Oh God, What Now?

The Mandelson Files are beginning to dribble out and they don’t look good for Keir Starmer. Will this be the final albatross round the PM’s neck? Zoë Grünewald and Rafael Behr talk over the unfurling consequences of the second-worst files in the world.

Plus, liberalism has taken a battering this past decade, but don’t worry! Centrism can still save the world. Bloomberg columnist Adrian Wooldridge’s new book Centrists of the World Unite! is a battle cry to get liberalism back into the game. What went wrong? What does liberalism even mean in the 21st Century? Does anything unite left liberals, neoliberals and managerial liberals and why do they keep screwing up? And in the battle between liberalism and tech power, who wins? 

Buy Centrists of the World Unite! through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Oh God, What Now? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Adrian recommends Southland on Netflix.

• Zoë recommends anything by the Danish painter Anna Ancher but if you can get to the Dulwich Picture Gallery it’s definitely worth a visit. 

• Raf has been reading Consciousness Explained by Daniel Dennett. 

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Presented by Zoë Grünewald with Rafael Behr. Audio and Video Production by Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production

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British voters are overwhelmingly against Trump’s war in Iran but the pundits and politicians of the Tory-Reform universe seem to want more, harder and faster. Why is the British right hooked on tough-guy politics? And will Farage’s fawning over Trump prove to be Reform’s Achilles heel? Plus, first pickings from the Mandelson files, Rachel Cunliffe on why Labour’s justice reforms (and the controversial moves on jury trials) might be one radical reform the Government doesn’t duck… and in the Extra Bit, the Nepo Babies of world politics. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Rachel recommends Small Prophets on BBC iPlayer

• Jason recommends Daniel Farson’s Guide To Britain Vol.1 on Blu-Ray. 

• Ros recommends Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere on Netflix. 

• Andrew recommends David Byrne’s Who Is The Sky? tour 

Help keep independent podcasting alive and kicking by supporting us at www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rachel Cunliffe, Ros Taylor and Jason Hazeley. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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The Government’s migration and asylum plans have had that unique Keir Starmer way of annoying everyone. Including many of their own MPs, such as Walthamstow’s Stella Creasy. She says her party is now asking people to live in “limbo” and that the new policy change is not “socially just”. She joins the panel to explain why. And in the second half, monsters are everywhere (including politics). But what is a monster? Why do humans keep inventing them — and what does that say about us? Dr Surekha Davies’ new book Humans: A Monstrous History, explores all of that, and she joins the panel to give her take. 

ESCAPE ROUTES: 

• Jonn has been reading the work of Iain M. Banks: https://iainbanks.co.uk/ 

• Zoë went to the Tate Modern to see the Nigerian Modernism exhibition 

• Surekha recommends a visit to the Samurai exhibition at the British Museum 

• Stella was DJing at the weekend to raise money for two charities WHICH YOU CAN STILL DONATE TO! They are Eat or Heat and Furnishing Futures

Buy Humans: A Monstrous History through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Oh God, What Now? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow 

Presented by Zoë Grunewald with Jonn Elledge. Audio Production by: Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. 

www.podmasters.co.uk 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the upside, a tyrannical theocrat and much of his entourage are dead. On the downside, so are thousands of innocent children and adults. As Trump’s open-ended and ill-defined Iran adventure unfolds, is it game over for the tattered remnants of the so-called Special Relationship between Britain and the US? Are there any good choices left for Starmer? And is Britain’s rah-rah right-wing press fantasising that British people support this war?

Plus: after the Greens’ win in Manchester is Gorton & Denton Derangement Syndrome driving the legacy parties over the edge? And in a special extended Extra Bit: Dubai Schadenfreude, or: Won’t anyone think of the influencers? 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Jonn recommends The Lady on ITV. 

• Marie recommends Stefan Zweig’s Burning Secret

• Raf recommends Departure(s) by Julian Barnes. 

• Matt recommends Murder Most Foul by Guy Jenkins 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Matt Green with Jonn Elledge, Marie le Conte and Rafael Behr. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

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This edition recorded before the US attacks on Iran. The dust is still settling from Gorton and Denton. Are the Greens playing with fire with their voter targeting? If Keir Starmer’s leadership is back in question, how long has he got? Are Reform going full Trump with their whining about “cheating”? And can anyone think of anything at all to say about the Tories? Plus: Is there any appetite for an ICE-style immigration Gestapo like Zia Yusuf wants for his “Deportation Command”? After our EmergencyPod, Ros Taylor, Andrew Harrison and Steve Richards of the Rock & Roll Politics podcast reconvene to take a longer view. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Ros recommends Nonesuch by Francis Spufford. 

• Steve has been watching Brazilian movie The Secret Agent, reading one chapter of War And Peace a day with the help of this Substack, and masochistically enjoying the torment of Tottenham Hotspur FC. 

• Andrew recommends superior sci-fi action movie Predator: Badlands on Disney+. 

• Hear more of Steve Richards on Gorton and Denton on the Rock & Roll Politics podcast 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Ros Taylor and Steve Richards. Audio Production by: Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices