Episodes
Friday Feb 09, 2024
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - INTERESTING TIMES 75
Friday Feb 09, 2024
Friday Feb 09, 2024
In this podcast we take a critical look at the output of BBC Radio 4's Today Programme which has an influential position in the distribution of news to the UK. We take a couple of examples for closer scrutiny, the daily homiletic Thought for Today slot, and a particular interview with opposition shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, on her back-peddling on green issues. [Free. 28 minutes. Strong language.]
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
LOOKING BACK OVER 2023 & FORWARD TO 2024 - INTERESTING TIMES 73
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
In this podcast, we look aback over 2023 and offer our prognostications for 2024. Amongst themes discussed are war, environment, economy and geopolitics. [Free. 52 minutes.]
Saturday Dec 02, 2023
WHAT DOES THE BBC WANT YOU TO THINK TODAY? RAW THOUGHT
Saturday Dec 02, 2023
Saturday Dec 02, 2023
In this podcast, we discuss two recent propaganda offensives that the BBC is engaging in and which the rest of the MSM are parroting. They are the propositions that (1) carbon capture and storage can mitigate climate disruption and we can accordingly go on with business as usual, and that (2) the Israeli state are the good guys. Needless to say, we dispute both of those propositions. [Free. 32 minutes.]
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
LAO TZU 66
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
This podcast deals with Chapter 79 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. Here, Lao Tzu considers debt and credit, both spiritual and financial. Lao Tzu recommends a spiritual abundance which urges us to forgive what we are owed and to honour what we owe. The trailer for our upcoming zoom events is included at the end of the podcast. For details and to book see HERE. [Free. 30 minutes.]
Friday Jul 28, 2023
LAO TZU 62
Friday Jul 28, 2023
Friday Jul 28, 2023
In this podcast, we reflect on Chapter 75 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. We consider the role of tax and money in various social organisational forms, the notion of surplus product disposed of by a hegemon, anarchism in relation to capitalism and marxism, and resonances with our current state of affairs, and more. [Free. 46 minutes.]
Saturday Jun 10, 2023
AI - THREAT OR PROMISE?
Saturday Jun 10, 2023
Saturday Jun 10, 2023
In this podcast, we discuss AI and its recent emergence into the public sphere. We examine four main aspects of AI; what the term 'AI' signifies, the knowledge status of its products, the political and economic ramifications of AI, especially its role in automation, and its position in current affairs public discourse. [Free. 61 minutes.]
Sunday May 21, 2023
NAT-C OR NAZI? INTERESTING TIMES 65
Sunday May 21, 2023
Sunday May 21, 2023
In this rather long podcast, we analyse various moments from the National Conservatism conference which was recently held in London, and some of the commentary that has ensued. We focus on the ideological substrate of the organising group, The Edmund Burke Foundation which is named after the 18th Century writer and Parliamentarian who is often hailed as the founder of both UK and US conservatism. [This despite Burke belong to the Whigs rather than Tories.] We ask, is this movement fascist and/or dangerous?" [Free. 96 minutes.]
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCIES - INTERESTING TIMES 62
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
In this podcast, I examine the development of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) by many of the world's central banks, including the Bank of England, and its possible ramifications. I examine both liberal (in the original sense) and right wing anxieties about the dystopian possibilities of this development and conclude, that though the anxieties are well-founded, they are easily misdirected into culture wares and other divide and rule distractions. [Free. 57 minutes.]
Monday Dec 19, 2022
ON STRIKES - INTERESTING TIMES 61
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Monday Dec 19, 2022
In this podcast, I outline the general characteristics of strikes and the structural antagonism between economic classes at the core of capitalism with which they are entangled. I give examples from the current wave of strikes in the UK and the government, gutter press and social media troll responses to them. In the process I identify and analyse a handful of propaganda methods we encounter there. [Click here to buy me a coffee.] [Free. 37 minutes.]
Thursday Oct 13, 2022
GROWTH, GROWTH, GROWTH? - INTERESTING TIMES 60
Thursday Oct 13, 2022
Thursday Oct 13, 2022
In this podcast, we examine what UK Prime Minister Truss means by the mantra "Growth, growth, growth." We follow by discussing how economic growth is defined formally by The Bank of England. Growth is understood by such institutions as being an increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a nation state over time. We take issue with the notion that GDP is a measure that is useful to facilitate global human flourishing and look at alternative metrics for determining the health and size of an economy. We note that the Bank of England also identifies shortcomings in GDP for getting a good picture of an economy. We take The Happy Planet index as an example of an alternative metric to GDP and tease out some of the features of its threefold desideratum, for a good, healthy economy of "long, happy and sustainable lives". We point out that the GDP measure is useful only to gamblers in the exclusive global casino of finance capital. Click the link to by me a coffee :) [Free. 36 minutes]