The Real Vision Behind Novara Media's Dreams
Michael and Ash have spent years building an independent media outlet. But what would they do if money wasn't a constraint? That's the question they're answering.
The Pragmatist's Vote
Michael is clear about his approach to voting: he doesn't do expressive voting. He votes strategically based on impact, not values expressed at the ballot box.
"I will vote for whoever it seems like I will have the most impact in voting for, and if I'll have no impact because I'm in an incredibly safe seat, I might not even vote at all," he said during a recent Q&A.
He recalled not voting in the last general election because he was walking his dog on Election Day and wasn't allowed into the voting booth. He lives in a Labour-safe seat, so the pragmatic calculation is that his vote wouldn't change anything.
Ash offered a different perspective. She remembers her mother taking her to the voting booth in 1997, but what she recalls more vividly is the massive watermelon they got from the shop on the way home. That moment became a kind of political education.
"She just taught me that it's a really important thing," Ash said. "So I don't vote unless I could morally stand by the decision I've made."
Critics might note that this approach risks treating voting as purely transactional rather than as a fundamental democratic duty, especially when safe seats add up to national results that matter.
The Communist's Evolution
Ash was asked whether she's still "literally a communist" and whether she'd go on Piers Morgan's show uncensored.
"I'm more communist than ever," she said, acknowledging her political trajectory. She noted she's flirted with social democracy but sees it as something produced by specific historical forces that no longer exist in today's context.
Her critique of identity politics comes from a Marxist place, though she's careful to distinguish this from dismissing anti-racism itself.
"My criticisms of liberal identity politics isn't the same as saying oh anti-racism is a load of nonsense," she clarified. "I still really believe in that."
If Money Was No Object
Michael laid out an ambitious vision for what Novara Media could become with real resources:
First, they'd save journalism — not through their own small operation but by funding investigative teams across the industry. "What journalism needs is loads of money for loads of investigations," he explained.
Second, he'd hire a team of reporters and create a journalism school focused on maximizing high-quality trusted information people can work with.
Third, they'd have their own building containing an event space for 150 to 200 people for live podcast recordings. "We'd have a nice little cafe downstairs where you could get a nice espresso but then in the evening a nice little Negroni," he described.
Fourth, he'd launch what he's calling the Climate Lab — using audience engagement data to experiment with climate coverage that actually works. The challenge is clear: when they ask supporters what they want, everyone says climate stories, but those pieces don't get engagement.
"We have to find out how to do that coverage," he said. "How to tell that story in a way which is engaging and keeps people with us."
Critics might argue this vision underestimates the difficulty of transforming media economics — the crisis in journalism isn't just about funding but structural changes to how information is consumed and valued.
Finding Common Ground With Reform Voters
The question came from someone wanting to know how to connect reform voters to a new economic model. Michael's answer centered on apprenticeships that rebuild Britain:
"We're going to tax some of the sort of international super rich in order to give hundreds of thousands people apprenticeships to rebuild Britain," he said.
The pitch for reform voters is straightforward: manual work with your hands, an economy that's devalued skills especially for younger men who haven't gone to university. Tax the rich to fund people working — "I think it would work electorally and economically."
Ash added that she loves a phrase from someone named darkest how: the importance of listening with a discerning ear. What reform voters are telling you is that society is deeply unfair, where people at the very top and the very bottom get away with murder.
"We're going to tax some of the international super rich in order to give hundreds of thousands of people apprenticeships to rebuild Britain."
Bottom Line
This Q&A reveals what drives Michael and Ash: they're not just building a media outlet, they're imagining what independent journalism could become if it had real resources. Their vision for an event space, high-production podcasts, and climate experimentation isn't fantasy — it's a grounded wish list built on the recognition that quality journalism is expensive and worth funding. The economic model they propose with apprenticeships and taxing the super rich reflects their pragmatic politics: find policies that work electorally AND economically, then connect them to voters through concrete proposals rather than abstract arguments.