1945, published in 1965.I quote this long passage in full, because it is so telling.Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman. He could live where he liked and as he liked. He had no official number or identity card. He could travel abroad or leave his country forever without a passport or any sort of official permission. He could exchange his money for any other currency without restriction or limit. He could buy goods from any country in the world on the same terms as he bought goods at home. For that matter, a foreigner could spend his life in this country without permit and without informing the police. Unlike the countries of the European continent, the state did not require its citizens to perform military service. An Englishman could enlist, if he chose, in the regular army, the navy, or the territorials. He could also ignore, if he chose, the demands of national defence. Substantial householders were occasionally called on for jury service. Otherwise, only those helped the state, who wished to do so. The Englishman paid taxes on a modest scale: nearly £200 million in 1913–14, or rather less than 8% of the national income.The state intervened to prevent the citizen from eating adulterated food or contracting certain infectious diseases. It imposed safety rules in factories, and prevented women, and adult males in some industries,from working excessive hours.The state saw to it that children received education up to the age of 13. Since 1 January 1909, it provided a meagre pension for the needy over the age of 70. Since 1911, it helped to insure certain classes of workers against sickness and unemployment. This tendency towards more state action was increasing. Expenditure on the social services had roughly doubled since the Liberals took office in 1905. Still, broadly speaking, the state acted only to help those who could not help themselves. It left the adult citizen alone.All this was changed by the impact of the Great War. The mass of the people became, for the first time, active citizens. Their lives were shaped by orders from above; they were required to serve the state instead of pursuing exclusively their own affairs. Five million men entered the armed forces, many of them (though a minority) under compulsion. The Englishman's food was limited, and its quality changed, by government order. His freedom of movement was restricted; his conditions of work prescribed. Some industries were reduced or closed, others artificially fostered. The publication of news was fettered. Street lights were dimmed. The sacred freedom of drinking was tampered with: licensed hours were cut down, and the beer watered by order. The very time on the clocks was changed. From 1916 onwards, every Englishman got up an hour earlier in summer than he would otherwise have done, thanks to an act of parliament. The state established a hold over its citizens which, though relaxed in peacetime, was never to be removed and which the Second World war was again to increase. The history of the English state and of the English people merged for the first time.Since the beginning of WWI , the role that the state has played in our lives has not stopped growing. This has been especially so in the case of Glasgow. The state has spent more and more, provided more and more services, more subsidy, more education, more health care, more infrastructure, more accommodation, more benefits, more regulations, more laws, more protection. The more it has provided, the worse Glasgow has fared. Is this correlation a coincidence? I don't think so.The story of the rise and fall of Glasgow is a distilled version of the story of the rise and fall of industrial Britain – indeed the entire industrial West. In the next chapter I'm going to show you a simple mistake that goes on being made; a dynamic by which the state, whose very aim was to help Glasgow, has actually been its ‘pathway to breakdown' . . .Life After the State is available at Amazon, Apple Books and all good bookshops, with the audiobook at Audible, Apple Books and all good audiobookshops. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

In this episode, relaunching the new season of the J&C Podcast, Bryn sits down at the Blue Bear Coffee Shop in Tombland, Norwich to discuss all things politics with local Labour Member of Parliament Clive Lewis. Clive has spent ten years in Westminster campaigning against examples of blatant cronyism, corruption and political hypocrisy and is currently leading the charge against the UK's exploitative private water industry.  Follow Clive on social media in his fight against dirty water @labourlewis Watch the BBC Panorama episode on Severn Trent Water here. Follow Blue Bear Coffee Co. and our Blue Bear Freedom Foundation on the below handles. @bluebearcoffeeco @bluebeartombland @brynfreresmith This show is sponsored by Oakwood Risk & Resilience Ltd, find out more at www.oakwoodriskgroup.com and www.oakwoodrisktraining.com   

Kate Osborne is the Labour Member of Parliament for Jarrow, a gay woman who's served her South Tyneside constituency since 2019.In this episode of podDIVA, Kate talks to Rachel Shelley from New York where she is attending the UN's annual Commission on the Status of Women.Kate is not only a tireless campaigner for her constituents, she also focuses much of her work on equality issues, including trans and all LGBTQIA plus rights.In this episode we discussher own intimate reflections on 'coming out' to her mother as a teenher pathway into politics through trade unions at the Post Officedealing with on-line abuse and incendiary language in politicsStay in touch:Kate Osborne on TwitterHave you heard our top-rated ep? TheLWordGenQ with Rachel ShelleyWant to hear more of all things LGBTQIA? Grab your copy of DIVA's latest issue here.Edited and produced by Rachel Shelley with love and support from #TeamDIVApodDIVA: Queers for your EarsDIVA - the world's leading brand for LGBTQIA plus women and non-binary peopleGet in touch: poddiva@diva-magazine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Leah Brown talks to Sir Stephen Timms, Labour Member of Parliament for East Ham. He tells the story of his longest day in May 2010 when he was stabbed three times by a member of the constituency he serves. Listen in on his views about forgiveness: how it can really only operate where there is personal communication. He has received three letters from his assailant via the police in which she apologises for what she did. But Stephen is willing to go through the process of meeting her before she leaves prison. That experience taught him how much he enjoyed his job. So it didnt take much courage to carry on doing what he loves doing!

This week, Leah Brown talks to Sir Stephen Timms, Labour Member of Parliament for East Ham. He tells the story of his longest day in May 2010 when he was stabbed three times by a member of the constituency he serves. Listen in on his views about forgiveness: how it can really only operate where there is personal communication. He has received three letters from his assailant via the police in which she apologises for what she did. But Stephen is willing to go through the process of meeting her before she leaves prison. That experience taught him how much he enjoyed his job. So it didn't take much courage to carry on doing what he loves doing!

