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- [00:00]
Andrew Marr
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
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Asma Khalid
The United States is about to mark its 250th anniversary.
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Adam Fleming
And so, on the Global Story podcast from the BBC, we're telling surprising tales of American influence on the world stage and in ordinary people's lives all across the globe. We have this ability to export our story and a lot of people bought it. I feel like the American dream is alive, but not well.
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Asma Khalid
From the BBC, it's the United States
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Adam Fleming
at 250 listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello. Andy Burnham has given an interview to a podcast. Not this one, unfortunately. He was speaking to Gary Lineker who runs the Goal Hanger stable of podcasts. And the top lines from it are that he is open to a wealth tax because he didn't rule it out. He has held the door open to maybe tax taxes rising overall. But he's equally said he won't do any of those things straight away because he wants to have a bit of time to think about it. Now, Andy Burnham has not done very many interviews in his pre prime ministerial period. In fact, the only other one he did was with Andrew Marr on LBC about two weeks ago. So we thought we would get the BBC's old political editor to come back to the BBC to see where his head is at about what we've learned about Andy Burnham very soon to be Prime Minister. So that's what you'll hear on this
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Asma Khalid
episode of Newscast, Newscast, Newscast from the BBC.
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Andrew Marr
I will resign as leader of the Labour Party. And what will you do?
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Adam Fleming
Stare at a wall? Humanity's next great voyage begins.
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Andrew Marr
You know, I like my buses.
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Adam Fleming
I'll come on to them.
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Andrew Marr
It's supposed to be me as a doctor. Ooh la la.
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Adam Fleming
Thinking about it like a panther helped.
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Andrew Marr
Do we play music now or what do we do?
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Adam Fleming
Hello, it's Adam in the newscast studio. And please welcome back to the BBC. Well, for the next 27 minutes at least, Andrew Marr. Hello.
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Andrew Marr
Hello, Adam.
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Adam Fleming
How are you doing?
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Andrew Marr
I'm pretty fair, thank you. Enjoying the weather?
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Adam Fleming
Nice to be back because you're in our Westminster studio. So that is your old, old office.
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Andrew Marr
It's the old stamping ground. Not much has changed here. Some of the people, none of the furniture.
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Adam Fleming
I think the carpet's changed since you're a political editor. But I mean, it's still rubbish, but
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Andrew Marr
it's still fairly horrible. But yes, it's a different horrible maybe.
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Adam Fleming
You know what, let's talk about the past before we talk about the very near future. What was it like observing Starmer's last PMQS on Wednesday?
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Andrew Marr
Do you know what, Adam? I'm a big softie and unlike many of my colleagues, I was quite moved by it. I thought, you know, here is everybody behaving generously and well, Kemi Badenoch found a new tonal range and, you know, she was generous. And Starmer talked about how she had reached out to him when his house was attacked by arsonists and when his family had been targeted and so on, when his brother had died. And I just thought, you know, this is politics at its best. It's not a sort of cynical uni party getting together. We're all on the same side, really, because they really disagree. But all around the chamber, I thought there's a genuine degree of sort of sadness and they wanted him to go with dignity and whatever his failures, to feel that he had been a man respected for why he was in politics. And by the way, he made some very good jokes. So overall, I enjoyed it.
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Adam Fleming
When do you think was the moment that Starmer was done for? When did you call it?
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Andrew Marr
Well, I have been pretty disobliging now for quite a few months, probably six months or so. I was just looking at the polls the whole time and thinking, we are getting to the point where there is no coming back for the Labour Party under this guy in this situation. I think the May elections were probably the final moment. I think the smoldering Mandelson scandal made a lot of people think he just doesn't have the judgment in terms of the people around him. He hasn't got the, frankly, the curiosity about other people that a leader needs, and therefore this is only going to get worse.
- [03:50]
Adam Fleming
And what do you make of the fact that one of his last acts as Prime Minister is today is going to Ukraine, seeing Zelenskyy, another leader that you've sat with and chatted to at length, and signing this deal to use British money to pay for Swedish fighter jets.
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Andrew Marr
Well, this is, as it were, the baton being handed over for the second time. Because although Starmer despised, and I think the word isn't too strong, Boris Johnson. Johnson was admired by Starmer for what he did, standing up for Ukraine during a difficult time. He then passes the baton onto Starmer. Now, in a way, this is just what Britain does, except that Starmer had to deal with Trump at his most Trumpian and difficult and rambunctious. And it wasn't easy for Starmer. And I think he feels a genuine and I would argue, natural and correct Sense of pride for what he's done and I think going there for the final time, both very emotional for Starmer, but also he's sending a signal to Andy Burnham. He's saying, andy, whatever your faults and strengths, you don't know much about foreign affairs. This is one part of foreign affairs you simply can't ignore.
