Podcasts about Loach

Can You Segway?Book 3 in 18 parts, By FinalStand. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels.So exactly who was going to be sympathetic to their plight, who we cared about?Beyond my fevered dream of making a difference there was a pinch of reality. See, the Cabindans and the people of Zaire were both ethnic Bakongo and the Bakongo of Zaire had also once had their own, independent (until 1914) kingdom which was now part of Angola. The Bakongo were major factions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) -(formerly for a short time known as the nation of Zaire, from here on out to be referred to as the DRC and in the running for the most fucked up place on the planet Earth, more on that later)- and Congo (the nation) yet a minority in Angola. Having an independent nation united along ethnic and linguistic lines made sense and could expect support from their confederates across international boundaries.The Liberation Air ForceThe Earth & Sky operated under one constant dilemma ~ when would Temujin make his return? Since they didn't know and it was their job to be prepared for the eventuality if it happened tomorrow, or a century down the line, they 'stockpiled', and 'stockpiled' and 'stockpiled'.That was why they maintained large horse herds and preserved the ancient arts of Asian bowyers, armoring and weapons-craft. That was why they created secret armories, and sulfur and saltpeter sites when musketry and cannons became the new ways of warfare. They secured sources of phosphates and petroleum when they became the new thing, and so on.All of this boiled over to me being shown yet again I worked with clever, creative and under-handed people. The Khanate came up with a plan for a 'Union' Air Force {Union? More on that later} within 24 hours, and it barely touched any of their existing resources. How did they accomplish this miracle? They had stockpiled and maintained earlier generation aircraft because they didn't know when Temujin would make his re-appearance.They'd also trained pilots and ground crews for those aircraft. As you might imagine, those people grew old just as their equipment did. In time, they went into the Earth & Sky's Inactive Reserves ~ the rank & file over the age of 45. You never were 'too old' to serve in some capacity though most combat-support related work ended at 67.When Temujin made his return and the E&S transformed into the Khanate, those people went to work bringing their lovingly cared for, aging equipment up to combat-alert readiness. If the frontline units were decimated, they would have to serve, despite the grim odds of their survival. It was the terrible acceptance the Chinese would simply possess so much more war-making material than they did.Well, the Khanate kicked the PRC's ass in a titanic ass-whooping no one (else) had seen coming, or would soon forget. Factory production and replacement of worn machines was in stride to have the Khanate's Air Force ready for the next round of warfare when the Cease-fire ended and the Reunification War resumed.Always a lower priority, the Khanate military leadership was considering deactivating dozens of these reserve unit when suddenly the (Mongolian) Ikh khaany khairt akh dáé (me) had this hare-brained scheme about helping rebels in Africa, West Africa, along the Gulf of Guinea coast/Atlantic Ocean, far, far away, and it couldn't look like the Khanate was directly involved.They barely knew where Angola was. They had to look up Cabinda to figure out precisely where that was. They brought in some of their 'reservist' air staff to this briefing and one of them, a woman (roughly a third of the E&S 'fighting'/non-frontline forces were female), knew what was going on. Why?She had studied the combat records and performance of the types of aircraft she'd have to utilize... back in the 1980's and 90's and Angola had been a war zone rife with Soviet (aka Khanate) material back then. Since she was both on the ball, bright and knew the score, the War Council put her in overall command. She knew what was expected of her and off she went, new staff in hand. She was 64 years old, yet as ready and willing to serve as any 20 year old believer in the Cause.Subtlety, scarcity and audacity were the watchwords of the day. The Khanate couldn't afford any of their front-line aircraft for this 'expedition'. They really couldn't afford any of their second-rate stuff either. Fortunately, they had some updated third-rate war-fighting gear still capable of putting up an impressive show in combat ~ providing they weren't going up against a top tier opponents.For the 'volunteers' of the Union Air Force, this could very likely to be a one-way trip. They all needed crash courses (not a word any air force loves, I know) in Portuguese though hastily provided iPhones with 'apps' to act as translators were deemed to be an adequate stop-gap measure. Besides, they were advised to avoid getting captured at all cost. The E&S couldn't afford the exposure. Given the opportunity ~ this assignment really was going above and beyond ~ not one of these forty-six to sixty-seven year olds backed out.No, they rolled out fifty of their antiquated aircraft, designs dating back to the 1950's through the mid-70's, and prepared them for the over 10,000 km journey to where they were 'needed most'. 118 pilots would go (72 active plus 46 replacements) along with 400 ground crew and an equally aged air defense battalion (so their air bases didn't get blown up). Security would be provided by 'outsiders' ~ allies already on the ground and whatever rebels could be scrounged up. After the initial insertion, the Indian Air Force would fly in supplies at night into the Cabinda City and Soyo Airports.The composition,14 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 jet fighters ~ though she entered service in 1959, these planes' electronics were late 20th century and she was a renowned dogfighter. 12 were the Mig-21-97 modernized variant and the other two were Mig-21 UM two-seater trainer variants which could double as reconnaissance fighters if needed.14 Sukhoi Su-22 jet fighter-bombers ~ the original design, called the Su-17, came out in 1970, the first 12 were variants with the 22M4 upgrade were an early-80's package. The other 2 were Su-22U two-seat trainers which, like their Mig-21 comrades, doubled as reconnaissance fighters. The Su-22M4's would be doing the majority of the ground attack missions for the Cabindans, though they could defend themselves in aerial combat if necessary.6 Sukhoi Su-24M2 supersonic attack aircraft ~ the first model rolled off the production lines in the Soviet Union back in 1974. By far the heaviest planes in the Cabindan Air Force, the Su-24M2's would act as their 'bomber force' as well as anti-ship deterrence.8 Mil Mi-24 VM combat helicopters ~ introduced in 1972 was still a lethal combat machine today. Unlike the NATO helicopter force, the Mi-24's did double duty as both attack helicopter and assault transports at the same time.4 Mil Mi-8 utility helicopters, first produced in 1967. Three would act as troop/cargo transports (Mi-8 TP) while the fourth was configured as a mobile hospital (the MI-17 1VA).4 Antonov An-26 turboprop aircraft, two to be used as tactical transports to bring in supplies by day and two specializing in electronic intelligence aka listening to what the enemy was up to. Though it entered production in 1969, many still remained flying today.2 Antonov An-71M AEW&C twin-jet engine aircraft. These were an old, abandoned Soviet design the Earth & Sky had continued working on primarily because the current (1970's) Russian Airborne Early Warning and Control bird had been both huge and rather ineffective ~ it couldn't easily identify low-flying planes in the ground clutter so it was mainly only good at sea. Since the E&S planned to mostly fight over the land,They kept working on the An-71 which was basically 1977's popular An-72 with some pertinent design modifications (placing the engines below the wings instead of above them as on the -72 being a big one). To solve their radar problem, they stole some from the Swedish tech firm Ericsson, which hadn't been foreseen to be a problem before now.See, the Russians in the post-Soviet era created a decent AEW&C craft the E&S gladly stole and copied the shit out of for their front line units and it was working quite nicely ~ the Beriev A-50, and wow, were the boys in the Kremlin pissed off about that these days. Whoops, or was that woot?Now, the Khanate was shipping two An-71's down to Cabinda and somewhere along the line someone just might get a 'feel' for the style of radar and jamming the Cabindans were using aka the Swedish stuff in those An-71's. The Erieye radar system could pick out individual planes at 280 miles. The over-all system could track 60 targets and plot out 10 intercepts simultaneously. NATO, they were not, but in sub-Saharan Africa, there were none better.Anyway, so why was any of this important?Why the old folks with their ancient machines? As revealed, since the Earth & Sky had no idea when Temüjin would return, they were constantly squirreling away equipment. World War 2 gave them unequaled access to Soviet military technology and training.Afterwards, under Josef Stalin's direction, thousands of Russian and German engineers and scientists were exiled to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan who were then snatched up (reportedly died in the gulags/trying to escape) and the E&S began building mirror factories modeled on the 'then current' Soviet production lines.So, by the early 1950's, the E&S was building, flying and maintaining Soviet-style Antonov, Beriev, Ilyushin, Myasishchev, Mikoyan-Gurevich, Sukhoi, Tupolev and Yakovlev airplanes. First in small numbers because their pool of pilots and specialists was so small.The E&S remedied this by creating both their own 'private' flight academies and technical schools. They protected their activities with the judicious use of bribes (they were remarkably successful with their economic endeavors on both side of the Iron Curtain) and murders (including the use of the Ghost Tigers).By 1960, the proto-Khanate had an air force. Through the next two decades they refined and altered their doctrine ~ moving away from the Soviet doctrine to a more pure combined-arms approach (the Soviets divided their air power into four separate arms ~ ADD (Long Range Aviation), FA (Front Aviation), MTA (Military Transport Aviation) and the V-PVO (Soviet Air Defenses ~ which controlled air interceptors).).It wasn't until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of the various former SSR's that the E&S program really began to hit its stride. Still, while Russia faltered, China's PLAAF (Peoples' Liberation Army Air Force) began to take off. Since the Chinese could produce so much more, the E&S felt it had to keep those older planes and crews up to combat readiness. The younger field crews and pilots flew the newer models as they rolled off the secret production lines.Then the Unification War appeared suddenly, the E&S-turned Khanate Air Force skunked their PLAAF rivals due to two factors, a surprise attack on a strategic level and the fatal poisoning of their pilots and ground crews before they even got into the fight. For those Chinese craft not destroyed on the ground, the effects of Anthrax eroded their fighting edge. Comparable technology gave the Khanate their critical victory and Air Supremacy over the most important battlefields.What did this meant for those out-of-date air crews and pilots who had been training to a razor's edge for a month now? Their assignment had been to face down the Russians if they invaded. They would take their planes up into the fight even though this most likely would mean their deaths, but they had to try.When Operation Fun House put Russia in a position where she wasn't likely to jump on the Khanate, this mission's importance faded. The Russian Air Force was far more stretched than the Khanate's between her agitations in the Baltic and her commitments in the Manchurian, Ukrainian, Chechen and Georgian theaters.With more new planes rolling off the production lines, these reservist units began dropping down the fuel priority list, which meant lowering their flight times thus readiness. Only my hare-brained scheme had short-circuited their timely retirement. Had I realized I was getting people's