The Count of Dodgy Crypto

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Last chance to get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon support.  Nigel Farage’s latest defence of his “gift” from a crypto magnate: you wouldn’t know about it if I hadn’t been hacked by pesky Russians! (Although erm I forgot to tell the National Cyber Security Centre). Has he finally pushed his luck too far? Plus, the right-wing press and Reform are busting their guts to paint Andy Burnham as a carpetbagging, conviction-free shapeshifter who’s simultaneously a far-left zealot. Will any of it stick? And why are Rupert Lowe’s ultra-right Restore UK much, much worse than just an amusing problem for Reform? • We pinched the title of this edition from someone called AshWarp – but if you know the real originator, get in touch.  • Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected].  ESCAPE ROUTES • Jason recommends visiting Crossness Pumping Station on the Thames and also the Great Western Railway Museum in Swindon. • Rachel is watching Rivals on Disney+.  • James Ball is rewatching How To Get Away With Murder on Channel 4.  • Matt recommends Thirst: 12 Drinks That Changed My Life by John Robins. Buy it through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Matt Green with James Ball, Rachel Cunliffe and Jason Hazeley. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. And OGWN is nine years old! Today: A Labour candidate up against a local plumber in a North-Western by-election? It’s beginning to feel a lot like Groundhog Day. If Andy Burnham beats Reform’s Robert Kenyon in Makerfield his path to Number 10 gets a lot clearer. But has Burnham just walked into a Reform bear trap? Plus: Brexit is back, right on cue. Wes Streeting lobs a grenade into the Burnham campaign by raising the Europe question. Could this leadership battle finally break Britain out of its Brexit loop of denial? And in the Extra Bit for Patreons, we do that Find Your Politics thing to discover whether we’re secret Leninists or Freemen of the Land without realising it. (And why no talk of the Greens, you ask? We did a big will-they-won’t-they bit and then they announced a candidate so we had to drop it. More next time).  • Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected].  ESCAPE ROUTES • Marie is getting set to host her Outsiders Art Club, a social club putting emerging artists in the spotlight • Matt has been bingeing Imperfect Women on Apple TV.  • Raf went to see Zambian singer and rapper Sampa the Great at the Brighton Festival  • Andrew has been listening to Tomora, the new duo comprising Chemical Brother Tom Rowlands and Norwegian singer Aurora.  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rafael Behr, Marie Le Conte and Matt Green. Producer: James Liddell. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Makerfield residents, wire up your letterboxes – the leaflets are coming… A month until Andy Burnham’s by-election, Reform is knocking. Can the King of the North hold them off – whoever their candidate may be? Has he done enough for his message to land? Plus: Is it time up for Ed Davey as leader of the Liberal Democrats? Several Essex councillors seem to think so. Comedian Rosie Holt weighs in on whether political satire has changed for the better or worse. And Matt Brittin officially started as the BBC’s Director General this week – is it possible to steady the ship?  • Get your tickets for Churchill’s Urinal with Rosie Holt at the King’s Head Theatre, Islington. • Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected].  ESCAPE ROUTES • Jonn watched Ncuti Gatwa throw jabs at Doctor Who in Saturday Night Live UK • Jason has been reading The Design of Childhood, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Alexandra Lange • Rosie is rewatching a duo of British comedy classics: Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and Toast of London • Ros has been seeking escapism in Danish television and has binged Seaside Hotel www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Ros Taylor with Jonn Elledge and Jason Hazeley. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Broadcasting from the middle of the Labour chaos vortex, we look how things stand after the Streeting-Starmer confrontation at No.10 – was it a 17-minute staring contest? – and whether the Health Secretary has the support within Labour to win… if he stands. And who is Wes Streeting anyway? What does he actually stand for? Our panel share their experiences of “the man you can’t libel, because he has no vices.” Plus: Zack Polanski houseboat council tax evasion imbroglio! And in the Extra Bit: There’s a new Beatles museum in London… not Liverpool. So where else deserves a museum in a slightly unexpected location?  • Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected].  ESCAPE ROUTES • Seth enjoyed the English Touring Opera’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers   • Marie has been binge-watching Rivals on Disney+ • Hannah went to the West End to watch David Hare’s Teeth’n’Smiles  • Zoë has been watching Half-Man, Richard Gadd’s follow-up to Baby Reindeer www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Zoë Grünewald with Hannah Fearn, Marie Le Conte and Seth Thévoz. Produced by James Liddell. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon support – that’s 20% in total.  Amid the rubble of last week’s elections, Keir Starmer announces he’s suddenly getting real and ready to win back voters. But is it all too little, too late – and after months of drift, will anyone believe him anyway? Plus, were the Reform and Green surges really as unstoppable as an overwrought media want us to believe? Friend of the pod and psephology don Rob Ford of Manchester University joins us to dig deep on the elections… and whether Labour gets what really happened.   NB Andrew apologies for his hoarse voice. He’ll be back to normal next time.  • Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected].  ESCAPE ROUTES • Raf recommends By The Sea,  Abdulzarak Gurnah’s Nobel Prize-winning novel of escape and migration. • Rob Ford recommends The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuczinski, concerning the downfall of Haile Selassie.  • Ros recommends the TV drama Believe Me about John Worboys, streaming on ITV.  • Andrew recommends 30 Rock with Tina Fey, now finally on Netflix.  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison with Ros Taylor and Rafael Behr. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon support – that’s 20% in total.  Fast analysis with don of political commentators Steve Richards of Rock & Roll Politics talking to Andrew Harrison. Labour’s performance in the English Locals was terrible… but was it really as bad as Starmer feared? Does Farage’s bluster about “truly historic” results for Reform stand up to the data? Are the Greens becoming the party of “student England”? And the big one: Can Starmer hang on?  • See Steve’s Rock & Roll Politics show live in London at King’s Place, Monday 11 May – last few tickets available! • Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected].  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio Production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. The Greens are on fire and Zack Polanski’s travails don’t seem to be hurting them much. How did they get here? Is Polanski-mania just Corbyn-mania without all the Labour baggage? And can you be a vehicle for popular rage and a credible party of government at the same time? Plus, is everything just online betting now? Or is it the new insider trading? With platforms like Polymarket enabling insiders to clean up on everything from the timing of bombings in Iran to the removal of Maduro, we talk to the Guardian’s Aisha Down about how betting is warping – and corrupting – politics.  Plus: Should we ban 6am pints in the airport? Why has the right-wing press upped its sneering against Angela Rayner? And in the Extra Bit, the panel reveal their hidden talents. • Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected].  ESCAPE ROUTES • Jonn recommends Blue Lights on BBC iPlayer ⁠ • Marie went to see Spanish pop sensation Rosalía in London and her album Lux is Marie’s favourite of the year. • Aisha has been brushing up on commodities trading and is reading The World For Sale by Jack Farchy and Javier Blas • Seth has been watching Liberace camp-fest Sincerely Yours from 1955. Listen to Hit That Perfect Beat – The London Records Story on your favourite platforms.  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Seth Thévoz withJonn Elledge and Marie Le Conte. Produced by James Liddell. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Filler-faced, gilded mansions and utterly unhinged. Today’s mega-rich don't even pretend to be normal anymore. So what happened to the understated billionaire and is there any going back?  Plus, are voters getting more fickle? Zoe picks the brain of the Economist's political data journalist Owen Winter on whether political promiscuity is the new normal. And Zack Polanski’s approval ratings plunged after a sharing post about the Golders Green attack – should politicians be anywhere near social media anyway? Finally… the Green Party’s Hannah Spencer has sparked a rift with fellow MPs after deriding parliament’s apparent booze problem. Are our lawmakers really propping up the bar?  • Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected].  ESCAPE ROUTES • Zoë braved the psychological horror thriller Speak No Evil, available on NOW.  • Jason has been devouring Natalie Whittle’s ode to the nation’s favourite snack, Crunch: The History of Crisps • Matt has delved into David Grann’s catalogue, including The Devil and Sherlock Holmes www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Matt Green with Zoë Grünewald and Jason Hazeley. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Simon Williams & Tom Taylor. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Applauded by Congress, lauded by Trump and working his way through a spring-herbed ravioli on a golden plate? It was a tough gig for Charles. The King may have charmed the President but will his visit rescue US/UK relations from the geopolitical toilet?  Plus, Starmer evades a Commons investigation into the Mandelson affair but is it really all over bar the shouting for the PM? Why a social media ban for under-16s might be based on dodgy science. And in the Extra Bit: If they can get away with a Michael Jackson movie in 2026, which political figures ought to get their own biopic?  • Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected].  ESCAPE ROUTES • Rachel has been bingeing Guy Ritchie’s Young Sherlock on Amazon Prime.   • Jonn recommends Radio 4’s How To Invent A Country on BBC Sounds.  • James recommends the relaxing game Nodes – play it here. • Andrew recommends Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+, inevitably  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Andrew Harrison with Rachel Cunliffe, Jonn Elledge and James Ball. Audio Production by Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• Podmasters is 10 years old! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon support – that’s 20% in total.  Another week, another assassination attempt… Will the latest attack on Trump change anything apart from making the crazy people crazier? And will he get his ballroom out of it? Plus, Reform announce plans to make the teaching of history more patriotic. On the curriculum: more Winston Churchill and Battle of Britain, less slave trade, even less Ireland and no Britain being anything other than brilliant. Are you kids ready for the Old Man In A Pub version of Our Island Story? • Questions for But Your Emails? Thoughts? Comments? Email us at [email protected].  ESCAPE ROUTES • Gavin went to see music inspired by the Bridget Riley: Learning To See exhibition at Turner Contemporary… but you’ve missed it. Sorry.  • Matt is the latest panelist to recommend medical drama The Pitt on HBO Max.  • Raf recommends drum’n’bass artist Nia Archives’ new single Danger • Ros recommends French-language murder mystery Une Unique Lueur by Fred Vargas. Not out in English yet though.  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Ros Taylor with Matt Green, Gavin Esler and Rafael Behr. Audio Production by Tom Taylor and Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices