The political map of Birmingham has been redrawn.

After decades of Labour dominance, the May elections left Birmingham City Council with no overall control. Anger over the city's financial crisis, the prolonged bin strike, rising council tax and declining public services produced one of the most dramatic electoral shifts in the city's modern history.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Roifield Brown sits down with Tyrone Fowles, Labour's candidate for Bordesley & Highgate, who narrowly lost his seat by just 94 votes.

Together they explore:

• Why Labour suffered such heavy losses across Birmingham.
• Whether Keir Starmer became a liability on the doorstep.
• The impact of the city's financial crisis and bin strike.
• Why voters are turning towards the Greens, Liberal Democrats and independents.
• Andy Burnham's emergence as Labour's new standard bearer.
• Whether British politics needs a new generation of leaders who understand social media and modern political communication.
• Poverty, crime and deteriorating public services in Birmingham.
• Tyrone's journey from the UK Youth Parliament to Labour candidate.
• Why local politics must reconnect with communities before trust can be rebuilt.

It's an honest discussion about political failure, renewal and what happens when one of Britain's largest cities decides enough is enough.

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This week's Mid-Atlantic examined two stories where sport, politics, identity, and power collided.

In the first half, Roifield Brown was joined by John Gunnerson and Tonye Altrade to discuss the 2026 World Cup. The conversation explored FIFA's relationship with political power, visa refusals affecting officials and visitors, Gianni Infantino's leadership, Donald Trump's use of the tournament as a showcase for American influence, and growing concerns that the World Cup is becoming increasingly entangled with geopolitical tensions.

The panel questioned whether the tournament can still serve as a global celebration when participants, journalists, and officials from some countries face barriers to entry. They also debated whether FIFA's pursuit of profit and political patronage has undermined the spirit of the game.

The second half focused on the riots in Belfast following the attempted murder case involving a Sudanese asylum seeker. The discussion examined how a criminal incident became a flashpoint for wider debates about race, immigration, social media, political opportunism, and public trust. The panel explored the role of figures such as Elon Musk, the influence of online platforms, media responsibility, and whether Britain is becoming increasingly vulnerable to division driven by grievance politics.

Despite concerns about rising tensions, the discussion ended on a note of cautious optimism, asking whether Britain can still pull itself back from the edge and reaffirm its tradition of tolerance and democratic resilience.

• The politicisation of the World Cup
• FIFA, power, and accountability
• Trump's America and global sport
• Immigration, race, and public anger
• Elon Musk's influence on political discourse
• The role of media and social media in amplifying conflict
• Whether Britain's institutions can withstand growing polarisation
• Hope versus grievance in modern democratic societies

Overall, the episode argues that both the World Cup and the Belfast riots are symptoms of a broader global struggle over identity, belonging, power, and who gets to shape the narrative in an increasingly fragmented world.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Westminster was meant to be projecting calm. Instead, this episode of Mid-Atlantic finds Labour staring into a leadership crisis, with Keir Starmer under pressure after bruising local election results and a party increasingly unsure what, or whom, it represents. The panel weighs whether Starmer can survive, how a Labour leadership contest would work, and why Andy Burnham, Angela Rayner, Wes Streeting and others are being talked up as possible successors.

The conversation then moves from palace intrigue to the larger political fracture: Reform gaining ground in working-class areas, the Greens attracting disillusioned progressives, and Labour struggling to explain what it has actually achieved in government. Palestine, energy prices, public ownership, immigration and the cost of living all surface as signs of a party caught between managerial caution and a country demanding something with a pulse.

And because despair has its limits, the panel ends where all serious political analysis eventually must: the World Cup. America is apparently excited, England is apparently good, and Arsenal fans are, as ever, treating optimism as a constitutional right.

1. “Political parties appear detached from the people they are created to represent.”
2. “Nobody knows what this Labour Party actually stands for.”
3. “The middle ground is losing.”
4. “Reform are more than the opposition. They’re the favourites now.”
5. “We’re in this constant psychodrama.”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.