{"podcast":{"title":"Political Currency","slug":"political-currency-6989276","podcast_index_feed_id":6989276,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/politicalcurrency-1","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/politicalcurrency","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/64fb2b0f977e5a001226cb16/1735495247634-23a6477e-89d6-4ff4-b529-bbb565f05da4.jpeg","author":"Persephonica","episode_count":292,"summary":"Ed Balls and George Osborne take us behind closed doors into the rooms where decisions are made. Having battled it out across the despatch box, the former Chancellor and shadow chancellor now meet in the studio to discuss the decisions that affect the nation’s pockets. Our frenemies have the knowledge and experience to explain how good politics follows the economics - and expose how the powerful become powerless when faced with market forces and political currents they can’t control. Join us every Thursday. Send your messages or voice notes to questions@politicalcurrency.co.uk Find us on social media @polcurrency Political Currency is a Persephonica production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-26T06:17:12.365480+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276"},"episode":{"title":"EMQs: Is it time for another referendum?","slug":"emqs-is-it-time-for-another-referendum","published_at":"2026-02-23T03:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/emqs-is-it-time-for-another-referendum","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276","url":"https://shows.acast.com/politicalcurrency-1/episodes/emqs-is-it-time-for-another-referendum","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/64fb2b0f977e5a001226cb16/e/699843eee1d87731196a6963/media.mp3","summary":"Should a government hold a referendum on tax? A civil servant messages in to pose this idea to Ed Balls and George Osborne on this week’s EMQs. The two debate the merits of holding any referendum, reminisce on how easily they become about more than their central question, and ponder whether tax policy is suited to the form of a referendum.  Former MP Luke Hall asks the pair about charities funding and tax changes, and George relays the surprising difficulty he found in crafting the appropriate policy for this sector whilst Chancellor.  And, is Peter Mandelson leaking information to Jeffrey Epstein a betrayal to the Labour party on the scale of the SDP forming in ‘81 or Ramsay MacDonald’s National government? Or, is it something even greater? Ed explains the ways that the Mandelson scandal is uniquely perfidious. Finally, is the shelf life for a British politician shorter than the rest of the world? Why is it so rare to see someone re-enter the Commons after leaving? Ed and George weigh up the reasons for greater churn in British political life than in other democracies.  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. 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, Caitlin Hanrahan & Eve Jones  Video Editor: Avi Asher Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the…","meta_description":"Should a government hold a referendum on tax? A civil servant messages in to pose this idea to Ed Balls and George Osborne on this week’s EMQs. The two de…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2024,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/political-currency-6989276/episodes/emqs-is-it-time-for-another-referendum/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/emqs-is-it-time-for-another-referendum.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}