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In this special post-conference edition of No Sacred Cows, Ben Lucas, Anna McShane and Ed Owen ask what has been achieved in Burnham’s first 100 days — and whether Labour is ready for the much harder decisions that still lie ahead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As voters splinter between Reform, the Greens and an increasingly volatile centre ground, this week we examine what a winning centre-left politics might look like in an age where trust is collapsing, loyalties are weakening and delivery matters more than ever. If Labour wants a second term, our new Prime Minister, his team and the cabinet will have to stop the assumption that yesterday’s political truths will still work tomorrow. Labour faces a stark reality where it can no longer assume progressive voters have nowhere else to go. That competent government will eventually be rewarded. That careful triangulation can hold together an increasingly fragmented electorate. That if voters don’t understand what you’ve achieved, the problem is communication rather than strategy. It’s time for change and Andy Burnham’s accession to the premiership next week offers the opportunity.  Better storytelling matters, but only if it is supported by a clear sense of purpose, coherent priorities and evidence of delivery. Burnham's perceived strengths - authenticity, political instinct, communication skills and a clearer sense of values - could help him reconnect with voters, but success will ultimately depend on whether he can demonstrate progress and convince the public that Labour has a credible long-term plan. The author of ThinkLabour’s latest research, Christabel Cooper, joins us to dig into the data behind Labour’s electoral challenges, examine why support has ebbed across multiple voter groups, and ask what a Burnham premiership might do differently - from economic insecurity and migration to political identity and electoral reform. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As debate over the future direction of Labour in government gathers pace, this week we explore the growing disconnect between politics and economics, the collapse of the old social contract, and what a new political economy might look like. From devolution and housing to regulation, growth and the role of the state, this is a conversation about far more than individual policies. It’s about what kind of country Britain wants to become, who the economy should work for, and how progressives can respond to an era of stagnant living standards and rising anti-system politics.  Fresh from his stint leading the Labour Growth Group Mark McVitie talks about the new economic settlement for Britain and we reflect on what these ideas mean for Labour’s next chapter and whether this long-overdue debate can finally produce the political strategy that the government has been missing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can Britain achieve net zero without sacrificing energy security, economic growth and public support? As energy prices remain stubbornly high and global instability continues to expose vulnerabilities in energy markets, the debate is no longer just about climate change. It is about jobs, national resilience, living standards and Britain's place in a rapidly changing world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we ask whether Westminster is still fighting yesterday’s battles while the world moves on. Public First’s Jeegar Kakkad joins us to examine why defence and national security remain peripheral to political debate, despite growing global instability, as well as consider what a serious programme of national resilience might look like, and whether a new politics of nation building could offer an answer to both international insecurity and domestic stagnation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Britain’s political system is capable of responding to the economic, technological and cultural challenges reshaping not just the country, but the world? That’s the question Stella Creasy and Damian Hinds have been exploring together - and the one they join Ed, Anna, Mark and Ben to examine on this week’s episode of the pod - returning for our second season, at a huge time for Britain’s mainstream politics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Political analyst, writer and former government adviser Sam Freedman steps into the cow shed this week to look at how Labour in the UK needs to continue to realise that competence and good intentions will be enough to change the state. He lays out how some criticisms from the political right about state inefficiency are valid and need engaging with and how the government must move on from naivety towards a real plan on reshaping the state, if it wants to deliver. Sam talks about decentralisation away from Westminster as a potential remedy the government should pick up - as well as boosting the Prime Minister’s office and creating stronger ministerial offices. We also hear from Sam, and reader Katy, about our last episode on progressive education, which got the comments section livened up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Progressive Education’ - the idea that education must be authentic, child-led, and discovery-oriented - actually leads to regressive outcomes for children and society. To secure progressive outcomes for kids and the future of our country’s, Kristopher Boulton and Daisy Christodoulou join the herd and lay out how the left is going to have to let go of some of its fallacies about the classroom and, most importantly, not allow ideas of the past take us backwards going into the future. Join us now for this special listener-submitted episode of No Sacred Cows - looking at the politics of and future of education, alongside a collection of tales from the classroom and lessons we can all learn about making schools work for kids and our society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s time Keir Starmer dumps Trump - for the interests of the UK as well as his own and the Labour Party’s political skin.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The populist right is railing loudly against the decline in birthrates in the US and the UK - not always out of sincerity, and often with overtly racist reasoning. As a result the left has buried its head in the sand and refused to go near the issue. But there is no reason, Anna McShane from the New Britain Project argues, to do so.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer biographer Tom Baldwin lays out why it's time for the centre-left to get over its timidity Brexit Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A year into the Labour Party in power in the UK and the loss of the Democrats to Donald Trump in the US, we round out 2025 with the crew giving a damning verdict on where the center left is at the end of this year, and give a tour de force of what what must be ahead if we are to win back trust, credibility and deliver change in 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Co-author of the recent report ‘Inside the mind of a 16 year old’ for UK think-tank Demos together with Peter Hyman, Shaub details the journey of speaking with 700 young people across the country about their thoughts on politics - and why centre-left politicians need to get their house in order when it comes to talking to young people themselves. Now is not the time for timid grids of the past - it’s well past the moment for something new and different; politicians happy to go where voters are; unafraid of being authentic. It’s not just what young people demand - but what our politics, and democracy, needs. It’s time to slay the sacred cow that the centre-left is talking to young people - it’s not. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Centre-left governments are often few and far between. So when they lose their way - the renewal has to be done swiftly, and at times bloodily. Trapped in process and unable to communicate, McTernan says the left loses its way when it believes the state has became our friend, just because we are running it. Bureaucratic, talking about ‘delivery’, and using management speak, we forget who the enemy is and what the purpose of a centre-left government is all about. What is required, instead, is to junk the sacred cow that the state is the answer and offer a clear moral purpose as a progressive government - aligning ourselves with the people. Join as we dive head-first into a long overdue debate about the future of mainstream politics on both sides of the Atlantic - no holding back, no pulling punches. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week the herd is joined by Tone Langengen, Senior Policy Advisor at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, who argues that the centre-left must face economic and political reality and realise that people won’t back Net Zero unless it means cheaper energy and credible growth. Has this agenda become a moral badge rather than a workable plan and can that shift without abandoning climate ambition? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.