The Bylines Network Podcast

One of Labour's big promises during the election was the creation of a new publicly owned body to tackle the massive bills the British Public was facing and aid the transition to renewable energy.

On the 15th May 2025, the creation of GB Energy was given Royal Assent. And former chief executive of Siemens UK, Juergen Maier was named as its chairman.

Anna Damski, from East Anglia Bylines, and Charlie McCarthy, from Bylines Scotla...

Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss from the Trawl Podcast?!? What is this, a crossover episode?

Lydia Pearson and Gemma Gould of North West Bylines and Central Bylines, respectively, interview the hosts of one of the most popular political podcasts, asking them about the current political climate, the state of social media, and how do they cope with both and their own mental health juggling it all.

If you wish to contribute to our caus...

Ginny Smith returns in our 5th episode of Bylines Reports, this time talking to Tan Dhesi.

Tan Dhesi is the Labour MP for Slough and has been since 2017. When elected, he was one of the first Turbened MPs in Europe and Britain's first. He currently chairs the Defence Committee, which is a multi-party committee, which loosks at the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Ministry of Defence and its associated public bodies...

This month, Julian and Chris celebrate pride month by bringing you some Pride themed articles or articles written by Queer authors.

The articles this month include a discussion about gender from North West by Isabelle Goodhand, the function of Pride in the 2020s, especially with encroaching of LGBT+ rights from Central Bylines by Bryan Manley-Green, and a queer filmmaker’s examination of dealing with disability from Bylines Cymru by...

Grace Blakeley is a leading left-wing political commentator, author, and journalist who describes herself as a democratic socialist. She writes for the Tribune and is regularly seen working at the coal face battling Piers Morgan on Talk TV.

She studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics and then African Studies at Oxford. She’s a former fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, former New Statesman commentator and for...

On the 15th April 2020, Yorkshire Bylines was launched to widespread popularity, leading to the creation of the Bylines Network.

5 years, 9 more publications (and another thatleft to do its own thing), 17 million reads, and 4 seasons of a podcast later, our hosts sit down with current co-editor in chief of Yorkshire and former managing director of the Network, Louise Houghton to talk about the journey of the last 5 years, current am...

An advantage to recording late is we can always touch upon the latest news.

So, instead of touching upon the Tories dropping Net Zero, marking a departure of bipartisan unity, we spoke about Marie Le Pen, leader of Rassemblement National and president in waiting, has been barred for standing for election for 5 years. What does this mean for the Far Right in Europe? Who supported her? How will our Hosts react? The answers won't ...

Author, column writer for the Observer, former editor-in-chief of the same paper. In this episode, Yvonne Wancke of North East Bylines and Ben Dickenson interviews Will Hutton.

In this episode, he talks about his life, his books, Big Tech, Capitalism, the rise (and possible fall) of the Far Right in Europe, what Labour can do to speed this fall up, and, of course, Trump's Tariffs and their affects on the world.

Sit down for a tru...

April is Autism Awareness Month!!

To commemorate, Ronnie of Bylines Scotland Podcast fame, speaks to three mothers who are all parents to autistic children.

They speak about the struggles their children have coping with their conditions, what EMPOWER seeks to do and how the group has helped them.

Thanks once again to Ronnie for another excellent episode.

Voxel Revolution Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Co...

This time on Bylines Reports, our host across the border in Scotland, Ronnie Barbour, comes to us from Embankment, interviewing a group called Patriotic Millionaires.

Patroitic Millionaires are a group of British Millionaires who are advocating for higher taxes on the wealthy, to help out struggling services and economy.

Voxel Revolution Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licen...

In the month of February, Germany has a new Chancellor in the shape of Friedrich Merz. Immediately after the election results were confirmed, he set about making his feelings known about the direction Europe needs to head. Could he be Europe's new leader, following the vacuum left behind by his CDU predecessor?

Where our hosts clash is over the dicussion of polls. There has been a trend of Reform UK leapfrogging both the Tories ...

We welcome you to a brand new mini series, Bylines Reports, where one of our journalists from across the Network, brings you a special episode, whether it's an interview with a political figure, or an audio version of their articles. We'll deliver it right to your ears to enjoy.

Today, Ginny Smith from Sussex Bylines interviews Alastair Campbell, who worked with Tony Blair between 1997-2003. In this interview, they discuss S...

Happy New Year Listeners.

With a new year, brings new change, new leaders and new relationships. And we, at the Bylines Network, are no different.

This month's episode, we're speaking to the Network's brand new Managing Director, Ben Dickenson.

We ask about what drew him to the Network, what his plans are and what he sees as the Network's role in an ever increasingly dishonest world.

Join Julian and Chris on the first o...

Another year has been and gone, at last.

And while there were plenty of news stories from the last 12 months, it's very hard to remember the good news stories as those aren't thhe ones people click on.

So, in our end of year round up, our hosts look at good news stories from 2024, highlight some of the ones that made us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Happy New Year everyone, here's to 2025 and all it shall bring.

Voxel...

Our two stories of the month are election related

First we look at the Tory Leadership Election, which was won by Right Wing Kemi Badenoch. Our hosts look at her record and what it could mean for the next 4 years or even if she will last that long.

But it is the election of the United States of America that draws our attention for most of this episode. Julian and Chris discuss the result, what went wrong and what the next 4 years cou...

Last year, there was uproar as Bannau Brycheiniog National Park decided to use its Welsh name on all its advertising.

A few weeks ago, one of our hosts noticed similar headlines as there was discussion about whether to change the official name of Wales to Cymru.

So, to counteract those headlines, Chris and Julian invited Gwern Gwynfil of Bylines Cymru to talk about the history of what Tolkien called "the senior language of the m...

Back from recess, much like our MPs, and we are thankful nothing controverisal that warrented discussion happened since then.

All the major parties have had their conferences and all gave off different vibes as they all look to the future and what the next steps are.

The first bills will be passing through parliment as well, by the reports, the Renter's Bill and Better Bus Bill will be amongst the first.

Here's all our though...

Back to our regularly scheduled episodes now, we take a look at the new King's Speech, the first made by a new party in power since 2010.

In it, 40 bills were announced, 35 new laws and 5 new draft laws, showing Labour's proirities in getting the ball rolling when it comes to the task his party now has.

Julian and Chris go over the highlights of these new laws, what they liked, what they didn't like and what was missing.

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Recorded 1 week after the General Election.

The much anticipated General Election came and went with a result that many saw coming.

Now what?

We reunite Ronnie Barbour and Ethan Jones from our previous episodes to discuss the results in England, Scotland, Wales, with a special guest Megan to talk about the results in Northern Ireland.

We talk about results that interested us, what they mean for their respective parties and what the fu...