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Hosted by naomi smith
Hosted by naomi smith
Hosted by naomi smith
Hosted by naomi smith
167 episodes with naomi smith
68 episodes with naomi smith
3 episodes with naomi smith
3 episodes with naomi smith
2 episodes with naomi smith
History defines our present, our present defines our future. And so this week we look at the lessons finally being accepted from Brexit, plus some lessons for Labour from the 2024 General Election. Alex Andreou and Naomi Smith are joined by Sam Freedman – Substacker extraordinaire, political commentator, author and senior fellow at the Institute for Government. He knows his political onions! And there is a lot to discuss – tons happening on the European front, plus a new book highlighting some very important takeaways from the last General Election (Domino's really should sponsor this bit). ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Head to nakedwines.co.uk/riot to get a £30 voucher and six top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. Support Best for Britain here Check out Sam's substack Comment Is Freed The woke hell that is Dungeons & Dragons Demand a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics and democracy More on the 2025 UK Social Enterprise Awards • Buy something – and pre-order The British General Election of 2024 – from our bookshop here. • Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. • Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. Brought to you by Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
From Burnout to Brave Boundaries with Naomi Smith Have you ever looked at your calendar and thought, “No wonder I feel so tired”? What if your creativity is not asking you to do more, but to care more for yourself? In this episode of The Savory Shot, Mika sits down with Naomi Smith, a multi-passionate art director, food stylist, prop stylist, and film director who has built a meaningful creative career with heart, courage, and strong boundaries. Meet Naomi Smith Naomi started in photography and grew into a sought-after stylist and director, working across commercials, film, and editorial projects. Her path is full of grit, curiosity, and a deep commitment to learning from every experience. What You'll Hear In This Episode Naomi shares how years of nonstop hustling led to burnout and how the pandemic became a turning point for her health, mindset, and work habits. She talks about: Learning to say “no” with confidence Using food, rest, and movement to support her body Building a flexible, prepared kit for set life Speaking up, asking better questions, and reflecting after every shoot This conversation is a gentle invitation to create a career that feels sustainable, joyful, and aligned. ___
From Labour's Budget to Corbyn/Sultana's conference ending in acrimony, it's been a big week for the political left. You can buy Mismanaged Decline: What politicians won't tell you about the economy here and support both a local bookshop and Quiet Riot. But has it also been a good week for them? Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell tread warily through the Budget fallout on their way to the Your Party (or whatever it's called now) jamboree in Liverpool. And, inevitably, amid those calls for unity, Zara Sultana boycotted day 1 of the event while Jeremy Corbyn refused to describe Sultana as a friend. En route to this political muddle, our heroes meet economic guru Vicky Pryce, gay sheep and the Antichrist. It's all in a day's work for the Quiet Riot team. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Head to nakedwines.co.uk/riot to get a £30 voucher and six top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. • Buy something – including Vicky Pryce's excellent work – from our bookshop here. • Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. • Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. Brought to you by Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Budget 2025: A world of taxes, benefits and leaks. Mostly leaks. Tune in to find out what Alex Andreou and Naomi Smith make of it all. And they are joined by economic heavyweight Vicky Pryce to ensure that the economics aren't overshadowed by the theatrics (of which there were many). ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Head to nakedwines.co.uk/riot to get a £30 voucher and six top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. “Upgrading this year's growth and slightly downgrading the next four years, I'm not sure that's a big problem for Reeves. She would rather be in a position where she is beating the forecast than falling behind.” “The OBR went back and looked at the productivity figures. What all those things, including Brexit, brought was a lowering of the productivity curve. You can't get to the trajectory you were on before. You become stuck at the low growth phase.” “We had a woman Chancellor, a woman Deputy Speaker keeping people in check and a woman Leader of the Opposition and, much as none of us have any time for Badenoch, that was a remarkable moment.” “The last time income tax was raised was 1975 - that's 50 years ago. This has led to a ballooning of the number of measures in a budget from a few with a big impact to hundreds with small impacts. It is deliberate confusion.” “The advantage of income tax is that it is progressive and you are pretty sure you will get money from it. Tinkering with many small measures can induce changes in behaviour that completely offset what you're trying to do, so then you have to tinker more.” • Buy something from our bookshop here. • Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. • Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. Brought to you by Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alex Andreou and Naomi Smith, mull the week's news. The second part of the Covid Inquiry issues its report on decision making and is scathing about the toxicity, chaos, and sheer incompetence at the centre of the Johnson administration. Should there be consequences? Trump tries to impose a surrender on Ukraine, in order to distract from the MAGA meltdown at home. How should Europe respond? And more questions than answers for Reform UK, after their former leader in Wales is jailed and Farage's alleged youthfull nazi-philia resurfaces. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Head to nakedwines.co.uk/riot to get a £30 voucher and six top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. CALLS TO ACTION Listen to Arthur Snell's latest Behind The Lines and SUBSCRIBE! Find out all about Season 2 of Alex Andreou's Podyssey. • Buy something from our bookshop here. • Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. • Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this country, we can get through multiple Prime Ministers in the time it takes for a serious sexual assault allegation to make it to trial. As Keir Starmer battles leadership challenges (Real? Imagined?), Naomi Smith and Kenny Campbell look at the threats from Streeting, Mahmood and Burnham; there's the scent of blood in the air at Westminster. And, in a week during which a judge expressed despair at having to set a chiild sexual assault trial date *three years* from now, they are joined by Evening Standard courts correspondent Tristan Kirk to look at just how broken Britain's legal systems are. Spolier: extremely broken. SHOW NOTES Help refugees AND solve Christmas conundrums with migrateful.org Groups fighting to reform our criminal justice system include: https://howardleague.org/ https://www.transformjustice.org.uk/ https://prisonreformtrust.org.uk/ https://www.justice.org.uk/ Toyota's walking wheelchair Wokey Dokey: A lovely soc media thread on today's evergreen tree madness! ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** • Buy something from our bookshop here. • Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. • Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. Brought to you by Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. Edited by Alex Rees. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Not AGAIN, Labour comms team... After a week that started with a leadership kerfuffle and ended with an income tax volte-face (or was it..?), Naomi Smith and Kenny Campbell try to work out how sticking to a manifesto pledge can transmogrify into a U-turn. And there's a look at the unbelievable 'canal' of fly-tipped waste that has appeared in Oxfordshire, as we ask why Brits put up with this behaviour. Plus a wee bit of trauma to round things off... ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** • Buy something from our bookshop here. • Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. • Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. Brought to you by Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. Edited by Alex Rees. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It takes a very special team to accidentally advertise and fuel a leadership challenge that was not even real yet, but the current team in No.10 is nothing if not special. AND... Is the BBC just another legacy giant that has outlived its purpose? Or is it worth defending against Trump? (SPOILERS: Hell, yes, it's worth defending!) PLUS... an unexpected "Wokey Dokey" and a superbly inspirational "Grin And Share It". Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell discuss the latest drama. In as non-dramatic a way as possible, of course. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “To head off a coup, you display confidence and strength. This did the opposite - showed weakness and anxiety. It was just pretty weird. Like they accidentally fired the starter's pistol on the leadership challenge they were trying to quell.” “Starmer has just not been a good Prime Minister. He has shown poor judgment throughout his tenure. They have consistently boxed themselves in and made everything harder than they needed to.” “The political strategy, at its core - come to power and instead of looking after your base, devote the first year to p***ing off your base, in favour of voters who will probably never come to you - is so poor and so predictably disastrous, that I don't understand how McSweeney is still in Downing St.” “There are two separate issues here: Yes, the BBC needs to do better, but they are also the victim of Trump doing what Trump does. And this will be used by Trump's team to divert attention from other stuff.” “We also have to realise that the assault on the BBC is part of a larger battle being waged. A battle between sources of accurate information and political forces and people for whom accurate information is like kryptonite.” “The BBC is important and contributes globally. If it comes under pressure the scale, the reach, the nature of its output might shift and Britain's soft power global footprint takes a substantial hit.” CALLS TO ACTION Listen to Arthur Snell's latest Behind The Lines, and SUBSCRIBE! Find out more about the BBC Media Action charity here. GRIN AND SHARE IT All about Lego MRI Scanners! • Buy something from our bookshop here. • Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. • Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why is a moral panic gripping the country about a handful of mistaken prisoner releases? How do we lift our gaze to a better horizon? Musk's remuneration package is designed to shock. Why is the Tesla board so keen to reward failure? And - with Comcast eyeing up ITV and the BBC scoring a massive Traitors hit, were news of the death of legacy media premature? Alex Andreou and Naomi Smith, mull the week's news. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** CALLS TO ACTION Listen to Arthur Snell's latest Behind The Lines, with Emily Thornberry and SUBSCRIBE! Find out all about Season 2 of Alex Andreou's Podyssey. Harvard research on the influence of media in amplifying division. • Buy something from our bookshop here. • Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. • Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As Behind the Lines formally announces joining the Cooler Heads podcast family, making us now the little brother to the massive success that is Quiet Riot - the brilliant politics podcast with Alex Andreou, Naomi Smith and Kenny Campbell, I was delighted to have as my guest none other than Emily Thornberry MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Strip away the schadenfreude around Michelle Mone's fall from grace, and what is the real story here? Naomi Smith and Kenny Campbell look at a scandal that is far from over. Also, with the Conservatives and Greens in conference mode, we consider the contrasting fortunes of their respective leaders – and dive into some fascinating data around Tory voters. Plus, in tribute to the late, great Patricia Routledge, we ask the BIG question of the week: how would Hyacinth Bucket vote? And what about other TV greats, such as Rab C. Nesbitt and Del Boy? ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Do fightbacks always begin at Liverpool? An unexpectedly feisty speech by Starmer leads to a lot of pearl-clutching by Reform. But will our media cover it? Also, the former Welsh leader of Reform admits to taking Russian bribes. But will our media cover it? And with the election in Moldova sends an unequivocal F-U to Moscow. But will our media cover it? Alex Andreou, Kenny Campbell and special guest, Annette Dittert, discuss. PLUS dispatches by Naomi Smith, from inside the Labour Conference. Including 'Grin And Share It' and the triumphant, if extremely confusing, return of 'Wokey Dokey'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “I have spent a lot of time in the Northeast recently and was shocked by the amount of anger from lifelong Labour voters who feel betrayed… The sentence I heard most often was: they take it out on us, they take it out on the poor, because it's easier.” “It was really important that Starmer called those policies out for what they are - they are racist. Farage stokes this up, cynically and cleverly. Labour have tried to tiptoe around it all summer and it hasn't worked.” “We saw it during Brexit and we see it with the AfD in Germany. Pandering to the far right never works. And yet conservative parties seem to have this - in German we call it ‘angstlust' - this desire to go somewhere dangerous.” “Racism is a little like political pornography. Its practitioners enjoy it privately or with groups of likeminded people. But if one were to start enjoying it in public, awkward questions will arise.” “From Russian bribes to Musk beaming onto big screens advocating violence, we can't go on pretending this isn't happening. That there are not powerful interests from both East and West pouring money into destabilising our democratic processes.” CALLS TO ACTION: Let us have your ideas on how to send the BBC a message. Help Smart Medical Aid for Ukraine. GRIN AND SHARE IT: Quietly Rioting is GOOD FOR YOU! ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Is Ed Davey the Anti-Trump? We digest the Lib Dem Conference. PLUS: A crazy 48 hours for Trump, even by Trump standards. Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and special guest, Cambridge Law Professor, former Lib Dem MP and former Electoral Commissioner, David Howarth, discuss the rising threat of illiberalism, and the antidote. Including regular feature 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “Of the top twenty least-deprived constituencies in the country more than half of them are held by the Lib Dems. So, when Ed Davey says ‘we are the party of Middle England' it sounds to many that he means ‘the middle class'. This is the party that allegedly chose its target seats on the basis of being outside London but with a Gail's.” “The problem is assuming politics is about buying people's vote. That's an invitation for instability because you end up always disappointing voters - who feel they didn't get enough or others got too much. A politics based on values that offers hope can appeal to lots of people in different circumstances, and is not all about giving you an extra fiver and taking a fiver off the other lot.” “One of the things about Ed Davey is that what he says drives Reform UK party people crazy. And that's good. Because one of the major rules of politics is to work out what your opponent least wants you to say and say it.” “We need to be inside the new EU pact on migration and asylum. It is a burden sharing pact, but most of the things that people complain about would be solved within it: more information about the people we take, much easier returns, and an obligation for asylum seekers to apply only once, in the first country they land.” “What we are seeing [from Farage] is sinister. Reform is adopting a policy of ‘national preference' - the fundamental policy of the far right in France. I starts with citizenship. Who counts as a citizen? Who should be a citizen? If you listen to Le Pen, it shifts to dual citizens. Suggests they have divided loyalties. It then goes to a very dark place all about having ‘the right' ancestry.” “The gov't has a moral responsibility to reform the electoral system. We are not in a situation where Labour's partisanship over first-past-the-post ends up delivering a vaguely incompetent centre-right gov't. It could deliver a far-right gov't on 30% of the vote. It is morally reprehensible and irresponsible not to change the system.” “I'm much more worried about the rise of fascism than the rise in autism. All this Tylenol stuff is part of a portrayal of Gilead, basically, where women should not work or participate in civic society, but be at home, pregnant, and enduring as much pain as possible, in order to support the white patriarchy.” “I worry that all this forms a pattern of attack against evidence, a concerted attack on science, a sort of Endarkenment, an attempt to return people to a state of not knowing what to trust, in which Leader's Word becomes the only source of truth.” “This idea of ‘behind the scenes' doesn't really work with Trump. There is no ‘behind'. All of it is played out on the stage. Trump has this idea that he has to win the day, of a reality show, where at the end of each episode, Trump must be the winner.” CALLS TO ACTION: Subscribe to David Howarth's substack here. Sign up for PBS America from the UK. GRIN AND SHARE IT: BONOBO BEBEH HERE!!!! :-) ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Trump gets the full Windsor treatment and turns to Royal Jelly. PLUS: How to defeat the far right. Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and special guest, boss of Hope Not Hate, Nick Lowles, discuss the Presidential visit and Nick's new book on lessons learned from decades fighting the fash. Including regualr features 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “Ultimately we are not going to be able to address or reduce people's anger around immigration, without being able to address the economic pessimism that is driving it.” “There's very little common space - especially free common space. Much to do with political decisions, but also changing lifestyles. The large workplaces of the 70s are gone. 10,500 playing fields were sold off under austerity. There's far less interaction between people from different communities.” “We are looking for top-down solutions, but - particularly with current levels of lack of trust in authority - we need to do more peer-to-peer stuff. You can't legislate away youth radicalisation. You are just pushing more young people to rebel against the system.” “The Royals looked utterly miserable. They all looked completely bored. Melania looked bored. And all for what? To appease a man who has criticised our democracy, insulted our Prime Minister, tried to humiliate our capital's mayor. It is grotesque.” “We are trying to hang on, in the back seat of a car, being driven at speed by a maniac. Maybe jumping out or antagonising him is not the right choice. Maybe playing soothing music and engaging him in conversation, until we can get out alive is better. I don't envy the choice for any politician.” CALLS TO ACTION: Buy Nick's new book How to Defeat the Far Right here. Find out more about Hope Not Hate here. Read Alex's substack piece for free here. Naomi's hack for calculating crowd sizes. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Charlie Kirk, Peter Mandelson and two drunk raccoons feature as we try to balance the grim with some giggly for your listening pleasure. In the US, the Kirk story is moving to its next phase with the arrest of Tyler Robinson. But what is the truth about gun crime in the US, and what are we to make of the UK blanket coverage of Kirk's shocking death? Naomi Smith and Kenny Campbell pick their way carefully through this political tinderbox. And, in the UK, Mandelson being sacked grabs the headlines but, behind the scenes, what on earth can Labour do to get on the front foot? Will a new Starmer deputy help, and what about master tactician Morgan McSweeney..? PLUS some bonus Wokeydokey action and multiple Grin And Share It happiness, because we like to find some smiles for you amid the bleak political headlines :-) ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** (And if you do, we'll invite you to our next online Editorial Meeting, at 6:30pm on Thurs 25th September... it's always worth it!) SHOW NOTES Woke beaches Bee-sting injections Bolsonaro Fux off to jail Nurse saves drunk raccoons ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Poland and Qatar are being dragged into conflict, while some of the West dithers and some falls apart. Is there a way back from the brink. PLUS - Decoding populism: Groundbreaking new reasearch that begins to understand what attracts very different voters to parties like Reform, and how to win them back. Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and special guest, former Cabinet Secretary, and chair of the Trade & Business Select Committee, Liam Byrne MP, take a deep dive. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “This is just the latest episode in a series of the most appalling outrages perpetrated by the Netanyahu government. Trying to take out the team that you're negotiating with is not the sign of someone who is serious about negotiating.” “We've been trying the diplomacy track [with Israel] for some time. It's failed. There has now got to be a conversation in Parliament about ramping up consequences, together with allies, to try and end this culture of impunity.” “President Trump's second term has moved on from the improv that characterised the first term to being a project. And if you look at the depth of Project 2025, actually he is pretty faithfully following that playbook.” “There are still within the Commission a lot of scarred individuals, who did not have the best time negotiating Brexit with Conservative politicians and one can understand the kind of mindset that left them with. Nonetheless, Europe has to move on. We have to lock arms against one of the biggest threats to democracy we have faced.” “This sort of incursion is almost always deliberate provocation; a testing of boundaries. It has two objectives. First, to see how quickly and strongly NATO and the EU react. Second, to make other countries bordering Russia think twice about shifting military assets to Ukraine.” “We found a complete fusion between the populist media system and populist politics. You've got money coming in from all sorts of strange places into channels like GB News, from where significant sums are now going to politicians of a particular party. And that's a model - not an accident.” “Who is paying for thousands of flags to be put up everywhere? We just don't know. The law around what are called ‘non-political campaigners' is a joke - especially outside regulated election periods. The UK is extremely vulnerable. Money can come from Dubai into a think tank or media company, and be dispersed from there, completely unregulated.” “We mapped some accounts like GB News, their network of followers, then in turn who else they follow, this intricate network, and we found that 80% of the biggest influencers are American. What organisations like GB News have done, is to lay the foundation for an American populist ecosystem.” “Voters considering Reform are not a homogenous blob - they comprise five groups, united by concern about immigration, but with very different views of other issues. And if I had one to say to [Labour], it would be: Stop targeting your message to the most intractable members of that coalition. They're beyond reach.” “I hope through this research we can generate some empathy for the plight that some of the people considering Reform have been through. Because they deserve answers and a politics that works, and they deserve it now.” “We have to start delivering change that people can see outside their front door. We used to say that politics is local - now it's hyperlocal. It's framed by the space between your front door, the patch of grass where you walk the dog, and the shop where you pick up milk.” CALLS TO ACTION: Help Smart Medical Aid for Ukraine here. Help Medical Aid for Palestinians here. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Are Graham Linehan and Lucy Connolly the right pin-ups for an issue as important as Freedom of Speech? Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou discuss whether absorbing a universal right into a polarised culture war serves anyone's interests. ALSO, we take a deep dive into the shallow waters of the Reform UK party conference. PLUS with musical offerings galore during conference season, we give our best karaoke tips. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “I would suggest to genuine free speech champions out there, who are worried about the overreach of current legislation, that Lucy Connolly and Graham Linehan are not the right pin-ups. Absorbing such a serious issue into a culture war is not the right strategy. If you end up dying on a hill over those posts, your movement has a problem.” “None of this is keeping women safe. It's certainly not keeping women who are quite masc-presenting safe. We have heard multiple stories of women being challenged just for going to the toilet, since the Supreme Court ruling, on the basis of what they look like. I just think that a lot of people have forgotten how to behave.” “Dorries is both very high profile and a nobody. Not an MP or a peer or someone with any role in the party. One could legitimately that leading councillor in a big local authority defecting to Reform is more consequential. But she does straddle that world between politics and celebrity and is therefore a significant scalp.” “We've done a big piece of work segmenting the Reform voter base. We found five distinct groups. Immigration ties them all together, but they differ widely in other areas, especially tax and spend, which creates some difficult traps for Farage.” Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
