{"podcast":{"title":"Lost Debate","slug":"lost-debate-4428349","podcast_index_feed_id":4428349,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LDI5758173977","website_url":"https://thebranchmedia.org/show/lost-debate/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/99126e94-2b74-11ec-972d-d3c180841fe4/image/c83aab1ee471dc48641f99e9bda558da.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"The Branch","episode_count":455,"summary":"Lost Debate is a weekly podcast from The Branch that brings you news, ideas, and arguments from around the political spectrum. We engage in the good-faith discussions that too much of our society and media miss. It's hosted by Ravi Gupta, a former Obama staffer turned school principal.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-25T02:21:32.886152+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lost-debate-4428349"},"episode":{"title":"How Britain Became as Poor as Mississippi","slug":"how-britain-became-as-poor-as-mississippi","published_at":"2026-06-17T20:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lost-debate-4428349/how-britain-became-as-poor-as-mississippi","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lost-debate-4428349","url":"https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/LDI1934014236.mp3","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/LDI1934014236.mp3","summary":"Britain was once one of the world’s economic success stories. Today, parts of the UK are no richer than Mississippi. Atlantic staff writer Idrees Kahloon joins Ravi Gupta to unpack Britain's stunning decline: 18 years of wage stagnation, the fallout from austerity and Brexit, crumbling public services, sky-high housing costs, and the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform Party. They also discuss whether standardized testing is making a comeback in American higher education—and what that says about merit, inequality, and elite institutions. Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 201-305-0084⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LostDebate Follow Ravi at @RaviMGupta Notes from this episode are also available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/ Read more from Ravi on Substack: https://realravigupta.substack.com Follow The Branch at @thebranchmedia Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lost-debate/id1591300785 Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7xR9pch9DrQDiZfGB5oF0F Listen to Where the Schools Went: https://thebranchmedia.org/show/where-the-schools-went/","meta_description":"Britain was once one of the world’s economic success stories. Today, parts of the UK are no richer than Mississippi. Atlantic staff writer Idrees Kahloon…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2903,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/lost-debate-4428349/episodes/how-britain-became-as-poor-as-mississippi/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lost-debate-4428349/how-britain-became-as-poor-as-mississippi.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}