Shows / Jam 1st
Jam 1st
Political podcasting from Cornwall, UK. We say:
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Jam1st is not associated with any other businesses using the same name.
Jam1st is dedicated to propagating the understanding of and preservation of democracy in Cornwall and UK generally.
Jam1st is not affiliated to any political party, think tank or lobby group.
Jam1st is a not-for-profit operation and the contributors to Jam1st receive no remuneration in connection with their participation in this site.
Jam1st…
Episodes
- Jam 1st
Immigration to UK - 2026 update
Send us some feedback here! Last year Robert spoke of the rapid "Boriswave" of inward migration to UK and how politics was changing in response, with the rise…
- Jam 1st
Why don't the Cornish put sugar in their tea?
Send us some feedback here! A lighter-hearted mini-episode this week, where Robert looks back to the eighteenth-century Methodist John Wesley and his effect on…
- Jam 1st
Political donations by billionaires
Send us some feedback here! Reform UK had just received two very large donations, meaning that since the last general election they have raised twice as much…
- Jam 1st
Feedback please!
Send us some feedback here! Do you like our short format podcasts? Or would you prefer longer in-depth examinations of topics? Let us know by going to…
- Jam 1st
The Blackshirts return?
Send us some feedback here! A young woman protestor is assaulted at a populist party conference, and an MP defends the assault on TV. Groups of black-clad…
Jam 1stThe Prime Minister's visit to Cornwall, devolution, and debt
Send us some feedback here! Andy Burnham visited Cornwall in August. Cornwall Council is deep in debt. How can they dig us out? How can we reduce the vast…
Jam 1stExporting MAGA to the UK
Send us some feedback here! MAGA is spending $millions to spread their ideas to the UK. Are these UK-USA shared values, or an attempt to stimulate division and…
Jam 1stAI - will it help the people, or with the tech bros control all the information?
Send us some feedback here! Garth has a few things to say in his usual trenchant style. Robert talks about science fiction (again). And what did Peter Thiel…
Jam 1stSigns of Fascism - Part 2
Send us some feedback here! Garth and Robert discuss the last seven of the fourteen warning signs of fascism, and come up with a scorecard for where USA and UK…
Jam 1stIs Andy Burnham missing the point?
Send us some feedback here! UK has a new Prime Minister. We ask: - does he control the Labour Party? - what will he do differently to Sir Keir Starmer? - can…
Jam 1stRacism 1 - Katherine's story
Send us some feedback here! What does racism look like on each side of the Atlantic? In part one of a two-part series Garth interviews Katherine, a White…
Jam 1stWhy don't people vote LibDem?
Send us some feedback here! Is the centre ground dead or are the LibDems an option? Garth and Robert live in Cornwall, UK. They want you to think about…
Jam 1stSigns of Fascism (part one of two)
Send us some feedback here! F is for FASCISM. Garth and Robert look at the famous poster of the Warning Signs of Fascism and discuss to what extent they are…
Jam 1stWhat has gone wrong with Britain?
Send us some feedback here! In this short episode, Garth looks back over the last fifteen or so years, summarising how a happy country has tuned angry and…
Jam 1stMoths, Woodlice, and the May 2026 UK elections
Send us some feedback here! To commemorate Sir David Attenborough's centenary, Garth and Robert have a tongue-in-cheek discussion about clothes moths and…
Jam 1stIs The Reform Party a British version of MAGA?
Send us some feedback here! Garth and Robert discuss the Hartland Institute, a UK right-wing thinktank which appears to be following the same ideology as the…
Jam 1stRetail, shoplifting and the Squeezed Middle
Send us some feedback here! Garth interviews a senior retail manager about how supermarket shopping habits are changing as price rises take hold on most of us…
Jam 1stIran War! What is it good for? Absolutely no clue....
Send us some feedback here! Garth and Robert muse on the Iran War. What is Trump's objective? Has he got stuck in a quagmire? What will this do the world's…
Jam 1stWhat the Gorton and Denton bi-election says about UK politics
Send us some feedback here! A grassroots win by the Green Party against oligarch politics? Garth and Robert discuss. We also talk about Council elections in…
Jam 1stLiberalism - why we need it!
Send us some feedback here! In this episode, Robert examines the intellectual argument for liberalism: its tenets, its history, what it has done for ordinary…
Jam 1stStrengthening democratic institutions
Send us some feedback here! Garth interviews Christine Leisner about her work to build the institutions which underpin democracy in many nations round the…
Jam 1stPopulism - the rise of Reform in Cornwall
Send us some feedback here! It's time Garth and I spoke about Reform. Why have they done well in Cornwall Council elections? What do they plan to to on a…
Jam 1stPopulism - an introduction
Send us some feedback here! A three-minute explainer on what populism means in our politics. Can it affect Cornwall? Garth and Robert live in Cornwall, UK…
Jam 1stIn the DOGE house - could it happen in UK?
Send us some feedback here! Garth has some old mates from His Majesty's Civil Service. Given what Musk's DOGE did to their American counterparts, we wonder if…
Jam 1stWelcome to 2026!
Send us some feedback here! Happy New Year! here is our roundup of 2025 - in macrocosm of world politics, and in microcosm how this is reflected in Cornwall's…
Jam 1stChristmas wishes from Garth and Robert
Send us some feedback here! Garth and Robert discuss what Cornwall Council owes, and how it might be paid back - and in macrocosm what the UK owes in…
- Jam 1st
How citizens can counter disinformation and fake news
Send us some feedback here! The final episode from tech entrepreneur Rick, discussing what citizens of democracies can do to counter disinfo, fake news, bot…
- Jam 1st
Cornwall Council Leader Leigh Frost
Send us some feedback here! We are please to talk with Cornwall Council Leader Leigh Frost. - Leigh discusses -his liberalism -how the Lib Dems and Indy group…
- Jam 1st
October scone
Send us some feedback here! Garth and Robert discuss the recent No Kings protests across the USA. Garth interviews social media business guru Rick concerning…
- Jam 1st
September Scone - the Tech Bros
Send us some feedback here! Garth and Robert begin a new series called "Sunday Scone" - obviously with jam on first! - where they discuss the previous week's…
- Jam 1st
The artist's duty to resist fascism
Send us some feedback here! Garth continues his interview with Sarah from NYC, and speaks with an American tech expert about the pervasive role of social…
Jam 1stLosing democracy? USA and UK
Send us some feedback here! Garth interviews a citizen of New York City concerning President Trump's anti-democracy tactics - and sounds a warning. Could it…
- Jam 1st
Michael Bunney - community in Cornwall
Send us some feedback here! Respected Cornish historian and community leader Michael Bunney talks to Robert about what makes Cornwall unique - and how…
- Jam 1st
Young people and democracy - by Tod (age 13)
Send us some feedback here! Garth's impressive young friend Tod explains why and how young people should get involved in participatory democracy. Jam 1st…
- Jam 1st
Inward migration to the UK. Too much? Not enough? Why?
Send us some feedback here! Robert attempts to tease out the strands of this knotty issue. Garth and Robert live in Cornwall, UK. They want you to think about…
- Jam 1st
Trump - an American view
Send us some feedback here! Garth explains his American wife's view on Trump, and sounds a warning. Garth and Robert live in Cornwall, UK. They want you to…
- Jam 1st
Free speech in the UK?
Send us some feedback here! What is free speech? Where are its limits? Should its expression have legal consequences? If yes, why? Garth and Robert live in…
- Jam 1st
Democracy - not a spectator sport!
Send us some feedback here! Garth and Robert talk more of the distorting power of wealth, and the effect of disinformation by media which is bought and paid…
- Jam 1st
Introduction to Jam 1st
Send us some feedback here! Robert & Garth state their manifesto: politics is NOT a spectator sport! Garth and Robert live in Cornwall, UK. They want you to…