Welcome to Veto Britain… where you can only drink lying down

No drinking pints standing up in London’s nightlife hotspot? No new reservoirs until 2040? Welcome to Veto Britain – where infrastructure, housing and even a round at the bar are all subject to the mercy of endless local objection. So how did we become a country that seems incapable of building, changing or enjoying itself anymore? Plus, racist disorder erupts in Norfolk, scrutiny of Andy Burnham’s early prisoner release plan intensifies and the PM’s crackdown on “subscription traps” gives cancel culture a whole new meaning. 

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ESCAPE ROUTES

• Jonn finally watched Stephen Fry and Mark Carwardine’s documentary Last Chance to See, based on Carwardine and Douglas Adams’ book and radio series of the same name

• Rachel has been reading Virgil’s epic The Aeneid – “the Roman response to Homer,” she says.

• Raf saw a production of Molière’s Tartuffe while in France which is coming to the Marylebone Theatre next month. 

• Zoë zoomed through Jem Calder’s I Want You to Be Happy

Image: Cartoon depicting Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 2nd Baronet of Brayton (1829-1906), an English temperance campaigner and radical, anti-imperialist Liberal Party politician. Dated 19th Century. No idea who the bloke on the right is. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

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Presented by Zoë Grünewald, with Rachel Cunliffe, Jonn Elledge and Rafael Behr. Produced by James Liddell. Audio Production: Tom Taylor. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Tom Taylor and Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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