In this week's Black World News, Kehinde Andrews rants about reparations washing, and the recent case in point of Lloyd's of London's "slavery" report; why he'd need to report himself under the new UK gov plans to criminalize dissent that also directly focuses on Muslims, which essentially conflates extremism with radicalism, and more on Israel-Palestine. - Check out the MIP YouTube Channel - In this week's guest interview, Kehinde Andrews talks with Dawn Butler Labour Member of Parliament (MP) about how she navigates work as a Black female MP. Since day she has managed to represent, talk the truth, and most importantly stayed Black while doing her job in parliament—one of the Whitest places—despite the advice when she first came into parliament of "not to be too Black."  She's therefore an amazing example of what we need to see more of from politicians in electoral politics. In this interview, she offers examples, like THE coup ran against her when she ran for deputy speaker, of how she manages and balances the impact of engaging with the constant gendered and racial reminders that arise for a Black Woman in one of the UK's Whitest and highest-profile workplaces.  - Dawn Butler a Labour Member of Parliament for Brent Central, London, the third Black woman to be elected an MP, the first ever to speak at the dispatch box and the first Black female chair of the women's Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). She's the author of "A Purposeful Life: What I've Learned About Breaking Barriers and Inspiring Change" (2023). She was named the "most promising feminist under 35" by New Statesman magazine, honored as MP of the year at the 2009 Women in Public Life Awards, and was named one of the 25 most influential women in the UK by Vogue in 2020. - BLACK WORLD NEWS LINKS Lloyd's of London slavery review fails to settle heated question of reparations https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/08/lloyds-of-london-slavery-review-fails-to-settle-heated-question-of-reparations The transatlantic slave trade https://www.lloyds.com/about-lloyds/history/the-trans-atlantic-slave-trade The materials are drawn from the collection of Lloyd's the Insurance Market https://underwritingsouls.org/ Revealed: plan to brand anyone ‘undermining' UK as extremist https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/04/plans-to-redefine-extremism-would-include-undermining-uk-values?CMP=share_btn_tw - GUEST INTERVIEW LINKS Dawn's book "A Purposeful Life What I've Learned About Breaking Barriers and Inspiring Change" https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/456329/a-purposeful-life-by-butler-dawn/9781911709329 Alison Hammond responds to complaint about her ‘Rolex' on This Morning: ‘Sorry you felt uncomfortable' https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/alison-hammond-rolex-this-morning-b2436860.html Dawn Butler Talks Honesty, Purpose & Surviving Cancer https://blackballad.co.uk/people/dawn-butler-a-purposeful-life?listIds=62948f6b18dc9806e42955cf Teachers presenting White privilege as fact are breaking the law, warns minister https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIa4bvXjDhA - Guest: @dawnbutlerbrent (IG + T) Host: @kehindeandrews (IG) @kehinde_andrews (T) Podcast team: @makeitplainorg @weylandmck @inhisownterms @farafinmuso Platform: www.make-it-plain.org (Web) | www.youtube.com/@MakeItPlain1964 (YT) - THE PSYCHOSIS OF WHITENESS: Surviving the Insanity of a Racist World By Kehinde Andrews Buy the Book:https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/316675/the-psychosis-of-whiteness-by-andrews-kehinde/9780241437476

Linda McDougall is a journalist, television producer and author of Cherie: The Perfect Life of Mrs Blair and Westminster Women. She is also known as the wife of the late Austin Mitchell, who was a journalist and the Labour Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby from 1977 until 2015. Linda's latest book, Marcia Williams: The Life and Times of Baroness Falkender, seeks to realign Marcia's reputation away from previously dismissive and misogynistic verdicts. This pioneering biography of Harold Wilson's political adviser puts forward a more nuanced understanding of Marcia, centred around her unbreakable partnership with Wilson – asserting that they were in fact politically wedded to each other and equal contributors to his success. In this episode, Linda shares what made Marcia such a remarkable force and how she propelled Wilson's career, as well as drawing comparisons with today's political scene. Get your copy of Marcia Williams here: https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/marcia-williams Music Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3788-funkorama Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

John Wilson on George Alagiah, the BBC Journalist and Presenter is remembered by his colleagues Sophie Raworth and John Simpson. Sinead O'Connor, the Irish singer who won worldwide fame with Nothing Compares 2 U. Ann Clwyd, the former Labour Member of Parliament who held frontbench posts in opposition, and campaigned on behalf of Welsh miners and Iraqi Kurds. Tony Bennett, the consummate crooner who sold 50 million records with hits including I Left My Heart In San Francisco. His son and manager Danny Bennett pays tribute. Trevor Francis, the former England footballer who became Britain's first £1million player when he joined Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. Interviewee: Sophie Raworth Interviewee: John Simpson Interviewee: Danny Bennett Interviewee: Jo Stevens MP Interviewee: Linda Christmas Interviewee: Tony Woodcock Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies Archive used: George Alagiah report on the World Bank, Breakfast Time, BBC One, 27/04/1989; George Alagiah report on 40th Anniversary of Ghana independence, BBC News, 22/11/1997; George Alagiah interview, BBC Radio 5 Live, 27/08/2019; Sinead O Connor interview, MasterTapes (Side A), BBC Radio 4, 15/12/2014; Sinead O'Connor interview, MasterTapes (Side B), BBC Radio 4, 16/12/2014; Ann Clwyd question in House of Commons, PMQ's, BBC One, 24/01/08; Ann Clwyd interview at Tower Colliery Protest, BBC News Wales, 15/04/94; Ann Clwyd interview, Iraq War 10 Years On, BBC News Wales, 26/03/13; Tony Bennett interview, Front Row, BBC Radio 4, 02/07/2011; Trevor Francis interviews, BBC News, 02/10/1972; Trevor Francis goal, Nottingham Forest v Malmo, BBC Sport, 30/05/1979; Brian Clough interview, BBC News, 30/05/1979.

Recorded on March 13, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3cn8CVEw6Y Episode 75 of the PetroNerds podcast is a true PetroNerds special. This is a UK energy and geopolitical focused conversation. John Grogan, former Labour Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom (Selby constituency) and now candidate in northern England is Trisha's guest in this fantastic two part discussion. Trisha Curtis interned for John Grogan in UK Parliament in 2007. In part one Trisha and John talk about SVB and the current banking fallout, the market, the state of the UK economy and inflation, and the energy crisis. They talk about UK energy policies, the UK grid, energy prices, emissions, renewables, and the UK's reliance and ties to China before getting into a more political discussion on the war in Ukraine, covered in part two, episode 76! Listen on Itunes

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast, Hilary Benn, Labour Member of Parliament for Leeds Central and Co-Convenor of the UK Trade and Business Commission, joins our director, Charles Grant, to discuss the stalemate between the UK and the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol. They consider how negotiations ground to a standstill, the red lines of each side and the prospects for reaching a compromise. Both Hilary and Charles argue that this is not out of reach, provided both parties are willing to work together in good faith. Produced by Rosie Giorgi Music by Edward Hipkins

Guests include Welsh Conservative Chair Glyn Davies, Shadow Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens, former Welsh Liberal Democrat leader, Lord Mike German; former president of YouGov Peter Kellner, Dr Winnie King from the University of Bristol, and music critic and journalist Oliver Kemp. Reviewing the papers are radio producer Clare Hudson and the Labour Member of the Senedd for Newport East John Griffiths.

The subject of this episode is ‘Current debates on the UK constitution'. Discussants are Stephen Gethins (Professor from Practice, University of St Andrews, and formerly the Scottish National Party's Front Bench Spokesman for International Affairs and Europe), Nicola McEwen (Professor of Territorial Politics at the Centre on Constitutional Change, University of Edinburgh, and Senior Research Fellow with the ESRC initiative, UK in a Changing Europe), and Catherine Stihler (Chief Executive Officer of Creative Commons and formerly a Labour Member of the European Parliament). The episode is chaired by John Hudson (Professor of Legal History, University of St Andrews).

