The New Statesman.

I'm Anusha Kellyan and this is the listener questions edition of Daily Politics from The New Statesman.

I'm joined today by my colleague Rachel Cunliff. Hello, Rachel. Thanks for joining us again to answer these questions.

This question is from James. Thanks, James. What's behind the media's sudden infatuation with

Zach Polanski? No green leader has ever received the kind of forning coverage he's been treated

to in the past. And there isn't anything on policy or presentation that meaningfully distinguishes

him from Jeremy Corbyn or other Labour Left MPs. That's to say nothing of the kid gloves he's

treated with. No right winger would survive saying Mike Graham is their favourite economist,

but Polanski can shrug off naming pundits himself without issue.

What on earth is going on?

So I think this refers to an interview Polanski did with a niche political podcast

that no one listens to, calls the rest as politics,

sort of more boutiquey than our setup.

He named his three favourite economists than that because he was being pushed for the thinkers

that were shaping his economic worldview.

And he mentioned the left-wing journalist and author of Vulture Capitalism, Grace Blakely.

And former New Statesman economist.

Former Citibank trader turned anti-inquality campaigner Gary Stevenson and Richard Murphy.

You've interviewed?

I have, yes, yes.

Call me Zach Polanski.

Richard Murphy, who is a former accountant and a tax justice campaigner, and he advocates for modern monetary theory, which we won't go into here.

...