The government has approved drilling at the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea. It is a decision that has split the Labour Party.

It may only be the beginning - the far more controversial decision on the Rosebank gas field is still to come.

Anoosh Chakelian is joined today by Megan Kenyon to discuss.

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On 3 November, Americans will head to the polls for the midterm elections.

We will be publishing one episode a week for the next three weeks, every Wednesday, taking in the lead up and results.

In this first episode, we ask: Where are the key battlegrounds these elections will be fought?

US correspondent Freddie Hayward is joined by the NS’s senior data journalist, Ben Walker, political scientist Lisa Bryant and New York Times White House reporter Shawn McCreesh.

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Reform UK is in crisis, amid a cascade of scandals

The party’s poll rating has fallen from mid-thirties highs to the low twenties, with a recent poll showing them slipping to third place.

This has come amid the “Burnham bounce” - Labour’s improved polling triggered by the change in Prime Minister.

Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Megan Kenyon to discuss.

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Reform falls behind Labour and the Tories for the first time since the general election, how animals shape our voting patterns and 100 years of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Anoosh Chakelian and Will Dunn round up the stories of the week.

READ: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/bursting-the-bubble/2026/10/our-mania-for-animals-warps-politics-priorities-and-personal-lives

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/the-sketch/2026/10/tiktoks-irreverent-slop-was-made-for-nigel-farage

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2026/10/in-praise-of-winnie-the-poohs-idleness

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Ten years after the Brexit referendum, a British Prime Minister has said out loud what much of the country has concluded: Brexit did more harm than good.

Andy Burnham has told his party that no credible ten-year plan for Britain can avoid the Europe question, and has since declined to rule out rejoining the EU in Labour’s next manifesto.

Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Tom McTague and Ethan Croft to discuss.

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It’s been a tumultuous time for the Green Party. Their controversial “Zionism is racism vote” and leader Zack Polanski’s defeat in a by-election in North London has led to turmoil within the party.

Meanwhile, is the long-suffering Tory party finally experiencing a “Kemi-bounce”?

And how about the Lib Dems? Is leader Ed Davey facing a coup?

Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Megan Kenyon and Ethan Croft.

Correction: Jamie Driscoll was not suspended from the Labour Party. He wasn’t allowed to stand as a candidate and so he left the party.

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Reform clearing its own officials of breaking party funding law, Kemi Badenoch’s inheritance tax gambit and was Britain really better off in the 1980s?

Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Will Dunn for our weekly round up.

READ: https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2026/10/spains-warning-to-andy-burnham

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/the-sketch/2026/10/vegan-sausages-and-loathing-at-green-party-conference

https://www.newstatesman.com/business/economics/2026/10/was-britain-really-better-off-in-the-1980s

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Labour has held the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, with Sagal Abdi-Wali retaining the seat for the party despite a hard-fought contest from Green Party leader Zack Polanski.

The result preserves Labour’s long-standing grip on the constituency, and disrupts Polanski’s momentum.

Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Megan Kenyon and Ben Walker to discuss.

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At the Green Party conference, party members backed a motion to describe Zionism as racism.

Zack Polanski, currently campaigning in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, missed the controversial vote, which called for Israel to be replaced by a single Palestinian state.

Is this a watershed moment for the Green Party?

Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Megan Kenyon.

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At this week’s Labour conference, Andy Burnham announced bigger and bolder policy ambitions than anyone expected. Was this too big a swing? Or the grand vision the country needs?

Elsewhere, next Thursday, there is a by-election happening in Holborn and St Pancras, the seat vacated by Keir Starmer.

Oli Dugmore is joined by business editor Will Dunn and political correspondent Megan Kenyon to discuss.

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Labour Conference 2026 draws to a close with Andy Burnham's speech.

The PM's announcements included scrapping the triple lock pension, electoral reform, a new help-to-buy scheme, Great British Grid, an end to the public ownership ban on water companies and a range of options for our relationship with Europe which he will be looking into.

Anoosh Chakelian is at the Labour Conference and is joined by Ethan Croft and Ailbhe Rea to discuss.

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