If Boris Johnson leaves office before the next general election, Conservative Party members will have a decisive say in who replaces him as party leader and Prime Minister. This prospect raises the wider question of what role ordinary members should play in party leadership elections. The UK has seen extensive variation in the role of ordinary grassroots members, as compared to MPs, in leadership contests – both between the different parties, and over time. This has previously led to some controversies, most obviously around the election (and re-election in 2016) of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. What consequences does the role of members have for the kinds of leaders and policies that parties adopt? How should this be balanced with the role of MPs? This seminar will explore the key arguments.Speakers:Paul Goodman, Editor of Conservative Home and former Conservative MP for WycombeCat Smith MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Lancaster and FleetwoodDr Tom Quinn, Senior Lecturer, Department of Government, University of EssexChair: Professor Meg Russell, Director of the Constitution Unit

Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament Mercedes Villalba says the U.K. could emulate France to solve rising energy prices. She tells Bloomberg Westminster's Caroline Hepker and Yuan Potts that one potential solution would be a publicly-owned energy company. Plus, Jon Restell, Chief Executive of the healthcare union Managers in Partnership, says Britain may want to move on from the pandemic but there are still thousands of beds being used for Covid patients while inflation is eroding the NHS budget and wages. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katy Clark, Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament for the West of Scotland and a life peer says the Chancellor should spend more to support the economy. She tells Bloomberg's Caroline Hepker that tougher covid restrictions are needed in the U.K. and better enforcement in Scotland. Plus: George Dibb from the Institute for Public Policy Research and Amanda Tickel, the head of tax and trade policy at Deloitte discuss what will be in the Chancellor's budget. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Veterans In Politics- Season 3, Episode 3  with  Stephen Morgan MP- Shadow Armed Forces MinisterIn this Party Conference Special, Jonny sits down with Shadow Armed Forces Minister Stephen Morgan MP.  They talk about Stephen's D-Day veteran grandfather, and how we might learn from that generation, as well as Labour's efforts to engage with the armed forces community.  They also talk about the importance of local government, that piece of politics closest to us all.We'd like to thank our two sponsors, JobOppo and Company X Consulting for their support bring this episode to you today.In addition, we thank the Labour Friends of the Armed Forces for their help, and you can find out more about them here: Home - Labour Friends of the Forces (labourforces.org)About Stephen:Stephen Morgan is the first ever Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Portsmouth South, a seat he took with a 21.5% swing in the 2017 General Election.He was returned again in the General Election in 2019 more than trebling the majority and increasing the Labour share of the vote in the constituency by the largest in the country at 7.6%.Stephen, who was born and bred in the city he serves, studied at local schools and was the first in his family to go to university, graduating from the University of Bristol with an BSc (Hons) in 2002 and a postgraduate Masters of the Arts (MA) from London in 2003.This podcast series maintains its independence and features several parties in this series.NOTE- Please rate us on Apple Podcasts, donate or become our mate on our website HERE:  Donate - CampaignForce

As the U.K. promises resettlement for 20,000 refugees, where are they likely to be placed and how ready are regional and national authorities to receive them? Paul Sweeney, Labour Member of Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow region and a former MP for Glasgow North East, tells Bloomberg Westminster's Caroline Hepker and Roger Hearing Scotland would be very welcoming, but there would need to proper processing and facilities to help integration. Jan Egeland, former UN diplomat and now Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, joins to discuss the importance of talking to the Taliban to make sure aid agencies are able to operate, and those who want to leave Afghanistan are able to do so. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

In this Episode Jacqueline is joined by Abena Oppong- Asare MP for Erith and Thamesmead. In the conversation, they discuss Abena's journey into politics, the day-to-day role of an MP and the challenges that she has faced as a black woman in the public arena, and the need for us black women to get involved in politics to get our views and voices heard in order to bring about change. Abena Oppong-Asare is the Labour Member of Parliament for Erith and Thamesmead. She currently serves as Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and Chair of the Labour Women's Network. Previously, she served as Deputy Leader and Education Spokesperson on Bexley Council and worked for the Greater London Authority. Abena was elected as the Member of Parliament for Erith and Thamesmead in December 2019 and is proud to serve the community in which she has lived in for over 30 years. She made history to become one of Labour's first two female British-Ghanaian Members of Parliament. Abena has spent her career working for local people, speaking truth to power on behalf of some of the most vulnerable in her communities. She represented Erith on Bexley Council, speaking up for her area at the town hall and helping to lead the Labour group of Bexley councillors as deputy leader and spokesperson for education. She worked at the Greater London Authority, supporting GLA members to effectively represent the people of London. In the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy, she led community engagement work for the GLA and Mayor Sadiq Khan, making sure that the people of London were heard to stop anything like that from ever happening again. Before she was elected as an MP, she led resident engagement for a local authority, ensuring the voices of residents helped to shape local services. Guest contact details Email: abena.oppongasare.mp@parliament.uk Website: https://www.abenaoppongasare.com Sisters Friends and Guests is a podcast that seeks to redress the imbalance in the representation of Black women and their voices in the media and more widely within society. Join the conversation Twitter: sfgpod Instagram: sfg_pod LinkedIn The Sisters, Friends and Guests Podcast Email: hello@sfgpod.com For links to resources referred to in the episode please check our website sfgpod.com. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sfg-pod/message

Gordon Brown is the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He served as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010 and is widely credited with preventing a second Great Depression through his stewardship of the 2009 London G20 summit. He was one of the first leaders during the global crisis to initiate calls for global financial action, while introducing a range of rescue measures in the UK. Previously, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1997 to 2007, making him the longest-serving Chancellor in modern history. During ten years at the Treasury, Gordon oversaw many of Labour's flagship policies and achievements, including the Minimum Wage, Sure Start, the Winter Fuel Allowance, the Child Trust Fund, the Child Tax Credit and paid paternity leave. Gordon served as the Labour Member of Parliament for Dunfermline East (1983- 2005), and for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (2005-2015) in his home area of Fife in Scotland. He is a passionate advocate for global action to ensure education for all. In his role as UN Special Envoy for Global Education, he works closely with key partners to help galvanise support for the new International Financing Facility for Education that proposes a groundbreaking way to finance education for every child. 

On the 6th of May residents of West Yorkshire will vote for the first time for their regional mayor in an election that will have ramifications beyond the region. The newly elected candidate will oversee a devolution deal which will include an annual £38 million budget, new powers over transport, education and housing and regeneration, as well as control of the Adult Education Budget. It's no surprise the deal is being pitched by government as evidence of further investment in the Northern Powerhouse and its ongoing commitment to levelling up.But at a time when inclusive economic recovery is critical, the first mayor of West Yorkshire will also carve a place on the national political landscape. The tensions between local and central government have become all too clear during the pandemic with mayors gaining increasing attention. An additional mayoralty will influence economic and social policy making beyond the region, as well as shaping the devolution debate and wider constitutional issues for years to come.After a longstanding career in the public eye, Tracy Brabin became the Labour Member of Parliament for Batley and Spen in 2016. Re-elected in 2017 and again in 2019, she is now running for Mayor of West Yorkshire and, if successful, would be the first elected female mayor of a combined authority in England. Ahead of May's local, mayoral and Scottish Parliament elections we will discuss her vision for the future of the region and how the first mayor for West Yorkshire could catalyse inclusive economic recovery and growth.Key questions include: What challenges and opportunities are likely to arise for West Yorkshire over the next four years and how can they be addressed? How has the coronavirus pandemic changed the role of local and regional leaders in shaping and delivering economic growth? How can mayors influence the levelling up debate and shape the Northern Powerhouse? How can they incentivise investment in their region to solve inequality and drive forward inclusive growth? In which ways might West Yorkshire shape the future of further devolution in England? What does a transition from MP to mayor involve in practice and which role can make the bigger difference?The event was chaired by Zoë Billingham, Head of Policy and Engagement, Centre for Progressive Policy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Aine 0:00 This podcast has been produced in partnership with Diva International (makers of the DivaCup) and Media One Creative. This is Pandora's Box: a podcast that is on a mission to uncover how periods affect the lives of those that experience them around the globe. Join us as we travel the world to find real stories by real women and people who menstruate who are championing change and bringing light to the global impact of menstruation. I'm Aine, Cait 0:27 and I'm Cait your hosts.Aine 0:33 People who menstruate around the world that are lacking access to products. In the UK alone, one in 10 people struggle to afford menstrual supplies. Cait, how much do you think you're spending on period products?Cait 0:43 I think I used to spend $20 a month on menstrual products because I always got the kind of fancy comfortable tampons, I think. But since I've been on birth control, an IUD, I don't get my periods very often. So I got those period panties. And I find them to be fantastic. And they were expensive to begin with, but it's a great reusable option. I don't have to spend money anymore.Aine 1:12 I feel the same about the DivaCup. I was thinking about that the other day, I was walking by the tampon aisle and I just thought, "I haven't bought tampons or pads in a year." But it's just the liberation of never having to think about anything. I get my period and I'm like, okay, here's the thing that I use, and it's just there. There's something really, really liberating about that and I just think it's a revolutionary product.Cait 1:35 I can definitely say that when I was a student and walking into the drugstore, I was like, "Oh, I have to spend money on this. I guess I'll take that out of my budget." But it was something I could always afford.Aine 1:48 Whenever I was a student, or whenever I was just started working and was not earning a lot of money, it definitely felt like a big strain on my finances to have to buy menstrual products. So I can't even imagine what it's like to be in a position where you have to choose to buy medical products or to buy food or to buy clothes. Really, over the course of this process in this journey, so many times I've put myself in the shoes of people not being able to afford menstrual products, and I can't imagine how vulnerable that must make them feel not being able to deal with something that you can't stop. It's flowing, it's coming and not being able to control that, that must be so awful. They can't participate. They don't want to go out into society. That must just be a really awful feeling.Cait 2:33 I would think it would be pretty frustrating, too. Because when you think about it, there's toilet paper for free and public washrooms because nobody can control needing to go to the washroom. Like, that's a normal thing you can't stop. It's the exact same thing with periods. It's not like, "Oh, this month, I'm just going to not have it, I'm going to make that choice." So why aren't they giving out free products for periods as well? It would be really frustrating to be like, I don't have money for this. And this is something I have to deal with, but this guy doesn't have to worry about it.Aine 3:08 So that's interesting that you bring that up, because in lot of the studies that we did and a lot of looking into how periods are perceived, a lot of comments have been made by men, that, "Why can't you just hold it in?" Because they think that we can control the flow and that we choose to turn it on, and it's just like a top. I think we watched a video when we doing research and some guy was like, "Girls are just disgusting. Like, can they not hold it in? I don't pee myself. And they're just like, getting blood all over themselves." Like this is an actual thought that people have about periods because they just don't understand the anatomy. And they think that we're just choosing to bleed whenever we feel like it's so pretty shocking.Cait 3:45 To learn more, we sat down with Dawn Butler in London. Dawn is a government champion for those who can't afford period products.Dawn Butler 3:54 Hi, my name is Dawn Butler. I'm the Member of Parliament for Brent Central. I am the opposition spokesperson. So for the Labour Party, I'm the Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities. I used to be a minister under the last Labour Government and I was the first elected black female minister in the UK. Period poverty is almost like phenomenon that's all of a sudden come to light over the last 10 years. It's quite shocking, you know, the sixth richest country in the world, and we've got children, young menstruators who can't go to school because they're on their periods. We've got menstruators who are going to work and using socks instead of towels or cups. And it's quite a shocking thing, because at first you think, "That can't be happening here in the UK." But we've found it's happening more and more often, as people haven't got enough food to eat. They're having to make the decisions on whether to eat, whether to heat their homes, or whether to get menstrual products. It happens everywhere: it happens in the cities, it happens in rural areas, I mean food banks now have started to provide products for people who are menstruating because there was such a need for it.Aine 5:21 After speaking to Dawn, it was really refreshing to hear that there are people focused on fighting period poverty. The more you hear about this issue, the more shocking and frustrating it becomes because you hear about people in impossible situations where they're forced to sit home and just bleed because they cannot get access to the products that they need. We shouldn't have to suffer in silence or just miss out on participating in society because of something that is a bodily function that is just not prioritized at a government level.Cait 5:50 Being born with the ability to menstruate, it shouldn't mean that you don't get to participate and when I've talked to people here in Toronto about how this happens in the Western world, they're totally convinced that it doesn't happen here. But it absolutely is a problem here. There is period poverty and it surprised me how adamant people can be about their idea that it's not a Western world problem at all. After hearing about how period poverty is affecting individuals around the world, we wanted to hear stories from those who have suffered through this crisis. We visited Rachel Krengel to learn more about her story and how she created an organization called Fourth Wave.Rachel Krengel  6:33 And then, what came out of that was that of six lower-middle-class or working-class women, two of us had a personal experience of menstrual poverty that we've never mentioned before. And bear in mind, we're a feminist collective. We talk about our vaginas constantly, but we never ever have shared these stories. There are so many people who are living in really abject poverty but are just managing to hide it because they're juggling, you know, this week we won't buy any food, this week we were buying the menstrual pads, this week we won't turn the heating on. Between it all, we're just about holding together an appearance that we're surviving and not a lot goes on.Aine 7:19 It was at that point that a news article came out reporting that children from Rachel's hometown were regularly missing schools during their periods because they couldn't afford menstrual products.Cait 7:28 Rachel's vision for Fourth Wave is inspiring. Her organization is determined to make a change. It reminded us about something Dawn said on the topic.Dawn Butler 7:37 It shouldn't be the case that you have to worry about something that happens naturally to you that you can't stop. And governments and organizations and societies should ensure that that isn't the case, and that's wherever you go to work, school, university, or prison.Aine 7:58 Dawn isn't the only political figure who believes that menstrual products should be a right, not an expense. We spoke to Danielle Rowley, a Labour Member of Parliament for Midlothian in Scotland, to hear her story.Danielle Rowley  8:09 I'm Danielle Rowley, Labour Member of Parliament for Midlothian in Scotland. Came into parliament and I had a question about period poverty and I happened to be on my period so I decided to sort of contextualize the cost of, you know, periods that a lot of women face by saying that I'm on my period and talking about how much it had cost me. I had no idea of when I said in parliament I was on my period that it was the first time anyone had said that before. And I've discovered it's not only in the UK, but I don't think anyone has said in any parliament that they're on their period before. It's not being talked about enough, you know, so I think a lot of people might not come out and say, "I don't want to discuss that." But they're not making sure it's high up on the agenda. And that's just, you know, shown by the fact that I was the first person who said I was on my period in parliament. If we had debates on it like we should do, because it's such a huge issue, then someone would have said that before. So it's not getting the prominence that it deserves.Cait 9:12 Dawn was actually in parliament with MP Danielle Rowley when she stood up and spoke about her period.Dawn Butler 9:18 MP Danielle, she stood up. She ran in, actually, sort of out of breath for a debate and said, "I'm really sorry. I'm on my period." And there were a few gasps, I think, in the chamber. And remember, it's a chamber that's not used to women in the first place. And I felt like putting my hand up and saying, "I'm on my period too." And I found it quite an empowering moment and it's a situation where we should be able to just talk about it without feeling dehumanized, without being ridiculed.  Aine 9:50 Change isn't only happening in the UK. In the U.S., changemakers such as Jennifer Weiss-Wolf are fiercely combating period poverty.Jennifer Weiss-Wolf  9:57 So if the people making the rules aren't people who've experienced menstruation, there's a really good chance they're not even wondering if it's a problem or not. So the combination of the silence, of the shame, of the stigma, with the fact that we do not have a government here in the United States, and I venture to say in most places in the world, where women's needs and women's bodies and women's experiences are elevated and acknowledged, and the laws that we live by viewed through that perspective, you sort of have your perfect storm of menstruation just not being part of the systems that we talk about. And as I'm sure lots of folks have said, that you've talked to, if you don't talk about it, you certainly can't start solving the problem.Cait 10:46 Jennifer brings up an interesting perspective on the need for diverse voices amongst policymakers is the reason that period poverty isn't prominent in government conversations simply because there's a lack of menstrual representation.Aine 10:59 I find this really frustrating, because to me, it seems so obvious that is an issue that should be taken into account, and also that these are products that shouldn't be taxed. So it just seems so obvious to me. But that's because I experienced menstruation. So if there's no representation of people that menstruate in governments, then that has got to be the reason why these policies are being ignored and not given priority at all.Cait 11:29 It's impossible to understand what the policies need to be if you can't understand the experience of menstruation. I find it very frustrating that I don't have somebody to advocate for me with the full knowledge of what it's like to have your period and what the costs associated are and what the barriers are involved in menstruating.Aine 11:51 I think this is an example of gender inequality contributing to further gender inequality. So the fact that there's less women in government is due to gender inequality, and now that's contributing to further gender inequality, because women and people who menstruate are not being given the priority that they deserve in order to get these issues solved. I think the tampon tax is such a clear example of this. If you had somebody who menstruates sitting in the room when they decided that this was a luxury item, they would have said, actually, wait