How dark money is taking our politics backwards

Alex Andreou and special guest, investigative journalist Peter Geoghegan, discuss how dark money is "Americanising" our political debate in areas like women's reproductive health - and how Reform UK represents an opportunity for those who wish to subvert our democracy further. ***SPONSOR US AT ⁠⁠KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD⁠⁠*** “The US State Department’s substack put out a statement recently saying, effectively, we’re going to meddle into other people’s elections. They were criticising the German government for saying Alternative für Deutschland - some of which has roots in a fascist past - for describing them as extremists.”  “The way in which very strong ideas of religiosity, which are not just about personal belief, but are much more about how society should be organised, and which are often - at best - agnostic towards democracy, have become increasingly strengthened.” “Problem is that current proposed electoral law reform is mostly about fighting the last war; tidying up the loopholes that exist. There is nothing about what is coming down the track: dark money flows, crypto, foreign interference, the ability to use AI to make small donations, social media disrupting elections - none of this is being looked at.” CALLS TO ACTION: Subscribe to Peter's substack ⁠⁠Democracy for Sale here⁠⁠. You can buy Peter's book from the Quiet Riot Bookshop here. ***SPONSOR US AT ⁠⁠KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD⁠⁠*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices