Shows
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensCooper, Grimston and Stevens 15th November- Airwaves and FatbergsIt seems a while since the Oval Office spoke of '...Draining the swamp' , owever as Trump considers litigation against the Beeb, London Citizens have been in 'Enemy Of The Peole' mode agin Thames Water's lucrative failings. Byline Times has bn ibestigating the Trump-funding links through JD Vance's mentor appearing soon, for example, at 'How The Light Gets In' to points across the political spectrum.
2025-11-1556 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensCooper, Grimston and Stevens on Cop 30, Angela Rayner and Emplont Rights UK, Momdani and the DemsMal's By-Election Corner hops across the pond to look at Momdani and the Dem wins this week- before that, we track the progress of Angela Rayner's Employment Rights Bill and what it will achieve in the current financial climate, and the fiscal, scientific and optical aspects of Cop-30 in Rio.
2025-11-081h 00
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensMal Grimston on Lucy Powell, Geopolitics, Paddington in the dockWill Lucy Powell's election to Deputy Leadership tilt the Starmer ship of state? Amid Gaza's very fragile cease fire other conflicts rage relatively unnoticed- whither intervention/ national interest? And Paddington's dodgy bros' impending court case and what it might be now to be a national treasure.
2025-11-0145 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensCooper and Stevens 25th OctoberThe sidelining of a century of Labour political history in Caerphilly, Reform UK's Welsh leader involved in a political engineerng conference in Russia before his arrest (s Byline Times reports this month), George Monbiot on whether the UK needs a written constitution to stop the far right and how thecuts at the Met (Police not Opera) will pan out.
2025-10-2554 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensAndy Worthington- Sunday 19th OctoberAfter a hiatus around media protoco, it as a pleasre this morning to resume my regular conversation abot politics and culture with www.andyworthington.co.uk - we attempted to condense events in Gaza and across the pond pivoting on an HR announcement from Reform UK this morning.. As I publish this fresh attacks on Gaza in response to alleged volatioons of the ceasefire by Hamas....:/
2025-10-1950 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and Stevens18th October- Gazxa Ceasefire, Zelensky, China, UK By-ElectionsWe reflect on the Gaza ceasfire in its fragility , Zelensky at the White House for a third encomium,on the collapf the Chinese espioage trial in the UK and a volatile set of By-Election results this eek.
2025-10-1855 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensGrimston and Stevens on Starmer, Reform, Tories, Political ViolenceBy-Elections occured during the Labour conference, and do not augur well- yet the applause in the hall is voluble. There is mood music.Will it be that way for the Tories next week ? We have to start with the horrendous event in Manchester and thebreak-up and deporting of much of the Gaza Floitilla.
2025-10-041h 02
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensGraham Stevens on Ed Davey, Starmer, Gatwick and Oxford StreetLeonie is we gather off to the Labour conference, Mal is away- we consider Starmer and the foment around his leadership in relation to Ed Davey's stunt/personable/ barnstorming at the Lib Denm conference, not least in the light of speculation that the two parties might yet collaborate to fend off Reform( incidentally near theoffice, where Reform have just won a council seat, an old timer was waxing lyrical about Ben Habbib and Advance UK of whom more perhaps next time).Graham the Architect also considers the Gatwick runway go-ahead and the teetering on the brink of pedestrianising the dreaded...
2025-09-2744 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensGraham Stevens ' Morning Thoughts-20th SeptemberThe image is of Graham the conceptual artist and eco-engineer at work in St Katherine's Dock in the 60s animating his problem-solving and illustrative art- amongst other things, he had a simpoler vision for the soon-to-be unveiled Thames Tideway Tunnel . I recently saw him acclaimed as part of the Architecture on Stage season at the Barbican. here are some early morning thoughts on the trends and alarms of our times and their sources, plus a sideways glance at Party Conference season (Leonie is doubtless on her way to Liverpoool for next weeks' Labour bash)
2025-09-2049 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensCooper and Stevens 5th September- Zach Polanski, Rayner Syndrome, Modular Housing....Leonie knows Zach pretty well from the London Assemnbly, so a bit about him and how the rethought Greens might register onwardly. We recorded before Rayner's resignation, but came up with a Plan B for these kinds of moments. We also discuss the return of the pre-fab which Graham the architect tackled in a previous iteration plus our usual sidebars.
2025-09-0650 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensSaturday 23rd August- Cost of Living, West Bank, Zelensky, ReformWe begin with Telegraph's suggestion that Reeves' black hole is closer to 50bn and why we are in such a fiscal pickle and have been encroachingly for some time. Then a deep dive into the Knessit's predictable rubber stamp of the West Bank incursion by the IDF (we'll get the Palestinian angle from Andy W asap,). we also touch on Zelelensky back at the White House backed by the Coalition of the Willing , and a very brief By-Election corner- more next time no doubt.
2025-08-2358 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensSaturday 16th August 25: Sturgeon, Vance, Snap Elections Protest and PolicingLast weekend some 450 people including retired lumanaries were arrestedprosting about an organisation whose name we could not initially use. Currrently Yvette Cooper's edicts are amidst Judicial Review as a snalection call attracted some 760,00 online signatures, presumably optioning a debate in the Autumn... the Asylum Hotels issue has relented for a bit with Tommy Robinson's arrest. Previoulsy one JD Vance spoke very highly of him, and he is enjoying a vortex of umbrage from the Cotswolds to Ayrshire, as Nocola Sturgeon releases her Autiobiography'Frankly'....
2025-08-1648 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensRural RumblingsSir Keir is often accused of not getting far beyond his doorstep in Primrose Hill. This image from the on-trend Crewkerne Gazette appears to contradict this impression, t politico Uk reckons that next years' locals will be fought and won in the Shires. this leads Leonie and Mal (Graham is away) to take a deep dive into the styate of town and country in2025, plus a few pertinent dioversions.
2025-08-091h 29
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensNorman Tebbitt, Ozzy Osbourne, Palerstine and moreAs JD Vance gimlet-eyes Albion from his bunker in the Cotswolds, having broken bread and diet coke with Lanmmy, we consider the passing of two (other) pribes of darkness and the prospects for a Palestinian state amongst other things (Graha returns next week)
2025-08-021h 00
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensCooper and Stevens on Gaza and Your PartyThis time, a deep dive into Gaza with Mal looking at the Israeli side of the question as reports of Stage 5 famine and mounting deaths by starvation are upon us. Then we look at Your Party , formerly Arise amidst the flurruy of by-elections and the none-too-distant prospect of local elections nexzt May. Do check Double Down News on the Epstein Files and on Gaza by the way. www.doubledown,news
2025-07-2655 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensGraham Stevens8th July - Ecopolitics Round-UpI, facepalm, fell asleep while sending the agenda for this weeks' conclave, but Graham ( this is his giant Desert Cloud Rainmaker , commissioned by the Sultan of Brnei in the early 70s ) was up bright and early.
2025-07-1943 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensMacron, the Welfare Bill, Indie Schools and moreWe've moved back to the weekend- for our informal but well-informed trawl through the weeks political and cultural doings with an occasional South London spin ( here, Southwark's Council Leader Rota) . I had hoped we could discuss Norman Tebbitt's legacy but a domestic kerfuffle cut the ignal temporarily. More next weekm if not before.
2025-07-1239 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensAndy Worthington plus Pamela Mounter with Wandsworth Quakers on Penal Reform ft Dame Sheila HancockWandsworth Prison Improvement Campaign prompts the first leg of my conversation with AW this month- the question of the state of our facilities and their vesdtigial values is exercising Wandsworth Quaker spearheaded by Liz Bridge, the former Prison Chaplain and the inveterately skilled actor and now activist Dame Sheila. AW and I move on the shaledown of the (temporary ?) rise of Reform locally , Inevitably Gaza -also a mode of inescapable confinement under siege- and much more. It was a late spring afternoon and the birds were singing in the garden - one thinks conversely of the Birdman of soon to b...