a second. There's nothing luxurious about having a period. It's just something that happens. To help us answer this question, we asked Elissa Stein, a menstrual historian, and familiar voice from episode one.Elissa Stein  12:34 So women only got the right to vote not even 100 years ago, and because of the mindset of hysteria, and emotional imbalance, and women were just intrinsically more frail, because of their uterus and because of menstruation, so many people in the world thought that, you know, in the United States in England, women didn't have the right to vote, because they were not stable enough. And there was a huge political discourse in the United States about whether women should have the right to vote. And for a couple of years, politicians, leaders in the country were coming out making public statements about whether they thought that women should be able to vote or not. So the whole fight about suffragettes wasn't just about the right to vote, it was whether women were strong enough or emotionally capable of voting. So that to why women couldn't have a job outside the home, why a woman couldn't own property, why a woman became her husband's possession when they got married, it's all based on her not being capable of making decisions on your own because she menstruated and that rendered her too emotionally insecure. To function as her own person, she needed to have a man to take care of her and make decisions. In our current political environment, where women are being demonized in many ways, where gender and sexuality are at the top of the list of reasons for hate crimes. This brings menstruation back into a conversation in a different way. What sets men and women apart menstruation. So it's an easy target. It's an easy way for people to belittle, to judge, to tell women that they're not competent.Cait 14:14 Dawn also had an important point on this topic.Dawn Butler 14:18 It's about respecting women and respecting people who menstruate. Because too often, our legislation and policies are all geared towards dehumanizing and devaluing women, and the role that women play in society. And I think this is part of it. This is part of us owning it and saying, "This is what happens. This happens to me and this is what we need to do to make it easier for me to go about my daily business." And so I think we take it from a perspective of empowering. This is an empowering conversation. And it means that, you know, it adds dignity and pride to everybody else that's going through it. Aine 14:58 So if these are the issues the Western world is facing, what's happening in the global south?Cait 15:03 65% of women and girls cannot afford menstrual products in Kenya. A pack of 10 sanitary pads costs just over $1, which is roughly the daily wage of an unskilled laborer. Kenya was actually the first country to promise free menstrual products in school.Aine 15:20 While we were in Kenya, we talked to Esther Passaris, the women's representative for Nairobi, to learn about the country's stance on period products.Esther Passaris  15:28 The discussion on the importance of having sanitary towels given to our girls, and how not having it impacted their education, it didn't give them an equal opportunity, started because you had more women in parliament. And then the women were also able to lobby the men because the men understand that their daughters go through this. So the men, I guess, rather than stand in Parliament and oppose it, which would be an embarrassing situation to even discuss it, it was an easy sale. But the thing is, making the budget, you know, allocating budget for women issues, is always a challenge. So it took a while before the president accepted into law, the provision of sanitary towels, and it's still going to take a while before we can actually implement it.Cait 16:19 Despite what people may think, Kenya is progressive in regards to menstrual policy. Sabrina Rubli, who's the founder of Femme International had an interesting take.Sabrina Rubli  16:28 It's just gonna take time. It's one of those issues that even though it's extremely widespread, and so many people have to manage their periods every month, it's going to take time for that to actually turn into concrete changes at the community level and at the very local level where these girls need it the most. But with the growth of Menstrual Hygiene Day, over the last five years, governments are getting involved. The Kenyan government especially has been super progressive. Tanzania's government is also starting that conversation at the higher levels, which is really exciting. And organizations like Femme are going to be here to make sure that they follow up on their promises and maintain that commitment to girls' education. Aine 17:08 It's exciting to hear that shifts are starting to happen. People are taking action against period poverty.Cait 17:14 It's incredibly motivating to see changes being made in the political space, I think it's really important for governments to support people who menstruate. And I think that there's a lot that we can do as citizens to also contribute to this change. I think that reaching out to your representative and really highlighting the issues around period poverty is incredibly important. I think it goes under the radar because nobody talks about them. So it's really difficult as well for your government to address these issues if nobody is talking about them.Aine 17:48 As frustrating as it is that this is still such a huge issue, it is reassuring to see there are so many people who are making noise right now. There are so many changemakers and influencers who are really yelling from the rooftops that this is something that governments need to take notice of this is something that people need to get their heads out of the sand and start dealing with. There are so many people starting public conversations about this, that I feel like it's going to spur on the movement.Cait 18:18 One thing that we learned when we were in Kenya was that a lot of people from the Western world are making reusable pads and then sending them to countries in East Africa. But there are amazing groups in East Africa that are helping women to set up businesses where they make reusable pads and then sell them for a really affordable price to people in their community. And they were saying, "Please don't send us reusable pads. That doesn't help us as much as if you were to send us the materials that you need to make reusable pads." So that specific material that absorbs is really hard to come by, it's much more helpful to send this particular type of material called poly urethane laminate, which they use for the reusable pads as the moisture barrier. Because this allows women to actually sew their own reusable pads and sell them in their community which allows them to get an income and then they can spend that money in their community. And that really grows their community's economic wellbeing. After hearing about Kenya's move on free menstrual products, we were curious if this was a global phenomenon amongst governments. After all, Canada, the U.S. and Scotland have been providing free menstrual products.Aine 19:41 To start off, we talked to Dawn Butler in the UK. Dawn Butler 19:45 What we said as the Labour Party is that once we're in government, we would provide free products in schools, colleges, and homeless shelters. And it's to ensure that anyone who's menstruating have access to products without feeling ashamed without having to miss school and without having to miss work. And so we found the money. And we're dedicated to ensuring that there's products in schools, colleges, universities and homeless shelters. And we're committed to do that on day one of us entering office in government. So the Labor Party at the moment and one of my Shadow Ministers, Carolyn Harris, she's going around giving out these products in prisons, to women who on the street, just to make sure that's one less thing that they have to worry about.Aine 20:39 After speaking to Dawn, we wanted to see what's happening in North America. So in September of 2019, the Toronto District School Board announced they were going to provide free menstrual products for all girls and students that menstruate. This is huge. I mean, this just means that it's eradicating period poverty within schools, which is a lot of the time where girls and students that menstruate are impacted the most because it's affecting their education and their ability to participate.Cait 21:06 So Kenya was actually the first country to get rid of the sales tax on menstrual products. And that happened in 2004. Since then, Australia, Canada, Colombia, India, Ireland, Slovakia, and a few other countries have cut down the taxes on menstrual products.Aine 21:27 So we have this fun little segment of the documentary where we show all of the items that are exempt from sales tax. So there's cowboy boots, Twizzlers, Bibles, Cait 21:39 Fruit Roll-ups,Aine 21:40 gun club memberships, Cait 21:42 Pop Tarts, Aine 21:44 golf club memberships, Cait 21:46 Viagra, Aine 21:46 Rogaine. They're not seen as luxury items, but tampons are. We actually had this very interesting discussion. We were at the Women's March in New York, and we met these guys who were actually protesting the Women's March. And we talked to them about this. And we said, "What do you think about the fact that Viagra is not taxed? Rogaine is not taxed?" And one of the guys said, "Well, that's not men's fault." And we said, "Okay, so periods are a woman's fault." And they were like, "Yeah. Yeah, they are." So that was pretty eye-opening. Next, we spoke with Elissa Stein, to see what the U.S. is doing to combat period poverty.Elissa Stein  22:26 In the past nine years since it came out, the conversation has exploded. In New York City, girls now have access to menstrual products at school, free of charge. This is a necessity of life for women. And it's taxed in so many places, it's being repealed. That's amazing that the conversation is going from beyond the United States to all these different countries where women don't have access to products don't even have conversations about what menstruation is. That people are taking the time and thoughtfulness to educate is profound.Cait 23:03 Hearing from Dawn and Elissa made us think about Kiran Gandhi's story about free bleeding in the London Marathon during our first episode. We were curious to hear her thoughts on the tampon tax.Madame Gandhi  23:14 I think that we live in a world that profits off of women's bodies and bodies in general, taxing something like a tampon as a luxury item in the same way. Viagra, which is actually a luxury item gets taxed is not an equal parallel. And one of the most problematic things that we do in this society is that in order for us to understand women's bodies, men and the society constantly feel the need to identify the male parallel. And so when I ran, I remember so many times people will be like, "Well, that's like a man doing number two when he's running." Or like, "Oh, that's like a man having an ejaculation when he's running." And I'm like, "Actually, it's unlike either of those things, because women have the parallel of those two exact things." And it's okay that there's no parallel of menstruation to men. You don't have to masculinize our bodies in order to understand them. In fact, I think we're a little bit more intelligent than that. And so with this tampon tax, because people parallel it to something that's a false parallel, it gets taxed incorrectly. And it is certainly a necessity. It's a public health necessity. Aine 24:21 It's inspiring to hear the passion that these individuals have to change the way we interact with period products.Cait 24:27 Because a lot of people really want to understand comparable products for men that are like tampons. But somebody made a really interesting point who we talked to, and they said, "Why do you need a comparable product? Not everything is all about men. Women can just have something that's a women's thing, and you don't need to defend it by coming up with a comparison with men."Aine 24:51 I'm going to guess that the tampon tax exists because when it was introduced there, most likely were no people who menstruate around the table. And I would say something that is defined as a luxury is something that we don't need, something that we want. But we need these products. They're not luxury, they're necessity. Definitely representation in governments by all genders is so important because this is just one thing that's being missed and overlooked of course there are other things that only women experience that are not getting enough priority because they're misrepresented in governments.Cait 25:32 To get to the bottom of the issue, when we sat down with Rachel Krengel, we asked her why she thinks premium tampon taxes exist.Rachel Krengel  25:39 The tampon tax is an interesting and complicated issue and a lot of misinformation exists on it. What it really is, it's an issue of political representation because the UK government was given X amount of time to decide what products were going to be tax free when they entered the EU, and at that point, there were very few menstruators in parliament. So who was going to say, "Actually we probably should put menstrual pads and tampons as tax free." Nobody, because the vast majority of people in parliament weren't menstruators and that still remains that there are still considerably less menstruators than non-menstruators in all levels of political representation. It's getting better, but it's getting better slowly.Aine 26:21 In this episode we tackle the period poverty crisis and explored why it is a global issue. We learned why it's happening and what's been done to take action. We talked to multiple women in parliament pushing to make change.Cait 26:33 Period poverty has remained invisible for a long time, but now it's finally beginning to receive the light it deserves.Aine 26:40 Tune into our next episode where you learn about the new products and innovations being created within the menstruation space.Cait 26:47 Also a big thanks to her podcasting team for producing this. This episode was edited by Brittany Nguyen, Alison Osborne and Stephanie Andrews.Aine 27:04 Since recording this podcast, huge progress has been made in the UK. Menstrual products are now available for free in all schools and in 2021, the UK government eradicated the tampon tax. Pandora's Box is also an award-winning feature-length documentary. To find out where to watch the film, you can visit pandorasboxthefilm.com 

