Episodes

Thursday Jan 16, 2025
STICKING IT TO THE MAN, UBI & DENIAL - INTERESTING TIMES 86
Thursday Jan 16, 2025
Thursday Jan 16, 2025
Join me on my constitutional. In this podcast, I examine how wide-spread and justifiable resentment at conditions of life under current power arrangements is channelled by the very agencies causing that resentment into serving their project of concentrating concentrate wealth and power in a very few hands. The result here is that a good many people believe passionately that they are sticking it to the man by cleaving to beliefs, action and politics which that same man devised and paid to propagate. I use the example of some recent debate around the viability of Universal Basic Income (UBI) and the role of the state. [Free. 27 minutes.]

Sunday Jan 12, 2025
AI, MONEY, TIME
Sunday Jan 12, 2025
Sunday Jan 12, 2025
Join me on my constitutional. In a somewhat rambling discourse, I examine an engagement with an AI on the subject of theories of money and, from there, proceed to take issue with 'technological solutionism' which suggests that technological advance of a certain kind is sufficient to solve humanity's pressing problems. Over and against this idea, I claim that technology can be immensely powerful and transformative, but is not sufficient to ensure human flourishing without the appropriate political and structural change to society. I illustrate the case with the empirical case of how massively enhanced technologically-facilitated productivity has not improved the lot of workers but has lead to the concentration of wealth and power in very few hands. I suggest the use of enhanced productivity and the ability to automate drudgery should be used to liberate time for people in general rather than serving the bottom line. [Free. 26 minutes.]

Wednesday Jan 08, 2025
BILLIONAIRES: WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR?
Wednesday Jan 08, 2025
Wednesday Jan 08, 2025
Join me on my constitutional. I enquire into the matter of the extreme concentrations of wealth and power in the hands of a small number of billionaires and take issue with a couple of the regular justifications for this status quo. The first of these is the notion that if people can't get hyper-rich without restriction that that would be an affront to liberty. The second is the notion that the ability to accumulate vast amounts of wealth and power by a few somehow makes for dynamism and innovation which benefits everybody via trickle down. Beware! Contains utopian speculation. [Free. 31 minutes.]

Friday Jan 03, 2025
LOOKING BACK OVER 2024 AND FORWARD TO 2025 - INTERESTING TIMES 85
Friday Jan 03, 2025
Friday Jan 03, 2025
In this podcast, I reflect on events of the past year, particularly with respect to ecological, economic, and cultural systems. I compare my forward speculations of January 24 with events of the year itself. I also speculate on how the trends I identify might develop as 2025 unfolds. I ask if there are any hopeful signs and question what we can and should do. [Free. 69 minutes.]

Friday Aug 16, 2024
RIOTS IN THE UK BECOME ANTI-RACIST TRIUMPH - INTERESTING TIMES 82
Friday Aug 16, 2024
Friday Aug 16, 2024
In this podcast, I reflect on the recent riots in the UK and the various responses to them. [Free. 51 minutes.]

Wednesday Jun 19, 2024
HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE?
Wednesday Jun 19, 2024
Wednesday Jun 19, 2024
In this podcast, I discuss the proposition that "Hell is other people" which is found in Sartre's play Hui Clos (1944). I draw on my own reflections, and the works of Freud and Hegel rather than closely following the original play. [Free. 22 minutes.]

Wednesday May 22, 2024
OPTIMISM OF THE WILL, PESSIMISM OF THE INTELLECT - INTERESTING TIMES 80
Wednesday May 22, 2024
Wednesday May 22, 2024
In this podcast, I apply Gramsci's concepts of optimism of the will and pessimism of the intellect to some recent news items in order to expose the propaganda nature of their reporting by the BBC and other MSM, to expose the "common sense" and natural seeming language of the broadcasters, which however obscures reality whilst pretending to illluminate it. [Free. 31 minutes.]

Sunday Apr 28, 2024
WHAT IS FASCISM? 4 - SATURN EATS HIS SON & THE DEATH INSTINCT
Sunday Apr 28, 2024
Sunday Apr 28, 2024
In this wide-ranging podcast, I interpret Goya's painting of the early 1820s, Saturn Eating His Son. This leads me to considerations of Freud's notion of Thanatos or the death instinct, Nietzsche's readings of human cruelty and its relationship to the will to power, current affairs and recent history, particularly with respect to all too common orgies of depraved destruction of life. I describe how the death instinct and the possibility of joy in cruelty are mobilsed by the rich and powerful in pursuit of their own agenda. [Free. 24 minutes.]

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.]

Tuesday Nov 14, 2023
A MAD MONDAY IN UK POLITICS & BEYOND - INTERESTING TIMES 71
Tuesday Nov 14, 2023
Tuesday Nov 14, 2023
In this podcast, we discuss three political events reported in the UK on Monday morning [13/11/23]. They are: the sacking of the Home Secretary, the appointment of David Cameron as Foreign Secretary, and the Liberal Democrats call for a cease fire in Gaza. We relate all of these to the unfolding cataclysm in Gaza, and its history and geopolitics. [Free. 52 minutes.]