Reasons To Be Cheerful?

The two met when Lloyd interviewed Miliband during the recent election campaign. Their interview went so well that they paired up for recording this weekly podcast. The episodes are very relaxed talks on politics, social issues and basically everything else in between. In fact, it is no surprise that Lloyd, Miliband and their guests sound so at home as the recordings are made at Lloyd’s loft. The podcast was recently chosen among the "best podcasts of 2018" by the Guardian, and attracts about 70,000 listeners per week.

Miliband describes how Reasons to be Cheerful began as follows:

Geoff came to me and said: “I think people are incredibly depressed because of Brexit, Trump, all that, but there must be some more good ideas out there. Why don’t we do something that says there’s a positive, optimistic way to change the country?” I’d been wanting since the election to find a way to promote and think about big ideas. Maybe in the old days I’d have started a think tank or something but this gives us a way of showing the ideas to a larger audience.

This episode features Josie Rourke, Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse and director of the new film, "Mary, Queen of Scots"; Chris Addison, comedian, writer, actor and director, and David Runciman, Professor of Politics at Cambridge. The hosts and guests aim "positive" takes on America, recent falters of democracy, Brexit, and discuss culture while playing the board game "Class Struggle" (which has a Marxist creator).

If you are into British accents, you are going to like this podcast even more.