grandparents killed, I would have probably made the same call anyway. We needed them.The KanateThe Khanate's #1 air superiority dogfighter was the Mig-35F. The #2 was the Mig-29. No one was openly discussing the Khanate's super-stealthy "Su-50", if that was what it was, because its existence 'might' suggest the Khanate also stole technology from the Indian defense industry, along with their laundry list of thefts from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the PRC, Russia and half of NATO.Her top multi-role fighters were the Su-47, Su-35S and Su-30SM. The Su-30 'Flanker-C/MK2/MKI were their 2nd team with plenty of 3rd team Su-27M's still flying combat missions as well.Strike fighters? There weren't enough Su-34's to go around yet, so the Su-25MS remained the Khanate's dedicated Close Air Assault model.Medium transport aircraft? The An-32RE and An-38. They had small, large and gargantuan transports as well.Bombers? The rather ancient jet-powered Tu-160M2's and Tu-22M2's as well as the even older yet still worthwhile turboprops ~ from 1956's ~ the Tu-95M S16.Helicopters? While they still flew updated variants of the Mil Mi-8/17 as military transports, the more optimized Kamov Ka-52 and Mil Mi-28 had replaced them in the assault role.Bizarrely, the Khanate had overrun several Chinese production lines of the aircraft frames and components ~ enough to complete fairly modern PLAAF (Peoples Liberation Army Air Force) FC-1 and J-10 (both are small multi-role fighter remarkably similar to the US F-16 with the FC-1 being the more advanced model, using shared Chinese-Pakistani technology and was designed for export,).They did have nearly two dozen to send, but they didn't have the pilots and ground crews trained to work with them, plus the FC-1 cost roughly $32 million which wasn't fundage any legitimate Cabindan rebels could get their hands on, much less $768 million (and that would just be for the planes, not the weeks' worth of fuel, parts and munitions necessary for what was forthcoming).Meanwhile, except for the An-26, which you could get for under $700,000 and the An-71, which were only rendered valuable via 'black market tech', none of the turboprop and jet aircraft the Khanate was sending were what any sane military would normally want. The helicopters were expensive ~ the 'new' models Mi-24's cost $32 million while the Mi-17's set you back $17 million. The one's heading to Cabinda didn't look 'new'.The Opposition:In contrast, the Angolan Air Force appeared far larger and more modern. Appearances can be deceptive, and they were. Sure, the models of Russian and Soviet-made aircraft they had in their inventory had the higher numbers ~ the Su-25, -27 and -30 ~ plus they had Mig-21bis's, Mig-23's and Su-22's, but things like training and up-keep didn't appear to be priorities for the Angolans.When you took into account the rampant corruption infecting all levels of Angolan government, the conscript nature of their military, the weakness of their technical educational system, the complexity of any modern combat aircraft and the reality that poor sods forced into being Air Force ground crewmen hardly made the most inspired technicians, or most diligent care-takers of their 'valuable' stockpiles (which their officers all too often sold on the black market anyway), things didn't just look bleak for the Angolan Air Force, they were a tsunami of cumulative factors heading them for an epic disaster.It wasn't only their enemies who derided their Air Force's lack of readiness. Their allies constantly scolded them about it too. Instead of trying to fix their current inventory, the Angolans kept shopping around for new stuff. Since 'new'-new aircraft was beyond what they wanted to spend (aka put too much of a dent in the money they were siphoning off to their private off-shore accounts), they bought 'used' gear from former Soviet states ~ Belarus, Russia and Ukraine ~ who sold them stuff they had left abandoned in revetments (open to the elements to slowly rot) on the cheap.To add to the insanity, the Angolans failed to keep up their maintenance agreements so their newly fixed high-tech machines often either couldn't fly, or flew without critical systems, like radar, avionics and even radios. Maybe that wasn't for the worst because after spending millions on these occasionally-mobile paperweights, the Angolans bought the least technologically advanced missile, gun and rocket systems they could get to put on these flying misfortunes.On the spread sheets, Angola had 18 Su-30K's, 18 Su-27, 12 Su-25's, 14 Su-22's, 22 Mig-23's, 23 Mig-21bis's and 6 Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano (a turboprop aircraft tailor-made for counter-insurgency operations), 105 helicopters with some combative ability and 21 planes with some airlift capacity. That equated to 81 either air superiority, or multi-role jet fighters versus the 12 Union Air Force (actually the Bakongo Uni o de Cabinda e Zaire, For as Armadas de Liberta  o, For a Area ~ Liberation Armed Forces, Air Force (BUCZ-FAL-FA) Mig-21-97's.It would seem lopsided except for the thousands of hours of flight experience the 'Unionists' enjoyed over their Angolan rivals. You also needed to take into account the long training and fanatic dedication of their ground crews to their pilots and their craft. Then you needed to take into account every Unionist aircraft, while an older airframe design, had updated (usually to the year 2000) technology lovingly cared for, as if the survival of their People demanded it.A second and even more critical factor was the element of surprise. At least the PRC and the PLAAF had contingencies for attacks from their neighbors in the forefront of their strategic planning. The Angolans? The only country with ANY air force in the vicinity was the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and they had ceased being a threat with the end of Apartheid and the rise of majority Black rule in that country nearly two decades earlier.In the pre-dawn hours of 'Union Independence Day', the FAL-FA was going to smash every Angolan Air base and air defense facility within 375 miles of Cabinda (the city). Every three hours after that, they would be hitting another target within their designated 'Exclusion Zone'. Yes, this 'Exclusion Zone' included a 'tiny' bit of DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) territory. The DRC didn't have an air force to challenge them though, so,Inside this 'Exclusion Zone', anything moving by sea, river, road, rail, or air without Unionist governmental approval was subject to attack, which would require neutral parties to acknowledge some semblance of a free and independent B U C Z. Worse for Angola, this 'Zone' included Angola's capital and its largest port, Luanda, plus four more of their ten largest urban centers. This could be an economic, military and humanitarian catastrophe if mishandled.The Angolan Army did not have significant anti-aircraft assets. Why would they? Remember, no one around them had much of an air force to worry about. The FAL-FA in turn could hit military convoys with TV-guided munitions 'beyond line of sight', rendering what they did have useless. It got worse for the Army after dark. The FAL-FA could and would fly at night whereas the average Angolan formation had Zip-Zero-Nadda night fighting capacity.Then geography added its own mountain of woes. As far as Cabinda was concerned, there was no direct land line to their border from Angola. Their coastal road only went as far as the port of Soyo where the Congo River hit the South Atlantic Ocean. Across that massive gap was the DRC where the road was not picked back up. Far up the coast was the DRC town of Muanda (with an airport) and though they did have a road which went north, it did not continue to the Cabindan border.Nope. To get at Cabinda from the south meant a long, torturous travel through northeastern Angola, into the heart of the DRC then entailed hooking west to some point 'close' to the Cabindan frontier before finally hoofing it overland through partially cleared farmland and jungle. Mind you, the DRC didn't have a native air force capable of protecting the Angolans in their territory so,In fact the only 'road' to Cabinda came from the Republic of Congo (Congo) to the north and even that was a twisted route along some really bad, swampy terrain. This had been the pathway of conquest the Angolans took 39 years earlier. The difference being the tiny bands of pro-independence Cabindan guerillas back then couldn't hold a candle to the Amazons fighting to free Cabinda this time around in numbers, zeal, training and up-to-date equipment.Next option ~ to come by sea. They would face a few, stiff problems, such as the FAL-FA having ship-killer missiles, the Angolan Navy not being able to defend them and the Unionists having no compunction to not strike Pointe-Noire in the 'not so neutral' Republic of the Congo if they somehow began unloading Angolan troops. It seemed the Republic of the Congo didn't have much of an Air Force either.Before you think the FAL-FA was biting off more than they could chew, Cabinda, the province, was shaped somewhat like the US State of Delaware, was half the size of Connecticut (Cabinda was 2,810 sq. mi. to Conn.'s 5,543 sq. mi.) and only the western 20% was relatively open countryside where the Angolan Army's only advantage ~ they possessed armed fighting vehicles while the 'Unionists' did not (at this stage of planning) ~ could hopefully come into play.Centered at their capital, Cabinda (City), jets could reach any point along their border within eight minutes. Helicopters could make it in fifteen. To be safe, some of the FAL-FA would base at the town of Belize which was in the northern upcountry and much tougher to get at with the added advantage the Angolans wouldn't be expecting the FAL-FA to be using the abandoned airfield there, at least initially.Where they afraid attacking Angolan troops in the DRC would invite war with the DRC? Sure, but letting the Angolans reach the border unscathed was worse. Besides, the DRC was in such a mess it needed 23,000 UN Peacekeepers within her borders just to keep the country from falling apart. Barring outside, read European, intervention, did "Democratically-elected since 2001" President (for Life) Joseph Kabila want the FAL-FA to start dropping bombs on his capital, Kinshasa, which was well within reach of all their aircraft?Congo (the country), to the north, wasn't being propped up by the UN, or anything else except ill intentions. In reality, it hardly had much of a military at all. Its officer corps was chosen for political reliability, not merit, or capability. Their technology was old Cold War stuff with little effort to update anything and, if you suspected corruption might be a problem across all spectrums of life, you would 'probably' be right about that too.If you suspected the current President had been in charge for a while, you would be correct again (1979-1992 then 2001- and the 'whoops' was when he accidently let his country experiment with democracy which led to two civil wars). If you suspected he was a life-long Communist (along with the Presidents of the DRC and Angola), you'd be right about that as well. Somehow their shared Marxist-Leninist-Communist ideology hadn't quite translated over to alleviating the grinding poverty in any of those countries despite their vast mineral wealth,At this point in the region's history, little Cabinda had everything to gain by striving for independence and the vast majority of 'warriors' who could possibly be sent against her had terribly little to gain fighting and dying trying to stop them from achieving her goal. After all, their lives weren't going to get any better and with the Amazons ability ~ nay willingness ~ to commit battlefield atrocities, those leaders were going to find it hard going to keep sending their men off to die.And then, it got even worse.See, what I had pointed out was there were two oil refineries in Angola, and neither was in Cabinda. Cabinda would need a refinery to start making good on their oil wealth ~ aka economically bribe off the Western economies already shaken over the Khanate's first round of aggressions.But wait! There was an oil refinery just across the Congo River from Cabinda ~ which meant it was attached to mainland Angola. That had to be a passel of impossible news, right?Nope. As I said