System Failure – Why does British politics feel broken?

Oh God, What Now?

Podmasters

News, Politics, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

British politics feels stalled and the only people benefiting are Farage and the quick-fix demagogues of Reform UK. Why is the debate about our national future frozen and what can we do about it? Special guest Ben Ansell – author of Why Politics Fails – joins us to talk it over. Plus, a But Your Emails special where we answer as many of your questions as is humanly possible. And in the Extra Bit for Patreon people only… where did the obsession with Hallowe’en come from? ESCAPE ROUTES • Jonn recommends Alan Johnson’s memoir This Boy • Ben has been reading the Robert Harris Cicero trilogy. Book One is Imperium • Ros has been reading The Endless Country by Sami Kent • Hannah has been watching The Diplomat on Netflix and listening to Lily Allen's new album • Buy books 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. If you want to find out more about Energise Africa and register as an investor, visit energiseafrica.com/ogwn . www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Ros Taylor with Hannah Fearn and Jonn Elledge. Audio Production by: Tom Taylor. 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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Like the podcasts, but not the adverts, no problem. Just support us on Patreon. You'll get every episode
0:05.6	without interruptions and you'll be helping independent podcasts like, oh god, what now, to thrive.
0:10.7	Follow the link in the show notes to find out more. Today's episode is brought to you by Energize
0:15.6	Africa, the innovative UK-based investment site that helps bring vital solar energy access to people across
0:22.1	sub-Saharan Africa. Through Energize Africa, you can invest in pioneering African businesses
0:27.1	from as little as 50 pounds, having a direct impact on clean energy in sub-Saharan Africa,
0:32.1	and aiming to achieve competitive returns too. Stay tuned to hear more about energized Africa a little bit later
0:38.5	this episode. Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high
0:43.2	risk investment. I'm Alison Phillips. And I'm John Elish. And this edition of Oh God What Now is sponsored by
0:50.1	naked wines. A great tasting wine is one of life's little treats.
0:55.4	But it's not always easy to find.
0:57.7	Especially when you're in the supermarket and all the wines kind of look the same.
1:01.2	Good thing there's naked wines.
1:03.1	Skip the fath, shop with confidence and enjoy hundreds of excellent wines from world-class
1:08.2	independent winemakers.
1:09.7	As a member of myself, I love that I can try stuff
1:12.6	I wouldn't find anywhere else. Even better, each bottle costs up to 33% less compared to other
1:17.9	retailers. So you know you're always getting great wine at a great price. Plus, there's no need
1:22.5	to leave the house. Naked delivers the wine straight to your doorstep. And if you ever feel like
1:26.5	a wine doesn't quite hit the spot, you can always get a credit back to try something else. Good luck doing that in a supermarket. Now, today, we are going to be trying Simpsons of Servian Rose. Right, here we go. So it's giving vibes of like hanging out in Provence with my family, which is lovely. Which is nice memory to have on a Friday afternoon when I probably shouldn't be drinking wine at this time. Oh, that's lovely. It gives me sort of vibes of maybe sitting in a park, the sun shining, which it is today. I have no idea how to talk about wine, but it's delicious. You will enjoy it. It is really, really nice. I'm just going to have another little glug there. That is really lovely.
2:04.5	So if you look at, about wine, but it's delicious and you will enjoy it. It is really, really nice.
2:01.1	I'm going to have another little glug there.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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