Oh God, What Now?

After nearly two years in the job, Keir Starmer isn’t just disliked or unpopular – he’s actually hated in much of the country. But why? How did this unprepossessing and fairly boring man become such a figure of loathing? Has hating politicians no matter who they are become the default position in British politics? Plus: Liz Truss (remember her?) is going to launch her own CPAC and save Britain, again. What is going through that, ahem, unusual mind? And should we maybe scoff less at the idea of a populist revolt and fear it more? This week’s special guest is comedian, musician and Radio 4 veteran Mitch Benn. • Catch Mitch Benn’s show The Lehrer Effect across the country this month. • Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected] ESCAPE ROUTES • Ros has got right back into The Archers on BBC Sounds. • Mitch thinks you should watch the James Blunt movie One Brit Wonder, not just because he’s in it. • Seth recommends The Usual Channels: Inside the Mysterious World of Political Whips by Sebastian Whale. • Zoë recommends academic romance drama Vladimir on Netflix. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Zoë Grünewald with Ros Taylor and Seth Thévoz. 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

Capitalism: Where did it come from and what does it want? Is it falling to pieces or just reinventing itself to remain immortal, as it always has done? Is it about to enter a dark new digital era where it doesn’t even need people? What do we get wrong about it? Can we fix it? What even IS it? Sven Beckert is the author of the epic exploration of money-making, Capitalism: A Global History. He joins Andrew Harrison and Jonn Elledge for the unexpected, untold story of how profit made power. • Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. ESCAPE ROUTES • Sven Beckert recommends the Neapolitan Quartet novels by Elena Ferrante. Start with My Brilliant Friend. • Jonn Elledge has been revisiting This Life on the BBC iPlayer. Don’t miss the This Life episode of our partnerpod Talk ’90s to me. • Andrew Harrison loved the film DJ Ahmet – if you’re only going to see one Macedonian sheep-herding rave movie this year, this is the one. When you buy books through our affiliate bookshop you help the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison and John 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

Trump promised America lower prices, cheaper gas, no more foreign wars and worldwide respect. Instead his Iran rampage has dynamited the world economy, skyrocketed oil prices, and bogged the US down in a worsening military quagmire – and no-one is coming to help. As MAGA squabbles over the future, has Trumpism been torpedo’d by the only person who could destroy it: Donald Trump? Plus, an economic tsunami is arriving from the Strait of Hormuz just when Rachel Reeves doesn’t need it. Is Britain ready for Cost of Living Crisis II? And who will pay the political price? And in the Extra Bit: America discovers the Baked Potato. What could possibly go wrong? “The madman theory of foreign policy only works if you’re not actually a madman.” ESCAPE ROUTES • Hannah recommends the Ill-Advised podcast with Bill Nighy • Matt saw Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet for the first time in 30 years and loved it. • Zoë recommends the new series of Married At First Sight Australia. • Seth has been reading The Man Who Sold Honours by Stephen Bates www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Zoë Grünewald with Hannah Fearn, Matt Green and Seth Thévoz. 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

Is Farage faltering? Reform’s poll lead is slowly sliding, so much so that last week Farage administered a Trumpian punishment beating to pollsters YouGov in classic “shoot the messenger” style. Is Britain starting to see through Nigel’s chicanery – or is it all wishful thinking on our part? And how are Labour and the Tories dealing with not one but two insurgent parties: the Greens as well as Reform? Seth Thévoz and Rachel Cunliffe are joined by crossover guest Steve Richards of the Rock & Roll Politics podcast to read this week’s political tea leaves. • Last chance to sign up to our Live Zoom for Patreon people this Thursday 26 March. ESCAPE ROUTES • Rachel loved Summerfolk, “Maxim Gorky's razor-sharp portrait of privilege and denial”, at the National Theatre • Steve saw Sirat, the astonishing road movie about travellers’ raves and existential loss. • Seth recommends Hoax: The Inside Story of the Howard Hughes-Clifford Irving Affair. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Seth Thévoz and Rachel Cunliffe. 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