earlier, it seemed the people of northern Angola were the same racial group as the Cabindans AND majority Catholic while the ruling clique wasn't part of their ethnic confederacy plus the farther south and east into Angola you went, the less Catholic it became.But it got better. This province was historically its own little independent kingdom (called the Kingdom of Kongo) to boot! It had been abolished by Portugal back in 1914.The 'good' news didn't end there. Now, it wasn't as if the leadership of Angola was spreading the wealth around to the People much anyway, but these northerners had been particularly left out of this Marxist version of 'Trickle Down' economics.How bad was this? This northwestern province ~ called Zaire ~ didn't have any railroads, or paved roads, linking it to the rest of the freaking country. The 'coastal road' entered the province, but about a third of the way up ran into this river, which they'd failed to bridge (you had to use a single track bridge farther to the northeast, if you can believe it). It wasn't even a big river. It was still an obstacle though.How did the Angolan government and military planned to get around? Why by air and sea, of course. Well, actually by air. Angola didn't have much of a merchant marine, or Navy, to make sealift a serious consideration. Within hours of the 'Union Declaration of Independence' anything flying anywhere north of the Luanda, the capital of Angola, would essentially be asking to be blown out of the sky.Along the border between Zaire province and the rest of Angola were precisely two chokepoints. By 'chokepoints', I meant places where a squad (10 trained, modernly-equipped troopers) could either see everything for miles & miles over pretty much empty space along a river valley and the only bridge separating Zaire province from the south, or overlook a ravine which the only road had to pass through because of otherwise bad-ass, broken terrain.Two.Zaire Province had roughly the same population as Cabinda ~ 600,000. Unlike Cabinda, which consisted of Cabinda City plus a few tiny towns and rugged jungles, Zaire had two cities ~ Soyo, with her seventy thousand souls plus the refinery at the mouth of the Congo River, and M'banza-Kongo, the historical capital of the Kingdom of Kongo, spiritual center of the Bakongo People (who included the Cabindans) and set up in the highlands strategically very reminiscent of Điện Biàn Phủ.Of Zaire's provincial towns, the only other strategic one was N'Zeto with her crappy Atlantic port facility and 2,230 meter grass airport. The town was the northern terminus of the National Road 100 ~ the Coastal Road. It terminated because of the Mebridege River. There wasn't a bridge at N'Zeto though there was a small one several miles upstream. N'Zeto was also where the road from provinces east of Zaire ended up, so you had to have N'Zeto ~ and that tiny bridge ~ to move troops overland anywhere else in Zaire Province.So you would think it would be easy for the Angolan Army to defend then, except of how the Amazons planned to operate. They would infiltrate the area first then 'rise up in rebellion'. Their problem was the scope of the operation had magnified in risk of exposure, duration and forces necessary for success.The serious issue before Saint Marie and the Host in Africa were the first two. They could actually move Amazons from Brazil and North America to bolster their numbers for the upcoming offensive. Even in the short-short term, equipment wouldn't be a serious problem. What the Amazons dreaded was being left in a protracted slugfest with the Angolan Army which the Condottieri could jump in on. The Amazons exceedingly preferred to strike first then vanish.There was reason to believe a tiny number could have stayed behind in Cabinda to help the locals prepare their military until they could defend themselves. They would need more than a hundred Amazons if Cabinda wanted to incorporate Zaire. The answer was to call back their newfound buddy, the Great Khan. While he didn't have much else he could spare (the Khanate was ramping up for their invasion of the Middle East after all, the Kurds needed the help), he had other allies he could call on.India couldn't help initially since they were supposed to supply the 'Peace-keepers' once a cease-fire had been arranged. That left Temujin with his solid ally, Vietnam, and his far shakier allies, the Republic of China and Japan.First off ~ Japan could not help, which meant they couldn't supply troops who might very well end up dead, or far worse, captured.. What they did have was a surplus of older equipment the ROC troops were familiar with, so while the ROC was gearing up for their own invasion of mainland China in February, they were willing to help the Chinese kill Angolans, off the books, of course.The ROC was sending fifteen hundred troops the Khanate's way to help in this West African adventure with the understanding they'd be coming home by year's end. With Vietnam adding over eight hundred of her own Special Forces, the Amazons had the tiny 'allied' army they could leave shielding Cabinda/Zaire once the first round of blood-letting was over.To be 'fair', the Republic of China and Vietnam asked for 'volunteers'. It wasn't like either country was going to declare war on Angola directly. Nearly a thousand members of Vietnam's elite 126th Regiment of the 5th Brigade (Đặc cáng bộ) took early retirement then misplaced their equipment as they went to update their visas and inoculations before heading out for the DRC (some would be slipping over the DRC/Cabindan border).On Taiwan, it was the men and women of the 602nd Air Cavalry Brigade, 871st Special Operations Group and 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion who felt the sudden desire to 'seek enlightenment elsewhere, preferably on another continent'.They too were off to the Democratic Republic of Congo, man that country was a mess and their border security wasn't worth writing home about, that's for damn sure, via multiple Southeast Asian nations. Besides, they were being issued fraudulently visas which showed them to be from the People's Republic of China, not the ROC/Taiwan. If they were captured, they were to pretend to "be working for a Communist Revolution inside Angola and thus to be setting all of Africa on fire!" aka be Mainland Chinese.There, in the DRC, these Chinese stumbled across, some Japanese. These folks hadn't retired. No. They were on an extended assignment for the UN's mission in, the DRC. OH! And look! They'd brought tons of surplus, outdated Japanese Self Defense Forces' equipment with them, and there just so happened to be some Taiwanese who had experience in using such equipment (both used US-style gear).And here was Colonel Yoshihiro Isami of the Chūō Sokuō Shūdan (Japan's Central Readiness Force) wondering why he and his hastily assembled team had just unloaded,18 Fuji/Bell AH-1S Cobra Attack helicopters,6 Kawasaki OH-6D Loach Scout helicopters,12 Fuji-Bell 204-B-2 Hiyodori Utility helicopters,6 Kawasaki/Boeing CH-47JA Chinook Transport helicopters and4 Mitsubishi M U-2L-1 Photo Reconnaissance Aircraft.Yep! 46 more aircraft for the FAL-FA!Oh, and if this wasn't 'bad enough', the Chinese hadn't come alone. They'd brought some old aircraft from their homes to aid in the upcoming struggle. Once more, these things were relics of the Cold War yet both capable fighting machines and, given the sorry state of the opposition, definitely quite deadly. A dozen F-5E Tiger 2000 configured primarily for air superiority plus two RF-5E Tigergazer for reconnaissance, pilots plus ground crews, of course.Thus, on the eve of battle, the FAL-FA had become a true threat. Sure, all of its planes (and half of its pilots) were pretty old, but they were combat-tested and in numbers and experience no other Sub-Saharan African nation could match.The Liberation Ground Forces:But wait, there was still the niggling little problem of what all those fellas were going to fight with once they were on the ground. Assault/Battle rifles, carbines, rifles, pistols, PDW, SMGs as bullets, grenades and RPG's were all terrifyingly easy to obtain. The coast of West Africa was hardly the Port of London as far as customs security went. They were going to need some bigger toys and their host nations were going to need all their native hardware for their upcoming battles at home.And it wasn't like you could advertise for used IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicles), APCs (armored personnel carriers) and tanks on e-Bay, Amazon.com, or Twitter. If something modern US, or NATO, was captured rolling around the beautiful Angolan countryside, shooting up hostile Angolans, all kinds of head would roll in all kinds of countries, unless the country,A) had an Executive Branch and Judiciary who wouldn't ask (or be answering) too many uncomfortable questions,B) wasn't all that vulnerable to international pressure,C) really needed the money and,D) didn't give a fuck their toys would soon be seen on BBC/CNN/Al Jazeera blowing the ever-living crap out of a ton of Africans aka doing what they were advertised to do and doing it very well in the hands of capable professionals.And politics was kind enough to hand the freedom-loving people of Cabinda & Zaire a winner, and it wasn't even from strangers, or at least people all that strange to their part of the Globe. If you would have no idea who to look for, you wouldn't be alone.That was the magic of the choice. See, the last three decades had seen the entire Globe take a colossal dump on them as a Nation and a People. They were highly unpopular for all sorts of things, such as Crimes Against Humanity and 'no', we were not talking about the Khanate.We would be talking about Република Србија / Republika Srbija aka Serbia aka the former Yugoslavia who had watched all their satellite minions (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia) slip away. Despite being reduced to a tiny fraction of their former selves thus fighting two incredibly brutal and bloody World Wars for nothing, Serbia insisted on maintaining a robust armaments industry.Mind you, they didn't make the very best stuff on the planet. That didn't stop them from trying though. Of equal importance was their geographic location and the above mentioned desire for some hard currency without asking too many questions. The geography was simple, you could move even heavy gear unnoticed from central Serbia to the Montenegrin port of Bar by rail and load them up on freighters and off to the Congo you went.The Serbians produced an APC called the BVP M-80A's which weren't blowing anyone's minds away when they started rolling off the production lines back in 1982, plus some over-eager types on the Serbian Army's payroll sweetened the deal by offering 'the rebels' some BVP M-80 KC's and a KB as well.Then they slathered on the sugary-sweet Maple syrup by upgrading a few of the M-80A's to BVP M-98A's. Why would they be so generous? The KC's and KB were the Command & Control variants, so that made sense (C = company & B = battalion commander). The -98A had never been tested in the field before and they were kind of curious how the new turrets (which was the major difference) would behave. 'Our' procurement agents didn't quibble. We needed the gear.Besides, these Slavic entrepreneurs gave them an inside track on some 'disarmed/mothballed' Czech (introduced in 1963) armored mobile ambulances and Polish BWP-1 (first rolled out in 1966) APC's which were either in, or could be quickly configured into, the support variants those ground-fighters would need. The 'disarmed' part was 'fixable', thanks to both the Serbians and Finland. The 'missing' basic weaponry was something the Serbians could replace with virtually identical equipment.It just kept getting better. Unknown to me at the time, the Finnish firm, Patria Hágglunds, had sold twenty-two of their 'most excellent' AMOS turrets ~ they are a twin 120 mm mortar system ~ then the deal fell through. Whoops! Should have guarded that warehouse better. Those bitches were on a cargo plane bound for Albania inside of six hours.The ammunition for them was rather unique. Thankfully, it was uniquely sold by the Swiss, who had no trouble selling it to Serbia, thank you very much! Twenty-two BWP-1's became mobile artillery for the Unionist freedom fighters, though I understood the ship ride with the Serbian and Chinese technicians was loads of fun as they struggled to figured out how to attach those state-of-the-art death-dealing turrets to those ancient contraptions.To compensate, the Serbians added (aka as long as our money was good) two Nora B-52 155 mm 52-calibre mobile artillery pieces and one battery of Orkan CER MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) for long-range artillery, two batteries of their Oganj 2000 ER MRLS for medium range carnage and six batteries of their M-94 MRLS for 'close support' as well. More field-testing new gear for the "freedom fighters" We also managed to 'purchase' ten M-84AS Main Battle tanks plus an M-84A1 armor recovery vehicle. It should have been twelve tanks, but two had 'loading issues'.Not to be deterred, our busy little procurement-beavers discovered four tanks no one was using, in neighboring Croatia. Why wasn't anyone immediately keen on their placement? They were two sets of prototypes, Croatia's improvements on the M-84; the M-95 Degman which was a 'failed redesign' and the M-84D, which was a vast up-grade for the M-84 line which had been sidelined by the 2008 Global economic collapse, after which the project stagnated.It seemed they were all in working order because late one night 'my people' exited a Croatian Army base with them, never to be seen again, until two weeks later when an intrepid news crew caught the distinctive form of the M-95 sending some sweet 125 mm loving the Angolan Army's way. Whoops yet again! At least they hit what they were aiming at and destroyed what they hit, right?By then, millions of other people would be going 'what the fuck?' right along with them as Cabinda's camouflage- and mask-wearing rebel army was laying the smack-down on the Angolans. That was okay; over a million 'free Cabindan Unionists' were in the same boat. Over a thousand Asians with their mostly-female militant translators were right there to prop up their 'Unionist Allies', but then they were the ones with the tanks, armored vehicles, planes and guns, so they were less worried than most.To pilot these tanks, APC, IFV and man this artillery, they had to go back to the Khanate. Sure enough, they had some old tankers used to crewing the T-72 from which the M-84's and -95 Degman were derived. They'd also need drivers for those BVP M-80A's and Polish BWP-1's and OT-64 SKOT's... who were, again, derived from old Soviet tech (just much better). The Serbian artillery was similar enough to Soviet stuff, but with enough new tech to make it 'more fun' for the reservists to 'figure out' how to use.More volunteers for the Liberation Armed Forces! More Apple sales, great apps and voice modulation software so that the vehicle commanders would be heard communicating in Portuguese if someone was eavesdropping. As a final offering the Turkish Navy spontaneously developed some plans to test their long range capabilities by going to, the South Atlantic.On the final leg they would have six frigates and two submarines, enough to give any navy in the region, which wasn't Brazil, something to think about. This was a show of force, not an actual threat though. If anyone called their bluff, the Khanate-Turkish forces would have to pull back. These were not assets my Brother, the Great Khan, could afford to gamble and lose.If someone didn't call that bluff, he was also sending two smaller, older corvettes and three even smaller, but newer, fast attack boats, a "gift" to the Unionists ASAP. The frigates would then race home, they had 'other' issues to deal with while the submarines would hang around for a bit. The naval gift was necessitated by the reality the Unionists would have to press their claim to their off-shore riches and that required a naval force Angola couldn't hope to counter.As things were developing, it was reckoned since a build-up of such momentous land and air power couldn't be disguised, it had to happen in a matter of days ~ four was decided to be the minimum amount of time. More than that and the government of the Democratic Republic might start asking far too many questions our hefty bribes and dubious paperwork couldn't cover. Less than that would leave the task forces launching operations with too little a chance of success.Our biggest advantage was audacity. The buildup would happen 100 km up the Congo River from Soyo, the primary target of the Southern Invasion, in the DRC's second largest port city, Boma. Though across the river was Angolan territory, there was nothing there. The city of roughly 160,000 would provide adequate cover for the initial stage of the invasion.There they grouped their vehicles & Khanate drivers with Amazon and Vietnamese combat teams. The Japanese were doing the same for their 'Chinese' counterparts for their helicopter-borne forces. Getting all their equipment in working order in the short time left was critical as was creating some level of unit dynamic. Things were chaotic. No one was happy. They were all going in anyway.What had gone wrong?While most children her age were texting their schoolmates, or tackling their homework, Aya Ruger ~ the alias of Nasusara Assiyaiá hamai ~ was getting briefings of her global, secret empire worth hundreds of billions and those of her equally nefarious compatriots. She received a very abbreviated version of what the Regents received, delivered by a member of Shawnee Arinniti's staff.When Aya hopped off her chair unexpectedly, everyone tensed. Her bodyguards' hands went to their sidearms and Lorraine (her sister by blood), also in the room on this occasion, stood and prepared to tackle her 'former' sibling to the ground if the situation escalated into an assassination attempt. No such attack was generated, so the security ratcheted down and the attendant returned her focus to her Queen. Aya paced four steps, turned and retraced her way then repeated the action three more times."How many people live in the combined areas?" she asked."The combined areas? Of Cabinda and Zaire?""Yes.""I," the woman referenced her material, "roughly 1.1 million.""What is the yearly value of the offshore oil and natural gas production?""Forty-nine billion, eighty hundred and sixty-seven million by our best estimates at this time,""How many live in Soyo City proper?""Roughly 70,000.""We take Soyo," she spoke in a small yet deliberate voice. "We take and hold Soyo as an independent city-state within the Cabindan-Zaire Union. From the maps it appears Soyo is a series of islands. It has a port and airport. It has an open border to an ocean with weaker neighbors all around.""What of the, Zairians?""Bakongo. As a people they are called the Bakongo," Aya looked up at the briefer. "We relocate those who need to work in Soyo into a new city, built at our expense, beyond the southernmost water barrier. The rest we pay to relocate elsewhere in Zaire, or Cabinda."By the looks of those around her, Aya realized she needed to further explain her decisions."This is more than some concrete home base for our People," she began patiently. "In the same way it gives our enemies a clearly delineated target to attack us, it is a statement to our allies we won't cut and run if things go truly bad.""In the same way it will provide us with diplomatic recognition beyond what tenuous handouts we are getting from Cáel Wakko Ishara's efforts through JIKIT. Also, it is a reminder we are not like the other Secret Societies in one fundamental way, we are not a business concern, or a religion. We are a People and people deserve some sort of homeland. We have gone for so long without.""But Soyo?" the aide protested. "We have no ties to it, and it backs up to, nothing.""Northern Turkey and southern Slovakia mean nothing to us now as well," Aya debated. "No place on Earth is any more precious than another. As for backing up to nothing, no. You are incorrect. It backs into a promise from our allies in the Earth & Sky that if we need support, they know where to park their planes and ships."Aya was surrounded with unhappy, disbelieving looks."The Great Khan is my mamētu meáeda," she reminded them, "and I have every reason to believe he completely grasps the concept's benefits and obligations."The looks confirmed 'but he's a man' to the tiny Queen."Aya, are you sure about this?" Lorraine was the first to break decorum."Absolutely. Do you know what he sent me when he was informed of my, ascension to the Queendom?""No," Lorraine admitted."We must go horse-riding sometime soon, Daughter of Cáel, Queen of the Amazons."More uncertain and unconvinced looks."He didn't congratulate me, or send any gifts. He could have and you would think he would have, but he didn't. He knew the hearts of me & my Atta and we weren't in the celebratory mood. No. The Great Khan sent one sentence which offered solace and quiet, atop a horse on a windswept bit of steppe."Nothing.Sigh. "I know this sounds Cáel-ish," Aya admitted, "but I strongly believe this is what we should do. We are giving the Cabindans and Bakongo in Zaire independence and the promise of a much better life than what they now face. We will be putting thousands of our sisters' lives on the line to accomplish this feat and well over two hundred million dollars.""What about governance of the city ~ Soyo?" the aide forged ahead."Amazon law," Aya didn't hesitate. "We will make allowances for the security forces of visiting dignitaries and specific allied personnel, but otherwise it will be one massive Amazon urban freehold.""I cannot imagine the Golden Mare, or the Regents, will be pleased," the attendant bowed her head."It is a matter of interconnectivity," Aya walked up and touched the woman's cheek with the back of her small hand. "We could liberate then abandon Cabinda with the hope a small band could help them keep their independence. Except we need the refinery at Soyo so the people of Cabinda can truly support that liberty.""So, we must keep Soyo and to keep Soyo, we must keep Zaire province. There is no other lesser border which makes strategic sense ~ a river, highlands, a massive river, an ocean ~ those are sustainable frontiers. You can't simply keep Soyo and not expect the enemy to strike and destroy that refinery, thus we must take Zaire province.""But the Bakongo of Zaire cannot defend themselves and will not be able to do so for at least a year, if not longer. That means we must do so, and for doing so, they will give us Soyo and we will be honest stewards of their oil wealth. We cannot expect any other power to defend this new Union and if we don't have a land stake we will be portrayed as mercenaries and expelled by hostile international forces.""So, for this project to have any chance of success, we must stay, fight and have an acknowledged presence, and if you can think of an alternative, please let me know," she exhaled."What if the Cabindans and Bakongo resist?""It is 'us', or the Angolans and they know how horrible the Angolans can be. Didn't you say the average person their lives on just $2 a day?""Yes.""We can do better than that," Aya insisted."How?" the aide persisted. "I mean, 'how in a way which will be quickly evident and meaningful?'""Oh," Aya's tiny brow furrowed. Her nose twitched as she rummaged through the vast storehouse of her brain."Get me in touch with William A. Miller, Director of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service. He should be able to help me navigate the pathways toward getting aid and advisors into those two provinces ASAP.""I'll let Katrina know," the attendant made the notation on her pad."No. Contact him directly," Aya intervened. "We established a, rapport when we met. I think he might responded positively to a chance to mentor me in foreign relations.""Really?" Lorraine's brows arched."Yes," Aya chirped."Are you sure, Nasusara?" the attendant stared. She used 'Nasusara' whenever she thought Aya had a 'horrible' idea instead of a merely a 'bad' one."Yes. He owes me. Last time we met I didn't shoot him.""Didn't?" the woman twitched."Yes. I drew down on him with my captured Chinese QSW-06. I didn't want to kill him, but I felt I was about to have to kill Deputy National Security Advisor Blinken and he was the only other person in the room both armed and capable of stopping me.""Why is he still alive?""Cáel Ishara saw through my distraction and then took my gun from me, asked for it actually," she shyly confessed."Would you have shot him?" the aide inquired."What do you think?" Aya smiled.And Then:So, given t

