{"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 we vote on weekends?","slug":"emqs-should-we-vote-on-weekends","published_at":"2026-05-18T02:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/emqs-should-we-vote-on-weekends","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276","url":"https://shows.acast.com/politicalcurrency-1/episodes/emqs-should-we-vote-on-weekends","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/64fb2b0f977e5a001226cb16/e/6a070535a8fad4c1be15aa3f/media.mp3","summary":"Last week’s local elections saw votes counted during the Friday to save costs, and inspired one listener to ask Ed Balls and George Osborne why that isn’t always the case. He also wondered why we don’t vote at weekends like other European countries. The pair explain the historical roots of the tradition and the benefits of weekday votes and overnight counts for general elections.  Plus they recall their own experiences as commentators during the last 3 elections.  They then address the divisive policies and language seen in the Greens and Reform campaigns, and whether this is a sign of the centre losing ground or an opportunity to seize. They also take a question from an Australian listener, who wonders if we’re moving too fast in the energy transition. Finally, a listener returns to the assisted dying debate from a few weeks ago and proposes their own case for the legislation. We also hear the pair debating the possibility of immortality… 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: Avi Asher Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford & Henrietta Harrison Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy…","meta_description":"Last week’s local elections saw votes counted during the Friday to save costs, and inspired one listener to ask Ed Balls and George Osborne why that isn’t…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1926,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/political-currency-6989276/episodes/emqs-should-we-vote-on-weekends/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-we-vote-on-weekends.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}