EMQs: Should we vote on weekends?
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Last week’s local elections saw votes counted during the Friday to save costs, and inspired one listener to ask Ed Balls and George Osborne why that isn’t always the case. He also wondered why we don’t vote at weekends like other European countries. The pair explain the historical roots of the tradition and the benefits of weekday votes and overnight counts for general elections. Plus they recall their own experiences as commentators during the last 3 elections.
They then address the divisive policies and language seen in the Greens and Reform campaigns, and whether this is a sign of the centre losing ground or an opportunity to seize. They also take a question from an Australian listener, who wonders if we’re moving too fast in the energy transition.
Finally, a listener returns to the assisted dying debate from a few weeks ago and proposes their own case for the legislation. We also hear the pair debating the possibility of immortality…
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Credits:
Research: Sam Burton
Production: Caillin McDaid & Nasreen Arain
Video Editor: Avi Asher
Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford & Henrietta Harrison
Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello podcast listener. |
| 0:01.6 | Hello you. |
| 0:02.4 | It's me, Greg James. |
| 0:03.8 | And me, Alice Levine. |
| 0:05.3 | Now, look, I know that you're very much enjoying this podcast that you're listening to. |
| 0:10.1 | And we're sorry to interrupt. We really are. |
| 0:12.4 | And it genuinely might not be our place to say, but is it time to try something new? |
| 0:17.9 | We would like to steal you for our new podcast. It's called Bad Chat. And it sounds a bit |
| 0:22.4 | like this. This one goes out to the walkers and the talkers and the late night. Stalkers. |
| 0:27.1 | Maybe not that one. Alice is my best friend. I am not Alice's best friend. Do you know that |
| 0:32.4 | horses' legs are their fingers? That is a bit of bad chat. From me, Greg James. |
| 0:38.6 | And me, famously, Alice Levine. |
| 0:40.6 | Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:48.2 | The Chancellor of the Exchequer. |
| 0:50.4 | Getting a lesson from the Shadow Chancellor |
| 0:52.4 | and how to balance the books, |
| 0:53.5 | it's like getting a lesson from Dracula and how to look after a blood back. |
| 0:57.1 | Ed Balls. |
| 0:58.4 | As steady as she goes, budget. |
| 1:01.4 | What kind of ship does he think he's on, the Titanic? |
| 1:04.3 | Themary, Celeste. |
| 1:05.6 | Welcome to EMQs from Political Currency. |
... |
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