Labour Panic, Reform Chaos & The Funniest Review Comic Leila Navabi Ever Received

OUTCAST WORLD

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Monday, 18 May 2026 - 34 minutes

Labour looks like it’s eating itself alive, Reform councillors are combusting in real time, the manosphere is getting dismantled by Louis Theroux with the energy of a disappointed supply teacher — and somewhere in the middle of the collapse, Leila Navabi joins Outcast World with the genuinely incredible story of how making a baby with her friend as a sperm donor somehow became a full-blown musical. Yes. Really. Graeme opens this week’s episode by wading into the increasingly bizarre state of British politics: Keir Starmer’s apparent slow-motion leadership death spiral, Wes Streeting’s endlessly rehearsed Westminster energy, rumours of Andy Burnham positioning himself as Labour’s northern saviour, and the growing sense that Reform UK’s rise could eventually force Britain into electoral reform whether the establishment likes it or not. There’s also the small matter of Reform councillors dropping like flies under public scrutiny — including allegations surrounding extremist online content and another candidate exposed over explicit gay OnlyFans material involving sex in public places. Different allegations, different levels of seriousness, same recurring problem: a party obsessed with presenting itself as the guardian of “traditional values” repeatedly finding itself consumed by scandal. And then there’s HS Ticky Tocky and the collapsing manosphere ecosystem, following Louis Theroux’s documentary and the increasingly surreal online fallout around Grindr, burner accounts, fake alpha masculinity and influencer culture built almost entirely on performance and contradiction. Then Leila Navabi arrives and the entire show takes a gloriously chaotic turn. The comedian, broadcaster and writer discusses the DIY IVF journey with her friend that inspired her musical, the absurd realities of queer parenting logistics, and one of the funniest theatre reviews imaginable after falling over on stage during a performance — with Time Out delivering a line about it so brutal it’s become legendary in her own personal history. There’s also a very direct message from Leila to gay people supporting Reform UK, alongside a wider conversation about identity, community, culture-war politics and why some queer people appear determined to align themselves with movements that fundamentally do not like them very much. Smart, filthy, political and properly funny. This is Outcast World.

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