The Old Oak will be Ken Loach's last feature film and Sharuna Sagar was granted exclusive access behind the scenes of this landmark movie. She joins the 86-year-old director on his swansong as he brings together his loyal team for one last time. As with his previous two films, I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You, Ken returns to the North East of England, to tell the story of Syrian refugees who have been housed in an ex-mining village. With him are his long-standing partners, producer Rebecca O'Brien and writer Paul Laverty, and they reveal the secrets of Loach's success, with films like Kes, Cathy Come Home and The Wind That Shakes The Barley.

Our introduction to the films of Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, La promesse (1996) is, like last week's Le Havre, a story of African migrants in Europe. But where Aki Kaurismäki took a more magical approach, the Dardenne's hew much closer to the intense realism of, say, Ken Loach. The brothers' history in documentary perhaps make it even more intense than what Loach we've seen. It's a story of rejecting what you've been told is the order the world must work in, and finding the community and care that your heart cries out for. A better world may be illegal, but it remains possible.

Az 1936 és 1939 között zajló spanyolországi fegyveres konfliktus a nemzetközi antifasizmus alapító eseményei közé tartozik. Nem véletlenül. A Köztársaság mellett harcolók és nemzetközi támogatóik a fasizmus és antifasizmus harcaként fogták fel a küzdelmet. Ráadásul a “spanyol kérdés” túlterjedt az Ibériai félszigeten, és az egész nemzetközi világot mozgósította. Így több tízezer önkéntest, akik a világ 65 országából utaztak Spanyolországba, hogy fegyvert fogjanak a fasizmus ellen. De mi mellett, voltaképpen? A népfrontos köztársaságért álltak ki vagy a társadalmi forradalmat igyekeztek elősegíteni?Ebben az adásban történész vendégünkkel, Varga Krisztiánnal a szokványosan csak spanyol polgárháborúként emlegetett konfliktusról, és annak nemzetközi jelentőségéről beszélgetünk. Milyen érdekek mentén folyt a harc és kik között? Milyen sokszínű ideológiai tájkép rajzolódott ki a konfliktusban az “oldalakon” belül? Mi tette nemzetközivé a konfliktust? Külön figyelmet szentelünk az antifasiszta önkéntesek szerepének. Mi vagy ki vezette őket Spanyolországba? Szó esik a Nemzetközi Brigádokról, a Kommunista Internacionálé (Komintern) szerepéről, de az anarchista önkéntesekről is, akikről jóval kevesebbet tud az utókor. Beszélünk a magyar önkéntesekről, és arról, hogy a Horthy-rendszer hogyan viszonyult hozzájuk. A spanyolországi konfliktussal az antifasizmus végérvényesen megváltozott: globális elköteleződés vált belőle. Ezzel kapcsolatban kitérünk a népfrontpolitika kérdésére, és a nemzetközi kommunizmus stratégiaváltásának jelentőségére, a “szociálfasizmus” eszméjének feladására. A műsort kulturális ajánlóval zárjuk.A No pasarán! podcastban Bódi Lóránt, Fenyvesi Balázs és Zombory Máté válogat az antifasizmus első száz évének történeteiből.Szépirodalmi alkotások:-Hemingway, Ernest (1940): Akiért a harang szól (For Whom the Bell Tolls). Magyarul először Sőtér István fordításában jelent meg 1945-ben a budapesti Révai Kiadógondozásában.-Koestler, Arthur (1954): A láthatatlan írás (The Invisible Writing). Az első magyar nyelvű kiadás 1997-ben jelent meg Makovecz Benjámin fordításában abudapesti Osiris Kiadónál.-Orwell, George (1938): Hódolat Katalóniának (Homage to Catalonia). Első magyar kiadás 1986-ban szamizdatban (AB Független) jelent meg. Az első hivataloskiadás 1989-ben az Interart gondozásában látott napvilágot Bethlen János és Tóth Lászlófordításában.-Voros, Sandor (1961): Egy amerikai komisszár (American Commissar). A műnek (egyelőre) nincs magyar fordítása.Említett cikk(ek):-Varga Krisztián (2022): Zsoldosok vagy önkéntesek az orosz-ukrán háborúba beszállókülföldiek? Mérce.hu Link: https://merce.hu/2022/05/01/zsoldosok-vagy-onkentesek-az-orosz-ukran-haboruba-beszallo-kulfoldiek/Tudományos művek:-Varga Krisztián (2023A): Magyar anarchisták a spanyol polgárháborúban, 1936–1939. 1. rész. Betekintő. 17. 7-33.-Varga Krisztián (2023B): Magyar anarchisták a spanyol polgárháborúban, 1936–1939. 2. rész. Betekintő. 18. 7-31.Filmek:-del Toro, Guillermo (2006): A faun labirintusa (El laberinto del fauno).-Loach, Ken (1995): Haza és szabadság (Land and Freedom).-Sauras, Carlos (1990): Jaj, Carmela (¡Ay Carmela!).

God provides "spiritual disciplines" to help you be more like Jesus. In this talk with Jeff Loach, he explains some of these key practices, how they shape you, and how they help you mature and love others in an age of superficiality. Oh, and they're not just for "spiritual superstars," but for people like you and me who are paying bills and bandaging knees.

Tá seacht mbliana déag caite aige Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh ag imirt ar fhoireann sínsir caide Chiarraí. Beidh sí cur chun páirce arís de DomhnaigH agus í súil go mór leis.

