Backchat

Bath and England rugby player Tom Dunn opens up about making it as a professional rugby player, the pressure involved and how he felt making his first England appearance behind closed doors. Tom also discusses the 'sacrifices' he had to make growing up and his root into rugby through club rugby, playing part-time for Chippenham Rugby Club before becoming a regular in the Bath squad. Listen to hear about Tom's take on rugby as an outlet and his thoughts about life after rugby. 

Dissent within minority communities is often not only badly reported in the media but is actually actively silenced under the guise of political correctness. On the final episode of this season of Backchat, Podcast Editor Mihir Joshi talks to Maryam Namazie from the One Law for All campaign group. They discuss honour based violence, blasphemy and the popular revolt against the Iranian Regime that has been raging for the past year.

Join Podcast Editor Mihir Joshi and Backbench General Editor Tom Westgarth for a look back at how their predictions they made in October have fared in what has been a tumultuous year. To help you navigate this mammoth podcast here are some timestamps: Tory engineering for the election : 2.40, the United Kingdom's future relationship with the European Union: 13.00, the future of the Eurozone: 15.45, the future of the Culture War: 20.50,  the changing nature of the Conservative Party: 29.50, the future battle over resources: 37.00, the West's relationship with China: 41.44

Keir Starmer is the new leader of the Labour Party but the ideology it represents if over 100 years old. In this episode of Backchat we discuss what the left means, what the left represents and what the future of the left might bring in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Even a fortnight ago a total lockdown of the United Kingdom seemed implausible and unprecedented, but here we are in the 5th day of a lockdown with no real end in sight. In today's episode Mihir chats to Sindhu Ram an LSE Masters student who is currently self-isolating about the government, the media and our communities have responded to the challenges provided by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Culture has taken a whole new political dimension in the past decade with Brexit, the election of Donald Trump and many other political events have unleashed a revolution in the way campaigns, governance and the media are conducted. Today on Backchat we have  Mihir Joshi and Eleanor Longman-Rood, a regular contributor to Backbench, to talk about these critical issues.

It's all change at Backbench! What better way to say hello to our new Editor-in-Chief Maheen Behrana than to have her on another exciting episode of Backchat! On today's episode, we discuss the future of British journalism, the future of Backbench and how the journalistic community can help uncover the truth in these confusing times.

The Tibet issue has been around for decades with no sign of a resolution. On Backchat this week, Mihir, speaks to Campaigns Manager John Jones from the Free Tibet movement. He provides a fascinating insight into this very secretive part of the world. Amongst the issues discussed are the political situation in Tibet, attacks on the Buddhist faith and the future of the region. 

Football is the world's most popular sport but is there something going wrong with the beautiful game? Allegations of corruption, tournaments in places with questionable human rights records and spiralling ticket prices have hampered the game for the past few years. Listen to Mihir Joshi and George Casci talk about how to salvage football to ensure that it can truly become a force for good in the world. 

Rebecca Long-Bailey, Keir Starmer, Jess Philips and the rest of the contenders have been jostling for what many would call the poisoned chalise of the Labour Leadership. Listen to Editor Mihir Joshi and General Editor Tom Westgarth dissect what they have seen in the campaign and whether any one of them can save the Labour Party from the electoral difficulties that lie ahead. 

And so there we have it. No longer will we have to hear 'Get Brexit Done',  'For The Many Not The Few' and all the other cheesy election slogans. Boris Johnson has emerged from the General Election victorious and the Backbench Team are here to guide you through the election with (what were) live reactions from different times on election night and an in-depth analysis of what this seismic election means for the future of our nation.  Join us for 40 minutes of (not to gloat) but the best election analysis without any of the gimmicks! Just to help you navigate this mammoth podcast here are some pointers for what to expect:  Mihir's intro: 0.00-1.40  Live Reactions: 1.40-11.05  Analysis: 11.05-49.02 

To continue our Conversations With series, this week we have John Abiona former Features Editor for The Boar and reporter at The Sun to talk about who he is considering voting for and why. We also discuss the state of the election campaigns and why the increasing tribal nature of our politics is troubling. 

Why do we vote for who we vote for? It's a question that's struck people as disparate as Dominic Cummings to Aristotle! At Backchat, over the next few weeks, we're going to try answer this question! Today we have Backbench Editor Tom Mitchell on the podcast to explain why he will be voting Liberal Democrat come December. 

And it's Groundhog Day again! Brexit has been delayed for another three months and  we have Professor Anand Menon, Director of UK in a Changing Europe to talk about Brexit (obviously!), the nature of our democratic politics and the future of the Union. 

We have had a crazy summer of politics. New Prime Minister, a new dog at Downing Street, prorogation, de-prorogation, lying to the Queen, it really does seem like we have fallen into a parallel universe where the normal rules have been flipped. Mihir Joshi, the new Backchat Editor, sat down with Tom Westgarth, one of the new Backbench Editors, to discuss what has happened over the summer and what might happen in the months to come. 

Official figures reveal that there has been a 165% increase in homelessness since 2010, but charities claim the number is much higher.  To find out more, Natasha Livingstone spoke to Ruth Ehrlich, a policy officer for Shelter.  Useful contacts mentioned in the episode: - www.streetlink.org.uk  - Shelter’s free helpline: 0808 800 4444 

From the high-protein diet to the juice cleanse, diet makers are profiting from the global obesity crisis. To find out more, Natasha Livingstone spoke to Dr Giles Yeo, a geneticist at Cambridge University and author of the best-selling book ‘Gene Eating’, who argues that genes are to blame when your jeans don’t fit.

With Parliament not making any headway on Brexit, we experimented to see if Ellie Varley (Vice Chair for Brexit4Students and Conservative voter), Christopher Vince (Labour Councillor in Harlow) and Alisha Lewis (Community Activist for the Liverpool Liberal Democrats) could do a better job and find some common ground.

With the never-ending Brexit saga dragging on, you might not have noticed that Spain is having a snap election on the 28th April. To find out more, Natasha Livingstone chatted to Backbench writers Dom Griffiths and Sammy Russell.

As Brexit consumes all political and media attention, important domestic issues are being overlooked. One of these topics is Prison reform. To find out more, Natasha Livingstone spoke to Graham Atkins, a researcher at the Institute for Government.