Steve Richards Presents: Rock’n’Roll Politics

“This show has put down roots in EdFringe over the past decade, establishing itself as a regular Fringe favourite.”

Rather a lot has changed in our political landscape since I last reviewed ‘Steve Richards Presents: Rock’n’Roll Politics’ in 2013. For one thing, the Post-Post-War Consensus – the steady relay race that delivered (relative) policy continuity from Major to Blair to Brown, to Cameron – broke down under the weight of a binary in/out referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU. So the only big question in politics today is who will the architects of the Post-Post-Post-War Consensus be? Post-pandemic, post-net zero, who will be running Britain?

“Not you mate” as the voter said to the organist. Labour needs Scotland and London to win at Wastemonster. With the Independence question still unanswered, the former remains as much of a challenge as it did before the spectacular implosion of the seemingly solid Sturgeon administration. With Mayor Sadiq Kahn’s ULEZ expansion proving so terrifically unpopular, the former is less certain than it should be at this point in the election cycle. Post-Corbyn, the red team’s mounting internal divisions and catastrophic vulnerabilities will be a key determining factor in whether Labour can oust from office a blue team holding 157 more seats than them. It’s worth remembering that in 1997 New Labour gained ‘just’ 146 in the most dramatic landslide of recent memory.

So there’s a contradiction running through the heart of this year’s edition of ‘Rock’n’Roll Politics’. This is a show, or rather it’s a conversation, between Richards and his audience, about what is happening and what might happen rather than what he or they would want to happen. Richards has views, he has opinions, but his focus is on objectivity rather than the kind of subjective political debate that so quickly descends into a shouting match. And yet, objectively, Labour seems further from Number 10 than is allowed for in the unchallenged assumption that Keir Starmer is anywhere close to victory. By the end of the hour, I am no more enlightened as to how Labour intends to triumph than when I went in. Perhaps that’s the point.

Subjectively, I like Steve Richards and I am clearly not alone. It’s a full house. Objectively, this show has put down roots in EdFringe over the past decade, establishing itself as a regular Fringe favourite for many. And yet, as a vigorous sapling, it still has many of the same issues it had as an ambitious seedling. The pacing is still hopeless. Richards, who made his living padding out the Sunday politics shows back in the day, needs to say what he will do much less than he just needs to do it. Richards needs to upgrade his format without dislodging himself from that comforting midpoint he inhabits between Peter Henesey and James Carville. The content is all there but he should not be content with how it’s presented.

Without some big clear questions being asked, commentary breaks from insight and heads off down a rabbit warren. I’m ready to see this show branching out of the Wastemonster bubble and looking further afield for inspiration. The shadows dance across the back wall of Plato’s cave amid endless speculation and commentary. Meanwhile, reality gets on outside. Richards has an ultra-solid foundation. It’s time for him to build on it.

In the meantime, come for the quiet charm and unabashed wonkery. Stay for the rapport. Get your anoraks on and go see this!