Political podcast recommendations
If you’re looking for something to listen to either on the daily commute or in the gym, it can be pretty overwhelming scrolling through the seemingly endless list of shows now available at the touch of a button.
As a handy guide, here are five political/ current affairs podcasts to listen to in 2017.
- Five Thirty Eight Politics
Nate Silver and the FiveThirtyEight team cover the latest in politics, tracking the issues … Politics Podcast: Everyone’s Still Mad At Everyone About The Election.
Why should I listen?
If you’ve gone this long without encountering the journalism of Nate Silver and his crew, you’re really in for a treat. The poster-boy of data-journalism, Nate Silver set up his pioneering website back in 2008 and has quickly risen to be one of the most influential people in US politics. The weekly podcast highlights good/bad uses of polling, discusses the latest US political news, and examines the numbers behind political strategy. It was a must listen during the US Presidential campaign, and it will get no less important after January 20th.
- From Our Own Correspondent
Insight, wit and analysis as BBC correspondents, journalists and writers take a closer look at the stories behind the headlines. Presented by Kate Adie and Pascale Harter.
Why should I listen?
We’re all hoping that 2017 can’t possibly be any worse than 2016. It could be that that’s the same type of bubble-dwelling logic and optimism that saw us taken aback by the successful campaigns of Brexit, Trump and Leicester City, but this podcast will help you take humanity’s temperature. The personal stories and journeys deemed not important enough to be given space in the wider media are enlightening, insightful, and often heart-warming*.
*Though about an equal number are horrifying, rage-inducing, and heart-breaking
- Our National Conversation About Conversations About Race [About Race]
Baratunde Thurston, Raquel Cepeda and Tanner Colby and a host of other co-discussants talk about the ways we can’t talk and would rather not talk, but intermittently do talk about race in our pre-post-yet-still-very-racial America.
Why should I listen?
In an age of social media, we all need to make an effort to get outside our self-constructed bubble. This podcast is a forum for talking about all aspects of race in the US (as well as occasionally looking slightly wider) and, to a white British male at least, is incredibly informing, thought-provoking, and challenging. It has been a fascinating listen for the last year or so of the Obama presidency, but I suspect it may be even more important with Trump in the White House.
- The New Statesman Podcast
Every week, The New Statesman Podcast brings you their signature mix of opinion, features, reviews and humour.
Why should I listen?
Helen Lewis and Stephen Bush are two of the best political journalists in the UK media and this podcast shows them at their very best. At ease whether talking about the ongoing struggles of the Labour Party or reviewing Beyoncé’s Lemonade and its cultural impact, there is seemingly no topic that they tackle that doesn’t give one cause to look at it from an angle previously hidden from view. One brilliant discussion saw the duo rating the merits of their favourite historical sieges, so be prepared for a couple of curveballs.
- Off Message
POLITICO’s podcast on politics and everything else, with Chief Political Correspondent Glenn Thrush.
Why should I listen?
Each episode sees host Glenn Thrush sit down with a notable figure (normally from either politics or the media) and talk about their personal journey, their career and their thoughts on the current environment. Recent great interviews include Tony Blair, Jen Palmieri (Hillary Clinton’s communications director) and Ann Coulter.
There are a couple of great long-form interview podcasts in a similar vein (such as David Axelrod’s ‘The Axe Files’ and The Ezra Klein Show), but this from Politico is particularly good.
Written by David Sells, Associate Director