The New Statesman Podcast

People up and down the country have been struggling to get NHS dental appointments for the past few years, forcing some to pay inflated prices for private treatment, or ignore their oral health until it’s reached an unbearable point. This crisis is also greatly impacting children across the nation, and today the number one reason children are admitted to hospital is due to severe dental issues.So how did we get here? Why is the UK faced with Dickensian rot in 2024?Anoosh Chakelian, Britain editor, is joined by policy correspondent Harry Clarke-Ezzidio, and policy associate editor, Sarah Dawood.

Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, is being accused of being a ‘tax avoider’. While these attacks are coming predominantly from the right, they’ve been mounting in recent weeks and now Labour is having to confront the allegations.So what could this mean for the deputy leader? Is Labour in trouble? Or is this a Tory smear campaign?Anoosh Chakelian, Britain editor at the New Statesman, is joined in the studio by political correspondent Freddie Hayward; this episode was recorded on Thursday 11th April.Read the pieces mentioned in this podcast: Is Angela Rayner in danger?; What Dominic Raab missed about Angela Rayner at Glyndebourne; I looked into Angela Rayner’s tax affairs – here’s what I found

We’ve been digging around in our virtual mailbag and have brought a couple of your questions  to discuss. One listener asks: What are the political implications of the Cass report and will it affect how British politicians approach the transgender conversation?And another listener writes in to ask: Could a Starmer win in the UK and a Trump win in the US spell the end for the ‘special relationship’?Ask a question for a future podcast: www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/2022/10/you-ask-usRead Andrew Marr's piece: Inside Labour’s foreign policy factory

The British royal family was in crisis even before Queen Elizabeth II died, and the new King and princess of wales both became ill with cancer.In this modern age where access increasingly equates to relevance, and truth and conspiracy so often intertwine, how is Britain’s relationship with monarchy changing? Chris Stone is joined on the New Statesman podcast by author Tanya Gold who has written this week's cover story: The Fragile Crown.

It's listener questions time! Anoosh Chakelian and Rachel Cunliffe answer a listener who asks why senior politicians flock to address culture wars issues "which are frankly below their station", and another who wants to know if MPs who are also landlords should recuse themselves from voting on laws affecting renters.Submit a question for us to answer on a future episode: www.newstatesman.com/youaskusListen to our previous episode on leasehold reform with Barry Gardiner MP: https://pod.fo/e/22360dSign up to receive Morning Call, our daily politics newsletter: https://substack.com/morningcall

England’s waterways are overflowing with sewage. In a recent report it has been found that a record amount of sewage is being discharged into rivers and seas around England. Data revealed that last year raw sewage was discharged, by private water companies, for more than 3.6 million hours, a 105% increase on the previous 12 months. And in addition to all of this Thames Water, Britain’s biggest water company, is at risk of insolvency.Who’s responsible for this shitstorm? And in how many ways is this damaging for the country?Anoosh Chakelian, Britain editor at the New Statesman, is joined in the studio by Will Dunn, business editor, and Rachel Cunliffe, associate political editor.Read Will's piece: Who killed Thames Water?

Flexible work has existed for decades. Think about local hairdressers, personal trainers, or tutors working for themselves – or even the jazz musicians in the early 1900s who coined the term ‘gig economy’. But the past ten years of technology have made it more accessible – and visible – to both the people who use it and those who work in it.But what is the right balance between job autonomy, economic security and worker’s rights? Is there a world where an evolving labour market provides proper workers’ protections and union representation while maintaining real autonomy and flexibility?This New Statesman podcast, sponsored by Uber ahead of the three year anniversary of their groundbreaking recognition agreement with GMB – the first of its kind in the gig economy – breaks down all of this and more, to discuss the future of work in 21st-century Britain.Journalist Suze Cooper was joined by a panel of guests including Sir Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham since 1994 and Chair of Parliament’s Work and Pensions Select Committee; the GMB trade union’s National Secretary, Andy Prendergast and Uber’s UK General Manager, Andrew Brem.Through the episode, they discussed how changes in ways of working have come to the fore in our everyday lives, with technological advances seeing less of a focus on traditional industries and more on the dynamic, flexible labour market of the 21st century. Alongside these transformations we’ve seen the world of work change in other ways with the rise of hybrid working environments, the gig and sharing economy, work-from-anywhere culture and digital nomads. The pandemic has sped up and baked in these developments across the UK, as people’s approach to work-life balance adjusted, with workers seemingly coming to value their autonomy in much more profound ways than previous generations.Options for flexible work across various apps and platforms have enabled more choice for millions of people around their working patterns, choosing when and where they earn. More and more, it appears British workers are putting greater value on autonomy and flexibility in their lives and careers than their parents and grandparents did, balancing work around other responsibilities like caring or studying. But the question for the UK – and considered by the panel throughout this episode – is how best to deliver this flexibility and autonomy whilst not compromising on the protections and benefits workers need.

Today on the podcast we're bringing you a conversation from the New Statesman's Path to Power conference which looked inside the Labour Party machine as it gears up for the next election.In this session Rachel Cunliffe, associate political editor at the New Statesman, was joined by Alison McGovern, MP for Wirral South and Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, to discuss Labour's plans for labour.

This is an episode we like to call “You Ask Us”. Our first question from James who says: "How would the results of a general election change if all British residents were allowed to vote, not just British Citizens? In other words what happens if we let immigrants without British passports vote?" Ryan also writes in to say: "Will Labour be forced into a strict immigration policy come the general election in order to stop it being the dominant issue?" Anoosh Chakelian, Britain editor of the New Statesman, is joined in the studio by political correspondent, Freddie Hayward, and down the line by senior data journalist Ben Walker.