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Bold Politics with Zack Polanski
British political podcast From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Bold Politics with Zack Polanski is a weekly political podcast hosted by Zack Polanski,[2] Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. First released on 3 September 2025, a day after Polanski's victory in the 2025 Green Party leadership election, it is the first podcast to be hosted by a leader of a British political party.[3] Bold Politics takes on a conversational format, featuring guests including Ash Sarkar, Gary Stevenson and Owen Jones. It is usually recorded at Acast Studios in central London.[4]
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Background
Prior to his election as leader, Polanski has stated that too much time was being spent "complaining about media coverage for the Green party, and I still think that's legitimate. But I also think at some point you've just got to step up, and you've got to go even if all the odds are stacked against us. The Green Party's role is to cut through and to be able to tell an alternative story."[5] On 2 September 2025, Polanski won the 2025 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election by a landslide.[3]
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History
The first 35-minute episode of the podcast was released on 3 September 2025,[3] during Polanski's "media blitz" following his victory.[2] The New Statesman has argued that the podcast is "clearly intended as a left-wing counter to Nigel Farage’s prime-time daily GB News show, and the right-wing drift of so many 'podcast bros'."[6]
The first episode featured Polanski talking to journalist and activist Ash Sarkar on the topics of wealth taxes, the future of the Green Party, and why they believed UK Prime Minister “Keir Starmer is spectacularly shit at politics."[2] They also discussed their agreement on transgender rights and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict,[7] including the proscription of Palestine Action, as well as Zohran Mamdani.[3]
Guests Gary Stevenson and Zoe Gardner followed in subsequent episodes.[6] At the Green Party's annual conference, Polanski was scheduled to record a live episode of Bold Politics with journalist Owen Jones.[8]
As of 3 September 2025[update], future guests billed for the podcast included actor-director Jolyon Rubinstein.[3]
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Reception
By 8 September, Bold Politics had reached fourth place in the UK news podcast charts.[5]
Conservative papers The Times and The Telegraph rated the first episode of the podcast negatively, both giving it 2 out of 5 stars.[7][3] The Times called it "nauseating left-wing populism", comparing it to the California governor Gavin Newsom's This Is Gavin Newsom podcast.[7] The Telegraph noted that Ash Sarkar's inclusion may have been a "courtship of Sarkar's base, and therefore anyone considering joining [Jeremy] Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's Your Party."[3] Both papers criticised the podcast for not sticking to conversation about the environment.[7][3]
Episodes
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References
External links
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