Oh God, What Now?

• Join our OGWN vs Origin Story Tenth Birthday Podclash on Zoom on Thur 30 April. 

What happens if Reform actually wins? We dive into a darkly plausible near-future where Nigel Farage becomes PM and everything goes… about as well as you’d expect. It’s all gamed out in a new fact-based “non-fiction thriller”, What If Reform Wins? by our special guest, Times reporter Peter Chappell – from how Reform would tackle an ICE-style crackdown to the end of Net Zero and the return of Dominic Cummings. This could be the future, so how do we stop it?

Plus: Is the UK ready for a politics that does God? The IMF warns Britain could take the biggest hit from the Iran War’s economic shock. Should we get behind Samantha Niblett MP’s Summer of Sex? And in the Extra Bit… after the smooth dancefloor moves of victorious Hungarian MP Zsolt Hegedűs “broke the internet” we ask – should politicians be less embarrassed about dancing?

• Pre-order What If Reform Wins: A Scenario  by Peter Chappell – it’s out 30 April. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Marie read and loved The Door by Magda Szabó.

• Jonn recommends No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood.

• Peter went ceilidh dancing at Cecil Sharp House in Camden, north London. 

• Matt is watching Steve Carrel’s new series Rooster on HBO Max, Now and Sky. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

• When you buy books through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

Presented by Matt Green with Marie Le Conte and Jonn Elledge. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good news for a change! Revolting far-right tinpot tyrant Viktor Orbán gets his marching orders in Hungary. Our panel talk about how it’s bad news for Putin, Trump and MattGPT and wonder where the JD Vance Reverse Midas Touch should be applied next. Elsewhere in the pod: Trump comes for the Pope. Why are his Christo-Nationalists getting Catholicism wrong? Is politics being taken over by egomaniacs? A(nother) heated debate about the pros and cons of space. And check out our new theme tune, good eh? Today’s special guest is Ava Santini of Politics Joe.

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Zoë watched Jaws for the very first time and loved it.  

• Jason recommends Beatles deep-dive documentary Evolver ’62

• Ava is diving into Season 3 of Euphoria on HBO. 

• Andrew went to see Obscure, the Pet Shop Boys’ rarities shows, where they played these songs.

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Zoë Grünewald and Jason Hazeley. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump threatens the literal obliteration of an entire civilisation, then announces a ceasefire. So war crimes work, right? Er, not when you create the “Tehran Tollbooth” in the Strait and transform your enemy into potentially the Middle East’s richest, best-armed hostile power with a $90bn war and reconstruction chest. We examine possibly the biggest self-own in geopolitical history. 

Plus: Labour squares up to the Greens in the local, Scottish and Welsh elections. How do they fight Polanski without coming across like bullying establishment incumbents? We look at the Kanye West fiasco. And in the Extra Bit for Patreon backers, what was that strange feeling we got from the Artemis moonshot? Was it… hope?

This week’s special guest is James Ball, political editor of The New World. 

• Save our classic theme tune Demon Is A Monster by Cornershop for posterity. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]. 

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Jonn recommends HBO Max medical drama The Pitt starring Noah Wylie. 

• Ros recommends Danish life-juggling comedy drama Rita on Netflix. 

• James recommends video game Greedfall: The Dying World plus old series of Taskmaster on C4 (for sleeping to).

• Seth recommends the rediscovered episodes of Doctor Who: The Daleks’ Master Plan.

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Seth Thévoz with Ros Taylor and Jonn Elledge. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop (thank you for everything!). Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After nearly two years in the job, Keir Starmer isn’t just disliked or unpopular – he’s actually hated in much of the country. But why? How did this unprepossessing and fairly boring man become such a figure of loathing? Has hating politicians no matter who they are become the default position in British politics? Plus: Liz Truss (remember her?) is going to launch her own CPAC and save Britain, again. What is going through that, ahem, unusual mind? And should we maybe scoff less at the idea of a populist revolt and fear it more? This week’s special guest is comedian, musician and Radio 4 veteran Mitch Benn. 

• Catch Mitch Benn’s show The Lehrer Effect across the country this month. 

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected]  

ESCAPE ROUTES

• Ros has got right back into The Archers on BBC Sounds. 

• Mitch thinks you should watch the James Blunt movie One Brit Wonder, not just because he’s in it. 

• Seth recommends The Usual Channels: Inside the Mysterious World of Political Whips by Sebastian Whale. 

• Zoë recommends academic romance drama Vladimir on Netflix. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Zoë Grünewald with Ros Taylor and Seth Thévoz. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Capitalism: Where did it come from and what does it want? Is it falling to pieces or just reinventing itself to remain immortal, as it always has done? Is it about to enter a dark new digital era where it doesn’t even need people? What do we get wrong about it? Can we fix it? What even IS it? Sven Beckert is the author of the epic exploration of money-making, Capitalism: A Global History. He joins Andrew Harrison and Jonn Elledge for the unexpected, untold story of how profit made power.  

• Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected].  

ESCAPE ROUTES 

• Sven Beckert recommends the Neapolitan Quartet novels by Elena Ferrante. Start with My Brilliant Friend.

• Jonn Elledge has been revisiting This Life on the BBC iPlayer. Don’t miss the This Life episode  of our partnerpod Talk ’90s to me. 

• Andrew Harrison loved the film DJ Ahmet – if you’re only going to see one Macedonian sheep-herding rave movie this year, this is the one.   

When you buy books through our affiliate bookshop you help the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. 

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow 

Presented by Andrew Harrison and John Elledge. Audio Production by Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. 

www.podmasters.co.uk  
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices