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Crooked Media

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.

Pod Save the UK

Nish and Coco celebrate the win of Progressive New York Democratic Mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani - and ponder what British lefties can learn from his social-media friendly campaign. 

And is Chancellor Rachel Reeves about to rip up Labour’s manifesto promise not to introduce any new taxes on “working people”? She certainly seems to be laying the groundwork for it, after an unusual pre-budget speech on Tuesday. Nothing was announced - but it’s what wasn’t denied that tells a story… 

Later - Nish and Coco discuss the disturbing influence of American anti-abortionist lobbies on the UK’s political system and what we can do about it with New York Times investigative reporter Jane Bradley and campaigner for sexual and reproductive health and rights Lisa Hallgarten. To nobody’s surprise, Nigel Farage is involved. 

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Babbel 

https://www.babbel.com/PSUK 

Calm 

https://www.calm.com/PSTUK 

Wise

https://www.wise.com

GUESTS

Lisa Hallgarten - advocate, educator and campaigner for sexual and reproductive health and rights with a recent focus on young people’s right to better sex education. You can follow her on Instagram and Bluesky @FundamentalWrites 

Jane Bradley - UK investigative reporter at the New York Times 

USEFUL LINKS

Crooked Christmas Gear 

http://crooked.com/store

Jane Bradley's NYT article

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/world/europe/uk-abortion-farage.html

AUDIO CREDITS

CNN

Sky News

Reform UK

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

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

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

Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk

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

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheukYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What can the left learn from Zohran Mamdani’s win?

It’s been a painful week for the government, with a migrant sex offender accidentally released from prison and a damning report on the spiralling costs of the asylum system. But is a plan to house asylum seekers on military sites really the answer? 

Political journalist Zoë Grünewald - standing in for Coco as Nish’s co-host this week - dives into how this re-hashed Conservative plan has managed to piss off, well, just about everyone. 

In better news - it’s curtains for the hated section 21 ‘no-fault evictions’ notices. The long-awaited Renters’ Rights Act has become law! Nish and Zoe talk to housing journalist Vicky Spratt about how big a deal this is for renters across England. 

Plus - why Housing Secretary Steve Reed's Maga-style 'build, baby, build' crusade looks likely to end in affordable housing targets more pathetic than they are now.

 

Then later – from spending £75,000 on flags to their only black party chair quitting - is Reform out-reforming Reform? And why is Jeremy Corbyn swapping parliament for panto this Christmas.

GUESTS

Vicky Spratt

USEFUL LINKS

Peckham Not For Sale

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/acapeckham/

CREDITS

Sky News

X / Steve Reed 

Talk TV

LBC

Reform UK

ITV News

IG / Pleasance Theatre 

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

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

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

Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk

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

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Britain’s prison and asylum meltdown. Plus - the Renters’ Rights Act w/ Vicky Spratt

Enough is enough! Nish stages an intervention with Coco about her troubling relationship with Chat GPT. Or as Coco puts it: her mate “Chatty G”. 

But Coco’s not the only one embracing generative AI - it’s creeping into politics. From MPs using it in their daily work to the Swedish prime minister turning to it for a second opinion on running the country. Is AI a useful and harmless political tool or will it erode trust even further?

Despairing, Nish catches up with internet pioneer and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. What can our increasingly polarised and trust-depleted world learn from the man who turned a crazy idea into one of the most popular websites in the world? Nish and Jimmy cover Musk’s “Wokepedia” attacks, the rise of AI and the Online Safety Act. 

And Nish and Coco check in on some other questionable distortions of reality - featuring everyone’s favourite charlatan Nigel Farage and Prince Andrew’s infamous inability to sweat.

CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS

CALM

https://www.calm.com/PSTUK 

SPOTIFY

https://www.shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk 

GUESTS

Jimmy Wales

CREDITS

Al Arabia

BBC

The Sun 

Reform UK

Donald Trump

Bloomberg

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

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

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

Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk

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

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pod Save the Truth w/ Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales

It’s been an emotional week after the arrival of a Hamas-Israel ceasefire. This is good news - but issues of humanitarian aid, human rights, and accountability are all still up in the air. The struggle for a lasting peace continues... 