They finally got her. But Rayner's departure triggers a wider reshuffle that nobody expected. Is this panic or is it - finally - grip? Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou discuss a huge day in Westminster. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
If we do not defend a working class woman like Rayner, against this onslaught by a media that loathes her, we condemn our politics to be the pursuit of only rich men. PLUS Why we need proportional representation now - and how to get it. Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and special guest, CEO of Make Votes Matter, Emma Harrison, discuss the big political issues of the week. Including regular features 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** CALLS TO ACTION: Help the 5050 campaign to support women in Parliament. Find out more about the work of Make Votes Matter here. Find out how to disable the emergency alert here. GRIN AND SHARE IT: How 3D printed nerve scaffolds are helping victims of spinal cord injury. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Trump's presidency reaches the 'Is he dead?' stage, Angela Rayner is pilloried yet again for not breaking the law, and a big tub of sand helps Finland stay warm. It's an unusually generous helping of madness in this week's Sunday School, and who better than Naomi Smith and Kenny Campbell to skip in wonder through the minefield of headlines and 'he said' lines. With bonus appearances from the Green Party leadership race and the Home Office workload, because we do serious here as well. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** CALLS TO ACTION: Email the Home Office to help HOPE not hate stop Great Yarmouth's Neo-Nazi music festival Check out Quiet Riot fan Emma Monk's excellent fact-checking Substack, Monk Debunks, here How Atlantic currents are signalling an even bigger climate catastrophe Finland's super-sandy battery breakthrough Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Labour government is talking about Europe, attacking the opposition, and putting forward some positive ideas. Could the new school year be better for them? Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and special guest, Labour MP Andrew Lewin discuss the mechanics of a closer relationship to the EU, the half-baked proposal to leave the ECHR, political strategy on whether to attack or ignore Reform - and Andrew's very exciting proposal for a Citizens Advance, to give young people, with no access to parental wealth, a leg-up, when they actually need it. Plus regular features 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “The technocratic approach is sensible, in normal times, but these aren't normal times… and I think people, both here and in Brussels, need to realise that there are no longer guarantees on what comes next, here or in member states - everyone is butting up against the rise of the far right. They need to act quickly and lock in as much sensible change as possible.” “Most people's position on Europe is practical. Farage is in a minority, because he is ideological about it, as is Badenoch. Both came to Parliament the week of the UK-EU summit and said they would rip the agreement - before they had seen it. Which is an extraordinary position for the leader - and wannabe leader - of the opposition and out of line with mainstream thinking. So, I do think there is an opportunity for us to be braver.” “The reason reopening the whole question of EU membership would be impossible to reopen in this parliament is that it would dominate everything else. And we were elected to fix a lot of things - public services, cost of living, that would be drowned out. Also, the EU27 are not ready, in my view, to talk about rejoin. So, my view as a backbench MP and a pro-European is that this parliament is the time to build bridges.” “We often debate inheritance tax and it is an unpopular tax. I wanted to approach it from a different perspective. This is about giving individuals agency, over something that is going to be their money anyway. That's why it's called a Citizens Advance. It's an advance on your pension, at a time it can do the most good.” ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** CALLS TO ACTION: Plant a tree for Europe and help Best for Britain here. Buy Eliza Philby's "Inheritocracy" here. Find out more about Citizens Advance (the Lewin Loan) here. GRIN AND SHARE IT: Read about extraordinary TIME Girl of The Year, Rebecca Young, here. Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Social media firestorms agogo in this week's scorching Sunday School. Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell take a sideways look at how socials are starting to go wrong for Trump, thanks partly to Gavin Newsom and Jeffrey Epstein, plus the fallout from the release of UK Twitter criminal Lucy Connolly. And, yes, all the latest madness from the court of King Trump (or as much as we can fit in) and, by way of light relief, an actual discussion about art. Yes, art. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “I am fully prepared for the number of wars Trump has resolved to go up again next week, in order to include the great Empire-Ewok Accord, the Armistice with the Cylons, and finally sorting out the Gondor/Mordor situation. Perhaps that's why Trump is patchy. He's midway through his transformation from Gandalf the Dusty Rose to Gandalf the Ecru.” “The White House launched its TikTok account this week, put out a couple of posts, but they didn't turn off comments. There is a lot of MAGA presence on TikTok. But the responses under these two posts were off the scale hating on Trump's links to Epstein. Hundreds and hundreds of them - to the point where [Billy McLaughlin] the digital media boss had to resign.” “Lucy Connolly fits a particular box when it comes to developing the “two-tier” narrative from a media perspective. And she came out of prison and straight into a summer of particularly relevant media headlines… There's a redemption arc playing out here. She is being weaponised by the media, in order to become a standard bearer for why it is ok to break the law.” “The tabloids tell us that Connolly is lovely and ordinary, runs a day care and is a great Mum, has suffered past tragedy and took her dog for a walk after posting what she posted. All of that may be true. But she wasn't punished for any of that. She was punished for telling people it was okay to set fire to a building with human beings sleeping in it, because their life has little value. That she did that between having a cuppa and shampooing the dog, makes it more chilling, not less.” “Connolly decided that this country somehow belongs to her and she decides who gets set on fire and who doesn't. And she communicated that wish, knowingly, to people who were out there looking for precisely such a rationale for their pre-existing grievances and violent tendencies. That is the bit that is not okay. The rest is window dressing.” Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Brought to you by Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After Monday's European course-correction to Trump's wobble, the situation is moving. The question is: in which direction? Plus regular features 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and special guest, More In Common boss Luke Tryl discuss the big stories. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “It really aggravates me when I hear news programmes repeat ‘Russia is winning this war'. When you look at territorial gains, you're looking at one per-cent of Ukraine's land mass, at the cost of almost a million Russian lives. That's not ‘winning the war'.” “In terms of strategic objectives outside Ukraine, Putin has ended up uniting Europe, hardening its resolve, boosting its defence spending to double what it was, uncoupling Europe from his energy infrastructure, and with Sweden and Finland as members of NATO. Some pretty catastrophic misjudgment must have gone into his initial decision to invade.” “What the US [security] guarantee does is, it makes it easier for European leaders to convince their publics of their piece of it, which is continuing support and even boots on the ground, potentially. Having a US assurance makes that easier to sell to their voters.” “If nothing changes, I do not think it is inconceivable that the Tories end up in the high teens at the next election. There is some complacence in the centre-right that of course Farage will flake out, of course he always falls out with everyone, and they'll come back to us.” “The group that has had the biggest swing to Reform since the election are Gen-X women. They're often the most unhappy with the state of Britain. Lots of them face double care crises - they've got kids still at home who can't move out and looking after ailing parents. But they are also inherently more cautious.” “There is a group of Conservatives, who have always wanted to be Reform and who obsess that the only way forward is to ‘unite the family'. And I find it hard to think of an example where a party competing with another party has been so reluctant to take them on directly.” ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** CALLS TO ACTION: Please help Smart Medical Aid for Ukraine here. GRIN AND SHARE IT: Read about the Gallop global poll here. Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
