Episodes

  • The Generations Game

    The Generations Game
    Aug 27 2021
    Richard Porritt, Cash Boyle and Matt Withers return to bring you the week’s news, politics, gags, gaffes and guests in The New Normal.

    This week they discuss the continuing fallout of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the risk to those left behind and the rise of the regional arm of Islamic State.

    Bobby Duffy, director of The Policy Institute at King's College London, joins us to talk about Generations, his new book exploring whether when we’re born determines our attitudes to money, sex, religion, politics and much else.

    The government’s planned £20-a-week cut to universal credit is well and truly Cashed and burned.

    Plus there's an announcement.

    Music: 8 Bit Sauce by Mikey Geiger
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Out of Afghanistan and into the office

    Out of Afghanistan and into the office
    Aug 20 2021
    Richard Porritt, Cash Boyle and Matt Withers return to bring you the week’s news, politics, gags, gaffes and guests in The New Normal.

    This week they discuss the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the rapid Taliban takeover, the UK government's faltering response and what the future might hold.

    As James Dyson becomes the latest figure to demand an immediate return to the office, Nicky Hoyland, CEO of tech firm Huler, joins us to explain why remote working has its benefits.

    Dr Hannah Bradshaw of Washington and Jefferson College in Pennsylvania pops by to tell us about her study showing that fussy eaters who avoid new foods are less likely to be thought sexually attractive.

    Plus there's Nando's running out of chicken and what it says about Brexit and the sad passing of the brilliant Sean Lock.

    Music: 8 Bit Sauce by Mikey Geiger

    For more information about Hannah Bradshaw's work, click here.
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Hi to Dubai and knitfluencing

    Hi to Dubai and knitfluencing
    Aug 6 2021
    Matt Withers and Cash Boyle return to bring you the week’s news, politics, gags, gaffes and guests in The New Normal.

    This week they discuss the government's decision to let vaccinated holidaymakers to France, Dubai and India avoid quarantine on their return, the news UK musicians will be able to tour visa-free in 19 EU countries and why nobody seems to care about the whiff of Conservatism corruption.

    Juliet Bernard of UK Hand Knitting joins us to talk about what effect Tom Daley's poolside projects have had on the pastime's reputation.

    Plus the latest from the fevered mind of Dominic Cummings and why it's possible to like both football and the Olympics.
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    50 mins
  • UNESCO enforces and dancing horses

    UNESCO enforces and dancing horses
    Jul 30 2021
    Matt Withers and Cash Boyle return to bring you the week’s news, politics, gags, gaffes and guests in The New Normal.

    This week they discuss the anger at the BBC not showing Olympic events it's not able to show, Sajid Javid calling on people not to cower from Covid and the latest target of the anti-woke brigade: the RNLI.

    Professor Michael Parkinson, honorary professor at the University of Liverpool, joins us to talk about UNESCO's decision to strip the city of its World Heritage status and what it means.

    Plus we pay tribute to The X Factor as it vanishes from our screens and wonder how making a horse look a bit like it's dancing became a sport.

    Music: 8 Bit Sauce by Mikey Geiger
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    53 mins
  • Pings can only get better

    Pings can only get better
    Jul 23 2021
    Richard Porritt, Cash Boyle and Matt Withers return to bring you the week’s news, politics, gags, gaffes and guests in The New Normal.

    This week they discuss the pingdemic, Covid passports, rising case numbers and what it all means for the weeks and months ahead.

    There's analysis of Dominic Cumming's latest TV special and the behind-closed-doors start of the Tokyo Olympics.

    Plus Priti Patel's latest wheeze to treat journalists as spies, and what to do in this awful, awful heat.

    Music: 8 Bit Sauce by Mikey Geiger
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    50 mins
  • Flares and foreign aid

    Flares and foreign aid
    Jul 16 2021
    Richard Porritt, Cash Boyle and Matt Withers return to bring you the week’s news, politics, gags, gaffes and guests in The New Normal.

    This week they discuss the toxic racism that followed England's Euros final defeat, the government surviving a rebellion to pass cuts to the foreign aid budget and the impending chaos of whether we're expected to wear masks or not next week.

    James Grimes, founder of anti-gambling harm campaign group The Big Step, joins us to talk about his organisation's attempts to force a change in football’s relationship with betting.

    Plus there is, of course, discussion of the man who attempted to unite a nation by putting a flare up his backside.

    Music: 8 Bit Sauce by Mikey Geiger

    For more information about Gambling with Lives, the group set up by the families and friends of young people who had taken their own lives as a direct result of gambling, click here.
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Statues, angry pop and England's insuppressible march to glory

    Statues, angry pop and England's insuppressible march to glory
    Jul 9 2021
    Richard Porritt, Cash Boyle and Matt Withers return to bring you the week’s news, politics, gags, gaffes and guests in The New Normal.

    This week they discuss Gareth Southgate's Glory Boys' unassailable march to the Euro 2020 title and Boris Johnson's determination to lift all Covid restrictions come what may.

    Historian Alex von Tunzelmann joins us to talk about her new book about the toppling of statues, Fallen Idols, while artist Ben Turnbull drops by to discuss his retrospective exhibition at London's Saatchi Gallery, American History Remix.

    Plus there's analysis of Priti Patel's latest asylum overhaul plans, an unexpected Labour victory in the Batley and Spen by-election and a market stall which peddled Bert Simpson t-shirts.

    Music: 8 Bit Sauce by Mikey Geiger
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Hancock's last hours and making the polluters pay

    Hancock's last hours and making the polluters pay
    Jul 2 2021
    Richard Porritt, Cash Boyle and Matt Withers return to bring you the week’s news, politics, gags, gaffes and guests in The New Normal.

    This week they discuss Matt Hancock's resignation and Gareth Southgate's Glory Boys' unassailable march to the Euro 2020 title.

    Deepa Mistry and Steve Day from campaigners BuildingSafetyCrisis.org join us to discuss the Polluter Pays Bill, a piece of legislation aimed at tackling the cladding crisis.

    And Cash and Burn turns its attention to the berks who accosted England's chief medical officer and unlikely sex symbol Chris Whitty.

    Music: 8 Bit Sauce by Mikey Geiger
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    1 hr and 1 min