# EMQs: Should retired politicians go on Question Time? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/emqs-should-retired-politicians-go-on-question-time Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/emqs-should-retired-politicians-go-on-question-time.md Podcast: [Political Currency](https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276) Published: 2026-05-25T02:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/politicalcurrency-1/episodes/emqs-should-retired-politicians-go-on-question-time Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/64fb2b0f977e5a001226cb16/e/6a102a73294da705c3929244/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/political-currency-6989276/episodes/emqs-should-retired-politicians-go-on-question-time Duration seconds: 2275 ## Resource Following Green MP Hannah Spencer’s comments on drinking culture at Westminster, Ed Balls and George Osborne answer whether MPs should be better behaved in general during Parliamentary sessions. They make the case for heckling and jeering, comparing it to more civilised Parliaments and systems to explain how it helps hold our leaders accountable.  They then reflect on their experience on Question Time, and whether they would follow Michael Gove’s move and go on as retired politicians. This sparks a trip down memory lane, and there may be more to come in the summer… Things get serious with a listener posing Adam Tooze’s argument that the Bank of England is instilling fear in governments following the Truss fiasco. They explain their objections to this, and explain how the Bank of England has kept things in check for Britain, particularly post-2008. Finally, they answer the ultimate question: are Centrist Dad playing the Trinity College Oxford ball? Ed reveals the process behind the band’s booking, and they recount the bands that played their own balls. George also recounts his encounter with a literary legend that he’d really rather forget… 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 or send a question to our social media handles: 👉 X 👉 Instagram 👉 TikTok Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today: 👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency 👉 Apple Podcasts Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon. Credits: Research: Sam Burton Production: Caillin McDaid & Nasreen Arain Video Editor:… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/political-currency-6989276/episodes/emqs-should-retired-politicians-go-on-question-time/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/emqs-should-retired-politicians-go-on-question-time.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.