Pod Save the UK – Details, episodes & analysis

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of sexually explicit and sexist song lyrics. While we wait to see if Trump’s tariff juggernaut is going to squash our fragile economy, Nish and Coco count the cost of the “bill-mageddon” we already face. It’s a perfect storm of steep rises in household bills and a bonkers global trade war.  While we’re staring economic apocalypse in the face, we seem to be losing our rights to protest. If the Quakers get raided, who’s safe from heavy handed policing and draconian laws? And have you prepared yourself for food shortages? Your stash of beans might not cut it. Professor Tim Lang - author of a major report on food security- has a plan we all need to hear.  On the bright side, 2025 is the year the Labour Party has decided to embrace social media and podcasts. What can possibly go wrong?  CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS  VOY https://www.joinvoy.com/psuk  Guests Tim Lang Zoë Grünewald Audio Credits C4 Garys Economics Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media. Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First the good news: we might just manage to build a lot of new houses. And the bad news? Millions of people will be worse off and about fifty thousand children will be pushed into poverty by welfare reform. Nish and Coco unpack Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement with the help of economist James Meadway, former advisor to John McDonnell. It was pretty bleak stuff from Reeves: the world is scary, growth is low, and cuts are coming. All with a strong whiff of austerity 2.0. The Chancellor says her fiscal rules are “non-negotiable”. But James has an alternative Spring Statement to banish the gloom and challenge the way we think about growth. Plus, as the great Signal security cock up rumbles on in the US, Nish and Coco wonder why they've never been included in a top-secret military chat. It’s just not fair. And it’s got the UK talking, but will the Netflix drama ‘Adolescence’ make a difference in the real world? CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS  SKY SPORTS F1 https://www.sky.com/tv/sports   Guests: James Meadway   Audio Credits Parliament TV   Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media. Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Warning: this episode contains strong language and a term of racist abuse. Nish and Coco dig into some scary data about Gen Z. A poll of 13-27 year olds this week suggested nearly half of them favour authoritarian government. And nearly half of young men think women have been given too many rights. Youtuber JimmyTheGiant joins the pod to tell us about this mindset and how he disappeared into the right wing wormhole, and came out the other side. And newts v planes:  Nish and Coco check out Rachel Reeves plans for growth. Is she pinning her hopes on the tech bros and Heathrow while sticking two fingers up to net Zero?   Useful Links https://www.youtube.com/@JimmyTheGiant/videos   Guests JimmytheGiant Clare Farrell   Audio Credits Today Programme, BBC Radio 4 Clare Farrell   Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media. Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nish and Coco ask how we can save the UK from knife crime. It turns out we have evidence of what works - so why aren’t we doing it?  We meet Jon Yates, who leads a charity that has been given £200 million by the Home Office to research what works and then put it into practice. He’s trialling a targeted, interventionist approach, called ‘focused deterrence’ which helped Glasgow dramatically reduce violent crime. Those lessons are now going to be applied in 5 cities in the UK. One of those is Nottingham, a city that’s home to Dr Marcellus Baz, a community champion who turned his life around after being stabbed - what does he think of Jon’s plans?  Nish and Coco also cut through the rows about notebooks and WhatsApp messages to talk about why the Covid Inquiry really matters - they have a message for  the government: “don’t mess with a Baroness”. Plus we salute the Secret Tory and ask is the Post Office racist? Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.  Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk WhatsApp: 07514 644572 (UK) or + 44 7514 644572 Twitter: @podsavetheuk Guests: Jon Yates, Chief Executive of the Youth Endowment Fund Dr Marcellus Baz, founder and CEO of Switch Up, which supports young people away from crime in Nottinghamshire Audio credits: Sky News  @secrettory12  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why did Suella Braverman’s speeding ticket take up so much oxygen, and who did it serve? Nish and Coco discuss whether the leaks against the Home Secretary are symptomatic of a party that’s heading into yet another bout of self-destructive psychodrama. As if that’s not enough, Boris Johnson is back in trouble too!  