Best Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions Podcasts (2025)

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83: Grimston and Stevens 20th December- Venezuela, Defence Contracts, Doctors' Strike... 1:02:14

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2h ago1:02:14

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A pre- Christmas look at (in the Will Hutton phrase) the state we're in , from Trump's Venezuelan,er, strategy to Doctors back on the picket line and the unique moral codex of Defence contracting. Leonie sends her best from a sizeable in-tray at City Hall. Thanks for listening and we'll talk to you again in the New Year- Happy Festives.…

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82: 14th December - Archbishop of Canterbury , Trump 's gung-ho, Greens and Reform 1:00:52

3h ago1:00:52

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Leonie and Graham on the prospects for Dame Sarah Mullally, who as they point out emanates from SW London, for Trump's South American gung-ho and for the changing of the guard in favour of the Greens and Reform amongst iother issues.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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81: Cooper and Stevens 8th December-Only Connect 57:50

16d ago57:50

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A rangey ramble through Climate Change, Thames Water on the watery backfoot and the ripple effect and the launch of Your Party in the context of Labour perhaps not being all that communicative,By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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80: Cooper, Grimston and Stevens 30th November 25 - Mansion Taxing, Soho, Pope Leo on tour 1:00:54

17d ago1:00:54

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When the national dailies got wind of the anactment of the Mansion Tax, they went to Richmond- when is a mansion not a mansion? The mansioning of Soho was accused of Nimbyism this week by Westminster Council Tories and some of their constituents, while Pope Leo trode a deft and delicate line in the Middle East, but what do these interventions mean …

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79: Cooper, Grimston and Stevens on Cop 30, George Monbiot and the Epistemic, International Mens Day 1:00:41

1M ago1:00:41

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This week included International Mens' Day and a reception at Downing Street. Howfar can the political weather level up he cultural odds? Cop 30 nears its conclusion this weekend and we look at the performance of the absentees as well as the attendees. Mal's former student George Monbiot cits an '...Epistemic crisis' in how we get clear information…

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78: Cooper, Grimston and Stevens 15th November- Airwaves and Fatbergs 56:54

27d ago56:54

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It seems a while since the Oval Office spoke of '...Draining the swamp' , owever as Trump considers litigation against the Beeb, London Citizens have been in 'Enemy Of The Peole' mode agin Thames Water's lucrative failings. Byline Times has bn ibestigating the Trump-funding links through JD Vance's mentor appearing soon, for example, at 'How The Li…

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77: Cooper, Grimston and Stevens on Cop 30, Angela Rayner and Emplont Rights UK, Momdani and the Dems 1:00:04

1M ago1:00:04

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Mal's By-Election Corner hops across the pond to look at Momdani and the Dem wins this week- before that, we track the progress of Angela Rayner's Employment Rights Bill and what it will achieve in the current financial climate, and the fiscal, scientific and optical aspects of Cop-30 in Rio.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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76: Mal Grimston on Lucy Powell, Geopolitics, Paddington in the dock 45:59

2M ago45:59

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Will Lucy Powell's election to Deputy Leadership tilt the Starmer ship of state? Amid Gaza's very fragile cease fire other conflicts rage relatively unnoticed- whither intervention/ national interest? And Paddington's dodgy bros' impending court case and what it might be now to be a national treasure.…

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75: Cooper and Stevens 25th October 54:19

2M ago54:19

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The sidelining of a century of Labour political history in Caerphilly, Reform UK's Welsh leader involved in a political engineerng conference in Russia before his arrest (s Byline Times reports this month), George Monbiot on whether the UK needs a written constitution to stop the far right and how thecuts at the Met (Police not Opera) will pan out.…

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74: Andy Worthington- Sunday 19th October 50:57

