Over a million children in England have an Education, Health and Care Plan. Councils are projected to hold £6 billion in SEND deficits by the end of this year. And a system designed to protect the most vulnerable children has become, for many families, an exhausting legal battle just to access basic support.

In this episode, Tom sits down with Caitlin Webb, chief reporter at the Local Government Chronicle, to examine the UK's SEND crisis and whether the government's long-awaited reforms can fix a system that has been breaking for over a decade.

They explore the legal weight of Education, Health and Care Plans and why so many families have come to rely on them not as a support tool but as a last resort. Caitlin unpacks the financial pressures bearing down on local authorities, the rise of private equity in specialist education, and the difficult question of whether proposed reforms will genuinely improve outcomes for children or simply remove the protections parents depend on most.

The episode closes with two voices that bring the statistics to life. Troy Njenje-Mbanga, who has lived experience of SEND, reflects on what it means to be neurodivergent in a system not designed for you. Eden Byrne speaks about her experience of caring for her brother with SEND, and what society still gets wrong about disability.

Further reading from Caitlin Webb at the Local Government Chronicle:

SEND reforms — key issues for the Schools White Paper: https://www.lgcplus.com/services/children/send-reforms-key-issues-for-schools-white-paper-19-02-2026/

Will SEND finally be sent in the right direction?: https://www.lgcplus.com/politics/lgc-briefing/will-send-finally-been-sent-in-the-right-direction-23-02-2026/

No guarantee SEND reforms will reduce EHCPs: https://www.lgcplus.com/politics/empowering-communities/no-guarantee-send-reforms-will-reduce-ehcps-15-04-2026/

Listen to related episodes:

The Forgotten Generation with Troy Njenje-Mbanga: https://theforgottengenerationpodcast.podbean.com/

Sports For All with Eden Byrne: https://sportsforallpodcast.podbean.com/

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To get connected with Tom, Lily or Sidd, please find them on Instagram: @sparetom, @lilymott3, and @siddkurapati.

For more information about the show, please find Be the Change. Media Network on Instagram: @bethechangemedianetwork.

Opinions shared by the guests and hosts of this show are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Be the Change. Media Network.

A war in the Middle East. A closed shipping lane. And a chain of consequences that stretches from Irish petrol stations to South Korean chip makers, and from British supermarket shelves to the price of your next laptop.

In this episode, Tom, Sidd and Lily trace the true cost of the war with Iran — for the Iranian people, for the world economy, and your everday life.

The episode starts with mass protests brutally suppressed by the Iranian regime, Trump's promise that "help is on its way," the coordinated US-Israeli strikes on 28 February, the assassination of Supreme Leader Khamenei, and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — the single most important shipping lane in the world. They examine why, despite weeks of bombardment and repeated claims of victory, the regime remains intact and the Strait remains shut.

From there the team maps the ripple effects: fuel protests that have brought Ireland to the edge of political crisis, a fertiliser shortage threatening the spring planting season across the northern hemisphere, a semiconductor supply crunch that could outlast the war itself, and a UK government quietly planning for food shortages by summer.

Running beneath all of it, China, quietly filling every vacuum the war creates.

Listen to related episodes:

The origins of the Iranian war: https://thepoliticaldispatch.podbean.com/e/irans-reckoning-counter-revolution/

The unravelling of the world order: https://thepoliticaldispatch.podbean.com/e/if-we-are-not-at-the-table/

Please leave a rating, share a comment, and subscribe!

To get connected with Tom, Lily or Sidd, please find them on Instagram: @sparetom, @lilymott3, and @siddkurapati.

For more information about the show, please find Be the Change. Media Network on Instagram: @bethechangemedianetwork.

Opinions shared by the guests and hosts of this show are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Be the Change. Media Network.

In this episode of The Political Dispatch, Tom, Sidd and Lily turn their attention to Wales, ahead of what many are calling the most consequential Senedd election since devolution began in 1999.

For listeners joining from outside the UK, the team starts from the beginning — where Wales is, what shapes it, and why a country of three million people with a language older than most nations on earth has only had its own parliament since the turn of the millennium. It's a story of industrial extraction, cultural resilience, and a referendum won by the slimmest of margins.

From there, the team walk through the sweeping changes coming on 7 May: a bigger parliament, a brand new voting system, and sixteen new constituencies, before mapping out a political landscape that would have been unimaginable even five years ago.

Sidd draws a striking comparison between Welsh Labour's decline and the fall of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party after fifty years of unbroken rule, asking whether dominant parties ever truly die. The team profiles all six main parties and looks beyond the election itself to the bigger questions Wales is asking about its democratic future.

If you're in Wales and not yet registered to vote, you can do so here: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Voter registration closes at 23:59 on 20th April 2026.

Find out more about the parties featured in this episode:

Plaid Cymru: https://www.partyof.wales/

Reform Wales: https://www.reformparty.uk/view-pdf/welsh-manifesto

Welsh Labour: https://www.welshlabour.wales/manifesto-2026/

Welsh Greens: https://wales.greenparty.org.uk/

Welsh Liberal Democrats: https://www.libdems.wales/

Welsh Conservatives: https://www.conservatives.wales/

Key dates for the 2026 Senedd election: https://research.senedd.wales/research-articles/what-are-the-key-dates-for-the-2026-senedd-election/

Please leave a rating, share a comment, and subscribe!

To get connected with Tom, Lily or Sidd, please find them on Instagram: @sparetom, @lilymott3, and @siddkurapati.

For more information about the show, please find Be the Change. Media Network on Instagram: @bethechangemedianetwork.

Opinions shared by the guests and hosts of this show are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Be the Change. Media Network.