Jam Tomorrow

Latest Episodes:

Belief: Heaven up here Feb 13, 2023

Show notes

The post-war dream was anchored in ideas of Britain as a Christian nation. Now we’re a polyglot country of different faiths and none. Can religious belief still tie Britain together? Should we want it to? Ros Taylor looks at the Church of England’s journey from its unifying role in the Second World War to its search for a new identity in a world of charismatic evangelicals, shifting sexualities and new ethnic communities. Does the CofE have to change or disappear?

• “Donating to the church collection isn’t enough. Some of us want a side of social justice with our sermon.” – Ros Taylor

• “The Church of England is essentially about the feeling of being English… and that’s been squandered by the clergy.” – Linda Woodhead

• “We think of London as the most socially liberal city in the country – but it’s actually the most socially conservative. And a major part of that is the type of Christianity and Islam followed by migrants.” – Tomiwa Owolade

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Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Jade Bailey. Voiceovers by Imogen Robertson. Original music by Dubstar. Lead producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Jam Tomorrow is a Podmasters production.

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Class: The old school ties that bind Feb 06, 2023

Show notes

Britain’s class system is rigid and incomprehensible – and education keeps it that way. Why do so many of us think we’re working class when we’re not? Why do we still believe in making it through hard work, yet hate social climbers?

After the War, we told ourselves we were on the way towards a classless society. Ros Taylor talks to people as diverse as campaigner and educationalist Melissa Benn and class commentator Peter York to find that decades of meddling with education and work only entrenched class power. How do we get out of the class trap?

“The top universities say that anyone can get in if you’re good enough… The problem is, you might not realise it unless you’ve been to the right kind of schools.” – Ros Taylor
“There’s British plutocracy and British poshocracy… but in Belgravia you will find precious few British achievers.” – Peter York
“The freedoms that academies were promised don’t really exist now… the whole thing was a hugely expensive time and energy trap.” – Fiona Millar
“Should we stop talking about the Upper Classes at all and be honest about who really holds wealth and power in Britain?” – Ros Taylor

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Housing: Haven’t you got homes to go to? Jan 30, 2023

Show notes

How the housing dream was betrayed, and how to fix it. Council houses fit for the wartime generation gave way to a “home-owning democracy”, but we priced the young out of home ownership and refused to build the properties they need. How did Britain screw up housing so badly?

From prefabs to Poulson to Thatcher’s Right to Buy and NIMBYism, Ros Taylor finds out how Britain’s approach to housing went so very wrong. Along the way, Neil Kinnock remembers the cockroaches that infested his childhood home and what it meant to finally be treated with dignity. And Ros discovers what could be the future of housing.

“Through benefits, taxpayers are paying the mortgages of hundreds of thousands of private landlords who can jack up rent at will.” – Ros Taylor
“The revenue from Right To Buy went to the Treasury, not towards building new houses. It made about £47bn from Right To Buy.” – Jules Birch
“My mother would say, Come in Neil, your dinner’s on the table and it’s getting dirty.” – Neil Kinnock
“Council housing was irredeemably tainted by what happened in the 60s and 70s.” – Lynsey Hanley
“The average Englishman and Englishwoman dreams of his or her own home and garden.” – Mass Observation
“Council housing was no longer something to aspire to… it was now a place of last resort.” – Ros Taylor

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The NHS: From the Cradle to the Gravy Train Jan 21, 2023

Show notes

How Britain’s postwar dreams were stolen… and how to win them back. This time: The NHS was the prize for all the pain and sacrifice of the Second World War. When did we accept that it would be a service in perpetual decline? Ros Taylor talks to experts from senior policy planners to Casualty scriptwriters to discover how the NHS became a huge entity in permanent crisis – why it holds such a grip on our collective imagination – and how to rescue it.

“I have never seen NHS morale lower than it is now.” – Camilla Cavendish
“It’s only when you really need the ΝΗS and experience it that you realise something terrible is going on within our society.” – Rachel Clarke
“The NHS has pockets of world-class excellence and also, sadly, pockets of disaster and despair.” – Camilla Cavendish
“We wouldn’t fund paediatrics from jumble sales or sponsored abseils… But that’s what we do with end of life care.” – Rachel Clarke

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Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Jade Bailey. Voiceovers by Imogen Robertson. Original music by Dubstar. Lead producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Jam Tomorrow is a Podmasters production.

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World War II: Every Day is Like D-Day Jan 16, 2023

Show notes

How did Britain’s dreams of a new postwar world go unfulfilled? And what does that mean for us today? In the first of a new documentary series from the makers of Oh God, What Now?, Ros Taylor looks at the legacy of the War itself. Ιdeals of the Blitz Spirit and dreams of wartime heroism still shape everything from pop culture and entertainment to the Brexit debate. But the truth of the War is more complex and less comforting. What will it take for us to see the Second World War – and ourselves – clearly?

• “If you’re going to have a foundation myth it might as well be one where you destroy Nazism.” – Al Murray

• “If the response to air raid wasn’t stoicism, there was a fear that morale would break down.” – Lucy Noakes

• “The Keep Calm And Carry On poster was designed for a type of war that never arrived.” – Henry Irvine

• “Britain went into the war not alone but at the head of the world’s biggest empire… When Britain went to war, so did vast part of the world.” – Lucy Noakes

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Jam Tomorrow: Trailer Jan 13, 2023

Show notes

Out of the ruins of the Second World War, the British people were promised a better world of free healthcare, quality housing and good schools. What happened to these promises of Jam Tomorrow? In a new series from the makers of Oh God, What Now?, Ros Taylor explores how the postwar dream was betrayed – and how we can win it back.

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