Claim OwnershipIt's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast
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© 2026 It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast
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Hear from the widest range of voices in the progressive movement. Every week, host Neal Lawson, speaks with progressive thinkers, writers and politicians from the UK and beyond about current affairs and how to build the Good Society. Visit compassonline.org.uk to learn more about Compass.
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The world that Compass has long predicted is now becoming self-evident: Britain no longer lives in its two-party system. The Conservative-Labour duality that has dominated British politics since the 20th Century is no longer a given. Our politics has fragmented. Five parties are now regularly polling in double figures. Reform have led every poll since May 2025, Labour are sitting at half of their 2024 vote share in under two years, the Tories sit in the wilderness. Amongst all of this, the Gr...
In this bonus episode, Neal and Lena are joined by the political commentators Megan Kenyan and Peter Kellner to dissect the result of this week's by-election in Gorton & Denton. Support the show Enjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist? Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member! You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.
One of Compass’ evergreen campaigns is that for proportional representation. Doing away with the archaic first-past-the-post voting system is something self-evident to the new politics we here at Compass are trying to build. Ensuring cross-party collaboration and the best of all progressive ideas will be key to a democratic system that works in the people’s best interest going forward. But there’s a darker side to FPTP too: how it contributes to inequality. This little-researched area of the ...
‘We’re living through unprecedented times’ seems to be the slogan of the past decade now, which is a grim reality. But, when facing the international space, it’s difficult to argue. The rampant chaos that has been seen through international relations since Brexit and Donald Trump’s first election as US President seems to be reaching an apex. Between the recent incursion into Venezuela, overtures towards Greenland and Iran – the former directly calling into question the 80-year sanctity of NAT...
This EMERGENCY episode of It's Bloody Complicated was deemed necessary due to the rapidly moving events of the past weekend. Recorded on Monday 9th February 2026, the day after Morgan McSweeney resigned as the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, and the same day that Tim Allen resigned as the PM's Director of Communications - before the Cabinet gave Starmer full-throated support online - there is a sincere feeling that this is far beyond the beginning of the end of this Government. To discuss wh...
Even for the most stalwart party member, the meteoric rise of popularity for the Green Party since the 2024 General Election would have caught them off guard. After a record-setting performance at the election – 6.8% vote share and four returned MPs – there were questions of how they could ensure they went from strength-to-strength. As it turned out, this came in the form of a new leadership team. In September 2025, Zack Polanski was elected leader of the Green Party, with Rachel Millward and...
The elections happening for the Welsh Senedd in 2026 are held at the same time as the English local elections and the vote for the Scottish Parliament – but there’s an argument to be made that they’re by far the most important ones happening on May 7th. Since it was first elected in 1999, Labour have been the story of Wales. They have held a plurality of seats and have formed all Welsh Governments, be that majority, minority or coalition. They’ve never received less than 29.6% of the vote in ...
The New Year is, understandably, a time for both self-reflection and for figuring out the future. With January comes confronting what you might want to happen in your life. But in politics, what you want to happen and what you think is going to happen can be two very separate things. With some pivotal local elections coming in May, and both the Welsh Senedd and Scottish Parliament facing significant changes in composition, we’re convening some voices to have a go at predicting just what is go...
The launch of Mainstream, the election of Zack Polanski as Green Party leader, Angela Rayner’s resignation and Peter Mandelson’s sacking – just some of the headline events of another chaotic year in British politics. 2025 may not have had a General Election like last year, but the first full year of a Labour government since 2009 was never going to be dull. At this time of year it’s good to take stock of just what happened so that we can all launch into making 2026 something very special. On ...
Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's new political party - now officially named Your Party - had its founding conference at the end of November. In fashion that is seemingly becoming typical with the organisation, the conference wasn't without its difficulties, with arguments over access, disputes over positioning and Sultana ending up boycotting the first day. But the new leftist party are officially founded and will be a force in British politics going forward. So what is going on inside the f...
