Connected & Disaffected

LEGACY PRINT MEDIA HATE THEM! Local tech company discovers one weird trick to gain positive press coverage FAST! We sit down with journalist Alexander Fanta to talk Google's place in the media landscape, how their funding of local news or grants for "innovation" may well have a more sinister purpose, and how other organisations are already using the unsteady revenue model of legacy print media to warp the media landscape to their liking. Links to Alex’s work https://netzpolitik.org/author/alexander-fanta/ https://twitter.com/FantaAlexx https://www.otto-brenner-stiftung.de/wissenschaftsportal/publikationen/titel/google-the-media-patron/aktion/show/obspaec/Publication/ More background: https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/are-google-and-facebook-really-the-future-of-journalism-new-policies-risk-making-it-so.php Please note - Google is far from alone Facebook have a similar playbook in the USA, but hide their funding in a ‘feature’ available only to publishers called Facebook News. (Us neither). https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/04/19/is-facebook-buying-off-the-new-york-times/ Like what you hear? Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/canddpodcast Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Find us on Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/C_and_D_Podcast/ Subscribe on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2xVDd0NSp6gsh6Ku2odlop or find us on ITunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conn…ed/id1244893114 ___ This podcast is part of the Are We Europe Podcast Family, a collective of like-minded European podcasts. You can become a member of Are We Europe at www.areweeurope.com/member

This week we're all about Tax, and kicking off we speak to Paul Hebden of Tax Justice UK about their recent survey of attitudes to tax in the UK. The results may surprise you. Suitably sprung from all the tax talk, the gang go on to talk Tax Day (it seems like it comes earlier each year.) Are the Tories actually doing something progressive about taxation? Why has the Labour response been so weak? And how do we channel public opinion into making a tax system that actually works for everyone? Check out Tax Justice UK on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaxJusticeUK And their report "Tax and Public Opinion": https://www.taxjustice.uk/tax-and-public-opinion.html Like what you hear? Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/canddpodcast Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Find us on Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/C_and_D_Podcast/ Subscribe on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2xVDd0NSp6gsh6Ku2odlop or find us on ITunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conn…ed/id1244893114 ___ This podcast is part of the Are We Europe Podcast Family, a collective of like-minded European podcasts. You can become a member of Are We Europe at www.areweeurope/member

This week the gang are catching up with Ifeoma Ozoma again, to discuss her efforts to introduce legislation in California to address the muzzling of workers who have been pushed out of organisations due to discrimination. Ifeoma previously spoke with them in Episode 33 regarding her efforts to tackle disinformation on Pinterest's platform, and her decision to speak publicly about discrimination against her and others at the company. The gang follow this up with a discussion around the power of individuals taking a legal stand against exploitative and discriminatory employers: touching on the recent UK Supreme Court ruling against Uber, the resignation of Matthew Taylor as the government's employment Tsar, and the $200m lobbying efforts that pushed through (the ridiculous) Proposition 22 in California. Follow Ifeoma Ozoma on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IfeomaOzoma Read about the "Silenced No More Act" here: https://sd20.senate.ca.gov/news/2021-02-08-senator-leyva-introduces-%E2%80%9Csilenced-no-more-act%E2%80%9D Like what you hear? Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/canddpodcast Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Find us on Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/C_and_D_Podcast/ Subscribe on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2xVDd0NSp6gsh6Ku2odlop or find us on ITunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/connected-disaffected/id1244893114

The gang are talking environmental crisis this week, centred around Rowan's interview with Adrienne Buller of Common Wealth. Her recent paper explored the problems with "ESG" finance, and the issue of relying on private finance more generally to address pressing social and environmental needs. We then expand on just how much better we need to be doing, and why "WWII levels" of public sector intervention and investment may be very necessary. Adrienne is on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/adribuller Check out Adrienne's research: https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/reports/doing-well-by-doing-good-examining-the-rise-of-environmental-social-governance-esg-investing Adrienne shared some further reading on greenwash for interested listeners: - https://influencemap.org/report/Climate-Funds-and-Fossil-Fuels-8f2c813ed814fe5b1eef61b48497b592 - https://thefinanceinfo.com/2021/01/17/esg-accounting-needs-to-cut-through-the-greenwash/ - https://cyberbizsource.com/2021/02/22/esg-investment-favours-tax-avoiding-tech-companies/ - https://www.ft.com/content/d8a77b40-990e-4329-8629-a18ddbb39f0c We've also got a longer version of the interview with Adrienne Buller - touching on bizarre financial instruments, and Benjamin Braun's work on asset management transforming corporate governance (https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/v6gue) - for subscribers on our Patreon www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Like what you hear? Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/canddpodcast?lang=en Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Find us on Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/C_and_D_Podcast/ Subscribe on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2xVDd0NSp6gsh6Ku2odlop or find us on ITunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/connected-disaffected/id1244893114

People are FINALLY paying attention to the potential of health data - it just took a global pandemic to make it happen. It's kind of a no-brainer, when you dig into it, but governments apparently needed a push. Rowan interviewed Jess Morley, Policy Lead at the Evidence Based Medicine DataLab at the University of Oxford, about her recent paper on online disinformation and how our information environments impact our health. The guiding question was: Why can we quarantine people who are sick and not bits of information that we know are 'sick'? Read the paper here: https://www.publichealthpost.org/viewpoints/health-threats-in-the-infosphere/ Follow Jess: https://twitter.com/jessRmorley And the DataLab: http://www.thedatalab.org/ Happily, there is actually some legislation on the horizon that could mitigate at least some of this problem. Warren takes us on a deep dive into the EU and UK Government's response to disinformation and online harms, including a full breakdown of the Tory governments recent proposals to regulate online harm - a rare instance of something the podcast can broadly get behind. Get the full UK paper here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fact-sheet-online-harms-full-government-response In general, healthcare needs to be modernised - but not in the way that Tories tend to put it. We don't mean more cuts, more manager or more external consultants. We mean making use of the kinds of data that have become core parts of most other sectors. As Jess put it, there is a lot more we could be doing with health data if it wasn't being handled in Excel!

The gang return for the last one of the year, looking back across a year of pandemic, incompetence, and one more Brexit crisis. Ho Ho Ho. Rowan discusses how different countries across Europe and the world have responded to COVID, and how Britain compares. Warren takes us through the 19 U-Turns achieved in 8 months by UK's Tory Government, and the themes sitting behind these. And Raj brings the family round the bonfire for one last chat about the final failures of Brexit talks, before the UK is plunged into months of additional economic pain and rising prices (at best) for no tangible gain. Other than impending neoliberal reforms of the UK... Like what you hear? Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Find us on Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/C_and_D_Podcast/ Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/canddpodcast?lang=en Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Subscribe on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2xVDd0NSp6gsh6Ku2odlop or find us on ITunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conn…ed/id1244893114

This week it's an election double-header. First, Warren takes us through a Week In Bullshit on Trumpism: is the USA really so polarised? Will Trump supporters ever swing back to the centre? And how much is the media exaggerating the threat of the populist right? Moving on, we interview Jon Narcross of the Electoral Reform Society about their work, what a better system of voting might look like, and how change might come about here in the UK. See the ERS's work here: https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/ If you're a Labour member, check out Labour for a New Democracy here: https://www.labourforanewdemocracy.org.uk/ Like what you hear? Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Find us on Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/C_and_D_Podcast/ Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/canddpodcast?lang=en Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Subscribe on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2xVDd0NSp6gsh6Ku2odlop or find us on ITunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conn…ed/id1244893114

The gang return this week with a special episode devoted the issue of diversity in economics, specifically Black representation and the fields relative silence in the face of upheavals we've seen this summer Rowan talks us through some of the survey research around the state of the field, and Warren sits down with Fadekemi Abiru - a female black economist and data scientist working in the UK - to discuss the issues and effects of Black representation in economics, bringing to life her own work informing social policy, and highlighting the great work of the Black Economists Network (TBEN) to expand representation and influence within the field. Fadekemi shouts out to Raj Chetty's impactful data charts: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2018/01/11/raj-chetty-in-14-charts-big-findings-on-opportunity-and-mobility-we-should-know/ As well as Mariana Mazzucato: https://marianamazzucato.com/ Be sure to follow TBEN: https://twitter.com/TheBlackEcon_ https://www.instagram.com/theblackecon_/ https://www.tben.co.uk/ Fadekemi writes for... Stears Business: https://republic.com.ng/author/f-abiru/ Republic: https://republic.com.ng/author/f-abiru/ Articles on Black representation and diversity in economics: https://qz.com/1492283/economics-has-a-crisis-of-diversity/ https://www.newsweek.com/economists-silence-racism-100-years-making-opinion-1509790 https://twitter.com/itsafronomics/status/1266714711913107456 https://www.niesr.ac.uk/blog/economics-after-slavery-and-george-floyd https://fortune.com/2020/06/19/black-economists-fixing-systemic-racism-juneteenth/ https://www.res.org.uk/resources-page/economics-has-a-diversity-problem-starting-at-school-and-university-new-discovereconomics-campaign-launched.html Also check out our podcast with Ifeoma Ozuma about her experience of discrimination, the importance of her work at Pinterest, and why diversity is so important to innovation and progress https://soundcloud.com/connectedanddisaffected/ep33-raj-final Like what you hear? Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Find us on Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/C_and_D_Podcast/ Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/canddpodcast?lang=en Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Subscribe on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2xVDd0NSp6gsh6Ku2odlop or find us on ITunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conn…ed/id1244893114

This week the boys are responding to a listener request, and reviewing Starmer's performance so far. Will he continue Corbynism? Is he Blair Mk.2? Is Labour guaranteed to win under his leadership? Or will he destroy Labour from the inside? TL;DR - none of these things. Featuring a potted history of Starmers political background, a Totally Reliable reddit poll run by Rowan, and a combination of our defences and concerns about Starmers leadership. As well as recognising how, at this point, there are many things we don't know. Like what you hear? Support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Find us on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/C_and_D_Podcast/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/canddpodcast?lang=en Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xVDd0NSp6gsh6Ku2odlop or find us on ITunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/connected-disaffected/id1244893114

