Downstream: British Politics Is About to Collapse w/ James Meadway

The two-party system has defined British politics for centuries, but the status quo is under attack from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and an insurgent Green party – both looking to clean up in the local elections on 7 May. This week Aaron Bastani speaks to economist James Meadway about the disruptive new progressive party on the block. Meadway was an economic advisor to John McDonnell during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of Labour, and is now chief economist of Verdant, a new think tank set up to craft the Green party’s strategy for 2029. But who are the Greens? What is their vision for Britain? How can they build a broad coalition of voters, big enough to win elections? And what mistakes can Zack Polanski learn from the Corbyn era? Help us build people-powered media:

You can listen to Downstream: British Politics Is About to Collapse w/ James Meadway online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Downstream: British Politics Is About to Collapse w/ James Meadway is an episode from Novara Audio: Radio for a Different Politics by Novara Media.

This episode is 2:12:24 long.

This episode was published on May 4, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Novara Audio: Radio for a Different Politics when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.