twoeuropeans

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It’s time for us to share a few more of our favourite EU and Brexit-related podcasts with you …

Remainiacs

“Can we all meet just once a week and talk about how fucking crazy this shit is?”

That is how Naomi Smith recalls the moment in 2017 when a group of friends and campaigners decided to launch Remainiacs. Today the podcast still has the vibe of likeminded mates getting together to share their thoughts, hopes and worries. We truly feel that it is one of the things that has helped us get through the last few years, and so we are proud to support the production through a Patreon subscription.

The current episode (6 March) brings together Naomi Smith, Dorian Lynskey, and Ian Dunt. You may know Ian as the author of the original eye-opening account of what it would mean to crash out of the Single Market – Brexit: What the hell happens now? (Amazon). These three will also be representing Remainiacs at April’s live ‘PodClash’ event with their sister podcast, The Bunker.

Each episode features a special guest. This week it is the turn of Nick Lowles, founder of Hope Not Hate, who shares some unsettling insights into the changing face of the far right. And with an eye to the future, each guest gets to add a brick to Britain’s bridge back to the EU – a metaphorical brick of course, it might be an idea, a value or a way of behaving.

The rest of the show, like every Remainiacs episode, gives first-rate analysis of what is happening in the news. This week Ian looks at the likely sticking points in the next phase of talks between the EU and the UK. He speculates that the British government could settle for no deal in December 2020, given that what they are now seeking amounts to barely more than a no-deal outcome anyway.

We’re glad that Remainiacs has decided to continue commenting on post-Brexit Britain and we can thoroughly recommend it to you.

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CakeWatch

One of our other favourites is CakeWatch, so-called because it was set up to challenge exceptionalism (having your cake and eating it). The podcast’s creators – Chris Kendall and Steve Bullock – both have experience of working in and around the EU institutions, though as they remind us at the start of every episode, they’re recording in a strictly personal capacity. This Brussels perspective is something we’ve particularly appreciated about the podcast. These are two guys who understand how politics really works at a European level, which is all too often different to the way the UK media portrays it.

In the current episode (4 March) Chris is joined by the Finnish Green MEP Alviina Alametsä, who recently took her place in the European Parliament when the Britain’s former seats were reallocated amongst the member states. A survivor of a school-shooting in Finland, Alviina’s particular interest is mental health policy. It’s interesting to hear how she sees her role in Brussels complementing the work she has done in this field as a Helsinki city councillor – going to Brussels is not just about being a legislator, rather it opens up multiple opportunities to lobby, influence, compare experience and learn.

Something we can particularly recommend both podcasts for, is highlighting the challenges for EU citizens living in the UK and for British people living in the EU. If you would like some inspiration for what you can practically do to help, have a listen to:

• This recent episode of CakeWatch featuring Professor Tanja Bueltmann;
• Or this recent episode of Remainiacs with Monique Hawkins from the campaigning group the3million.

And finally …

If you would like more podcast tips take a look at our earlier post where we discussed, amongst others, RTE’s Brexit Republic. The latest episode from Dublin and Brussels (6 March) takes a characteristically thorough look at the first week of talks on the future EU/UK relationship. They discuss the areas of commonality, likely disagreements and the EU’s disquiet at Britain’s apparent back-tracking on the Northern Ireland protocol. There’s also an interview with a former EU ambassador to the US, David O’Sullivan, who puts these questions in a more global perspective.

What are your favourite podcasts or radio shows? Let us have your tips in the comments and … happy listening.