Closer to home - Nish and Coco check in with Plaid Cymru's leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, to talk about seeing off Reform, what a new co-operative era in Welsh politics might look like and why voters may find themselves a little "indie-curious".

If Oasis can bury the hatchet, so can we! That's Your Party's message, but Nish and Coco aren’t totally sold on the Corbyn-Sultana reunion. In the wake of a Green membership surge, the party without a name is drawing dividing lines… But are they picking the right battles? 

And - the Iron Lady turns 100 - as lavish celebrations begin Nish and Coco ask why the UK is soooooooooo obsessed with Mags. From Right to Buy to Section 28 - her legacy isn't looking so great in 2025. And a scary revelation that Coco is spookily good at imitating her.

NB. A previous version of this episode contained an incorrect fact about Katy Perry. We regret the error. 

CHECK OUT THIS DEAL FROM OUR SPONSOR

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GUESTS

Rhun ap Iorwerth 

CREDITS

The World Transformed

Turn Left Media

CNBC

USEFUL LINKS 

Medical Aid for Palestinians

https://www.map.org.uk

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

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

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

Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk

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

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why can’t the UK get over Thatcher? Plus - “Your Party” infighting is Definitely Maybe over…

“Shocking... but not surprising” - the words of Stephen Bush, Associate Editor at the Financial Times and Chair of the Commission on Racial Inclusivity in the Jewish Community for the Board of Deputies of British Jews in 2020. Stephen joins Nish and Coco to discuss the fallout from the shocking attack on a synagogue in Manchester last week. 

The trio discuss solidarity and protest, and why the government’s response to the Manchester attack is not making all British Jews feel safer. 

Stephen has also spent the weekend in an all-but empty exhibition hall, at Tory conference in Manchester. It’s a land of misspelt chocolate bars and retro racism - have the Tories given up the ghost? 

Later - Coco and Nish try their hand at some data analysis - introducing Pod Save the UK’s brand-spanking-new diarrhoea index - before checking in on a bold new idea straight out of the Green’s conference - abolishing landlords. 

CHECK OUT THIS DEAL FROM OUR SPONSOR

https://www.shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk 

GUESTS

Stephen Bush 

CLIP CREDITS

ITV

The Green Party of England & Wales

BBC

The Guardian 

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

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

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

Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk

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

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheukYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Solidarity in the face of hatred: how to unite after the Manchester attack

It’s conference season, and at the Labour conference in Liverpool - flagshagging, snake-oil merchants and leadership jockeying - is it Keir Starmer’s final chance for a reset? Nish and Coco are joined by political journalist Zoë Grünewald.

And later - as Trump reveals his plans for peace in Gaza, including a bizarre role for former PM Tony Blair - is the UK doing enough for Gaza? Nish speaks to Labour MP for Stroud, Dr Simon Opher, who earlier this month was denied entry into the occupied West Bank. Simon also fills Nish in on an innovative new prescription medicine - Laughter. 

Finally - we open the mailbag to share your wonderful stories of immigration in the UK - and Nish furthers his feud with a beloved British comedy icon.

CHECK OUT THIS DEAL FROM OUR SPONSOR

https://www.shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk 

GUESTS

Zoë Grünewald

Simon Opher MP

USEFUL LINKS

I am an Immigrant Podcast

https://iceandfire.co.uk/project/i-am-an-immigrant/

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

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

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

Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk

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

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheukYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Decency or division: Starmer takes aim at Reform

Oh dear lefties… We just can’t stop tearing each other apart, huh? One short month into the evolution of the new political party experiment undertaken by independent MPs Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn - and the whole thing has descended into acrimony. After a weekend of legal threats, “your” party is suddenly seeming to be a house of cards built amidst a hurricane.

 

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage has seized the moment to vomit out a new wave of inflammatory anti-migrant rhetoric. The need for a unified left movement has never been more urgent - and new Green Party leader Zack Polanski is ready to meet the moment. 

Zack joins Nish and Coco in our (fully powered) studio - to talk about his vision for the future of the left, his plans to fight inequality and why he’s not actually thrilled to see Zarah and Jez at each others throats. He also brings up his ever-so-slightly hypnotherapy boobjob and in revenge, helps us pip the Sun to the post on a saaaaaucy exclusive. 