As another set of record migration figures are published, Nish and Coco reflect on the immigrant experience and how it forged their own friendship. And there’s a big serving of hope too…in the form of economist and philosopher Daniel Chandler and his ideas to improve our politics - democracy vouchers anyone? Plus Coco delivers a lesson in Greek Mythology, and find out what Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Succession’s Logan Roy have in common. Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.  Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk WhatsApp: 07514 644572 (UK) or + 44 7514 644572 Twitter: @podsavetheuk Guest: Daniel Chandler, economist, philosopher and author of Free and Equal: What would a fair society look like? Audio credits: Parliament.tv Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Never ones to shirk a challenge, Nish and Coco launch ‘Chat Shit Get Banged’, their campaign to stop politicians from lying. They get some expert help from Will Moy, from fact checkers Full Fact - he’s dedicated his life to correcting the mistakes and mistruths of the people elected to lead us…not mislead us. With a general election on the horizon next year, he tells them he’s done with “bullshit manifestos”, and reveals how AI could help root out the liars. Campaigning works! Nish and Coco dissect the new Renters Reform Bill, which has finally been published thanks to the tireless efforts of people like our guest Anny Cullum, one of the founders of the community union Acorn. But does it go far enough? The Bill doesn't really address rocketing rents, so we ask if rent controls are the next battleground. Plus, Nish takes on the NatCons, but has a rare good word for Jacob Rees-Mogg. We also introduce you to Marvel’s newest superhero: Ombudsman, and find out why Coco knows so much about rats’ mating habits. If you want to support Full Fact’s campaign to amend the rules to make it easier for politicians to correct mistakes, then you can sign their petition here: https://actions.fullfact.org/petitions/mps-owe-us-truth/?utm_source=%2F&utm_medium=home   Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.  Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk.  WhatsApp: 07514 644572 (UK) or + 44 7514 644572 Twitter: @podsavetheuk Guests: Will Moy, Chief Exec of the fact checking charity Full Fact  Anny Cullum, Policy Officer and Researcher for the tenants and community union ACORN Audio credits: https://nationalconservatism.org/@NatConTalk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While we were busy being dazzled by glittery crowns and golden coaches…did the authorities sneak in and steal away our rights? New laws have given the police wide ranging powers to arrest protestors - scuppering the plans of anti-monarchy protestors to demonstrate against the Coronation. Instead they were arrested, detained and then released without charge - after the event was safely over. Nish and Coco ask barrister and activist Paul Powlesland  and ask what happened to the British love of freedom?  Plus find out why a PSUK listener spent 15 hours outside his local polling station; why the Coronation gave Coco ‘Showgirls’ vibes; why Coco can't wait for Eurovision; and why Labour and the Lib Dems are in danger of being ‘vagina adjacent’.  Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.  Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk.  WhatsApp: 07514 644572 (UK) or + 44 7514 644572 Audio credits: Paul Powlesland Good Morning Britain, ITV Parliament.TV Photo credits: Paul Powlesland Video - Paul Powlesland Photos - Tom Garner Video clip - Good Morning Britain, ITV Video clip - Parliament.TV Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pod Save the UK is on a mission: to free the royals, and the country, from the madness of monarchy. Has King Charles’s coronation sent the UK into a frenzy of royal fervour, a bored stupor or a republican rage? Nish Kumar and Coco Khan work out how to ditch the Windsors and replace them with something better. Professor Amelia Hadfield, head of politics at Surrey University, has spotted some pitfalls for Pod Save the UK’s revolutionaries. Labour MP, Clive Lewis, joins the pod. His opinions on monarchy have got him into trouble with his own party. But who wants to be the killjoys spoiling everyone’s street party? Coco has a plan: rave for the republic. Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.  Audio clip credits: Policy Exchange Parliament TV LBC Sky News   Photo credits: Jenny Lambert Poppy Murray   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pod Save the UK is your fresh weekly fix of UK political news, big ideas and a shot of inspiration. Comedian Nish Kumar and journalist Coco Khan find out what's going on, what's going wrong and how we can fix it. Produced in partnership between Reduced Listening and Crooked Media, the company behind Pod Save America. New episodes out Thursdays starting the 4th of May. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices