It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

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It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

Compass

163 episodes

3 weeks ago

The launch of Mainstream, the election of Zack Polanski as Green Party leader, Angela Rayner’s resignation and Peter Mandelson’s sacking – just some of the headline events of another chaotic year in British politics. 2025 may not have had a General Election like last year, but the first full year of a Labour government since 2009 was never going to be dull. At this time of year it’s good to take stock of just what happened so that we can all launch into making 2026 something very special. On ...

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Society & Culture

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The launch of Mainstream, the election of Zack Polanski as Green Party leader, Angela Rayner’s resignation and Peter Mandelson’s sacking – just some of the headline events of another chaotic year in British politics. 2025 may not have had a General Election like last year, but the first full year of a Labour government since 2009 was never going to be dull. At this time of year it’s good to take stock of just what happened so that we can all launch into making 2026 something very special. On ...

Show more...

Society & Culture

Episodes (20/163)

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

A Political Round-Up of 2025 with Emma Burnell and Gaby Hinsliff | ep. 138

The launch of Mainstream, the election of Zack Polanski as Green Party leader, Angela Rayner’s resignation and Peter Mandelson’s sacking – just some of the headline events of another chaotic year in British politics. 2025 may not have had a General Election like last year, but the first full year of a Labour government since 2009 was never going to be dull. At this time of year it’s good to take stock of just what happened so that we can all launch into making 2026 something very special. On ...

3 weeks ago

1 hour 15 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

What Next For Your Party? with Sienna Rodgers and Joe Todd

Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's new political party - now officially named Your Party - had its founding conference at the end of November. In fashion that is seemingly becoming typical with the organisation, the conference wasn't without its difficulties, with arguments over access, disputes over positioning and Sultana ending up boycotting the first day. But the new leftist party are officially founded and will be a force in British politics going forward. So what is going on inside the f...

4 weeks ago

51 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

2025 Budget – Will They Fudge It? With Clive Lewis MP, Erin Mansell and Michael Jacobs | ep. 137

The 2025 Budget was set up to be the most important since at least the Truss-Kwarteng mega-failure of 2022. It’s Labour’s first attempt to set a full, multi-year spanning agenda since 2007. In the build-up to it every possible financial lever has been floated as on the table: income tax rises, changes to national insurance and VAT, windfall taxes on banks or the gambling industry, to name a few. What the Chancellor eventually decides to do will have serious ramifications for years to come. So...

1 month ago

51 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

Political Fragmentation with Jamie Driscoll | ep. 136

Jamie Driscoll was the Mayor of the North of Tyne between 2019-2024 and a true champion of progressive ideas throughout his political career. In 2023, he was denied the ability to run as Labour’s candidate for the North East Mayoral Election by the Labour NEC – an unprecedented decision for an incumbent Mayor and an inherently political decision. This moment has become one of the key indicators of the direction the Labour Party has moved under the leadership of Sir Keir Starmer. Since then, J...

1 month ago

1 hour 14 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

Labour's Factions: How Did Things Get Hyperfactional? with Jeremy Gilbert and Alan Finlayson

In the second instalment in this miniseries, Compass Director Neal Lawson sits down to chat to long-time Compass intellectual contributors - and hosts of their own podcast Culture, Power and Politics - Professor Jeremy Gilbert and Professor Alan Finlayson. The three discuss the history of factions within the Labour Party, from its inception through the New Labour era and now to the Starmer-McSweeney hyperfaction, and the consequences that has both for the party and for democracy in Brit...

1 month ago

1 hour 24 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney, and the Crisis of British Democracy with Paul Holden

Paul Holden's new book, 'The Fraud', has made waves since its publication last month as it lays bare the intrigues, stratagems, and deceits that made Keir Starmer Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister. Paul Holden shows how Starmer has been the frontman for a ruthless, right-wing political project headed by Morgan McSweeney, now chief of staff in Number 10 and arguably the most powerful man in Britain. McSweeney’s clique often employed dirty tricks to undermine the left-wing Labour le...

2 months ago

55 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

In Conversation with Nish Kumar | ep. 135

Named one of The Guardian and The Telegraph’s Top 50 Comedians of the 21st Century, Nish Kumar has come to stand out from the stand-up crowd. With his politically-charged brand of funny, he has sought out and established his own space in the entertainment scene. As co-host of Pod Save the UK, Nish melds comedy with commentary to bring light and resolution to the ever-growing sense of bleakness in British politics (including on an episode with Compass Director, Neal Lawson, back in 2023). As h...

2 months ago

54 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

Can Labour build a way out of Britain’s housing crisis? with Cllr Aydin Dikerdem and Dr Beth Stratford | ep 134

Where and how we live has always been political – but with the right to buy, the explosion of the private-rented sector, and ever-increasingly demand for affordable, social, and council housing, it’s rarely felt this existential. With the Renters’ Rights Bill currently making its way through Parliament, the mammoth English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill set to extend planning powers to new mayors and councils, and the budget expected on 26th November, it feels like a timely moment ...

2 months ago

1 hour 19 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

Labour's Autumn of Discontent | ep. 133

The Labour Government find themselves in a difficult moment. On the eve of their 2025 Conference, they are faced with the knowledge that their ‘decade of national renewal’ currently seems stuck in first gear. A series of events have rocked public confidence in the government, including the resignation of Angela Rayner from her government roles and role as Deputy Leader of the party, the sacking of Peter Mandelson as US Ambassador, and the launch of the new network, ‘Mainstream’. With the autu...

