Is there an inflation crisis coming?
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 12 March 2026
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After weeks of speculation we finally saw the first release of the files concerning Peter Mandelson’s appointment and sacking as US Ambassador. Ed Balls and George Osborne delve into the revelations within the files, and whether any of the new information damages the government or prime minister. Was there a smoking gun in the files? Is the worst information now out there? Or, are there more damaging revelations to come?
Then, they return to the Iran conflict and reassess what Trump’s strategy is. Can he declare victory now and avoid risking his reputation? Or has this war created problems he can’t outrun? They also discuss the emerging energy crisis, and whether central banks should cut, hold, or raise interest rates in light of the conflict.
Finally, with Tony Blair saying the government should have followed America into Iran, Gordon Brown weighing in on Mandelson, and Boris Johnson pushing for boots on the ground in Ukraine, we’ve seen an increasing number of interventions by ex-PMs. Is this a new trend? If so, what are these ex-PMs hoping to achieve? How effective are their interventions in shifting government policy?
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Credits:
Research: Sam Burton
Production: Caillin McDaid & Richard Attley
Video Editor: Avi Asher
Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Political Coency with Ed Bulls and George Osborne. |
| 0:29.9 | So we are remote today, |
| 0:33.2 | slightly baffling because we're actually both in the UK, |
| 0:34.7 | unusually, but here we are. |
| 0:35.8 | I have to tell you, George, |
| 0:38.5 | I got out of my Good Morning Britain car after the show on Tuesday, and as I was walking down our road, coming to our house, this guy |
| 0:44.1 | yelled out from across the road. I think he was walking his dog, Gordon the Chicken. And I said, |
| 0:50.7 | what? He said, Gordon the Chicken. I said, what? He said, I'm listening to Gordon the Chicken. |
| 0:56.5 | And he actually was walking down our road, listening to our podcast, your Dorney Wood story. |
| 1:02.4 | And he said he was an avid listener, loves a podcast, love the story, and so there you are. |
| 1:08.0 | It's gone viral, the assault on Gordon the Chicken by the Gove family dog. |
| 1:15.9 | I have to say, I mean, this is an extra reason to listen to our EMQs, which will come out in a couple of days. |
| 1:23.2 | But we have a contemporaneous account now because Beatrice Gove, the daughter of Michael and Sarah, |
| 1:29.3 | has sent us in a message about the instance. |
| 1:32.2 | Very good. |
| 1:32.6 | Did you also see that Sarah Vine wrote her column in which she confirmed in the mail, |
| 1:38.4 | the Gordon, the Chicken Story, and the role of their dog? |
| 1:41.6 | And in passing, she said that political currency was her favorite |
| 1:45.5 | podcast, better she said than, what can I say, less well-known brands. Anyway, look, it is such a |
| 1:52.8 | relief that we are finally starting this podcast because we've been sitting around for about |
| 1:58.6 | half an hour waiting for George Osborne's Wi-Fi to actually |
| 2:02.9 | function. He had to get help. I mean, I thought you were a tech bro with a rucksack making |
... |
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