Alongside the usual Spotify playlists and Reddit stats, one of the sharpest annual roundups comes from PoliticsJOE. Each December, they sit down with Private Eye editor Ian Hislop to pick apart the year’s political highs, lows, and outright absurdities.
It’s not a comedy revue like the Private Eye theatre show; it’s more of a conversational dissection, but Hislop’s dry wit and long memory make it just as biting. The format is simple: take the biggest stories of 2025, strip away the spin, and laugh at the contradictions. From Westminster scandals to media gaffes, it’s a reminder that satire doesn’t need a stage; sometimes it’s just two people talking plainly about how ridiculous politics has become.
If you’re outside the UK, it’s still worth a watch: you’ll get a brisk, irreverent summary of the year’s headlines, with Hislop’s trademark mix of cynicism and humour.
No Rerolls 
Even from here, Starmer’s government seems like one of the most awful things you’ve had in a long, long time. When Farange becomes PM next year, it’ll be on Starmer’s government.
I’m just wanting to see if he rolls back some of Starmer’s Big Brother, or doubles down on it. I hope for yours and all of our sakes for the former….
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I do think he’s had a level of bad faith scrutiny that no new PM has had, largely because the media have been trained on years of covering relentless sleaze since 2016.
But he’s also really not helped himself.
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While I’m not in the UK, it does seem like each of the successive train of post-Boris Tories had a lot of scutiny on them as well – and deservedly so. The way I see it is that you can blame the Tories for Starmer, and you can blame Starmer for cocking up so badly and quickly for having Farange in next. I always blame the incompetency of the incumbents when the next government turns out to be awful.
I’m not a fan of the worldwide trend of parties that once looked after the working classes becoming infested with identity politics and authoritarian control over the populace as their priorities. This is how you end up with Trump, Starmer and their ilk in control.
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Not to Labour(!) the point, but did you see Starmer’s proud tweet a couple of days ago? Now that’s a man who needs to be charged with treason at this point, along with whoever else had a hand in that.
In case there’s any confusion on my perspective & background, I’ve been a proud progressive left-voting individual for my entire life with very working class, immigrant roots who has been told to “f-off back to your own country” as a kid by old racists. I do look at individuals, actions and their behaviour than playing it all like a ride or die team sport.
Which by modern metrics makes me only slightly less fascist than the Klan, apparently.
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