Latest Scrutiny Podcast Episodes
Interview with the podcast host
Taking the Party out of Politics - September 05, 2023 14:25 - 28 minutesAward winning playwright Chris Lee takes time out his busy schedule to interview the host of Taking the Party Out of Politics, Andrew Brown, about the political ideas behind the podcast, about his motivation for putting it all together, and together they explore whether it will be possible to mak...
Changing the Way We Use the System
Taking the Party out of Politics - April 21, 2023 03:01 - 28 minutesIt's not that people don't care enough. Absolutely not. But when we campaign about single issues, we are separate. The thinking is not (obviously) linked up. And it too easy for government to nod, and to simply ignore. It's not that we need more consultation. But consultations can be simply ...
Citizen Thinking
Taking the Party out of Politics - April 07, 2023 03:13 - 27 minutesNone of us is as clever as all of us together. We need to listen to experts. But we also need to allow space for good ideas to come from anywhere. Together, not separately It should be about the quality of the ideas, not about how good you are at lobbying; or how much money or power or con...
Citizen Information
Taking the Party out of Politics - March 24, 2023 04:16 - 25 minutesIgnorance is bliss. And it can also be funny. But it can also be extremely dangerous. We need to know what the basic facts about the world actually are. Otherwise, how do we know when some new piece of information is important. We need to make sure that we have accurate, up to date informat...
Citizen Government
Taking the Party out of Politics - March 10, 2023 04:37 - 24 minutesCould selected Citizens (rather than 'elected representatives') actually be asked to do the jobs which our Government and Ministers are doing at the moment? How successful could they be expected to be? What might we gain, and what might we risk losing? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...
Citizen Scrutiny
Taking the Party out of Politics - February 24, 2023 04:25 - 36 minutesA system which uses informed, balanced, objective, engaged people – citizens – to call our politicians to account, to check that they are doing their job. It’s not a party-political thing. But it is a political thing. It’s making sure that the process of Scrutinizing what our elected Govern...
Citizens' Assemblies
Taking the Party out of Politics - February 10, 2023 04:35 - 23 minutesGet a small group of people together. Maybe 100. Specially selected to be representative of the range of people and perspectives across the country. Young, old. Rich, poor. Different races and genders. Different political views. Give them all the information about a topic. Let them ask all the ...
A Summary of Challenges
Taking the Party out of Politics - January 27, 2023 04:12 - 31 minutesIf you are just joining us today, then you are in luck, because today we are going to have a quick overview of all the big ideas which we have covered over the last 26 or so episodes. Why politics isn’t working for us, the voters, and why it isn’t really even working for the politicians who are ...
The Northern Ireland Protocol
Taking the Party out of Politics - October 14, 2022 04:00 - 8 minutesWhy is it so difficult? Essentially, because of the three things which Brexiters wanted, you could only ever have two: 1. The whole of the UK to leave the European Union on the same terms. 2. Leave the single market and the customs union, and 3. Avoid a border between the North and South of...
The UK and The EU
Taking the Party out of Politics - September 23, 2022 04:00 - 18 minutesWhat are the misunderstandings which led to an unsuccessful, draining referendum and Brexit? 1. We joined late. The rules had already been set (e.g. supporting French small farmers). 2. The EU was always political: about pooling the things used to make war, as a way of avoiding war. But, the...
Referendums
Taking the Party out of Politics - September 09, 2022 05:00 - 20 minutesThe idea of a referendum is to ask the people what they want. To give the people an opportunity to say what they really think. But it is really about resolving an argument between two different factions within a political party. A referendum needs a question which is easy to understand, and sim...
Public Health and Timescales
Taking the Party out of Politics - June 17, 2022 04:00 - 27 minutesPublic Health: maximizing population health gain. "Basically, whatever resource we have as a system, then we want to use that in the most efficient, intelligent, effective way to get the most health gains for the population." (Andy Fox, Assistant Director of Public Health for Lincolnshire) In ...
Protest
Taking the Party out of Politics - April 08, 2022 05:00 - 31 minutesProtest A crucial part of our democratic process. A way for citizens who are not embedded in the political process to engage with politics, to let others know what is important to them, and to let the government know how they feel. There needs to be a balance. It would not be appropriate fo...
The Blunders of Our Governments
Taking the Party out of Politics - December 24, 2021 03:00 - 21 minutesBLUNDERS: things which went wrong, which were foreseeable, but which the government did anyway. A very strong executive (government) makes it possible for policies to get rushed into place, without proper checks or thinking. No consensus + No consultation = Ineffective policies Behavioural c...
The Separation of Powers and the Conflicting Pressures on MPs
Taking the Party out of Politics - December 10, 2021 03:37 - 20 minutesToo much power in one set of hands risks that all that power might run away with itself, rather than being used for the general good. The “Separation of powers" protects political liberty by dividing government powers. The legislative is Parliament The executive is the Government, and the Civi...
The Wicked Issues
Taking the Party out of Politics - November 26, 2021 00:51 - 20 minutesThe Wicked Issues are the things which are really important, but which don’t get dealt with. Climate Change. Saving for retirement. etc Our MPs believe that the short-term challenges of dealing with the Wicked Issues mean they won't get re-elected. Any MP who says that we should invest now (t...
Taking the Party out of Politics
Taking the Party out of Politics - November 12, 2021 01:07 - 24 minutesThe Media Independent Perspective or a Spotlight which burns too brightly? Journalists take pot shots from the side lines, but if they really knew better than our elected politicians, why aren't they standing for election? Grabbing your attention! The pressure of grabbing the headline, of ge...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 16
Taking the Party out of Politics - October 29, 2021 04:00 - 23 minutesMinisters have a lot of power, in a focused area, and can really affect our lives. Ministers are Political Party creatures. Ministers are mostly from 'safe seats', which means that they are actually 'selected' by the active members of their constituency Political Party. Ministers (and most po...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 15
Taking the Party out of Politics - October 15, 2021 04:00 - 32 minutesParliament: It's supposed to be about our representatives doing their best for us. It's supposed to be careful consideration of new laws. It's actually dominated by the needs of Political Parties. It's actually an old system, dominated by slick, centralised, powerful Political Parties. ...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 14
Taking the Party out of Politics - October 08, 2021 04:00 - 20 minutesBeing an MP: It's supposed to be you representing your constituents, checking on the quality of new laws, holding the government to account, and doing a good job. It's actually a process of trying to find your way and to organise your time, getting ordered around and told how to vote, and the...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 13
Taking the Party out of Politics - October 01, 2021 04:00 - 25 minutesIt's supposed to be good people, deciding to do their bit, making the world a bit better, representing local needs and preferences. It's actually career politicians, supported by a national party. It's actually a really big personal and financial risk. It's actually just producing people wh...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 12
Taking the Party out of Politics - June 25, 2021 04:00 - 24 minutesThe 5 Impossible Puzzles Bonus Season highlights different structural challenges with the way our electoral and political system is supposed to work. The fifth puzzle is the Impossible Puzzle for Parliament and Government. Government is trying to make things happen. Parliament is trying ...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 11
Taking the Party out of Politics - June 24, 2021 04:00 - 16 minutesThe 5 Impossible Puzzles Bonus Season highlights different structural challenges with the way our electoral and political system is supposed to work. The fourth puzzle is the Impossible Puzzle for Representative Governments. This is about how our national governments very often receive less t...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 10
Taking the Party out of Politics - June 23, 2021 04:00 - 12 minutesThe 5 Impossible Puzzles Bonus Season highlights different structural challenges with the way our electoral and political system is supposed to work. The third puzzle is the Impossible Puzzle for Representatives. If you are elected on the basis of a set of promises (your manifesto), then only...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 9
Taking the Party out of Politics - June 22, 2021 04:00 - 16 minutesThe 5 Impossible Puzzles Bonus Season highlights different structural challenges with the way our electoral and political system is supposed to work. The second puzzle is the Impossible Puzzle for Voting. This puzzle comes down to the fact that our First Past the Post voting system means that...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 8
Taking the Party out of Politics - June 21, 2021 04:00 - 21 minutesThe 5 Impossible Puzzles Bonus Season highlights different structural challenges with the way our electoral and political system is supposed to work. The first puzzle is the Impossible Puzzle for Voters. This puzzle is the impossible challenge which we are trying to master, by trying to achie...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 7
Taking the Party out of Politics - May 10, 2021 03:01 - 17 minutesThis is a special bonus episode, providing you with a summary of some of the key ideas we have covered during series one, and focusing on the 5 Impossible Puzzles of our political system. The Impossible Puzzle for Voters: 3 things, 1 vote, once every 5 years · a good local representat...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 6
Taking the Party out of Politics - April 26, 2021 03:00 - 34 minutesManifestos are declarations of what a candidate (or party) plans to do, if elected. If we vote for a candidate, and with that vote also vote for a party, then we are also voting to approve that list of promises. After the election, the list of promises in a Manifesto is turned into a plan of ac...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 5
Taking the Party out of Politics - April 12, 2021 03:10 - 26 minutesParliament or Government? Many people might think that they are the same thing, but they really aren’t. If we are clear about the differences, we can identify problems with how the system isn’t working in our best interests. Parliament has to look closely at (scrutinise) how the Government is...
Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 4
Taking the Party out of Politics - March 28, 2021 15:55 - 39 minutesEpisode 4 explores the problems with the way we select our democratic representatives, both at a local level (selecting our local representative) and at a national level (selecting the group of representatives who will form our government. The challenges of adequately representing the interests...
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