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Alright, we did it: we talked about the Last Ditch bar in Greenfield, MA: the threats, the botched mediation process, and national media coverage. Rather than relitigate the specifics, we step back for a meta-conversation about what the whole saga reveals about organizing in real-life queer spaces including the tension between commercial and community ownership. Then it's time for Gaggony Guncles, with two juicy advice letters: one from a traveler scapegoated after calling out friends who arrested in Thailand (yes, they WERE stupid bitches), and another from a trans person whose wealthy liberal dad refuses to stop staging his transphobic musical about the 2016 election.

We discuss the titanic legacy of Dolly Parton before turning to a Gaggony Guncles question about how queer community changes as we age. Is it possible to remain in community in the same ways? How can we deal with tension and discomfort?

On this episode, we discuss the Gen Z sex recession and a recent debate about it that seemed to focus on every aspect of the problem except the material––one needs a room of one's own to get fisted, as Virginia Woolf might have written, but didn't––and then take a question from a listener upset about a friend's decision to prioritize the couple form over friendship as a way of life. We open the episode by talking about the recent attack on CSD (Pride) in Berlin, where Ben lives. If you live in Berlin and are experiencing trauma related to the attack, help is available. GLADT offers counseling for queer people who also experience racism, inquire at [email protected]. All Berliners affected can call a support hotline at 0800 – 0009546.

It's pride month, and we've HAD IT with Discourse. As Lady Miss Kay says: "just go to the parties and shut the f**k up!" So instead we talk about last week's special episode on the one and only Liza Minnelli, Ben tells his dad's Judy Garland story he teased on the main feed, and then we take two gaggony guncles questions about age gaps and sexual relationships that cross into the professional world: easy, breezy topics everyone loves to be Normal about. And to close, we announce our upcoming subscriber-only book club! Here's how the book club is going to work. We'll announce four seasonal books with plenty of time for you to read. We'll open a WhatsApp line for you to send voice notes with questions and thoughts about the book, and add a third mic for each conversation so that the discussions feel like a community. The discussions will be designed to be interesting both for people who read the book and for those who might wish to in future. We love our listeners and we can't wait to read queer lit with you!

Happy pride! Gather around, we've got a story to tell! For Stonewall weekend, a special treat: writer, critic, and journalist Cameron Cook joins Ben to talk about the one and only Liza through the stories of the bad (and good) gays in her life, from her father Vincente Minnelli to her first husband Peter Allen to her diabolical fourth husband David Gest. Liza learned on her (and our) mother Judy Garland's knee how to survive by appealing to gay guys. Gay guys used Judy, then Liza to self-fashion. None of it is particularly healthy, and yet we love it so. Our main source for this episode was Liza's new memoir, Kids, Wait Til You Hear This!, and Cameron's newsletter Cooked, with monthly essays and regular music playlists for pop culture obsessives, can be found here. Support our work by subscribing to Extra Bad Gays on Patreon or Apple, and get an extra monthly episode!