Today (17th December) we took the opportunity to speak to former Labour Member of Parliament, and current CEO of the Betting and Gaming Council, Michael Dugher. For anyone with an interest in the Gambling and Gaming sector, this has to be a must listen interview with the man in charge of representing many of the operators in this sector, at a time with the Government has called for evidence as they review the Gambling Act. We touched upon a variety of subjects, from what he sees as his biggest achievement having been in post for around one year; Parliaments current approach to gambling; whether the review into gambling is something to be welcomed; why the move to increase the age limit to 18 for playing on the national lottery is a good thing, and whether gambling operators are up for the challenge of addressing the concerns Parliament may have about the sector. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/toryradio/message

Hon Poto Williams is the Labour Member of Parliament for Christchurch East, where she lives.  Poto became the MP for Christchurch East at a by-election in November 2013.  She is now the Minister for Building and Construction, Minister of Police, Associate Minister for Children and Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing). After gaining an MBA and Graduate Certificate in Research Methods from Manukau Institute of Technology and Southern Cross University, Poto has worked in community health and community mental health services, residential disability services, with single parent families, youth services, family violence and refuge.  Working in mental health provided the opportunity to engage in strengths based, recovery focussed and client centred work, which has guided her practice ever since. Poto is the very proud mother of Terai, grandmother of Bodhi and a member of a very large extended family in New Zealand, Australia and the Cook Islands. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The subject of this topical episode is ‘Devolved Powers and Emergencies’, exploring how emergencies test constitutional arrangements concerning devolved powers and how such constitutional arrangements might be improved.Discussants are: Jim Gallagher, a former Civil Servant, who headed the Scottish justice department. He was the UK government’s most senior adviser on devolution and other constitutional issues, working in the Cabinet office and the number 10 policy unit under Gordon Brown. He was secretary of the UK civil contingencies committee and in charge of emergency planning in Scotland; Stephen Gethins, who worked in the NGO Sector specialising in peace-building, arms control and democracy in the Caucasus and the Balkans regions. He has been an MP at Westminster and the Scottish National Party’s Front Bench Spokesman for International Affairs and Europe; and Catherine Stihler, who was a Labour Member of the European Parliament for 20 years and is now Chief Executive Officer of Creative Commons. Chairing the discussion is Ian Duncan, who was a Conservative Member of the European Parliament and more recently the UK Government’s Climate Minister. Having been ennobled as a working peer in 2017, he is now Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.

