The Standard – Details, episodes & analysis

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The 81st annual Venice International Film Festival is officially underway. 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long-awaited sequel to Tim Burton’s 1988 classic comedy horror, opened up the festival this week but there’s still plenty more to come from the event which runs until 7th September.

Jo-Ann Titmarsh, freelance film critic for the Evening Standard, joins us from Venice to discuss all the hotly anticipated premieres, including; Joker: Folie à Deux with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, Maria starring Angelina Jolie, and Luca Guadagnino’s Queer with Daniel Craig.

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Zombie knives and machetes will finally be banned from next month amid horrific attacks on London’s streets.

Ahead of a full ban, people in possession of these gruesome-looking weapons are being urged to hand them in at special bins at the capital’s police stations as part of a blades amnesty.

We’re joined by Evening Standard home affairs editor Martin Bentham to discuss the ban and knife crime's devastating impact on young Londoners.

Plus, in part two, Team GB Olympic 800 metres champion Keely Hodgkinson and victorious climber Toby Roberts on their plans after Paris 2024 gold medal success.

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In this special episode of The Standard podcast, you’ll hear an Evening Standard roundtable discussion focussing on the crunch issues in the 2024 mayoral election.

Three cabbies debate the candidates and policies impacting the black taxi trade as the race for City Hall intensifies between Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan and his Conservative rival Susan Hall.

There’s plenty of lively opinion on the mayor’s tenure, low-traffic neighbourhoods, road closures and cycle lanes - plus, could Ulez swing the vote?

Hosted by Ross Lydall, the Evening Standard’s City Hall editor and transport editor. 

You can watch the extended version of this roundtable video online at standard.co.uk.

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Another clip from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's upcoming interview with Oprah has been released, and for the first time it features Meghan speaking. The bombshell 30-second preview of Sunday's show features her accusing what she calls 'The Firm' of "perpetuating falsehoods" against her and Harry. It comes as Buckingham Palace confirms it's investigating allegations Meghan bullied some staff in October 2018.  Lawyers for the Sussexes dismissed the claims as “a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful information”. The Evening Standard's Jonathan Prynn tells us it looks like a very big row is about to erupt. 

Also, our City Hall editor Ross Lydall was at Sadiq Khan's re-election campaign launch, which didn't quite go to plan. The mayor was forced to hole-up inside a coffee shop for an hour to avoid a small group of residents protesting about a transport scheme. Ross says Mr. Khan was then followed down the street by the group as he made his way to a waiting car. 

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Former Treasury worker, now Evening Standard journalist, Jack Kessler joins the podcast to reveal the thinking behind some of Rishi Sunak's big announcements. He tells us why income and corporation tax hikes are coming, and why they're being delayed. He also explains why successive budgets have seen freezes on fuel duty, including this one. 

Rishi Sunak's moment in the Commons came just a few months after Britain left the EU, but the word "Brexit" didn't appear at all in his speech. Jack says that's because announcements like the 'super deduction' business tax cut would be dwarfed by what's been lost through leaving the world's biggest trading bloc without a deal covering services.

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There are two major events taking place on Wednesday that will both contribute to the survival of the culture industries once lockdown is over. The first is an expected £400m budget announcement by chancellor Rishi Sunak, which will see even more money invested into the Culture Recovery Fund, along with cash for museums and venues to stay afloat until they can re-open in May. 

In the evening, the Evening Standard will be revealing the first recipients of the Future Theatre Fund which was created in association with Tik Tok and in partnership with the National Youth Theatre. 12 up-and-coming talents will receive £10,000 each. The NYT's chief executive and artistic director Paul Roseby joins the podcast to talk about how theatres have been navigating the pandemic, and how important it is that young people who have lost so many opportunities for stage work need to be supported. 

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The hunt has intensified for an unknown carrier of a new Brazilian mutation of Covid-19 as scientists warned that if it takes hold it could undermine the roadmap out of lockdown. It was revealed on Sunday that six cases of the new Manaus variant of coronavirus, which is more contagious and may be more resistant to vaccines, have been found in Britain, three in England and three in Scotland.

Our political reporter Sophia Sleigh says questions are being raised over how the variant from the Brazilian city was identified in a Covid-19 test of someone who did not fill in a registration form with their name and details.

Also, royal editor Robert Jobson joins the podcast as it's revealed the Duke of Edinburgh has transferred hospitals for treatment for an infection. It's now the longest spell the 99 year old has spent in hospital and it comes as controversy brews around an interview Prince Harry and Meghan have given to Oprah Winfrey that's due to air in the States on Sunday.

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Prince Harry’s appeared on the Late Late Show with James Corden, and revealed how his mental health was “being destroyed” by the UK media before he and Meghan left for LA. The chat, recorded before the couple announced they would never re-join the royal family, is being described as a “bombshell interview” and comes ahead of the highly anticipated conversation with Oprah. But it’s come out on the same day the Queen was recorded talking to NHS professionals about her own coronavirus vaccination, and encouraging all Britons to get the jab.

The Evening Standard’s Lizzie Edmonds says that’s a rare intervention by the Monarch, but with so much attention being given to Harry’s interview it may not have the impact it was expected to. Lizzie says it’s an early example of how difficult the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s relationship with Buckingham Palace could become as they try to carve out a post-Royal future.

Also, our city editor Jim Armitage joins the show to talk about the future of office working once London’s unlocked. It follows the first meeting of the Evening Standard’s Recovery Board, which saw industry leaders discussing how the city will have to change in a post-pandemic world. 

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This summer's exams have been cancelled and teachers will now assess their pupils based on coursework, essays and optional in-class tests. That's led to concerns about consistency across the country, with Robert Halfon, the Tory chair of the cross-party Education select committee, telling the Standard he's worried about a "wild west" of grading results. 

On the Leader podcast we speak to Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School & College Leaders (ASCL). He tells us that they're expecting pressure from some parents to give their kids a better grade, but there are systems in place to make it difficult for teachers to do so. He also warns of "consequences" if schools are caught fiddling the results, including having their grades rendered void. 

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