What's Left? With Jovan + Freddie

• Charlie Kirk's Death - George Abaraonye

  EXCLUSIVE: Oxford Union President wants to make amends for insensitive Charlie Kirk comments.In June, George Abaraonye rose to uni fame as the Oxford student who challenged Charlie Kirk about ‘toxic masculinity’. Just a few months later, his name and face was plastered all over digital and broadcast media as the Oxford Union President who ‘celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s death. What happened? Moments after news broke that Kirk had been shot at one of his classic campus debate events, Abaraonye took to Instagram to post a public note ‘Charlie Kirk got shot LOOOOL’ and in a private group chat, ‘Charlie Kirk got shot let’s f——ing go’. After seeing the shockingly gruesome video of Kirk’s execution, Abaraonye deleted his comments. But by this point, screenshots had already been taken that would soon be leaked to the press. In our interview, George tells his side of the story, including: - those notorious leaked messages- the campaign for his resignation from the Union and expulsion from Oxford, pushed by ex-PM Liz Truss and Elon Musk - that viral Union video which has led to accusations of Abaraonye calling for violent revolution- death threats and racist abuse - what really goes on in the Oxford Union- his apology and accusations of doubling down- his hopes for making amendsThere are going to be some people watching this interview who think we’ve gone too soft on George. The question I would ask is, ‘Where else do you see conversations like this?’ – Discourse where a young man is held accountable, reflects on his actions and charts a path for his personal growth. Honestly, when I look at George, I see a 20-year-old lad learning on the job about the weight and power of language in our febrile political environment. He found out in no uncertain terms just how much political capital he had, while being, like us all, a work in progress.When Jovan Owusu-Nepaul and I started What’s Left - these were the exact conversations we had in mind. The ones that democracy are all about. Oh btw, thank you for 100k followers xChapters: 00:00 Intro06:08 Why George Debated Charlie Kirk15:30 Labelling People ‘Fascists’26:43 George’s Journey Through the Oxford Union36:20 Reacting To Kirk’s Death46:33 George’s Apology + Reaction55:15 Dealing with Radicalised Online Abuse1:04:00 Free Speech vs. Campaign for George’s Resignation1:13:33 How To Defuse Political Anger1:21:10 Immigration, Labour + Community1:30:10 Building A Great BritainCome hang @wtf_is.left

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• Ed Miliband: Taking the Fight to Reform + Kamala's Immigration Tsar on Starmer's Digital ID Gamble

  Will Ed Miliband take on Richard Tice in a Misfits Boxing Match for the future of Net-Zero? We’ve got the exclusive 🤣 It’s been an exhilarating 10 days of b2b conferences and a huge milestone for What’s Left as we interviewed ex-Labour leader, Energy Secretary of State Ed Miliband and Kamala Harris’ immigration tsar Frank Sharry! In this episode we’ve got something a bit different for you – a buy one get one free. The first half is an interview with Miliband, where we discuss the challenges of urgently lowering bills and industrial energy costs, while delivering new jobs. We all know Reform is on the offensive, but Miliband is up for the fight against Tice and his legion of chronically online climate change deniers. LPC was a curious bubble, with attendees drifting from ‘complacency to cynicism’. The vibe, as Ed pointed out, was “anxious”. We felt the PM delivered a punchy speech against Farage, framing the next election as Labour vs Reform - but will it be enough to pull together a fractured and divided left? Deindustrialisation, how the PM has handled Trump, and ofc my Issey Miyake trousers also feature in our convo w Ed… Honestly, I don’t think I’ve seen a Labour politician look more natural and relatable in an interview for quite some time. But then again, we didn’t have enough time to truly get into the weeds of policy. Ed you’ll have to come back for some more scrutiny!
The 2nd half of the ep joins us at the Global Progress Action Summit (think centre-left CPAC!) which saw the PM announce digital ID cards in a bid to tackle illegal immigration. Once polling at +35%, support has cratered to -19, demonstrating a govt severely lacking in trust to deliver the change the country needs. Now even Palantir has come out against the policy, which may be surprising to some, but consider their current PR troubles and the type of access they could acquire under a Reform govt. Maybe twisting the knife is in their interest? Frank Sharry, the Biden-Harris border security policy tsar was kind enough to give us an interview on how the centre-left responds to the challenge of illegal immigration. He makes a compelling argument for Labour to change tack and become the party of both immigration and controlled borders. We also discuss the government’s £5bn high-street regeneration plan - the exact sort of policy that could go some distance in galvanising community spirit in the places hit worst by the cost of living crisis. It’s a brilliant policy. So why do we hear so little about it? Ofc, we were delighted to be invited to GPAS and to discuss with leading experts of the Left how we unite against populism. But, I can’t help feeling that we’re still lacking the radicalism we need at such a crisis point in our politics. It’s not looking good brev but we’re still holding out hope. Follow us @wtf_is.left + fix up as we organise against the Right. Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:08 Cold Water Swimming, Chappell Roan + Mental Health 05:50 Fears of Reform + Radical Right 12:20 Taking the Fight to Richard Tice 18:30 Challenges for Net-Zero 24:26 Cutting Edge Communication 27:47 Our Verdict on Ed 32:57 Global Progress Action Summit 38:45 Starmer’s Digital ID Gamble 45:40 AI + Growth Agenda 50:10 Best Policy for Fighting Populism 53:00 Interview with Frank Sharry - Biden/Harris Immigration Tsar 58:35 Farage Copying Trump’s Playbook 1:07:08 American Authoritarianism Backsliding

