Episode 1: The UK Elections

Show notes

This episode hosted by Dr Jamie Ranger and Dr. Umer Jan features guests: Niamh Cashell, a politics phD candidate at the University of Manchester and Oly Durose, a political writer and media communications officer for the former Labour Party leader. The episode delves into the aftermath of the UK's recent general election, highlighting the Conservative Party's historic defeat and Labour's victory despite a fragmented electorate and low voter turnout. The discussion also explores how emerging technologies, such as AI and social media, influenced the campaign, while raising concerns about the future of political communication and governance in the UK.

**Additional Information; Clarifications & Elaborations **

• Amy Orben’s article ‘The Sisyphean Cycle of Technological Panics’ is available ⁠here⁠.
• The study that analysed Facebook targeting campaign demographics is available here.
• Nigel Farage deepfake videos referenced can be found here and here.
• The Sun – Labour advertising in newspapers – Morgan McSweeney’s strategy of placing Labour Party advertising in the Sun newspaper is discussed here.
• Clips from Ed Davey’s fascinating Sky News appearances during the election campaign as leader of the Liberal Democrats can be found here and here.
• The Cilla Black memes used by the Labour Party are discussed here.
• Clips from the election night coverage by BBC News and the Channel 4 coverage of Artificial Intelligence were used in compliance with the principle of "citation" (Zitierfreiheit) outlined in Section 51 of the German Copyright Act (Urheberrechtsgesetz, UrhG), which allows for short excerpts from copyrighted works to be used, provided the purpose is to engage in commentary, criticism, or scholarly discussion.