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Adam Fleming
Well, and I was just thinking about Henry Zeffman's interview with Starmer, his final interview, where the only piece of advice he gave any future Prime Minister, not necessarily Andy Burnham by name, was, yeah, you can't ignore foreign policy because foreign policy ends up at home.
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Andrew Marr
It was really difficult for him because that never hear Kiyr jibe did him a lot of damage. There were a lot of people looking at aspects of domestic policy who felt that they couldn't get FaceTime with the Prime Minister, couldn't get him to understand what was going wrong, and were frustrated by the sheer number of foreign trips he made, including to COP and to Paris and NATO and the United nations and Ukraine and, and, and, but, you know, he's right. We are in a world where foreign policy affects daily life more than ever before.
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Adam Fleming
Although it's interesting you mentioned cop, the UN Climate Change Conference, because I think the last one, he was originally not going to go, but then the Greens started doing better. And so actually, domestic politics sort of, or at least his, his perception of domestic politics demanded that he go all the way to South America.
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Andrew Marr
And a man we may come on to discuss later on, Ed Miliband may have had a word as well.
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Adam Fleming
Right, let's talk about Andy Burnham, though. So you're one of the few people that have interviewed Andy Burnham, Prime Minister, sort of designate, because you spoke to him at the start of the month. I mean, how did that come about? Had you had, did you just bump into him and say, come on my show?
- [06:18]
Andrew Marr
No, I mean, I, I, I certainly texted him and said that I've been speaking to him on and off for a couple of years now, you know, just about what he was thinking about politics. I interviewed him for LBC a couple of years ago in Manchester and I find it a very, very interesting interview. I genuinely think he's a hugely impressive politician. But I was talking to him about this idea that he flip flopped. You know, he's been a Blair, right? He's been a this, he's been a that, he's been all over, all over the shop politically. And he said to me, do you know what, all that time, ever since I came south, first to Cambridge University and then got into politics. And then in the House of Commons, I have suffered from a really acute sense of imposter syndrome. I didn't really know who I was or what I was doing or why. And it was only when I went back to the cop in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster and heard that huge booing for the government's handling of it, I kind of remembered who I was. And I find that, you know, a compelling account of his own. Of course, everybody makes a certain fiction of their own lives, but I find that quite compelling. And I've been, you know, I've been talking to him ever since. I wouldn't say he's a close friend or anything like that, but he's certainly somebody I've been in contact with.
- [07:28]
Adam Fleming
Rewatching the interview because it was, what, the second of july? Rewatching it with two weeks hindsight. I think the thing that really struck me is just how confident and fluent he seems about what he wants and what he's gonna do. Although there's not much detail behind that. But he seemed very in command in your studio.
- [07:46]
Andrew Marr
Yes. I think this narrative about he's got no plan. Andy Burnham, the man without a plan, is completely wrong. I think he has got a plan what. Or at least he thinks he knows what he wants to do with the country. And it's around devolution and it's around all those communities like Makerfield which have felt left behind, needing a bit more money in their pockets, as he says, a bit of breathing space, a bit of respite, and then a program of re. Industrialization, a program of investment, and a certain amount of more public control of those utilities. I think his analysis of the neoliberal impact on the country, it's partial and lots of people disagree with it, but it is coherent.
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Adam Fleming
I mean, I'm just thinking of one of your other hats, which was the presenter of your documentary series on the BBC, which was basically British history for the last hundred years. Do you think his, his critique of neoliberalism is. Is valid? Is it, Is it backed up by evidence? Because some people say it's a bit of a sort of like slightly sixth formy, studenty thing to say about the last 50 years of British politics?
- [08:51]
Andrew Marr
I think it depends very much where you're sitting. I think if you're sitting in any of those parts of the English Midlands or north, or indeed parts of the Scottish Midlands as well, where deindustrialization completely changed the landscape in a very, very short space of time, I mean, you know, you think of parts of South Yorkshire. Within a few years, it looked and felt and sounded completely different. And there were hundreds of communities who just felt completely bereft and ignored and frankly. What's the word?
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Adam Fleming
Oh, left behind. Left behind.
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Andrew Marr
Insulted, I would say.
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Adam Fleming
Insulted. Okay. Oh, that's interesting. We're putting in.
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Andrew Marr
They kind of felt insulted. And I think from that perspective, the impact of deindustrialization during the Thatcher years, even if you argue, as most people I think now would, that it allowed economic growth of a different kind to take off and tilted the entire economy towards financial services and services generally and. And further towards the southeast, which gave the UK some really good years of growth. Even accepting all of that, the impact on too much of Britain was too negative to be pushed to one side. I think the impact of setting off all those council houses, great for all those people who were in the council house and for the first time in their lives got a chance to actually own their own house, which is what people mostly want. Great for them. But we have had a social housing crisis ever since. So I think there are big parts of it, we're. Which are undeniably true. Turning it around is a massive, massive task. And I don't know what Andy Burnham is going to do with election timing, whether he's going to try and do two or three years and then go, whether he's going to go early. But he's certainly going to need more than the time allowed to him and the rest of this parliament to start to make those changes, because they're very big ones.
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Adam Fleming
And certainly Andy Burnham's definition of neoliberalism, which. Or the example he gives in the interview with you from a couple of weeks ago, is about the water industry, where he says that the investors who buy the water companies get to keep the profits, invest a little bit of it in the service that we all then endure, and actually don't really have to pick up the tab in a big way for when the service is bad. So that's kind of an example of neoliberalism privatizing things, getting the profit motive in and affecting the cost for everyone else.
- [11:03]
Andrew Marr
I think I read that about a quarter of most people's water bills goes to the shareholders at the moment. And in this period where we look to Count Bin face for a lot of political wisdom, I think his policy of obliging all water company bosses to swim in their own rivers is one that commands a lot of popularity around the country.
- [11:22]
Adam Fleming
Full list of Clacton by election candidates available on the BBC News website. Not sure if you have seen that on lbc. But we do, we do too. Good, good. And then in terms of the only other interview that Andy Burnham has done, which was with Gary Lineker on the. The rest is football. And you can see why he did that because it was England v. Argentina. It was also the. This is the week where the government announced its new Hillsborough law about candor in public office. So you can see why he maybe would want to speak to Gary Lineker. I also thought he. Did he seem a little bit starstruck in that interview?
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Andrew Marr
Well, I think if you're in into football, and he really is, then Gary Lineker remains a very, very substantial star.
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Adam Fleming
I'm sure he was starstruck with you too, but you're legendary in your field.
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Andrew Marr
I didn't pick that up. Weirdly, I didn't pick that up.
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Adam Fleming
He certain won't be starstruck if he ever does an interview with newscast. So. But one of the other things that that came out of that Gary Lineker interview is when Gary says to him, oh, what about introducing a wealth tax on the very rich? And. And Burnham sort of hedges his bets, which leads to news stories in the papers today saying he hasn't ruled out a wealth tax. And he also does say that maybe a little bit down the line, people might have to pay a bit more. So tax rises for everyone.
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Andrew Marr
I think some form of wealth tax is quite likely. Almost every form of wealth tax, as has been described so far, has problems with it. Almost every kind of tax has problems with it. But he is very, very boxed in by those promises, which I think wrongly, Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer made in the 2024 election. The economic outlook is not great. You know, he hasn't got quite as acutely bad an inheritance as Keir Starmer did two years ago, but it's pretty rough, pretty bad. And if he wants to invest, then he has to find money from somewhere. And I think some form of land value tax. He's very, very interested in land value taxes, by the way, or some form of property tax different from the system we have at the moment, perhaps combined with cutting or entirely abolishing stamp duty might be the way he goes.
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Adam Fleming
And he has said explicitly one of his policies that he ran on during the by election in Makerfield was that you increase the business rates on some things like big warehous for people like Amazon so that you can cut business rates for pubs and restaurants and hairdressers, businesses on the high street that have a sort of bit of a social aspect to them. So actually, that's one very specific thing he has promised to do.
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Andrew Marr
And, Adam, if we are trying to find, you know, phrases to describe what Burnham ism is, and everybody is struggling, including me, I think there's a kind of element of center left populism about that proposal, which I think is interesting. It matches some of the sort of populist ideas from other parts of the spectrum. It's simple. You're going to grasp it easily. And it's the small businesses that you rely on and, you know, versus these big faceless American giants.
