Rough sleeping and homelessness are some of the most intractable problems successive governments have failed to solve; but does it need to be this hard, are the solutions already out there, and if so why has no administration managed to grasp the nettle? Lord John Bird, crossbench peer and co-founder of The Big Issue magazine, Andy Preston, former mayor of Middlesbrough and founder of the charity CEO Sleepout UK, and Matthew Torbitt, a campaigner on homelessness who used to advise a number of Labour MPs, join Alain Tolhurst to discuss if Keir Starmer's administration will fare better than those before him.

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Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

What does the continued fracturing of the UK’s political landscape means for our democracy going forward? After a preliminary vote on proportional representation surprised almost everyone in Westminster by passing last week, will this Parliament might finally see some movement on electoral reform? Lisa Smart, Liberal Democrat MP for Hazel Grove and vice chair of the new All Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Elections, Dr Jess Garland, Director of Research and Policy at the Electoral Reform Society, and Robert Ford, Politics Professor at the University of Manchester and author of the Swingometer newsletter, join Alain Tolhurst to discuss whether fragmentation is here to stay.

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Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

So, when is a reset, not a reset? As Sir Keir Starmer outlines various ‘milestones’ he wants to achieve before the next election, a panel of seasoned analysts look at why is there a squeamishness about resets, why parties still end up doing them so often, and whether they can be done effectively. Catherine Haddon, programme director at the Institute for Government, Jo Tanner, a political comms strategist who worked on Boris Johnson’s London mayoral campaigns among many others, and Sir Craig Oliver, former Downing Street director of communications under David Cameron join Alain Tolhurst to discuss what it says about an administration that you need to undertake one in the first place.

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Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

A panel of foreign policy experts joins host Alain Tolhurst to look at global affairs, the dangers the UK faces around the world, how the public feels about them, and what Keir Starmer's government can do to tackle the big security issues. Sophia Gaston, who works at the ASPI think tank, Tobias Ellwood, former defence committee chair, and Chris Hopkins, political research director at pollsters Savanta, discuss whether it’s Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Gaza or China and Taiwan, if foreign policy will end up distracting Labour from their core domestic agenda fixing the country’s public services and growing the economy. Later in the episode former Conservative defence secretary Grant Shapps, and the new chair of the foreign affairs committee, Emily Thornberry, both speak to Alain about those threats, and how the government can help the public feel safer in our increasingly dangerous world.

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Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

With the return of the bill on assisted dying next week we're unapologetically getting into the weeds of Parliamentary procedure for this episode, and looking at whether a Private Members Bill from a backbench MP is really the best way of passing such potentially important legislation. Two doyens of PMBs in UK policy circles; Dr Daniel Gover, Senior Lecturer in British Politics at Queen Mary University in London, and Dr Ruth Fox, director at the Hansard Society, help shine a light on a little understood, but sometimes hugely important, part of our legislative system, while Liberal Democrat MP Roz Savage, who has her own backbench bill, explains what it's like going through the process to host Alain Tolhurst. We also hear from two former Conservative MPs; Virginia Crosbie and Dean Russell, who together managed to get a long-awaited bill securing fairer tips for hospitality staff onto the statute book last year, about how they did it.

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Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

After a host of MPs were among the millions of people to quit X, formerly known as Twitter, in recent days over the role of its owner, the billionaire Elon Musk, and the amplification of misinformation and abuse, Josh Simons, Labour MP for Makerfield and member of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, joined Ben Guerin, co-founder of creative agency Topham Guerin, which has worked on several high-profile political communications campaigns, and Alain Tolhurst and Zoe Crowther to look at the role of algorithms in mass communication, the manipulation of social media, and whether politicos should finally wean themselves off Twitter despite Westminster being glued to the bird site for more than a decade.

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Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot

After 14 years in power the Conservatives were unceremoniously booted out of office under a Labour landslide in July's general election, so this week Baroness Kate Fall, who was deputy chief of staff to David Cameron for more than a decade, Fred de Fossard, director of strategy at the Legatum Institute, and a former Conservative special adviser, as well as Henry Hill, deputy editor of the website ConservativeHome, join host Alain Tolhurst to discuss how the party tries to rebuild in opposition, which direction its takes, what can be achieved in opposition, and how it might plot a path back to power.

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Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot

After the most consequential Budget in more than a decade, Labour MP Chris Curtis, vice-chair of the Labour Growth Group, Mel Stride, former Treasury minister and ex-chair of the Treasury Select Committee, join host Alain Tolhurst and two top think tank economists; Isabel Stockton, Senior Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and James Smith, Research Director at the Resolution Foundation, to discuss if it will help Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer reach their goal of delivering economic growth back to the UK. There's also an
with Lord Jon Moynihan, Conservative peer and author of the new book ‘Return to Growth’, about whether the Chancellor is on the right track or not.

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Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

What happens when MPs stop being MPs? With hundreds of Parliamentarians having left the Commons this summer following Labour’s landslide victory, what happens to all those turfed out of their seats? Three former Conservative MPs; Vicky Ford, ex-MP for Chelmsford, James Sunderland, who represented Bracknell, and Matt Warman, the former member for Boston and Skegness, join host Alain Tolhurst to discuss if there is enough support, both financial and pastoral, in helping them move on with their lives, how easy is it to find a new career outside Westminster, and do we have the wrong impression about what life is like for ex-MPs?

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Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Ewan Cameron for Podot

After a new bill attempting to legalise assisted dying in the UK was introduced to the House of Commons, the Green Party MP Sian Berry, former Lord Chancellor and Labour Peer Lord Falconer, and Nathan Stillwell, assisted dying campaigner at Humanists UK, join host Alain Tolhurst to look at how likely Kim Leadbeater’s private member's bill is to eventually become law, the scope it might cover, how other countries like Canada have introduced and managed the process, and how to assuage the concerns of those worried about coercion, and that passing the law might start a slippery slope towards legalised euthanasia.

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Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton for Podot

As Labour prepares to mark 100 days in office Lucy Rigby, the party's new MP for Northampton North, Tim Durrant, programme director at the Institute for Government, as well as Emma Dean, managing director at Portland communications, and a former government special adviser, join Alain Tolhurst to look at how these first few months have gone, what Labour have managed to achieve back in power, some of the missteps, the briefings and rows that led to this week’s ‘reset’ in Downing Street and the ousting of Sue Gray, and what the government will do to move things forward, with a Budget and a spending review at the end of this month.

Ben Shimson, co-founder and CEO of Thinks Insight & Strategy, also discusses some exclusive polling for PolHome on how the public have viewed these first 100 days, with the full report available via our Saturday View newsletter

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Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton for Podot