The 2025 Budget was set up to be the most important since at least the Truss-Kwarteng mega-failure of 2022. It’s Labour’s first attempt to set a full, multi-year spanning agenda since 2007. In the build-up to it every possible financial lever has been floated as on the table: income tax rises, changes to national insurance and VAT, windfall taxes on banks or the gambling industry, to name a few. What the Chancellor eventually decides to do will have serious ramifications for years to come. So...
Jamie Driscoll was the Mayor of the North of Tyne between 2019-2024 and a true champion of progressive ideas throughout his political career. In 2023, he was denied the ability to run as Labour’s candidate for the North East Mayoral Election by the Labour NEC – an unprecedented decision for an incumbent Mayor and an inherently political decision. This moment has become one of the key indicators of the direction the Labour Party has moved under the leadership of Sir Keir Starmer. Since then, J...
In the second instalment in this miniseries, Compass Director Neal Lawson sits down to chat to long-time Compass intellectual contributors - and hosts of their own podcast Culture, Power and Politics - Professor Jeremy Gilbert and Professor Alan Finlayson. The three discuss the history of factions within the Labour Party, from its inception through the New Labour era and now to the Starmer-McSweeney hyperfaction, and the consequences that has both for the party and for democracy in Brit...
Paul Holden's new book, 'The Fraud', has made waves since its publication last month as it lays bare the intrigues, stratagems, and deceits that made Keir Starmer Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister. Paul Holden shows how Starmer has been the frontman for a ruthless, right-wing political project headed by Morgan McSweeney, now chief of staff in Number 10 and arguably the most powerful man in Britain. McSweeney’s clique often employed dirty tricks to undermine the left-wing Labour le...
Named one of The Guardian and The Telegraph’s Top 50 Comedians of the 21st Century, Nish Kumar has come to stand out from the stand-up crowd. With his politically-charged brand of funny, he has sought out and established his own space in the entertainment scene. As co-host of Pod Save the UK, Nish melds comedy with commentary to bring light and resolution to the ever-growing sense of bleakness in British politics (including on an episode with Compass Director, Neal Lawson, back in 2023). As h...
Where and how we live has always been political – but with the right to buy, the explosion of the private-rented sector, and ever-increasingly demand for affordable, social, and council housing, it’s rarely felt this existential. With the Renters’ Rights Bill currently making its way through Parliament, the mammoth English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill set to extend planning powers to new mayors and councils, and the budget expected on 26th November, it feels like a timely moment ...
The Labour Government find themselves in a difficult moment. On the eve of their 2025 Conference, they are faced with the knowledge that their ‘decade of national renewal’ currently seems stuck in first gear. A series of events have rocked public confidence in the government, including the resignation of Angela Rayner from her government roles and role as Deputy Leader of the party, the sacking of Peter Mandelson as US Ambassador, and the launch of the new network, ‘Mainstream’. With the autu...
It's clear that this Labour Government are in a bit of trouble. Already floundering in the polls off the back of a year in which their promise of 'change' in 2024 hasn't lived up to expectations, they have now been rocked by a series of scandals and resignations - Angela Rayner, Peter Mandelson, Paul Ovenden - that are undermining Sir Keir Starmer's Premiership. With a Deputy Leadership contest now being seen as an internal referendum on the leadership, the 2025 Party Conference is set to be ...
Investigative journalist, author, commentator and activist – George Monbiot has come to define the intellectual left in many of his own ways over the past three decades. From the rights of indigenous peoples the world over to climate activism to opposition to the Iraq War to now speaking out on the Government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action, George has taken a stand where many others wouldn’t tread. And with the political moment being what it is, with tremendous uncertainty both home...
Zack Polanski’s victory in the Green Party leadership election has hailed in a a new political moment and couldn’t have arrived at a more turbulent time. With Reform surging in the polls, the Labour government struggling to gain any traction, the Conservatives fighting for relevance and the Liberal Democrats looking to capitalise in their heartlands, the Greens find themselves balancing their own member’s interests between dynamic leftism and seat-winning localism. But with Polanski defeating...
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Thanks for making this ep I was searching this podcast from Alberta Canada Fort McMurray we were settled here mostly by air by settlers believe it or not
A generic neoliberal politician likes other generic neoliberal politicians and spouts neoliberal tropes Big yawn