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Adam Fleming
Although, interestingly, when he's talking to Gary Lineker about the wealth tax, and it's interesting that Gary Lineker badges it as a wealth tax on the very wealthy, as opposed to high earners, which could affect a lot more people. Andy Burnham says he doesn't want to create divisions. He doesn't want to pit different groups against each other.
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Andrew Marr
Well, I think the real problem with, with, as it were, the linacre approach is that the very, very wealthy can go wherever they like. They are more mobile than they have ever been in world history. And, you know, you jack up the taxes on them just a little bit and you suddenly find they're all living in the north of Italy, around Milan, or they're in Switzerland or they're in the States or somewhere else. It's very, very hard to tax birds that fly that quickly.
- [14:57]
Adam Fleming
One of the other things he says to Gary Lineker, I keep nearly saying Gary, as if we're close mates. We're absolutely not. But to Gary Lineker is that he's going to take his time. And that's one of the things that jumped out for me from that interview, that maybe we're not going to get a whole load of big bang things on day one, two, three, four and five, and that maybe we'll have to wait till the budget, which might not be till November or maybe even early December, for some real kind of meaty stuff.
- [15:23]
Andrew Marr
He's been very lucky in the timing so far, and that's partly because of Keir Starmer dictating when he was going to go. But, you know, he becomes Labour leader today, we're talking on Friday, he becomes Prime Minister, we assume on Monday, and then the Commons is away for four or five weeks. So he has quite a long period where he's going to go around the country and talk to audiences everywhere around the country. But he has got lots of time to work further on his plans, as will his new Cabinet. So, in a sense, this deliberativeness this stage by stage, step by step approach, which he has taken very much to the making of the Cabinet. I mean, the pressure on him from Cabinet ministers who are doing their nuts at the moment because they don't know what's going to happen, really frustrated some of them, very, very angry indeed. All little dribs and drabs coming out, but no real briefing, no real confirmation of what Andy Burnham is going to do. Burnham is already running an extremely tight team and I think we'll carry on seeing that over the course of the summer he will dictate when he is going to announce what policies. I mean, of course there'll be lots of ministers involved then, so it can't be quite as tight. But I think this is somebody who has a plan and who understands you don't throw it all out in the first couple of days.
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Adam Fleming
I wonder if we're going to have a Bank of England independence style moment, because I always thought when Starmer and Reeves came in in July 2024, they'll do something big like Blair and Brown did on day two of their government where they gave bank of England independence, they gave the bank of England control over interest rates, took the politics out of interest. And I thought Labour people are obsessed with that moment in political history. Surely Starmer and Reeves will deliver a sort of equivalent moment. And they never did.
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Andrew Marr
They didn't. But I think that's a very shrewd thought, Adam. I think it's exactly the way that Andy Burnham is thinking. You know, he knows people are defined really, very, very quickly in this modern, very fast moving political media age. Within days, perhaps within hours, sometimes something sets in the public mind and therefore if he can grab our attention with something that is popular, seems the more we think about it to be obvious, then that will be exactly what he's thinking about. I don't know what it could be. Maybe abolition of the House of Lords, maybe a voting reform, I don't know.
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Adam Fleming
Although classically that's always been a third term thing for Prime Ministers, isn't it?
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Andrew Marr
Yeah, but if you say you're going to do it, it's going to be in the manifesto and you prepare now you could do it. It's the kind of thing, an awful lot of people up and down the country, they think the House of Lords is absolutely ridiculous and bloated and pretty much useless. They don't understand the subtle constitutional arguments for it. And I think a Senate of the nations and Regions or something like that to replace it would be very popular. And you can announce it and you can get people working on it. And you know, that's the kind of thing, I mean, the bank of England independence wasn't easy either. No.
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Adam Fleming
And also, how many big things like that are there still to do in British politics? There's not many equivalent things. You could just go, right, let's do that. At the stroke of a pen. You talked about all the, the gossip around the potential Cabinet. Some people seem very. And wise people seem very sure that Shabana Mahmood is going to be the Chancellor. Do you buy that?
