Oh God, What Now?

Latest Episodes:

“The biggest crisis in the public square since the 1930s” – with guest James Harding Mar 19, 2021

Show notes

Can anything hold back Priti Patel’s assault on the great British tradition of noisy, disruptive protest? Plus: partisan or penniless: what’s the future of media in the coming age of news-mangling tech giants and GB News? Special guest James Harding – former Director of BBC News, ex-Times editor and now co-founder of Tortoise Media – joins us to examine the future of the news. And on the first anniversary of Lockdown 1, we look back on a moment when real life turned into John Wyndham novel.

“The pivot to Asia is basically the ‘pivot to video’ of foreign policy, and will probably be about as successful.” – Ian Dunt
“It’s really significant that even Theresa May, given her time at the Home Office, has serious misgivings about this bill.” – James Harding
“Spot the Cop might be an intriguing game on nights out…” – Ros Taylor
“I’m sure there are protests performed by mimes – but any others that make noise, the police can close down anything they want.” – Ian Dunt

Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Ros Taylor and Ian Dunt. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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The North will rise again: ANDY BURNHAM is our guest Mar 12, 2021

Show notes

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham joins us to talk about Westminster vs the Regions and whether Labour is opposing Johnson hard enough. What actually happened in that moment when London strong-armed Manchester into Tier 3 with scant compensation? Will the Government’s derisory 1% pay rise for nurses turn into a political albatross on the scale of Black Wednesday or Iraq? And as the levelling up scam begins to unravel with money flooding to Conservative constituencies, how can Canterbury be placed in Level 1 but Salford Level 2?

Plus: Will the Meghan Markle Royal racism scandal be reduced to another stupid culture war point instead of a real moment of change? And the panel try to persuade soft southerner Ian that there’s life outside London.

“Westminster makes frauds of people. It’s much more fun being a mayor.” – Andy Burnham
“We should stop calling this an insulting pay rise for nurses. It’s a pay cut.” – Ian Dunt
“Levelling up is the most potent theme since I’ve been in politics. Labour needs to not just criticise it but set out how we’d do it better.” – Andy Burnham
“To say pay rises for nurses aren’t affordable just won’t wash any more. You’ve just chosen not to afford it, haven’t you?” – Andy Burnham
“Would the Government have done what they did to us to London? The answer has to be, no they wouldn’t.” – Andy Burnham
“If Labour’s London-centric it’s setting itself up for a slow death.” – Andy Burnham

Presented by Naomi Smith with Minnie Rahman and Ian Dunt. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Lost In Sunak, Caught In A Trap Mar 05, 2021

Show notes

So what did Sunak’s Budget actually mean? How did he manage to keep both Brexit and the North out of his wheezes? What sort of Chancellor does he really want to be? And is the secret message of the Budget that we should prepare for an early election? Plus: there’s a Museum of Communist Terror on the way, to reshape our understanding of totalitarianism. So why is it backed almost exclusively by culture warriors who think we shouldn’t re-examine our ideas about history?

“The CRG, the ERG and all the other ’RGs are like displacement activity to stop Conservative MPs from feeling unloved.” – Alex Andreou
“The UK Government decided not to levy big taxes on imports after Brexit, so what is the point of freeports anyway?” – Ros Taylor
“This is an investment bonanza for the cash-rich. The rest of us, not so much.” – Alex Andreou
“This was a great pension if you’re a wealthy pensioner.” – Ros Taylor
“If you don’t want teachers to be left-wing, pay them big bucks.” – Alex Andreou

Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Ros Taylor and Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Crocus Pocus Feb 26, 2021

Show notes

Is Boris Johnson’s slow-burn unlocking actually – shock – the right thing to do? Will he be led by data, dates, deaths or whatever the CRG shouts at him? What will fertilise that “crocus of hope”? And will the panel all go turbo on June 21? Plus, what are the elephants in the room that we’ve been neglecting throughout the COVID-Brexit nightmare? Ros Taylor, Ian Dunt and Minnie Rahman join Naomi Smith for this week’s communal gaze into the abyss of politics.

“If you hate Zooms as an adult, you can’t begin to understand how awful it is watching kids trying to ‘play’ on Zoom.” – Ros Taylor
“The rationale is, it’s fine if we put unimaginable pressure on the NHS as long as we don’t actually overwhelm it. And of course it’s NOT fine.” – Ian Dunt

Presented by Naomi Smith with Ros Taylor, Minnie Rahman and Ian Dunt. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Free Speech For You… But Not You Feb 19, 2021

Show notes

What if they gave a War on Woke and nobody came? The Government decides to both defend free speech (if you’re a right winger on campus) and restrict it (if you run a stately home named after a slave owner). So that makes sense. Plus: As there’s no credible recovery programme for education, Gráinne Hallahan of the Times Education Supplement joins us to set one out. Gav, call us yeah?

Meanwhile… Ros gets a COVID jab! The Arts get their own special No Deal Brexit! And in the Extra Bit, we watch Adam Curtis’s collage-doc digital jeremiad Can’t Get You Out Of My Head.

“Each side of this culture war is proclaiming itself as the true arbiter of history.” – Nina Schick
“Voltaire and Rousseau wrestled with free speech. Now the Government has decided it’s time for Gavin Williamson to sort it out.” – Alex Andreou
“The Government likes the idea of free speech but doesn’t want on engage in any of the complexities.” – Ros Taylor
“History is never static.… Let Britain’s monuments be evaluated in terms of what they mean now.” – Nina Schick
“Boris Johnson thinks schools are safe, it’s just the children going into them that make them dangerous…” – Gráinne Hallahan
“If the National Theatre can’t tour the EU, then nobody can do it.” – Alex Andreou

Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Nina Schick, Alex Andreou and Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Had Enough of Exports Feb 12, 2021

Show notes

Piles of fish, cheese, bees, toys, guitar cases and banking deals are LITERALLY rotting at Britain’s ports. How long can the government keep claiming we’ve only got import/export “teething problems” when it’s full-blown trade/dental collapse? Politicshome’s Brexit and Westminster Correspondent Adam Payne joins us on the dock of the bay.

Plus: Have virus truthers finally hit Britain’s bullsh*t ceiling? Flag-angst and Starmerphobia in Labour. And is that COVID burnout you’re feeling or something deeper? Like Frasier Crane, our panel of Ian Dunt, Naomi Smith and Dorian Lynskey are listening.

“When we’re being relentlessly tw*tted by events it’s a bit much to expect Starmer to produce the magnificent work of art about how to live.” – Ian Dunt
“If these customers in the EU start to look elsewhere for their fish, they probably won’t come back.” – Adam Payne
“If Britain wanted to be self-sufficient in food, we’d literally have to polytunnel the entire North East.” – Naomi Smith

Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Naomi Smith and Ian Dunt. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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All Tomorrow’s Tories – with guest Matt d’Ancona Feb 05, 2021

Show notes

Last week’s EU:UK vaccine stand-off put Ursula von der Leyen squarely in the spotlight, but what makes the President of the European Commission tick? And is there a sane Conservative Party somewhere in our political future? Matthew d’Ancona – formerly deputy editor of the Sunday Telegraph and the Spectator, now partner-editor of the slow news site Tortoise – joins us to look at what might come after Johnsonism. Plus, Dacre at OFCOM, foreign bees comin’ over ’ere pollinating our plants… and why are we paying EU citizens to leave the UK?

Regulars Minnie Rahman of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and commentator Alex Andreou join Dorian Lynskey to ask – yet again – “Oh God, what now?”

“The great offices of the state are now in the hands of C-list populists.” – Matthew d’Ancona
“Everything from bees to cheese is undergoing a death by a thousand papercuts” – Alex Andreou
“It’s as if there was a party game at Number 10 to work out who would be the worst chair of OFCOM, and they came up with Paul Dacre.” – Matthew d’Ancona
“It doesn’t feel like the hardline post-Brexit immigration approach is coming from Johnson. It’s pure Priti Patel.” – Minnie Rahman
“The vaccine episode proved that as far as the EU are concerned, yes, we are a foreign country.” – Matthew d’Ancona

Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Minnie Rahman and Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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🚨 Emergency VACCINECAST 🚨 The EU’s disastrous mistake 🚨 Jan 30, 2021

Show notes

Has Brussels just handed Brexiters the killer argument they so desperately needed? The EU’s bizarre decision to impose and then cancel restrictions on COVID vaccines crossing the border from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland exasperated pro-Europe campaigners and left the Brexit press crowing. Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou look at what this terrible error means.

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Vaccine Wars Jan 29, 2021

Show notes

As the EU considers restricting exports of the COVID vaccines, are we in the midst of the first authentic post-Brexit row between the EU and the UK – or are Brexiters just using it as a distraction from their own failures? And who’s really to blame for the vaccine shortage? Plus, what has the Year of Living Isolatedly done to Britain’s appetite for alcohol and “miscellaneous stimulation”? What will an independent English parliament look like if (when) it happens? And, in the Extra Bit, what did we think of Russell T Davies’s AIDS drama It’s A Sin?

“Boris Johnson did far LESS than he should have. 100,000 deaths should be a resigning matter.” – Naomi Smith
“Maybe after five years of Brexit campaigning, British people really DO trust celebrities more than scientists…” – Alex Andreou
“If we create vaccine passports we’re just reserving travel for the richest countries.” – Yasmeen Serhan
“We’re entering a dangerous phase in the UK:EU relationship where each side is trying to use the other side’s failure of their own success.” – Naomi Smith

Presented by Ros Taylor with Naomi Smith, Yasmeen Serhan and Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Fumigating the White House Jan 22, 2021

Show notes

It’s a little bit later than usual but still early for Patreon backers… Our long international nightmare is over – for now. As Trump exits the White House to fester in Mar-A-Lago, former UK Ambassador to the USA Kim Darroch joins us to look at what the Biden/Harris Era will mean for British trade, British foreign policy, and Boris “Britain Trump” Johnson. Plus: What does that huge exodus of immigrants from the UK mean for the character of our cities and the future of our country? And why do middle-class British people insist on claiming they’re working class?

“There was never a moment where you felt that Trump would ever be a normal President…” – Kim Darroch
“British Customs policy is like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic after the Titanic has sunk.” – Naomi Smith
“There’s no doubt that ending Freedom of Movement was a cynical ploy to get non-EU immigrants to support Brexit.” – Nina Schick
“If you ever followed Trump’s career, you knew it was a no-brainer that he would never accept losing an election.” – Kim Darroch
“Priti Patel’s home office isn’t iron-fisted, it’s ham-fisted.” – Naomi Smith

Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Naomi Smith and Nina Schick. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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