Will Ed Miliband take on Richard Tice in a Misfits Boxing Match for the future of Net-Zero? We’ve got the exclusive 🤣

It’s been an exhilarating 10 days of b2b conferences and a huge milestone for What’s Left as we interviewed ex-Labour leader, Energy Secretary of State Ed Miliband and Kamala Harris’ immigration tsar Frank Sharry!

In this episode we’ve got something a bit different for you – a buy one get one free. The first half is an interview with Miliband, where we discuss the challenges of urgently lowering bills and industrial energy costs, while delivering new jobs.

We all know Reform is on the offensive, but Miliband is up for the fight against Tice and his legion of chronically online climate change deniers. LPC was a curious bubble, with attendees drifting from ‘complacency to cynicism’. The vibe, as Ed pointed out, was “anxious”. We felt the PM delivered a punchy speech against Farage, framing the next election as Labour vs Reform - but will it be enough to pull together a fractured and divided left?

Deindustrialisation, how the PM has handled Trump, and ofc my Issey Miyake trousers also feature in our convo w Ed… Honestly, I don’t think I’ve seen a Labour politician look more natural and relatable in an interview for quite some time. But then again, we didn’t have enough time to truly get into the weeds of policy. Ed you’ll have to come back for some more scrutiny!


The 2nd half of the ep joins us at the Global Progress Action Summit (think centre-left CPAC!) which saw the PM announce digital ID cards in a bid to tackle illegal immigration. Once polling at +35%, support has cratered to -19, demonstrating a govt severely lacking in trust to deliver the change the country needs.

Now even Palantir has come out against the policy, which may be surprising to some, but consider their current PR troubles and the type of access they could acquire under a Reform govt. Maybe twisting the knife is in their interest?

Frank Sharry, the Biden-Harris border security policy tsar was kind enough to give us an interview on how the centre-left responds to the challenge of illegal immigration. He makes a compelling argument for Labour to change tack and become the party of both immigration and controlled borders.

We also discuss the government’s £5bn high-street regeneration plan - the exact sort of policy that could go some distance in galvanising community spirit in the places hit worst by the cost of living crisis. It’s a brilliant policy. So why do we hear so little about it?

Ofc, we were delighted to be invited to GPAS and to discuss with leading experts of the Left how we unite against populism. But, I can’t help feeling that we’re still lacking the radicalism we need at such a crisis point in our politics. It’s not looking good brev but we’re still holding out hope.

Follow us @wtf_is.left + fix up as we organise against the Right.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:08 Cold Water Swimming, Chappell Roan + Mental Health

05:50 Fears of Reform + Radical Right

12:20 Taking the Fight to Richard Tice

18:30 Challenges for Net-Zero

24:26 Cutting Edge Communication

27:47 Our Verdict on Ed

32:57 Global Progress Action Summit

38:45 Starmer’s Digital ID Gamble

45:40 AI + Growth Agenda

50:10 Best Policy for Fighting Populism

53:00 Interview with Frank Sharry - Biden/Harris Immigration Tsar

58:35 Farage Copying Trump’s Playbook

1:07:08 American Authoritarianism Backsliding

Bill Gates Advisor + LSE academic Hassan Damluji offers us a glimmer of hope to avoid international catastrophe!

Expert in global politics, climate change, pandemics and education reform, Hassan spent a decade at the Gates Foundation in charge of the Middle East, Pakistan and East Asia, closely advising Bill Gates and holding discussions with the likes of Saudi’s MBS, UAE’s President MBZ, Pakistan’s PM Nawaz Sharif and original GOAT investor Warren Buffet. Quite the line up.

Currently, he is a senior visiting fellow in International Relations at LSE and director of the think/do tank ‘Global Nation’, which advises UN agencies. He is also the author of ‘The Responsible Globalist’, a manifesto for reforming internationalists, unmoored by the MAGA-led nativist populist insurgency that has multilateralism on its knees. Gates described it as “thought-provoking and well written”, endorsing Hassan’s “ideas that can help make global systems more successful’.

At the UN General Assembly this week, Trump doubled down on the end of American Internationalism. In the face of increasing global disorder and violent conflict, what strategy should the Labour pursue to protect the UK’s interests while meeting its principles as a moral mission?

Such a tightrope has seemed contradictory at times - with the pomp and flattery of a Trump state visit being counterbalanced by the historic recognition of Palestine as a state. Hassan believes this can be turned into a coherent strategy, with the UK pursuing a middle powers alliance that stands up for the international rule of law. His latest report, Rules Britannia, is well worth a read:

In this episode, we chart the failures of ‘globalism’, addressing the rise of populism in response to the immigration crisis, as well as the economic challenges facing developed economies. Hassan explains his vision for a world that feels solidarity around global identity, giving international institutions the requisite consent to solve complex problems like climate change.

We also spend a long time discussing the US’ internal contradictions and how it’s not in billionaire’s interests for the world to descend into war and chaos. An international wealth tax must form some part of the solution.

This chat with Hassan is probably our favourite so far for the podcast. It addresses the seemingly intractable political problems of our era and offers a real yet narrow way forward. I hope it gives you a bit of hope in these worrying times.

As always, follow us @wtf_is.left on Instagram/TikTok Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/ZJe5aef3

00:00 Intro

01:25 Bill Gates, Billionaires and Philanthropy

11:10 Globalism vs Populism

22:15 Democracy Matters Most

35:18 Why Populists are Winning

43:09 Britain + Middle Powers Alliance

53:05 An End to American Hegemony

1:04:02 Avoiding World War 3

1:12:04 UK’s Response to America’s Economic Revolution

We are addicted to ragebait - Jameela Jamil dropped serious bars in the latest What’s Left? pod!

Short Form content is information crack. We’re hooked on it, even though doomscrolling leaves us feeling empty.

Your da’ gets sunday scaries now - isn’t that mad.

But what’s even more mental is hosting Jameela on the podcast discussing what the hell is left?! Thanks for coming Jam 🤝

A legend who has experienced the culture war from the eye of the hurricane. Conquered London + LA. A megaphone for millions, whose voice is valued by many across the activist base.

Our chat meandered from populism to relationships to the influencers shaping modern culture. But the common thread that tied it together was the spectre of ragebait.

In echo chamber freefall, we are ploughed with ragebait content, intoxicating us with something to hate and fear.

Is the algorithm just holding a mirror up to ourselves, like the social media bosses want us to believe? Or are we in fact being sold an identity, that doubles as a product - constantly?

We discussed how the Right looks for converts, while the Left indefatigably looks for traitors. Infighting has naturally been the achilles heel of the Left. Now, we must look for unity as we dive headfirst into a fight against international populism.

If we are indeed addicted to division, I urge us to remind ourselves: recovery is about progression, not perfection.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:43 Why Jameela is an Advocate not an Activist

09:33 How the Left gets Ragebaited

16:40 Building a Left Co-alition

25:10 Populism and Anti-System Feeling

31:10 Bonnie Blue Documentary + Being Deepfaked

37:28 Challenging Misogyny

46:10 Algorithms are Exploiting Us

51:15 The Reality of VAWG

58:10 Ending Polarisation

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As always, drop us a follow on IG/TT: @wtf_is.left

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/GSq9CeWZ

We're setting up a Patreon soon!! So bear with lol.