The final episode of our saga: Mandelson's fall from grace in the aftermath of Keir Starmer's election first as leader of the Labour Party and then as one of Britain's most rapidly unpopular Prime Ministers. Can't get enough Mandelson? Subscribe now to Extra Bad Gays to hear our subscriber-only followup discussion with James Butler of the LRB and Juliet Jacques of Suite 212. Mandelson knows too much, understands too much, to be left out of the equation. It’s because he’s sly and underhanded and deceitful that people need him, because it’s a political system that works on those qualities. This is court politics; it’s what Mandelson is a master of, it’s what Epstein was a master of, it’s what Trump is a master of: the informal power of relationships. ----more---- SOURCES: Mandelson and the making of New Labour, Donald Macintyre Mandy: The Unauthorised Biography of Peter Mandelson, Paul Routledge Outrageous! The Story of Section 28 and Britain's Battle for LGBT Education, Paul Baker Tory Pride and Prejudice: The Conservative Party and homosexual law reform, Michael McManus The Rivals : the intimate story of a political marriage, James Naughtie Bloody Nasty People, Daniel Trilling Clampdown: Pop-Cultural wars on class and Gender, Rhian E. Jones 1997: The Future That Never Happened, Richard Power Sayeed Authentocrats: Culture, Politics and the New Seriousness, Joe Kennedy https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/lord-mandelson-lord-speakers-corner/ https://newhistories.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/volumes/2011-12/volume-3/issue-7-open-theme/the-long-road-to-repeal-the-labour-party-and-section-28 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jan/25/mandelson.labour6 https://ntouk.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/wilsons-white-heat-of-technology-speech.pdf https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/media-the-dirty-world-of-mr-punch-1187016.html#:~:text=Last%20week%20an%20internationally%20famous,then%2Downers%2C%20United%20Newspapers. https://jennifrazer.com/mandelson-judaism-lord-levy-jc-dad/ https://johnmajorarchive.org.uk/1993/10/08/mr-majors-speech-to-1993-conservative-party-conference-8-october-1993/ https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/lord-mandelson-lord-speakers-corner/ https://newhistories.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/volumes/2011-12/volume-3/issue-7-open-theme/the-long-road-to-repeal-the-labour-party-and-section-28 https://www.newsweek.com/one-bonk-and-youre-out-181768 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jan/25/mandelson.labour6 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/03/mandelson.labour2 https://www.thepinknews.com/2020/12/23/peter-mandelson-boris-johnson-bum-boys-about-homophobic-attack/ https://petertatchell.net/lgbt_rights/outing/catalyst/ https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/public-attitudes-section-28 https://www.gryklaw.com/https-www-gryklaw-com-lgbt-history-month-coming-of-age-same-sex-relationship-immigration-rights/ https://www.theguardian.com/century/1990-1999/Story/0,,112756,00.html https://www.private-eye.co.uk/pictures/special_reports/justice-lost-in-the-post.pdf https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/see-epsteins-full-birthday-book-with-alleged-personal-messages-from-trump-clinton-and-others https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdr6yjzkvx6o http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/630399.stm https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/nov/17/northernireland.guardianleaders https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68079300 https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/peter-mandelson-why-its-taken-me-27-years-to-marry-the-love-of-my-life-3gx8cfgs5 https://www.stonewall.org.uk/resources/lgbtq-hubs/trans-hub/gender-recognition-act-2004 https://www.economist.com/briefing/2007/05/10/the-great-performer-leaves-the-stage https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/extras/lgbt09.pdf https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/13/mandelson-lords https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/13/mandelson-gayrights https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2008/oct/25/corfu-rothschild-russia-osborne-travel https://www.politico.eu/article/mandelson-backed-by-commission/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/22/former-trump-campaign-chief-paul-manafort-offered-help-putin-russia http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article384041.ece https://www.scotsman.com/news/italian-shoe-magnate-steps-forward-to-sponsor-spruce-up-for-colosseum-1693900 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/oct/05/over-330000-excess-deaths-in-great-britain-linked-to-austerity-finds-study https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/nov/29/politicalcolumnists.gordonbrown https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/benefits-dwp-cuts-conservatives-austerity-cap-b2956620.html https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/labour/peter-mandelson-firm-lobbies-tiktok-shell-water-labour-3409771 https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2012/03/labour-party-within-progress https://labourlist.org/2013/06/falkirk-clp-placed-in-special-measures-over-selection-allegations/ https://labourlist.org/2017/02/mandelson-i-am-working-every-day-to-bring-down-corbyn/ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/27/mandelson-and-mcsweeney-a-partnership-forged-on-winning-and-crushing-the-labour-left https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-election-abolish-tuition-fees-nationalisation-396843 https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/keir-starmers-not-driving-the-train-confessions-of-his-inner-circle-mq2kbg39x https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/who-is-josh-simons-labour-mp-andy-burnham https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/06/labour-thinktank-close-to-morgan-mcsweeney-allegedly-paid-firm-to-investigate-journalists https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/27/mandelson-and-mcsweeney-a-partnership-forged-on-winning-and-crushing-the-labour-left https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/20/labour-minister-falsely-linked-journalists-to-pro-kremlin-network-in-emails-to-gchq https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/28/keir-starmer-leadership-labour-leader-left https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/dec/20/appointment-peter-mandelson-new-uk-ambassador-to-us-divides-labour-mps https://archive.progressivebritain.org/2013/06/27/no-more-falkirks/ peterchrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69b13135cdd628b29e3495f8/V1_FINAL.pdf https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26086390-jeffey-epstein-50th-birthday-book/ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/16/revealed-mandelson-failed-vetting-but-foreign-office-overruled-decision https://www.ft.com/content/fdf7afe9-9ad3-4325-8843-f590dcdd7e57?syn-25a6b1a6=1 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/world/europe/ties-peter-mandelson-jeffrey-epstein.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn82elvzpz7o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9el4dw0z3o https://archive.ph/uWXFn https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrjd2kxw2lo https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00764113.pdf https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/peter-mandelson-epstein-swear-ambassador-trump-b2693376.html https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/04/starmer-confirms-he-knew-mandelson-kept-epstein-ties-after-prison-term https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/11/peter-mandelson-declines-to-apologise-for-association-with-jeffrey-epstein https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/jeffrey-epstein-peter-mandelson-emails-b2914283.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/world/europe/ties-peter-mandelson-jeffrey-epstein.html https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/04/starmer-confirms-he-knew-mandelson-kept-epstein-ties-after-prison-term https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/05/how-epstein-scandal-shaken-british-government-peter-mandelson https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/06/peter-mandelson-election-labour-insiders https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/20/peter-mandelson-a-timeline-of-his-appointment-as-uk-ambassadorto-the-us https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx26yz7kxzo https://www.ft.com/content/fdf7afe9-9ad3-4325-8843-f590dcdd7e57?syn-25a6b1a6=1

