Rock & Roll Politics with Steve Richards
Based on his live one-man show Rock & Roll Politics, the broadcaster and author Steve Richards takes a weekly behind-the-scenes tour of UK politics and the media that shapes the way we view the epic political dramas. The future is ridiculously unpredictable and the past is so easy to misread. Subscribe to your weekly guide through seismic times.
301
Boris Seeks to Break the Law
The government's 'oven ready' deal that would 'get Brexit done' is now being violated...by the government...and your brilliant questions on Boris Johnson, Brexit, Keir Starmer and much more.
35 min
302
Brexit is back (it never went away)
The Number 10 that presided chaotically over Covid and its consequences does not go for introspective humility...Instead of learning lessons from its failures it moves on with naive self-confidence and counterproductive machismo as it threatens to...
41 min
303
Prime Ministers and the Misery of Power
Boris Johnson is struggling. Does he realise yet that he is not equipped to meet the epic demands of leadership? Writing the paperback version of 'The Prime Ministers- Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to Johnson' I am struck by how miserable...
29 min
304
The most significant political year since 1945
Have the last twelve months been the most historic since the end of World War Two? Covid, Brexit, a big Tory election win....that takes a lot of beating..there's been the Suez Crisis, Sterling Crises, Three Day Weeks, Winter of Discontent, Iraq,...
10 min
305
Boris Johnson and A Fear of Scrutiny
In UK politics B Johnson can escape scrutiny more easily than D Trump, Johnson's model of leadership in some respects. Johnson does not like being challenged and in one huge policy area he is getting his way. The UK economy faces another big hit...
28 min
306
Keir Starmer's 100 days and How to Challenge Ri...
Rishi Sunak walks on water but he does so by putting the case for borrowing and spending. How should Labour respond? There are big risks and opportunities for Starmer and his new team.
28 min
307
Prime Ministers and the Favourite Special Advisers
Is Dominic Cummings the most powerful Number 10 special adviser of modern times? I reflect on the relationship between PMs and their favourite special advisers. From Harold Wilson and Marcia Williams to Johnson and Cummings...the most...
11 min
308
Boris Johnson as Churchill, Roosevelt and Jose...
This week I reflect on the chasm between B Johnson's bold objectives and his capacity to deliver..plus Dominic Cummings, the shallow revolutionary with angry, contradictory plans...and K Starmer's sacking of RLB and the complex implications.
31 min
309
Will Boris Johnson be PM at the time of the nex...
In this episode I reflect on the contradictory leaks coming from Number 10, the Treasury and the wider government..and reveal the outcome of my exclusive poll on the fate of Boris Johnson.
32 min
310
The Virtual Live Show
A lookahead to the next virtual live Rock N Roll Politics on Wednesday June 17th.
8 min
311
Boris Johnson And The Question of Competence
In England voters only turn against Conservative governments when they are seen as incompetent. With one of the highest virus death tolls and a hard Brexit looming is B Johnson in danger of losing the battle of competence..with electoral consequences?...
23 min
312
Boris Johnson, the Scientists and 'the science'
There are signs of tension between Johnson, ministers and some of the scientists over the lockdown exit and the Cummings' affair. At first they appeared to be dancing together as ministers proclaimed absurdly that they were 'following the science',...
31 min
313
Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings
Why is B Johnson so dependent on D Cummings? Is his determination to keep him a sign of strength or weakness? The saga of Cummings dash to Durham shows at the very least that the Vote Leave campaign runs Number Ten.
30 min
314
Lockdown Special-The Sequel
A preview of the live virtual show on the Kings Place website at 7pm on Monday May 18th. The last live virtual show was on the day B.Johnson returned to work..how is he doing? How is K Starmer doing? And will the UK and politics in the UK change...
6 min
315
Steve Richards Presents Rock N Roll Politics
A look ahead to Monday's virtual show on the Kings Place website starting at 7 pm...The last live virtual show was on the day B Johnson returned to work...How's he doing? How's K Starmer doing? And will the virus emergency change the UK and politics...
6 min
316
B Johnson- A Curious Indifference to 'Bombproof...
Boris Johnson outlined the Lockdown exit strategy in a grand televised address to the nation. Yet avoidable confusion followed. Why? I reflect on how Tony Blair and others in the New Labour era would 'bombproof' every statement before a public word...
32 min
317
Lockdown Special: The Lessons From Setting a Ta...
This week I reflect on Matt Hancock not meeting his testing target, claiming to do so..and the triumph he could have claimed for getting close to his goal. Targets work..and the scrapping of targets was one of the many calamitous decisions taken by...
27 min
318
Rock N Roll Politics The Virtual Show-A Trail
Rock n Roll Politics the Lockdown Special is on the Kings Place website at 7pm on Monday April 27th.
4 min
319
Coronavirus-The daily press conferences v reali...
I am hooked on the Number 10 daily press conferences even though they are dull and reveal little..perhaps my addiction is explained by the gap between the eerie, subdued mood at the conferences with the epic crisis being played out..it's a darkly...
46 min
320
B Johnson- A PM in hospital ; An interview with...
In this episode I look at how perceptions of B Johnson changed in terms of his role as a Prime Minister when he was moved to Intensive Care-he was viewed suddenly as more leadenly than he was; I interviewed T Blair for my Radio 4 programme on Labour's...
43 min
321
Virus: Powerless ministers in 'reformed' NHS an...
Not for the first time ministers are hoist by their own petard as they try to exert control over the NHS only to discover they gave away their powers to do so..and Keir Starmer wins by a landslide.
23 min
322
Johnson and The Virus; Starmer and Leadership
B Johnson has been famous for so long it is easy to forget how inexperienced he is as a PM facing the big challenge since 1945...and now he gets the virus along with other key players. Keir Starmer faces a different challenge..making his mark at a...
20 min
323
The State Is Back In Fashion
In this episode: The coronavirus means all fashionable assumptions are turned on their head. We turn to the state to come to our rescue after decades in the UK when big government and public spending were seen as a threat...but even so B Johnson's...
24 min
324
The Virus becomes political and the Budget chan...
In the latest episode of Rock N Roll Politics I conclude I was wrong a week ago in suggesting that the virus would not become political...and a Tory Chancellor contradicts his predecessors and media orthodoxy by arguing that higher spending boosts...
22 min
325
Steve Richards Presents Rock N Roll Politics
The New Political Landscape
29 min