Oh God, What Now?

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And OGWN is nine years old! Today: A Labour candidate up against a local plumber in a North-Western by-election? It’s beginning to feel a lot like Groundhog Day. If Andy Burnham beats Reform’s Robert Kenyon in Makerfield his path to Number 10 gets a lot clearer. But has Burnham just walked into a Reform bear trap? Plus: Brexit is back, right on cue. Wes Streeting lobs a grenade into the Burnham campaign by raising the Europe question. Could this leadership battle finally break Britain out of its Brexit loop of denial?

And in the Extra Bit for Patreons, we do that Find Your Politics thing to discover whether we’re secret Leninists or Freemen of the Land without realising it. (And why no talk of the Greens, you ask? We did a big will-they-won’t-they bit and then they announced a candidate so we had to drop it. More next time). 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Marie is getting set to host her Outsiders Art Club, a social club putting emerging artists in the spotlight

• Matt has been bingeing Imperfect Women on Apple TV. 

• Raf went to see Zambian singer and rapper Sampa the Great at the Brighton Festival 

• Andrew has been listening to Tomora, the new duo comprising Chemical Brother Tom Rowlands and Norwegian singer Aurora. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rafael Behr, Marie Le Conte and Matt Green. Producer: James Liddell. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Makerfield residents, wire up your letterboxes – the leaflets are coming… A month until Andy Burnham’s by-election, Reform is knocking. Can the King of the North hold them off – whoever their candidate may be? Has he done enough for his message to land?

Plus: Is it time up for Ed Davey as leader of the Liberal Democrats? Several Essex councillors seem to think so. Comedian Rosie Holt weighs in on whether political satire has changed for the better or worse. And Matt Brittin officially started as the BBC’s Director General this week – is it possible to steady the ship? 

• Get your tickets for Churchill’s Urinal with Rosie Holt at the King’s Head Theatre, Islington.

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Jonn watched Ncuti Gatwa throw jabs at Doctor Who in Saturday Night Live UK

• Jason has been reading The Design of Childhood, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Alexandra Lange

• Rosie is rewatching a duo of British comedy classics: Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and Toast of London

• Ros has been seeking escapism in Danish television and has binged Seaside Hotel

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Ros Taylor with Jonn Elledge and Jason Hazeley. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Broadcasting from the middle of the Labour chaos vortex, we look how things stand after the Streeting-Starmer confrontation at No.10 – was it a 17-minute staring contest? – and whether the Health Secretary has the support within Labour to win… if he stands. And who is Wes Streeting anyway? What does he actually stand for? Our panel share their experiences of “the man you can’t libel, because he has no vices.”

Plus: Zack Polanski houseboat council tax evasion imbroglio! And in the Extra Bit: There’s a new Beatles museum in London… not Liverpool. So where else deserves a museum in a slightly unexpected location? 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Seth enjoyed the English Touring Opera’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers  

• Marie has been binge-watching Rivals on Disney+

• Hannah went to the West End to watch David Hare’s Teeth’n’Smiles 

• Zoë has been watching Half-Man, Richard Gadd’s follow-up to Baby Reindeer

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Zoë Grünewald with Hannah Fearn, Marie Le Conte and Seth Thévoz. Produced by James Liddell. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Amid the rubble of last week’s elections, Keir Starmer announces he’s suddenly getting real and ready to win back voters. But is it all too little, too late – and after months of drift, will anyone believe him anyway? Plus, were the Reform and Green surges really as unstoppable as an overwrought media want us to believe? Friend of the pod and psephology don Rob Ford of Manchester University joins us to dig deep on the elections… and whether Labour gets what really happened.  

NB Andrew apologies for his hoarse voice. He’ll be back to normal next time. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Raf recommends By The Sea,  Abdulzarak Gurnah’s Nobel Prize-winning novel of escape and migration.

• Rob Ford recommends The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuczinski, concerning the downfall of Haile Selassie. 

• Ros recommends the TV drama Believe Me about John Worboys, streaming on ITV. 

• Andrew recommends 30 Rock with Tina Fey, now finally on Netflix. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Ros Taylor and Rafael Behr. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 
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• Podmasters is 10 years old! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon support – that’s 20% in total. 

Fast analysis with don of political commentators Steve Richards of Rock & Roll Politics talking to Andrew Harrison. Labour’s performance in the English Locals was terrible… but was it really as bad as Starmer feared? Does Farage’s bluster about “truly historic” results for Reform stand up to the data? Are the Greens becoming the party of “student England”? And the big one: Can Starmer hang on? 

• See Steve’s Rock & Roll Politics show live in London at King’s Place, Monday 11 May – last few tickets available!

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. 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