Heart Yoga Radio

This podcast gives a brief account of the invasion of the US Capitol by Trumpists who believe [without evidence] that Trump really won the Presidential Election. I attempt to discern the significance of the events and to descry both positive and negative effects into the future. I briefly give an account of UK reactions to the events and what they reveal about the state of UK politics. [Free. 35 minutes.]

On New Year's Day 2021, we pause to look both backwards and forwards. We identify and discuss four themes: the defeat of Trump and what that means for the global right Internationale, the fragmentation of the left and signs in movements around the world of its incipient re-emergence, the intensifying struggle to control information and particularly the internet, the impact of certain technological developments such as AI and CRISPR. We indicate how these developments are interlocked and how that points towards what is to be done. [Free.  47 minutes.]

In this podcast, we give a reading of Chapter 33 of the Tao Te Ching in which Lao Tzu traces the consequences of wide-spread greed on social harmony and peace. [Free. 24 minutes.]

In this rambling rant, we consider the consequences of the announcement of a supposedly super infectious variant of the SARS-COV-2 virus which is spreading through the UK. We take a broad approach, covering the take of eminent virologists, analysing the relevance of the French blockade to the rapidly approaching Brexit, and wondering if the upcoming catastrophe will lead to a 'getting of wisdom'. [Free. 1 hour.]

In this second episode of our series on reason, I take a broad brush to outline 

some of the main antecedents to the so-called European Enlightenment, also know as 'The Age of Reason'. I focus on the rise of experimental science in the contexts of church power and violence against those who contradict its doctrines, the rise of the bourgeoisie, and advances in mathematics. The figures of Descartes, Galileo and Newton loom large but Aristotle, Aquinas, Copernicus, Kepler and others also have parts. [Free. 44 minutes.]

This episode of our Lao Tzu series deals with Chapter 45 of the Tao Te Ching. Here we find Lao Tzu in teacher mode. He gently points us towards the Tao, counsels against perfectionism, and recommends tranquillity. [Free. 18 Minutes.]

This episode of the current affairs series offers comment on the suspension of Jewish socialists and critical left voices in Constituency Parties from the Labour Party on very dubious grounds. I conclude that this isn't about anti-semitism or racism in general but a purge of the left from the party. The suspicion is compounded by the soliciting of funding from billionaires by party leadership. I go on to relate this fragmentation to the fragmentary forces expressing themselves through Brexit as the clock ticks down. On the hopeful side, I mention the world's biggest strike of farmers and workers in India which involved 250 million people! [Free. 36 minutes.]

 

This episode of our Lao Tzu series deals with Chapter 44 of the Tao Te Ching. This chapter urges us not to be too caught up the pursuit of wealth and status but to find peace in alignment with the Tao. [Free. 18 minutes.]

This podcast introduces our series on the nature of reason by mapping the terrain that needs to be covered. It does not attempt definition of reason but rather explores the uses the terms 'reason' and 'rationality' are put to. As well as being a vital questioning in its own right, this series aims to support our contention, made in other podcasts, that fascism embraces a rejection of reason and that this finds a contemporary expression in the complex of climate denial, covid denial, antivax, fantasy conspiracy theories and far right movements. [Free. 27 minutes.]

This episode of our Lao Tzu series considers Chapter 43 of the Tao Te Ching. It deals with non-doing and the power of water-like softness. [Free. 18 minutes.]