Ed Davey wants Britain to have its own nuclear weapons – smart move against the Greens or the end of the old anti-nuke Lib Dems? Why is the damning story about Richard Tice’s tax avoidance not damaging the Reform deputy leader when it would sink any other politician? Does Louis Theroux’s documentary Inside The Manosphere tell us anything new about young men’s descent into hatred as recreation and business model? And in the Extra Bit: The usual suspects lose their mind over the ONS adding hummus and alcohol-free beer to the inflation basket. Can we have one day without a freakout over woke? Just one? • Join our live Zoom for Patreon backers on Thursday 26 March at 7pm. ESCAPE ROUTES • Marie recommends the classic movie Kind Hearts and Coronets • John recommends Death by Lightning on Netflix. • Jason recommends It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time: The Worst TV Shows in History and Other Things I Wrote by Bruce Vilanch • Andrew recommends The Vorrh by B. Catling. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison with Marie le Conte, Jonn Elledge and Jason Hazeley. Audio Production by Chris Jones and 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

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

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

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

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

A special crossover edition from our geopolitics podcast This Is Not A Drill – Trump’s stunning surprise attack on Iran could be the most consequential world event since 9/11. Will the President’s goal of smooth regime change work when it failed every other time, or trigger a regional conflagration? Iran’s hated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is dead but the Islamic Republic is showing no sign of collapsing. And now Hezbollah has attacked other Arab states as well as British and US military targets. How will the war play out? How resilient is the Islamic Republic? Does Israel want regime change or regime destruction? Does Iran have any potential leaders that the US could tolerate? And has anyone planned for running a country of 90 million people which is now in chaos? Live from Beirut our guest Paul Salem, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, speaks to Gavin Esler. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people? Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact [email protected] to find out more. Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Greens take Gorton and Denton and Labour take a pounding. What does it all mean? Is there more going on than all the hot takes suggest? Is the Starmer Doomsday Clock ticking again? And will we ever get enough of Matt Goodwin’s sour defeat face? Ros Taylor and Steve Richards of the Rock & Roll Politics podcast join Andrew Harrison for a fast reaction by-election minicast. Join us next Tuesday (Monday for Patreons!) for a broader look at how the major parties will handle the result, and more too. • 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

Who gave the tip-off that resulted in Peter Mandelson’s sensational arrest? And will this mess ever stop unraveling? Plus, an Australian-style social media ban for under-16s is gathering pace. Can it work and is it such a good idea to protect teens from the online world only to throw them in the deep end once they turn 18? Also: Meeting Alastair Campbell at the Lido. Marie’s extraordinary experience of interviewing Gisèle Pelicot. And in the Extra Bit, the joy (or not) of making kids do terrible Saturday jobs. You won’t believe what Seth had to do. ESCAPE ROUTES • Marie recommends I’m No Angel with Mae West. • Zöe recommends Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind [[ ]] • Matt has been reading Life Is Rosi by Jess Robinson • Seth has been enjoying the John Major edition of Gyles Brandreth’s podcast Rosebud Major Keep independent podcasting alive and kicking by backing OGWN at www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Seth Thévoz with Zöe Grünewald, Marie le Conte and Matt Green. 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

The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on Epstein-related allegations of misconduct in public office stuns the world. He has not been charged with any offence – but is the former Prince’s past damaging the Monarchy irreparably? And when will the victims of Epstein and his circle get justice? Plus, as the vindictive Gorton & Denton by-election enters its last few days we talk to Jack Walton of local news site Manchester Mill about the vibe on the ground… and whether it’s worse for Labour if the Greens or Matt Goodwin of Reform win. • Manchester Mill is part of the Mill Media group creating good old-fashioned local journalism for British cities including Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow and Bristol. ESCAPE ROUTES • Rachel has been watching the Winter Olympics as a chaser to Heated Rivalry on Sky. • Jack has been reading Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov • Andrew recommends escaping modern politics by diving into ’90s politics and C4’s The Tony Blair Story. Keep Oh God, What Now? in fine health by backing us on Patreon. Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rachel Cunliffe. 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. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Could Reform really carry out a Trump-style, Project 2025-inspired shock-and-awe assault on Britain’s institutions and politics if they get into government? America’s much-vaunted system of checks and balances turned out to be made of tissue paper. Is Britain’s hand-me-down constitution any more robust? We look at the firewalls in our politics with special guest James Ball of The New World paper. Plus, what did we make of Channel 4’s epic Tony Blair documentary? Did it let Tonty off too lightly? And in the Extra Bit for Patreon people: Barack Obama thinks aliens are real. Why do UFOs hold such a weird grip on the political imagination? ESCAPE ROUTES • Jonn recommends Hijack with Idris Elba on Apple TV+ • Jason recommends Ghost Signs: Poverty and the Pandemic by Stu Hennigan. You can hear our vintage 2023 Bunker with Stu Hennigan on Apple, Spotify and everywhere else. • James loved White House murder comedy The Residence on Netflix. • Seth recommends the Panorama documentary Our Man in Moscow. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Seth Thévoz with Jonn Elledge and Jason Hazeley. Audio Production by Simon Williams and Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Produced by Chris Jones. 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

“There is no British security without Europe,” Keir Starmer told the Munich Security Conference this weekend. Nobody wants a wider war in Europe, but we might get one anyway – and Britain’s military isn’t ready for it yet. So how can we change our armed forces and our wider society to ensure that Putin won’t want to risk a conflict with Britain and our allies? Ed Arnold of the Royal United Services Institute joins Ros Taylor and Raf Behr to talk about how Russia uses hybrid “grey zone” attacks on democracies which stop just short of open warfare… the sobering truth about NATO Article 5… and why we have to budget for the next threat but one, because “What comes after Putin may be worse.” ESCAPE ROUTES • Raf rewatched Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. • Ed has been enjoying England in the Six Nations rugby. • Ros recommends the comedy drama about stand-up comedy, Is This Thing On? , out now in cinemas. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Ros Taylor and Rafael Behr. Audio and video production by Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Produced by Chris Jones. 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

First thing on Monday it looked like Keir Starmer was organic sourdough toast. By teatime he’d riled up Labour MPs and looked – somehow – safe for now. Can the PM weather the brutal months ahead? Is it still a case of “when not if” he goes? Plus, we look at how far the toxic misogyny of the Epstein horrorshow spreads. Special guest Morgan Jones takes us back to the anti-Brexit campaign for a second referendum in 2016-19 and we look for lessons for a possible Rejoin campaign. And in the Extra Bit for Patreon people: Does Lord Of The Flies still resonate in its new psychedelic BBC incarnation? • Buy Morgan’s book No Second Chances: The Inside Story of the Campaign for a Second EU Referendum through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. ESCAPE ROUTES • Hannah has been enjoying eyeliner pop-rock reprobate Yungblud. • Rachel loved the musical Ballad Lines at the Southwark Theatre. • Morgan has gone old WWII movies mad with Went The Day Well? and In Which We Serve. • Comic book guy Andrew recommends mind-bending time-crash series Assorted Crisis Events www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rachel Cunliffe and Hannah Fearn. Produced by Chris Jones. 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

Remember Trump’s first term when we talked about “kakistocracy”: rule by the worst of the worst? They’re back and they’re worse than ever – not just Trump and his entourage but his corrupt Mini-Mes around the world. Why is our time so cursed with venal, cruel, nihilistic and apparently mentally damaged leaders? Where do these personalities come from? Are Trump and his entourage true psychopaths in the psychological sense? Ian Hughes, author of Disordered Minds : How Dangerous Personalities Are Destroying Democracy, joins Zoë Grünewald and Jonn Elledge to discuss our age of “malignant normality”, Hitler, Mao, and the psychopathology of cruel rule. As one African proverb says: “The child who does not feel love will burn down the village to feel its warmth.” • Buy Disordered Minds through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. ESCAPE ROUTES • Jonn recommends Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streaming on Paramount+. • Ian Hughes has been rewatching Carl Sagan’s classic space documentary Cosmos on YouTube. • Zoë recommends Industry on the BBC iPlayer. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Zöe Grünewald with Jonn Elledge. 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. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Keir Starmer’s now former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney has gone, so what does this mean for the Prime Minister’s project and government? Zoë Grünewald is joined by Rafael Behr to discuss the fall out and where we go from here in a special bonus emergencycast. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Zoë Grünewald with Rafael Behr. Audio Production by Simon Williams. 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

