The New Statesman: politics, ideas and interviews

The health secretary Wes Streeting has suggested this week that weight loss injections should be used to get Britain back to work. Is this a good idea? And what does it miss from the root of the problem?Hannah Barnes is joined by political editor Andrew Marr and business editor Will Dunn.Read: Wes Streeting can’t solve unemployment with weight-loss drugs

This is a deeply personal, deeply divisive issue; and today a private members bill to permit assisted dying in the UK is being presented to the House of Commons. Politicians will have a free vote on the issue later this year. The New Statesman this week asks whether the UK and its care system is ready for such a law. In this episode we speak to those who've lost loved ones and are left with questions about whether an assisted death would have been better, as well as palliative care experts.

The NHS is facing the most difficult period in its history. Just days into office, the new government declared the official position of the Department for Health and Social Care is that the NHS is “broken”. While there’s evidence NHS productivity has been growing at a faster rate than other public sectors over the last decade, major barriers still remain. The latest Office for National Statistics figures show NHS productivity in 2021/2022 was still 6.6% below pre-pandemic levels. Emerging trends reveal productivity in healthcare is a complex issue with no single solution. In this episode host Emma Haslett is joined by PwC’s Health Services Sector Leader Julian Hunt, CEO of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sir Jim Mackey and CEO of The King’s Fund Sarah Woolnough. They discuss the impact of the pandemic, the role of digital solutions and the importance of including staff and patients as new systems are introduced and changes are made. This New Statesman podcast episode is sponsored by PwC.

Andrew Marr sits down for an exclusive interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer. And later on in the episode the team discuss what we might have missed from Labour's first 100 days in power.Sign up to the New Statesman's daily politics newsletter: Morning Call Submit a question for a future episode: You Ask Us

Power shifts inside Number 10, a Tory leadership shock twist, and Sturgeon reviews Johnson’s book.**follow in your podcast app so you never miss an episode**Keir Starmer has made changes at the top of his Number 10 team. Sue Gray has been ousted as chief of staff and replaced by the Labour campaign supremo Morgan McSweeney. George Eaton and Rachel Cunliffe join Hannah Barnes to explore what this means - including what exactly a chief of staff does, and who Morgan McSweeney is.A shock twist in the Tory leadership race saw James Cleverly defeated leaving Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick as front-runners to replace Rishi Sunak. Was this a disastrous miscalculation by “camp Cleverly”? And Nicola Sturgeon, former First Minister of Scotland, reviews Boris Johnson’s memoir, “Unleashed”, calling it “gut-wrenching” and “craven”.Mentioned in this episode: What is “the grid”?https://pod.fo/e/1e70c5 Nicola Sturgeon video interviewhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58jB3BSeQE4The two sides of Boris Johnson: Nicola Sturgeon reviews “Unleashed”https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/book-of-the-day/2024/10/the-two-sides-of-boris-johnson-unleashed-review-nicola-sturgeonMorgan McSweeney, the permanent insurgenthttps://www.newstatesman.com/politics/labour/2024/10/morgan-mcsweeney-permanent-insurgentMore linksAsk a question: https://newstatesman.com/youaskusSign up for our FREE daily politics email: https://morningcall.substack.com/

Right now the Republic National Committee is involved in around 120 legal cases across the US connected to the upcoming 2024 elections. It's predicted that we won't know the results of the election for days after the vote. And when we do it might very well be challenged. This is set to be the most litigious election in US history.So what does this mean practically? And is the scene being set for more political violence?Read more from Jill FilipovicRead more from Katie Stallard

"If we don't like it, we should demand it changes," one listener writes in.Rachel Cunliffe is joined by Andrew Marr and George Eaton to answer listener questions, including if Andrew stands by his comments from February that Starmer would be radical, and whether Lebanon has a right to self-defence.Sign up to the New Statesman's daily politics newsletter: Morning Call Submit a question for a future episode: You Ask Us

And why is democracy a low priority for American voters?Rachel Cunliffe is joined by Andrew Marr, George Eaton, and Katie Stallard.Sign up to the New Statesman's daily politics newsletter: Morning Call Submit a question for a future episode: You Ask Us

On the 7th October Sharone Lifschitz's parents were taken as hostages by Hamas. One year later her father, along with almost 100 other hostages, have not returned and the entire region stands at a crossroads.Tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced by the ensuing conflict as Israel have conducted air strikes, first on Gaza, currently on Lebanon and Yemen.How did this conflict escalate so drastically? On this episode of the podcast Sharone Lifschitz and Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, join from London, and speaking from Beirut we hear from journalist Hanna Davis and Yalda Hakim, lead world news presenter at Sky News.This episode was recorded prior to Iran's missile attack on Israel on the 1st October.