The UK and EU have headed into a fresh round of Brexit talks. And they're expected to be tough. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is looking at changing legislation that could overwrite part of the agreement both sides signed in January. He's also warned it's looking more likely the UK will leave without a trade deal. As Sibel Karkus reports, that's not only casting a cloud over negotiations, but puts their entire deal at risk. We unpacked this with Denis MacShane in London. He's the UK's former minister of state for Europe and a former Labour Member of Parliament. He's also the author of 'Brexit No Exit. Why Britain (in the end) Won't Leave Europe'. #UK #EU #TradeTalks

Today's guest is MP, Tulip Siddiq - that's right, we've gone political! Charismatic, sharp and charming, Tulip talks to us about: The pivots the Labour party have gone through over the last few years Antisemitism within the Labour party How she resigned her hard won front bench seat in protest of triggering Article 50 Why people told her she should stand for Bradford, rather than Hampstead and Kilburn (North London) Tulip Siddiq has been in politics for 20 years, joining the Labour party at just 16 years old. She is the Labour Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Kilburn and Shadow Minister for Children and Early Years. Tulip grew up in her constituency and is a second generation Muslim Bangladeshi immigrant. Her grandfather was a founding father and the first president of Bangladesh. Whilst, her aunt is also the prime minister of Bangladesh (longest serving Bangladeshi prime minister). If you don't know of Tulip hold on to your hat - she is charming, funny, and ever so… normal! She's a woman of colour making a difference in her very white male world. You can get hold of Gabi & Amelia here: Instagram - @pivotpointspodcast www.linkedin.com/company/pivot-points-podcast/ Twitter - @PivotPoints1 pivotpointspod@gmail.com Gabi can be found: www.gabriellamillercoach.com @gabriellamiller.coach Amelia can be found: www.kinestheticacoaching.com @kinesthetica_coaching Rob Sell is our Editor / Life saver Pivot Points Jingle - composed, performed and recorded by Alexandra Kolubayev, also know as Alix Kol. Logo design - DShaw & Co

The Honourable Poto Williams became an MP in 2013 and is now the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, and is the Associate Minister for Social Development, Immigration, and Greater Christchurch Regeneration.  In this interview we talk with her family history and about her background and childhood and Cook Islands heritage.  We also talk about her early years, first jobs, studies, work in the community sector and what motivated her to leave that work in the community to become a politician.  What is it that gets planted as a seed that causes someone to put their hand up for politics?  We find out all about that here.  We also find out what the principles are that have set a foundation for how Poto approaches her role today.  I really enjoyed this conversation and if you do then you might appreciate some of the 200+ in the back catalogue as well. Page: https://www.labour.org.nz/potowilliams The Video by Jewel we discuss "... In the end, only kindness matters ...": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfsS3pIDBfw Mele Wendt interview:  https://seeds.libsyn.com/mele-wendt-on-culture-racism-and-having-the-tough-conversations 'Anau Mesui Henry interview: https://seeds.libsyn.com/anau-mesui-henry-on-empowering-pacific-people This is one of more than 200 interviews for seeds podcast and you can find out more at www.theseeds.nz Official biography: Hon Poto Williams is the Labour Member of Parliament for Christchurch East, where she lives. Poto became the MP for Christchurch East at a By-Election in November 2013. She is now the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, and is the Associate Minister for Social Development, Immigration, and Greater Christchurch Regeneration. After gaining an MBA and Graduate Certificate in Research Methods from Manukau Institute of Technology and Southern Cross University, Poto has worked in and managing community health and community mental health services, residential disability services, working with single parent families, youth services, family violence and refuge. Working in mental health provided the opportunity to engage in strengths based, recovery focussed and client centred work, which has guided her practice ever since. As the Minister of the Community and Voluntary sector, she understands the importance of forging constructive relationships with the sector and passionately believes the sector is an integral part of the Government’s agenda with the Wellbeing Budget. Poto is the very proud mother of Terai, grandmother of Bodhi and a member of a very large extended family in NZ, Australia and the Cook Islands.  

Just a year ago, he was one of the best-known, most often referred-to Labour Member of Parliament. Now, Chris Williamson is no longer an MP and, even more surprising, he is no longer a member of an organisation he joined in 1976. But losing the parliamentary platform has not curtailed his campaigning. He is involved in many grassroots activities including raising legal funding for the many other former Labour Party members who were suspended and subsequently expelled from the party and want to clear their names. So, just how is Chris Williamson, formerly MP for Derby North, adjusting to life after 44 years in the party? Is Julian Assange the most famous ignored political prisoner on the planet? In the UK maybe but not by the rest of the world’s media. Of course, there is, without doubt, journalistic interest in his case here in the UK but this does not appear to be reflected in newspapers or the broadcast media. While he awaits extradition proceedings to the United States, it is clear what is happening to Julian Assange is a major attack on press freedom and any trial will make up a very large chapter in the history of freedom of speech. One man who has continued to raise the banner is Vaughan Smith, founder of the Frontline Club and a good friend of Julian Assange. Vaughan joined Sputnik from his home in Norfolk, where Julian Assange spent his bail time way back in 2010.

In this podcast, Chi Onwurah MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and Shadow Minister for Science, Research and Digital, discusses how government draws on scientific advice and the use of science during the Covid-19 pandemic.

How do personal relationships among politicians influence political progress? Host Adam Peacock speaks to Ed Husic, Labour Member of the House of Representatives, on how politicians navigate relationships with those they fundamentally disagree with, and how they manage friendships for the sake of political agenda.

