{"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: Should MPs drink in parliament?","slug":"emqs-should-mps-drink-in-parliament","published_at":"2026-05-04T02:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/emqs-should-mps-drink-in-parliament","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276","url":"https://shows.acast.com/politicalcurrency-1/episodes/emqs-should-mps-drink-in-parliament","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/64fb2b0f977e5a001226cb16/e/69f4867d8beeba5310565756/media.mp3","summary":"Before getting into questions this week, Ed Balls and George Osborne take on the big talk around Westminster: should MPs be allowed to drink? They respond to the criticism by new Green MP Hannah Spencer, who said MPs smelling of alcohol while voting made her uneasy. Ed and George offer the pros and cons of this, and even how drinking in parliament getting out of hand may have led to Jeremy Corbyn… Is it in Kemi Badenoch’s best interest for Keir Starmer to stay on? The pair explain why this mindset is too clever by half, and how opposition leaders should always focus on their message and expose a PM’s weak points, rather than hope to gain by keeping a flawed leader in place.    They then receive a pair of questions on AI, looking at the lack of training among certain industry leaders and the idea of British sovereignty on AI. George brings his expertise to explain why training is important and the limits for any country on sovereignty, while Ed illuminates us on some of his own musical AI discoveries. Finally, they answer just why cabinet ministers seem reluctant to lay out their own vision for government even when Starmer appears so weak. Is this a sign of No. 10 clamping down on ministers? The rise of soundbite social media? Or, does it demonstrate how no cabinet member is confident enough in their leadership ambitions to make a move?  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…","meta_description":"Before getting into questions this week, Ed Balls and George Osborne take on the big talk around Westminster: should MPs be allowed to drink? They respond…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2234,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/political-currency-6989276/episodes/emqs-should-mps-drink-in-parliament/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-should-mps-drink-in-parliament.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}