Origin Story

A narrative of Europe forging deeper institutions, from single market wins to symbolic programs like Erasmus. The story covers German reunification shifting power, Maastricht creating a path to the euro, and the strain of rapid enlargement. It traces the eurozone crisis, rising populism and Brexit’s shock. Finally, it looks at crises that pushed the Union toward strategic autonomy and renewed purpose.

A fast-moving history of postwar Europe as leaders turn coal-and-steel ties into a bold common market. Political drama abounds with de Gaulle's dramatic vetoes, Britain's long struggle to join, and intense fights over vetoes versus majority rule. Institutional shifts, courtroom rulings on supranational law, sparks of monetary cooperation, and the rise of the Single Market all shape the continent's modern path.

A tour of how Europe became an idea as well as a place. The story ranges from Roman and Enlightenment roots to interwar federalists and visionary planners. It tracks the postwar urgency to prevent war, the Schuman coal and steel plan, and the tug-of-war between supranational institutions and national states. Britain’s cautious stance and the Franco-German reconciliation are central threads.

A live theatre show unpacks the rise of a controversial public figure, tracing academic credibility to media celebrity and political reinvention. They critique a provocative book full of alarmist claims, statistical sloppiness and possible AI-sourced fabrications. Then they take a cinematic mind-bath, each picking five films that illuminate themes like nostalgia, populism, media manipulation and political personality.

A centenary look at Britain’s 1926 General Strike, exploring why miners became a political flashpoint and how union and government leaders scrambled to respond. The nine‑day showdown brought volunteers from high society, a fierce media battle, and the BBC’s first impartiality crisis. The strike’s dramatic moments versus its ambiguous long‑term impact are the episode’s focus.

They chart the origin of introvert and extrovert back to Jung and Freud and a dramatic 1907 meeting. They follow how Jung turned a clinical term into a popular personality binary. They examine how science later reframed traits with the Big Five and brain studies. They consider why people cling to labels and the costs and benefits of defining yourself this way.

They trace the rise of a hardline nativist strategist from provocative schoolyard antics to a central role shaping immigration policy. The conversation charts ties to far-right networks, key policy moves like family separation and the travel ban, and plans for an executive-driven future. They map how rhetoric translated into real-world enforcement and legal tactics.

A lively look at how the idea of walkable, mixed-use neighbourhoods turned into a culture-war lightning rod. The story traces thinkers from Clarence Perry and Jane Jacobs to Carlos Moreno and shows how pandemic fears, car identity, and online conspiracies warped a planning concept. It asks whether local urban design can survive the political backlash and why driving stirs such strong emotions.

Origin Story is live at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London on Weds 15th April 2026 - tickets selling fast, get yours here Welcome to a between-season bonus episode of Origin Story. We’ve missed you! This one emerged from our three-parter on the history of the Labour Party and one of the burning obsessions of British politics: the faction known as Blue Labour and its ubiquitous founder Maurice Glasman. As Keir Starmer’s government continues to alienate its base in order to chase the same socially conservative voters as Reform UK, fingers are pointing at chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and his connections to Blue Labour, turning Glasman into the party’s eminence grise. But how influential is Glasman really? And where did Blue Labour come from? The story begins in 2008, when the financial crisis coincides with the death of Glasman’s mother. The jazz-loving, City-hating, chain-smoking academic and community organiser invents Blue Labour: blue as in sad and blue as in “conservative socialism”. As New Labour falls to pieces, Glasman’s maverick vision of Labour’s long history and possible future intrigues heavyweights from across the party. He’s elevated from obscurity to the House of Lords by Ed Miliband but explodes on the launchpad after some provocative statements about immigration and Europe. Amid accusations of racism, misogyny and toxic nostalgia, Blue Labour Mark 1 burns out. When Blue Labour resurfaces with a vengeance in 2025, it has been thoroughly radicalised by a decade of Brexit and right-wing populism. Having been JD Vance’s personal guest at the second inauguration of Donald Trump, Glasman is now praising MAGA while waging all-out war on immigrants, liberals and the so-called “lanyard class”. Original Blue Labourite Marc Stears calls Blue Labour Mark 2 “a clear and present danger to our politics”. How did Blue Labour lurch from the party’s soft left to its hard right? Why do so many of the people who once found Glasman’s ideas stimulating now find them horrifying? Is Blue Labour, then and now, a symptom of a party in intellectual crisis? What exactly is Glasman’s connection to Morgan McSweeney and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood? And is the rogue peer really as significant as he, and his enemies, like to make out? Reading list Books Rowenna Davis – Tangled Up in Blue (2011) Ian Geary and Adrian Pabst – Blue Labour: Forging a New Politics (2015) Maurice Glasman, Jonathan Rutherford, Marc Stears and Stuart White – The Labour Tradition and the Politics of Paradox (2011) Maurice Glasman – Blue Labour: The Politics of the Common Good (2022) Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire – Get In: The Inside Story of Labour Under Starmer (2025) Articles • Philip Collins – ‘Maurice Glasman and the origins of Blue Labour’, Prospect (24 February 2025) • Julian Coman – ‘Maurice Glasman, architect of Blue Labour: “Labour needs to be itself again”’, The Observer (25 September 2022) • Rachel Cooke – ‘Maurice Glasman: Labour’s Trump Card’, The Observer (25 April 2025) • Ethan Croft – ‘Blue Labour is fighting for its future’, The New Statesman (26 November 2025) • Annabel Denham - Lord Glasman: ‘Shabana is like Elizabeth I – devoted to her job. She’s utterly unique’, The Telegraph (23 November 2025) • Jonathan Derbyshire – ‘Voice of the Heartlands’, The New Statesman (7 April 2011) • Maurice Glasman - Maurice Glasman: my Blue Labour vision can defeat the coalition, The Guardian (24 April 2011) • Toby Helm and Julian Coman – ‘Maurice Glasman – the peer plotting Labour’s new strategy from his flat’, The Observer (16 January 2011) • Preet Kaur Gill, ‘Labour Must Go Blue’, The Telegraph (6 January 2026) • Dan Hodges – ‘Exclusive: the end of Blue Labour’, The New Statesman (20 July 2011) ... Reading list continues on Patreon Written and presented by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Chris Jones and Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The discussion explores socialism's journey since 1991, highlighting China’s embrace of market socialism and the rise and fall of Latin America’s Pink Wave. They delve into socialism's historical roots, examining key figures and movements, and ponder whether socialism can be strictly defined. Obstacles like internal factionalism and leadership challenges are analyzed, alongside the interplay of socialism and communism. The hosts reflect on socialism's achievements and its vision for the future amidst capitalism's recurring crises.