From Below the Balcony

The police are a problem. They're contributing to rising misogyny and authoritarianism. 
In episode five of this season of From Below the Balcony, Graham and Abby talk to activist Issy Vine about her experiences fighting against misogyny and racism within the Met Police.
Republic is collecting feedback on this season of From Below the Balcony. Let us know what you think via the link below by August 28th 2026! https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=pnsIvQLU2kirtFmvZze15R39aEvVF_xIinOXTElyJwpUOVNXRFBNUk1SN1U4OEZHTVI5VFYxQ1pBRCQlQCN0PWcu
Issy Vine is a former Metropolitan Police 999 call-handler who became a whistleblower after reporting a colleague for misogynistic and racist comments in 2023. When he was reinstated on appeal, she resigned, exposing what she describes as a culture of institutional protection and retaliation within policing. She is now a prominent advocate for accountability and systemic reform. 
She founded Speak Up Now UK, a community interest company supporting whistleblowers across public and emergency services, and is campaigning for a statutory public inquiry into whistleblower treatment. She is also leading calls for “Isabelle’s Law,” which would establish an independent national police misconduct body. 
Issy has been an outspoken supporter of survivors connected to Jeffrey Epstein and Mohamed Al-Fayed, using her platform to challenge abuses of power at the highest levels. Her work directly confronts extreme wealth inequality, entrenched privilege, and the role of the monarchy in upholding systems rooted in colonialism and unaccountable power.
Find out more about Issy's campaigns below:
www.speakupnowuk.com
www.studioiv.store

How does inequality damage the arts? How do we campaign for a fairer society?
In episode three of this season of From Below the Balcony, Graham and Abby talk to comedian Josie Long about campaigning against inequality whilst being in comedy and how class politics affect the arts.
Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee and Gold ARIA winner Josie Long is a comedian, writer, podcaster, and filmmaker who is a trailblazer in the UK comedy industry. As the first woman to be nominated 3 times for the Edinburgh Comedy Award (2010-2012), Josie is a pioneer in every facet of her work. Josie’s 9 critically acclaimed tours each showcase her unique and powerful original voice, selling out venues around the world. In addition to stand-up, Josie’s various podcasts and original radio shows have garnered a global audience, earning Josie the Gold ARIA in Speech Entertainment for her BBC Radio 4 show Short Cuts.Alongside comedy, Josie is an avid filmmaker who has written and performed in 2 short films, and most recently her full-length feature film Super November. Josie has appeared on 8 Out of 10 Cats, Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, Have I Got News For You, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order.Josie's debut book of short stories, Because I Don’t Know What You Mean and What You Don’t, is available online and in stores now.
 

The monarchy. Andrew. The establishment. The police. They're all interlinked in an environment of corruption and misogyny.
In the third episode of Season 2 of From Below the Balcony, Graham and Abby are joined by gender equality advocate Gina Martin, most famous for successfully campaigning for the British upskirting ban.
Gina is a multi award-winning gender equality advocate, writer and facilitator driven to question culture, make change in communities and educate on gender stereotypes, masculinities, misogyny, the manosphere and male violence. Check out her website here: https://ginamartin.online/

The royals are rich, powerful and hate democracy. It's that simple.
In the second episode of Season 2 of Republic's podcast From Below the Balcony, environmental campaigner, journalist, writer and film-maker George Monbiot joins Graham and Abby to talk about the royals' environmental hypocrisy and our broken economic reality.
George Monbiot is an award-winning journalist, activist, founder of movements and projects challenging the power of government and the vested interests of the rich - and judging from his early career, a fearless adventurer, setting off across Indonesia, the Amazon, and East Africa in pursuit of ground-breaking stories about injustices, land rights and environmental destruction.
George is also a prolific author with more than a dozen books to his name, from Poisoned Arrows published in 1989 to Feral in 2013, Regenesis in 2022 - on how we feed the world without destroying the environment, and his latest book, out in 2024 - The Invisible Doctrine: The secret history of neoliberalism - and how it came to control your life.

The aristocracy has ruined our country for decades. It's that simple.
In the season premiere of Season 2 of Republic's podcast From Below the Balcony, comedian Christian Brighty joins Graham and Abby to talk about class, the aristocracy and dressing up as a lord (as his job).
Christian Brighty is an award-winning comedian, who pretends to be a Lord because he looks really really great in riding boots.
His debut live show Playboy enjoyed sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and Soho Theatre, and was turned into the BBC Radio 4 Sitcom The Many Wrongs of Lord Christian Brighty. His videos about aristocratic bastards (@brightybuoy) have received over 250 million views, been nominated for a Writer's Guild Award, and secured his name as TikTok's Mr Darcy.

It's been a long few weeks for the royals. There's been even more scandals erupting around Andrew and support for the monarchy has hit record lows...
In a special live episode of From Below the Balcony, Graham and Abby talk to Geoff Atkinson, comedy writer and producer of the Duchies Dispatches documentary, which revealed the millions Charles and William are taking from duchy land. 
Recorded at Republic Members Day 2025, Voluntary Action Islington, London, November 1st 2025.

The monarchy's time is up. It's time for reparations. It's time for elected heads of state across the entire Commonwealth.
In this season finale episode of From Below the Balcony, Graham and Abby are joined by Grenadian activist Arley Gill and Jamaican academic Rosalea Hamilton to discuss abolishing the monarchy across the Caribbean.

The royals were complicit in the colonisation of Australia and many other countries across the world. Despite this, they've never apologised. That's why this week's podcast guest, Australian Senator Lidia Thorpe heckled Charles last year when he visited down under.
 
Lidia joins Graham and Abby in this episode of From Below the Balcony to discuss aboriginal rights, abolishing the monarchy in Australia and the legacy of the royals' colonialism.

Ever wondered how the monarchy influences the media? Or how their mere existence enforces the British class system?
Those are the questions being answered in this episode of From Below the Balcony, with special guest journalist Kevin Maguire.

The royals are complicit in the slave trade - it's time for reparations to be taken seriously.
 
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy joins Graham and Abby in this episode of From Below the Balcony to talk about campaigns for reparations and racial equality and what it's like being an MP in Keir Starmer's Labour Party.