Why is the ‘cost of living’ almost impossible for the government to control?

Rock & Roll Politics with Steve Richards

Podmasters

News, Politics, Society & Culture

4.7 • 909 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Energy prices soar and the British government watches on helplessly. If it were not energy costs, it might have been some other sector causing mayhem outside a single government’s control. Which is why prime ministers and chancellors are being too clunky when promising to address the cost of living, even if - understandably - it tops the list of voters’ concerns. Get tickets here for the York Book Festival with Steve Richards and Alan Johnson on Tuesday Mar 26th. Rock & Roll Politics is at the Cambridge Literary Festival on Saturday April 25th. And you can get your tickets for Rock & Roll Politics -The Election Special, at Kings Place on Monday May 11th here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	All right, we've got Simon on the line. Simon, young people, they're just all a bit, a bit lazy, aren't they?
0:09.0	What are you for?
0:10.0	Good night.
0:11.0	Welcome to McDonald's.
0:12.0	Have you to get the six minutes, please?
0:13.0	Some say young people are work shy, but at McDonald's, we hired 47,000 of them last year.
0:19.0	How's your night?
0:20.0	Like George here, who keeps things running during a Friday rush.
0:23.6	Resilience, making it happen at McDonald's.
0:28.6	Now are all the traitors present?
0:32.6	Let's get started, shall we?
0:34.6	From rags to riches.
0:35.6	I'm so sick of this.
0:36.6	Working like a dog and being treated worse.
0:39.2	Yorkshire to New York.
0:40.8	Or climbers, you and me.
0:42.5	A life dedicated to revenge.
0:44.5	Let's make this an occasion to remember.
0:47.0	A Woman of Substance on Channel 4.
0:49.1	Stream now. Hello and welcome to rock and roll politics, the podcast with me, Steve Richards.
1:06.7	Thanks a lot for tuning in because we have got a lot to cram in in our time together at the beginning
1:13.2	of the week. You begin a week full of energy and curiosity and then the week in the same place
	...

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.