Episodes

Wednesday Sep 15, 2021
LAO TZU 41
Wednesday Sep 15, 2021
Wednesday Sep 15, 2021
This podcast deals with Chapter 54 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. In this chapter, Lao Tzu once again outlines his meditative method and indicates how it might produce benefits not only to the individual but to several interlocking systems, namely the family, the village, the nation and the world. The benefits arise out of a clarity of seeing which in turn generates a understanding of the processes of psyche and social existence. [Free. 20 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.]

Saturday Jul 10, 2021
COVID19 & MENTAL HEALTH
Saturday Jul 10, 2021
Saturday Jul 10, 2021
In this podcast, I examine the mental health consequences of the COVID19 pandemic and their embeddedness in entwined economic, cultural/ideological and ecological systems. [Free. 26 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 May 03, 2021
DEMOCRACY FOR SALE - BOOK REVIEW
Monday May 03, 2021
Monday May 03, 2021
In this podcast, I review Peter Georghegan's recent book Democracy for Sale. This book deals with our kleptocratic politics and is well written, rigorously referenced and consequently very useful as an aid to our understanding of our situation. [Free. 29 minutes.]

Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
THE COLD WAR WITH CHINA - INTERESTING TIMES 31
Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
This podcast deals with economic, military and propaganda aspects of the developing cold war with China. [Free. 1 hour 25 minutes.]

Saturday Apr 10, 2021
VIOLENCE IN NORTHERN IRELAND - INTERESTING TIMES 30
Saturday Apr 10, 2021
Saturday Apr 10, 2021
In this podcast we reflect on the recent violence in Northern Ireland from political, philosophical and psychological angles. [Free. 41 minutes.]

Wednesday Mar 31, 2021
RAW THOUGHT - COLD WAR WITH CHINA
Wednesday Mar 31, 2021
Wednesday Mar 31, 2021
This patrons-only podcast is a recording of a discussion we had by way of a preparation for a forthcoming 'Interesting Times' current affairs episode on the developing cold war on China. [Patrons only. 1 hour 36 seconds.]

Tuesday Mar 30, 2021
KILL THE BILL PROTESTS & WHAT THEY EXPOSE - INTERESTING TIMES 28
Tuesday Mar 30, 2021
Tuesday Mar 30, 2021
In this podcast we reflect on the recent Kill the Bill protests, focussing on events in Bristol on Friday in which police violence was particularly marked. [26 March 21]. What we draw out from this situation the nature of ideology, the self-understanding of the police, and the radicalisation of participants in the protests. [Free. 40 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.]