Pod Save the UK

This week Coco is joined by the comedian Cody Dahler while Nish takes a brief break and there’s so much to talk about!
The Greens' Hannah Spencer has become the unexpected bookies favourite to win the Gorton and Denton by-election but does she have what it takes to turn good odds into a win at the ballot box? We speak to her about the importance of fighting to improve lives, her favourite false rumour and why walking her dogs helped form her political outlook.
Plus Keir Starmer is back with another U-turn and another inquiry. We try to work out what he’s hoping to achieve this week. And Amnesty International’s UK Director of Law and Human Rights, Tom Southerden, updates us on their High Court victory as they challenge the proscription of Palestine Action.
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GUESTS 
Hannah Spencer, Green Party candidate, Gorton and Denton by-election
Tom Southerden, UK Law and Human Rights Director, Amnesty International
USEFUL LINKS
Gorton and Denton by-election candidate list https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/elections/parl.gorton-and-denton.by.2026-02-26/gorton-and-denton/
CREDITS
TikTok / @mrcodydahler
Green Party of England and Wales / Facebook
Hannah Spencer / Instagram
Paul Holden, Investigative journalist and author of "The Fraud"
High Court protest reaction - Amnesty International footage
@mrcodydahler / Instagram
Otto, Budding Comedian
Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.
Get in touch - contact us via email: [email protected]
Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s cabinet circles the wagons as he survives another hellish week in office. One that saw the loss of his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and his director of communications, Tim Allan, as the scandal over Peter Mandelson's ties to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein rages on. 
Nish and Coco are joined by Paul Holden, the “unofficial biographer” of Morgan McSweeney, to discuss his key role in the rise of Keir Starmer to power and his close relationship with Mandelson. Plus - reports that Labour Together hired a PR firm to investigate Paul and others looking into its funding under McSweeney.
Also, comedian Stuart Goldsmith on the serious business of being funny about climate change and why it goes all the way to the top of British intelligence.
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AURA FRAMES
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GUESTS 
Paul Holden, Investigative Journalist and author of The Fraud
Stuart Goldsmith, Climate Comedian
USEFUL LINKS
The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney, and the Crisis of British Democracy
https://orbooks.com/catalog/the-fraud/
Stuart Goldsmith
www.stuartgoldsmith.com
CREDITS

Sky News / YouTube
Sky News / YouTube
GOP Oversight / YouTube
Sky News Australia / YouTube
Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.
Get in touch - contact us via email: [email protected]
Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk
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Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk
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The release of the latest Epstein files triggered a deluge of revelations, spelling the end for one of UK’s biggest political characters. Nish and Coco chat about Lord Mandelson’s fall and the damage done to Keir Starmer and his government as well as the new police investigation into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Economist Ann Pettifor, one of the few who predicted the 2008 financial crash, is the author of a new book “The Global Casino”. She has a lot to say about the Mandelson scandal, the financial systems that control our lives and what governments need to do to challenge the global billionaires who speculate with our money every day.
Plus - move over Barbenheimer, Nish and Coco give their take on two premieres: The Moment and Melania.
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SHOPIFY
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AURA FRAMES
https://www.auraframes.com Code: PSTUK
GUEST 
Ann Pettifor, economist and author of ‘The Global Casino’
USEFUL LINKS
Nish Tour Tickets
https://www.nishkumar.co.uk/gigs/
The Global Casino: How Wall Street Gambles with People and the Planet
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3258-the-global-casino
CREDITS
Keir Starmer MP / Parliament TV
Lord Mandelson / ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’ BBC One
Melania Trailer 
Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.
Get in touch - contact us via email: [email protected]
Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk
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Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk
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Keir Starmer jets off to Beijing, leaving Westminster - once again - bubbling with rumours about his future. The King of the North might be off the cards, but Angela Rayner and even Ed Miliband are eyeing up the top spot. 
Reform thinks GB News Presenter and right-wing activist Matt Goodwin is the right man to be their MP candidate in Gorton and Denton - if only he can shelve his disdain for Manchester… Nish and Coco chew it all over with political journalist Zoë Grünewald.
Away from the psychodrama, controversial plans to overhaul special educational needs education in England risk children’s legal rights to cut costs. Campaigners Rachel Filmer and Carrie Grant share their concerns with Coco.
And surveillance firm Palantir is using medical records to target people for ICE in the US - could the UK be next?
This podcast has been edited to remove a story about Matt Goodwin after he clarified the context of his comments about Manchester. We regret the error.
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SHOPIFY
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GUESTS 
Zoë Grünewald, journalist, broadcaster and political commentator
Dr Carrie Grant MBE, TV presenter and voice coach
Rachel Filmer, SEND campaigner
USEFUL LINKS
Save Our Children’s Rights Campaign
https://www.saveourchildrensrights.org.uk/
Stop Palantir in the NHS
https://goodlawproject.org/campaign/stop-palantir-in-the-nhs
CREDITS
Keir Starmer / TikTok
Pod Save America / X
Good Law Project / Instagram
Sky News / YouTube
UKLabour / X
Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.
Get in touch - contact us via email: [email protected]
Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk
X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk

Donald Trump brings his particular brand of terrible speeches to the billionaires and bankers at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Nish and Coco try to work out how Keir Starmer can keep on track when facing the threat of US tariffs over Greenland as well as criticism of a lease deal with the Chagos Islands - which the US had previously praised.

Liam Thorp, the Liverpool Echo’s Political Editor, is on hand to break down Labour’s big plan to make homes warmer, the fortunes of Reform and the latest delay to the Hillsborough Law

Plus comedian Alaa Shehada, fresh from his show ‘The Horse of Jenin’, talks to Nish and Coco about the ‘Palestine Comedy Club’, a documentary which follows a group of Palestinians as they take their comedy show on tour in an occupied state.

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SHOPIFY
Shopify.co.uk/podsavetheuk
WISE
Wise.com

GUESTS 
Liam Thorp - Political Editor, Liverpool Echo
Tess Ingram, UNICEF
Alaa Shehada - Comedian

USEFUL LINKS
Palestine Comedy Club collective
https://www.palestinecomedyclub.com/
Palestine Comedy Club documentary
https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/palestine-comedy-club
Starting Feb 27th:
London - Rich Mix and Bertha Doc House 
Tywyn - Magic Lantern Cinema 
Birmingham - Mockingbird Cinema 
Brighton - Komedia 
Gloucester - Guildhall 
Belfast - Queen’s Film Theatre

CREDITS
Donald Trump - BBC Online
‘Palestine Comedy Club’ - Tough Crowd

Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.
Get in touch - contact us via email: [email protected]
Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK
Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheukX: https://x.com/podsavetheuk


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