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Pod Save the UK

Pod Save the UK is your weekly fix of political news, big ideas and a shot of inspiration. Each week hosts, comedian Nish Kumar and journalist Coco Khan are joined by politicians, experts, and famous friends to unpick the latest news, look for solutions, and inspire action. From Crooked Media – the creators of Pod Save America – in partnership with Reduced Listening, tune in to new episodes of Pod Save the UK every Thursday wherever you pod.

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 

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GUEST

Sanam Naraghi Anderlini MBE, founder and CEO of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)

USEFUL LINKS

Sophie Duker
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

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
Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk
X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk

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

This week Nish and Coco are joined by friend of the pod, Ash Sarkar from Novara Media to talk about political scandal, trust and compromise. Ash’s book, Minority Rule, has a new afterword which talks about two progressive movements which have tried to build different kinds of relationships with voters. Is that the way forward - or are we stuck in an endless cycle of broken promises from our leaders? 

One of those leaders - Keir Starmer - seems to be lurching from crisis to nightmare, so can he rise above the latest headlines about Peter Mandelson’s arrest and the Labour Together scandal?

Plus Reform’s new immigration policies, the new proposals to change the SEND system - and some good news about two protest groups.

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GUESTS 

Ash Sarkar, Contributing Editor at Novara Media and author of Minority Rule: Adventures in the Culture War - out now in paperback.

USEFUL LINKS

Jumaane Williams’ thoughtful response following the outcry about the handling of a racial slur at the Baftas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgaqKIxS4Hs&t=1s

CREDITS

Daily Express - YouTube
Nigel Farage - YouTube
@sendra.uk - Instagram
Nida Jafri

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.
Get in touch - contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk
Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk
X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk

Are we stuck in never-ending political scandal? w/Ash Sarkar

This week Coco is joined by the comedian Cody Dahler while Nish takes a brief break and there’s so much to talk about!

The Greens' Hannah Spencer has become the unexpected bookies favourite to win the Gorton and Denton by-election but does she have what it takes to turn good odds into a win at the ballot box? We speak to her about the importance of fighting to improve lives, her favourite false rumour and why walking her dogs helped form her political outlook.

Plus Keir Starmer is back with another U-turn and another inquiry. We try to work out what he’s hoping to achieve this week. And Amnesty International’s UK Director of Law and Human Rights, Tom Southerden, updates us on their High Court victory as they challenge the proscription of Palestine Action.

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GUESTS 

Hannah Spencer, Green Party candidate, Gorton and Denton by-election

Tom Southerden, UK Law and Human Rights Director, Amnesty International

USEFUL LINKS

Gorton and Denton by-election candidate list https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/elections/parl.gorton-and-denton.by.2026-02-26/gorton-and-denton/

CREDITS

TikTok / @mrcodydahler

Green Party of England and Wales / Facebook

Hannah Spencer / Instagram

Paul Holden, Investigative journalist and author of "The Fraud"

High Court protest reaction - Amnesty International footage

@mrcodydahler / Instagram

Otto, Budding Comedian

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.
Get in touch - contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk
Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk
X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk

Can she fix it? Hannah the plumber and politician on tackling Reform

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s cabinet circles the wagons as he survives another hellish week in office. One that saw the loss of his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and his director of communications, Tim Allan, as the scandal over Peter Mandelson's ties to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein rages on. 

Nish and Coco are joined by Paul Holden, the “unofficial biographer” of Morgan McSweeney, to discuss his key role in the rise of Keir Starmer to power and his close relationship with Mandelson. Plus - reports that Labour Together hired a PR firm to investigate Paul and others looking into its funding under McSweeney.

Also, comedian Stuart Goldsmith on the serious business of being funny about climate change and why it goes all the way to the top of British intelligence.

CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS 

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GUESTS 

Paul Holden, Investigative Journalist and author of The Fraud
Stuart Goldsmith, Climate Comedian

USEFUL LINKS

The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney, and the Crisis of British Democracy
https://orbooks.com/catalog/the-fraud/

Stuart Goldsmith
www.stuartgoldsmith.com

CREDITS

Sky News / YouTube
Sky News / YouTube
GOP Oversight / YouTube
Sky News Australia / YouTube

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.
Get in touch - contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk
Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk
X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk

McSweeney: the man who made Starmer and his ties to Mandelson

The release of the latest Epstein files triggered a deluge of revelations, spelling the end for one of UK’s biggest political characters. Nish and Coco chat about Lord Mandelson’s fall and the damage done to Keir Starmer and his government as well as the new police investigation into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Economist Ann Pettifor, one of the few who predicted the 2008 financial crash, is the author of a new book “The Global Casino”. She has a lot to say about the Mandelson scandal, the financial systems that control our lives and what governments need to do to challenge the global billionaires who speculate with our money every day.

Plus - move over Barbenheimer, Nish and Coco give their take on two premieres: The Moment and Melania.

CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS 

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GUEST 
Ann Pettifor, economist and author of ‘The Global Casino’

USEFUL LINKS

Nish Tour Tickets
https://www.nishkumar.co.uk/gigs/

The Global Casino: How Wall Street Gambles with People and the Planet
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3258-the-global-casino

CREDITS
Keir Starmer MP / Parliament TV
Lord Mandelson / ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’ BBC One
Melania Trailer 

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.
Get in touch - contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk
Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk
X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk

Will Mandelson be Starmer’s downfall?

Keir Starmer jets off to Beijing, leaving Westminster - once again - bubbling with rumours about his future. The King of the North might be off the cards, but Angela Rayner and even Ed Miliband are eyeing up the top spot. 

Reform thinks GB News Presenter and right-wing activist Matt Goodwin is the right man to be their MP candidate in Gorton and Denton - if only he can shelve his disdain for Manchester… Nish and Coco chew it all over with political journalist Zoë Grünewald.

Away from the psychodrama, controversial plans to overhaul special educational needs education in England risk children’s legal rights to cut costs. Campaigners Rachel Filmer and Carrie Grant share their concerns with Coco.

And surveillance firm Palantir is using medical records to target people for ICE in the US - could the UK be next?

This podcast has been edited to remove a story about Matt Goodwin after he clarified the context of his comments about Manchester. We regret the error.

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GUESTS 
Zoë Grünewald, journalist, broadcaster and political commentator
Dr Carrie Grant MBE, TV presenter and voice coach
Rachel Filmer, SEND campaigner

USEFUL LINKS

Save Our Children’s Rights Campaign
https://www.saveourchildrensrights.org.uk/

Stop Palantir in the NHS
https://goodlawproject.org/campaign/stop-palantir-in-the-nhs

CREDITS

Keir Starmer / TikTok
Pod Save America / X
Good Law Project / Instagram
Sky News / YouTube
UKLabour / X

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.
Get in touch - contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk
Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk
X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk

Will Starmer’s control freakery deliver victory to Reform?

Donald Trump brings his particular brand of terrible speeches to the billionaires and bankers at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Nish and Coco try to work out how Keir Starmer can keep on track when facing the threat of US tariffs over Greenland as well as criticism of a lease deal with the Chagos Islands - which the US had previously praised.

Liam Thorp, the Liverpool Echo’s Political Editor, is on hand to break down Labour’s big plan to make homes warmer, the fortunes of Reform and the latest delay to the Hillsborough Law

Plus comedian Alaa Shehada, fresh from his show ‘The Horse of Jenin’, talks to Nish and Coco about the ‘Palestine Comedy Club’, a documentary which follows a group of Palestinians as they take their comedy show on tour in an occupied state.

CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS 

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WISE

Wise.com

GUESTS 

Liam Thorp - Political Editor, Liverpool Echo

Tess Ingram, UNICEF

Alaa Shehada - Comedian

USEFUL LINKS

Palestine Comedy Club collective

https://www.palestinecomedyclub.com/

Palestine Comedy Club documentary

https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/palestine-comedy-club

Starting Feb 27th:

London - Rich Mix and Bertha Doc House 

Tywyn - Magic Lantern Cinema 

Birmingham - Mockingbird Cinema 

Brighton - Komedia 

Gloucester - Guildhall 

Belfast - Queen’s Film Theatre

CREDITS

Donald Trump - BBC Online

‘Palestine Comedy Club’ - Tough Crowd

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.

Get in touch - contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk

Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK

Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheukX: https://x.com/podsavetheuk

 

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Starmer’s new Trump headache and making comedy under occupation

X has been firmly in the firing line after its Grok AI tool was used to create sexualised images of women and children. Elon Musk’s company could face a fine of up to 10% of its global earnings by internet regulator Ofcom, or a ban in the UK. He denies that the AI has done anything illegal and says users are responsible for the images they create.

How can we regulate AI? Nish and Coco speak to Rutger Bregman, historian and author who called out billionaires at Davos. He argues Big Tech should be treated like Big Tobacco, and gives his take on Iran, as thousands of protestors take to the streets, and what a radical policy platform looks like for the UK Left today.

Plus - what on earth is UKIP proposing as a terrifying rebrand? 

*Update on Palestinian Hunger Strikers*: On 14th Jan Heba, Kamran, and Lewie collectively paused their hunger strike. They made British history, lasting 73 days.

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BABBEL

https://www.babbel.com/PSUK 

GUESTS 

Rutger Bregman - Historian and Author of Moral Ambition, out in paper back on 15th Jan

USEFUL LINKS

https://www.moralambition.org/book

Let us know your experiences of SEND support in schools - or any other stories.

CREDITS

Liz Kendall MP, Technology Secretary - Parliament TV

Rutger Bregman - Publicae 

Rutger Bregman and Tucker Carlson - Now This

Tehran protests - Shaparak Khorsandi/Instagram

Donald Trump - New York Times

Laila Cunningham - Daily Express/YouTube

Nadim Zahawi - Sky News

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.

Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk

Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK

Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheukX: https://x.com/podsavetheuk

 

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Grok AI Scandal: should we treat Big Tech like Big Tobacco? w/ Rutger Bregman

The US President put the season of goodwill behind him with a New Year Venezuelan coup and the threat of further action across Central America and the Caribbean. Then there’s the little matter of his promise to seize control of Greenland.

Nish and Coco try to make sense of the senseless - and to assess the possibility that Donald Trump could end up destroying NATO - with Tommy Vietor from our sister podcasts Pod Save America and Pod Save the World. 

Plus, comedian Cody Dahler gives us his take on how 2026 will shape up for politicians and satirists. How easy is it to make jokes while the world - literally and metaphorically - is on fire? 

CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS 

WISE

https://wise.com/

BABBEL

https://www.babbel.com/PSUK 

GUESTS 

Cody Dahler, Comedian and Presenter of The Truth (In My Opinion)

Tommy Vietor, Co-Host of Pod Save America and Pod Save the World

Nida Jafri

USEFUL LINKS

Palestine Action Hunger Strikers:

How to write to your MP 

https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp/

Petition calling for action from the Justice Secretary

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/call-on-mp-and-secretary-of-justice-david-lammy-to-intervene-and-protect-the-hunger-strikers/

CREDITS

Parliament TV

Cody Dahler/TikTok

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg/BBC One

Tonight with Andrew Marr/LBC

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.

Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk

Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK

Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheukTwitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk

 

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Trump’s explosive start to 2026 - will Starmer find a backbone?

You asked, Nish and Coco answered!

What are their most conservative opinions? Why do both the left and right hate NATO so much? Should we ditch GDP? Why doesn’t the UK have compulsory voting and why do some many progressives stay true to Labour when the party is failing to measure up?

All that plus the latest on Coco’s love-hate relationship with AI and a quickfire round to make sure no question is left unanswered.

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Babbel.com/PSUK 

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Calm.com/PTSUK

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.

Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.uk

Support PSUK! Don’t forget to like and subscribe.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk

Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk

 

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McSweeney: the man who made Starmer and his ties to Mandelson

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