From strong and stable leadership to nationalising the railways, energy firms, and education system, this General Election feels like it’s been a blur of manifesto promises, misleading headlines and half-baked TV debates. If you’re fed up of the noise, unclear on the facts, and still undecided on which party will get your vote come 8th June, we’ve got a solution for you: podcasts. From a left-leaning take on the issues of the day to a comedian’s splice of news and jokes, we’ve rounded up our favourites below.
Intelligence Squared
Conducted with a panel of two or three experts on each side of a given issue, Intelligence Squared has attracted some prestigious personalities since its 2002 inception, including Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens. The show discusses various topical issues, from “Should the government ration end-of-life care?” to “Does China do capitalism better than America?” The podcast is great for both left-wingers or right wingers and manages to deftly communicate information in an entertaining way.
https://www.acast.com/intelligencesquared
Polling Matters
Host Keiran Pedleys looks at the latest opinion poll news and analysis with guests on each episode of this weekly podcast. The latest episode sees the team discuss whether Labour’s recent poll surge is ‘real’ and where it might have come from. They also look at what the result will be based on a model that correctly predicted the 2015 election.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/polling-matters/
Agitpod with Owen Jones & Ellie Mae O’Hagan
A relatively new fortnightly podcast which sees The Guardian‘s Jones and writer O’Hagan chat all things political from a left-wing perspective. The fortnightly podcast discusses everything from the upcoming election and Corbyn to Syria. Jones’s cat also sometimes makes an appearance.
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/agitpod-with-owen-jones-ellie-mae-ohagan
Partly Political
If you feel a bit drained from listening to politicians and fancy your politics with a dose of humour, look no further than this podcast. Hosted by comedian Tiernan Douieb, it features weekly interviews with political specialists, and delves into the issues of the day with humour and insight. Polls and LOLs galore.
http://www.acast.com/partlypoliticalbroadcast
Talking Politics
At a time when politics are becoming more and more unpredictable and democracy around the world is feeling, ahem, strained, David Runciman, a lecturer of politics at Cambridge University, speaks to historians, philosophers, comedians, novelists and even some politicians to make sense of it all. A variety of perspectives make this podcast a brilliant fake news tonic.
