549. Mamdani’s Wrecking Ball and the Rise of Anti-Migrant Vigilantes

  • The Rest Is Politics

  • 2 July 2026

  • Posted by Alastair Campbell

  • 0

Is Zohran Mamdani becoming much more than a mayor and effectively running a shadow presidential campaign through the candidates he's backing? How significant is Australia’s new centrist party and could something similar be done in the UK? Are the anti-migrant protests and vigilantes in South Africa unique to the region, or part of a global populist pattern of scapegoating migrants for the failures of politics?


Join Rory and Alastair as they answer all these questions and more in this week's edition of Question Time.

__________


Enjoy Rory and Alastair’s interview with Malcolm Turnbull by searching ‘Leading’ on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube.

The TRIP+ summer sale is HERE: Get an annual membership for an extra 20% off with code SUMMER26. That's ad-free listening, every bonus episode, and full access to our exclusive members' series. Sale ends August 31st, so grab it before summer's over.

Go deeper into the world of The Rest Is Politics by signing up for our free newsletter HERE, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis and weekend reads from Alastair and Rory.

The Rest Is Politics is powered by Fuse Energy. Stop overpaying for energy. Switch at fuseenergy.com/politics and get a free TRIP+ subscription.

Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ nordvpn.com/restispolitics It's risk-free with Nord's 30 day money back guarantee ✅

__________


Instagram: @restispolitics

Twitter: @restispolitics

Email: therestispolitics@goalhanger.com

__________


Social Producer: Celine Charles

Video Editor: Lorcan Moullier, James Clayden

Assistant Producer: Daisy Alston-Horne

Producer: Evan Green

Exec Producer: Chris Sawyer

General Manager: Tom Whiter

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

569. Farage’s Foreign Funding Scandal and Germany’s Far-Right Breakthrough

As the Alternative for Germany party secured its best ever election result in Saxony-Anhalt, is the country about to get its first far-right state premier since the Nazi Party, and will Chancellor Fri... Continue

9 September 2026

497 campbell books

Alastair Campbell’s diary: Books are the key to understanding the world. That’s why Putin wants to burn them

Putin wants an all-out attack on Ukraine's culture - and on the things that make life bearable in horrific times... Continue

9 September 2026

205. Anthony Scaramucci: Why America Keeps Making the Same Mistakes

Why does Anthony Scaramucci think Osama bin Laden is “winning”, and what has the War on Terror really cost America? From letting China into the WTO to bailing out the banks in 2008, how did Americ... Continue

7 September 2026

Becoming Burnham: The Manchester Arena Call, Westminster Plotting, and Keir vs Andy

To hear the full episode, and the whole series, sign up at therestispolitics.com How did Andy Burnham learn about the Manchester Arena bombing? Would he still have tried to become PM had Keir Starmer... Continue

3 September 2026

568. MAGA’s Plan to Make Britain Look Broken and Iceland’s ‘Brexit’ Moment

Did Iceland's rejection of EU membership talks repeat the same mistakes as Britain's Remain campaign, and does it hand a dangerous propaganda win to Farage, Putin, and the wider anti-European right? A... Continue

3 September 2026

567. Who Really Benefits from AI and Will Data Centres Decide the Midterms?

Why is the backlash against data centres becoming one of the most combustible issues in US politics? What does an AI system's attempt to cheat, cover its tracks, and break into another company’s web... Continue

2 September 2026

Alastair Campbell’s diary: Trump says Europe is broken. My nine-country journey showed how idiotic he is

Football, lakes, trees, plus plenty of work – that’s my idea of a great holiday... Continue

2 September 2026

204. Will a Wealth Tax Actually Fix Britain? (Dan Neidle)

Why does tax expert Dan Neidle take Gabriel Zucman seriously as a thinker on inequality, but dismiss Gary Stevenson's warnings as populism? What did he uncover in Peter Mandelson's emails, and how did... Continue

31 August 2026