“Performative cruelty and a waste of money" – Stella Creasy MP rips into the Government's migration plans

Oh God, What Now?

Podmasters

News, Politics, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2026

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Government’s migration and asylum plans have had that unique Keir Starmer way of annoying everyone. Including many of their own MPs, such as Walthamstow’s Stella Creasy. She says her party is now asking people to live in “limbo” and that the new policy change is not “socially just”. She joins the panel to explain why. And in the second half, monsters are everywhere (including politics). But what is a monster? Why do humans keep inventing them — and what does that say about us? Dr Surekha Davies’ new book Humans: A Monstrous History, explores all of that, and she joins the panel to give her take. ESCAPE ROUTES: • Jonn has been reading the work of Iain M. Banks: https://iainbanks.co.uk/ • Zoë went to the Tate Modern to see the Nigerian Modernism exhibition • Surekha recommends a visit to the Samurai exhibition at the British Museum • Stella was DJing at the weekend to raise money for two charities WHICH YOU CAN STILL DONATE TO! They are Eat or Heat and Furnishing Futures Buy Humans: A Monstrous History through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Oh God, What Now? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Zoë Grunewald with Jonn Elledge. Audio Production by: Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:09.3	GoFundMe today at gofundme.com. That's gofundme.com, G-O-F-U-N-D-M Grunewold. On today's show, just to give you a break from all Iran all the time,
1:45.4	let's talk about immigration. This week, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the most
1:49.8	drastic tightening of immigration rules in a generation, making refugee status temporary,
1:55.2	extending the path to indefinite leave to remain from five years to around 10 years,
1:59.7	and restricting student visas from certain
2:01.7	countries and doing it all in the scariest black jacket that anyone's ever seen.
2:06.6	So what is that clear's labour playing at? MP Stella Creasy joins us in the first part of the
2:10.7	show to give us her say. Plus, in the second half, we live in a world full of monsters,
2:15.3	not just our leaders, but the groups and individuals we're taught to fear.
2:19.5	But what is a monster and what on earth are they doing under our beds?
2:23.9	Our special guest, historian of science, Dr. Soraka Davis, talks us through the long, strange history of monster making,
2:30.9	from ancient gods to Frankenstein to AI and her book, Humans, A Monstrous
	...

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