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The Star Chamber Podcast

The Star Chamber Podcast

By: Michael Clifford and Marcus Richards
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About this listen

 Join Michael Clifford and Marcus Richards - alongside occasional leading guests - for insightful, engaging conversations about the world of local government. Each month, they delve into the key issues shaping the sector, explore its unique quirks and challenges, and share expert perspectives on how it all works behind the scenes. Whether you’re a seasoned local government politician or officer, or simply curious about how local government ticks, this podcast offers a fresh, informed, and occasionally witty take on the forces driving change across the sector.Copyright 2025 Michael Clifford and Marcus Richards Economics Personal Finance Political Science Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Episode 2: Banners, Boroughs and Business Rates: Power, Politics and Property from the Tudors to Today

    Episode 2: Banners, Boroughs and Business Rates: Power, Politics and Property from the Tudors to Today
    Jun 4 2025

    In this episode of The Star Chamber Podcast, we unpack the fallout from the recent local elections before tackling the potential moral hazard of central government interventions in local authority debt. We then head north to UKREiiF to explore placemaking, investment, and how these themes tie into the evolving role of Combined Authorities - including a trip through time to Margaret Thatcher’s abolition of the GLC and her clashes with Ken Livingstone (and his infamous banners), a story that foreshadows today’s devolution arrangements. We round things off with a dive into the Tudor origins of business rates. It’s all connected - politics, property, and the persistent tug-of-war over who holds power.
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    37 mins
  • The Medieval Origins of The Star Chamber, Exceptional Financial Support and The History of Local Government Reorganisation in London

    The Medieval Origins of The Star Chamber, Exceptional Financial Support and The History of Local Government Reorganisation in London
    May 8 2025

    Join Michael Clifford and Marcus Richards for a series of discussions on the world of local government! In their first episode, they talk about the medieval origins of the term Star Chamber, how Liverpool in the 1980s shaped the concept of Exceptional Financial Support and what mountaineers have to do with Local Government Reorganisation.
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    30 mins
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