In what we pinky-promise will be the last bout of Mandelson graph-and-audiomania for the foreseeable, we convened this subscriber-only panel discussion to talk about the lived experience of being an elder millennial who grew up under New Labour and  the implications that all of that history has for contemporary British politics.  We couldn't possibly have that conversation alone, so we decided to bring on two extremely esteemed guests and friends of the show: James Butler, a contributing editor at the London Review of Books, where he is the host of their On Politics podcast, and Juliet Jacques, a writer, filmmaker, academic, and podcaster (check out Suite 212) based in London.

Today we are reaching the next to last chapter––for now!––of the Mandelson story. Listen to the sixth and final episode now by subscribing to Extra Bad Gays on Patreon. As we are recording this, on 18th May 2026, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, is facing a potential leadership challenge and a collapse in legitimacy following two major crises, both of these the responsibility of Peter Mandelson; one, directly, the other a consequence of the changes of which Mandelson has been the driving force of for almost 40 years. The first crisis is Starmer’s appointment of Mandelson as Ambassador to the United States, despite his having failed a Foreign Office vetting procedure, and the fallout of that once Mandelson was outed as a close long-term friend of the child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, to whom it’s alleged he passed sensitive government and financial information while in power. The other is the complete decimation of Labour in the recent local elections, and in elections for the Welsh and Scottish devolved assemblies, which saw the party lose close to 1500 local council seats and, in Wales, lose a century-long winning streak as the country’s largest party. In today’s episode we’ll talk about Mandelson’s journey from MP to peer to Ambassador, and we’ll also discuss how his enormous influence over that time, usually behind the scenes, has led to a Labour Party and indeed the two party system itself on the edge of total collapse.