Later - Nish weighs in on the Jimmy Kimmel saga… It couldn’t happen here, right? Oh, wait… 

CHECK OUT THIS DEAL FROM OUR SPONSOR

https://www.shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk 

GUESTS

Zack Polanksi - Green Party Leader

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

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

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

Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheukFacebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheukYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
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Your loss, Zack’s gain? Polanski’s vision for the UK

It’s been a hellish week for our Disunited Kingdom. First Tommy Robinson mobilised ten of thousands in his ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march. Before we could recover from that toxic side show, the headline act arrived: President Trump. He was kept behind a ring of steel in Windsor where he enjoyed British brown nosing at its best from flatterers-in-chief, the Royal Family. What a state we’re in. 

Coco and Nish reflect on what they learned about their fellow Brits this week and the conclusion is scary. But before they abandon hope there was another march. Thousands of ‘Stop Trump’ protestors came out onto the streets of London - to hear from a range of the UK’s loudest progressive voices, from Zarah Sultana, to Zack Polanski and Jeremy Corbyn. Two protests, two faces of Britain. Can we ever bridge the divide? 

Finally - to round off the show, an injection of hope. Josie Naughton CEO of charity ‘Choose Love’ joins the pod to show us that there definitely is a way through this.

USEFUL LINKS 

Choose Love

https://choose.love/ 

Stop Trump Coalition

https://stoptrump.org.uk/protest/ 

Guests

Josie Naughton 

Zarah Sultana

Zack Polanski

Jeremy Corbyn

George Monbiot

Zoe Gardener

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

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

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

Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk

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

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anger, Rage and Love - Trump’s visit to the UK and Tommy Robinson’s far right rally

Chaos, what chaos? Rayner's out. The cabinet's reshuffled. The lurch to the right hasn't stopped. But in the words of Homer Simpson, could Keir Starmer's shit show be a "crisitunity" for the left? 

To tell us how we can seize this moment, Nish and Coco are joined by leftwing royalty - Zarah Sultana MP and Bimini Bon-Boulash - live at the London Podcast Festival. 

Zarah shares why she feels liberated from Labour, has zero sympathy for Angela Rayner and zero tolerance for colleagues who don’t agree on trans rights. 

And as the government goes flag crazy, the gang reclaim some patriotic merch for the left. Zarah champions her Princess Diana mug and Bimini channels their inner Spice Girl by reclaiming the Union Jack.

CHECK OUT THIS DEAL FROM OUR SPONSOR

https://www.shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk 

GUESTS:

Zarah Sultana 

Bimini Bon-Boulash

IMAGE CREDIT: 

Kings Place / Monika S. Jakubowska

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

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

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

Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk

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

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheukYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Liberated from Labour: Zarah Sultana and Bimini Bon-Boulash - Live!

Pod Save the UK teamed up with Amnesty International UK for a powerful live recording to raise awareness and support to end the genocide in Gaza.

Nish and Coco are joined by Palestinian journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh, Gaza Bureau Chief of Al Jazeera, who shares first-hand experiences of reporting under unimaginable circumstances in Gaza and the deadly toll on journalists.

Comedians and activists Jen Brister and Alexei Sayle join the stage to reflect on the importance of speaking truth to power in a time of immense crisis and a dangerous escalation in the criminalisation of dissent.

It’s an urgent and timely discussion that delves beyond the headlines, exploring the personal stories of those that have lived through the genocide in Gaza. It highlights the devastating realities and the glimmers of resilience and solidarity that persist and the urgent need to raise our collective voices to demand an end to the genocide.

The conversation is book-ended with live performances from internationally acclaimed Palestinian musician Adnan Joubran, who brings the spirit and sounds of Palestine to life through his playing.

USEFUL LINKS 

Sign Amnesty International's petition to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza!

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/demand-immediate-and-permanent-ceasefire-psuk

Donate here to support Amnesty’s work on the ground in Gaza

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/giving/donate/help-protect-civilians-gaza-POD

Come to our next live show w/ Zarah Sultana and Bimini Bon-Boulash - this Sunday!

https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/comedy/pod-save-the-uk/

GUESTS

Wael Al-Dahdouh

Jen Brister

Alexei Sayle

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

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

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

Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheuk

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

Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What can the left learn from Zohran Mamdani’s win?

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