Remainiacs | audioboom.com
Today (BBC Radio 4) | iPlayer
Woman’s Hour (BBC Radio 4) | iPlayer
It’s a Fair Cop (BBC Radio 4) | iPlayer
Had enough of politics? Of course you haven’t. Yes, the election is over. Yes, we all trotted off to the polling stations in good faith, only to end up with Robot-a May and a bunch of anti-abortionist, creationist homophobes making decisions about our future… How can we give up politics, when politicians keep making decisions that shake the very foundations of our lives? The NHS, schools, libraries, policing, abortion rights... Oh, and good old Brexit, which no one (other than the Lib Dems) seemed to talk about much during the campaign, what with both the Conservatives and Labour being determinedly Brexitastic. Both major parties gave us the same message: put on your big-boy knickers and let’s get on with it, shall we?
Hey ho. Or ho hey, as a new podcast has it. Remainiacs (tag line: ho hey, let’s stay) is unashamedly about Brexit. It’s also unashamedly anti-Brexit. It’s for those of us who don’t want to leave the EU, who regret the result of the referendum, who want to know what happens now and what it all might mean. It’s for the 48%. The Remoaners.
Produced by the same people who give us the excellent Bigmouth pop culture podcast, Remainiacs is well informed to the point of mania; completely jam-packed with information and opinion. Everyone talks so fast and knows so much and is so clever, it can feel overwhelming. The podcast would be just as good if it were 45 minutes rather than an hour, and would be even better for more breathing space within it. A Three Things You Didn’t Know About Brexit section, perhaps, or a relevant pop track (do they exist?). However. These are niggles, really. Only two podcasts in and Remainiacs is a very confident proposition. Presented by Ian Dunt of politics.co.uk and Peter Collins, formerly business editor at the Economist (as well as the Guardian’s Dorian Lynskey, away for this episode), and joined last week by Ros Taylor of the LSE, the podcast bashed through an impressive amount of Brexitery with wit and verve.
How refreshing to hear real opinions, as opposed to the tired-sounding “balanced” hosting of the BBC! No holding back here, with Theresa May referred to as “extraordinarily inept” and someone whose “manner of operating tends to throw up spectacular errors”. The insights are revealing: we heard that the reason why the Tory so-called dementia tax was handled so cack-handedly was because May never runs anything past the cabinet. Unlikely as it sounds, there was fascinating chat about whether the UK could get a good unilateral trade deal with the US, plus an even better unpicking of Britain’s attitude to migration. A post-election podcast will be up by the time you read this. Recommended.
As we’re happily politicking, here are a couple of pre-election triumphs. Jane Garvey, on Tuesday’s Woman’s Hour phone-in election special, was quite brilliant at marshalling the egos of the various politicians in the studio; and I very much enjoyed Mishal Husain keeping Boris Johnson in line on the Today programme on the same day. Husain is on top of her game, quietly pricking the pomposity of interviewees, getting answers out of the wriggliest of worms. Excellent.
And if you really have had quite enough of politics, thank you, then Alfie Moore, police officer and standup comedian, has a new Radio 4 series of his show It’s a Fair Cop. It’s really good. In front of a live audience, Moore goes through a real life policing situation, and asks people what they think he should have done. Fascinating and funny, and weirdly life-affirming.