The final episode of our saga: Mandelson's fall from grace in the aftermath of Keir Starmer's election first as leader of the Labour Party and then as one of Britain's most rapidly unpopular Prime Ministers. Mandelson knows too much, understands too much, to be left out of the equation. It’s because he’s sly and underhanded and deceitful that people need him, because it’s a political system that works on those qualities. This is court politics; it’s what Mandelson is a master of, it’s what Epstein was a master of, it’s what Trump is a master of: the informal power of relationships.

Peter Mandelson has been the definitive comeback kid of British politics, and it’s impossible to ever rule out his return. Listen to Episode Five right now and get Extra Bad Gays every month by subscribing on Patreon! Today, we will learn why he got that reputation as we look at Mandelson in power. The Millennium Dome, a Y2K fever dream! His public outing! A wider cultural shift in attitudes towards gay men, one which contributed to the idea that poofs were everywhere at the top of society! Resignations, and returns!

Today we are reaching the next to last chapter––for now!––of the Mandelson story. As we are recording this, on 18th May 2026, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, is facing a potential leadership challenge and a collapse in legitimacy following two major crises, both of these the responsibility of Peter Mandelson; one, directly, the other a consequence of the changes of which Mandelson has been the driving force of for almost 40 years. The first crisis is Starmer’s appointment of Mandelson as Ambassador to the United States, despite his having failed a Foreign Office vetting procedure, and the fallout of that once Mandelson was outed as a close long-term friend of the child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, to whom it’s alleged he passed sensitive government and financial information while in power. The other is the complete decimation of Labour in the recent local elections, and in elections for the Welsh and Scottish devolved assemblies, which saw the party lose close to 1500 local council seats and, in Wales, lose a century-long winning streak as the country’s largest party. In today’s episode we’ll talk about Mandelson’s journey from MP to peer to Ambassador, and we’ll also discuss how his enormous influence over that time, usually behind the scenes, has led to a Labour Party and indeed the two party system itself on the edge of total collapse.

Peter Mandelson has been the definitive comeback kid of British politics, and it’s impossible to ever rule out his return. Today, we will learn why he got that reputation as we look at Mandelson in power. The Millennium Dome, a Y2K fever dream! His public outing! A wider cultural shift in attitudes towards gay men, one which contributed to the idea that poofs were everywhere at the top of society! Resignations, and returns!

This week, on Mandelson: A Homosexual History, we cover the 1992 UK election and the birth of New Labour. Subscribe on Patreon to support our work and stay a week ahead on this miniseries! If Huw's Margaret Thatcher wasn't enough to turn your stomach, try his John Major on for size. Neil Kinnock loses the 1992 election. John Smith becomes leader of the Labour Party, flanked by two feuding up-and-coming reformers named Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Peter Mandelson buys a lovely home in Notting Hill with questionable financing, and sets himself to defeating Clause IV once and for all. The exciting but fundamentally reactionary Cool Britannia cultural moment helps us understand how tentative New Labour were about rocking the cultural boat. Their victory in 1997 was more about stasis than change.

Subscribe on Patreon to hear Episode Three now, get our monthly Extra Bad Gays episodes, and stay a week ahead on the miniseries. Last week we looked at Mandelson’s early years, and his move from a flirtation with Marxism to being firmly on the right of the Labour Party. We also discussed the left-right split in the Labour Party, and how, in the 1980s, that became a full blown civil war. This week, it's time for the 1987 General Election, and for the paranoid homophobia of late-Eighties Britain: section 28, sleaze, AIDS panic, and tabloid hell.

This week, on Mandelson: A Homosexual History, we cover the 1992 UK election and the birth of New Labour. If Huw's Margaret Thatcher wasn't enough to turn your stomach, try his John Major on for size. Neil Kinnock loses the 1992 election. John Smith becomes leader of the Labour Party, flanked by two feuding up-and-coming reformers named Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Peter Mandelson buys a lovely home in Notting Hill with questionable financing, and sets himself to defeating Clause IV once and for all. The exciting but fundamentally reactionary Cool Britannia cultural moment helps us understand how tentative New Labour were about rocking the cultural boat. Their victory in 1997 was more about stasis than change.