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• Is WW3 Inevitable? - Conflict Expert, Hassan Damluji

  Bill Gates Advisor + LSE academic Hassan Damluji offers us a glimmer of hope to avoid international catastrophe! Expert in global politics, climate change, pandemics and education reform, Hassan spent a decade at the Gates Foundation in charge of the Middle East, Pakistan and East Asia, closely advising Bill Gates and holding discussions with the likes of Saudi’s MBS, UAE’s President MBZ, Pakistan’s PM Nawaz Sharif and original GOAT investor Warren Buffet. Quite the line up. Currently, he is a senior visiting fellow in International Relations at LSE and director of the think/do tank ‘Global Nation’, which advises UN agencies. He is also the author of ‘The Responsible Globalist’, a manifesto for reforming internationalists, unmoored by the MAGA-led nativist populist insurgency that has multilateralism on its knees. Gates described it as “thought-provoking and well written”, endorsing Hassan’s “ideas that can help make global systems more successful’. At the UN General Assembly this week, Trump doubled down on the end of American Internationalism. In the face of increasing global disorder and violent conflict, what strategy should the Labour pursue to protect the UK’s interests while meeting its principles as a moral mission? Such a tightrope has seemed contradictory at times - with the pomp and flattery of a Trump state visit being counterbalanced by the historic recognition of Palestine as a state. Hassan believes this can be turned into a coherent strategy, with the UK pursuing a middle powers alliance that stands up for the international rule of law. His latest report, Rules Britannia, is well worth a read: In this episode, we chart the failures of ‘globalism’, addressing the rise of populism in response to the immigration crisis, as well as the economic challenges facing developed economies. Hassan explains his vision for a world that feels solidarity around global identity, giving international institutions the requisite consent to solve complex problems like climate change. We also spend a long time discussing the US’ internal contradictions and how it’s not in billionaire’s interests for the world to descend into war and chaos. An international wealth tax must form some part of the solution. This chat with Hassan is probably our favourite so far for the podcast. It addresses the seemingly intractable political problems of our era and offers a real yet narrow way forward. I hope it gives you a bit of hope in these worrying times. As always, follow us @wtf_is.left on Instagram/TikTok Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/ZJe5aef3 00:00 Intro 01:25 Bill Gates, Billionaires and Philanthropy 11:10 Globalism vs Populism22:15 Democracy Matters Most 35:18 Why Populists are Winning 43:09 Britain + Middle Powers Alliance 53:05 An End to American Hegemony 1:04:02 Avoiding World War 3 1:12:04 UK’s Response to America’s Economic Revolution

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• We're Addicted to Ragebait - Jameela Jamil

