Clara’s Verdict
I read the synopsis of The State of This! on a morning when the news contained three separate stories about rivers running with sewage, a fresh round of debate about Reform UK polling numbers, and a parliamentary committee report I could not be bothered to understand without a guide. The timing felt pointed. Cody Dahler, the satirist, political commentator, and social media presence behind a following of over two million people, has written what looks like a deeply necessary book for anyone who finds themselves simultaneously appalled by British politics and confused about how it actually works. That is, at a conservative estimate, most of the adult population of the United Kingdom at the current moment.
This title is not yet available to listen: the release is scheduled for November 2026, and at the time of writing neither a narrator nor a confirmed runtime has been announced. But the premise is strong enough and the author’s track record visible enough that it is worth knowing about in advance.
About the Audiobook
The full title is The State of This! A Thicky Thicky Dumb Dumb’s Guide to British Politics, which is simultaneously self-deprecating and sharply calibrated for its intended audience. Dahler is addressing the experience of feeling left behind by a political system that has accelerated away from comprehensibility, the sense that you know things are broken but lack the vocabulary to articulate precisely how or why, or to place the current dysfunction within any historical or structural context that might make it more navigable.
The book works through a series of specific questions drawn directly from Dahler’s audience of over two million followers across platforms. Why are people voting for Reform UK? Why did we Brexit? What exactly is the House of Lords, and is everyone in it an arsehole? Why are our rivers full of sewage and why does nobody appear to be doing anything about it? Why do prime ministers change so frequently? Each of these questions gets what the synopsis describes as a brilliantly witty and fact-filled deep-dive into the history and origins of the current political situation.
This is popular political explainer writing at its most democratically ambitious, if it delivers on the premise. Dahler’s approach, according to the synopsis, is to trace the origins of current dysfunction rather than simply cataloguing it in the present tense, which is the more ambitious and considerably more useful project. Understanding why something happened, and how the structures that enabled it came to exist, is the only framework within which you can think clearly about whether or how things might change. Published by Blink Publishing, which has a strong track record with politically engaged non-fiction for general audiences, this has the feel of a book developed with care for a large and genuinely motivated readership.
The Narration
No narrator has been confirmed for this title at the time of writing, and the runtime is listed as not yet known, both consistent with a November 2026 publication date still several months away. Given the material and Dahler’s background as a performer with an established vocal presence across social media and live comedy, there is a reasonable possibility that he will narrate this himself, which would be the natural choice. Satirical political writing is highly dependent on timing and delivery, and the material is almost certainly written for a specific voice. If that voice is Dahler’s own, the audiobook will have a significant advantage over a production narrated by someone else, however skilled.
What Readers Say
The State of This! has not yet been published and carries no listener ratings. As a pre-publication listing on Audible UK, it is too early for reviews. Dahler’s existing social media audience, over two million followers who already turn to him regularly to decode political news and make it comprehensible, represents a substantial built-in readership that should generate an unusually fast accumulation of reviews once the title becomes available in November.
There is a model for this kind of book in the American market: Jon Stewart’s work and John Oliver’s ongoing television journalism demonstrate that rigorous political education and genuine comedy are not mutually exclusive, and that the entertainment frame sometimes allows more direct engagement with uncomfortable political realities than straight journalism permits. If Dahler achieves something comparable for British politics, which the premise and his substantial online track record suggest he might, this will be a book that people buy as gifts for the relatives who have stopped reading the news because it has become incomprehensible, as well as for themselves. The test, as always with this kind of work, will be whether the wit and the rigour hold together across book length rather than dissolving into either polemic or stand-up routine.
Who Should Listen?
Anyone who finds themselves saying they do not understand how any of this is still happening whilst staring at a news headline about water company dividends, House of Lords appointments, or the latest polling for a party that did not exist five years ago will find Dahler’s approach a genuine relief. This is political education presented as entertainment rather than homework, and if it delivers on its premise, it will be one of the more genuinely useful and enjoyable listens of late 2026. Pre-order it now through the link below; it will be worth returning to when it lands.
