The New Statesman | UK politics and culture

Andrew Marr, Hannah Barnes and Rachel Cunliffe hear from a focus group of voters in a marginal Kent constituency, to get their views on Labour's first three months in government. They reveal why they're struggling to trust "posh" Keir Starmer, whether they regret their vote, and which public figure they would love to see in parliament.📚 READThe 100 days that shook Labourhttps://www.newstatesman.com/cover-story/2024/10/andrew-marr-100-days-that-shook-labour-keir-starmer🙋‍♀️ ASK a questionWe answer listener questions every Friday. Submit yours at www.newstatesman.com/youaskus📧 FREE get our daily politics emailhttps://morningcall.substack.com💷 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

Ben Zaranko, senior research economist from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, takes us through the numbers ahead of next week's budget, and the New Statesman's political editor Andrew Marr takes us through the politics.

We’re just two weeks from the 2024 US Presidential election. Donald Trump is up against Kamala Harris. Polls are vanishingly close. They suggest Harris has a 53% chance of moving into the Oval office. But after years of incorrect predictions, can they be trusted?In this episode of Insight, Kate Lamble speaks with Scott Keeter from Pew Research centre as well as the New Statesman's data journalist Ben Walker about what can be gleaned from the polls, and if they are more trustworthy than the past two election cycles. Later on in the programme we hear from the New Statesman's Megan Gibson and Katie Stallard about what, or rather who, doomed Harris from the start.

Donald Trump has reshaped American politics. But who shaped him? A new film has some answers.The Apprentice, written by Gabriel Sherman and directed by Ali Abasi, charts the rise of a young Trump (Sebastian Stan) under the caustic tutelage of bulldog lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). Megan Gibson interviews writer Gabriel Sherman to discuss the creative challenges of putting Trump on screen, and Tom Gatti speaks to New Statesman film critic David Sexton to explore whether star Sebastian Stan is right that “the first three-dimensional portrayal” of Trump has done the presidential candidate a favour.This is the first episode of a new weekly series, Culture from the New Statesman, hosted by Tom Gatti. We would love your feedback on our new episodes, and on the New Statesman podcast in general. Please email your comments to podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk📚 READ The Apprentice: a grotesque, compelling Trump satirehttps://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2024/10/the-apprentice-review-grotesque-compelling-donald-trump-satire🙋‍♀️ ASK a questionWe answer listener questions every Friday. Submit your by commenting here, or at www.newstatesman.com/youaskus📧 FREE get our daily politics emailhttps://morningcall.substack.com💷 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🎧 LISTEN to the New Statesman podcasthttps://www.youtube.com/@NewStatesman

With "normal" James Cleverly out of the Tory leadership race, a listener asks if a Badenoch or Jenrick leadership would split the Conservative party in two.Andrew Marr, Hannah Barnes and Rachel Cunliffe answer listener questions in our weekly episode, You Ask Us - published every Friday.Also in this episode: do journalists talk about Westminster gossip too much? Our own gossipy journalists give their answer!📚 READ Would Kemi Badenoch be worth the risk for the Conservatives?https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2024/10/would-kemi-badenoch-be-worth-the-risk-for-conservatives🙋‍♀️ ASK a questionWe answer listener questions every Friday. Submit yours at www.newstatesman.com/youaskus📧 FREE get our daily politics emailhttps://morningcall.substack.com💷 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

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