Fresh off the back of our latest episodes Ed Balls and George Osborne get an answer to their queries around the curate eggs and a follow up to the Libya crisis series on age in politics. In politics, particularly the Tories, you’re considered young at 40 or 50 while in tech it makes you ancient. Why is this? Youth is often seen as a negative in politics, but is there value to not being weighed down by your experiences?

Then the pair answer a question from the Barclays Brief podcast on the gilt markets, and options open to Rachel Reeves should higher energy prices limit her fiscal headroom. They explain why her options are severely limited coming into the second half of this the parliament and what options are still available for her.

Baroness Jo Valentine then asks a question around rail development at Heathrow should the third runway be developed. They point to past projects like the Millennium Dome and Olympic Park as pointers on what you should and shouldn’t do, while exploring why planning often takes so long in Britain.

Finally, they address a question on many people’s minds: what happens if we’re plunged into active war? They discuss whether the government should better prepare the public for this event, and what areas of weakness the government should address to better protect the public in future.

We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question.

Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today:

👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency

👉 Apple Podcasts

Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon.

Credits:

Research: Sam Burton

Production: Caillin McDaid & Nasreen Arain

Video Editor: Carla Mercer

Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford & Henrietta Harrison

Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Middle East conflict raged on during our Easter break and George Osborne comes back to us with news from Washington and word from friends in high places, like incoming Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. He and Ed Balls discuss the failed peace talks from George’s other mate, JD Vance, and where things go from here.

They then weigh in on the UK’s shifting tone towards the Trump administration, and why they’re becoming more critical. It’s aiding them for now, but will it come back to bite them? The ongoing defence spending dilemma also rears its head with Labour peer George Robertson openly critcising the Government. The pair predict this will come to be the biggest challenge for Rachel Reeves and the Treasury in this year’s budget.

Earlier this week the International Monetary Fund forecast that Britain would be one of the countries worst hit by the Iran war. Ed explains why he disagrees with this assessment, and how the Bank of England can avoid debilitating inflation. George cautions that Reeves is in a tough spot, and faces some unpopular choices should the IMF’s forecast come to fruition.

Finally, George sheds some light on emerging cybersecurity threats particularly Anthropic’s Mythos model. Alarms are ringing in Washington over this model, with the new threats of AI on defence and security becoming clear. George highlights the risk and opportunity inherent in these technological innovations, and they call for regulation as these models become more and more advanced.

We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question.

Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today:

👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency

👉 Apple Podcasts

Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon.

Credits:

Research: Sam Burton

Production: Caillin McDaid & Nasreen Arain

Video Editor: Carla Mercer

Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford & Henrietta Harrison

Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In another special ‘What If’ edition of EMQs George Osborne and Ed Balls consider the would be worlds and outcomes, if just one historical event went another way. In a more theoretical ‘What If’ they consider what would happen if MPs couldn’t abstain and had to vote aye or nay on every bill. Ed believes this could lead to a breakdown in our system, while George thinks it could reprimand a mistake made by the recent Tory governments.

An anonymous question from someone in government poses a radical change to our recent history: What if Trump became a unifying anti-gun and violence figure after the attempted assassination in 2024? This would have had massive implications for our current world, but would it be believable? George is sceptical, while Ed wonders if Trump would have gone on to a greater landslide victory or if the MAGA movement would have turned on him.

Finally, a pair of EU related ‘What Ifs’. Had the Brexit results been flipped, who leads the country into 2020 and the pandemic? George? David Cameron? Or is it still Boris Johnson? Also, what if the Maastricht or Lisbon treaties had been put to the country as referendums? Would Brexit still have happened? Would we still be in the EU? Would it have saved or ended the premierships of John Major and Tony Blair?

We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question.

Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today:

👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency

👉 Apple Podcasts

Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon.

Credits:

Research: Sam Burton

Production: Caillin McDaid

Video Editor: Avi Asher

Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford & Henrietta Harrison

Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.