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The Rest Is Politics

512. Trump’s Iran Disaster and the GB News Propaganda Machine

The Rest Is Politics

Goalhanger

News, Politics, Government

4.511.5K Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2026

⏱️ 71 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Is Russia the biggest winner from Trump’s war with Iran? Is GB News little more than a propaganda machine for Reform UK? How toxic is England's water and why does it have the only fully privatised water and sewerage system in the world? Join Rory and Alastair as they answer all these questions and more. __________ Go deeper into the world of The Rest Is Politics by signing up for our free newsletter ⁠HERE⁠, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis and weekend reads from Alastair and Rory. Join The Rest Is Politics Plus: Start your free trial at ⁠therestispolitics.com⁠ to unlock exclusive bonus content – including Rory and Alastair’s miniseries – plus ad-free listening, early access to episodes and live show tickets, exclusive newsletters, discounted book prices, and a private chatroom on Discord. The Rest Is Politics is powered by Fuse Energy. To sign up and for terms and conditions, visit ⁠fuseenergy.com/politics⁠. Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ ⁠nordvpn.com/restispolitics⁠ It's risk-free with Nord's 30 day money back guarantee ✅ __________ Instagram: ⁠@restispolitics⁠ Twitter: ⁠@restispolitics⁠ Email: ⁠therestispolitics@goalhanger.com⁠ __________ Social Producer: Celine Charles Video Editor: Josh Smith, Kieron Leslie Assistant Producer: Daisy Alston-Horne Producer: Evan Green Exec Producer: Chris Sawyer General Manager: Tom Whiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Thanks for listening to The Rest Is Politics. To support the podcast, listen without the adverts and get early access to episodes and live show tickets, go to the rest is politics.com. That's the rest is politics.com.

0:12.0

It's been so catastrophic for Trump not to have had a very clear objective about what he was trying to achieve.

0:17.0

You don't have a moral obligation to do what you can't do. If you can't fix it, then don't try,

0:22.8

because you'll often make things worse. Most leaders in the world try to do state craft,

0:27.5

but Trump only does it stagecraft. Iran has now demonstrated that it can at will, shut down

0:32.9

neighboring economies, close the straits before moves. Iran, in a sense, now feels more powerful. And that

0:38.3

means there'll be pressure on Israel and the US to just keep going. This is going to be terrible

0:42.1

for the economy in Britain and Europe and around the world.

0:53.0

Welcome to the rest of politics with me, Rory Stewart.

0:56.0

And with me, Alistair Campbell. And Rory, today we're going to talk about Iran.

0:59.6

But unlike recent weeks, not the whole program, we're going to talk about two catastrophic failures of regulation of our water on the back of an astonishing TV program, Dirty Business, and also

1:12.9

Offcom, who I've tried to give the benefit of the doubt to, but their total blind eye to GB

1:18.1

news becoming what even Andrew Neal now calls Reform TV in, I think, total breach of the law that

1:24.3

Ofcom is meant to uphold.

1:25.7

But Rory, before we start, you know how your

1:27.7

mum is like the big influence on this podcast in your family? Well, with me, it's my kids, the younger generation. Very good. So Grace sends me this message. Dad, podcast is fab, mainly because of Rory, ofs, but you guys need to do more small talk. It's all so heavy. Trump, Trump, Trump, war, war.

1:45.4

You need a bit of bans at the start. Like, hey, Rory, how you've been, what you mean up to, anything weird going on in your life. Otherwise, she says, you'll have people jumping off bridges before they get to the break, LOL. So FFS, lighten things up of it. Lafter emoji, love emoji. but I think she's got a little bit of a point. Let's get to you and what you like listening to.

2:04.5

Let's say, lighten things up a bit. Lafter emoji, love emoji. But I think she's got a little bit of a point.

2:02.1

Let's get to you and what you like listening to. Let's say you went to something and you were

2:06.6

looking for an update on Iran on the news and you heard two middle-aged blokes talking about their

2:11.5

holiday. You're absolutely right. It's true. The podcast that I listen to where they do that stuff, I do go 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 30 seconds. That's true. But I think for younger people, because people go on about, you know this, because we get stopped and people talk to others, they're interested in our relationship, right, of the dynamic. So I think that's what she means.

2:32.7

Do you think we could do a very, very short one?

...

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