This week on the Raw Politics podcast: Who’s closing it out best ahead of next week’s US election; Act’s education wins; plus relaxing the checks on your new house

The end of the country, or the end of its democracy. That’s what the two camps are predicting if their candidate doesn’t win the US presidential election next week.

Raw Politics, from the great safety of half a world away, weighs in on the neverending American campaign, which many predict will go on in the courts, on the streets and in Congress even after polls close, voting is counted and the preliminary result declared.

Newsroom senior political reporter Marc Daalder, national affairs editor Sam Sachdeva and co-editor Tim Murphy assess the closing arguments of vice-president Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump and the shows of confidence by their two campaign teams.

Who to believe? What to trust?

And how a statistical tie in the current pre-election polls nationally could end up perversely giving one or other candidate a substantial victory, with just minor movements in voter behaviour.

In our second topic, the panel returns to home territory, marking the Act Party’s homework on its two populist education policies, cut-price school lunches and rounding up the truants.

Our reader question asks if there are risks from the Government relaxing who can sign off building work on certain types of new homes under construction, and the panel hears echoes from the privatisation of building inspection a generation ago.

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This week's recommendations:

Marc: The 2024 film Civil War, which is about journalism but also maybe a preview of what’s to come

Sam: Newsroom’s Jonathan Milne’s new investigative podcast Powder Keg

Tim: Trump’s ‘secret’ plan with US House Speaker Mike Johnson to overcome an election loss, from progressive US site The Nation

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Raw Politics will be available every Friday here on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube too.

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