Pod Save the UK21 Aug 2025

Does the UK have a gambling problem? Out and about w/ Dawn Butler

High streets across the UK are being overwhelmed by betting shops. They gobble up £4.6 billion from punters every year - and local councils have almost no powers to block them.

Labour MP Dawn Butler’s constituency, Brent East in North-West London, has 81 licensed enterprises alone. Jumping into “Betsy”, Dawn’s prized old-banger, Coco is taken out and about in Willesden to see first hand how betting shops are popping up everywhere and hear what local residents think.

Along with 37 council leaders and mayors, Dawn is calling for a reform of the Gambling Act 2005 and a hike in gambling duties. With hints she might stand to be London mayor at the next election - could this be the first glimpse of her campaign?

Then, Nish and Coco give their assessment of Keir Starmer and the European moral support squad’s visit to the White House - is Putin still calling the shots on Ukraine? And as Starmer’s Government slumps to an all-time low in the polls, Sadiq Khan has a spicy take on Labour’s first year in power. But a glimmer of hope: is that a don’t-call-it-a-wealth-tax on the horizon?

On a less hopeful note, what on earth is going on with Labour’s social media account? And Nish and Coco struggle to get their head around the new Gen Z additions to the Cambridge Dictionary. Is politics all “delulu with no solulu”?

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USEFUL LINKS

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Stop the Genocide Special - Tuesday 2nd

https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/words/pod-save-the-uk-x-amnesty-international-uk-stop-the-genocide/

Future of the left - Sunday 7th

https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/comedy/pod-save-the-uk/

Sign Dawn Butler’s Petition for Gambling Reform

https://www.dawnbutler.org.uk/gambling_reform_petition

Gambling Support

https://www.gamcare.org.uk/

GUESTS

Dawn Butler MP

CREDITS

IG / @UKLabour

TikTok / @politicsprincess

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