- [18:33]
Andrew Marr
I do buy that, actually, and I'll explain why. I mean, there is an argument, there's a very strong argument for Ed Miliband which I'd like to make first, which is that you need somebody atop the treasury who understands the treasury, who isn't going to be blocked and stopped and frustrated by the treasury. And Ed Miliband is probably that person. Secondly, the bond markets and everybody else feels that the big challenge for this Labour government is can they get control of public spending. To do that you have to do welfare reform. And the argument is that you need a leader from the, you need a figure from the soft left, trusted by the soft left of the Labour Party in Parliament to get that kind of change through. So in a kind of Nixon to China sense, Ed Miliband might be the guy to get welfare spending down, reassure the bond markets and get on top of the Treasury. The argument against him is that he's terribly unpopular with the unions. He's very unpopular with the media, particularly the right wing media, and of course the City as well. And the bond markets wouldn't be happy and all of that. And also I suppose he's a man who knows who he is. So strongly that Andy Burnham might be worried that he would feel that he was running the, the Ed Miliband government and that Andy Burnham was the kind of front man. So those are the arguments going on. Shabana Mahmood hasn't got great economic experience, to put it politely, but she is somebody who believes very strongly in the economics of place, like Andy Burnham. She's a person of faith, rooted in community and she has in the past been an advocate of a 50p income tax, top rate, for instance, and I think a wealth tax as well. So the notion that she's well to the right is completely wrong. But she would certainly reassure the markets. And you've already seen bond market yields improving as that rumor got out. And you've seen the pound slightly strengthening as that rumor got out. So I think If Andy Burnham wants a Chancellor who will do the Andy Burnham business without their own agenda and yet is a good deliverer, that is probably what has tilted it. If it has for her.
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Adam Fleming
And also very superficially, she's from the Midlands, so it gives you a little bit of regional balance at the top of the government as well. So it's not just all Northers, Northerners or North and South.
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Andrew Marr
There is the Midlands. We'd all forgotten about the Midlands. Sorry, Midlands.
- [20:48]
Adam Fleming
Speak for yourself. Think about them frequently. I also just think one other thing that I gleaned from re listening to your interview is that he talked, or maybe it's the Gary Lineker interview, but in one of the two interviews, which are the only two that he's given in this whole period, slightly weirdly, although it'll be understandably is he talks about, and it's the example of how you get the housing benefits bill down is by building more social housing. But he says you have to do that over a longer period. I wonder if whoever is Chancellor will end up with a new fiscal rule or the same fiscal rule, but over a longer period. Because the second fiscal rule at the moment is to have debt as a share of GDP falling by the end of a five year rolling future period.
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Andrew Marr
It's always five years.
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Adam Fleming
Yeah, and. And they never hit it because the spending cuts that would be required can never be delivered. So they always just go, oh no, we'll just hit the target in two years later than we planned. I wonder if maybe he'll just stretch that out to 10 years. And so when he talks about building stability into the political system so that you're less reliant on the whims of the bond markets as he would see it on a day to day basis, is that if you instantly make it 10 years, you've bought yourself an extra loads of years.
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Andrew Marr
Well, I'm learning a lot in this interview, Adam.
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Adam Fleming
It's all speculation on my part.
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Andrew Marr
Well, here's some more speculation on my part. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Angela Rayner move to some job like Deputy Prime Minister in number 10 north, with a specific remit to do council housing and to do devolution. I think that's the kind of change we might see. Just as I think it's possible that we'll see the growth of effectively a new department based around AI and the future economy, sitting alongside the Treasury.
- [22:24]
Adam Fleming
Angela Rayner, as not Deputy Prime Minister, but a sort of John Prescott super Ministry head based in Manchester just down the road, except she's bought her house in Hove. Well, she's based in the south coast now, obviously she'll have to heave from Hove quickly heave from Hove.
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Andrew Marr
And I think also, you know, Ed Miliband very much hopes and wants Deputy Prime Minister as well. So there's yet another hard choice in front of Andy Burnham right now. To govern is to choose and it's going to be a pretty sweltering, sticky few days for him.
- [22:56]
Adam Fleming
I've just remembered another reason why it's great that you're on today, because I remember when we were at the G7 summit in Cornwall when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister, you recommended a book to me called English Journey by J.B. priestley.
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Andrew Marr
Great book.
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Adam Fleming
Which is basically like his sort of, he just travels around Britain doing a state of the nation thing. And actually that's what we're all about to do, isn't it? Because Andy Burnham is going to make places so central to our politics always worthwhile.
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Andrew Marr
Bringing J.B. priestley with you. I, I, I like him even more than Orwell in many ways because he sees all the in between places. There's a great bit when he's traveling around near Wolverhampton or somewhere and he's look on the horizon, you can see this great big dark, smoking, menacing object which is Birmingham. And you know, he's, he's still living in an England which is industrialized. It's got lots of typewriter factories and this factories and shoemaking towns and the rest of it. And in a sense, I guess that's what Ade Burnham would love to bring back.