  We are addicted to ragebait - Jameela Jamil dropped serious bars in the latest What’s Left? pod!Short Form content is information crack. We’re hooked on it, even though doomscrolling leaves us feeling empty. Your da’ gets sunday scaries now - isn’t that mad.But what’s even more mental is hosting Jameela on the podcast discussing what the hell is left?! Thanks for coming Jam 🤝A legend who has experienced the culture war from the eye of the hurricane. Conquered London + LA. A megaphone for millions, whose voice is valued by many across the activist base.Our chat meandered from populism to relationships to the influencers shaping modern culture. But the common thread that tied it together was the spectre of ragebait.In echo chamber freefall, we are ploughed with ragebait content, intoxicating us with something to hate and fear.Is the algorithm just holding a mirror up to ourselves, like the social media bosses want us to believe? Or are we in fact being sold an identity, that doubles as a product - constantly?We discussed how the Right looks for converts, while the Left indefatigably looks for traitors. Infighting has naturally been the achilles heel of the Left. Now, we must look for unity as we dive headfirst into a fight against international populism.If we are indeed addicted to division, I urge us to remind ourselves: recovery is about progression, not perfection.Chapters00:00 Intro01:43 Why Jameela is an Advocate not an Activist09:33 How the Left gets Ragebaited16:40 Building a Left Co-alition25:10 Populism and Anti-System Feeling31:10 Bonnie Blue Documentary + Being Deepfaked37:28 Challenging Misogyny46:10 Algorithms are Exploiting Us51:15 The Reality of VAWG58:10 Ending Polarisation———As always, drop us a follow on IG/TT: @wtf_is.leftJoin us on Discord: https://discord.gg/GSq9CeWZWe're setting up a Patreon soon!! So bear with lol.

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• How to Win the Next UK Election - Luke Tryl

  When Britain is shattered who do you need to win the next UK election? Latest What's Left episode with pollster Luke Tryl drops amongst the “OMG this poll has Reform predicted to win 400 seats” hysteria. Chillllll, Winston, we’re still a few years out. Of course, any given poll should be taken with a pinch of salt and a shot of tequila + lime. Politicos are taught not to read polls in isolation - but to look at the average across the polls for a sober analysis. Even then, you only have a limited snapshot and political parties and No 10 have their own operations with more accurate data. But if we’re being fully real rn, to quote Castillo, the average of the public-facing polls is “not looking good brev [sic]”. So what explains Labour’s drop off and the dramatic rise of Reform in the polls since the election? Who better to ask than one of the UK’s leading pollsters, Luke Tryl.Luke is the Executive Director of More in Common, widely rated as one of the best polling companies in SW1. He’s long had his finger on Westminster’s pulse, having served as a Special Advisor in the Department for Education during the Theresa May premiership following years on the think tank circuit. His analysis is deeply respected across the major parties, as shown by his frequent guest appearances on The News Agents’ podcast. In this discussion we delved into More in Common’s latest report, ‘Shattered Britain’, and its segmentation of the electorate which identified 7 types of voter. In particular, we zoomed in on the growing anti-system sentiment across the UK and Labour’s challenge in being seen as defenders of a rotten orthodoxy. Luke also made some adroit observations around the prospect of widespread social disorder, that has been whipped up by Farage and co over the past few weeks. No one wants to see the ugly and violent scenes we saw last year. Cool heads are needed to avoid talking ourselves into a febrile atmosphere. And Reform themselves would be wise to heed Luke's advice on how the public views such self-fulfilling prophecies...So how can Labour win the next election? The government needs to be seen to deliver for normal people - it’s about returning control to the electorate around a politics of respect. A renewed social contract, where you give in and understand that you also get out. Now more than ever, we need to rebuke the Thatcherism that 'there is no such thing as society' and create an integrative common culture. Otherwise, the UK will capitulate to the f@r-r1ght. It really is that deep, I’m afraid.Chapters00:00 Intro01:35 Britain is Shattered11:23 Pro-System vs. Anti-System21:23 What’s Causing Social Fragmentation?30:30 Splitting the Left Vote37:10 Better Political Comms 42:33 Impending Civil Unrest?46:30 Immigration and Social Integration53:10 Can our Electoral System Cope?59:50 How to Win the Next Election---------------Follow Luke on Tw*tter: @LukeTrylFollow us on IG/TT: @wtf_is.leftBe safe be lucky people yh!

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