2025-05-151h 10
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensCooper and Stevens Monday 12th MayThis time we consider Wandsworth Quakers' concerns about the state of the local HMP and national policy ( more on this with Dame Sheila Hancock and Andy Worthington next up) , the UK: US Trade Deal , Reform embarking on local governbance and more with a late lunch flavour rather than Breakfasting for the time being.
2025-05-1354 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensLindsay Wesker: The Mistakes I Made and How You can Avoid Making ThemLindsay Wesker has worn all the hats that there are to wear in the music business with irreverent zeal and professionalism - including creating or co-creating major platforms to spread soulfulness and genre-hopping talent -spotting and cajoling . At 65, he has written his fourth book - an autobiography peppered with evocative road stories and hard-won wisdom. It's available through Amazon and is highly recommended.
2025-04-2133 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensEaster Monday with Leonie Cooper - Pope Francis, Geopolitics , The ObserverThe smoke will be going up in a few weeks from the Vatican and from the UK Polls. Leonie reflects on the augurs ahead .
2025-04-2151 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensThelma Ruby and Susan Cusack- Saving Wimbledon ParkThelma Ruby - Theatrical Doye , ( most recently in the Amy Winehouse biopic), and now Activist- has just turned 100 and yet beat me up the stairs to the spectacular view she has across Wimbledon Park, where Capability Brown's design has been preserved by the All- England tennis Club since it took on the stewardship in 1993, the year that Thelma moved in. Now she contemplates watching this view dissolving into concrete infrastructure to support expansion of the prep phase of the tournament. we were joined by Susan Cusack of www.savewimbledonpark.org to examine ( rather than drill down as it were) why the...
2025-04-1548 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensAndy Worthington on Mahmud Khalil, British Steel. Wealth Taxation...My monthly catch=up with Investigative Journalist and Campaigner www.andyworthington.co.uk finds us looking at the Khalil case and the moreorless wobbly Oval office decrees, the UK government rescuing British Steel and why, the invasion of London's greenfield- and brownfield- sites prompted by Wimbledon Temnis' designs on nearby heritage ( more on this in situ on the next pod) and much more.
2025-04-1554 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensTrump's Tariffs begin, (Save) Wimbledon Park, Renting through the roof, By-Election CornerThis weekend on Riverside Radio I speak at length to centenerian activist Thelma about her role in the mission to save Capability Brown's heritage from the All England Lawn Tennis Association's plans which is going to Judicial Review in July. Here Leonie and Mal sketch in the political background while Graham comments as an architect and non=practicing Barrister. We also look at the crisis in London renting reported by the Evening Standard ( new legislation is in due process) , at the week in the Orange Tannery and we've Mal's By-Election corner.
2025-04-111h 14
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensCorey Booker, 'Liberation Day' Thames Water, Immigration & GentrificationThe week when mainstream Democrats got their act together in parallel with Sanders and Ocasio-Cortex drawing the likes of 34,000 in oyblic, and the week when Traiffs on the UK and EU started their run-up. Meanwhile Starmer was at Lancaster House again on the Asylum Seekers/ Small Boats issue and Londoners finf gentrification on the rise again as a key utility narrowly avoids bankruptcy with U,.S. Money .
2025-04-0556 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensReeves' Spring Statement and the Oval OfficeThe U.S. Defence Secretary (some of the surrounding intelligensia pictured here) signalling in a supermarket car park, the Senate majority looking a tad wobbly but for the former UN ambassador candidate staying put , and the price of Mexican Blueberries - meanwhile Reeves' Spring Statement wavers under the threat of tarrifs on car manufacture as it now is...
2025-03-281h 02
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensMusk, Geopolitics, Soho and Blue NoteThis time, Musk gone rogue , Badenoch launches the local election hustings ever so quietly just as she was underguesstimated by one of her own shadow team, and Blue Note pulls out of a Soho deal due to early doors.
2025-03-2256 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensOval Office Antics, London's Night-Time EconomyThe picture here is of Becky Burke, a student from Yorkshire on a backpacking trip who was picked up by ICE for being somewhere near a removal process of 'illegals'. Her parents are trying to keep track of where and how she is as no doubt is the Consulate. Meanwhile Mohammed Khalil's deportation for organising student protest at Columbia has been blocked by a Federal Judge. Robert Reich over on Substack suggests that , as per JD Vance suggesting that Zelensky broke the '...Hillbilly code of honour', Trump is stoking resentment against degree holders as if they were unpatriotic (Vance...