And so Volodymyr Zelensky returned to the White House, but this time with a phalanx of European leaders to support him – and, perhaps, to make sure the orange toddler didn't get upset. For his part, Trump played nice, despite talking with Putin mid-way through proceedings – oh to have a transcript of THAT call... In this Midnight Mass special, recorded while European leaders were still at the White House, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell look at what was said, by whom, and what it might all mean. Are there grounds for optimism? What, if anything, has changed? And who gets the Nobel Peace Prize..? ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “It was like the world's most elite babysitting team had assembled. As if Thanos had a stroke and the Avengers have to gather around him, as carers, to make sure he doesn't click his fingers. And they may have to do it again tomorrow, and every week for three years, but it's still worth doing.” “I detected a real insecurity in Trump. He kept going on about how unfair the media is being on him. It tells me that he read the coverage of the Alaska meeting and it did sting him… It's a mistake to see Trump as somehow untouchable. He cares about popularity and craves approval. That is his pressure point.” “Trump has shifted on the notion of America being somehow involved in the security guarantees given to Ukraine. Unreliable as he is, articulating that publicly for the first time is, I think, a major moment.” Help Ukraine by supporting the Smart Medical Aid charity here. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Brought to you by Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. A Cooler Heads production, in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In trade, as in immigration, and every policy area, we have forgotten how to compromise. We demand the truth, but have a temper tantrum, when we get it. Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and special guest, trade expert David Henig, discuss Reform's latest attempt to foment violence, by endorsing vigilantism, and the total absence of honest conversations on immigration and trade. Plus regular features 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “This rhetoric of ‘protecting women', is actually all about the subjugation of women. Specifically who gets to subjugate us. It's just misogyny dressed up as heroism.” “There's this fallacy about a fixed number of jobs, meaning immigrants are taking ‘our' jobs, therefore we have fewer opportunities. It's simply not true. Immigrants are often highly motivated and create jobs. What you want is to create an overall dynamic economy. And with these false narratives, we risk talking ourselves into economic decline.” “Having failed - so far - to fan the Epping protest into spreading, Reform UK seems to be trying an alternative theory of arson: creating the potential for many small fires. After a month of bleating about ‘LAWLESS BRITAIN', their solution is more lawlessness. But this is good lawlessness, you understand, because it is their lawlessness.” “The path forward for the EU needs to be one of more openness to trade - not following the US down the path of protectionism. The EU economy has been strengthened by trade. It should deepen its relationship with the UK and others, like Canada, creating a different vision of the world to Trump - one that looks more successful.” ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** CALLS TO ACTION: Donate a little money or a little time to Citizens Advice here. Find resources for writing to you local paper about youth mobility HERE. GRIN AND SHARE IT: Read about the intrepid tortoise, Matilda, and her daring escape here. Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Just smile and make nice until he VPees off; Our water is mostly poop now; A big fuss about a little pasta. Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou achew over the weeks latest news, in their signature, Sunday way. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** CALLS TO ACTION: Here is Best for Britain's Report on Water Quality. Read it, share it, send it to your MP. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MAGA begins to turn on Trump. Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and special guest Brian Klaas discuss the reasons for the Find Out stage coming so soon in this second FAFO Trump term. And - why is Nigel Farage afraid "to walk of an evening wearing jewelry"? Plus regular features 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “The best way to think about Republicans in Congress is as a full-time propaganda outlet for Donald Trump. What they are mostly doing in hearings is creating smoke screens for Trump. The pretence of trying to legislate has been largely abandoned. They've ceded control of process to the President and just create content for Fox News or social media.” “A huge number of donors use Trump as a vehicle to enrich themselves and they really don't care about - or even celebrate - some of his more egregious moral stances or his authoritarianism. All that stuff is fine with them, as long as the gravy train for the elite continues to chug along.” “The one thing Trump cannot fully distort is whether people out there, near the end of the month, go to the supermarket and can afford their food bill on their remaining salary. That is something they will experience objectively, whatever he does with the data.” “This looks like Trump trying to land a photo-finish foreign policy win in Moscow, while still angling for a handshake moment with Putin. If the plan is to send a property developer to make peace with a dictator, we should lower our expectations.” “[The Sidney Sweeney ad] is the corporate equivalent of a dog-whistle: provide the match, let others light the fire, bask in the heat of the coverage. Visually signalling a certain world view, without putting it into words - create the ambiguity, avoid accountability, and monetise the polarisation.” ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** CALLS TO ACTION: Here is Brian's superb blog on slowing down. If you're a US citizen, you can support Fair Fight. If you're not a US citizen, you can support Oxfam America or C-Span. GRIN AND SHARE IT: Read about Jair Bolsonaro under house arrest. Watch a demolition of the Discovery Institute. Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uh-oh, the US economy appears to be entering the 'find out' stage of team Trump's eff-around experiment. As employment figures, market confidence and senior statisticians all take a beating from agent Orange , Naomi Smith and Kenny Campbell survey the wreckage – and pay special attention to how AI is acting both as a destroyer of jobs and a huge economic stimulus. Closer to home, they look at Labour's new plan to get more working class people into the civil service – lefty social engineering or the beginning of a much-needed reset? And there's some new polling from our buddies at More In Common, who have been asking people when they think the wheels fell off Britain. Yes Minister clip courtesy of BBC ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Our bookshop, including many of the books we have featured, can be found at uk.bookshop.org/shop/quietriot You can find our sister podcast Podyssey here on Apple Podcasts and here on Spotify - or just search for "Alex Andreou's Podyssey" on any platform. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