2M ago50:57

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After a hiatus around media protoco, it as a pleasre this morning to resume my regular conversation abot politics and culture with www.andyworthington.co.uk - we attempted to condense events in Gaza and across the pond pivoting on an HR announcement from Reform UK this morning.. As I publish this fresh attacks on Gaza in response to alleged volatio…

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73: 18th October- Gazxa Ceasefire, Zelensky, China, UK By-Elections 55:00

2M ago55:00

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We reflect on the Gaza ceasfire in its fragility , Zelensky at the White House for a third encomium,on the collapf the Chinese espioage trial in the UK and a volatile set of By-Election results this eek.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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72: Grimston and Stevens on Starmer, Reform, Tories, Political Violence 1:02:40

3M ago1:02:40

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By-Elections occured during the Labour conference, and do not augur well- yet the applause in the hall is voluble. There is mood music.Will it be that way for the Tories next week ? We have to start with the horrendous event in Manchester and thebreak-up and deporting of much of the Gaza Floitilla.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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71: Graham Stevens on Ed Davey, Starmer, Gatwick and Oxford Street 44:01

3M ago44:01

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Leonie is we gather off to the Labour conference, Mal is away- we consider Starmer and the foment around his leadership in relation to Ed Davey's stunt/personable/ barnstorming at the Lib Denm conference, not least in the light of speculation that the two parties might yet collaborate to fend off Reform( incidentally near theoffice, where Reform ha…

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70: Graham Stevens ' Morning Thoughts-20th September 49:45

3M ago49:45

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The image is of Graham the conceptual artist and eco-engineer at work in St Katherine's Dock in the 60s animating his problem-solving and illustrative art- amongst other things, he had a simpoler vision for the soon-to-be unveiled Thames Tideway Tunnel . I recently saw him acclaimed as part of the Architecture on Stage season at the Barbican. here …

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69: Cooper and Stevens 5th September- Zach Polanski, Rayner Syndrome, Modular Housing.... 50:09

4M ago50:09

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Leonie knows Zach pretty well from the London Assemnbly, so a bit about him and how the rethought Greens might register onwardly. We recorded before Rayner's resignation, but came up with a Plan B for these kinds of moments. We also discuss the return of the pre-fab which Graham the architect tackled in a previous iteration plus our usual sidebars.…

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68: Saturday 23rd August- Cost of Living, West Bank, Zelensky, Reform 58:24

4M ago58:24

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We begin with Telegraph's suggestion that Reeves' black hole is closer to 50bn and why we are in such a fiscal pickle and have been encroachingly for some time. Then a deep dive into the Knessit's predictable rubber stamp of the West Bank incursion by the IDF (we'll get the Palestinian angle from Andy W asap,). we also touch on Zelelensky back at t…

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67: Saturday 16th August 25: Sturgeon, Vance, Snap Elections Protest and Policing 48:08

4M ago48:08

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Last weekend some 450 people including retired lumanaries were arrestedprosting about an organisation whose name we could not initially use. Currrently Yvette Cooper's edicts are amidst Judicial Review as a snalection call attracted some 760,00 online signatures, presumably optioning a debate in the Autumn... the Asylum Hotels issue has relented fo…

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66: Rural Rumblings 1:29:56

5M ago1:29:56

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Sir Keir is often accused of not getting far beyond his doorstep in Primrose Hill. This image from the on-trend Crewkerne Gazette appears to contradict this impression, t politico Uk reckons that next years' locals will be fought and won in the Shires. this leads Leonie and Mal (Graham is away) to take a deep dive into the styate of town and countr…

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65: Norman Tebbitt, Ozzy Osbourne, Palerstine and more 1:00:57

5M ago1:00:57

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As JD Vance gimlet-eyes Albion from his bunker in the Cotswolds, having broken bread and diet coke with Lanmmy, we consider the passing of two (other) pribes of darkness and the prospects for a Palestinian state amongst other things (Graha returns next week)By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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64: Cooper and Stevens on Gaza and Your Party 55:35

