Does the UK have a gambling problem? Out and about w/ Dawn Butler

Pod Save the UK

Crooked Media

News Commentary, News, Government, Politics

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

High streets across the UK are being overwhelmed by betting shops. They gobble up £4.6 billion from punters every year - and local councils have almost no powers to block them. Labour MP Dawn Butler’s constituency, Brent East in North-West London, has 81 licensed enterprises alone. Jumping into “Betsy”, Dawn’s prized old-banger, Coco is taken out and about in Willesden to see first hand how betting shops are popping up everywhere and hear what local residents think. Along with 37 council leaders and mayors, Dawn is calling for a reform of the Gambling Act 2005 and a hike in gambling duties. With hints she might stand to be London mayor at the next election - could this be the first glimpse of her campaign? Then, Nish and Coco give their assessment of Keir Starmer and the European moral support squad’s visit to the White House - is Putin still calling the shots on Ukraine? And as Starmer’s Government slumps to an all-time low in the polls, Sadiq Khan has a spicy take on Labour’s first year in power. But a glimmer of hope: is that a don’t-call-it-a-wealth-tax on the horizon? On a less hopeful note, what on earth is going on with Labour’s social media account? And Nish and Coco struggle to get their head around the new Gen Z additions to the Cambridge Dictionary. Is politics all “delulu with no solulu”? CHECK OUT THIS DEAL FROM OUR SPONSOR https://www.wise.com USEFUL LINKS See us Live in London! Stop the Genocide Special - Tuesday 2nd https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/words/pod-save-the-uk-x-amnesty-international-uk-stop-the-genocide/ Future of the left - Sunday 7th https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/comedy/pod-save-the-uk/ Sign Dawn Butler’s Petition for Gambling Reform https://www.dawnbutler.org.uk/gambling_reform_petition Gambling Support https://www.gamcare.org.uk/ GUESTS Dawn Butler MP CREDITS IG / @UKLabour TikTok / @politicsprincess Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media. Contact us via email: [email protected] 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

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm here with Nish Kumar.
0:02.0	And I'm here with Sarah Pasco.
0:04.0	We're both doing live versions of our podcast at the London Podcast Festival. And we are thrilled about that, right, Sarah? It's the podcast as New Year's Eve. I'm in no way frantically googling the details and time of where my show is. I know some of the details of your show, so you need to talk about yours first. Okay, okay, great.
0:01.1	And you're not in any way stalling for time because you don't have the information of your show. So you need to talk about yours first. Okay, okay, great. And
0:21.2	you're not in any way stalling for time because you don't have the information about your show. We are very good at promotion. Okay, here's the thing about my show. It's Carrie Adonai. It's a book club. So it's called The Weirdo's Book Club. And we've got a very exciting guest, Alan Davies. Oh, that's going to be good.
0:17.6	Yeah, he's a legend.
0:18.6	Just a bit.
0:19.6	Yeah, he's got a new book coming out and we're promoting it and we'll be talking to him. Then there's a book signing afterwards with Alan and Carrie Adon myself. What about yours? Pod Save the UK has got two shows at the London Podcast Festival. We're doing a show on the 2nd of September in collaboration with Amnesty International. It's a stop the genocide special with
0:54.6	some fantastic guests, including the journalist Wael al-Daghdu, who's Al Jazeera's Gaza
0:59.3	Bureau Chief. And then on Sunday the 7th, we'll be focusing on the future of the left in
1:03.7	the United Kingdom with a very, very special political guest.
1:08.0	You're promoting the end of genocide and I'm promoting Alan Davies. We really think
1:13.5	that there should be more focus on white male comedians because they've got less and less space
1:17.7	in the current world. Who's looking after the WMCs? That's what we want to know. Me and Kariad are.
1:22.6	It's like a donkey sanctuary. But for white male comedians, they have to be straight and they have to be over 50,
1:28.4	and then we look after them. Get your tickets for all three of those shows now at kingsplace.com.
1:33.8	UK or search London Podcast Festival. Welcome family, friends and complete strangers. The deceased
1:42.2	led a full life. She rubbed shoulders with royalty and socialized
1:45.6	with socialites. She was dead rich and was dead fabulous and now she's just, well, dead. But whilst
1:53.9	some will mourn her loss, others will be busy trying to get their grubby little mitts on her
1:59.4	glorious assets. The Inheritance on Channel 4,
2:03.4	Odevious New Gaye. Start Sunday 31st of August. Hi, this is Pod Save the UK. I'm Coco
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Crooked Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Crooked Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.