Episodes
Thursday Mar 10, 2022
UKRAINE & THE FOG OF WAR 2 - INTERESTING TIMES 51
Thursday Mar 10, 2022
Thursday Mar 10, 2022
In this podcast, I examine important historical antecedents to the war in Ukraine. In particular, I appraise the argument that the eastward spread of NATO bears some responsibility for what is now so catastrophically unfolding. [Free. 1 hour, 12 minutes.]
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
UKRAINE & THE FOG OF WAR 1 - INTERESTING TIMES 50
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
This episode of Interesting Times considers the war in Ukraine and the informational fog around it. I pay particular attention to the proceedings of the United Nations Security Council and the address to the European Parliament given by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. I also briefly engage with views as diverse as those of Republican military man Col Larry Wilkerson and radical journalist Ben Norton. Further episodes to follow on the history of the region and analyses of the public discourses in circulation. [Free. 29 minutes.]
Thursday Feb 24, 2022
INSECURITY IN OUR TURBULENT TIMES
Thursday Feb 24, 2022
Thursday Feb 24, 2022
This podcast is a wide-ranging consideration of individual, psychological insecurity and material, collective insecurity and the relationship between them. We make our observations in the context of current events, especially the war in Ukraine, global warming, and financial meltdown, whilst drawing on inspiration from process philosophers like the Buddha, Heraclitus, Whitehead, Watts, Nietzsche, Marx and Lao Tzu. We draw on a brief discussion of the sublime and the beautiful to help us identify the emancipatory comportment to our intrinsic vulnerability and mortality. [Free. 50 minutes.]
Monday Feb 14, 2022
LAO TZU 45
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Monday Feb 14, 2022
In this podcast, we discuss Chapter 58 of The Tao Te Ching. In this chapter, Lao Tzu discusses the ideal character of the sage who would take up leadership or advise a leader and how it needs to be modest and low key. [Free. 20 minutes.]
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.]
Monday Jan 24, 2022
TRIALS OF A NIETZSCHEAN SOCIALIST IN NEW NEW LABOUR
Monday Jan 24, 2022
Monday Jan 24, 2022
This podcast is a ramble/rant in which we relate the current configuration of the UK Labour Party , the necessarily pro-status quo nature of centrism, the Nietzschean concepts of active and reactive will to power, analysis focussing on economic class, all to each other. [Free. 44 minutes.]
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
LAO TZU 43
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
In this podcast, we discuss Chapter 56 of The Tao Te Ching in which Lao Tzu advises us of our orientation to life, advising quietly recognising our connectedness with others. [Free. 9 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.]
Monday Jan 17, 2022
DON’T LOOK UP - MORE THOUGHTS
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Monday Jan 17, 2022
This podcast offers some more reflections on the recent film Don't Look Up. [Free. 38 minutes.]