Pod Save the UK

Truth, Lies and Donald Trump w/ Stewart Lee

Comedian and columnist Stewart Lee joins Nish and Coco to discuss the week’s big stories. They talk about Donald Trump’s deadly and yet utterly confusing war with Iran, as the US President continues to contradict his own statements about the Strait of Hormuz and peace talks, almost in the same breath.  It certainly means a new, live, UK sketch show has plenty of material - but how should comedy respond to the challenging times we are all living through? Plus - why having a weekly opinion column is good for your mental health and why news organisations need to do more to tackle the lies and extreme rhetoric coming from politicians. Don’t forget to leave a review - it gives the show a boost and we love to see your comments. CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS  VANTA: https://www.vanta.com/PSTUK [https://www.vanta.com/PSTUK] SHOPIFY: https://shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk [https://shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk] INCOGNI: https://www.incogni.com/podsavetheuk [https://www.incogni.com/podsavetheuk] Code: podsavetheuk GUESTS  Stewart Lee, Comedian and columnist for The Nerve USEFUL LINKS Guide to Senedd voting system: https://senedd.wales/senedd-now/senedd-blog/how-will-the-new-voting-system-work-at-the-next-senedd-election/ [https://senedd.wales/senedd-now/senedd-blog/how-will-the-new-voting-system-work-at-the-next-senedd-election/] CREDITS Saturday Night Live UK, Sky One Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media. Get in touch - contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk [PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk] Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK [https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK] Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk [https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk [https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk] BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com [https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com] Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk [https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk]X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk [https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk]

Can Britain’s myth and magic challenge the far right? w/ Zakia Sewell

Last summer - fuelled by the far right - a rash of St George and Union Jack flags spread across the country. Flag-waving became a symbol of prejudice, not pride. In that context it's hard as progressives to feel particularly patriotic. So what is Britishness… and does it even matter? Someone who is hopeful that our national identity is worth saving is writer, a DJ and broadcaster Zakia Sewell. In this bonus episode of PSUK, she tells Nish and Coco about her journey to uncover an alternative version of Britishness - one that unifies rather than divides. CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS  BABBEL: https://www.babbel.com/PSUK [https://www.babbel.com/PSUK] WISE: https://www.wise.com [https://www.wise.com] SHOPIFY: https://shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk [https://shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk]  GUEST Zakia Sewell, writer, DJ & broadcaster USEFUL LINKS “Finding Albion: Myth, Folklore and the Quest for Hidden Britain” - out now. https://www.waterstones.com/book/finding-albion/zakia-sewell/9781399735902 [https://www.waterstones.com/book/finding-albion/zakia-sewell/9781399735902] Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media. Get in touch - contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk [PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk] Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK [https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK] Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk [https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk [https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk] BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com [https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com] Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk [https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk]X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk [https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk]

Farage’s Wild Week: Energy bill stunts and questionable Cameo videos

Reform UK is getting into the lottery business - inviting people to sign up for a chance to have their energy bills paid for a year. But is the real prize a massive database of voters ahead of the next General Election?  Plus - party leader Nigel Farage has been caught saying some pretty questionable stuff for money on Cameo. Is that really the kind of thing we should expect from someone who plans to be our next Prime Minister? Nish and Coco are joined by authors Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff. Their new book Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed looks at the billionaire manbaby in a whole new way. If you want to understand what’s driving Musk and what it could mean for all of us - this is the chat for you. And POLITICO’s Anne McElvoy is on hand as the former Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner pops up to point out all the ways Labour is getting it wrong at the moment - subtext: without her they’re lost. Reminder to send in your burning questions for Nish and Coco to psuk@reducedlistening.co.uk CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS  BABBEL: https://www.babbel.com/PSUK [https://www.babbel.com/PSUK] WISE: https://www.wise.com [https://www.wise.com] SHOPIFY: https://shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk [https://shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk] GUESTS  Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff, Authors. Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed Out on March 24th Anne McElvoy, Executive Editor, POLITICO and co-host Politics at Sam and Anne’s USEFUL LINKS The Podcast Show - https://www.thepodcastshowlondon.com/explore-passes [https://www.thepodcastshowlondon.com/explore-passes] [https://www.thepodcastshowlondon.com/explore-passes] Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/477340/muskism-by-tarnoff-quinn-slobodian-and-ben/9780241805114 [https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/477340/muskism-by-tarnoff-quinn-slobodian-and-ben/9780241805114] CREDITS The Guardian - YouTube The Independent - YouTube Reform UK - YouTube Today in Focus - The Guardian Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media. Get in touch - contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk [PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk] Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK [https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK] Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk [https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk [https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk] BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com [https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com] Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk [https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk]X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk [https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk]