2025-03-151h 02Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensAndy Worthington on Musk/ Trump, , Starmer, Leveson...AW and I discuss the Hayekian overload in the Oval office , whether we are catching cold from their sneezing and why, International Womens' Day viz a viz its themes of Empowerment and the hitherto disempowered victims of the tabloids on whose behalf Hacked Off is seeking to push for 'Leveson 2' under Starmer
2025-03-111h 06
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensLeonie Cooper, Graham Stevens: '... Fascism doesn't work- Discuss'After some tec resolution ( amid the technocracy) we're back with a deep dive into events in the Orangery since we last met, and some sidebars on Rachel Reeves' budgetary headroom and ecology at the London assembly
2025-03-0855 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensAndy Worthington : On the Bricks and Mortar in Geopolitics and DemocracyThe News Review crew will be back soon,. Here's investigative journalist and campaigner Andy Worthington ( www.andyworthington.co.uk) in our monthly conclave on the impulse that drives apparently disparate character as Trump and Ben Houchen, and where that vector has the cards falling for the rest of us.
2025-02-111h 05
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensJimmy Carter , Musk and Oldham, 2025 Augurs with MalJimmy Carter spent his latter years discoursing from his boondocks pulpit, curing diseases and building houses for the disadvantaged- RIP. Meanwhile Musk, apparently amesiac about Epstein's friendship with Trump, inveighs about still-emergent abusive grooming in the UK to start the political year. Mal and I talk about what this says about the health of the body politic and some of what may be heading our way this year.
2025-01-0449 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensFarage, Spycops and Burnout on the Buses?Morning- I'm surfacing after a long day culminating in the excellent Soul Of Women at St Gabriels Pimlico with Fiona Frank, Maggie Lorelli, Caroline Goodwin and old friend Keith Bray . It began with the dawn patrol News Review(Thanks to my regulars including day off Birthday Lady Leonie Cooper AM) - we talked about Farage on the Hunt, the eye-watering revelations at the Spycops trial (Thanks to Mal's former pupil George Monbiot) and Bus Drivers at TFL protesting the risk of pan-seasonal burnout.
2024-12-281h 00
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensAndy Worthington on Syria, Trump, Starmer ...Independent Campaigning Journalist www.andyworthington.co.uk (also now on Substack) joins me for our roughly-monthly survey broadly-leftist of world affairs and the intermingled state of London. This was recorded before the announcement of the release of Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu.
2024-12-181h 19
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensAssad, Democracy and its wavering, By-Election Corner, Thames Water....What degree of nationhood will the new Syria achieve? Will the various elements of the hardish right gathering in Europe strengthen themselves or dissemble? How Trumpworld is lurching towards the dais , how the polls are reacting to Starmerism this week and a glance down at the state of the Thames Watee.
2024-12-141h 09
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensGrimston and Stevens - South Korea to Thames Water, National Rail via the New Year HonoursWe begin with a pre- martial law prognosis PA by the South Korean PM , consider why John Harris in The Grauniad thinks that the Starmer government (and others)'...Don't speak Human' , consider insolvency vs. nationalisation (remembering 1st time round) and glance at the leaked honours list.
2024-12-0754 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensCooper , Grimston and Stevens- Storm Bert revisited, Lebanon Ceasefire, Assisted Dying Bill, Transition TownsLeonie graciously joined us lurgified in the early mirk fresh from a snowy Norfolk Beach - we gents had been luckier this far. This time, the state of the near shire after Bert, the state of and prospects for Lebanon , what we now know was the eventual passing of the first reading of the Assisted Dying Bill, and the very much alive Transition Towns movement (of whom a bit more on the Riverside Radio show this weekend).
