The New Statesman | UK politics and culture

Labour’s white paper on how further devolution might work is due to be released in the next few weeks. It has been reported that the government is considering a reorganisation of local councils including abolishing some councils and replacing them with larger unitary authoritiesHowever, there have been suggestions Labour’s plans to bring power to the people, could actually make it more distant than ever.Kate Lamble is joined by Matthew Engel, Megan Kenyon and Jack Shaw.

Banquet Records, in Kingston South-West London, are probably the most influential record store in the UK right now at helping an artist or a band secure a number one. How did they do it?Tom Gatti is joined by Hannah Barnes to discuss the kingmakers of the UK album charts, and also as December is upon us, how to get a Christmas number one.Read: Kingmakers of the album chartsRead: Forty years ago, Band Aid brought mad excitement to my generation

Wes Streeting is "a man in a hurry".In this episode, recorded in front of a live audience at the Labour party conference, the health secretary discusses his actions in government so far and his plans for NHS reform.Wes Streeting spoke to Hannah White, director of the Institute for Government, for this episode which is sponsored by the Institute for Government.

They're terrified of the whips - and of their tiny majorities.From a “fresher’s fair” with free sweets to the struggles of finding a place to live, joining parliament is a lot like starting at University - but with the fate of the country in your hands.Andrew Marr and Rachel Cunliffe have been speaking to the new intake of MPs and join Hannah Barnes to answer a listener question on what life is like for new Members of Parliament.Andrew, Hannah and Rachel also answer your questions on how long Labour will be able to “do the unpopular things”.🙋‍♀️ ASK a question: We answer listener questions every Friday. Submit your by commenting here, or at www.newstatesman.com/youaskus💷 SAVE Become a New Statesman subscriber:Get access to all our reporting at newstatesman.com and receive your copy of our weekly magazine. Podcast listeners can get the first two months for just £2 at https://www.newstatesman.com/save📧 FREE get our daily politics emailhttps://morningcall.substack.com

MPs are about to vote on arguably the biggest social change since abortion.***If you enjoyed this, listen to our previous episode, "Is the UK ready for Assisted Dying?"***Listen here: https://pod.fo/e/274d9c--Kim Leadbeater’s private members bill proposing to legalise assisted dying faces a free vote on Friday November 29. In a free vote, MPs are not whipped by their party to vote in a particular way.This means the debate between MPs has taken an unusual course, with seemingly unlikely alliances being formed across party lines.Andrew Marr, Hannah Barnes and Rachel Cunliffe discuss the politics of this extraordinary vote, and the impact it could have on both the UK and Keir Starmer’s Labour government.They also discuss the shock immigration statistics released Thursday, and a petition calling for another general election which has attracted two million signatures.--READBen Walker's must-read analysis of the general election petitionhttps://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2024/11/general-election-petition-should-worry-conservatives-not-labourFREEGet politics news and analysis in your inbox every day with our Morning Call newslettermorningcall.substack.comSAVEPodcast listeners can save 25% on a New Statesman subscription for yourself or a loved onewww.newstatesman.com/pod24

Last week, the US and the UK gave permission for long-range missiles to be used by Ukrainian forces against military facilities inside Russia for the first time. In response, Putin announced Russia had fired a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Meanwhile the rhetoric from the Russian government and the western media has escalated, but what does this mean in reality for the conflict? And how does all of this fit in with the return of Donald Trump in January?Kate Lamble is joined by Ian Garner, Lawrence Freedman, and Peter Ricketts.Read: The dark reality of Putin’s nuclear rhetoricMedia used: DW, BBC, CBS, Sky

50 years ago this month the German band Kraftwerk released Autobahn – an album that not only marked a dramatic departure in their sound, but went on to change the entire course of contemporary music. With the title track, a 22-minute ode to the German motorway, Kraftwerk’s founding members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider forged a modern musical language, using electronics to articulate a new and optimistic vision of the future.To discuss Autobahn’s genesis and enduing legacy Tom Gatti is joined by Jude Rogers, journalist and author of The Sound of Being Human: How Music Shapes Our Lives, and Uwe Schütte, author of Kraftwerk: Future Music from Germany.Read: How Kraftwerk’s Autobahn remade pop

And what's behind the global "incumbency curse" which has seen so many incumbent leaders ousted in 2024 elections?Hannah Barnes is joined by political editor Andrew Marr, and associate political editor Rachel Cunliffe to answer listener questions.Read Andrew's column: The UK’s broken system makes losers of us all