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Politics and government

81 public ChatShows on Politics and government, by sub-topic. Each ChatShow is a spoken discussion of one question by AI heads under a chair, held to a standard set before it starts and checked by a fact desk after. Anyone hears the first minute free; a new account starts with free credits.

Elections 4

• Priorities Not Red Lines: Irish Coalition Talks Before the Count Would Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael be wise to form a formal coalition agreement with Sinn Féin after the next general election, and what policy red lines should each party publish in advance to protect its membership? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.8
• Block Voting in UK Elections: Coercion, Postal Votes and Safeguards Is block voting illegal in UK elections either council, by or general. If so what measures are available to prevent it? 6 heads · 30 min · 4.8!
• Should Denver Switch to Ranked-Choice Voting for Its Mayor Race? Why would a city like Denver be right to adopt ranked-choice voting for its mayoral race starting in 2027, and what turnout or cost figures should decide it? 2 heads · 30 min · 7.6
• Should Scottish Councils Keep Single Transferable Vote Or Move to Single-Member Wards? Ensuring fair representation in Scotland, should the Scottish Parliament adopt a single transferable vote system for local councils by 2030, even if it means fewer single-party majorities? 2 heads · 10 min · 7.2

Democracy 13

• Who Should Decide on Detroit's Proposed Wealth Tax, and Who Can Stop It Who should decide whether Detroit, Michigan adopts a citywide wealth tax on households above $1 million in net worth, given that a 2% annual levy could raise an estimated $400 million a year? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.2
• Spain's Wealth and Corporate Tax Reform: Keep Revenue, Avoid Flight Which tax reform should Madrid adopt to raise revenue from wealth and corporate profits without driving high earners and firms out of Spain, and by what date? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.8
• Who Pays the Reporters: Platform Money, Levies and Local News in Canada Why would a Canadian regulator in Ottawa or Toronto need to force the largest tech platforms to share advertising revenue with local news outlets, and what share should the Competition Bureau insist on by 2027? 4 heads · 25 min · 5.9!
• Expanding Canada's Housing Benefit: Cash, Supply and Who Pays By when should the federal government expand the Canada Housing Benefit and rent-geared-to-income support so that renters in Toronto and Vancouver stop spending more than half their income on shelter, and how should it fund that expansion? 4 heads · 15 min · 6.8!
• Should Ottawa Publish the Premises Behind Policy Memos? By when should Ottawa require every federal reasoning-based policy memo, such as those on carbon pricing, to publish its key premises and the fallacy checks applied to them, and what would it cost the public service to do so? 4 heads · 25 min · 7.6
• Should Ohio and Michigan Replace Default Marriage With Renewable Unions? Consider the rising share of unmarried adults in Ohio and Michigan: should state legislators there replace the default marriage contract with a renewable, term-limited union that couples must actively renew, and what renewal rule and filing fee would they set? 4 heads · 20 min · 8.5
• Elected Senate or Reformed Appointed Lords: Britain's Second Chamber Debate Is it time for the UK to replace the hereditary element of the House of Lords with an elected second chamber in Scotland and England by 2030, and if so, how should the Lords be elected? 2 heads · 20 min · 7.9
• Should Government Pay for Reporters on Councils and Courts Across England? Factoring in the BBC's licence fee model and the rising cost of local news in places like Sheffield and Stoke-on-Trent, should the government fund a dedicated public reporting service for councils and courts across England by 2027, and how much should it cost per year? 2 heads · 10 min · 6.5!
• Should the UAE's Federal National Council Be Able to Block the Budget? Given the UAE's federal structure, where seven emirates share a Supreme Council of Rulers but Abu Dhabi and Dubai hold the decisive weight, should the Federal National Council in Abu Dhabi be given the power to block federal budget allocations by a two-thirds vote from 2030 onward? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.4!
• Should Outside Groups Teach Ethics in Mexico City's Secular State Schools? Who should decide whether secular humanist groups in Mexico City can hold public ethics classes in state schools instead of Catholic religious instruction, and by what date should that policy take effect? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.3!
• Who Should Decide Ultra-Orthodox Conscription, and By When Who should decide whether ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighbourhood must serve in the Israel Defense Forces, and by what year should that rule take effect? 2 heads · 10 min · 6.4
• Should Brazil's Supreme Court Grow, and Should Justices Get Fixed Terms? Who should decide whether the Supreme Federal Court in Brasília can be expanded from eleven justices, and should a fixed term of twelve years replace life tenure for new justices by 2030? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.3
• Who Guards the Referees? Weak Democracies and How to Repair Them What are the weaknesses of the democratic system, how do bad actors undermine democracies. How do you strengthen weakened democratic states? 6 heads · 40 min · 7.1

Law and justice 9

• Utah's Social Media Law: Verify Age, Or Fix the Feed? How far should Utah lawmakers go in requiring social media platforms to verify the age of users under 18 and obtain parental consent before showing them algorithmic feeds, given the 2024 Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act and the court challenges it has faced? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.4
• Should Houston Schools Schedule Prayer or Silence During the Day? Would a city like Houston be right to allow public school districts to schedule prayer or moments of silence during the school day, and if so, how should it protect students who do not want to take part? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.2
• Should Ontario Give Common-Law Couples Married-Style Property and Support Rights? By when should Ontario couples who cohabit for years without marrying be granted the same property and support rights as married spouses, and should the province legislate a fixed cohabitation period of two years to trigger them? 2 heads · 10 min · 5.9
• Hawaii's Overthrow Legacy: Recognition, Home Lands, and Need-Based Housing Which policy should Hawaii's state government adopt to address the legacy of the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, given that the Apology Resolution of 1993 disclaimed any claim to restitution? 4 heads · 30 min · 5.5!
• Juries, judges and whether unanimity really checks prosecutors Is a jury in Cook County, Illinois, a better check on prosecutors than a judge alone, and should the state require unanimous verdicts in non-capital felony trials starting in 2027? 4 heads · 30 min · 7.1!
• Should Separate Tenancies Count as One Household for Benefits? Is it fair for a couple in Manchester who rent separately but spend most weekends together to be treated as single people for council tax and benefits, and should the rules be changed to recognise them as cohabiting? 3 heads · 20 min · 6.4
• Should Federal Agency Rule Challenges Go Before Three-Judge Panels? Now that the Supreme Court has overturned the Chevron deference doctrine, should federal courts in Texas and Louisiana be required to hear challenges to agency rules before a three-judge panel with a 2027 deadline for ruling? 3 heads · 30 min · 8.4!
• Brain Scans in Oregon Courts: Injury Evidence Versus Claims of Absent Responsibility By when should Oregon's courts stop treating a defendant's brain scan as evidence of free will or its absence, given that neuroscience cannot yet separate deliberate choice from prior neural causes? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.1
• Should Scotland Scrap Civil Juries and Trust Judges Alone? Should Scotland abolish juries in civil cases and rely on judges alone, and if so, how should the Scottish courts ensure public confidence in the outcome? Wilson · 5 min

Immigration 3

• Should Congress Fund More Immigration Judges and Cap Asylum Waits? Now that asylum seekers in Texas border towns often wait months for hearings in overloaded immigration courts, should Congress fund a fixed number of additional immigration judges and cap the time a claim can stay pending before a decision is made? 3 heads · 15 min · 4.0!
• Should Arizona Border Counties Process Asylum Claims Locally? What happens if Arizona counties near the southern border start processing asylum claims locally under a state-run pilot, and should Congress fund that model nationally by 2027? 2 heads · 10 min · 5.9!
• Should Britain fund a Manston processing centre to clear the asylum backlog? Now that the Home Office backlog of asylum claims in Kent has grown past 50,000 cases, should the UK government fund a regional processing centre in Manston and cap new claims from safe countries to clear it within two years? 2 heads · 10 min · 4.5!

Monarchy and constitution 1

• Should Malaysia's Rulers keep their consent veto over federal laws? Can we determine whether Malaysia's Conference of Rulers should keep its power to veto or delay federal legislation affecting the states, given that Johor, Perak and Selangor have each had disputes over state constitutional amendments, and what concrete reform should Parliament pass by 2027? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.1

Political parties 1

• Should Saudi Arabia Allow Registered Political Parties by 2030? What would it take for Saudi Arabia to allow legally registered political parties in Riyadh and Jeddah by 2030, and which party rules should the government set first to keep them from becoming factional vehicles? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.4!

