Oh God, What Now?
Making sense of our political hell every Tuesday and Friday! Oh God, What Now? is the no-bulls**t politics podcast, making the unbearable bearable with top quality guests and analysis, plus poor quality jokes. Regulars include: Guardian writer Rafael Behr • Rachel Cunliffe of the New Statesman • New Statesman columnist Jonn Elledge • Writer and host of This Is Not A Drill Gavin Esler • Social affairs journalist Hannah Fearn • Comedian Matt Green • The Lead's Westminster Editor Zoë Grünewald • Group Editor Andrew Harrison • Podmasters Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis • Journalist Marie Le Conte • Former Mirror editor Alison Phillips • Writer and commentator Ros Taylor Sign up and get ad-free shows earlier than anyone else: patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow. Oh God, What Now? is a Podmasters production
Episodes
October 13, 2025 • 64 mins
Labour want to bring in digital I.D. and many people do NOT like it. Are they right? Are they wrong? And what is the “Lethal Trifecta” that makes the plan so risky? Hannah Fearn is very opposed to digital I.D. on civil liberties grounds. Jonn Elledge thinks it’s not that big a deal. Special guest Alex Hern – The Economist’s correspondent on A.I. – has the inside tech perspective. And Matt Green tries to keep order. Intrusion into p...
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October 9, 2025 • 61 mins
The Tory Party looks fatally damaged. Who hijacked the corpse at their conference in Manchester – Reform or Robert Jenrick? Josh Glancy of The Sunday Times was there and he explains whether there’s any life in the old party yet. Plus, the horrific killings at a Manchester synagogue left many British Jews saying they feel unsafe in their own country. We look at the complex and emotive issues of fighting antisemitism while preserving...
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October 6, 2025 • 62 mins
Nobody wants to imagine a large-scale war in Europe. But after Putin invaded Ukraine and Trump tore up Europe’s security guarantee, it’s horribly plausible. Is Russia as powerful as Putin wants us to think? Is there more to military power than tanks and guns? Why do strategists keep making the wrong predictions? And what does Pete Hegseth’s unhinged locker-rom pep talk/incitement to the US military to commit war crimes mean for any...
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October 2, 2025 • 56 mins
Keir Starmer’s conference speech is getting heaps of praise after he finally went hard against Farage. But has he done enough to show he’s in control, or is the Labour messaging still all over the place? Plus, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, isn’t going away. He says he wants the UK to rejoin the EU, but do they want us? And does Labour even want him!? And in the Extra Bit for Patreon backers, the panel takes a look ...
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September 30, 2025 • 63 mins
Labour has staked its future on building hundreds of thousand of homes and fixing up crumbling communities. But does “regeneration” actually work? Housing expert and author of Big Capital: Who Is London For? Anna Minton joins OGWN regular and development wonk Hannah Fearn to look at the nightmare of trying to build houses in a system designed to inhibit it. Includes regeneration horror stories from Baltimore to Canary Wharf to Li...
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September 25, 2025 • 63 mins
The ghost of Enoch Powell punches the air as Farage announces jaw-dropping plans for mass deportations and tearing up Indefinite Leave to Remain, claiming it will save Britain over £230bn (it won’t). Is Reform succumbing to the gravitational pull of the far-far-far right or just showing its true, cruel face? And does Labour’s feeble response that “this plan won’t work” just accept the premise of a hateful piece of self-harm? Plus, ...
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September 22, 2025 • 62 mins
Project 2025 gave Trump a roadmap for his authoritarian presidency. As the UK turns to the right, Reform UK is on the rise and fears over a Farage general election victory loom, we ask whether such a project could be undertaken here? Peter Geoghegan of the Democracy for Sale blog joins Alison and Jonn to discuss.
Escape Routes:
• Jonn is watching The Paper
• Peter is awaiting Slow Horses and is reading When the Clock Broke ...
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September 18, 2025 • 61 mins
British politics is increasingly divided – but where are voters really going as they shift between parties? And how should Labour recalibrate their tactics? The Economist’s Matthew Holehouse joins us to discuss the new ‘Battle for Britain’. Plus, the panel discusses the reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death worldwide and how it might change politics. And in the extra bit for subscribers – political pets! Because we all need something fu...
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September 15, 2025 • 64 mins
Starmer is Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party – but does he feel totally in charge of things? Plus, the race to be Deputy Leader of the Labour Party is down to the final two. Who’s the most likely to take the role? And Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham is being increasingly tipped to swoop back to Westminster. Could he be the answer Labour has been searching for, realistically? Join Ros Taylor, Jonn Elledge, and R...
