Politics from the New Statesman

The British royal family was in crisis even before Queen Elizabeth II died, and the new King and princess of wales both became ill with cancer.In this modern age where access increasingly equates to relevance, and truth and conspiracy so often intertwine, how is Britain’s relationship with monarchy changing? Chris Stone is joined on the New Statesman podcast by author Tanya Gold who has written this week's cover story: The Fragile Crown.LISTEN AD-FREE:📱Download the New Statesman appMORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:❓ Ask a question – we answer them every Friday⏰ Get our daily politics newsletter every morning✍️ Enjoy the best of our writing via email every Saturday Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's listener questions time! Anoosh Chakelian and Rachel Cunliffe answer a listener who asks why senior politicians flock to address culture wars issues "which are frankly below their station", and another who wants to know if MPs who are also landlords should recuse themselves from voting on laws affecting renters.Submit a question for us to answer on a future episode: www.newstatesman.com/youaskusListen to our previous episode on leasehold reform with Barry Gardiner MP: https://pod.fo/e/22360dSign up to receive Morning Call, our daily politics newsletter: https://substack.com/morningcallLISTEN AD-FREE:📱Download the New Statesman appMORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:❓ Ask a question – we answer them every Friday⏰ Get our daily politics newsletter every morning✍️ Enjoy the best of our writing via email every Saturday Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

England’s waterways are overflowing with sewage. In a recent report it has been found that a record amount of sewage is being discharged into rivers and seas around England. Data revealed that last year raw sewage was discharged, by private water companies, for more than 3.6 million hours, a 105% increase on the previous 12 months. And in addition to all of this Thames Water, Britain’s biggest water company, is at risk of insolvency.Who’s responsible for this shitstorm? And in how many ways is this damaging for the country?Anoosh Chakelian, Britain editor at the New Statesman, is joined in the studio by Will Dunn, business editor, and Rachel Cunliffe, associate political editor.Read Will's piece: Who killed Thames Water?LISTEN AD-FREE:📱Download the New Statesman appMORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:❓ Ask a question – we answer them every Friday⏰ Get our daily politics newsletter every morning✍️ Enjoy the best of our writing via email every Saturday Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Flexible work has existed for decades. Think about local hairdressers, personal trainers, or tutors working for themselves – or even the jazz musicians in the early 1900s who coined the term ‘gig economy’. But the past ten years of technology have made it more accessible – and visible – to both the people who use it and those who work in it.But what is the right balance between job autonomy, economic security and worker’s rights? Is there a world where an evolving labour market provides proper workers’ protections and union representation while maintaining real autonomy and flexibility?This New Statesman podcast, sponsored by Uber ahead of the three year anniversary of their groundbreaking recognition agreement with GMB – the first of its kind in the gig economy – breaks down all of this and more, to discuss the future of work in 21st-century Britain.Journalist Suze Cooper was joined by a panel of guests including Sir Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham since 1994 and Chair of Parliament’s Work and Pensions Select Committee; the GMB trade union’s National Secretary, Andy Prendergast and Uber’s UK General Manager, Andrew Brem.Through the episode, they discussed how changes in ways of working have come to the fore in our everyday lives, with technological advances seeing less of a focus on traditional industries and more on the dynamic, flexible labour market of the 21st century. Alongside these transformations we’ve seen the world of work change in other ways with the rise of hybrid working environments, the gig and sharing economy, work-from-anywhere culture and digital nomads. The pandemic has sped up and baked in these developments across the UK, as people’s approach to work-life balance adjusted, with workers seemingly coming to value their autonomy in much more profound ways than previous generations.Options for flexible work across various apps and platforms have enabled more choice for millions of people around their working patterns, choosing when and where they earn. More and more, it appears British workers are putting greater value on autonomy and flexibility in their lives and careers than their parents and grandparents did, balancing work around other responsibilities like caring or studying. But the question for the UK – and considered by the panel throughout this episode – is how best to deliver this flexibility and autonomy whilst not compromising on the protections and benefits workers need.LISTEN AD-FREE:📱Download the New Statesman appMORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:❓ Ask a question – we answer them every Friday⏰ Get our daily politics newsletter every morning✍️ Enjoy the best of our writing via email every Saturday Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on the podcast we're bringing you a