5M ago55:35

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This time, a deep dive into Gaza with Mal looking at the Israeli side of the question as reports of Stage 5 famine and mounting deaths by starvation are upon us. Then we look at Your Party , formerly Arise amidst the flurruy of by-elections and the none-too-distant prospect of local elections nexzt May. Do check Double Down News on the Epstein File…

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63: Graham Stevens8th July - Ecopolitics Round-Up 43:25

5M ago43:25

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I, facepalm, fell asleep while sending the agenda for this weeks' conclave, but Graham ( this is his giant Desert Cloud Rainmaker , commissioned by the Sultan of Brnei in the early 70s ) was up bright and early.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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62: Macron, the Welfare Bill, Indie Schools and more 39:48

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We've moved back to the weekend- for our informal but well-informed trawl through the weeks political and cultural doings with an occasional South London spin ( here, Southwark's Council Leader Rota) . I had hoped we could discuss Norman Tebbitt's legacy but a domestic kerfuffle cut the ignal temporarily. More next weekm if not before.…

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61: Andy Worthington plus Pamela Mounter with Wandsworth Quakers on Penal Reform ft Dame Sheila Hancock 1:10:35

7M ago1:10:35

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Wandsworth Prison Improvement Campaign prompts the first leg of my conversation with AW this month- the question of the state of our facilities and their vesdtigial values is exercising Wandsworth Quaker spearheaded by Liz Bridge, the former Prison Chaplain and the inveterately skilled actor and now activist Dame Sheila. AW and I move on the shaled…

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60: Cooper and Stevens Monday 12th May 54:57

7M ago54:57

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This time we consider Wandsworth Quakers' concerns about the state of the local HMP and national policy ( more on this with Dame Sheila Hancock and Andy Worthington next up) , the UK: US Trade Deal , Reform embarking on local governbance and more with a late lunch flavour rather than Breakfasting for the time being.…

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59: Lindsay Wesker: The Mistakes I Made and How You can Avoid Making Them 33:36

8M ago33:36

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Lindsay Wesker has worn all the hats that there are to wear in the music business with irreverent zeal and professionalism - including creating or co-creating major platforms to spread soulfulness and genre-hopping talent -spotting and cajoling . At 65, he has written his fourth book - an autobiography peppered with evocative road stories and hard-…

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58: Easter Monday with Leonie Cooper - Pope Francis, Geopolitics , The Observer 51:23

8M ago51:23

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The smoke will be going up in a few weeks from the Vatican and from the UK Polls. Leonie reflects on the augurs ahead .By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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57: Thelma Ruby and Susan Cusack- Saving Wimbledon Park 48:07

8M ago48:07

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Thelma Ruby - Theatrical Doye , ( most recently in the Amy Winehouse biopic), and now Activist- has just turned 100 and yet beat me up the stairs to the spectacular view she has across Wimbledon Park, where Capability Brown's design has been preserved by the All- England tennis Club since it took on the stewardship in 1993, the year that Thelma mov…

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56: Andy Worthington on Mahmud Khalil, British Steel. Wealth Taxation... 54:48

8M ago54:48

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My monthly catch=up with Investigative Journalist and Campaigner www.andyworthington.co.uk finds us looking at the Khalil case and the moreorless wobbly Oval office decrees, the UK government rescuing British Steel and why, the invasion of London's greenfield- and brownfield- sites prompted by Wimbledon Temnis' designs on nearby heritage ( more on …

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55: Trump's Tariffs begin, (Save) Wimbledon Park, Renting through the roof, By-Election Corner 1:14:33

9M ago1:14:33

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This weekend on Riverside Radio I speak at length to centenerian activist Thelma about her role in the mission to save Capability Brown's heritage from the All England Lawn Tennis Association's plans which is going to Judicial Review in July. Here Leonie and Mal sketch in the political background while Graham comments as an architect and non=practi…

