Starmer’s ‘black holes’: What will fill them?
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 29 August 2024
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“Things will get worse before they get better.” That was the gloomy warning given by Keir Starmer this week, in his first major speech since becoming prime minister.
Labour have previously blamed the Tories for the ‘economic black hole’ they say they’ve found in the public finances since taking office. But what did Starmer mean when he referred to a ‘societal black hole’ left by his predecessors? And if there are cracks in British society, how does the government fix them?
Amol and Nick are joined by Starmer’s former director of policy and expert on the working class Claire Ainsley – now a director at the left-leaning thinktank, the Progressive Policy Institute.
And Tom Walker - the comedian behind the fictitious political correspondent Jonathan Pie - is in the studio to give his moment of the week and reminisce on some of his favourite bloopers by news reporters.
If you have a question you’d like to Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us Today@bbc.co.uk
Episodes of The Today Podcast land first on BBC Sounds. Get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme.
The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the UK’s most influential radio news programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.
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The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producer is Hatty Nash, research and digital production from Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Mike Regaard.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We get it. Life is busy. You want to keep up with the news, but there's just too much going on. |
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| 0:14.8 | It does mean we have to put in the hard work, though. |
| 0:17.5 | Listen to Newscast every day on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:21.6 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:25.4 | Nick, do you remember those days of yore when Labour leaders got elected and they'd come to |
| 0:29.2 | power and the tune that was blaring in the background, which Rishi Sunak heard when he was |
| 0:33.6 | on the steps of Downing Street in the rain not so long ago was things can only get better. |
| 0:38.3 | Whereas these days, it's a slightly different tune when Labour come into power, isn't it? |
| 0:42.0 | Yeah, things can only get worse. |
| 0:44.0 | Keir Stama seems to be telling us, or at least things can only get worse before maybe one day they get better, |
| 0:49.1 | but maybe not in the first five years if you elect us again in the second term. |
| 0:52.6 | By the 10th year of Akeir Stama administration. It's not all that uplifting, is it? No, nor is this talk of black holes. When I saw that Keir Stammer was giving a speech about black holes, I was thinking he's turned into an astrophysicist. Brian Cox leading the local. Exactly, where there is that de-ream connection. But no, he's talking about black holes much closer to home. |
| 1:12.7 | He is because one we're familiar with, aren't we? In every election, all the political parties, and indeed we, when we're asking the question, talk about budgetary black holes. A black hole in the public finances. How are they going to fill it? Well, he's now claiming that there's a 22 billion |
| 1:29.2 | pound. Black hole, they had no idea that was there. But he added a new black hole. Not a phrase I think |
| 1:36.7 | they will be stitching into the banners for marches in the future, what he called a societal black |
| 1:43.2 | hole as a result of the years of Tory rule. |
| 1:47.2 | What does he mean by that? |
| 1:48.7 | We're going to try and work out with a woman who was his policy chief, who probably knows the answer. |
| 1:52.9 | So this is not a podcast about cosmology. |
| 1:55.5 | This is a podcast about the politics of Britain this week and into the future. |
| 2:00.3 | What are Keir Stahmer's black holes? |
... |
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