''Oh God, What Now?'' formally known as ''Remainiacs,'' is a British hour-long weekly

political podcast Political podcasts are podcasts that focus on contemporary politics and current events. Most political podcasts maintain a connection with an existing media source such as a newspaper or magazine. They aim to inform or entertain or advocate a c ...

about

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

, speaking from the pro-Remain point of view. It was started on 26 May 2017 as ''Remainiacs'' after the European Union membership referendum as "a no-holds-barred podcast for everyone who won't shut up about Brexit". In October 2020, ''Remainiacs'' was renamed ''"Oh God, What Now?",'' due to the nature of Brexit making the unlikelihood of re-joining and changing nature of the British government.

Description

It was presented by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' Dorian Lynskey, newspaper columnist for '' i'' newspaper

Ian Dunt Ian Dunt (born 4 February 1982) is a British author, political journalist and broadcaster. He currently writes as a columnist for the 'i'. He previously served for many years as the Editor of politics.co.uk. He was also a host on the Remainiac ...

Best for Britain Best for Britain is a civil society campaign, launched on 26 April 2017, to stop Brexit and continue the UK's membership of the European Union (EU). Since 2021, the organisation's aim has changed to encourage greater internationalism rather tha ...

's Naomi Smith, former academic for

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

Ros Taylor, and journalist and former editor Andrew Harrison, who was also the producer. Three former guests; actor and former deputy editor of the

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

's Alex Andreou, political commentato
Nina Schick
and Minnie Rahman, Interim Chief Executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants have later become regular presenters as well. It followed a format of half the show in a rundown of the news about Brexit with discussion along with a weekly guest, and then the other half with a straight interview with the guest in question. The podcast was both named one of the "Best Podcasts of 2017" by ''The Guardian''

Miranda Sawyer Miranda Caroline Sawyer (born January 1967) is an English author, journalist and broadcaster. Education and early life Sawyer was born in Bristol and grew up in Wilmslow, Cheshire with her brother Toby, who is an actor. Sawyer was educated at ...

, and nominated for a podcasting award, the 2018 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards' "Podcast of the Year", however it lost to

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband ...

's ''Reasons to Be Cheerful''. The show is made at the back room studio of Soho Radio London, in

Great Windmill Street Great Windmill Street is a thoroughfare running north–south in Soho, London, crossed by Shaftesbury Avenue. The street has had a long association with music and entertainment, most notably the Windmill Theatre, and is now home to the Ripley' ...

, Soho, London. As well as the weekly show, there is a series of ''“Remainiacs Live”'' shows at which the hosts spoke among themselves about Brexit. Venues included The Phoenix gastropub in

Cavendish Square Cavendish Square is a public garden square in Marylebone in the West End of London. It has a double-helix underground commercial car park. Its northern road forms ends of four streets: of Wigmore Street that runs to Portman Square in the much lar ...

, Marylebone, the Stoke Newington Literary Festival,

Leeds City Varieties The Leeds City Varieties is a Grade II* listed music hall in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. History Leeds City Varieties was built in 1865 as an adjunct to the White Swan Inn in Swan Street by architect George Smith for Charles Thornton. Alon ...

, the

Epstein Theatre The Epstein Theatre, built in 1913, is one of many theatres in Liverpool, England. It has been threatened with closure several times, but reopened in May 2011 after a £1.2m refurbishment. It has now been renamed the Epstein Theatre, in honour ...

in Liverpool, Hove's The Old Market Theatre and regularly at the

Leicester Square Theatre The Leicester Square Theatre is a 400-seat theatre in Leicester Place, immediately north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. It was previously known as Notre Dame Hall, Cavern in the Town and The Venue. The theatre hosts st ...

. Remainiacs was part of the ''Podcast Live: Politics'' day long festival of different political podcasts on 7 April 2019 at

Friends House Friends House is a multi-use building at 173 Euston Road in Euston, central London, that houses the central offices of British Quakers. The building is also the principal venue for North West London Meeting and the Britain Yearly Meeting The ...

, Camden.

Notable guests

Notable guests have included:

''The Bunker''

After the relative success of ''Remainiacs'', the ending of the withdrawal period and with the extra funding from their Patreon backers, the producers of the show created an hour-long non-Brexit general politics podcast called ''The Bunker ''in January 2020. This show follows the same format as Remainiacs, but without the reference to Brexit. After just one show, it became one of top ten politics podcasts on the UK iTunes chart. Due to the large amount of news that being produced during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, from 26 March short one to one interviews half-hour shows were made under the title of ''The'' ''Bunker Daily''. Success of The Bunker Daily has led to the show being a permanent feature of the podcast. There is also a culture version of the Bunker, that produced on Saturdays called ''The Culture Bunker''.

Notes

References

External links