Episodes
Saturday Nov 20, 2021
TORIES ON THE ROPES? - INTERESTING TIMES 43
Saturday Nov 20, 2021
Saturday Nov 20, 2021
In the light of the MPs second jobs scandal, we ask, 'How much more will the public put up with?' This leads to questions about the nature of ideology, and the contradictory class consciousness of Tories who make light of in-work poverty and the cutting of Universal Credit on the one hand, and then, on the other hand, plead that MPs need second jobs because they can't discharge their familial duty on £82 per annum! We underscore the point that this current scandal isn't anything fundamentally new, but a symptom of the profound and toxic entanglement of corporate and state power in the UK. [Free. 44 minutes.]
Saturday Nov 13, 2021
ECONOMIC COLLAPSE IN THE UK & BEYOND - PART3 [THE FUTURE]
Saturday Nov 13, 2021
Saturday Nov 13, 2021
This podcast continues our series on economic collapse. It considers what the future might involve using the COP26 climate change conference as an indicator and focussing on economic, ecological and cultural systems. [Free. 1 hour 17 minutes.]
Saturday Oct 23, 2021
ECONOMIC COLLAPSE IN THE UK & BEYOND - PART 2b [THE PRESENT]
Saturday Oct 23, 2021
Saturday Oct 23, 2021
In this episode of our series on the possibility of economic collapse in the UK and beyond, we examine the degradation of the ecosphere and its relationship to the economy and culture. [Free. 1 hour 7 minutes.]
Friday Oct 15, 2021
ECONOMIC COLLAPSE IN THE UK & BEYOND? - PART 1 [HISTORY]
Friday Oct 15, 2021
Friday Oct 15, 2021
In this podcast we look at the economic collapses of 1929 and 2008 to see if we can discern any essential features. The point of this broad-brush historical delving is the get an understanding of economic collapse per se and then, in subsequent podcasts, to see if we are in danger of a similar collapse in the present. [Free. 40 minutes.]
Sunday Sep 05, 2021
TAOIST DIALECTICS
Sunday Sep 05, 2021
Sunday Sep 05, 2021
In this podcast we playfully and seriously outline our eccentric take on 'Taoist Dialectics'. This entails brief encounters with Plato's The Sophist and Hegel's Logic as well as an engagement with a parable told by Taoist master, Chuang Tzu. We relate all this to personal resilience in these apocalyptic times. [Free. 32 minutes.]
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
QUESTIONING QUESTIONING
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
This short podcast offers some preliminary reflections on questioning and curiosity. [Free. 13 minutes.]
Monday Apr 05, 2021
CAN THE LABOUR PARTY SAVE THE WORLD? - INTERESTING TIMES 29
Monday Apr 05, 2021
Monday Apr 05, 2021
In this podcast, we consider the current state of the UK Labour Party. We ask if the party has emancipatory potential in its current incarnation and attempt to estimate the possibilities for the success of a new broad left wing party. We put forward the idea the the UK could do with a constitutional re-jig along the lines being followed in Chile. We also give an estimate of the necessity for extra-institutional activism. [Free. 37 minutes.]
Monday Mar 15, 2021
PEACEFUL PROTEST TO BE ILLEGAL? - INTERESTING TIMES 27
Monday Mar 15, 2021
Monday Mar 15, 2021
In this podcast we consider the ramifications on the recent murder of Sara Everhard and the violence of the police handling of the vigil expressing the ensuing grief and concern of women held on Clapham Common this weekend. We show how these matters are related to the lived experience of women throughout the UK as evidenced by outpourings on social media, and the authoritarian thrust of the current Tory government. Though the latter have attempted to distance themselves from the disgusting behaviour of their coercive force, the Metropolitan Police, we suggest that this is an ideological, mystifying move, given that today they are shepherding a bill through Parliament which will vastly reduce the right to peaceful protest. As always, we suggest what practically can be done to push back against this ghastly situation and lay the foundations of a decent society. [Free. 33 minutes.]
Friday Mar 12, 2021
MONARCHY: INSTITUTION & SOAP OPERA - INTERESTING TIMES 26
Friday Mar 12, 2021
Friday Mar 12, 2021
Though prompted by the Prince Harry - Megan Markle interview with Oprah Winfrey and the ensuing furore, this podcast largely avoids the detail of those events, instead (initially) questioning the nature of the public and media interest in them. Consequently, I examine monarchy as an institution, drawing out the job it does of promoting hierarchical inequality, the hereditary principle, and a culture of deference. I go on to examine monarchy in its role as living soap opera which, I contend, serves to distract from urgent matters of public concern. I finishing by proposing the need for a new and fully democratic constitution for the UK and a method of writing it, inspired by recent developments in Chile. [Free. 27 minutes.]
Saturday Mar 06, 2021
THE DRY TINDER OF RESENTMENT & OPPORTUNITIES FOR EMANCIPATION - INTERESTING TIMES 25
Saturday Mar 06, 2021
Saturday Mar 06, 2021
Borrowing a metaphor from Chris Hedges, I consider the UK body politic as rather like a bulk of dry tinder waiting for a random spark to ignite a conflagration of unrest. I suggest that both Brexit and the COV19 pandemic are intensifiers of this flammability. I treat the matter as having economic and cultural-ideological dimensions, particularly lighting on recent trade union activity in the UK. The recent UK budget receives some attention, particularly the 1% pay rise offer made to health service workers and the angry response that the health professionals made to it. I make suggestions as to how the broad left might not be caught disorientated the day after the inevitable sublime moments that are now waiting in the wings. This involves the judicious use of the utopian imagination to co-ordinate the many strands of progressive activism. [Free. 43 minutes.]