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54: Corey Booker, 'Liberation Day' Thames Water, Immigration & Gentrification 56:57

9M ago56:57

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The week when mainstream Democrats got their act together in parallel with Sanders and Ocasio-Cortex drawing the likes of 34,000 in oyblic, and the week when Traiffs on the UK and EU started their run-up. Meanwhile Starmer was at Lancaster House again on the Asylum Seekers/ Small Boats issue and Londoners finf gentrification on the rise again as a …

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53: Reeves' Spring Statement and the Oval Office 1:02:17

9M ago1:02:17

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The U.S. Defence Secretary (some of the surrounding intelligensia pictured here) signalling in a supermarket car park, the Senate majority looking a tad wobbly but for the former UN ambassador candidate staying put , and the price of Mexican Blueberries - meanwhile Reeves' Spring Statement wavers under the threat of tarrifs on car manufacture as it…

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52: Musk, Geopolitics, Soho and Blue Note 56:54

9M ago56:54

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This time, Musk gone rogue , Badenoch launches the local election hustings ever so quietly just as she was underguesstimated by one of her own shadow team, and Blue Note pulls out of a Soho deal due to early doors.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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51: Oval Office Antics, London's Night-Time Economy 1:02:31

9M ago1:02:31

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The picture here is of Becky Burke, a student from Yorkshire on a backpacking trip who was picked up by ICE for being somewhere near a removal process of 'illegals'. Her parents are trying to keep track of where and how she is as no doubt is the Consulate. Meanwhile Mohammed Khalil's deportation for organising student protest at Columbia has been b…

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50: Andy Worthington on Musk/ Trump, , Starmer, Leveson... 1:06:34

10M ago1:06:34

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AW and I discuss the Hayekian overload in the Oval office , whether we are catching cold from their sneezing and why, International Womens' Day viz a viz its themes of Empowerment and the hitherto disempowered victims of the tabloids on whose behalf Hacked Off is seeking to push for 'Leveson 2' under Starmer…

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49: Leonie Cooper, Graham Stevens: '... Fascism doesn't work- Discuss' 55:09

10M ago55:09

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After some tec resolution ( amid the technocracy) we're back with a deep dive into events in the Orangery since we last met, and some sidebars on Rachel Reeves' budgetary headroom and ecology at the London assemblyBy Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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48: Andy Worthington : On the Bricks and Mortar in Geopolitics and Democracy 1:05:23

10M ago1:05:23

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The News Review crew will be back soon,. Here's investigative journalist and campaigner Andy Worthington ( www.andyworthington.co.uk) in our monthly conclave on the impulse that drives apparently disparate character as Trump and Ben Houchen, and where that vector has the cards falling for the rest of us.…

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47: Jimmy Carter , Musk and Oldham, 2025 Augurs with Mal 49:13

12M ago49:13

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Jimmy Carter spent his latter years discoursing from his boondocks pulpit, curing diseases and building houses for the disadvantaged- RIP. Meanwhile Musk, apparently amesiac about Epstein's friendship with Trump, inveighs about still-emergent abusive grooming in the UK to start the political year. Mal and I talk about what this says about the healt…

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46: Farage, Spycops and Burnout on the Buses? 1:00:13

12M ago1:00:13

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Morning- I'm surfacing after a long day culminating in the excellent Soul Of Women at St Gabriels Pimlico with Fiona Frank, Maggie Lorelli, Caroline Goodwin and old friend Keith Bray . It began with the dawn patrol News Review(Thanks to my regulars including day off Birthday Lady Leonie Cooper AM) - we talked about Farage on the Hunt, the eye-water…

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45: Andy Worthington on Syria, Trump, Starmer ... 1:19:31

1y ago1:19:31

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Independent Campaigning Journalist www.andyworthington.co.uk (also now on Substack) joins me for our roughly-monthly survey broadly-leftist of world affairs and the intermingled state of London. This was recorded before the announcement of the release of Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu.…

