Episodes
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
CIVIL UNREST IN 2022? - INTERESTING TIMES 44
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
In this podcast, we consider the possibility of civil unrest in the UK as the consequences of inflation reduce the standard of living for many people. We consider the roles of strikes, mass refusals and information technology in the developing chaos. [Free. 31 minutes.]
Tuesday Feb 01, 2022
LAO TZU 44
Tuesday Feb 01, 2022
Tuesday Feb 01, 2022
In this podcast we discuss Chapter 57 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. In this chapter, Lao Tzu extols the virtues of wu wei, non-doing, when it is employed by sage leaders. The question of the tendency for all governments to do things which are inimical to the flourishing of the people haunts this discourse and we tease out the resonances this has with a wide variety political philosophies. [Free. 23 minutes.]
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
DON’T LOOK UP - OUR THOUGHTS [2ND EDITION]
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
This podcast is our original take on the recent film, Don't Look Up. [Discard the previous version which had the wrong file! Apologies. Free. 38 minutes.]
Thursday Jan 13, 2022
PARYTYGATE - INTERESTING TIMES 48
Thursday Jan 13, 2022
Thursday Jan 13, 2022
This podcast is a stream of consciousness stimulated by the current discomfort of the Tory Party and its leader in the wake of partygate. [Free. 22 minutes]
Friday Dec 17, 2021
TORY BY- ELECTION TROUNCING - INTERESTING TIMES 46
Friday Dec 17, 2021
Friday Dec 17, 2021
In this podcast, we discuss the various ramifications of the Tory loss of a 23k majority in a seat they have held since 1832 in yesterday's by-election brought about by the resignation of Owen Patterson. [Patterson's resignation is described and analysed in our podcast Interesting Times 41.] We enjoy a little Schadenfreude as we proceed. [Free. 30 minutes.]
Thursday Dec 09, 2021
SCHRODINGER‘S PARTY - INTERESTING TIMES 44
Thursday Dec 09, 2021
Thursday Dec 09, 2021
In this podcast we consider the infamous party which both happened and didn't happen at the same time at 10 Downing Street on December 18th 2020. If it did happen [even though it didn't], a number of government ministers are ready to reassure the public that no COVID19 lock-down rules were broken with comical results. We examine the context of this spooky event in a cabal of government-right wing press connections, in the leaking of a video of the PM's press spokeswoman rehearsing how she might spin awkward questions about the event, in Johnson's apology to the Commons, and in the general propaganda system within which our ruling elites operate. We appraise the possibility that this shit storm may have cut through to the public consciousness. [Free. 43 minutes.]
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.]
Friday Nov 05, 2021
TORY SLEAZE - INTERESTING TIMES 41
Friday Nov 05, 2021
Friday Nov 05, 2021
In this podcast, we take a look at the resignation of Owen Patterson in the wake of the government U-turn on standards of behaviour for MPs, particularly with respect to paid lobbying. We place this in the context of the gradual turning up of the heat of criticism of Boris Johnson and his cabal by the right wing media and the grooming of Starmer by both Murdoch and the Mail. [Free. 30 minutes.]
Thursday Nov 04, 2021
ADVENTURES IN THE TWITTERVERSE - IMPENDING REVOLUTION?
Thursday Nov 04, 2021
Thursday Nov 04, 2021
In this podcast, we consider the uses and dangers of social media for arriving at an ongoing understanding of our world. We particularly examine the zone of rage which is Twitter and a few current issues that are making a splash there. These are; outrage at the UK government changing the rules for investigating and sanctioning MPs' misconduct so that a Tory MP gets away with earning £100k per year for lobbying (allegedly), that there is widespread anger at the government voting to allow pollution of UK rivers and the sea, that there are many personal reports of depression at the general withering of hope as a direct consequence of Tory rule, and that the COP26 is so far merely dispensing 'greenwash'. In passing, we mourn the death or adequationist truth.[Free. 31 minutes.]