The Bylines Network Podcast (Bylines Network Podcast)

Our two stories of the month are election related

First we look at the Tory Leadership Election, which was won by Right Wing Kemi Badenoch. Our hosts look at her record and what it could mean for the next 4 years or even if she will last that long.

But it is the election of the United States of America that draws our attention for most of this episode. Julian and Chris discuss the result, what went wrong and what the next 4 years could mean for both Europe and the American People.

In this month's hour-long episode, we hear from a host of special guests including Carla Denyer, Co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, Ryan Jude, a Labour Party Councillor for Lancaster Gate, and Leo Murray, Co-founder and Director of Innovation and Engagement at Possible.

At this event, each of the guests discuss what they think should be the priority out of 4 options they all agree should take place in order for the UK to achieve its Green targets and make the country a more eco-friendly place.

The Event was hosted by Louise Houghton, Editor-in-Chief of Yorkshire Bylines and was original broadcast on the 13th June 2023.

If you wish to see a video version of the event, you can find it on the Bylines Network YouTube page. Please subscribe to them, as well as the other publications with a presence there, West England Bylines and Bylines Scotland.

If you wish to contribute to our cause, we have a crowdfunder page to help the Network expand. Donate only if you can and whatever you can, every little really helps.

This month, Julian and Chris celebrate pride month by bringing you some Pride themed articles or articles written by Queer authors.

The articles this month include a discussion about gender from North West by Isabelle Goodhand, the function of Pride in the 2020s, especially with encroaching of LGBT+ rights from Central Bylines by Bryan Manley-Green, and a queer filmmaker’s examination of dealing with disability from Bylines Cymru by Abigail Luxford-Noyes. Please give all of these a read.

However, half way through the episode we also try something new and recommend you Pride themed shows, films and books that we think you should read.

Happy Pride Month everyone, please join us next time.

In March, we saw the Chancellor announce the last budget before the next General Election.

Our host comb through some of the major announcements, including the abolishment of None-Dom status, whether these policies will help those who need it the most and whether or not this spells an early General election.

This episode also features an interview by our friends, the Bylines Scotland Podcast, talking to Polly Jones, Head of the Trussell Trust, please do give them a follow.

There's an election happening in 2024. But who's running? What are their policies? Are they really doing as good or as badly as the media say?

Welcome to our new mini-series, Election fever, wghere our hosts look at each of the main political parties and anaylyse their chances when the British public go to the polls.

First up are Reform UK. Hot off the heels of getting their first MP, Reform UK have been in the media a lot lately, with their leader Richard Tice setting out their plan to "wipe Tories out at polls". But can they really make an impact? Are they really on a huge a rise as the newscasters think?

Last year, there was uproar as Bannau Brycheiniog National Park decided to use its Welsh name on all its advertising.

A few weeks ago, one of our hosts noticed similar headlines as there was discussion about whether to change the official name of Wales to Cymru.

So, to counteract those headlines, Chris and Julian invited Gwern Gwynfil of Bylines Cymru to talk about the history of what Tolkien called "the senior language of the men of Britain", the efforts made to save it and why changing its name to Cymru is not that big a deal.

In our last episode of our miniseries, Election Fever, we look at the bookies' favourites to ask the King's permission to form a Government on 5th July, The Labour Party.

In this episode we voice our frustrations, our hopes, Labour's policies and our feelings on Sir Keir Starmer.

Thank you all so much for giving so much support to our little miniseries, there will be no Big episode this month as our editor is tired but join us again in July for our bukper disscussions about the results.

At the Local Elections, interesting things have been happening for the Green Party.

They continued to rise in terms of councillors, gaining 74, and came very close to gaining the Bristol City Council.

However, the most interesting result could be incoming. With all the Councillors in teh newly created Bristol Central constituency now Green ones, with two more contituencies targeted.

Continuing our Election Fever miniseries, we ask the question can the Green Party replicate gains in Westminster?

In July, three By-Elections took place and all the results were interesting. Each of the major parties won one constituency each.

The big attention was, of course, Uxbridge and South Ruislip, where the Conservatives just managed to hold onto the constituency by a mere 495 votes. Even though the party tried to play this off as a victory, it's very much a hollow one.

The others however were a bit more straight forward. Labour took a seat from the Conservatives in Yorkshire and the Lib Dems did the same in the South West, with Ed Davey and his props making a comeback to celebrate the victory.

What does this all mean for a general election? Join Julian and Chris this week for our political analysis.

Please donate to our crowdfunder if you're able to, to help Bylines achieve its goals and remain independent. Click here to give what you can.

Throughout last month, by-elections happened. One in Scotland and two in England.

We bring in Martin Roche of our friends across the border, Bylines Scotland, to discuss the results once again and do they confirm what we suspect might happen in the upcoming 2024 General Election.

We do apologise for the lateness of this episode, we had some behind the scenes technical issues, we plan to keep up our end of month schedule from now on.

Happy New Year Listeners.

With a new year, brings new change, new leaders and new relationships. And we, at the Bylines Network, are no different.

This month's episode, we're speaking to the Network's brand new Managing Director, Ben Dickenson.

We ask about what drew him to the Network, what his plans are and what he sees as the Network's role in an ever increasingly dishonest world.

Join Julian and Chris on the first of may episodes of the Bylines Network, bringing you news in your local area, written by people in your local area.

In this episode, we look back on and preview two elections.

Julian and Chris look back on some major results from the Local elections that took place at the beginning of May and react to the news that broke at the end of May.

What could this mean for the Tories? Is there any battlegrounds that Labour could lose? Will we get Election Fever done before July 4th?

Check out our latest episode to find out

It's time for the Diva of Props' turn for analysis.

The Liberal Democrats arelooking to regain the number of MPs they won in 2010, if the polls are to be believed, it looks like they're on their way, with some even saying they could become leaders of the opposition!

Can the Lib Dems bank on the Tories 14 years of mis governance? Can they win back voters? Or will previously broken pledges stall them?

It's been 7 years since the landmark referendum that saw the UK, eventually, leave the European Union. And it's still a decision that affects us to this day. In our last episode of 2023, we talk to three university students contributing to North West Bylines, to talk about how Brexit has affected the young and what can be changed and done about it in the future. We hope you find this episode interesting and we hope to see you in 2024.

Happy 2024 Everybody!

This year, 4 billion people will be voting in either Executive, Legislative and Referendum elections.

These elections will cover 65 countries across all 6 habited continents. While we can't cover all of them, leaving out elections in places like India, North and South Korea, Iran, Indonesia and Taiwan, we chose the 4 that interested us the most.

In our first episode of the year, we will be looking at 4 elections that interest us that we think will determine the, not just the path the country will take, but the path the world will take until the next election cycle.

Back from recess, much like our MPs, and we are thankful nothing controverisal that warrented discussion happened since then.

All the major parties have had their conferences and all gave off different vibes as they all look to the future and what the next steps are.

The first bills will be passing through parliment as well, by the reports, the Renter's Bill and Better Bus Bill will be amongst the first.

Here's all our thoughts on all of that and more in this month's episode.

Back to our regularly scheduled episodes now, we take a look at the new King's Speech, the first made by a new party in power since 2010.

In it, 40 bills were announced, 35 new laws and 5 new draft laws, showing Labour's proirities in getting the ball rolling when it comes to the task his party now has.

Julian and Chris go over the highlights of these new laws, what they liked, what they didn't like and what was missing.

Another year has been and gone, at last.

And while there were plenty of news stories from the last 12 months, it's very hard to remember the good news stories as those aren't thhe ones people click on.

So, in our end of year round up, our hosts look at good news stories from 2024, highlight some of the ones that made us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Happy New Year everyone, here's to 2025 and all it shall bring.

Recorded 1 week after the General Election.

The much anticipated General Election came and went with a result that many saw coming.

Now what?

We reunite Ronnie Barbour and Ethan Jones from our previous episodes to discuss the results in England, Scotland, Wales, with a special guest Megan to talk about the results in Northern Ireland.

We talk about results that interested us, what they mean for their respective parties and what the future has in store for the UK.

Welcome to the Bumper Episode where our hosts look at the Mayorals and the Council elections, and what they could mean for our PM.

There are brand new positions being made that could be targets as well as interesting elections happening in Bristol and London.

In the past week, the Prime Minister has made some startling u-turns on Net Zero commitments.

The main policy shifts were delaying the ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035, pushed back the transition away from fossil fuel boilers to the same year, and scrapped energy efficiency targets on homes.

Mr Sunak advertised these changes as “Long-term decisions for a brighter future” but they seem to be anything but. This seems, to Julian and Chris who host this week, like a bad plan to capitalise on supposed success in the recent by-elections, which we've previously covered in an episode.

Listen to us this week as we discuss why this happened, why now and what it could mean for Britain's reputation as a Global Leader on Green Targets.

Please donate to our crowdfunder if you're able to, to help Bylines achieve its goals and remain independent. Click here to give what you can.

This week on election Fever, we look at the SNP with the host of our Podcast across the border, Ronnie Barbour.

A few weeks before an election was called, the previous First Minister Humza Yousaf stepped down following an impolsion of the deal made with the Scottish Greens.

Now they have a new leader facing the same problems, will they come back to bite him or will he navigate his way through this election relatively well?

At every election, there's always a few parties that seems to reurn the same amount of MPs, Plaid Cymru is one of them.

As Englishmen, our hosts know very little about the Welsh Party so we call upon our friends in Bylines Cymru to tell us about them.

What are their policies? Are they the Welsh version of the SNP? And can they have an impact in this general election? listen to our latest episode to find out.

Sunak has changed up his cabinet before an anticipated General Election next year.

In this episode, Chris and Julian discuss those leaving, those coming in, the unsurprises and surprises of both.

If you wish to contribute to our cause, we have a crowdfunding page to help the Network expand. Donate only if you can and whatever you can, every little really helps. https://chuffed.org/project/ng7b7xwqwlze

The Bylines Network has also relaunched the Bylines shop, where you can get anything from hoodies to mugs, and featuring all merch from all 10 of our publications. https://bylines-network.teemill.com/

Our online Gazette is now free if you sign up to any of our 10 newletters, Join the mailing list: ⁠https://bylinesnetwork.co.uk/sign-up/

We welcome you to a brand new mini series, Bylines Reports, where one of our journalists from across the Network, brings you a special episode, whether it's an interview with a political figure, or an audio version of their articles. We'll deliver it right to your ears to enjoy.

Today, Ginny Smith from Sussex Bylines interviews Alastair Campbell, who worked with Tony Blair between 1997-2003. In this interview, they discuss Starmer's visit to America, the Rise of Nigel Farage, the fall of Local Journalism, and much, much more.

In the month of February, Germany has a new Chancellor in the shape of Friedrich Merz. Immediately after the election results were confirmed, he set about making his feelings known about the direction Europe needs to head. Could he be Europe's new leader, following the vacuum left behind by his CDU predecessor?

Where our hosts clash is over the dicussion of polls. There has been a trend of Reform UK leapfrogging both the Tories and Labour to take a lead. Is it time to start worrying? Is there any reliance behind polls anymore? Or should we stop worrying and learn to love the bomb?

We're in the Endgame now.

This week, we take a look at the incumbant Party, their chances and their polls numbers and we ask the question if this will all lead to another 5 years of Tory Rule.

No prizes for guessing the answer I'm afriad but we take a look to after the election too, to see if a loss could actually lead to a fight for the heart of British Conversivatism itself.