You guys seriously need to get a proper audio engineer

Such a shame how people have no respect for Gordon Brown. The last decent guy in parliament. Always thought it was a disgrace they made him apologise for calling that bigot a bigot

Legal corruption is when a government with a majority make unfair laws that benefit themselves and their rich cronies. Sunak gave many government contracts to his in laws. This is what has happened by the Tories

He seems to have forgot about Thatchers son . Mark getting 10 million on Saudi arms trade!!

Ah, some classic PolJoe audio quality.

I don't read the FT, but it seems like the last refuge for some of the remaining good journalists in this country.

Its my experience the line "they are all the same " regarding corruption is almost always tory voters defending their party of choice from a debate with a labour voter .

Pleaseeeee get your audio workflow in order! Was looking forward to watching, but can’t. It’s not a live video. Do a sound check and make sure the peaks are at -12db, then compressor/limiter in post to bring them up to a consistent -6 or -3db (depending on the standard you want). The audio has been all over the place for so long. I’d be happy to come in and help you dial in your setup for free, and can improve the lighting + framing too 🙏🏻.

Why even get him in studio? The audio quality would be better through a 2012 thinkpad skype call.

A fantastic interview. Simon Kuper is fair, intelligent and decent.

i can't believe! you even said corruption not a sleaze! finally we are coming to the actual problem of everything

Wish that interview had been longer. Another great piece of work Joe.

Legalized bribery. 🤑

Audio is so good. The best.

It's worth noting that FPTP has a huge impact on this too - By ensuring that you mostly have majority one party governments, you invariably weaken rules. And ensures that the strongest check, Parliament, is mostly pointless - So by using PR, you strengthen Parliament and weaken the Goverment/PM.

When the studio has PoliticsJOE at 9 but Julian Casablancas at 10

a man whose values are so sound. Thisnisnwhatbwe need in UK politics and Labour has a rare, golden opportunity to call out the corruption, establish clear rules formpublic life and diminish public cynicism in the process

What an excellent guest. I don’t read the FT but I have read Simon Kuper on football before, he’s very knowledgeable and a good writer.

Really good insights. I feel him drawing a distinction In xenophobia towards documented Vs undocumented migrants is a bit shallow, because Windrush shows that there’s no level of naturalisation that can immunise marginalised groups from the hostility of the state

Was the audio recorded on a potato?

Great interview, but peak leftist audio quality as always. Please, please get help with this. There's no reason for a quiet conversation in a staged room to be clipping. I've heard better audio quality on a Skype call.

Thank you this! I’ve been monitoring this for years like Mr Kuper. He’s dead right. His book is worth reading.

What a fabulous interview, eye opening how much common sense is totally absent in the regulation of our political system.

Is it corrupt to ignore the hierarchy of racism, threaten barristers who exposed it in reports as well as pursue alleged whistle blowers through the courts?

Boris Johnson’s legacy is being the benchmark upon which to base limits and regulations on what you can and can’t do in office. Some legacy! 😂

Why? What is the reason or the incentive for Labour to change the system, they are politicians too.

You know the red lights on the audio recorder are a limit, not a goal.

One of those videos were I keep hearing the guy say something and I immediately think I've got to "like" this video, only to find I already liked it earlier.

In post-War Germany you could criticise the Third Reich; now today in UK, you can also criticise the Third Reich, you just can't mention Brexit. "Don't mention the Brexit. I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it."

What have you got those mic plugged into?

We expect it from the Tory’s

Labour is not much better - Tony Blair's received huge amount of money from China and the middle east the last two decades after leaving Downing Street.

The real corrupt person is the audio engineer you paid for this video

god the audio is so bad in this

I've just syringed my ears.

I heard everything, so that's hardly an issue when you think of what is being talked about. Simon Kuper is great and has integrity and vision. Well done Joe, great choice of interviewee.

Why is the audio so bad?

As a Civil Servant, I'm not quite sure why Simon is dragging me and my colleagues into this discussion about corruption... There may well be no rules about what politicians do after they leave office, but that's not the same for Civil Servants. I can't go and take a job with Putin like he suggests.

It's simply not true that when you're black or whatever else, you'll be accepted as British even though you're a British citizen. It may still be worse in France but the silent undercurrent of "you're not from here, you're not one of us" is still there. The fact that this is not being openly stated doesn't mean it doesn't exist, you can see it in body language, attitudes, what people say to you, whether you will be able to be accepted into certain circles, whether you'll get the employment you desire etc. If you have the wrong accent (whatever this may be for different classes in British society) you're basically done. Even worse when your skin colour is not white. This mindset is a very big part that causes economic inequality in this country. Class society is a toxic society and it doesn't matter how much someone would like others to think that everything is "diverse" - it's not. And then society complains about crime rates skyrocketing, it didn't come from nothing, it's of your own making and your insular, xenophobic mind. I'd say the difference is that the Brits try to hide it (some of them are actually tolerant but it's not a rule) while the French are very outspoken about it.

With Cameron he went to war in Libya under the pretext of defending civilians which then evolved into regime change. Libya was a welfare state set up by Gadaffi second to none. If Gadaffi had gone to Eton Cameron wouldn't have gone near him. Cameron has a long history of leaving huge messes behind him which no one can clear up. He was the worst UK politician since Eden by far but Eden was a far better man. His local attempts at making himself a fortune are just irrelevant compared with the damage he has done .

Please put a compressor or a limiter on your mics.

I blame the audio on Oli.

Thatcher was not corrupt in office at all, but her son?

An excellent, most informative interview. Thank you. I've not read The FT in decades. I'm surprised to hear this man's input, given his day job. 😮

Great watch Joe. V interesting and good to highlight this now, in the hope that the new Govt will do something about this👍

I read the title of the video and the first word that came into my head was 'oxymoron.'

D'you guys need help with Windows XP Sound Recorder?

Great interview Ollie!

Interesting conversation but sound quality is TERRIBLE

Great interview, awful audio.

Thatcher was well corrupt mate our grannies arent liars

Excellent interview.

Didn't Theresa May give lucrative contracts to her husband's company?

Come on guys, please don't go on about audio quality all the time. There's way more content here to discuss and comment on like *LOUD BASS CLIPPING NOISES*

🌟 I'm really glad Ollie is back from his suspension. Clearly, his governors found him innocent of all chargers , or is it real he received a final written warning ⚠️ #numptynonsense #datswatsup

We need to change the policy of calling people in the commons. The small print should be you can only call someone out with empirical evidence and if it is found that they did lie, there is a press release of MPs that had attempted to misled the public released to the public via news or certain public domain.

Easiest way to make things run properly is to stop shuffling the cabinet all the time. There’s no way one person can have enough expertise to run the nations education, health, defence, etc. at various points.

May be the state should be getting a commission from these ex priministers.

Great interview. Might you do a continuation where you address corruption at party level (rather than individual politicians). Parties are run by people who are not actually politicians, but they handle the money, most of the policy stuff, and - importantly - are the gate-keepers who choose who can become an MP. Phil Moorhouse ('A Different Bias') has said - convincingly - that what parties want is not intelligent, highly ethical, committed people, but 'useful idiots, who will vote as they are told'. I've heard a story that, before they take you on as a prospective MP, you are made to get your hands dirty by joining in some grubby scheme (e.g. claiming unlikely expenses) so as you won't then split on the rest, and so that the whips have something to hold over you. I'm sure that not all parties are as bad as one another, but it does seem to me that cleaning up the parties and having some clear rules for them is necessary before going into anything like changing the voting system.

woah who decided the sound was fine to upload - was it 4.50pm on a Friday and you wanted to go home

sound is awful

I love how most videos since the start of the podcast have had audio issues that get raised in the comments, and the team has never mentioned it haha. I feel like they're doing it on purpose 😂

Mhh some nice crunchy audio on this one lads.

I'm glad it wasn't just my headphones

Great interview, a pity about the quality of the audio.

The US also seems to rely on the good chaps theory, even with a written constitution.

People on here moaning about audio maybe should donate more.

'Withdrawing in disgust is not the same thing as apathy' springs to mind.

The Tories must never get in again!

I feel like it took more work to get audio this bad than if you actually just winged it used a smartphone mike. How many months of bad sound has this been now?

Its has to get worse before it will get better. I believe you can vote for change, vote for anyone but the main three parties.

Interesting that a Laurence Fox ad for “Reclaim the Media” was shown during this interview.

Appalling audio, what went wrong Joe... Pardon.

Gordon Brown - Bloody good chap

Doesn't Theresa May's husband have a large vested interest in the medicinal marijuana production in the UK? How can you say she isn't corrupt?

Fisher Price microphones or an audio engineer that consists of air?

the audio quality is shite. made this hard to listen to

Zidane went through the same thing in having his Frenchness questioned - as were a lot of the players of that team that weren't white.

Hes describing fascism. Using the state for private gains. The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power. 32nd US President Franklin D Roosevelt

Dodgy Dave, tried to con the Treasury out of £50 plus, during the Pandemic for his Australian con man mate, Lex Greensill, while we where at war against a Pandemic, the opportunist all took the opportunity, to line their pockets, their friends, their families etc etc

French racial attitudes today = 1970s in the UK. More or less.

'Speaks to' is the political pundits version of the football pundits 'derisory offer'.

Audio... again. C'mon guys.

Not all women would be like Thatcher!

Atlee fought in the First World War so why have you left him off your list Simon Kuper?

we are extorted and exploited by highly organised gangsters that we like to call government.

Liked the video but, dudes... the sound quality.

So in the UK it's called legal corruption but in Africa it's just corruption 😂 Loving the double standards.

Great interview, now you need to get a one on one with Mbappe

from the team that brought you Flat Eric.

If your input is distorted, so will be the output 😉 The red isn't an area to aim for

oooh the audio is a bit ropey mummy, its made me cry.....get over it ffs.

Although this fella is making a good point, at the same time he is a think as gravy if he thinks Starmer will make any changes like this.

Great interview

its like you dont even need an audio engineer to see that levels are clipping. its not rocket science

John Major was an advisor to the venture capitalists the Carlyle Group.

bit of clipping on the audio?

Nigel Molesworth nicely grouped public schoolboys; Cameron fits the 'bounder' bill to a tee. Shades of 'cad' and 'rotter' also, but he is a bounder through and through. Blair... a 'creep', I'd say.

Great analysis!

3:18 Gerhard Schröder literally did accept a job offer from Putin the day after leaving office, despite Germany having had a constitution drafted by the occupying powers with keeping Germany civil in mind. As someone who comes from a European democracy, whose rather well-drafted constitution has been recently violated with little consequences domestically and only some internationally (guess which one), I can assure you that the rules are nothing without the culture to uphold them across the board. In that sense, the "good chap theory" is as good a bulwark against corruption as any set of rules, as it ultimately depends on all actors respecting them. Most Latin American constitutions were modelled after the U.S. one, in the hope that they would become boisterous democratic republics; the U.S. itself has to deal with controversial reading of the constitution by the Supreme Court in the service of one political faction. tl;dr To eliminate the sleaze in British politics it will take much more than simply enacting the rules.