All about contested spaces: physical statehood and online safety. Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell discuss the impending recognition of Palestine by Britain (and France). Why now? And as the Online Safety Act begins to impact our internet use, we ask whether it fixes anything or just creates a whole new range of problems. Plus regular features 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “Netanyahu has behaved in a way that demonstrates exactly the characteristics of a politician who is running out of time. There is only so long he can avoid an election. As the pressure builds towards it, maybe what we are seeing is part of an emboldened international community speaking directly to the Israeli people.” “A two-state solution depends on there being power brokers on both sides who can sit down and talk meaningfully to move things forward. That's not Hamas and, increasingly clearly, that's not Netanyahu either. Whatever solutions eventually come to pass, key to them is gonna be getting those problematic parties out of the picture.” “Trump is transactional and being transactional, he doesn't really understand ideological constraints. Having offered transactions that he thinks Netanyahu and Putin would take, he just cannot fathom why they didn't. So he's beginning to see them as people he can't do business with. A bad position to be in with Trump.” “As the law comes into effect, there is no public register of approved age verification providers, no duty on those providers to meet any specific privacy or security standards, above data protection alone, and no requirement for platforms to choose trusted or certified providers.” “The Online Safety Act is like saying: We love the sea. The sea is a fabulous place. We spent many happy years playing in the sea. But the sea is now full of sewage and horrible things. And we're going to solve that problem by making it harder to get into the sea. It doesn't actually deal with any of the causes at all.” “I keep coming up against this conundrum, this circle that cannot be squared: the same anonymity that makes the internet exceptionally useful to some, is also what makes it a risk to others… For it to become a space within which the law applies, it cannot be anonymous. Otherwise we accept it is incapable of being regulated and belongs, in part, to bad actors.” “What happens if you shut down direct access to a thing for the group of people who are most likely to use it? Especially young people. They will go round the side.” ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** CALLS TO ACTION: Complain to Sky News about disproportionate Reform UK coverage. Find out more about the UNICEF Gaza appeal for children in crisis. Sign the Open Rights Group letter to gov't about online safety. GRIN AND SHARE IT: Watch the report about the discovery of the Denver Parkingsaurus. Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alex Andreou, Naomi Smith and special guest, CEO of migrant support charity PRAXIS, Minnie Rahman, discuss the protest flashpoint in Epping and ask what does a humane, open, fair immigration policy look like and how we can make the case for it. And in Part II, as Parliament goes into recess, we look at the assortment of Oppositions' Positions and whether they add up. Plus 'Wokey Dokey'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “I dislike the term ‘integration' applied to immigrants. The people who are not integrated in this country are the politicians and the Eton crowd. They are the ones who need to integrate with the general population.” “The [Johnson] gov't added to the mistrust about immigration, by cynically injecting record numbers of migrants as a counterbalance for a disastrous Brexit. They knew the economy was going to suffer significantly and the easiest way of that not happening was to shove an extra million people's product onto the GDP.” “Local funding has been cut and cut and cut. And when local authorities cannot afford libraries, or leisure centres, or even a fireworks display, then communities don't spend time together, they don't work together, they don't get to know or understand one-another.” “I don't think this country is particularly racist. But it is very insular. It is very: We're in. You're out. But the crux of the out-group does not seem to be race. It is more: We understand the rules. You don't know the rules. We hate having to explain the rules. Therefore, we don't want you.” “We don't talk enough about class. Class division is ignored and pushed into the conversation about racism. Now, obviously, class and race are integrated and racism does exist in the country. But progressives lack a clear vision. We are missing strong voices on the left that can go out and say: I get it. You're having a shit time. But this isn't the solution.” “We are basically serfs. Doffing our cap and heralding privilege in such a grotesque way that people can't even see through this bullshit peddler, who went to Dulwich college, became a banker, and now tries to tell you that refugees are the problem and not this entrenched privilege from which he and his ilk have benefited far more than anyone who has arrived on a boat.” ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** CALLS TO ACTION: Support the great work that PRAXIS does here. Buy something from our bookshop here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Votes for 16-year-olds incoming, Stephen Colbert's Late Show outgoing. Naomi Smith and Kenny Campbell take a peek at the latest moves to let 16 and 17-year-olds vote in general elections – is it a long-overdue resetting of democratic rights or the end of days? And the grim news that CBS is cancelling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert has us asking whether this is about politics, profits or a horrible combination of both. Plus, Trump decides to sue Murdoch as we record this episode... so much media drama to cram in. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Our bookshop, including many of the books we have featured, can be found at uk.bookshop.org/shop/quietriot Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alex Andreou, Naomi Smith and special guest, data scientist Christina Pagel, discuss the Afghan data breach, the confusion over resettlement schemes, misinformation and its role in the rise of the far right. And in Part II, we delve into Christina's project, charting the (at last count 707) anti-democratic actions of the Trump administration. Plus 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin and Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** - “Farage is demanding Parliament is recalled to be addressed by Trump. Trump says he's not that bothered.” - “Of course he's not bothered. Trump likes Palaces, not Parliaments.” “I think Trump is betraying the office of the Presidency and there is a massive risk in normalising what he is doing. I am pragmatic about diplomacy, but this is a unique situation, where America is on the precipice of a very dark place, and I don't think we are doing anyone any favours by pretending it is not.” “Since 2003 the percentage of people living under autocratic regimes has gone from 50% to 72%. Democracy is losing and I don't think people realise it. So when you have the world's most famous liberal democracy becoming authoritarian, we have to sound the alarm and we have to shout about it.” “I'm not sure the Trump regime is as chaotic as it seems. An independent organisation tracking Project 2025 says that, six months in, 46% of it has been achieved. There is a plan and they are following it. They may not be doing it perfectly competently, but it is working.” ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** GRIN AND SHARE IT Read about a bumper year for vaccine health here. Read more about the HPV vaccine's success over cervical cancer here. Buy something from our bookshop here. CALLS TO ACTION: Use this government portal to the industrial strategy to make sector-specific contributions. Subscribe to and support Christina Pagel's substack here. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou talk through the week's political stories, covering the outcome of Macron's state visit, and the churn on the right of politics, with every splitter starting his own party/movement/grift. Plus, a very special report from our resident Chevalier, Olivier Morel, with behind-the-scenes gossip from Macron's visit. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “He [Macron] went off script and that was the best part of the speech. He got the biggest cheer when he said, in effect, that the EU is poorer for being without the UK.” “Being loved at home and respected abroad is very rare. I do think most leaders have to choose where they are clapped - Brussels or Blackpool?” “Kemi Badenoch just told the most self-serving group of politicians in the entire country that, if substance matters to them they should stick with her, but if they want to get elected they should go to Reform. How is she so bad at this?” Our bookshop including many of the books we have featured can be found at uk.bookshop.org/shop/quietriot Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alex Andreou, Naomi Smith and special guest, investigative journalist Peter Geoghegan, discuss the significance of the French President's visit, the Post Office scandal first report, how big money has infected politics, and Woke Superman. Plus 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin and Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “Brexit is still the word that nobody in British politics wants to utter. We're constantly talking about stagnant growth, but nobody in the Labour Party wants to say: shall we push that big button named Europe?” “Questions remain over just how far France is willing to go and whether Macron is offering genuine structural cooperation, or just diplomatic flattery. But this is the most substantial UK-French bilateral moment in years and potentially a turning point in the post-Brexit story.” “The UK is a significant asset, as an ally and a strategic partner. And it's good to see that we have advanced to a place where, instead of just going ‘GRRR! FOREIGNERS! EUGH!', we can say: What can we offer you and what do you have that we want?” “This should not be just about trade. There is more at stake than just that. The US and Europe are pitching not just different trade blocs, but different versions of what democracy and statehood look like in the 21st century - and we should acknowledge that.” “The way in which influence can be bought and sold is actually hard-wired into our political system. It runs on private money and parties go out there to raise it from, increasingly, a small number of individuals. Over half of the money raised in the last election came from 19 individuals.” “There is a need to properly update electoral law and rationalise it. It is a patchwork of different legislation, some of which is 150 years old. It's not joined up. It's full of gaps and confusion, which are easy for bad actors to exploit, while making it difficult for those who want to comply to do so.” GRIN AND SHARE IT Read about the teenager escorted to the prom by 1,500 bikers here. CALLS TO ACTION: Subscribe to Peter's substack Democracy for Sale here. Support Best for Britain here. Click here for your Quiet Riot Bluesky Starter Pack. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou, with special guest, security expert Arthur Snell, discuss the first anniversary of Labour's election victory being marked by - probably - it most difficult week. Also, what is next for Ukraine, now that much of the West is fully distracted by the Middle East? Plus, who will actually pay for Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill.? And, of course, the latest instalments of 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “My sympathy for the gov't is limited, because they have boxed themselves needlessly into a corner on so many issues. Whether it is red lines on spending, or taxation, red lines on Europe, or on the fiscal rules - they keep doing this. They keep putting up these artificial barriers that make it difficult to do anything.” “Who would do better in Reeves' position and how? There seems to be both a lack of guidance coming from No.10 and a weird extra hand on the tiller coming from No.10. So, would a new Chancellor do any better in that environment?” “There has been friction between No.10 and No.11 before, but you could always see what the source of that friction was. What was the difference of opinion. Where it's difficult to see it now, because it's difficult to understand what Starmer's real direction is.” CALL TO ACTION Help Ukraine by supporting the Smart Medical Aid charity here. Medecins Sans Frontier is still operatin in Gaza. Catch Arthur's latest Behind The Lines episode. GRIN AND SHARE IT Read about the Polish delivery driver who turned into an Irish national hero. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. A Cooler Heads production, in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou, with special guest, Green Party MP (and co-leadership candidate) Ellie Chowns, discuss the Labour rebellion against welfare cuts and the future of the Green Party as a new home for those looking outside the establishment. And an update on the Iran ceasefire and the NATO Summit/Trump crèche, with security expert Arthur Snell. Plus 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** CALL TO ACTION Help MamaSuze here, in honour of Annabel Rook. Find out about Ellie and Adrian's leadership campaign here. GRIN AND SHARE IT Read about that extraordinary Alan Turing Attic Haul here. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. A Cooler Heads production, in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
And so it came to pass that the US, in lockstep with Israel, bombed Iran, probably while you were sleeping. For this week's Sunday School, we knew it would be tough to keep up with developments in the Middle East and so we called in our tame geopolitics expert Arthur Snell, he of the wonderful Behind The Lines podcast, for a look at where things stood on the eve of Trump's decision to send in the B-2s. Who knew what and when? What's it mean for Britain? Should we cancel holidays in Cyprus? And ... are we careering towards regime change here? Closer to home, your presenters Naomi Smith and Kenny Campbell also look at the latest data on what Brits REALLY think about getting cozier with the EU, and don their mortar boards to examine a couple of big stories that have shaken the university sector this week. "That's the thing you've got to remember about populists… as soon as the thing that they think is popular no longer is, then they move on to the next thing" Show notes That YouGov poll on Brits and the EU Our bookshop, featuring many of the books we have mentioned, can be found at uk.bookshop.org/shop/quietriot Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
With just over a year to go until the 2026 Senedd elections, Welsh politics is anything but quiet. Reform UK is making noise, Plaid is recalibrating, and Labour is battling to stay visible - all as new EU-UK agreements raise questions about the future of flagship Welsh initiatives like the Taith scheme. Award-winning journalist Will Hayward joins Naomi Smith for a deep dive into the political forces shaping the next chapter of Welsh democracy. From Wrexham terraces to Cardiff Bay, it's all in flux and it all matters, and not just for Wales. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** LINKS: Find Will Hayward's substack here, his podcast here, and his YouTube channel here. Our bookshop including many of the books we have featured can be found at uk.bookshop.org/shop/quietriot ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou, with special guest, economist Vicky Pryce take a detailed look at the Spending Review. Does the ambition match the maths? And in Part II, we ask whether, before we have another inquiry, we need to question whether this slow, expensive model achieves change or actually impedes it. Plus 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin And Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** “Infrastructure matters hugely. If you want to be competitive and have an economy with high productivity you have to put the infrastructure in place.” “What this new government really should have done is immediately reversed the National Insurance contribution cut that Jeremy Hunt gave just before the election. That twenty billion accounts for most of the black hole they found when they came into power.” “Public inquiries have become a tool for governments to put distance between themselves and the problem. Instead of being an instrument for change, they are a way to take energy out of a push for change.” “Often, the very people screaming about rape gangs are the same people saying, we shouldn't have age-appropriate sex education, the very people denying children agency over their own bodies, denying them education to give them the language to be able to talk to someone who can help.” “It seems utterly bizarre to end up in a situation where the Prime Minister says: ‘Well, I read the report and it convinced me," and everyone's reaction is: ‘What? This is outrageous!'” CALLS TO ACTION Buy Vicky's books - and support a local bookshop - at our online bookstore. Read about the work of Campaign for The Arts here. Find out more about the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) here. GRIN AND SHARE IT Discover more about nano-needle technology! ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. A Cooler Heads production, in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Joining Iain Dale on Cross Question this evening are Labour MP Chris Curtis, Reform UK London Assembly member Alex Wilson, Naomi Smith from the campaign group Best for Britain and commentator Angela Epstein.
Are resident doctors losing your support?Joining Iain Dale on Cross Question this evening are Labour MP Chris Curtis, Reform UK London Assembly member Alex Wilson, Naomi Smith from the campaign group Best for Britain and commentator Angela Epstein.
Our special guest speaker, Mrs. Naomi Smith, gives a Mother's Day message. The scripture foundation is from Colossians 3:16-17. Motherhood can be painful but Jesus showed us even in pain God finishes what he started. You and your family will experience victory because of the blood of Jesus.