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September 11, 2025 • 63 mins
Reform UK kicked off party season in the weirdest way possible – will any of the other parties be able to overshadow them in the coming weeks? Perhaps not for singing and conspiracy theories, but hopefully in policy. The panel previews party conference season. Plus, we discuss who should be the next Labour deputy leader and in the extra bit dive into some dodgy Boris Johnson accusations.
• Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here. It’...
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September 8, 2025 • 64 mins
The (former) Deputy Prime Minister resigns literally two minutes before we press “record”. Regulars Rafael Behr and Andrew Harrison plus special guest Steve Richards of the Rock’n’Roll Politics podcast rage at the brutal destruction of Angela Rayner and the uncontrolled power of the far-right press – and ask if there’s any place for flawed humans or the working class in politics at all. Plus: As Steve publishes Tony Blair a razor-s...
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September 5, 2025 • 21 mins
Angela Rayner’s out. The resignation, which most of us saw coming, finally happened on a Friday afternoon. Was her position really untenable, or could she have toughed it out? Plus – what now and how does this leave Starmer’s party? Jacob Jarvis is joined by Ros Taylor, to react to Rayner’s decision and ask what it means for the future of the Labour government.
• Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with...
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September 4, 2025 • 76 mins
The Equality and Human Rights Commission new guidance on trans people’s rights is coming up. What will this mean for trans people in the UK and how did we get here? Plus: Reshuffle fun! Will Zack Polanski’s vow to never do a deal with Starmer be a gift to Reform? Labour succumbs to flags madness! And after a very special mid-show announcement we talk about how to keep yourself together when all about you is falling to pieces.
E...
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September 1, 2025 • 62 mins
Warning: contains hope for tomorrow! It sometimes feels like the polycrisis of global heating, collapsing democracy, job-killing A.I. and radicalisation can’t be solved – but what if there are answers in similar turning points from the past? Roman Krznaric, author of History For Tomorrow : How The Past Can Inspire Our Future, joins Andrew Harrison and Zöe Grünewald for a surprisingly uplifting tour of invaluable lessons of the past...
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August 28, 2025 • 72 mins
Who let the flags out? We look at the mania for running a Cross of St George or Union Jack up the nearest lamp-post, who’s fomenting it and why it’s smart but dangerous politics for the far-right. Meanwhile Nigel Farage launches his completely uncosted, unrealistic, fantasy plan for mass deportations. Are the press so completely on the Reform bandwagon that they’ll just let it go unquestioned?
Our special guest David Klemperer p...
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August 25, 2025 • 61 mins
One of the best-liked MPs in Westminster, Chris Bryant has led an incident-packed life as the title of his new autobiography A Life And A Half proves. In a frank, astonishing, sometimes dark but also very funny interview he explains how he went from a painful childhood to becoming an Anglican priest to winning a very traditional South Wales seat as an out gay man. From early encounters with Boris Johnson to bizarre stories in Brus...
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August 21, 2025 • 64 mins
Robert Jenrick’s hanging out with the far-right at the migrant hotel protests, the Express claims “tens of millions” of Britons want a full-blown revolution, and Alison Pearson is hoping for a military coup. Why are the former law-and-order right so desperate for political violence to erupt? Plus, will Sally Rooney’s reign of terror ever end? As calls mount for her to be banned (somehow) or prosecuted (somehow) for backing Palestin...
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August 18, 2025 • 61 mins
It seems like there’s no end to the horrors in Gaza, the torment of the Israeli hostages and Netanyahu’s expansionism. And the more events escalate, the less we understand this nightmare. Today we’re joined by UCL politics professor Julie Norman to take as sober a look as possible at how the Middle East has changed after the October 7 attacks and Israel’s devastating response. Is Netanyahu prolonging the war to say in power? Does i...
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August 14, 2025 • 70 mins
Ed Davey’s reborn Lib Dems are on a 100-year high with 72 MPs and a shot at becoming the conscience of progressive Britain. So why do Reform get all the coverage? He joins our regulars to talk about fighting Farage, Labour’s travails, the war on cruelty in politics, why all those General Election surfing and bungee stunts worked, and what the Lib Dems can get done in Parliament. “We’ve been the best opposition,” he tells Alison Phi...
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August 11, 2025 • 63 mins
The Constitution expressly forbids anyone from seeking a third term as US President. But since when did that ever stop Trump from doing anything? Ex-congressional staffer turned politics professor at George Washington University Casey Burgat joins Guardian leader writer Rafael Behr and Andrew Harrison to look at the many weird ways Trump could cling to the White House… the hidden rivalries within MAGA… and what happens to a person...
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