We've spoken about tech platforms failing to police their content several times before, but every so often we like to highlight successful examples. Back at the start of lockdown, we spoke about the amazing work being done at Pinterest to combat anti-vaxx misinformation. But it's since been revealed that the person spearheading all that work - Ifeoma Ozoma - was being underpaid and mistreated to the point that she was forced out of the company. It is reasonable to talk about the complexity of online content and argue about regulatory oversight, but all too often we ignore the culture inside these companies. Toxic culture in Big Tech companies is a genuine inhibitor to solving these problems and we need to pay attention to it because they are the only organisations that are able to solve it. Follow Ifeoma here: https://twitter.com/IfeomaOzoma

We're joined by Michael Hobbes, podcasting brother and journalist for the Huffington Post, for a wide ranging episode centred on his recent article 'S**thole' Countries Have Handled The Coronavirus Better Than The United States. Covered: - Why are places like Vietnam objectively handling the Corona better than the US and UK? - Why do people get so racist when reminded about it? - What is it about modern authoritarians that makes them so bad at public health crises? Check out Mike's work at https://www.huffpost.com/author/michael-hobbes and make sure you listen to his awesome podcast "You're Wrong About" wherever you get your podcasts or on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/youre-wrong-about/id1380008439 Shout out to all our patrons! If you want to support the podcast: Review us on iTunes: t.co/tqQtW59NVM Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected

It's a social media double-header this week. First, Warren reports back from his adventures in Boomer-populated Facebook political discussion groups and the cesspool of hate he found within. After that we're joined by postdoc researcher of the University of Copenhagen Sille Obelitz Søe to talk about how just looking for "truth" in online posts isn't enough, how the distinctions between information, disinformation and misinformation make it nearly impossible for algorithms to detect them, and what this will mean for social media in an era of increasing regulation. Check out Sille's work at https://www.donttakeitpersonal.net/, or on the University of Copenhagen website. Shout out to all our patrons! If you want to support the podcast: Review us on iTunes: t.co/tqQtW59NVM Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected

Raj and Rowan have watched internet Coronavirus conspiracy theory movie "Plandemic" and we're here to tell you all about it. Join us on a journey through the Coronaverse, taking in HIV vaccines, Ebola, Bill Gates, and why we should be opening the beaches ASAP. Needless to say this is all nonsense and you should read the following: https://www.reddit.com/r/CovIdiots/comments/gezery/plandemic_documentary_debunked/ https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/fact-checking-judy-mikovits-controversial-virologist-attacking-anthony-fauci-viral Review us on iTunes: t.co/tqQtW59NVM Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected

The medical effects of the Coronavirus are already being felt around the world. But the economic effects might be more severe, and felt for long after the medical emergency is over. We take a dive into the effects of the lockdown on the economy, the steps that states are having to take to manage it, and what could be in store for the future. Review us on iTunes: t.co/tqQtW59NVM Support us on Pateron: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Twitter: twitter.com/CandDPodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/

This week we're looking at party politics. Why do so many people feel like parties no longer represent them? Can the current institutions keep up with the modern world, or do we need new ones? To help answer this we speak to Andrea Venzon and Colombe Cahen-Salvador of NOW!, a new organisation trying to build a global organisation to apply political pressure and achieve change outside of conventional national or party-political structures. Check out their work at www.now.world. Review us on iTunes: t.co/tqQtW59NVM Support us on Pateron: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Twitter: twitter.com/CandDPodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/

This week is all about health, fake news, and the internet. With the Coronavirus in the headlines we look at how information about the virus has spread and how the Chinese government has reacted. Then it's on to the antivax movement. How has the internet allowed these beliefs to spread? And what are the platforms doing about it. Shout out to pitchfork economics, a great podcast we've been listening to this week. You can find them on https://pitchforkeconomics.com/ or wherever you get your podcasts. Review us on iTunes: t.co/tqQtW59NVM Support us on Pateron: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Twitter: twitter.com/CandDPodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/

It's an interview double header this week as we tackle the topic of social media and its regulation. First, part 2 of our interview with author Richard Seymour, this time focusing on the atomising and radicalising effect of social media and what we can do about it. Then, we speak to communications expert (and bodybuilder) Marco Ricorda about political advertising, fake news, and regulation. Follow Marco at twitter.com/marcoRecorder or on his website, https://marcorecorder.com/ You can follow Richard on twitter at twitter.com/leninology. He also blogs at leninology.co.uk Review us on iTunes: t.co/tqQtW59NVM Support us on Pateron: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Twitter: twitter.com/CandDPodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/

We take a deeper look into the election result with Richard Seymour, author and writer of "Why Labour Lost — And Why We Must Press On" for Jacobin. We discuss what happened, what we can do about it, and why sadness and mourning is a necessary step in rebuilding. You can follow Richard on twitter at twitter.com/leninology. He also blogs at leninology.co.uk We then go through the data from the election. Are Northern voters all Tories now? Did Labour lose popularity among the young? And what can we do about it in the future? Review us on iTunes: t.co/tqQtW59NVM Support us on Pateron: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Twitter: twitter.com/CandDPodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/