UK's Electoral System Challenges Naomi Smith, Chief Executive of Best for Britain, discusses the challenges of the UK's first-past-the-post electoral system and its impact on political strategies. She points out that the system is no longer working effectively for the two main parties, with recent elections showing candidates winning with as little as 22-25% of the vote.This situation has led to discussions about whether major parties should try to appeal to their core supporters or attempt to win over voters from other parties. Naomi emphasises the need for a new approach to address the limitations of the current electoral system.Brexit's Impact on UK Economy and PoliticsNaomi and Nick discussed the impact of Brexit on the UK economy and the political landscape. Naomi highlighted the fragmentation of voter preferences, with people switching from Labour to Reform UK and the Greens. She noted that Labour's inability to deliver progressive economic policies was hurting their appeal. Nick criticised Nigel Farage for the economic consequences of Brexit, but Naomi points out that the media rarely questions Reform UK's policies beyond Brexit. They agreed that politicians need to lead the conversation and not just react to past elections.UK Politics: Fragmentation and ChallengesThe discussion focuses on the current state of UK politics, particularly the Conservative Party's struggles and the rise of Reform UK. Naomi says that the political landscape is fragmented, with different parties leading in various regions. She notes that Labour needs to provide a compelling vision to motivate progressive voters. The conversation also touches on the potential for a "regressive alliance" between Conservatives and Reform UK, and the need for Labour to deliver meaningful change if they win the next election.Labour's Strategy and Progressive Party RelationsThe discussion focuses on the Labour Party's current strategy and its relationship with other progressive parties. Naomi suggests that Labour is losing more votes to the Liberal Democrats, SNP, and Green Party than to Reform UK. She also mentions internal concerns within the Labour Party about the proposed Welfare Bill, which could increase poverty and break manifesto promises. The conversation then shifts to the Green Party's perspective, with Naomi stating that Green Party leaders feel Labour is arrogant and unwilling to engage in discussions about combating the far right. The Greens' decision to run more candidates in the last election is attributed to a lack of reciprocation from Labour for their previous cooperation. Naomi expressed optimism about Britain's future, emphasising the need to address issues such as stagnant wages and declining public services. Read all about it!Naomi Smith is one of the country's most incisive commentators on politics & the UK-Europe relationship. She can also be found on Bluesky . Naomi is also a seasoned podcaster, co-hosting the Quiet Riot Pod, the politics podcast with more passion, less shouting & lots of laughter. Nick Cohen's @NichCohen4 latest Substack column Writing from London on politics and culture from the UK and beyond. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jak jeden dopis dokáže změnit život celé rodině? A kam zmizela Melissa? Více o epizodě nahttps://www.ozlociny.cz/e/358/s/(00:00:00) znělka(00:00:07) ahoj Zločinožrouti(00:00:38) spolupráce - Burga(00:04:26) Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada(00:16:19) Naomi Smith(00:41:17) Melissa Witt(01:30:59) zůstaňte naživu, zůstaňte na svobodě
Nick talks to Naomi Smith of the campaign group Best for Britain on the dead hand of BrexitOn the fifth anniversary of Brexit, Nick Cohen @NickCohen4 talks with Naomi Smith, @pimllicat chief executive officer of Best for Britain which is campaigning for a re-building of the important relationship the UK once enjoyed with its closest and biggest trading partners in the European Union.Brexit is dead - but long live Brexit!Poll after poll has shown that public confidence in Brexit has all but collapsed. The July 2024 election returned a strong remainer-friendly parliament and yet the Labour government is trying to work with the badly bungled hard Brexit deal inflicted on the country by Boris Johnson and David Frost.Same old Brexit doom loop to appease the same old Brexit nut-jobsNaomi argues that the government can be bolder in re-building the relationship with Europe, so recklessly destroyed by Johnson & co. The country should not allow itself to be trapped with a project that has obviously failed. It seems Brexit is being prosecuted by people who don't believe in it to indulge the extremist nationalist fantasies of the political & media grifters & con artists who argued for for it.The UK can escape the dead hand of Brexit"We are not stuck with it and there is a way out," insists Naomi, who cites reliable recent research showing how Brexit is impoverishing the average Brit by at least £2,000 a year, killing growth, ransacking public services, crippling business with red tape and not only killing growth, but is knocking a massive 4% off annual GDP. (The 2008 Great Recession/crash led to a 2% reduction.)Breaking the Brexit OmertàNamoi said the government is beginning to break the taboo on Brexit, adding, "they are now beginning to talk more openly about how bad the deal that Johnson and Frost negotiated was for the country...They are now beginning to talk more openly about how bad the deal that Johnson and Frost negotiated was for the country. They don't do it ad nauseam."Naomi adds, "People aren't stupid. They've realised that they were sold a load of rubbish, and that their lives weren't going to improve and they can't now see their GP any more easily than they could before we left the EU etc."Naomi Smith is one of the country's most incisive commentators on politics & the UK-Europe relationship. She can also be found on Bluesky . Naomi is also a seasoned podcaster, co-hosting the Quiet Riot Pod, the politics podcast with more passion, less shouting & lots of laughter. Nick Cohen's @NickCohen4 latest Substack column Writing from London on politics and culture from the UK and beyond. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome to the PoliticsJOE Podcast.Ed and Ava react to PMQs, discuss Gerry Adams (who was not in the IRA), and Laura interviews Best For Britain's Naomi Smith on parliament's vote on a UK-EU Youth Mobility Scheme.Presenters: Ava Santina, Ed Campbell, and Laura BeveridgeProducer: Laura BeveridgeSting design: Chris WhiteProduction: Sam Sharrocks, Seán Hickey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, we delve into the tragic story of Naomi Smith, a 15-year-old schoolgirl from Nuneaton whose life was stolen in a senseless act of violence. Join us as we uncover the events surrounding her shocking murder, the relentless investigation that followed, and the pursuit of justice that would forever change her community. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In today's episode, Pastor Jared sits down with Josh and Naomi Smith to hear about how they met, their call to ministry, and their work training ministers serving in Latin America. To help support the Grace Pantry visit https:///www.gracebaptist.org/food-pantry. The Magnify Podcast is a production of Grace Baptist Church in Santa Clarita, CA. For more information about service times and events, head to our website, https://www.gracebaptist.org. If you have questions for Pastor Aaron, Pastor David, or our other guests, send them to us by email at magnify@gracebaptist.org.
Naomi Smith nipped out to the post box one night to post a letter for her mum, unfortunately she never came back.If you would like to contact us or follow us:Instagram/X - crime_divers_podEmail - crime_divers_pod@outlook.comYouTube - CrimeDivers PodcastTikTok - crimediverspodcastIf you would like bonus episodes:www.patreon.com/crimediversIf you would like to buy us a coffee:www.buymeacoffee.com/crimediversThanks for listening x
In the fight to end abortion, changing policies is necessary, but it falls woefully short of solving the problem. Today, we have a culture that worships sex, and unless this changes, abortion will be an inevitable consequence of this lifestyle. To end abortion, we need to shift our target upstream to the root lies behind this worship, specifically to the lies surrounding what it means to be human and God's design for the sexes and family. For the discussion, our friend Naomi Smith joins us in unpacking each of these lies. Ideas have consequences, and right now, our culture needs better ideas that will not lead to abortion.View the transcript, leave comments, and check out recommended resources on the Episode Landing Page!
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