- [23:52]
Adam Fleming
So, two last questions. One is a historical one and one is a philosophical one. So really, really easy to end on historical. You were the political editor when the handover happened from Blair to Brown. You were the political editor when Gordon Brown famously told you he wasn't going to have an election and had never been planning to have one, which we know is not true. Do you see any parallels between that last big handover amongst lab and this big handover?
- [24:17]
Andrew Marr
Well, I think Keir Starmer goes in a much sunnier mood weirdly than Tony Blair did. It was, you know, he's had much less time and I think everybody would agree, much less achievement to go. But actually I think he has come to terms with the idea in a way that Tony Blair, even as he was leaving and even perhaps the day, had not. The danger in that parallel, of course, is one that Andy Burnham should be thinking hard about over the next couple of days, which is that if you have a rift, a Serious rift between numbers 10 and 11, a prime minister and a Chancellor who both have ambitions for the top and slightly different visions. That is lethal and sapping and very, very demoralizing for any government.
- [24:59]
Adam Fleming
I mean, I am surprised that Team Burnham have allowed there to be so much speculation about this person's in as Chancellor. That person's in. No, this person. Because that creates bad blood even before you've made the decision. So it's difficult.
- [25:13]
Andrew Marr
But I mean, the problem, of course is, is that he is not even now Prime Minister. And I think constitutionally, to announce who's going to be Chancellor of the Exchequer while there is a Chancellor of the Exchequer and you are not Prime Minister, would you get lots of accusations of arrogance and going far too fast? And who does he think he is?
- [25:31]
Adam Fleming
Anyway, I shouldn't make any predictions because I famously said on air the day that Theresa May was anointed as Prime Minister that all the divisions in the Conservative Party over Brexit would close up because they were all professional politicians. Who wants to win the next election? So that's why I don't make predictions anymore.
- [25:47]
Andrew Marr
Well, I. I vaguely remember some fool who was on Question Time, I think, at the beginning of the Starmer government and said that there's going to be a. Britain was going to be an ocean of peace and stability and karma. I can't remember who that was.
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Adam Fleming
Well, I can clearly.
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Andrew Marr
Clearly an idiot.
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Adam Fleming
Anyway, sorry to be mean and a bad host, but that was going to be my last question. The philosophical one is, which is you did that tweet on. On X when Starmer came in and basically along those lines, and I just wonder, I mean, do you feel we can ever have a period where Britain is a haven of political tranquility or is actually this is just it now?
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Andrew Marr
Perhaps not. We should remind ourselves that although we've been talking a lot about the transition of power inside the Labour Party, Reform remain by far the most popular party across the country, which suggests that there is still a yearning for a really big change. Now, Andy Burnham's promise is I can be that change. Next two years will tell Andrew you
- [26:43]
Adam Fleming
got to go off and do your LBC show. So thank you very much for taking time out of your prep to speak to us, Andrew. Take care, Adam.
- [26:49]
Andrew Marr
Thank you very much. Bike sputtering on me that's not what you want on a cross country trip. Yeah, you're telling me. Looks like my journey ends here now, mate. You ride with Geico Motorcycle insurance and got their 247 emergency roadside service. They'll fix your bike right up. Where you headed anyways? Oh, I'm going to Chromehenge. You ever been? No, I can't say I have. It's like Stonehenge, but shiny.
- [27:24]
Adam Fleming
It feels good to ride with help. It feels good to Geico. Emergency roadside service is optional coverage Is
- [27:31]
Asma Khalid
the American Dream Still Possible? I'm Asma Khalid, one of the hosts of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. One of the most successful exports the United States has ever sold the world. Is the American Dream that tantalizing promise of a better, freer, richer life? But is it still attainable?
- [27:49]
Adam Fleming
I feel like the American Dream is alive, but not well.
- [27:52]
Asma Khalid
For more, listen to the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [28:02]
Adam Fleming
The World cup continues but is over for England and we thought maybe this would be the point to draw Supporter Reporter to a close so we can mark that momentous moment in footballing history. So here are the final four entries for Supporter Reporter. Emma has messaged on behalf of Uruguay. She says, I'm half Scottish, half Uruguayan, a fifer and Montevideo Fife being in Scotland, Montevideo being in Uruguay. The joy of having two teams to support this World cup might have been short lived, but have still thoroughly enjoyed watching it all. I've listened to endless newscast podcasts while walking along the Rambla of Poquitos in Montevideo. Ciao Emma. Thank you. Emma, you're in as the supporter reporter from Uruguay. Pam says. Very tenuous, but we went on a cruise fairly recently. Lovely. And one of our stops was Cape Verde. We had a lovely stroll taking in the sights and ambiance. Then our trips on a raised part of the pavement. Down I went a lovely, kind local gentleman rushed to my aid. So kind and caring. No harm done to me luckily, but I will always associate Cape Verde with kindness. Love them in the World Cup. Pam, you're in for Cape Verde. Noella says, I'm writing in as a supporter for the drc, the Democratic Republic of Congo. I'm half Congolese and extremely proud of how we did in this tournament, especially against England. I was watching on the tube in my DRC kit. I had to be quite brave getting lots of Lukes, but as we had the upper hand during the first half I felt safe enough. Love the show. Cheers. Noella, love that you are our Democratic Republic of Congo supporter reporter. And finally we've had a message from Terry. Love the show and I heard tonight you're still looking for someone to represent Algeria. My link is very tenuous, but you seem to be pretty desperate to complete the World cup set. So here goes. How could you tell, Terry? In 2005, I went on a trekking holiday in the Sahara with three girlfriends. It was so interesting as I'd never been walking in a proper desert before. We had a local Berber guide, Mohammed, who led us through sand dunes, dry riverbeds and rocky plateau with wonderful fossils for six days. Is that enough to qualify? Yes, it is. Terry, you are our very final supporter reporter for Algeria with bonus membership for Mohammed, the tour guide. And then finally, finally we had a message from Craig who's volunteering to be the supporter reporter for New Zealand. Thought we had one of those already and I'm pretty sure I said the words New Zealand and supporter reporter next to each other, but we actually can't find any proof that I did. So just in case, just as an insurance policy for New Zealand, here is Craig's message. As every bit the football fan is His Majesty the King, I feel it's my patriotic duty to nominate myself as New Zealand's supporter reporter. We returned here after many years in London so the kids could have a backyard in which to kick a ball around. But I continue to enjoy news from my adopted home fresh every morning. I promise to expend exactly zero stamina on the role of supporter reporter. Thank you Craig and happy to make sure, double check, the New Zealand is represented in our little gimmick. So that's it. All 48 countries that went to Canada, the USA and Mexico for the start of the World Cup. We've had hundreds and hundreds of nominations. So thank you to everyone who did that. And here in classic BBC sport, legendary music style is all 48 supporter reporters. So thank you to Terry, Tracy, Steve, Zoe, Bernhardt, Manon, Jackie, Ned, Fernanda, Lis, Pam, Arthur, Julianne, Noella, Anna, Martin, Jacqueline, Robert, Sarah, Nathan, Michael, Caroline, Sandra, Leah, Parima, Ali, Gareth, Gordon, David, Sam, Karen, Michael, Kate, Craig, Lydia, Carolina, Eduardo, Caroline. Am I going to hit the end of the music? Nazreen, Paul, Phil, Lydia, Gabriel, Gabriel's wife, Lindsay, Fiona, Chris, Nehati, Nathan, Emma and Miranda and I have loved the World cup news related gimmick so much. We're going to launch a fresh one in the next episode of Newscast so you will not want to miss that. Speak to you soon. Bye bye. Newscast, Newscast from the BBC.
- [32:40]
Andrew Marr
From one newscaster to another, thank you so much for making it to the end of this this episode. You clearly do, in the words of
- [32:48]
Adam Fleming
Chris Mason, ooze stamina.
- [32:50]
Andrew Marr
Can I also gently encourage you to subscribe to us on BBC Sounds tell everyone you know.
- [32:55]
Adam Fleming
And don't forget, you can email us anytime@newscastbc.co.uk or if you're that way inclined, send us a WhatsApp on +44033012394. Be assured, I promise, we listen to everyone.
- [33:26]
Asma Khalid
Is the American Dream still possible? I'm Asma Khalid, one of the hosts of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. One of the most successful exports the United States has has ever sold the world. Is the American Dream that tantalizing promise of a better, freer, richer life? But is it still attainable?
- [33:45]
Adam Fleming
I feel like the American Dream is alive, but not well.
- [33:48]
Asma Khalid
For more, listen to the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.