3 months ago

1 hour 2 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

The Starmer Symptom with Mark Perryman

It's clear that this Labour Government are in a bit of trouble. Already floundering in the polls off the back of a year in which their promise of 'change' in 2024 hasn't lived up to expectations, they have now been rocked by a series of scandals and resignations - Angela Rayner, Peter Mandelson, Paul Ovenden - that are undermining Sir Keir Starmer's Premiership. With a Deputy Leadership contest now being seen as an internal referendum on the leadership, the 2025 Party Conference is set to be ...

3 months ago

35 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

In Conversation with George Monbiot | ep. 132

Investigative journalist, author, commentator and activist – George Monbiot has come to define the intellectual left in many of his own ways over the past three decades. From the rights of indigenous peoples the world over to climate activism to opposition to the Iraq War to now speaking out on the Government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action, George has taken a stand where many others wouldn’t tread. And with the political moment being what it is, with tremendous uncertainty both home...

3 months ago

58 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

The Green’s New Deal: Reaction to Zack Polanski’s Victory in the Green Party Leadership Election with Jonathan Bartley

Zack Polanski’s victory in the Green Party leadership election has hailed in a a new political moment and couldn’t have arrived at a more turbulent time. With Reform surging in the polls, the Labour government struggling to gain any traction, the Conservatives fighting for relevance and the Liberal Democrats looking to capitalise in their heartlands, the Greens find themselves balancing their own member’s interests between dynamic leftism and seat-winning localism. But with Polanski defeating...

4 months ago

35 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

Will You Come to My Party: Can the Corbyn-Sultana Party Succeed? with James Meadway, Alan Finlayson and Laura Parker

The launch of a new left party by Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn is all anyone is talking about in the political world right now. An out-and-out left-wing party hasn't existed in Britain for quite some time, let alone seen any Parliamentary success, and for all of us in the progressive space its potential success will be fascinating to watch. But how could it succeed? What are the implications? To discuss this, Compass Director Neal Lawson sat down with campaigner Laura Parker, Professor Ala...

5 months ago

1 hour 32 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

In Conversation with Mark Drakeford | ep. 131

Under Mark Drakeford’s leadership, Labour in Wales bucked the party’s national trend in 2021, winning a working majority of 30 seats in the Senedd, worked with Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats, and pushed genuinely innovative, exciting, unapologetically progressive policy: the UK’s first a universal basic income (UBI) trial, a Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, changing the voting system to a form of Proportional Representation, and taking Welsh rail services back into public han...

5 months ago

1 hour 1 minute

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

Through Love or Fear: How Should Labour Govern the PLP and the Country? with John McTernan and Baroness Ruth Lister

In this special BONUS episode of It's Bloody Complicated, Compass Director Neal Lawson is joined by John McTernan - former Director of Political Operations to Tony Blair - and Compass Board Member, Baroness Ruth Lister. Following the extraordinary action by the Labour Party to suspend the whip from four MPs last week - Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchliff and Rachael Maskell - for alleged 'repeated breaches of party discipline', the question had to be asked: where do we go from...

5 months ago

48 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

In Conversation with Caroline Lucas | ep 130

Caroline Lucas spent 10 years at the helm of the Green Party between 2003-2006, 2007-2012 and 2016-2018, as well as being the party’s first and only solely-elected MP for 14 years between 2010-2024. In that time, she became the face of green politics and one of the foremost voices for progressive politics in the country, laying the groundwork for the emerging climate discussion and leading the way in advocating against the ongoing climate catastrophe. In that time the Green Party went from r...

5 months ago

1 hour

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

The Future of the Lib Dems with Roz Savage MP and Cllr Carl Cashman

From their leader’s bungee-jumping stunts, their best general election result ever, and leading the fight for social care, the Lib Dems have had a good year. But in the political narrative, their place as the ‘third party’ outside the Labour-Tory duopoly has been threatened by Reform UK’s ascendancy. Coupled with their perennial struggle to be a party that fights for a progressive vision of the future while representing some of the most affluent, small-C constituencies across the country, the...

6 months ago

1 hour 1 minute

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

In Conversation with Hilary Cottam | ep 128

Hilary Cottam is a world-renowned author, innovator and change maker across a whole range of policy profiles. Between international humanitarianism, education policy, social architecture, welfare and prison reform – amongst many other things – she has been a social innovator committed to getting things done for nearly 40 years. Her latest book, The Work We Need, presents a radical vision of what the future of work in this world can be. She identifies work as a cultural force at the heart of g...

6 months ago

54 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

Child Poverty, with Baroness Ruth Lister | ep. 127

The government’s child poverty taskforce is set to release its findings imminently. But with a country that needs widespread reform at-large, what are the necessary steps in tackling child poverty? A new report by Baroness Ruth Lister, and published by Compass, argues for a radical set of new policies ranging from direct provisions, social welfare and wider societal attitudes towards how we view childhood to alleviate the epidemic of child poverty in this country. We were joined by Baroness ...

7 months ago

57 minutes

It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

A Decade of Radical Renewal | ep. 126

On this episode of It’s Bloody Complicated, listeners will get a sneak peek of the debate and discussion set to take place at Compass’ upcoming national conference, CHANGE: HOW? A Decade of Radical Renewal, on Saturday 31st May. Last summer, Labour was returned to government promising to deliver ‘a decade of national renewal’. Whilst some positive things have happened since then – especially on GB Energy and returning the railways to public ownership – decisions on oil and gas licenses, cuts ...

7 months ago

57 minutes