Politics from the New Statesman

The deputy labour leader and “trade union favourite” delivered a speech full of promises at the TUC. Now she has to deliver.Reaffirming Labour’s commitment to the New Deal for Working people, Rayner shored up support among the unions as Labour approaches the next election. But, as Rachel Wearmouth tells Anoosh Chakelian and Freddie Hayward, Rayner’s “one of us” status could spell problems for a future Labour government if they fall short.Submit a question for You Ask Us: https://www.newstatesman.com/YouAskUsDownload the app:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=USSubscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week:https://newstatesman.com/podcastofferSign up to our daily politics email: https://morningcall.substack.com/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.

The UK is one of the largest producers of household electronic waste in the world. In 2022 we threw away nearly 24 kilos of things like plugs, mobile phones and computer hardware per person.   The volume of e-waste produced world-wide is predicted to increase from more than 61 million metric tons this year to nearly 75 million in 2030 – and the vast majority of this will go into landfill.   In this special episode, Becky Slack from the New Statesman's Spotlight team meets Michael Wyatt, director of Google ChromeOS EMEA, and Justin Sutton-Parker, CEO of research group Px3, to discuss what businesses and other organisations can do to play their part in reducing the scourge of e-waste, and more broadly how IT can drive sustainability.  --This episode is sponsored by Google ChromeOS. Trial ChromeOS Flex for yourself on an old PC or Mac for free. Download ChromeOS Flex onto a USB via the ChromeOS website.--The New Statesman Spotlight team reports on policy for those who shape it and the businesses it affects. Read their policy reporting at https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlightLISTEN 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.

Rishi Sunak earned almost £5m in the past three years, yet this was only taxed at a rate of 22%. Britain's tax system is broken, focusing on income rather than wealth, and it seems like no one plans on doing anything about this. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has explicitly stated that should Labour come into power, a wealth tax will not be introduced. In this episode, staff writer Harry Lambert sets out how Labour could raise £28billion by adopting a wealth tax, and how this could help narrow the gap between Asset Britain and Austerity Britain.Read Britain’s great tax con here: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2023/08/britains-great-tax-conDownload the New Statesman app:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=USSubscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week:https://newstatesman.com/podcastofferSign up to our weekly Saturday Read emailhttps://saturdayread.substack.com/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.

After the extreme heat of summer 2024, which saw children stretchered out of their exams, Britain’s prime minister calls a press conference in Westminster Hall. He has one eye on life after office (skiing in Aspen, a big gig in Silicon Valley), but before he leaves, he wants to unveil something truly ground-breaking: a large language model that has been trained by the best minds to solve the climate crisis. In this satirical work of speculative fiction, the New Statesman’s business editor Will Dunn explores the government’s love affair with Big Tech, fast-forwarding to the dying days of a Conservative government. Climate protestors have been cleared from the roads - but the tarmac is melting and people want answers. Could an advanced AI called Tom provide the prime minister’s moonshot moment?Written and read by Will Dunn. You can read the text version at newstatesman.com If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy Edward Docx reading Boris Johnson: the death of a clown. Download the New Statesman app:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=USSubscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week:https://newstatesman.com/podcastofferSign up to our weekly Saturday Read emailhttps://saturdayread.substack.com/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.

We inhabit an economy too small to deliver the social goods British people expect, and now Britain is cracking. From the concrete crises affecting schools across the country, to crumbling policies and leadership on both the right and left, Andrew Marr reflects on the state of the nation and its place in the world.Andrew Marr, political editor of the New Statesman, is joined by Freddie Hayward and Rachel Cunliffe.Crumbling Britain:https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/crumbling-britain Submit a question for You Ask Us: https://www.newstatesman.com/YouAskUsDownload the app:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=USSubscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week:https://newstatesman.com/podcastofferSign up to our daily politics email: https://morningcall.substack.com/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.

Angela Rayner up, Lisa Nandy down - what’s motivated the moves in Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet reshuffle this week and what does this tell us about the direction of the Labour party if they get into power?Freddie Hayward, Zoë Grünewald, and Rachel Cunliffe, answer listener questions.Submit a question for You Ask Us: https://www.newstatesman.com/YouAskUsDownload the app:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=USSubscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week:https://newstatesman.com/podcastofferSign up to our daily politics email: https://morningcall.substack.com/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.

Can liberalism survive the horrors of our modern world?Will Lloyd is joined by John Gray political philosopher and author of The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism. They discuss how Thomas Hobbes seminal work Leviathan can be reinterpreted in the 21st century, particularly in the contexts of Russia, China, and the liberal West.Read more of John Gray's work here: https://www.newstatesman.com/author/john-gray Submit a question for You Ask Us: https://www.newstatesman.com/YouAskUsDownload the app:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=USSubscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week:https://newstatesman.com/podcastofferSign up to our daily politics email: https://morningcall.substack.com/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.

In the summer of 1924, a highly regarded painter falls – or is he pushed? – into the canal while celebrating his exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Two young women are heard running away into the night.In this dazzling new coming-of-age story first published in the New Statesman’s summer issue, the award-winning novelist Jonathan Coe explores the relationship between artist and muse, female friendship and male cruelty.Written by Jonathan Coe and read by Tom Gatti.If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy Then Later, His Ghost: a short story by Sarah Hall.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.

Rory Stewart, Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell: a listener writes in to ask why centrist politicians align themselves with one party over another?But before the team dissects the evolution of centrist politicians, they turn an imminent matter. Has the recent turmoil and churn, with multiple prime ministers in quick succession, given the UK an appetite for frequent change? And could this truncate a Labour governments time in office?Rachel Cunliffe, Freddie Hayward, and Zoë Grünewald answer listener questions.Submit a question for You Ask Us: https://www.newstatesman.com/YouAskUsDownload the app:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=USSubscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week:https://newstatesman.com/podcastofferSign up to our daily politics email: https://morningcall.substack.com/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.

“History will not remember you kindly” Nadine Dorries’ wrote this weekend in her resignation letter to Rishi Sunak. But this is not the only departure which has been looming over the Conservatives for the past few weeks. This morning former defence secretary Ben Wallace handed in his resignation and was swiftly replaced by Grant Shapps, who stepped into his fifth job this year.Rachel Cunliffe, Freddie Hayward, and Zoë Grünewald discuss the implications of the reshuffle for both Labour and the Tories, and whether history will, in fact, remember Rishi Sunak - and Nadine Dorries - kindly.Submit a question for You Ask Us: https://www.newstatesman.com/YouAskUsDownload the app:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=USSubscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week:https://newstatesman.com/podcastofferSign up to our daily politics email: https://morningcall.substack.com/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.