# Divided Britain, Small Boats Crisis & Cost of Living Pressure Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/afternoon-empire-with-ian-collins-1131640/divided-britain-small-boats-crisis-cost-of-living-pressure Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/afternoon-empire-with-ian-collins-1131640/divided-britain-small-boats-crisis-cost-of-living-pressure.md Podcast: [Afternoon Empire with Ian Collins](https://stenobird.com/podcast/afternoon-empire-with-ian-collins-1131640) Published: 2026-04-09T15:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/georgegallowaytalkshow/episodes/divided-britain-small-boats-crisis-cost-of-living-pressure Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/georgegallowaytalkshow/e/69d7bc9547ecb945c290b74d/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/afternoon-empire-with-ian-collins-1131640/episodes/divided-britain-small-boats-crisis-cost-of-living-pressure Duration seconds: 2375 ## Resource Why is Britain more divided than ever? New polling suggests the country is now even more split than during Brexit, with deep divisions over politics, immigration, the economy and national identity. Former Home Office minister Ann Widdecombe and commentator Liam Deacon debate what’s driving the divide, from cultural tensions to trust in government and institutions. Peter Wilding, who coined the term Brexit, gives his perspective on how the country has changed since the referendum and whether the UK is becoming more polarised over its future direction. We also examine the ongoing small boats crisis, as France rejects British proposals to return migrants and footage shows crossings continuing despite UK funding, raising fresh questions about border control and international cooperation. James Heale reacts. And trade expert Shanker Singham explains how war, inflation and new pricing strategies could impact the UK economy, from supermarket costs to long-term growth, and whether economic pressure is deepening Britain’s divisions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/afternoon-empire-with-ian-collins-1131640/episodes/divided-britain-small-boats-crisis-cost-of-living-pressure/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/afternoon-empire-with-ian-collins-1131640/divided-britain-small-boats-crisis-cost-of-living-pressure.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.