2024-11-301h 03
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensJohn Prescott, Farmers in Whitehall, G20 and COP 29Echoes by way of the legacy of the late John Prescott, with whom Leonie worked as she describes, abound in the weeks' developments around Farming and Environment, Global Warming and Geopolitics
2024-11-231h 10
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensTrump Picks, Reeves and Pensions, Welby resignation, Sparkle!We look at the inevitably disruptive nature of Trumps' emerging team, Rachel Reeves' big announcement about public sector Pensions deployment , Justin Welby's reluctant resignation over the Makin review and, on the upswing, a new chapter in happy and safe inter-generationality in Wandsworth.
2024-11-161h 03
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensThe Orange Landslide EditionMal and Graham Risk Assess in irreverent depth the ripples of the next 4 years considering as per the old adage the Sneezing and the Catching of Colds.
2024-11-091h 03Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensAndy Worthington in ConversationAndy Worthington www.andyworthington.co.uk is a campaigning independent investigative journalist with particular interests in civil liberties , the future of the left, the state of London and the Middle East. This is the first in a series of monthly conversations on this platform recorded in his office in South-East London
2024-11-031h 00
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and Stevens2nd November 24: Reeves Budget, Tory Leadership, U.S Election AugursAs we reconvene we consider the Reeves Budget amid early by-election losses for Labour, what shapes the Tories might be in next week and the U.S Election knife-edge with our usual sidebars and diversions.
2024-11-021h 04
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensJulien Assange@Council of Europe, Tory Conference/ Leadership, Johnson, Geopolitics, Old Industry dies hardJohnson releases a warhorse , the Tories take a few round the paddock, the Lebanon is potentially the Israelis' achilles heel and a final blast furnace and coal mine close.
2024-10-0559 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensGrimston and Stephens- Starmer's Optics:Delivery, The LebanonLeonie was away this week at the Wimbledon Park Planning Hearing ( topic for next time I hope)- this time Mal and Graham look at Starmer on or off the ropes but well-dressed, and the threadbare moral compass across Israel and The Lebanon.
2024-09-2859 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and Stevens21st September- Europe Now, Poland, Blue Collar MPs...Back after a couple of weeks away with Ursula Van Der Layen's tilt this term, according to Paul Taylor in the Grauniad, Mal's recent trip to Poland, Starmer's week or so, Blue Collar Parliaments' prospects to level up the Commons and more.
2024-09-211h 02
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensStarmer, The Far Right enabled?Ukraine, the Croydon effectThis podcast is hosted from Croydon, a satellite of London which falters but has had big wins- Will Noble has a new book about it. Prospect discusses whether our political mainstream instrumentalises the far right, and why is Ukraine being held back in Russia?Plus a few thoughts on political portaiture such as this example controversially stashed away this week.
2024-08-311h 01
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensKamala@DNC; Tory Leadership Contest, By-Elections ; VAWG in Twickenham; Climaste Change RhetoricMal and Graham( plus Mal's Gas Engineer) discuss how clear the Harris/ Walz run at the Presidency might be, the 20th anniversary of Amelia DeLaGrange's murder in Twickenham ( sadly preceding Milly Dowlers') , greenwash and hyperbole in Climate Change conversation and more.
2024-08-2456 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and Stevens17th August- Gaza, Venezuela, Cuba, Parenting in SummertimeThis time, talks about Gaza minus Hamas about which Biden feels optimistic, the phenomenon pf clinging on to power post -Biden with reference, for example to Venezuela and Cuba (Mal is a frequent visitor there), and a survey about Parenting and the Summer Holidays highlighted by the SW Londoner suggesting that the mojo and oomph to get out and play with ones' kids has gone astray. NB :Graham-inventor of the Bouncy Castle incidentally, as a science education resource-m mentions Sergei Zimov (pictured) , Siberian re-wilder https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Sergei+Zimov
2024-08-171h 02
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensRiots and The OlympicsSynchonised bovver appeared to be putative non-Olympic fringe event this week - a long look at the whys and wherefores and a glance at the Paris medal table .
2024-08-1059 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensKamala, Rebellions, GB Energy and moreLeonie, Mal and Graham consider Kamala's prospects, whether Starmer will eventually feel the heat of internal rebellion, the prospects for GB Energy amid a 25bn deficit, the Cofd Enqwury's initial report this week and more
2024-07-271h 02
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensLeonie Cooper -Rayner, Abbott, Melenchon,Stormont, Housing Crisis...Leonie reflects on the role of women in the new administations getting going, and a deep dive into the Housing Crisis as one of Labours' early challenges.
2024-07-1349 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensPost-Election Special - Leonie Cooper. Graham StevensA relaxed trawl through last nights' general electoral shenanigans with Leonie Cooper AM and Graham Stevens (Mal having been up all night as the John Curteis of our Election coverage while I was at the Lambeth count for Riverside Radio and Leonie in Wandsworth.
2024-07-0549 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensGraham Stevens on Farage, Social Media, Art, Therapy...With Leonie and Mal elsewhere , Graham and I started with Farage's pitch to Gen Z , which has also been the focus of dietary fixation and a national sports week , and a broader discussion about those bits of experience where politics gives way to art and therapy but lingers. More on Graham's work : https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/offre-aux-professionnels/enseignants/dossiers-ressources-sur-lart/art-et-ecologie/trois-questions-a-graham-stevens
2024-06-2246 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensSaturday 16th June: Elections Special ?This weekends' News Review is is now up considerign the week in the hustings, how energy policy might fare in the next parliament/s, the Euro and French elections and the return of Yosser Hughes (in the week of a critical report about the state of the gig economy)
2024-06-1559 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensElection 2024, Paula Vennells, Deliveroo, Childrens' Cities of The FutureMal assesses the prospects for political culture with a Sunak legacy and a Starmer pitch, which , as Graham joins us, to look at thek Deliveroo workers' protest at the corporate AGM, Paula Vennells at the Post Office/ Horizon enquiry , Kenneth Clarke and the retrospective blood scandal and how things might be better run and overseen in the future- a future envisioned by children in Coventry in a project reported by SW Londoner this week with their idea on green cities of the future. The slightly photoshopped image here is by the great Cold War Steve.
POST COMMENT
2024-05-241h 06
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensApril 27th - Frank Field, London Mayor 24, Nightlife/Daylife and Nimbys...Mal Grimston & Graham Stevens on underdog champion Frank Field (RIP), the London Mayoral debates and prospect, DJ Fat Tony in the Evening Standard on Nimbyism in Soho & elsewhere, Thames Water, AI and of course Gaza.
2024-04-2758 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensSaturday 20th April ft Graham StevensWhile Leonie and Mal are away, Graham and I dug into some of the nat phil and ethics in this weeks' stories- George Monbiot on the possible deportation of Climate Change protestor Marcus Decker , https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/19/victimise-people-protest-britain-destroy-families-not-in-my-name ,Brian Feeney in the Irish News casting a weather eye on Britian's socio-political sense of itself https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/brian-feeney-counting-the-cost-of-britain-s-delusions-of-grandeur/ar-AA1nhmeU?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=463c385ed4ae4b10e922f320f758d440&ei=17, (Caroline Lucas has a new book on the subject too) Thames Waters' possible Re-Nationalisation and more.
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2024-04-2056 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensGaza/UK Law Lords, Facial Recognition, Paul Marshall @GB News and beyondA briefer conversation this time with Mal Grimston on the Lords /Law Lords/ Defence Contractors and International Law (vide Lord Nicholas Soames pictured here) , a report on our patch from SW Londoner on a first public deployment of Facial Recognition in Wandsworth & Prospect Magazine's investigation into Paul Marshall's sizeable reach and ambition beyond GB News.
2024-04-0626 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensMarch 23rd - The Garrick Club, Leo Vradkar, Air Quality, We Deserve Better/ Peoples ' PrimariesLeonie Cooper is away until until early May- in her absence we attempt to tackle the position of all-male bastions like The Garrick Club where right-on denizens were called onto recuse themselves this week. Leo Varadkar resigned as a united Ireland looks a bit more feasible , Owen Jones resigned from Labour in favour of pressure grouping from the Left , Peoplers' Primaries debuted chaired by Mal's former student George Monbiot, and the SW Londoner reported on the state of air pollution in South London over the past 3 years or so..