Ruairí Ó Conchúir;An Afraic Theas. Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh;Loach peile Ard na Caithne.Aileen Loughrey;Comhairle Contae Chorcaí 125 bliain ar a bhfód. Seán Ó Catháin;Cúrsa gaeilge do mhuinteoirí bunscoile.

durée : 00:58:55 - Entendez-vous l'éco ? - par : Tiphaine de Rocquigny, Aliette Hovine - En quoi les films de Ken Loach dénoncent-ils les inégalités socio-économiques dans l'Angleterre néolibérale des années 80 ? - invités : Clémence Fourton Maîtresse de conférences en études anglophones à Sciences-Po Lille; Anne-Lise Marin Lamellet Maîtresse de conférence en études anglophones à l'Université Jean Monnet à Saint Etienne, spécialiste du cinéma britannique

I Had Trials Once is back again for another episode...This week Jordan & Gaz are joined by former Lincoln, Watford, Ipswich, Rotherham, Notts County, Hartlepool, Barnet, Chesterfield & Derby goalkeeper...Scott Loach!Scott sits down with the boys to discuss everything from playing non-league football to being called up to the England first team.Scott talks to Jordan & Gaz about how he moved from non-league Chesterfield to League One Derby County and what last season's promotion party was like at the club.Scott then discusses his big move to Watford and how he broke into the senior England squad and was now training with Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and John Terry.Finally, Scott chats about what the future holds after he recently left Derby County and how he's eager to pursue a career as a goalkeeper coach.

Welcome to class with Professor Loach. Get ready to hear about the reasons for and against adding your students on snapchat.  For bonus episodes, go to patreon.com/mostcontroversial

It's a classic case of head versus heart as Ian and David take on The Old Oak!The guys have very different takes on the (purported) final film by esteemed director Ken Loach, in which a young Syrian refugee named Yara (Ebla Mari) and her family move into an impoverished Northern England former mining town in 2016. Yara befriends TJ (Dave Turner), the owner of the titular pub, who is caught between loyalty to his xenophobic friends/patrons and the instinct to look out for these new, well-meaning strangers.In this spoilerific discussion, Ian and David dig into Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty's effective use of acting, aesthetics, and mood in crafting their sympathetic, pro-immigrant "message movie"--one that paints all attendant concerns about numbers, culture, and economics as strictly the domain of alcoholic racist idiots.Is this, as the filmmakers likely thought of it, "the movie we need right now"? Or is it a polemic disguised as a (very well executed) slice-of-life drama?Pull up a stool, pour yourself a drink, and find out!Subscribe, like, and comment to the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel, and check out kickseat.com for multiple movie podcasts each week!Show LinksWatch the Old Oak trailer.As mentioned in the show, The 11th Chicago Critics Film Festival kicks off this Friday (May 3rd) at the Music Box Theatre. Get your festival passes and tickets now!Follow David Fowlie's film criticism at Keeping It Reel.

In this episode of 90 Minutes with Neville Southall, Nev talks with director Ken Loach about his film-making career that spans more than six decades. Ken discusses his latest (and final) film “The Old Oak,” his approach to storytelling, working with non-professional actors, and the issues he is concerned about today, from the rise of poverty in modern Britain, to Gaza and climate change. In a wide-ranging conversation, Loach delves into his vast body of work, including “Kes,” “Cathy Come Home,” “Riff Raff,” “Raining Stones,” “Land and Freedom,” and “Ladybird, Ladybird,” where he describes being “overwhelmed” by the performance of Liverpool actress Crissy Rock. He also talks about making iconic 1968 drama documentary “The Golden Vision” about Everton FC, its supporters, and center forward Alex Young. Additionally, Ken and Nev break down the similarities between making a film and creating a winning team on the football pitch.

In this episode, Ralph and Owen journey into the spectral wastes of British film, asking: what went wrong, and what is to be done? Through kitchen sink realism, folk-horror spooks, socially-engaged documentarians, materially-inclined avant-gardism, and more than a handful of oddballs, the situation seems as underwhelming as it was in 1927, when Kenneth Macpherson opined that “it is no good pretending one has any feeling of hope about it”. Ninety-seven years later, is the landscape still as dispiriting – and why did ‘we' never get our own New Wave – and why are we still stuck in the kitchen sink? Through cash, ‘character', class, and capital, there's a lot to unpick. Regardless, the boys do their best to keep the aspidistra flying. Who do they discuss? Who don't they! Anderson, Macpherson, Grierson, Hogg, Keillor, Reisz, Clark, Watkins, Jarman, Brook, Greenaway, Powell & Pressburger, Reed, Lean, Hitchcock, Loach, Leigh. The lot. 00:00:00:00 Intro 00:04:20:04 Early Silent British film 00:05:27:03 Talent leaving Britain for America 00:06:52:14 British documentaries and municipal filmmaking 00:09:09:17 The Studios of the interwar years 00:12:01:16 Powell and Pressburger 00:15:22:14 Class and politics in film 00:17:56:16 Free Cinema movement 00:24:30:13 Woodfall 00:28:15:05 The Third Man 00:30:37:10 60s-70s studio films/Merchant Ivory 00:31:54:13 60s counterculture 00:35:12:00 Folk horror 00:37:04:09 London Filmmakers Coop 00:48:04:15 Playwrights 00:55:27:00 The Paternalism of Social Realism 01:00:11:03 Pedro Costa as a counterpoint to social realism 01:04:16:13 Peter Watkins 01:09:47:05 Lindsay Anderson making an arse of himself 01:10:55:10 Peter Wollen's 1963 essay on the British New Wave 01:13:10:09 Kenneth MacPherson's 1927 article about British film 01:19:02:16 TV's influence in the 70s-80s 01:19:16:09 Alan Clarke 01:23:05:18 Sally Potter 01:30:10:24 Peter Brook 01:31:47:19 90s 01:32:34:21 British art film/essay films 01:37:09:20 00s and 10s 01:40:06:10 Joanna Hogg 01:43:08:18 Borderline (Kenneth Macpherson) 01:48:13:19 Peter Greenaway 01:55:09:09 Top 5 worst tendencies 01:57:31:14 Alternative Top 5 British films 01:59:59:23 Conclusion Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6hdAjXtGPpeQTCcuJ3KNmH?si=Ud_f__90TOSa28tzYPA5GQ Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/muub-tube/id1515030490 Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@returntoformpod

Min 5. “QUE NADIE DUERMA”: MALENA SE HACE JOKER Ni la precuela de Los Juegos del Hambre ni Black Friday ni La Ermita. Comenzamos el Filtro Luchini escuchando a Pavarotti para destacar la loable reinvención de Malena Alterio en “Que nadie duerma”. Roberto Lancha nos presenta la entrevista que le hizo a la actriz durante el preestreno en el Festival Cibra de una película que adapta la novela de Juan José Millás y que Alberto Luchini tacha de “imprescindible”. La Alterio se puede colar en la carrera a los Goya con su peculiar “Breaking Bad” en la gran pantalla. Min 12: BALADA DE PÁJAROS CANTORES Y SERPIENTES La precuela de LOS JUEGOS DEL HAMBRE se convierte en la quinta entrega de una saga que sigue arrastrando a las salas a miles de jóvenes adeptos a esta distopía que remueve sus cimientos para seguir haciendo caja. El blockbuster cantado de la semana ha convencido a nuestros críticos, que tendrán que contarnos las fortalezas y las debilidades de esta nueva vuelta de tuerca a estos juegos de supervivencia que beben de una exitosa saga literaria. Min 21: PACK TERROR: LA ERMITA+BLACK FRIDAY Pero en esta Black Week marcada por los descuentos prenavideños y la herencia anglosajona no podía faltar el terror. Los dos títulos que animan la cartelera juegan con la tradición americana y con el miedo castizo. En “Black Friday” el siempre cañero Eli Roth actualiza la maldición de Acción de Gracias con mucha sangre y adolescentes masacrados y en “La ermita”, Carlota Pereda reaviva el terror rural que nos impactó en “Cerdita” y pone la historia en manos de Belén Rueda. Una de ellas ha convencido a Alberto y a Raquel, pero otra se ha quedado en decepción. ¿Qué peli de terror saldrá airosa del Filtro Luchini? Min 31: “EL VIEJO ROBLE”: EL LOACH MÁS OPTIMISTA Y acabamos el repaso a la cartelera de esta semana justificando los elogios a Ken Loach por cerrar con madurez y optimismo una trilogía que nos coloca en el norte e Inglaterra para conocer la realidad de los inmigrantes sirios que llegaron a la zona y que tuvieron que convivir con los lugareños. "El viejo Roble" nos regala la mirada del Loach más luminoso. Min 38: BSO THE MARVELS: LAURA SÍ DA LA TALLA Ha sufrido el revés de la crítica, no ha funcionado en taquilla como se esperaba, ha puesto en duda la salud de los últimos productos de la factoría, pero tiene sin embargo una solvente y por momentos vibrante banda sonora. Ángel Luque nos cuenta por qué el fichaje de Laura Karpman para componer la banda sonora de “The Marvels” ha sido uno de los grandes y escasos aciertos de la última apuesta del UCM.

Efter 60 år av arbetarklasskildringar tackar den ikoniske brittiske filmskaparen Ken Loach för sig - med en sista film. P1 Kulturs filmreporter Emma Engström har träffat honom. Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radio Play. Vid 87 års ålder har Ken Loach nu gjort sin sista långfilm. ”The Old Oak” utspelar sig på en av många brittiska pubar som stänger på grund av ökade kostnader och färre kunder. Eftersom det är en Ken Loach-film handlar det om arbetarklassens problem, betraktade genom hans och manusförfattaren Paul Lavertys socialistiskt färgade lins. En lins som gett honom en massa priser och en trogen publik, men som fått kritiker att kalla honom Englandshatare, galen marxist och till och med antisemit. Emma Engström intervjuar Ken Loach och Paul Laverty och nystar upp den röda tråden genom en 60-årig filmkarriär.Producent: Anna Tullberg

durée : 00:05:14 - La BO du monde - Un best-of retrace la carrière très engagée du chanteur contestataire londonien Billy Bragg : quarante ans au service de la protest-song, des années Thatcher à la crise post-Brexit.

durée : 00:55:03 - Le masque et la plume - par : Jérôme Garcin - Les critiques du Masque sont allés voir "Second tour" d'Albert Dupontel, "L'Enlèvement" de Marco Bellochio, "The Old Oak " de Ken Loach, "Sissi et mo" de Frauke Finsterwalder, "Le Théorème de Marguerite" d'Anna Novion et "Le Garçon et le héron" d'Hayao Miyazaki, voici leur verdict. - réalisé par : Xavier PESTUGGIA

durée : 00:03:26 - Le Regard culturel - par : Lucile Commeaux - Alors que vient de sortir au cinéma ce qui est annoncé comme son dernier film, "The Old Oak", petite réflexion sur la manière dont cette forme très reconnaissable a peut-être désormais d'obsolescent quand il s'agit de représenter le monde contemporain.

durée : 00:04:47 - Le cinéma en VO - Aucun autre cinéaste n'a su mieux que lui filmer la classe ouvrière, le ravage des politiques publiques ou le traitement réservé aux immigrés dans son pays. Ken Loach, propose The Old Oak, son dernier tableau britanique.

durée : 00:24:10 - Le monde d'Elodie - par : Elodie SUIGO - Tous les jours, une personnalité s'invite dans le monde d'Élodie Suigo. Mercredi 25 octobre 2023 : le réalisateur Ken Loach. Son film, "The Old Oak" sort aujourd'hui.

Mikaela Loach said: if we never challenge capitalism, then we'll be stuck with it. What can you do on an individual level? Join a union; contribute to strike funds, help make general strikes happen; allow yourself to imagine a multiplicity of futures and work out how to move towards them. Advocate for climate debt to be addressed and for existing Global South debt to be cancelled so that there can be a global transition away from imperialism. Get involved in work that is directed at tackling the producing class - the bosses and titans of industry - and work to take these corporations down. Call out their greenwashing to take down their social licences - a topic we will be covering in the next chapter. And importantly, build support and power in our communities and through our political systems so that the future we need can be won by the masses. We must build widespread support for an eco-socialist, post-growth future. The climate crisis makes the fight against capitalism more urgent than ever. This fight is inherently political. There are a lot of people with a lot of power who are doing all that they can to maintain the capitalist system. As I write this, the Conservative government in the UK is putting in legislation to make striking illegal, and the main opposition party, Labour, refused to say they would repeal these laws. READ THIS WITH ME? https://www.mikaelaloach.com/ OR https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Its-Not-That-Radical-by-Mikaela-Loach/9780241597538OR TRY FREE VIA PUBLIC LIBRARY? https://www.hoopladigital.com/ OR https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libbyGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcastOR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcastOR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Get bonus content on PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The climate crisis is the biggest single issue affecting us all - but for some, the impact will be, and already is, far greater than for others. This is the principle of climate justice, that sees the causes and consequences of climate change as inextricably linked with social inequality - and that activist Mikaela Loach has made the focus of her work. Today on Ways to Change the World, Mikaela Loach tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy why we need to reframe our understanding of the climate crisis in order to tackle its root causes, and why only through “active hope” and collective action can we radically transform our world for the better. Produced by Silvia Maresca

The president of the Hawke's Bay A&P Society is also an accountant. He takes a financial look at the future of the region's rural sector after the “humungous kick in the teeth” that was Cyclone Gabrielle.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Climate justice activist Mikaela Loach advocates for environmental justice, racial justice, sustainable fashion, and fights human rights issues. Along with her fearless attitude, Mikaela has been hailed as a leading influencer in the climate change crisis, in 2019 she even took the government to court for using taxpayers money to fund North Sea oil and gas companies supported by the environmental non profit Uplift and the Paid to Pollute campaign. Triumphant, Mikaela forced the government to admit in court that they had given these tax breaks.Titled a “joyful game changer” by Cosmopolitan, Mikaela is now taking the internet by storm, launching and co-hosting the Yikes! podcast which breaks down the world's issues in an easy way to guide everyone towards action together. She is also a recent bestselling author of ‘It's Not That Radical: Climate Action To Transform Our World' which gives the public easy, accessible options in moving forward the climate change movement. In this episode we give a spotlight into the climate change crisis, why it's important to stand up for what you believe and Mikaela comes armed with the do's and don'ts.Download Revolut for free for £20 when you make one transaction: www.revolut.com/grace (T&Cs apply)Currency exchange is available in 30+ currencies with no fees Monday-Friday, within your plan allowance. Revolut Shops subject to change, and T&Cs apply. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Big shout out to our sponsors!Mito Red Light: https://mitoredlight.com/?afmc=YourMito5Forged Irish Stout: https://www.instagram.com/forgedirishstout/?hl=enIn this exciting episode of The Yours, Mine, Away! Podcast, your host Mark Howard dives deep into the world of professional football with none other than current Derby goalkeeper, Scott Loach.Join us as we uncover the highs and lows of a remarkable career that has seen Scott don the gloves for clubs like Ipswich Town, Watford, and Hartlepool United.Scott gives us a detailed deep dive into his entire career to date and shares the story behind what led him to represent England at the under-21 level, and in a career-defining moment, how he was called up to the senior squad for the very first time in August 2010.Tune in as Mark Howard and Scott Loach take you on a thrilling journey through the world of professional football. Gain insights into the challenges, triumphs, and unique experiences that have shaped Scott's career both on and off the pitch. Whether you're a die-hard football fan or simply curious about the life of a professional athlete, this episode is bound to inspire and captivate you.Join us for an engaging conversation filled with anecdotes, insider stories, and a glimpse into the world of football as only Scott Loach can share it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The writer James Slaymaker, author of Time is Luck: The Cinema of Michael Mann, returns to the pod from Southampton for a discussion of selected works from the veteran British filmmaker Ken Loach, who at age 87 is about to release what is said to be his final feature, The Old Oak. Ken Loach's 1969 feature Kes is a staple of the British school curriculum to this day and his 2016 film I, Daniel Blake won the Palme d'or at Cannes and was a big hit in the UK. We discuss the role Loach recently played in British politics, first allied with the Labour Party under the left-wing leadership of Jeremy Cornyn and then ousted from Labour in the ideological purge of the Keir Starmer era. We discuss three of his features on this episode: the controversial 1990 political thriller Hidden Agenda with Brian Cox and Frances McDormand, 2019's gig economy drama Sorry We Missed You, and a lesser-seen Loach film from 2001, The Navigators. These works offer a critique from the left of several decades of austerity policies in the UK, the horrors of privatization and the overall exploitation of workers by management. Plus: RIP William Friedkin. Become a patron of the podcast to access to exclusive episodes every month, including this summer's entire Miami Vice sidebar series. Over 30% of Junk Filter episodes are exclusively available to patrons. To support this show directly please subscribe at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter Follow James Slaymaker on Twitter. James' book Time is Luck: The Cinema of Michael Mann, is now available in paperback and Kindle. Hidden Agenda is currently available to watch on Tubi. Sorry We Missed You is streaming on Kanopy (if you have a library card). And The Navigators is currently available to watch on YouTube. McDonald's UK advert directed by Ken Loach, 1991 Trailer for Hidden Agenda (Loach, 1990) Trailer for The Navigators (Loach, 2001) Trailer for Sorry We Missed You (Loach, 2019) “Ken Loach's Agenda Is to Rile the British Establishment” by David Gritten, for the Los Angeles Times, January 1, 1991 “Democracy is Dead in Keir Starmer's Labour” by Ken Loach, for The Guardian, September 28, 2021

Ken Loach's 1969 film Kes is like a British 400 Blows, but Loach takes seriously the political reality of the working class characters he portrays in a way I just don't find in Truffaut. Maybe I'm being less than gracious to the French New Wave pioneer, but maybe also Loach just knocks it out of the park in such a way that it sets a new standard. Since it's an additional feature on the Criterion release, we also get to talk about Loach's 1966 teleplay Cathy Come Home, which is positively Godardian in style, though politically harder-hitting than Godard would get outside his work with Jean-Pierre Gorin. In both films Loach appears to intuitively understand that the critique of traditional forms of art that the French New Wave was doing is an inherently political exercise, and Loach embraces its political nature without sacrificing the artistic form.

In case you missed it, we're featuring one of Electrical Trainer Harold De Loach's popular EC&M Asks video Q&A's in Episode 26, where he covers how to understand the layout of the NEC. 

find the full episode on our patreon, patreon.com/mostcontroversial

In this episode, we chat to the amazing Mikaela Loach, about her own experiences as a climate activist and "baby queer". Mikaela Loach is the bestselling author of It's Not That Radical: Climate Action To Transform Our World, a climate justice activist, co-host of The YIKES Podcast, writer, and 4th-year medical student based in Brighton. In 2020, Forbes, Global Citizen and BBC Woman's Hour named Mikaela as one of the most influential women in the UK climate movement. Get her book! Thank you Mikaela

The Old Oak will be Ken Loach's last feature film and Sharuna Sagar was granted exclusive access behind the scenes of this landmark movie. She joins the 86 year old director on his swansong as he brings together his loyal team for one last time. As with his previous two films, I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You, Ken returns to the North East of England, to tell the story of Syrian refugees who have been housed in an ex-mining village. With him are his long-standing partners, producer Rebecca O'Brien and writer Paul Laverty, and they reveal the secrets of Loach's success.

