It’s not easy being Green: Zack Polanski
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Who is Zack Polanski and why is he a polarising figure in British politics?
The Economist.
Hello and welcome to the intelligence from the Economist. I'm Rosie Blor. Today on the show: the first cells with no biological ancestors, and why we still use human travel agents.
But first
A couple of months ago, much to my children's amusement, I found myself reporting from a place way out of my comfort zone. I was at an outdoor rave, and the dance floor lay between the hulk of a defunct industrial building in London's Docklands and the Murky Thames. I was surrounded by a thousand or so Gen Z clubbers, women with peroxide hair, men with mullets and inexplicably fashionable moustaches.
Andrew Miller is a special correspondent at The Economist.
This didn't look like your typical political meeting, but the people had gathered there in solidarity with the British Green Party. More specifically, they'd come because of one man, Zach Polansky, whose election as the Greens leader last year put the party into British Party politics as he set about recruiting acolytes in their late teens and early twenties.
If you didn't notice, London is turning green!
Phone cameras were held aloft as Polansky appeared at the decks, a trim figure with stubbly cheeks and a t-shirt proclaiming, God save immigration.
Until recently, a Green Party rave would have seemed like an outlandish idea. For years, the Greens were perceived as inoffensive sandal wearing environmentalists. But Polanski has transformed the party, more than tripling its membership and boosting its poll rating. The Greens' rise under his leadership was instrumental in driving Sakir Starmer out of Downing Street. To his critics, he's dangerous or even a con artist. I think Polanski's rise is more interesting than those critiques. Imply. The arc of his life is intersected with the careening path of Western politics. As the economy stagnates, people consider themselves failed by the established parties, and power and votes are flooding from the center to the populist fringes, not only in Britain but elsewhere too.
As I came to understand it, Polansky is a man who needs a public, and he has found one that needs an underdog leader just like him. I asked her whether uh you had to do a dance audition to to become to become a candidate. There he is. Okay.
Hi
Andy. Hey Andy. Hi, nice to see you again. How are you doing? After a lot of trying, I managed to get a sit-down interview with Polansky. We met in a courtyard cafe near Houston Station in London. More than once, we were interrupted by admirers.
How did Polanski’s early life and personal struggles shape his political outlook?
Of course I can. No, no, no problem at all. What's her name? Cool, thanks.
Since he became party leader, scrutiny of Polanski's background has increased. Unlike, say, Zoran Mamdani, New York's mayor, who is the skiing of the city's intellectual elite, Polansky took a secure route to frontline politics.
So I think it was really deeply unhappy, uh kind of younger years, like at eleven years old just because of my parents' divorce and kind of coming to terms with my sex.
Polanski grew up on the edge of Manchester. When he was eleven, his parents divorced. His mother remarried and he got on badly with his stepfather. He is gay and he was bullied for it.
Yes,
I was attacked
on Canal Street, I think, when I was about um Fifteen, sixteen. It's hard because you're any other person you are with the experiences you are. So I'd like to think even if I hadn't been attacked, I would still be someone who cared about injustice or cared about.
And he was bullied for that too. As a teenager, he, like me, was involved with Habanim Draw, a Zionist socialist youth movement. I asked him whether his politics were influenced by the concept of Tikanolam, a Hebrew phrase meaning repairing the world, which many liberal Jews interpret as a call to political action. I think you were you involved a bit with Habanim?
Yeah, that's right. And actually, so that's interesting 'cause we I you know I just said that wasn't political, but Habonim, you know, a very political organization, but the politics was like through games or theatre or the
other. These days though, many British Jews see Polanski as a traitor to his origins, not a disciple of Jewish ideas.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Zack Polanski and why is he a polarising figure in British politics?
0:03–3:33
2
How did Polanski’s early life and personal struggles shape his political outlook?
3:33–6:20
3
What motivated Polanski to move from the Lib Dem party to the Green Party?
6:20–9:13
4
How has Polanski transformed the Green Party’s image and voter base?
9:13–11:45
5
What are ‘SpudCells’ and why are they described as the first cells with no biological ancestors?
11:45–14:40
6
How are synthetic SpudCells created and what limits their ability to mimic natural life?
14:40–17:49
7
Why do human travel agents still matter in an age of AI‑driven itinerary planning?
17:49–20:15
8
What future challenges could the Greens face as they navigate coalition politics and rising populism?
20:15–23:34