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Babe wake up, new PM just dropped!

Since we launched this podcast, politics has been lurching from crisis to crisis. Yet again, Britain has a new leader. Our 5th in 4 years, our 7th in a decade. It can’t go on like this, surely?!

This week we have a special episode with Paul Nowak, the General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress, the national umbrella organisation for trade unions in England and Wales, representing nearly 6 million workers.

Founded in the 19th century, The TUC has a storied history. Agitating for greater rights and protections for workers, Trade Unions have guaranteed the weekend, sick pay and holidays.

As the relation between capital and labour is rewritten by new tech, we forget our Union heritage at our own peril. Collective bargaining has been at the core of progressive change. Without it, we are at the mercy of vested interests.

For many historians, Margaret Thatcher won a decisive victory over agitating Unions. Union memberships drop from over 50% to 22% today.

But now, memberships are rising again as workers realise the threat ahead. Oligarchy has returned. Tech is taking jobs. And democracy itself appears to be on the line.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

02:00 Union Members For Farage

06:05 Burnham’s Change Agenda

11:01 Getting Britain Building Again

17:36 Can Burnham Take On Vested Interests?

23:42 Employment Rights vs. Farage’s Crypto Interests

29:05 Populist Right Hypocrisy

36:30 Ending Neoliberalism

42:03 Fixing the Unproductive State

48:52 Can the Union Movement be Reactionary?

53:37 Left-Wing Talent Pipeline

59:54 Trades vs. Universities

1:05:34 Reindustrialising Britain

1:13:16 Lifelong Educational Reform

1:20:20 Can The State Afford Radicalism?

1:25:10 Youth Unemployment and Mental Health