Local government 27

• Should Austin Schools Require a Stoic-Style Ethics Course? By when should Americans in Austin, Texas, adopt a Stoic-style personal ethics framework for public life, and should city schools teach it as a required course before high school graduation? 3 heads · 15 min · 9.0
• Eruv Expansion in Borough Park: Permits, Zoning and Public Money What would it take for Brooklyn's Borough Park community to expand its eruv and kosher-friendly public infrastructure without provoking zoning fights, and should New York City fund it through a specific budget line by 2027? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.4!
• Can Austin Nudge Adults Without Banning Anything? A Pilot Debate What would it take for a city like Austin, Texas, to adopt a policy that lets adults opt in to a paternalist default, such as automatic enrollment in a sugary-drink warning program, without the city banning anything, and what should the council decide first? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.2
• Should Zurich set a minimum price on drinks, and would it work? Factoring in Zurich's bar scene and the Swiss habit of drinking at the weekend, should the canton of Zurich adopt a minimum price of 1.50 francs per standard drink in pubs and nightclubs by 2027, and how would that hold up against cross-border shopping in Germany? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.1
• Reformation Day or May Bridge Weekend: Berlin's Holiday Choice for 2030 If Berlin's city government had to choose one public holiday to add or move for 2030, should it make Reformation Day, 31 October, a fully paid holiday city-wide, or shift the Labour Day May 1 bridge days into a single long weekend that boosts tourism? 3 heads · 15 min · 5.3!
• Can Latrobe Valley Win Over Workers and Councils for a Small Reactor? Can Australia's states and territories be persuaded to host a small modular reactor on a former coal power station site in the Latrobe Valley by 2035, and what would it take to win over local workers and councils? 2 heads · 25 min · 8.1!
• Should Cape Town Fund Khayelitsha Youth Clubs, and Who Picks Them? Can we determine whether Cape Town's township youth clubs in Khayelitsha should receive municipal funding to run weekend friendship and mentoring programmes, and if so, what annual budget per club should the city commit by 2026? 3 heads · 25 min · 8.1!
• Drains First, Then Ward Votes: Cape Flats Budget Debate Is it time for Cape Town's residents in the Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain townships to prioritise a public-funded happiness and meaning programme, such as community arts and volunteering centres costing R200 million a year, over new road and housing budgets? 4 heads · 30 min · 8.7
• Mana Whenua, Closure and Whether Visitors Should Pay to Walk Waitematā Routes Can Ngāti Whātua and the Auckland Council agree a shared management plan for Ōrākei Marae's sacred sites and the Māori pilgrimage routes around the Waitematā by 2028, and should visitors pay a fee to walk them? 4 heads · 15 min · 5.9
• Should Sydney Fund Permanent Prayer Rooms in Hospitals and Stations? What would it take for Sydney's councils to approve a permanent prayer room in every public hospital and train station in Greater Sydney, and should the government fund it? 3 heads · 25 min · 8.1!
• Should Wellington fund a protocol for unidentified objects over the harbour? Should Wellington City Council spend public money on a first-contact protocol for the Wellington Regional Emergency Management Office, covering what staff say if an unidentified object is reported over Wellington Harbour, and at what cost and by when? 4 heads · 30 min · 8.1
• Should Merthyr Tydfil Pilot a Guaranteed Basic Income? The Panel Divides Given the Universal Credit taper rate and the rising number of working-age claimants in Wales, should the Welsh Government pilot a guaranteed basic income for one Valleys town, such as Merthyr Tydfil, from April 2026, and what outcomes should it be judged on? 4 heads · 20 min · 7.9
• Mend What Stands, and Keep People Living There in the Old Town How far should Edinburgh's city council restore the Old Town's medieval closes and wynds, rebuilding lost streets for tourists and residents, rather than leaving the surviving buildings to decay? 4 heads · 15 min · 8.7
• Can Manchester Clean Up Its Buses, Trams and Bus Shelters by 2027? Can Manchester City Council ban junk-food adverts on buses, trams and bus shelters across the city by 2027, given the revenue it would lose and the evidence on children's diets? 4 heads · 15 min · 7.4!
• Should Edinburgh fund a library writing residency, or protect opening hours? Is it worth Edinburgh's city council funding a public library writing residency for emerging authors, at roughly £40,000 a year, given that local bookshops and the Scottish Book Trust already run similar schemes? 4 heads · 30 min · 6.8
• Should Councils Make English Classes a Condition of Housing Support? Given the rising number of overseas-born residents in Leicester and Bradford, should local councils there fund mandatory English-language classes for every adult claiming housing support, and what would that cost per council area per year? 2 heads · 15 min · 6.4
• Should Rural Montana Radio Carry Emergency Alerts in Blackfoot? Can we determine whether public radio stations in rural Montana should be required to broadcast local emergency alerts in Blackfoot and other Indigenous languages alongside English, and what funding should cover it? 2 heads · 15 min · 5.1
• Should Edinburgh Let Residents Vote on Granting a Superpower? Should Edinburgh's city council give every resident a public vote on whether a superpower, such as flight over the Royal Mile, should be granted to one person for a year, and what would the rules be? 2 heads · 25 min · 8.2
• Sheffield's Empty Homes Premium: Count Homes Lived In, Not Bills Sent How would a council in Sheffield balance housing its young renters against protecting the homes of older owner-occupiers when deciding whether to double the council tax premium on empty properties by 2027? 4 heads · 25 min · 5.1!
• Should Portland Teach Stoicism to Clerks? A Pilot Test Instead of a Mandate Would a city council in Portland, Oregon, be right to adopt a Stoic-inspired policy requiring every public employee to complete an annual course on dichotomy of control before handling citizen complaints, and what should the budget and evaluation look like? 6 heads · 40 min · 8.4!
• Should Leicester Drop Ethnic Monitoring From Its Housing Waiting List? Why would a council in Leicester be right to scrap ethnic monitoring categories on its housing waiting list and instead ask residents only about postcode-level deprivation, and what would that change for Asian and Black families? 4 heads · 30 min · 7.6
• Would Teleportation Beat a New Tram for Freiburg? The Panel Debates Why would a town like Freiburg im Breisgau, which already runs one of Germany's most ambitious solar-and-transit programmes, gain more from a citizen-wide superpower of perfect short-range teleportation than from any new tram line, and what should its council do first with it? 3 heads · 15 min · 5.4
• Restoring Holbeck's Victorian Mills Without Losing the Skyline What would it take for Leeds City Council to approve a new mid-rise housing scheme on the Holbeck riverside that keeps the Victorian mill facades, and what height limit should it set? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.5
• Should Roswell Fund a First-Contact Center? Panel Says Heritage, Not Protocol Would the city of Roswell, New Mexico, be right to spend public money on a permanent first-contact protocol center by 2030, and what budget should voters approve? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.6
• Should Glasgow Hold an Inquiry into the Rent Strikes and Council Housing? Would Glasgow City Council be right to commission a public inquiry into how the 1920s Red Clydeside rent strikes shaped today's council housing policy, and what should it recommend about rent controls? 2 heads · 10 min · 5.1!
• Short-Stay Noise, Parking and a Fifty-Night Cap in Auckland How would Auckland's Ponsonby or Grey Lynn neighbourhood residents best handle rising short-term rental noise and parking complaints from neighbours, and should Auckland Council adopt a registration scheme with a 50-night cap by 2026? 2 heads · 10 min · 4.8!
• Should Kyoto Cap Guesthouses in Empty Machiya Townhouses? Consider Kyoto's machiya townhouses, many of them now empty as their owners die: should the city government cap how many can be converted into tourist guesthouses, and if so, at what share of the district's housing stock? 4 heads · 20 min · 7.3

Free speech 2

• Should Synagogues Accept Federal Money for Armed Security Before the High Holy Days Where do American Jewish communities in cities like Brooklyn and Los Angeles stand on whether synagogues should accept armed private security funded by federal grants, and what should they decide before the next High Holy Days? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.6
• Should Families Hold a Veto Over True Crime Screenings and Novels? Is Lagos state's film and publishing regulators right to ban the public screening of true crime docudramas about real kidnapping cases in Ikeja without consent from surviving families, and should that consent rule be extended to crime novels based on real Nigerian murders? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.4

Policing 6

• Universal Pre-K or Targeted Aid: Equal Start in Philadelphia How far should the United States go in using progressive taxation and public childcare subsidies in Philadelphia to equalise opportunity for children, even when that narrows the freedom of wealthier families to choose how they spend and pass on their money? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.4!
• Should Australia ban paid loot boxes for under-16s, and by when? Ensuring Australian children under 16 can't be exploited by loot boxes and microtransactions in video games sold in Australia, should the federal government legislate a ban on paid random rewards for minors, and by what date? 4 heads · 20 min · 5.3
• Makoko Eviction: Protections First, Census Before Bulldozers Ensuring that Lagos State residents in Makoko get fair compensation before any waterfront eviction, should the government adopt a binding resettlement policy modelled on the World Bank's standards, and what would it cost? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.5
• Should Victoria or New South Wales Ban Loot Boxes for Under-16s by 2027? Where do Australian state governments stand on loot boxes and paid randomised items in video games aimed at children, and should Victoria or New South Wales ban them outright for players under 16 by 2027? 3 heads · 15 min · 5.8
• Should Chicago and Los Angeles audit or suspend policing algorithms? Which predictive policing or algorithmic risk-scoring tools should Chicago or Los Angeles suspend or audit before 2027, given evidence that they target neighborhoods with heavier past arrests rather than actual crime? 2 heads · 10 min · 3.1
• Should Lagos Fund Transit and Parks or Cash Transfers First? Consider Lagos residents working long commutes and informal jobs: should the Lagos State government prioritise a fixed-budget public transport and public parks programme over cash transfers to low-income households if the goal is measurable wellbeing gains by 2030? 2 heads · 10 min · 3.7

Prisons and sentencing 2

• Fix Bail and Remand Before Building New Jail Beds in Ontario How far should Ontario expand community-based sentencing and electronic monitoring instead of new prison beds to cut its overcrowded provincial jails by 2030? 4 heads · 15 min · 8.7
• Should Oregon Decentralise Drug Treatment and Decriminalisation Policy? What would it take for Oregon or a city like Portland to decentralise drug treatment and decriminalisation policy, with specific proposals on who decides, what funding flows, and which outcome figures should trigger a rollback within five years? 2 heads · 10 min · 7.2

Defence and security 5

• Should Ottawa legislate Arctic icebreakers and runways by 2030? If Canada's Arctic defence budget keeps falling behind its NATO spending target, should Ottawa commit by 2030 to a specific number of new icebreakers and northern runways at Iqaluit and Inuvik, rather than funding Arctic defence through open-ended annual appropriations? 3 heads · 20 min · 5.1
• Water First, Seed Second: Panel Weighs a Stockpile for Remote Britain By when should the UK government fund a national emergency seed and water-purification stockpile for the Scottish Highlands and Cornwall, two regions most cut off if supply chains collapse, and how much should it cost per household? 4 heads · 20 min · 8.0
• Defence Spending, the NHS and the Barrow Shipyard Trade-Off How would the UK government best meet its NATO commitment to spend 2.5 percent of GDP on defence by 2027, given the pressures on the NHS and the Barrow-in-Furness submarine yard's delivery record? 2 heads · 10 min · 7.9
• Can Switzerland keep its militia army and conscription through 2035? Can Switzerland in Bern or Geneva sustain its militia army model and compulsory conscription through 2035, or should the Federal Assembly shift to a smaller professional force funded by raising defence spending toward two percent of GDP? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.4!
• Why Modern Wars Hide Their Cost, and Whether Memory Can Stop Them Why is it that despite the heavy death tolls of previous wars throughout history, the futility of war and the horrendous loss of life is overlooked in modern conflict? 3 heads · 20 min

Foreign aid 1

• Aid Cap or Domestic Budget: Who Pays for Deprived Places? What could the UK government do with its aid budget, now cut to 0.3 per cent of GNI, to restore humanitarian funding in Scotland's and England's most deprived constituencies without breaking its own ODA rules, and what should Westminster expect in return? 3 heads · 30 min · 7.9

The European Union 1

• Should Germany Keep Allowing Chinese Stakes in Its Container Terminals? By when should Germany's Hamburg port authorities and the federal government decide whether to keep expanding Chinese-operated container terminal ownership, given EU tariff and export-control pressure on trade with China? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.4

Money in politics 2

• Should Germany cap corporate donations to parliamentary groups at 50,000 euros? Given Germany's federal parliament having grown past 730 seats, and the Bundestag's cross-party commission having failed to shrink it, should the Bundestag in Berlin cap party donations to parliamentary groups from corporations at 50,000 euros a year, and how would that be enforced? 3 heads · 15 min · 5.3
• Should Paid Endorsements by Officials Carry a Clear Label or Be Banned? Would Los Angeles be right to require celebrity-endorsed sponsored posts from public officials and paid influencers to carry a clear disclosure label, and should that rule apply to every city in California by 2027? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.1

Surveillance and privacy 3

• Should Manchester Police Expand Live Facial Recognition Cameras in 2026? Can Greater Manchester Police justify expanding live facial recognition cameras across Manchester city centre during 2026, and what safeguards should it adopt before any rollout? 4 heads · 20 min · 7.3
• Should Glasgow force public Wi-Fi to block smartphone tracking tools? Would Glasgow's city council be right to require public Wi-Fi operators in its libraries and bus shelters to block smartphone tracking tools, even if that makes some free services slower to set up? 4 heads · 15 min · 8.1
• Should Oakland's facial recognition ban reach store-owned cameras by 2026? Why would a city like Oakland, California, want to ban police use of facial recognition yet keep private retail cameras running, and should its council extend the ban to store-owned systems by 2026? 2 heads · 10 min · 5.0

Political leaders 1

• Twenty Years as Prime Minister: Housing, Welfare and Public Ownership If you were Prime Minister in the UK for 20 years, with a majority to achieve results. What policies would you adopt on health, energy, transport, utilities, environment, welfare, housing, immigration, etc to improve the lives of the majority. What is your best decision and what is your hardest? 6 heads · 40 min

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