Oh God, What Now?

The shocking death of former Cambridge University professor Jason Arday raises serious questions about the press investigation of his career and the claims he made about his life. Some blame the right-wing press for his death, others the university. Some blame the litany of racist and abusive messages Arday received online. Where should responsibility lie?

Plus, Andy Burnham is clearly more comfortable navigating today’s online world than Keir Starmer. But does he fully grasp the forces he’s up against? Are Russia, China and malign actors closer to home “flooding the zone” with disinformation to drown out the truth? Former senior UK government adviser-turned disinformation analyst Amil Khan joins the panel to dissect the information war that Burnham faces.

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at ogwn@podmasters.co.uk.

ESCAPE ROUTES

• James has been playing the strategy video game Civilisation VII

• Marie is in the middle of Pereira Maintains by Italian writer and academic Antonio Tabucchi.

• Amil has been reading Beer in the Snooker Club by Egyptian writer Waguih Ghali.

• Seth watched David Lean’s 1970 epic Ryan’s Daughter

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www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Seth Thévoz with James Ball, Marie Le Conte and Amil Khan. Produced by James Liddell. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Fast analysis of the Clacton by-election with Steve Richards and Andrew Harrison. Two and half cheers for plucky underdog Nigel Farage who defeated the “establishment” candidate Count Binface in a by-election of his own making. And in the end, he didn’t even bother to show up to claim his victory… Now the stunt is over, the parliamentary standards watchdog is back investigating Farage’s £5m “gift” from a crypto billionaire. So was this entire exercise completely futile? Could Farage’s own gambit come back to bite him? And with his – and Reform’s – polling slipping, has the tide finally turned?

• Buy tickets for Steve’s 14-day Rock & Roll Politics run at the Edinburgh Fringe

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at ogwn@podmasters.co.uk.

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

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

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Barring a bin-shaped asteroid strike on the Essex Coast, Nigel Farage will win the Clacton by-election – but his problems won’t be over. What will Reform’s slippery leader face in the months to come? And can, should, would his party strike a deal with either Restore or the Conservatives? Plus our special guest, journalist Rachel Wearmouth, has the date of the next General Election, for real! And we answer a wealth of YOUR questions in a But Your Emails special.

• Get up to £350 off the Eight Sleep Pod 5 here with the code OGWN.

• Don’t miss the Clacton By-Election Emergencycast on Friday 14 August.

• Order the unofficial Count Binface comic here

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at ogwn@podmasters.co.uk.

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Rachel has been watching the Disney+ crime thriller Furious

• Seth has been re-watching classic psychedelic ’60s spy show The Prisoner.

• Jason played Steve Reich’s Music For 18 Musicians with Paraorchestra and Charles Hazlewood and you can hear it on BBC Sounds

• Andrew has been listening to the Richard Norris remixes collection Re-Make: Re-Model

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Seth Thévoz and Jason Hazeley. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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No drinking pints standing up in London’s nightlife hotspot? No new reservoirs until 2040? Welcome to Veto Britain – where infrastructure, housing and even a round at the bar are all subject to the mercy of endless local objection. So how did we become a country that seems incapable of building, changing or enjoying itself anymore? Plus, racist disorder erupts in Norfolk, scrutiny of Andy Burnham’s early prisoner release plan intensifies and the PM’s crackdown on “subscription traps” gives cancel culture a whole new meaning.

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at ogwn@podmasters.co.uk.

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Jonn finally watched Stephen Fry and Mark Carwardine’s documentary Last Chance to See, based on Carwardine and Douglas Adams’ book and radio series of the same name

• Rachel has been reading Virgil’s epic The Aeneid – “the Roman response to Homer,” she says.

• Raf saw a production of Molière’s Tartuffe while in France which is coming to the Marylebone Theatre next month.

• Zoë zoomed through Jem Calder’s I Want You to Be Happy

Image: Cartoon depicting Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 2nd Baronet of Brayton (1829-1906), an English temperance campaigner and radical, anti-imperialist Liberal Party politician. Dated 19th Century. No idea who the bloke on the right is. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Zoë Grünewald, with Rachel Cunliffe, Jonn Elledge and Rafael Behr. Produced by James Liddell. Audio Production: Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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The earth is burning, Britain is parched brown and rain is a distant memory. Yet the Tories are purging the last of their Net Zero advocates, the Greens seem to have lost interest in green policies, and Burnham’s Labour are teetering on the edge of reopening oil and gas in the North Sea. Saving the planet is just so expensive! What will it take to get British politicians to take the climate emergency seriously?

Plus, will the real Kemi Badenoch please sit down? The current and quite possibly final leader of the Conservative Party stood by convicted neo-Nazi Joshua Bonehill-Paine as a local council candidate (he withdraws right in the middle of this recording). So how come the commentariat is convinced of the “Keminaissance”?

ESCAPE ROUTES:

• Zoë has been reading Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth.

• Seth has been to Bayreuth for the Festival (hurry, it’s still on).

• Ros got a preview copy of Deep Into The Sixties: Britain 1965–66 by David Kynaston

• Rachel has been reading Pagans by James Alistair Henry.

Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at ogwn@podmasters.co.uk.

• Find out if you’re owed on car finance at refundclub.co.uk/OGWN

• Refund Club is a trading style of Sandsford Law Limited, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA no. 8008114). Checking is free. A fee is payable only if your claim is successful. Eligibility: car finance taken out in the UK between 2007 and 2021. The average claim is around £829 per agreement; this is an average and not a guarantee of the amount you will receive. You can also claim yourself for free by contacting your lender or the Financial Ombudsman Service. refundclub.co.uk/OGWN

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Ros Taylor with Zoë Grünewald, Rachel Cunliffe and Seth Thévoz. Audio Production by Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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