It's been a depressing week at C&D headquarters. We review the general election: What happened? Why? Is Britain right wing now? We also discuss what politics looks like outside of election season, and hear from Aline Muylaert of CitizenLab about how they're trying to build citizen engagement in the democratic process. Find out more about Aline's work at www.citizenlab.co . In an effort to lift everyone's spirits Rowan deploys a long and detailed football analogy for youth politics. Review us on iTunes: t.co/tqQtW59NVM Support us on Pateron: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Twitter: twitter.com/CandDPodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/

Here we go again. Another election, another chance to weigh up the pros and cons of the major UK parties and bemoan the electoral system for forcing millions of people to settle for their second or third choices. Join us for a (relatively) even-handed look at the what we're voting on, broken down into the key battlegrounds: Environment, Education, Economy, Health and, yes, Brexit. For more information on the IFS cost analyses, take a look at this article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/23/labour-tax-plans-credible-ideology-economy One last thing: REMEMBER TO VOTE ___ Review us on iTunes: https://t.co/tqQtW59NVM Support us on Pateron: https://www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Twitter: https://twitter.com/CandDPodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/

We regret to inform you that Corbyn has officially nationalized Connected & Disaffected. Everybody is wondering who will be next. Trains? The internet? What's next - the health service!!?1 We debunk some of the hysteria around these announcements while adding a note of caution around just how ambitious the Labour plans are. The big issue is figuring out if this push towards nationalizing public assets is just a throwback to simpler times or something that can actually solve modern problems. A good example: the issue of data in the internet age. We spoke to Mozilla Fellow Valentina Pavel to explore some of the unresolved tensions we have on that issue. Read her in-depth look at the future of data that she wrote for Privacy International here: https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/3088/our-data-future ___ Review us on iTunes: https://t.co/tqQtW59NVM Support us on Pateron: https://www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Twitter: https://twitter.com/CandDPodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/

It's general election time once again! Raj is back from the Peoples' Republic, and with Warren they sit down to talk through the strategies of the major parties so far. Many pundits have been complaining for the last two years that politics is becoming more "tribal", but what is tribalism and how is it affecting the real world? Rowan interviews Samantha North, a PhD student whose work has been focusing on this very topic. Check out Samantha on twitter: https://twitter.com/sjnrth You can support the podcast on Patreon: patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected.

40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year. Despite the Panama Papers, despite the Occupy movement, despite rising inequality and our annual outrage over Amazon's zero tax burden, we STILL don't talk about tax avoidance nearly enough. This week we spoke to Ludvig Wier, one of a team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Copenhagen who have mapped what the global tax regime really looks like about how it works, what went so wrong and how we might go about changing it. Follow along with the interview here: https://missingprofits.world/ Background reading on the colonial history of tax avoidance: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/28/uk-and-territories-are-greatest-enabler-of-tax-avoidance-study-says Check out Ludvig's other project, Economists Without Borders: https://kph-projects.dk/pf/economists-without-borders/

This week it's Warren and Rowan returning to the subject C&D have successfully avoided for a while - Brexit. Warren reflects on sensationalist media coverage of Parliament undermining trust in parliamentary democracy, while Rowan contrasts with coverage in Europe (spoiler: it's a lot more pragmatic) and the absence of significant EU Commission news from UK headlines. To tie it up, both lay into the David Cameron revival tour and the extremely distasteful non-apology from the man to blame for our ongoing constitutional and economic crisis.

This week the gang are looking at the explosion of the Mindfulness Industry, and ask the question - is this simply individualising the stress of modern capitalist society, and seeking to neutralise us in the growing social and political problems? Ron Purser joins to discuss his book on the topic, McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality. We also touch on the history of HR, and the disturbing tweets from inside Amazon's fulfilment centre. Ron's website: https://www.ronpurser.com/ Ron also has a podcast! http://mindfulcranks.com Get a sneak peek of the book with the Guardian's Long Read: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/14/the-mindfulness-conspiracy-capitalist-spirituality Rowan also quotes this article from Sahanika Ratnayake: https://aeon.co/essays/mindfulness-is-loaded-with-troubling-metaphysical-assumptions Some of the harrowing Amazon Worker tweets can be found here: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/59npad/amazons-creepy-twitter-pr-army-growing

Facebook are back in the news because they're launching a cryptocurrency. Despite missing the boat by about two years, we get some expert advice on what they're doing, why it's going to matter and some of the vast, vast challenges to implementing an idea like this. /BACKGROUND MATERIAL/ The Zuck on Facebook as a nation: https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-06-19/cryptocurrency-launch-facebook-sets-its-path-toward-becoming-independent-nation Digital identity: https://www.coindesk.com/buried-in-facebooks-cryptocurrency-white-paper-a-digital-identity-bombshell Check out Dan Murphy's work: https://www.milkeninstitute.org He's also on twitter: https://twitter.com/_murphyslaw_ Eline on twitter: https://twitter.com/elinecmc /C&D ELSEWHERE/ Twitter: twitter.com/CandDPodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Blog: www.rowan-emslie.com/connected-and-…e-of-politics/ Patreon: www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected

For millennials housing has been a perpetual crisis. Our cities are getting more full and more expensive. If you aren't part of a booming sector you find yourself moving further from where you work and spending more time & money on commuting - another climate issue to feel guilty about. But what is causing the housing crisis and what can we do to solve it? We were lucky enough to have fellow podcaster and HuffPost writer Michael Hobbes on to answer all our questions and solve the issue once and for all*. Michael has written a lot about housing recently, from the challenge of NIMBYism to the persistence of homelessness. He gave us the lowdown on the problems of US cities and all the ways it is similar to problems in the UK (hint: it's about neoliberal reforms). /BACKGROUND MATERIAL/ Homelessness Article: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/homeless-utah-end-america-salt-lake-city_n_5cd1cac0e4b04e275d511aba Contently - https://michaelhobbes.contently.com/ Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/youre-wrong-about/id1380008439?mt=2 Twitter: https://twitter.com/rottenindenmark /C&D ELSEWHERE/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CandDPodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Blog: http://www.rowan-emslie.com/connected-and-disaffected-podcast-about-the-future-of-politics/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected *lol

We're talking a lot about the endings at the moment. Last time we discussed the break down of normal political discourse in rich democracies and the polarization that underpins that. This week, we zoom out and look at the end of Globalization with economist Michael O'Sullivan. Get his book here: https://www.thelevelling.blog LINKS WE DISCUSSED -- O'Sullivan sketches out a vision of a new, multipolar world. We will divide into three broad power bases and see the multinational institutions of the 20th Century fade away. Do we think this will be a nightmare or a blessing or a real option in between? https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/globalization-dead -- One of those big powers is undergoing a massive rejig right now with all new nominees for the top jobs. Interestingly, one of those nominees is coming in from the IMF where she has been praised for doing the seemingly impossible and restoring its reputation. Even China liked her. Can she repeat this performance with the ECB? -- The other top jobs were decided as a series of compromises between the EU member states, with a broadly federalist French approach coming up against the more nationalistic East and South. Eventually, it fell to Germany to bridge the gap. But can Europe become a real global force with such a messy (and undemocratic) process of deciding its leaders? https://www.politico.eu/article/meps-lash-out-at-eu-leaders-over-top-jobs-package-ursula-von-der-leyen-european-commission-president/ & https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3017615/china-christine-lagarde-hard-act-follow ____ Our thanks to Are We Europe as usual.

Warren is sunning himself in Glastonbury this week. In his absence, Raj and Rowan talk about political polarisation and what can be done about it. Why have major political parties drifted to the right, especially in the US - and what can progressives do to combat it that isn't "get more racist?" Featuring an interview with Emerson Brooking of the Digital Forensic Research Lab on state-sponsored disinformation! The full interview will be released as a bonus later this week. Check out his work at https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/component/tags/tag/digital-forensic-research-lab Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Follow us on Soundcloud! Follow us on Twitter! – twitter.com/CandDPodcast We're also on iTunes and Spotify!

This week it's a Tory special! We're so sorry. All the leadership candidates have been promising tax cuts - but is there any actual evidence that they work? Then, a fun look at the makeup and opinions of the shuffling, zombie-like Tory membership. Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Follow us on Soundcloud! Follow us on Twitter! – twitter.com/CandDPodcast We're also on iTunes and Spotify!

Raj and Rowan undertake a two-man mission to podcast. Rowan has been to a conference on misinformation, and we talk through the EU election results from a non-UK perspective. The fascists didn't do as well as people thought! Finally it's the triumphant return of Raj's Smart Money Political Betting Tips, this time for the Tory leadership elections. Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Follow us on Soundcloud! Follow us on Twitter! – twitter.com/CandDPodcast We're also on iTunes and Spotify!

Poll wizard Sir John Curtice returns to the podcast to talk local election results, turnout, and what we can learn from the past about the EU elections. Follow us on Soundcloud! Follow us on Twitter! – twitter.com/CandDPodcast We're also on iTunes and Spotify!

This week it's a special triple-feature on misinformation! Warren talks us through the parties' MEP election manifestos (except the Brexit party, who don't have one). We discuss the upcoming war with Iran, and the way we're all being duped by the media. Rowan sits down with Professor Heidi Tworek to talk about her new book "News from Germany: The Competition to Control World Communications, 1900-1945 ", and about how we can all learn from the past how to deal with misinformation right now. Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Follow us on Soundcloud! Follow us on Twitter! – twitter.com/CandDPodcast We're also on iTunes and Spotify!

Support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected This week it's a European elections special. Rowan walks us through the European parliament, our predictions for the results, and historical trends in minority parties and voter turnout. We speak to several people from the This Time I'm Voting (#TTIV) campaign which is aiming to increase participation about their work and why they think the upcoming elections matter. Check out the work of TTIV at https://www.thistimeimvoting.eu/ and follow their hashtag #TTIV. Follow us on Soundcloud! Follow us on Twitter! – twitter.com/CandDPodcast We're also on iTunes and Spotify!

Still reeling from getting our fist ever patron (you can support us at patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected), we sit down to discuss two topics that require huge governmental and societal change to solve: climate change and stopping the trolls. Extinction Rebellion brought London to a standstill - was their protest effective? What has the reaction been? And what needs to happen for them to achieve their goals? The Government publishes a rare piece of actually good stuff: the Online Harms White Paper. What does it do? How will it be enforced? And can the Government go up against Google without the backing of the EU? Finally Rowan sits down with Mick of Are We Europe, a groovy pan-European media company (that we are now part of) to talk about their work in dissecting the modern European identity. Follow us on Soundcloud! Follow us on Twitter! – twitter.com/CandDPodcast We're also on iTunes and Spotify!

After putting it off for the longest time, this week we talk about Brexit: where we are, how we got here, and what's next. For our interview, Brendan from ECanvasser sits down with Rowan to talk about the increasingly important role of data in political campaigns, and what we can expect to see in Europe for the European Parliament elections in May. Find out more about ECanvasser's work at www.ecanvasser.com We have a patreon now! www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Support us if you like our work and what to keep us healthy and podcasting. Follow us on Soundcloud! Follow us on Twitter! – twitter.com/CandDPodcast We're also on iTunes and Spotify!

The team are back together this week for a discussion of knife crime. Is it really that bad? How did this happen? And what can be done? For our interview, Rowan sits down with Ken Banks of Yoti to talk digital identities and proving you are who you say you are in the 21st century. Find out more about Yoti and Ken's work there at https://www.yoti.com/ Find him on twitter twitter.com/kiwanja We have a patreon now! https://www.patreon.com/connectedanddisaffected Support us if you like our work and what to keep us healthy and podcasting. Follow us on Soundcloud! Follow us on Twitter! – twitter.com/CandDPodcast We're also on iTunes and Spotify!

Raj is holidaying with bae this week, so Warren and Rowan are left to pick up the pieces - joined by friend-of-the-pod Genista Tate-Alexander. We chat the new Independent Group of MPs; highlight the Government's worrying ability to strip citizenship without due process; and chat the whitewashing and nostalgia for the British Empire - a major narrative behind Brexit. We finish with Genista's interview with Rhianna Walcott, co-founder of Project Myopia - seeking to diversify and decolonise university curricula and teaching. Website: https://projectmyopia.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectmyopia/ Gen's got some recommended reading on colonialism, racism and related: - Inglorious Empire by Shashi Tharoor - Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe - A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid - In the Castle of My Skin by George Lamming - Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge - Decolonising The Mind by Ngugi Wa Thiongo'o Follow us on Soundcloud! Follow us on Twitter! – twitter.com/CandDPodcast We're also on iTunes and Spotify!

The gang return with a single-issue episode - discussing Eric Posner and Glen Weyl's book "Radical Markets", bringing together ideas from the extremes of the political spectrum. Ideas include eradicating private property, redistributing wealth, pursuing social justice... through a free market encompassing *everything*. They've also got interesting ideas about direct democracy, immigration, anti-trust laws and personal data. Rowan interviews one of the authors, Glen Weyl, who explains the genesis of the book and the crux of their ideas. Our key conclusion from the whole discussion is that he has an incredibly large brain. Be sure to check out the book - you may not agree with all 5 of its ideas, but it'll get you thinking. Book Website: http://radicalmarkets.com/ Ideas Website: https://radicalxchange.org/ Glen Weyl's Twitter: https://twitter.com/glenweyl

Covering things we missed in the last two weeks: The big vote of no confidence! We are referring of course to Greek president Alexis Tsipras, who survived a confidence vote this week, something that as many as six people in the UK noticed. Brexit continues to be a straightforward affair for everyone, and Berlusconi wants to be EU Commission president. Right-Wing Watch: Old People are sharing fake news at an astonishing rate. I feel like we knew this already, but now it's confirmed by academics. Read the original article here: https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/9/18174631/old-people-fake-news-facebook-share-nyu-princeton Finally we speak to Giuseppe Porcaro of think-tank Bruegel about the Internet of Things, data-gathering, direct democracy, and his book "Disco Sour". Follow Guiseppe on twitter: twitter.com/porcarorama Get Disco Sour on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CV335MF/ Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/CandDPodcast We're also on Facebook and Spotify! Just search "Connected and Disaffected".

After a few quick news hits we missed over Christmas, we launch straight into: Right Wing Watch: the so called "migrant crisis", and how we do almost nothing to help refugees compared to basically everyone else. An interview with Carla Hustedt of the Bertelsmann Foundation about how algorithm design affects us all and her work to inject some ethics into their creation. Finally, some reasons to be cheerful in 2019! We're leaving depressing stuff in 2018! Read about Carla's work here: https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/en/our-projects/ethics-of-algorithms/ Follow us on Soundcloud! Follow us on Twitter! – twitter.com/CandDPodcast

In this slightly depressing pre-Christmas episode we talk to Cindy Cohn of the Electronic Frontier Foundation about her work in digital rights, how we can build a more free digital realm, and the EFF's issue of McSweeneys, "The End of Trust". We then talk about homelessness and how it's been made much, much worse by the Tories. We promise to have a more cheerful episode next week. Merry Christmas! Check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation and their book "The End of Trust" here: https://www.eff.org/the-end-of-trust Letter from a homeless woman to Housing Secretary James Brokenshire MP https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/20/homeless-james-brokenshire-housing-minister Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/CandDPodcast

We're back for another season! This week we're talking about the yellow jackets protest in France - where has this come from, an is this a movements progressives can support? Brexit rumbles inexorably onwards and we bring you a special, comprehensive update. What will happen now? Who knows, but it's probably going to be a nightmare. Finally we speak to Sophie of Berlin think tank Polis-180 about how they're building a democratic, crowdsourced think tank to get people closer to Government. Check out Polis-180 here: https://polis180.org/ and their international network here: https://www.foraus.ch/en/openthinktanknetwork/ You can support us by liking our page on Facebook (facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/) following us on twitter (twitter.com/CandDPodcast) and subscribing to us on SPOTIFY which we're now on and on here!

Raj walks us through the edited highlights of season 1 of Connected and Disaffected. We're on a break right now, but in the meantime you can support us by: Following on Soundcloud Following on Twitter – twitter.com/CandDPodcast Following on FB – www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Email your comments and ideas - connectedanddisaffected@gmail.com

Another Summer Holiday gift for you all - the extended version of Warren's interview with Dr. Elizabeth Economy, on her recent book 'The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State'. In a wide-ranging discussion, we touch on China's recent history, it's increasing global influence, some of the environmental and financial challenges it faces, and the economic and political changes ahead. We also ask - what does this mean for us, in the West? Check out Dr Economy's book www.goodreads.com/book/show/367222…third-revolution She's also on Twitter twitter.com/lizeconomy

Raj walks us through the edited highlights of season 1 of Connected and Disaffected. We're on a break right now, but in the meantime you can support us by: Following on Soundcloud Following on Twitter – twitter.com/CandDPodcast Following on FB – www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Email your comments and ideas - connectedanddisaffected@gmail.com

Kate Raworth is an academic, historian and humanitarian who has become something of an economics superstar in the past couple of years. Her arguments begin with a simple point: the economic systems that dominate global political thought have not only lead to vast inequality in the world, but are wholly unable to mitigate or prevent the overwhelming threat of climate change. What we need is a new way of thinking about 'economics', not simply as supply & demand and everything that happens inside the market, but as a way of managing incentives for the good of society and the planet. It is Raworth's belief that many of our problems stem from the narrow understanding we have of 'economics'. We won't be able to think of solutions for complex problems until we look beyond the limited models of humanity that classical economics has given us. Enjoy this full interview with Kate Raworth. - Read our blog post on Kate Raworth's ideas here: http://www.rowan-emslie.com/new-economics-podcast/ - Listen to the original episode she was on: https://soundcloud.com/connectedanddisaffected/s2e20-the-new-doughnut-economics-ft-kate-raworth And please send this interview to anybody you know who's learning economics - they could use Raworth's perspective before they get completely indoctrinated.

It's the last show of Season 2! We've had a blast producing episodes for the past year, and for our final episode we thought we'd do a retrospective of our favorite moments from this season. No it's not a clip show. Although there are clips. Find all our previous episodes here: https://soundcloud.com/connectedanddisaffected Featuring: Speaking to UK MEPs (E30) International Women's Day (E16) Bitcoin (E5) Peter Frase and Jacobin (E3 + E4) Prof John Curtice (E24 + E25) Sajjad Karim MEP (E28) Genista Tate-Alexander on Windrush (E21) Hannan on Tax Avoidance (E3) Neoliberalism 5 Parter (E9 - E13) Taxpayers Alliance assault on Public Health (E4) Michael Hobbes - Millennials are Screwed (E8) Kate Raworth abd the donut economy (E20) Martin Kirk on Aid (E22) Martin Conboy on the tabloids (E15) Heidi Tworek on fear of new media (E19) Thanks for joining us this season! We'll be putting out some extended interviews and bonus stuff over our break, but you can still stay in touch via social media. See you in September! Twitter – twitter.com/CandDPodcast FB – www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Email your comments and ideas - connectedanddisaffected@gmail.com

A: Good ;) The gang are finally reunited for the penultimate show of the series! This week we're celebrating the 70th birthday of the NHS ("A slice of socialist utopia"); and calling out the usual torrent of Tory hypocrisy. ___ Week in Bull***t / Right-Wing Watch It's a bumper one this week, with Theresa May celebrating negotiating a soft Brexit with her cabinet as if it's something incredible, the Tories claiming EU laws for their own, and allying with far-right nationalists in the European Parliament. As Rowan says... UKIP really f****d up the Conservative Party ___ FEATURE The NHS is 70 this week, and its too important a topic not to dive into. Warren worked in the health sector in a previous life - so he's taking us through some of the history of the NHS, it's achievements and challenges, its recent restructuring and under-funding by the Tory government, its relationship to the wider healthcare and public sector landscape, how it needs to change and why. TL;DR - we need more funds for capital & transformation, primary & social care, and preventative interventions. We can fund this with a relatively small rise in taxes. We underspend on health and have a relatively low tax burden compared to OECD neighbours, Handy little video on NHS restructuring: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/audio-video/how-does-nhs-in-england-work How the NHS plans to change: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-five-year-forward-view The NHS' ranking amongst developed health systems: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2017/jul/mirror-mirror-2017-international-comparison-reflects-flaws-and Guardian review of the NHS: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/02/is-the-nhs-the-worlds-best-healthcare-system Recent releases on the need to fund the NHS: https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/R143.pdf https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/pm-letter-funding-settlement-nhs ___ Like what you hear? Support us by... Following on Soundcloud! Subscribing and Reviewing on ITunes – itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/connected-disaffected/ Following on Twitter – twitter.com/CandDPodcast Following on FB – www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Email your comments and ideas - connectedanddisaffected@gmail.com