This interview is from a series of events, blogs and discussions around The Future of Work. We're thinking about what work is, and whether noise about automation, migration and four day weeks - trade wars, skills gaps and the fourth industrial revolution - is hot air or genuinely changing our lives for ever. In this podcast, Richard has a chat with Dr Peter Kyle MP about politics, policy, Brexit and where the future workforce is coming from. Peter Kyle has been the Labour Member of Parliament for Hove and Portslade since 2015, a marginal constituency of which only 12 out of the last 69 years has not had a Conservative incumbent. In the 2017 election, Peter unexpectedly turned a majority of just over a thousand into one of nearly 19,000. Peter Kyle's has often talked openly about his challenges managing acute dyslexia and being an openly gay teenager in a small conservative Sussex town, to completing a doctorate in Community Development, and becoming a special adviser on social exclusion to Tony Blair's government in 2006. Following his position as Deputy Chief Executive of the charity leaders' network ACEVO, Peter was appointed the inaugural CEO of Working For Youth, a national youth employment and work mentoring charity. In parliament, Peter has been a strong proponent of apprenticeships, workforce reform, and technical education, sitting on the Business & Industrial Strategy Select Committee. We spoke in March 2019 about education and the future workforce, but that week some of his closest friends and colleagues had quit the Labour party to form a new independent group and Peter was making international headlines himself with his compromise amendment to push the government towards a second people's vote on Brexit - and that is where we started. --- Useful links: https://www.peterkyle.co.uk/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kyle https://twitter.com/peterkyle https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-latest-second-referendum-peter-kyle-phil-wilson-amendment-labour-jeremy-corbyn-a8804971.html --- What did you think of Peter's views on democracy and policy, education and where our focus should be? Come and join the debate by joining The Possibility Club for free, find a community of thinkers and find out about our monthly events. You can also subscribe to our monthly digital journal - which this month is all about The Future of Work - at www.thepossibilityclub.org --- This podcast was hosted by Richard Freeman and produced/edited by CJ Thorpe-Tracey for Lo Fi Arts.

Caroline Flint, Labour Member of Parliament for Don Valley spoke to Anand Menon about the #Brexitdeal, why she disagrees with a #peoplesvotes and what she would improve if she became Prime Minister.

Wes Streeting, MP for Ilford North gives a talk for the Mansfield college seminar series. Labour Member of Parliament for Ilford North and member of the Treasury Select Committee. Wes has previously been Head of Education at Stonewall, Chief Executive of the Helena Kennedy Foundation, Deputy Leader of the London Borough of Redbridge and President of the National Union of Students.

Wes Streeting, MP for Ilford North gives a talk for the Mansfield college seminar series. Labour Member of Parliament for Ilford North and member of the Treasury Select Committee. Wes has previously been Head of Education at Stonewall, Chief Executive of the Helena Kennedy Foundation, Deputy Leader of the London Borough of Redbridge and President of the National Union of Students.

Chris Mullin shares his insights into the leadership traits behind some of the UK's most successful Prime Ministers. Chris has enjoyed a fascinating career comprising of journalism, advising Tony Benn, editing Tribune, writing novels, campaigning for the release of the Birmingham Six, serving as a Labour Member of Parliament for 23 years, chairing the influential Home Affairs Select Committee, being a government minister, and most recently as a much admired diarist of the New Labour years. These experiences have given Chris a ring-side seat from where he has observed many leaders, and how they handled difficult situations and, more generally, exercised power. Chris reflects on leaders he has observed and the lessons that can be gleaned from his life in politics. He will also discuss key issues facing society and make a case for the importance of politics and public service in an age of mistrust and scepticism. Listen to podcast

Chaired by Professor Andrew Bradstock, the open forum with Major Campbell Roberts, Director of Social Policy, Salvation Army, Dr Jenny Te-Paa Daniel, Formerly Dean, Tikanga Maori, St John's College Auckland; Visiting Fellow, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Rt Rev Dr Graham Redding, Principal, Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, Dr David Clark MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Dunedin North, Fr Kevin Toomey OP, Editor, Tui Motu, asks a number of questions about Recovering the Common Good. Would we have anything to gain – as individuals, communities, a city, a nation – from a fresh encounter with the concept of the 'common good'? What might be involved if the common good informed our public discourse and policy thinking more in New Zealand? Can the common good help us to reflect on our priorities as individuals and a society - and what might be the practical consequences of such reflection? 24 June 2013

Chaired by Professor Andrew Bradstock, the open forum with Major Campbell Roberts, Director of Social Policy, Salvation Army, Dr Jenny Te-Paa Daniel, Formerly Dean, Tikanga Maori, St John’s College Auckland; Visiting Fellow, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Rt Rev Dr Graham Redding, Principal, Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, Dr David Clark MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Dunedin North, Fr Kevin Toomey OP, Editor, Tui Motu, asks a number of questions about Recovering the Common Good. Would we have anything to gain – as individuals, communities, a city, a nation – from a fresh encounter with the concept of the 'common good’? What might be involved if the common good informed our public discourse and policy thinking more in New Zealand? Can the common good help us to reflect on our priorities as individuals and a society - and what might be the practical consequences of such reflection? 24 June 2013

Chaired by Professor Andrew Bradstock, the open forum with Major Campbell Roberts, Director of Social Policy, Salvation Army, Dr Jenny Te-Paa Daniel, Formerly Dean, Tikanga Maori, St John's College Auckland; Visiting Fellow, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Rt Rev Dr Graham Redding, Principal, Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, Dr David Clark MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Dunedin North, Fr Kevin Toomey OP, Editor, Tui Motu, asks a number of questions about Recovering the Common Good. Would we have anything to gain – as individuals, communities, a city, a nation – from a fresh encounter with the concept of the 'common good'? What might be involved if the common good informed our public discourse and policy thinking more in New Zealand? Can the common good help us to reflect on our priorities as individuals and a society - and what might be the practical consequences of such reflection? 24 June 2013

Chaired by Professor Andrew Bradstock, the open forum with Major Campbell Roberts, Director of Social Policy, Salvation Army, Dr Jenny Te-Paa Daniel, Formerly Dean, Tikanga Maori, St John's College Auckland; Visiting Fellow, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Rt Rev Dr Graham Redding, Principal, Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, Dr David Clark MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Dunedin North, Fr Kevin Toomey OP, Editor, Tui Motu, asks a number of questions about Recovering the Common Good. Would we have anything to gain – as individuals, communities, a city, a nation – from a fresh encounter with the concept of the 'common good'? What might be involved if the common good informed our public discourse and policy thinking more in New Zealand? Can the common good help us to reflect on our priorities as individuals and a society - and what might be the practical consequences of such reflection? 24 June 2013

Lord Elwyn-Jones began his career as a barrister, combining it with that of a Labour Member of Parliament from 1945. He was Counsel for the Prosecution at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial and later he was appointed Lord Chancellor and Speaker of the House of Lords.In conversation with Roy Plomley about his eventful life, he chooses the eight records he would take to the mythical island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Symphony No 40 In G Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: English Social History by G M Trevelyan Luxury: Comic collage by Pearl Binder

Lord Elwyn-Jones began his career as a barrister, combining it with that of a Labour Member of Parliament from 1945. He was Counsel for the Prosecution at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial and later he was appointed Lord Chancellor and Speaker of the House of Lords. In conversation with Roy Plomley about his eventful life, he chooses the eight records he would take to the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 40 In G Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: English Social History by G M Trevelyan Luxury: Comic collage by Pearl Binder