The fallout from the first Sunak vs. Starmer TV debate continues with plenty of pods scooping up the latest lines on claims and counter-claims about, ahem, that tax figure. Just don’t put it on the side of a bus. Or do. The conservative leaning Spectator claims that using Sunak’s calculations, the Tories will lift taxes by £3,000. There are now more numbers flying around than an A Level Maths exam. But the political news pods are unpicking everything and wading through what’s now a frankly poisonous debate about what was said..in the debate.
A good guest line-up for Nish and Coco from Pod Save the UK. Former Labour leader and now independent candidate Jeremy Corbyn and former SNP Deputy Leader Mhairi Black join. If the left is culled, the centre is cracked and the right is reformed, they’re asking where is the choice in this election?
Talking Politics examines whether the £2,000 figure stands up to scrutiny. But the gem of the pod is insight and backstory from Julie Etchingham about the challenges of hosting the first head to head TV debate, the little moments of body language she gleamed from both candidates and the mood music in the hours leading up to air time in that somewhat futuristic box studio.
The New Statesmen Podcast also examines the £2,000 debate dominating the headlines. But what to make of Keir Starmer saying he would never use private health care, even if his loved ones were knocking at death’s door…plausible? Senior data journalist Ben Walker looks at the snap polls we’ve had and whether they tell us anything.
Those who watched the debate would have met Miles who asked Sunak and Starmer about what they’re doing for young people. PoliticsJoe discuss their answers and how national service could be a good thing. Ps can someone interview Miles?
Navaro Live’s Michael Walker and Dalia Gebrial look at the latest regarding candidate Faiza Shaheen who says she will stand as an independent for Chingford and Woodford Green after being blocked by Labour because of her Twitter history. Shaheen grew up in her constituency, went to Oxford University, has a PHD and teaches at the London School of Economics. What’s going on and could she win?
It’s road trip time for UnHerd’s Political Editor Tom McTague. In the first episode of a new mini-series from These Times, he’s on the search for Nigel Farage’s rebel army. McTague is in Great Yarmouth, one of Reform UK’s top target seats and a key battleground between Labour and the Conservatives. McTague knows the town quite well and he starts at the Rumbold Arms pub to hear from people in the Norfolk seaside town.
Of course, it's not just the UK voting this year. The largest democracy on earth has had a big political shock this week. India’s PM Narendra Modi has declared victory but it wasn’t the landslide victory that many were expecting. “The strongman of India has been humbled” says The Economist's The Intelligence. Why and what now for one of the most successful politicians in post-independence India? The Economist have a whole podcast series about Modi dropping later today, The Modi Raj.
MediaStorm hosts Helena Wadia and Mathilda Mallinson zone in on South Africa’s elections, the role of the media there and what all of that can perhaps tell us about our own democracy. Insightful commentary, pulling listeners out of the Western worldview from guests political analyst Mpumelelo Mkhabela and comedian Tats Nkonzo.
Mexico is set to have its first woman president, smashing the glass ceiling in a country where patriarchy and machismo is pretty entrenched. Macrodose looks at the economic climate Claudia Sheinbaum will face. She’s promised to defend and extend the social programs of the popular outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador or Amlo as he’s known (her mentor), but will she be able to?
And now for something completely different...
Essential to a healthy democracy is rigorous journalism. A new mini-series from Page 94: the Private Eye Podcast interviews the reporters behind six groundbreaking pieces of investigative journalism which have been shortlisted for the prestigious Paul Foot Award 2024. They kick off with Tristan Kirk of the Evening Standard on the scandal of the Single Justice Procedure, a system that allows the vast majority of certain offences to be prosecuted behind closed doors. As Kirk explains this has now swallowed up 800,000 criminal cases each year. A fascinating listen on the important issue of SJP (not Sarah Jessica Parker).