The summer tag-teaming continues - this time Rowan's out, and Warren's back in - so we can keep you hydrated with with cool, refreshing glasses of podcasting goodness. This week it's about the Alt-Right landing on UK political shores, the UK's role in torture and rendition, and an interview with Nathan Rubin of Millennial Politics. ___ MEANWHILE ON TWITTER We don't really have words for this. Check it out for yourself: https://twitter.com/NeilUKIP/status/1011671738030182402 Alt-Right douchebags Paul Joseph Watson, Sargon of Akkad, Count Dankula and Milo Yiannopolous are hopping aboard the sinking ship UKIP - is this the beginning of the Alt-Right in the UK? Probably not, but UKIP's swing even further toward reactionary politics is something to keep an eye on... ___ BIG THINKING Torture. It's a Bad Idea. We break down exactly why, the context being a recent parliamentary report revealing the extent of the UK's involvement in torture and rendition. SPOILER ALERT: it's worse than we thought. Summary Article: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/28/uk-role-torture-kidnap-terror-suspects-after-911-revealed The Reports themselves: Detainee Mistreatment & Rendition 2001-2010 - https://b1cba9b3-a-5e6631fd-s-sites.googlegroups.com/a/independent.gov.uk/isc/files/20180628_HC1113_Report_Detainee_Mistreatment_and_Rendition_2001_10.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7co1BiP6dV5fsgDBoax-E4whoDGuHdbvBwq5UwXJZW795_Eh_qdK-JbZP9SvHcOvPhv4Wtjo67UddPTW15EmHFeP-aERRMtXxKEDrzeVA6VtUn-EHYF6A3KbR46OtmLcRNMkyLImcy2ut4zvuPKPeaYQjTRouSjSBP2gnPgFwDfwj88k2fBzH_AUMKA-klBa5-4FLrf4atRdfZje5mowhQGJfBM9yemI8bnUqO0WOSt-1aMatTI0g4-gkgz6vjDmv1Fchb2stVDUrDrergcvPDCZpY5pI1UPMzgf8ARd8M7dgnGYwfA%3D&attredirects=0 Detainee Mistreatment & Rendition, Current Issues: https://b1cba9b3-a-5e6631fd-s-sites.googlegroups.com/a/independent.gov.uk/isc/files/20180628_HC1114_Report_Detainee_Mistreatment_and_Rendition-Current_Issues.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7coeDeDSmv74xvN3e1sZnm5z4hZyj__FaiSldIqGoNjYILXp9-2WFmGZ0l_bisVOo5mT5_QOfEWXvR-viIUgv50HZzAXfdwz0Q-0PErn3Uiwo4VmWbgsdI9LiXnEAYL-J8x3izzD81vOvfdGdwrqBVwCCcTrnms9hrfjHGDFbf_w6pP95mvZnnqXDpSJsqNU_cgsndGhK5jOB05SmGGiM7CfrLsNRRv_YR78lon0vY9tc0VSwqoF4Ar8B74OX6L1SwsYGDPxcAXMW0wwpPL9fzijLVQuC-mjH8QkFq22o03jz_rwTI0%3D&attredirects=0 ___ FEATURE Nathan Rubin drops in to discuss his organisation Millennial Politics - showcasing progressive candidates in the US. Why is this necessary? How are they doing this? What can we learn from it? And of course, how can listeners get involved? Just some of the questions answered... Website: https://millennialpolitics.co/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MillenPolitics/ Millennial Politics Twitter: https://twitter.com/millenpolitics Nathan Rubin's Twitter: https://twitter.com/nathanhrubin ___ Like what you hear? Support us by... Following on Soundcloud! Subscribing and Reviewing on ITunes – itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/connected-disaffected/ Following on Twitter – twitter.com/CandDPodcast Following on FB – www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Email your comments and ideas - connectedanddisaffected@gmail.com

Warren is away this week, but Raj and Rowan have a very special feature we've been working on for a few weeks! What do British MEPs do now that Britain has decided they shouldn’t have a job anymore? Once the UK leaves the EU, all 78 of our sitting MEPs will be out of a job. It's a unique situation. We wanted to know what those MEPs are up to, how they’re preparing for Brexit, and what has changed since the referendum result back in 2016. So, we spoke to six of them on the topic... All the MEPs we spoke to can be found on twitter: Jude Kirton-Darling - @Jude_KD Rory Palmer - @Rory_Palmer ‏ Molly Scott Cato - @MollyMEP Seb Dance - @SebDance Jean Lambert - @GreenJeanMEP Diane James - @DianeJamesMEP ___ Like what you hear? Support us by... Following on Soundcloud! Subscribing and Reviewing on ITunes – itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/connected-disaffected/ Following on Twitter – twitter.com/CandDPodcast Following on FB – www.facebook.com/connectedanddisaffected/ Email your comments and ideas - connectedanddisaffected@gmail.com