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44: Assad, Democracy and its wavering, By-Election Corner, Thames Water.... 1:09:03

1y ago1:09:03

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What degree of nationhood will the new Syria achieve? Will the various elements of the hardish right gathering in Europe strengthen themselves or dissemble? How Trumpworld is lurching towards the dais , how the polls are reacting to Starmerism this week and a glance down at the state of the Thames Watee.…

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43: Grimston and Stevens - South Korea to Thames Water, National Rail via the New Year Honours 54:02

1y ago54:02

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We begin with a pre- martial law prognosis PA by the South Korean PM , consider why John Harris in The Grauniad thinks that the Starmer government (and others)'...Don't speak Human' , consider insolvency vs. nationalisation (remembering 1st time round) and glance at the leaked honours list.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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42: Cooper , Grimston and Stevens- Storm Bert revisited, Lebanon Ceasefire, Assisted Dying Bill, Transition Towns 1:03:36

1y ago1:03:36

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Leonie graciously joined us lurgified in the early mirk fresh from a snowy Norfolk Beach - we gents had been luckier this far. This time, the state of the near shire after Bert, the state of and prospects for Lebanon , what we now know was the eventual passing of the first reading of the Assisted Dying Bill, and the very much alive Transition Towns…

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41: John Prescott, Farmers in Whitehall, G20 and COP 29 1:10:34

1y ago1:10:34

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Echoes by way of the legacy of the late John Prescott, with whom Leonie worked as she describes, abound in the weeks' developments around Farming and Environment, Global Warming and GeopoliticsBy Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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40: Trump Picks, Reeves and Pensions, Welby resignation, Sparkle! 1:03:21

1y ago1:03:21

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We look at the inevitably disruptive nature of Trumps' emerging team, Rachel Reeves' big announcement about public sector Pensions deployment , Justin Welby's reluctant resignation over the Makin review and, on the upswing, a new chapter in happy and safe inter-generationality in Wandsworth.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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39: The Orange Landslide Edition 1:03:34

1y ago1:03:34

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Mal and Graham Risk Assess in irreverent depth the ripples of the next 4 years considering as per the old adage the Sneezing and the Catching of Colds.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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38: Andy Worthington in Conversation 1:00:17

1y ago1:00:17

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Andy Worthington www.andyworthington.co.uk is a campaigning independent investigative journalist with particular interests in civil liberties , the future of the left, the state of London and the Middle East. This is the first in a series of monthly conversations on this platform recorded in his office in South-East London…

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37: 2nd November 24: Reeves Budget, Tory Leadership, U.S Election Augurs 1:04:19

1y ago1:04:19

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As we reconvene we consider the Reeves Budget amid early by-election losses for Labour, what shapes the Tories might be in next week and the U.S Election knife-edge with our usual sidebars and diversions.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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36: Julien Assange@Council of Europe, Tory Conference/ Leadership, Johnson, Geopolitics, Old Industry dies hard 59:13

1y ago59:13

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Johnson releases a warhorse , the Tories take a few round the paddock, the Lebanon is potentially the Israelis' achilles heel and a final blast furnace and coal mine close.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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35: Grimston and Stephens- Starmer's Optics:Delivery, The Lebanon 59:01

1y ago59:01

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Leonie was away this week at the Wimbledon Park Planning Hearing ( topic for next time I hope)- this time Mal and Graham look at Starmer on or off the ropes but well-dressed, and the threadbare moral compass across Israel and The Lebanon.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions

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34: 21st September- Europe Now, Poland, Blue Collar MPs... 1:02:54

1+ y ago1:02:54

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Back after a couple of weeks away with Ursula Van Der Layen's tilt this term, according to Paul Taylor in the Grauniad, Mal's recent trip to Poland, Starmer's week or so, Blue Collar Parliaments' prospects to level up the Commons and more.By Andy Bungay@Chiminea Productions