“I’m Mandy – buy me.” Peter Mandelson’s career finally collapses in a scandal more poisonous than Profumo, more serious than Partygate, and more shameful than Suez. How did Mandelson get away with his shifty behaviour for so long? Will Starmer’s errors of judgment taint his government irrevocably? And how come it’s on British figures like Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor who are suffering the consequences of their associations with Epstein? ESCAPE ROUTES • Raf recommends the app DJay Pro for Mac, Windows, iOS and Android. • Ros went to see the National Theatre production of Terence Rattigan’s Man And Boy. • Jonn is watching A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, the Game of Thrones spin-off, on Sky Atlantic. • Andrew recommends the Marvel series Wonder Man on Disney+. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison with Jonn Elledge, Ros Taylor and Rafael Behr. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn and Tom Taylor. 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

A forty-year slow-motion disaster in higher education is reaching its climax – and Labour is left holding the bag. If young people decide a degree isn’t worth the massive debt, where does that leave British cities that depend on free-spending undergraduate populations – and universities that are hooked on no-longer-welcome foreign students? Can academia expect much sympathy from graduate generations whose aspirations are held back by crushing loan repayments? And can Labour do anything about it? In a fascinating conversation Oxford Brookes history professor and education commentator Glen O’Hara walks Ros Taylor and Hannah Fearn through the unfolding mess. Abstract: “The only way to wake up Westminster and Whitehall is to have a crisis.” • Buy Glen O’Hara’s book New Labour, New Britain through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. ESCAPE ROUTES • Hannah recommends Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. • Glen recommends Kingdom Come by JG Ballard. • Ros has been watching David Baddiel’s Cat Man on C4. Support us on Patreon. Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact [email protected] to find out more Presented by Ros Taylor with Hannah Fearn. Audio Production by Chris Jones and 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

Starmer slaps down Andy Burnham’s bid to stand in the Gorton and Denton by-election: bad move for Labour, bad timing from Burnham, or another distraction we don’t need? Plus, who’s bringing the best self to the overladen Reform bandwagon: twice-sacked Home Sec and Creature Comforts creation Suella Braverman, or race-baiting former academic Matt Goodwin? Special guest, media analysts Ayala Panievsky, takes us through the populist assault on the right to know, and her book The New Censorship: How the War on the Media is Taking Us Down. And in the Extra Bit: Who’s feeling the “middle class spending crisis?” • Buy The New Censorship by Ayala Panievsky through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. ESCAPE ROUTES • HANNAH has been reading Eurotrash by Christian Kracht • MATT recommends the Tourette’s movie I Swear • AYALA PANIEVSKY has been going to Iranian and Persian raves in Hackney like this one • ANDREW has rediscovered the (mostly) pre-Trump nostalgia of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison with Hannah Fearn and Matt Green. 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

“Things are more dangerous now than during the Cold War.” The world is breaking up into mutually suspicious power blocs, Trump is trying to destroy NATO and Putin has learned that aggression pays off. Is a major war coming or can we prevent it? In an enthralling conversation, defence commentator Peter Apps – author of The Next World War – explains the forces and self-deceptions that are driving the world towards conflict, the key danger points, and what Britain can do to avert disaster. • Buy The Next World War 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 • Peter has been reading Kingmaker, Sonia Purnell’s biography of Pamela Churchill Harriman • Alex recommends Booker Prize winner Flesh by David Szalay. • Seth was delighted to find Mask Or Face: Reflections in an Actor's Mirror by Michael Redgrave in a charity shop. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Seth Thévoz and Alex von Tunzelmann. 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

• Get the latest reaction on Trump’s climbdown from Weekly Wrap-Up on The Bunker with Raf Behr and Andrew Harrison. “If you’re not at the table,” said Canada’s Mark Carney, “You’re on the menu.” Trump’s demented speech in Davos leaves the world agog. Beyond the President’s tantrums and on-off attempts to extort Greenland, are Britain and the EU ready to live in a world where America is a predatory enemy? Are European leaders just sucking his abuse up – or are their subtle pushbacks working? We look at the shocking end of 80 years of Atlanticism and wonder what comes next for a Brexit-weakened Britain. Oh, and Jason admits that years ago he did a “please have my Nobel Peace Prize” too. No better than Trump, this guy. ESCAPE ROUTES • Zöe recommends the Jean-Marc Vallée movie Wild with Reese Witherspoon. • Jason has been reading Things Are Never So Bad That They Can’t Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela by William Neuman • Jonn has been reading Precipice by Robert Harris. • Ros recommends Michael Crick’s biography of Farage, One Party After Another. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Ros Taylor with Jason Hazeley, Zöe Grünewald and Jonn Elledge. 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. https://www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices