What's Left? With Jovan + Freddie

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‘This could be the end for Starmer’. Pundits, sub-editors and political rivals have been drawn to this phrase more than any other over the past 18 months. Evidentially, it seems a spurious claim. The Prime Minister has trudged on, by all accounts unfazed, despite the merry-go-round of self-immolation (call it a self-destructive fireworks display) that’s dogged his premiership. Labour’s top-scorer, much like the PM’s beloved Arsenal, has been own goals. And yet with a soviet-style majority, Starmer still will think he is top of the league.

When Peter Mandelson, the ‘Prince of Darkness’ (I imagine he now calls this a ‘regrettable’ nickname), was chosen as US Ambassador there was consternation on many wings of the Labour Party.

In fact, over a year before he was made US Ambassador, the FT had uncovered a JP Morgan report from 2019 which found Epstein and Mandy had kept a ‘particularly close relationship’ - and that he had stayed at Epstein’s home in 2009, shortly after his conviction for ‘soliciting an underage girl’. One would think Mandelson’s close friendship with an astonishingly powerful convicted nonce would be enough to stave off his proximity to a party preparing for government. But clearly assurances were made.

The public were well aware of just how implicated Mandelson was in the Epstein affair. You don’t need to be a PR expert to realise that much more was to come. When faced with the treachery of the latest revelations in the Epstein files, it looks quite unforgivable that Mandelson was allowed to return to high office. Our own security services had briefed No 10 that he was compromised. Were they aware that Mandelson had been forwarding highly sensitive information to Epstein (sometimes within seconds) from his personal email account? That he had told JP Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon to ‘mildly threaten’ then-Chancellor Alistair Darling over a Bankers’ bonuses tax?

My gut feeling is that this is very very bad news for Starmer, who has never been much of a Mandelson whisperer, and his under-fire chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who has been accused of personally backing Mandelson’s appointment. Mandelson’s response to ‘own the narrative’ has revealed just how out of touch he is - a few posed magazine shots with your dog and grumbles about how ‘unfortunate’ the whole affair is, isn’t going to cut the mustard. You were best mates with the world’s most notorious nonce, allegedly took money from him and leaked sensitive information against your own country’s interests. You’re a disgrace.

This has really cut through and solidified the distrust many feel towards a faction of the Labour Party obsessed with power. As Anoosh Chakelian put it in the New Statesman, voters are fed up with “the dark triad of New Labour’s Third Way: a distant political class; rule by political spin; amoral liberal pragmatism”. We shouldn’t be making decisions just for the sake of saying ‘we got to make them’. There must be morality in our mission.

Chapters
00:00 - Intro
00:33 - How Dan Neidle Broke the Mandelson Affair
01:55 - The Financial Crash and Mandelson's Correspondence w Epstein
10:22 - Is This Treason?
19:54 - Did Mandelson Know the Epstein Leaks Were Coming?
26:05 - The Legal Ramifications of Reporting on Epstein/Mandelson
32:00 - The Consequences for the Labour Government
37:54 - Will Mandelson Face Criminal Proceedings?
43:24 - Have the Conspiracy Theorists Been Vindicated?
51:28 - What did Dan find out about Ghislaine Maxwell and Mandelson?
54:54 - Will This Change the Media's Relationship with Powerful People?

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Now this is cricket.

Horatio Gould, comedian + podcast virtuoso (and OG fan of What's Left), joins us in the studio with author James Bloodworth (Hired, Lost Boys) guest-hosting.

Post Davos, Western elites are checking their bank accounts and stock portfolios, considering the premium paid for their unerring loyalty to the market. Their rationale is clear: follow the wind and back the military 'might-is-right' agenda of Donald Trump, or argue with the sails and be blown off course. They don't need any invitation to make hay while the sun shines.

But amongst the more seaworthy, there was cause for reflection. Mark Carney, the Canadian PM, had done the unthinkable: made a relatively memorable Davos speech. That's harsh. It was actually a very good speech – a candid indictment of the hypocrisy of the Western liberal 'rules-based' order, who better to tell it than one of the lead hypocrites. Accepting that the US and its allies had told the world a useful fiction to advance its interests, Carney argued that such a narrative can no longer stand up to scrutiny.

The 'new' rules are dead. Long live the old rules: bully and win.

Of course, there is a rejoinder. Cowering to bullies keeps their fiction alive. But standing up to them, collectively, offers another path. Carney made it clear to the elites, deep into their thus-far profitable hedge, that a choice remains on the table. Middle powers must stand side by side if they are to have any collective bargaining power.

We've been making this argument since September (please see our episode with Hassan Damluji). And we should be clear, the costs are real: decoupling from the US and taking on a world of hard power alone will be very dangerous. But what is at stake is bigger than us as individuals. It's about Britain being in charge of her own destiny. It's about sovereignty; the power to choose at all.

And it's at this juncture that every Brit should be considering what makes us British and how we stand stronger together. Yes, it's incredibly trite to talk about how divided our society is. But I think it's a edifying to be anti-polarisation. We're on an island, wouldn't it be better if we all got along?

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:30 - Politics and comedy
22:55 - Most right-wing views as a leftie
35:29 - What is masculinity?
39:56 - Do other world leaders have Trump's charisma?
50:41 - Who would join Trump's Board of Peace?
60:22 - Tories defecting to Reform and Trumpism in the UK
74:02 - Britain is a heritage trail for tourists 86:58 - What is the guiding light for left-wing politics?

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Hey What’s-Leftists, We’re back for season 2 and finally doing paid content so we can keep the lights on. So, if you’re a fan of the show and want early access to ad-free extended cuts and much more, THIS is the product for you.

We had planned to take some more time to recharge before season 2, but the amount of mental sh*t that’s happened recently made this virtually impossible. So here we are with a rapid 30 min catch up on Trump dictating an emerging multipolar world order and a 1hr interview with the contrarian British political commentator Lin Mei.

As you know, we’re passionate about being a home for debate from across the political spectrum and thought it was time to host a someone from a minority community who is interested in voting for Nigel Farage. Yes, they do exist.

Lin is a fascinating character, often reposted by the UK BAME Culture gossip pages on Instagram as a minority conservative voice, who is never shy to critique issues or people regardless of their popularity. So is she just another tabloid ragebaiter or is there a discernible and consistent politics that underlines her views? And how does it contrast with our own?

While the conversation was limited to an hour, we managed to cover various topics from the diversity of politics within the Black British community, to the state of community decline and the appeal of landlordism for aspirational wealth creation. We also address Lin’s beef with popular IG influencer Bouncer, and why she “looks down” on some members of the Black culture podcasting community. It’s juicy.

We were so busy talking about these broader topics that we forgot to discuss the spate of defections to Reform UK, including one Robert Jenrick. As the dust settles this week after some punchy comms from the Tories, it appears the commentariat are waking up to the old wisdom that defections (it’s not exactly a sacking) tend to be a sign of party weakness, rather than strength.

Naturally, the evidence is piling up of Reform being a retirement home for failed Tories. But as Ailbhe Rea of the New Statesman pointed out: you can’t really attack Reform for being an ‘unprecedented new threat’ while also claiming they are made up of ‘the same old Tories’...

Chapters
00:00 Intro
03:27 Multipolar World Order
10:03 US Plans To Dismantle Europe
17:48 Iran Protests + US Intervention
34:15 Who is Lin Mei 38:05 Slavery, Reparations + Intergenerational Trauma
47:14 Left Wing vs Right Wing Politics
1:00:04 Bouncer + Black British Entertainment Culture
1:11:15 Should Minorities Be Capitalists?
1:20:15 Welfare + Future of Multiculturalism

Finale of SZN 1 w the donny herself, Grace Campbell ❤️!!!

This might be our funniest episode yet. Or maybe just the one where we all laughed the most.

Recently, I found out a listener had stopped engaging with the pod as he was finding the topics too depressing. I get it. Confronting our myriad crises has been hardly been reassuring. But I'm hoping that this ep could be the antidote that brings him back into the fold.

Why has there been no revival of the political comedy genius of 'The Thick Of It'? My thesis is that reality itself has become satire. What need is there for fiction, when each and every day of political life feels utterly script-written.

Chatting, or more accurately, creasing with Grace is a reminder that we just need to find the humour in the s**t things in life. While events and actions can hurt us, like muscular tears, we end up growing back stronger. And maybe it's a thicker skin we should all be wishing for from Santa this year.

In this convo we go all over the shop, from why many on the urban left have abandoned Labour to why young men and women feel so divided and what we can do to bring us back into connection.

There's also some bombshell exclusives...

It's the perfect way for us to wrap our first season of WTF is Left. 18 episodes, 50 million social views and 130k+ followers since taking a big old Kierkegaardian dive into the ether... Trying to make a podcast about progressive politics while the government falls to record lows. If you don't laugh you'll cry.

Big massive juicy thank you to each and every one of you who listened and supported the show this year. We're gonna be taking a bit of a break but will be back in 2026 for S2. Until then x

Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:20 Are the Campbells Posh Elite?
11:52 Why Grace is Voting Green
19:50 Zack Polanski vs. The Rest is Politics
29:14 Has the Left Lost its Sense of Humour?
37:08 Embracing Dark Humour
43:06 Why are Young Men and Women Divided?
50:38 In Defence of Relationships, Connection + Empathy
1:02:01 Wanting to Have Kids
1:07:06 Beauty Trends + Hating the Daily Mail
1:14:21 Why Grace will NEVER write for the Guardian
1:21:35 How We Move Forward

George Gilbert, the Gen-Z Farage fan recently kicked off Big Brother, joins us for a chat on cancel culture, young men and the radical right, with guest host Jordan Stephens!

As you know, What’s Left aims to stick its head above the culture wars. But we can’t avoid the magnetic pull from controversial personalities that keep the digital news cycle churning. We’re just as human as you.

Following our interview with the Oxford Union’s George Abaraonye, it appears we’ve found a new theme: interviewing cancelled Georges. Indeed, George Gilbert is a very different phenomenon - a young Parish councillor, recently booted off one of the UK’s biggest reality TV shows for voicing contrarian and inflammatory views, which included an allegation of antisemitism which ITV decided not to broadcast.

When I asked Jordan Stephens to guest host, we agreed we wanted to make something fresh. How rare is it to see a healthy conversation of three lads with very different politics, discussing challenging topics?

George had already been on the circuit of right-wing anti-woke podcasts with Dan Wootton and Andrew Gold. We wanted to show that the Left are equally as up for these chats. Yep, some ‘Wokies’ are, in fact, against culture.

This is not to absolve George from the framing of his questions, but to show that civil society must explain to young people why some views and questions are considered beyond the pale. Just shutting down the conversation is clearly not working. If anything, it pushes some young people further down the rabbit hole.

Jordan and I believe that openness and dialogue is key to dissolving animosity and encouraging compassion in our politics. Hopefully this conversation is a step in the right direction.

Chapters

00:00 Intro, Waffle + Housekeeping
09:54 Greens vs. Labour
20:15 George Gilbert Arrives
25:50 Why George Got Kicked Off Big Brother
36:00 The Right-Wing Rabbit Hole
51:55 Tommy Robinson Is A Grifter
58:05 Stop and Search Racism Allegations
1:06:42 George’s Dating Challenges
1:15:13 Post-Christian West
1:22:15 How Social Media Creates Populists
1:35:20 Has Brexit Destroyed the UK?
1:42:13 Wealth Inequality Is Out of Control
1:50:41 George’s National Identity Mission