conversation from the New Statesman's Path to Power conference which looked inside the Labour Party machine as it gears up for the next election.In this session Rachel Cunliffe, associate political editor at the New Statesman, was joined by Alison McGovern, MP for Wirral South and Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, to discuss Labour's plans for labour.LISTEN AD-FREE:📱Download the New Statesman appMORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:❓ Ask a question – we answer them every Friday⏰ Get our daily politics newsletter every morning✍️ Enjoy the best of our writing via email every Saturday Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is an episode we like to call “You Ask Us”. Our first question from James who says: "How would the results of a general election change if all British residents were allowed to vote, not just British Citizens? In other words what happens if we let immigrants without British passports vote?" Ryan also writes in to say: "Will Labour be forced into a strict immigration policy come the general election in order to stop it being the dominant issue?" Anoosh Chakelian, Britain editor of the New Statesman, is joined in the studio by political correspondent, Freddie Hayward, and down the line by senior data journalist Ben Walker.LISTEN AD-FREE:📱Download the New Statesman appMORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:❓ Ask a question – we answer them every Friday⏰ Get our daily politics newsletter every morning✍️ Enjoy the best of our writing via email every Saturday Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this week the UK government accused China of stealing 40 million UK registered voters’ names and addresses. The breach occurred in 2021 and 2022, in which time GCHQ has ascertained that China state-affiliated actors also targeted several parliamentarians’ emails - including former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith. So what could the Chinese government do with this data? How real is the threat of China to Western democracy? And what is our government doing to mitigate this risk?Anoosh Chakelian, Britain editor of the New Statesman, and Freddie Hayward, political correspondent, discuss the UK's China strategy in the run up to the election.Read: China’s global coal machine won’t be stopped so easilyLISTEN AD-FREE:📱Download the New Statesman appMORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:❓ Ask a question – we answer them every Friday⏰ Get our daily politics newsletter every morning✍️ Enjoy the best of our writing via email every Saturday Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Each one of us in the UK is likely to be or become a carer at some point in our lives. Women have a 50:50 chance of caring by the time they are 46 and men by the time they reach the age of 57.But the UK’s social care system is failing all of us. This includes those that require care (whether this is older or disabled adults), and both formal employed carers and informal carers who tend to be parents, children, siblings, or spouses.Rachel Cunliffe, associate political editor of The New Statesman, is joined by Jess Prestidge from the Centre for Social Justice, and former BBC correspondent and family carer Humphrey Hawksley.LISTEN AD-FREE:📱Download the New Statesman appMORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:❓ Ask a question – we answer them every Friday⏰ Get our daily politics newsletter every morning✍️ Enjoy the best of our writing via email every Saturday Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is an episode we like to call “You Ask Us”.Our first question from Adam in Cardiff who says: "Does it matter who was elected in the Welsh Labour leadership election? It seems that both candidates had a very similar platform. Does the selection of Vaughan Gething have political implications in Westminster?"Rory also writes in to say: "With the Mayoral elections coming up, what would the significance of a Labour clean sweep be? A lot has been said about the different experiences of Labour and Tory Mayors under the previous government… might a Labour government try to depoliticise devolution?"Anoosh Chakelian, Britain editor of the New Statesman, is joined in the studio by political correspondent, Freddie Hayward. LISTEN AD-FREE:📱Download the New Statesman appMORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:❓ Ask a question – we answer them every Friday⏰ Get our daily politics newsletter every morning✍️ Enjoy the best of our writing via email every Saturday Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stability, investment, and reform - these are the three pillars for growth set out by Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her Mais Lecture to business and finance leaders earlier this week.“In a changing world, Britain has been behind the curve,” she said, but a Labour government, she stated, would seek to bring a “new chapter in Britain's economic history”. Anoosh Chakelian, Britain editor at the New Statesman, is joined by George Eaton, senior editor, and Freddie Hayward, political correspondent, who both attended Reeves' lecture on Tuesday evening at Bayes Business School in City University.LISTEN AD-FREE:📱Download the New Statesman appMORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:❓ Ask a question – we answer them every Friday⏰ Get our daily politics newsletter every morning✍️ Enjoy the best of our writing via email every Saturday Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.