The Mandelson Files Are Out

The first wave of Mandelson files have been published. We all wanted to know what Keir Starmer knew, and when he knew it. Now we can see it in black and white.  And as it turns out - Starmer was warned there was a “general reputational risk” over Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein ahead of his confirmation as US ambassador. Nish and Coco make sense of this perilous moment for the PM. Then critical theorist and viral creator Louisa Munch helps us make sense of the government’s new social cohesion strategy. But is tackling extremism and yet more surveillance the answer to fraying social ties? Plus - as Iran names its new supreme leader oil prices skyrocket - for a PM obsessed with the cost of living, this is shaping up to be a bit of a nightmare. Remember to send your questions in for Nish and Coco to psuk@reducedlistening.co.uk [psuk@reducedlistening.co.uk] and they’ll spill the tea!  CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS  AURA FRAMES: https://www.auraframes.com [https://www.auraframes.com] Code: PSTUK BABBEL: https://www.babbel.com/PSUK [https://www.babbel.com/PSUK] GUESTS  Louisa Munch, Critical Theorist Minnie Rahman, CEO Praxis USEFUL LINKS “Nish, Don’t Kill My Vibe” + Q&A with James Acaster at The Ritzy, Brixton - 18th March https://picturehouses.com/movie-details/000/HO00017471/nish-kumar-nish-don-t-kill-my-vibe-q-a?filter= [https://picturehouses.com/movie-details/000/HO00017471/nish-kumar-nish-don-t-kill-my-vibe-q-a?filter=] [https://picturehouses.com/movie-details/000/HO00017471/nish-kumar-nish-don-t-kill-my-vibe-q-a?filter=] Open letter opposing planned changes to the immigration settlement routes: https://act.praxis.org.uk/open-letter-earned-settlement [https://act.praxis.org.uk/open-letter-earned-settlement?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=podcast] CREDITS Darren Jones MP, Cabinet Office minister - Parliament TV Steve Reed MP, Communities Secretary - Parliament TV Mike Tapp MP, Migration minister - Parliament TV Minnie Rahman, Praxis CEO Frederik Pleitgen, CNN International Senior Correspondent - CNN Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media. Get in touch - contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk [PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk] Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK [https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK] Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk [https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk [https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk] BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com [https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com] Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk [https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk]X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk [https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk]

“No Winston Churchill”: is the special relationship over?

A world leader has been assassinated, schools and hospitals have been hit, and Donald Trump thinks that Keir Starmer is no Winston Churchill. It’s all kicking off as the US and Israel’s illegal war escalates across the Middle East. All of this with the open admission of no real plan for what comes next.  Struggling to absorb it all? Wondering if there’s another way? British-Iranian peace strategist Sanam Naraghi Anderlini MBE is here to fill us in. She joins Coco and comedian Sophie Duker, who is in the hotseat for Nish this week. Soaring oil prices was not the backdrop Chancellor Rachel Reeves was hoping for ahead of her second Spring Statement. Finalised before the conflict broke out, her economic plan was “Trumped” before it was even delivered - so where does this leave the UK? Plus - just as the UK gets dragged into this latest destabilising conflict, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood rips up the rules on UK asylum.  Got a burning question for Nish or Coco? Big or small - they will be answered in a special episode! Email: psuk@reducedlistening.co.uk [psuk@reducedlistening.co.uk]  CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS  WISE https://www.wise.com [https://www.wise.com] [https://www.wise.com] SHOPIFY  https://www.shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk [https://www.shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk] [https://www.shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk]  SURFSHARK https://www.surfshark.com/podsave [https://www.surfshark.com/podsave] [https://www.surfshark.com/podsave] Code: PODSAVE GUEST Sanam Naraghi Anderlini MBE, founder and CEO of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) USEFUL LINKS Sophie Duker https://thesophieduker.com/ [https://thesophieduker.com/] [https://thesophieduker.com/] If You Were In Charge with Sanam Naraghi Anderlini and Kavita Nandini Ramdas. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/if-you-were-in-charge/id1770618616 [https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/if-you-were-in-charge/id1770618616] CREDITS Sophie Duker - Live at the Apollo / BBC One  Keir Starmer / X Parliament TV  PBS News Hour / YouTube BBC News  Zoe Gardner / IG Manchester Evening News  Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media. Get in touch - contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk [PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk] Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK [https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK] Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk [https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk [https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk] BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com [https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com] Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk [https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk]X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk [https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk]