EMQs: From Beatlemania to... K-pop?

The saga of Gordon the chicken continues this week with Beatrice Gove, Michael’s daughter, sending in a question to tell us more about the incident. Ed Balls and George Osborne then answer her question about polling showing Labour and Reform out in front as the parties most trusted by business. Is this a concern for Keir Starmer? What does it mean when business starts gravitating towards opposition parties? 

The pair then consider the great cultural exchanges across British history, in light of the Bayeux Tapestry coming to the British Museum this year. The examples range from Beatlemania all the way to K-Pop. Do these moments help strengthen bonds between countries? What impact do shared cultural experiences have on our diplomatic relations around the world?

They then debate the fairness of Shaban Mahmood’s proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain, and the potential consequences of being less stringent on high-earning workers as compared to low-earners. 

Finally, a listener stuck in Dubai enquires about what goes on behind the scenes during crises and whether negative comments from the likes of Ed Davey in response to the ex-pats was misjudged. They cite past examples from Afghanistan to Libya, how governments handled those situations behind the scenes, and when the right time to make large scale interventions like that are necessary. 

We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question.

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Research: Sam Burton

Production: Caillin McDaid, Caitlin Hanrahan & Eve Jones 

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