2024-03-231h 08
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and Stevens16th March - Mal and Graham on Dianne Abbott, Frank Hester ,Lee Anderson, Political Psychology This week we arrived at Wandsworth's crowning as Borough of Culture for 2025 and started with Lee Anderson's shift to Reform UK , La Mordaunt hovering, Frank Hester and Gove on Extremism. All of which feed our deep dive this week via a recent Psychology paper by Graham's friend Bernard Burgoyne.
2024-03-161h 03
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensGeorge Galloway, Gaza, Biden's State of the Union, Boroughs of CultureAfter some tec kerfuffles we're back , and so in another part of the forest is George Galloway. Biden does his State Of The Union Address partly ion the campaign stump amid Ceasefire Now flags in the chamber. Hunt lays out the Spring Budget, and Wandsworth and Merton throw their hats inthe ring to be 2025 Borough of Culture (this was recorded among the current incumbents) The Indie this morning reports a Labour proposal to teach kids to question what they read online, which interestingluy echoes the points which Graham makes here about social media.
2024-03-0956 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensSaturday 20th Jan- Leonie Cooper AMIt's 'taters guv in London town - meanwhile over-the-shoulder Sunak and 'small boats' meets a first lamentable-circumstances challenge - Polly Toynbee in The Grauniad speculating that defeat of the new Rwanda Bill in the Lords might be calculated to play to the gallery .Elsewhere in Immigration some EU nationals can stay, some have to go - que pasa? Andy Burnham, reflecting on the cancellation of HS2 (the Express of all outlets, since we recorded, floats the idea of a 'Nature Super Highway in itsplace) thus far suggests that Britain is now run by a cadre of 50-odd players; Trump wins i...
2024-01-2041 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and Stevens13th January - Gaza at the ICJ, Left-field Mayoral bids, Indie Venues, House of LordsLeonie (plus hounds Bertie and Toby) and Mal met up with Andy for breakfast at their old haunt in Wandsworth : up for discussion, of course, the ICJ proceedings in The Hague , some left-field candidates for London Mayor ( similar types in By-Election Corner) , the welcome crowdfunded reprieve for The Sound Lounge in Sutton and Labour's position on the House of Lords reform - will it and should it happen?
2024-01-131h 02
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensSaturday 6th January - Emotional Intelligence and New Year messagingMany Thanks to Leonie for stepping in to chair as I had mic problems- I chip in an afterword. This week Graham's citation of Daniel Goleman in The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/daniel-goleman-why-societys-emotional-intelligence-is-under-threat-v0kw9lvzj frames a discussion about The Post Office as portrayed in 'Mr bates vs' on ITV this past week, OFSTED in the Ruth Perry Case , and the appeal of three parties (including the new iteration of Reform UK) in their New Years' offering , not being all that specific - you may say 'early days', with a likely election later this year. The team...
2024-01-0657 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensNews Review 23rd December- Driving Home for Christmas ?A busy Political week but we take stock through the prisms of Levelling Up (or Down) via Gove : Khan and Housebuilding, Motorists monitored under the Criminal Justice Act, Zelensky, Trump and more. A Very Happy Christmas and and New Year all.,
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2023-12-231h 01
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and Stevens16th December- Bibby Stockholm, David Cameron, Election 2024...The Braverman legacy continues to unfold with the passing of the Rwanda Bill at first reading and a death on the Bibby Stockholm. John Crace in The Grauniad sees a government in '...Narcisistic death spiral' while Cameron steers a path or two, Tufton Street (reports Byline Times) quietly launches toward the Red Wall and By-Elections are counting ...
2023-12-161h 09Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and Stevens16th December- Bibby Stockholm, David Cameron, Election 2024...The Braverman legacy continues to unfold with the passing of the Rwanda Bill at first reading and a death on the Bibby Stockholm. John Crace in The Grauniad sees a government in '...Narcisistic death spiral' while Cameron steers a path or two, Tufton Street (reports Byline Times) quietly launches toward the Red Wall and By-Elections are counting ...
2023-12-161h 09
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and Stevens9th December ft Ian Tattum- Cost of Living, Braverman, Johnson on Covid, Barbados...This week saw the launch of an important report into London' Costs of Living ,
Wandsworth Cost of Living Commission - Wandsworth Borough Council
Braverman' twilight address to the Commons, Johnson at the Covid Enquiry, and HRH on Reparations, plus a potentially significant by-election.
2023-12-091h 02
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensSaturday 2nd Dec- Alastair Darling, Henry Kissinger, COP 26 and London ...This week in the UK saw the passing of Alastair Darling, he of the 2008 crash steerage , whom Leonie got to know- she it transpires is also addressing COP 28 for the London Asembly . We consider the legacy of Henry Kissinger - not the Messiah but a very naughty boy? Plus of course Mal's election corner and various important sidebars. I append some of a little fanfare I wrote recently (Mal i incidentally alo a Composer) with Thanks on my 62nd to this wonderful lot for braving all times and weathers with their wisdom and bonhomie.
2023-12-021h 04
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and Stevens18th November - Reshuffle, Autumn Statement, Starmer, Gaza...The week in politics thought through with nutritous sidebars and irreverence.
2023-11-181h 02
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensSaturday 11th November - Braverman / GazaA nudge too far from Braverman? And reflections on the week in Gaza with some important sidebars.
2023-11-1148 min
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensSaturday 4th November - COVID enquiry , Gaza , By -Elections under the radar, Eric Cantona and Third ActsThe Covid Enquiry reaches Module 5 and the usual suspects (Larry is already on 6 of course) , Gaza continues in (?) intractable tragedy, UK By-Elections yield some surprises under the radar, and Eric Cantona and young Roman Kemp diversify in the public eye as the other young turks become the old guard , where might they go ?
2023-11-041h 10
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensSir Humphrey AD2023, Planners' Zeitgeist, Hamas/Putin, Steve Bell...The Drake report on the churn in the Civil Service First Division under Johnson, who got another international gong this week , leads us to look at their importance and what happens in their absence- 'Yes Minister' is a crucial point of reference. Planning and Building regulations past and future come up a we ponder the pressures upon a potential Starmer administration. A glance at Turkey, and the acking of cartoonist Steve Bell steers us to the Middle East and Ukraine.
2023-10-281h 05
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and Stevens21st October- Labour wins, Gaza War continuesLeonie braved a nasty cold, Mal stayed up most o the night with Psephology, Graham as ever sage on the optics and the legal underpinnings.
2023-10-211h 10
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensGaza, Labour ConferenceThe Al Aqsa Flood was a few hours old just as I had posted last weeks' conversation with Graham . We survey what we know about the Gaza War ( there remains imho the possibility that some of the findings have been gruesomely staged ) , and begin with the Labour Conference at which Leonie was a delegate.
2023-10-141h 07
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and Stevens30th September: Braverman, HS2, Cost of Living, By-Election CornerWe return after a tec hiatus with amongst other things Bravernan getting team up in NYC, HS2 going nowhere fast and office returners facing the ramp-up of childcare costs and in some cases going nomadic. Plus Mal's By-Election Corner.
2023-09-301h 02
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensNews Review 26th August-Prighozin, UK Primaries and more
2023-08-261h 06
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensParky, David Lammy in Brazil, Trump, By-Elections UK, Geopolitics...The UK's illustrious answer to Johnny Carson et al passed away this week , so a tribute- David Lammy on a prequel trade mission to Brasil (and later India), Trump rattling around, By-Election Corner and Geopolitics behind the egregious flames.
2023-08-191h 16
Chiminea News Review -Cooper, Grimston and StevensLondon Tories, Bibby Stockholm, Maui, Sheila Hancock on 'Hospitality'Leonie, Mal and Graham on Eddie Lister's review of the Tories' ways and means in London, what it might signal for Sunak's dog days (Rafael Behr in The Grauniad), Maui, Mal's By-Election Corner and Sheila Hancock on British, er, Hospitality
2023-08-121h 19