In the final part of this stomp with Mikaela Loach, she explains how she approaches the negativity in the media around the climate crisis. Mikaela expresses her struggle in finding how ‘radical' she needs to be, as the pair discuss the mottos that keep them afloat. She also speaks with Dr Alex about finding opportunities for change, the systems she wants to dismantle and how her work is forging a path for a brighter, equitable future for all. Grab a copy of Mikaela's new book here and follow @mikaelaloach  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you're struggling with climate-anxiety, Mikaela Loach talks with Dr Alex about the small things we can do to make an impact and calm your worries at the same time. In the second part of this stomp, Dr Alex and Mikaela discuss the importance of fighting for a better future and how to feel optimistic about the state of our world. Mikaela also explains how you can use whatever skills you already have to be a part of action against climate change, and how it's not the huge sacrifice it may seem. Grab a copy of Mikaela's new book here and follow @mikaelaloach   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ahead of Earth Day on the 22nd April, climate justice activist Mikaela Loach joins Dr Alex in Holland Park. Mikaela has just published her first book, graduated in Global Health Policy and is basking in the optimism of a sunny day's stroll with Dr Alex. In part one, the pair begin a solutions based conversation about the things we can be empowered to do when striving for a greener planet. Buy Mikaela's new book ‘It's Not That Radical' here and follow @mikaelaloach  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The climate justice activist Mikaela Loach, who took the UK government to court for giving tax breaks to fossil fuels companies, discusses her new book It's Not That Radical: Climate Activism To Transform Our World. Who is 'Stevenage Woman'? The Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer is being urged to focus on this female swing voter group in a new report by left-leaning think tank Labour Together. But how useful are these profiles and why are they used? With Rosie Campbell, professor of politics and Patrick English, associate director at YouGov. The lawyer turned DJ Kavita Varu, who won the Inspiring Indian Women 'She inspires Rising Star' award. It's 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed - Aoife Smith, the programme manager for Community Dialogue, an organisation which aims to build trust amongst people who hold opposing political, social and religious views and Hilary Copeland who is the Director of Fighting Words NI, an arts and education charity for children and young people discuss their work to ensure that peace continues in Northern Ireland. Are you afraid of the big, bad wolf? Where does this fear come from? Author Erica Berry was determined to find out after researching wild wolves in her home state of Oregon. In her book Wolfish she searches through folklore and literature to see how wolves have become the symbol of predatory men and how that has shaped our fear. The popular 1980s trend of ‘getting your colours done' is back. The hashtag #colouranalysis has had over 800 million views on TikTok. The journalist Kat Brown who is a big believer in the power of colour, and Nisha Hunjan, founder of Style ME UK, who uses colour analysis discuss. Presenter: Jessica Creighton Producer: Dianne McGregor

In honour of the release of her first book IT'S NOT THAT RADICAL: CLIMATE ACTION TO TRANSFORM OUR WORLD here is a reissue of the episode with activist Mikaela Loach...Mikaela Loach is an Edinburgh based climate justice and anti-racism activist. She has written articles for Eco-age, you may have seen her featured in Elle magazine or seen her talking about climate change on BBC news recently. Mikaela along with her co-host Jo Becker host THE YIKES Podcast... delving into some really important and interesting discussions on social justice - oh and she is also studying medicine! This is a really hopeful discussion of climate activism, what an ACTIVIST actually IS! And how we can all be activists and bring more people into the climate discussion, and keep it inclusive!https://www.instagram.com/ageofplasticpodcast/ https://twitter.com/andrea_fox https://www.iamandreafox.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/ageofplasticpodcast Tell me you enjoy the Podcasthttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/ageofplastic

On the Woman's Hour Power List this year, sports reporter Fiona Tomas joins Nuala to discuss the change in kits for the England Women's football team and her work as a journalist. Climate justice activist Mikaela Loach took the UK government to court for giving tax breaks to fossil fuel companies. Her urgent new book ‘It's Not That Radical: Climate Action to Transform Our World' makes the case for tackling the climate crisis in tandem with other inequalities, offering a more hopeful future through practical action. Women affected by the state pension age changes have scored what's been hailed as a major victory in their legal challenge for more compensation. The Government watchdog conceded that part of the investigation into how increases to the state pension age were communicated was flawed and must be reconsidered. The Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign represents the 3.6 million women who, in lots of cases, only got 12 months' notice of a six year increase to their State Pension age. Angela Madden, the chair of WASPI joins Nuala. In the next in our series about narcissistic mothers we hear the story of a woman we are calling 'Scarlett'. She cut off all contact with the mother she believes is a narcissist and has no regrets. Alison Kinnaird was rejected by Edinburgh Art School when she applied as a teenager. Now she's one of the world's leading glass artists – and says that rejection was the best thing that ever happened to her. She joins Nuala to explain why and to talk about some of the remarkable things she's created. Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

Karen and Robby get to know Canadian Olympian, Colleen Loach! Colleen talks about how she started Eventing on her Quarter Horse and how she know dabbles in the Show Jump world and that she applied to represent Canada for Eventing and Show Jumping.PC: Christine QuinnPlease support our sponsors:https://cowboymagic.com/https://manentailequine.com/https://exhibitorlabs.com/https://www.triplecrownfeed.com/https://www.fairfaxandfavor.com/https://www.turtleneck.biz/Save 10% off your Redingote purchase, use "MLE10" at checkout!https://landing.redingoteequestrian.com/mleCall Patricia Scott of the https://kathybarryagency.com/ at (484)319-8923Sign up for our mailing list!https://mailchi.mp/b232b86de7e5/majorleagueeventingllc?fbclid=IwAR2Wp0jijRKGwGU3TtPRN7wMo-UAWBwrUy2nYz3gQXXJRmSJVLIzswvtClECheckout the Major League Eventing store!https://www.majorleagueeventing.com/shop

Canadian high performance with Dana Cooke and Colleen Loach. Hear all about Dana's trip to the World Championships and how she dealt with the last minute change of plans. Then, we speak with Colleen about her plans and her recent success in the Grand Prix arena. 

Things get serious in Season 2, Episode 4 of BARRY, leaving us all saying "What?!" (that's the episode title, FYI). Warning: discussions of harassment and intimate partner/domestic violence. Barry confronts Sam, Sam confronts Sally, Sally confronts her truth, and Loach confronts Barry in a wild ending that leaves us wondering what will ultimately happen to Barry now that he is being blackmailed by a vindictive LAPD detective. Most Evil Guy is a fancast about the show BARRY on HBO, co-created by Bill Hader and Alec Berg. Each episode of the podcast covers one episode of the show. We end each episode with a Body Count and our Most Evil Guy. We strive to keep our episodes spoiler-free for those just finding the series. Language isn't PG, but also not as bad as the actual show. Episodes drop biweekly on Tuesdays. Find us on Twitter and Instagram @mostevilguy, or write us at mostevilguy@gmail.com. Cover art and intro/outro music by Rhi. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/me-guy9/support

When invited to speak at the recent Gates Foundation Goalkeepers 2030 event, Mikaela Loach seized the opportunity to announce that capitalism is causing climate change and “billionaires shouldn't exist.” This young climate justice activist has been fighting fossil fuel projects in the UK using a variety of tactics. She is one of three claimants who has taken the UK government to court for handing over taxpayer money to fossil fuel companies in violation of their commitments to reach net zero emissions. Mikaela has been heavily involved in the #StopCambo campaign that successfully shut down development of the Cambo oil field. She and others in this campaign continue to fight the development of Rosebank, the biggest untapped oil field in the North Sea. If the oil and gas in this massive field are burned, they will create more CO2 than all the total emissions from all 28 low-income countries. #StopeRosebankMikaela is a 5th year medical student and the co-host of the YIKES Podcast – a show that focuses on the things that make us go “Yikes!” – from the climate crisis to racial capitalism. She just announced that she has a book coming out called IT'S NOT THAT RADICAL: Climate Action to Transform Our World. Pre-order the book here!Links:Follow & amplify the #StopRosebank campaign with @StopCamboPre-order Mikaela's book: It's Not That Radical: Climate Action to Transform Our WorldRead We Will Not Cancel Us by Adrienne Marie BrownCOCKTAIL: No More BillionairesMikaela Loach is a Climate Justice Activist and a lover of agave spirits. This drink combines the smokey elements of mezcal with the spice and richness of ancho chiles to make a cross between a Spicy Margarita and a Paloma. Be sure to use fresh grapefruit juice as it is key to making this drink bright and extra delicious. Italicus Bergamot Liqueur rounds out this cocktail and helps combine all the ingredients while also providing a lovely rich floral backdrop. 30     ml   Mezcal30    ml    Ancho Reyes Ancho Chile Liqueur  30    ml    Grapefruit juice15    ml    Lime juice15    ml    Italicus Bergamot Liqueur or St Germain8       ml    Simple Syrup (15ml if not using Italicus)    Small pinch of saltAdd all ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake well with cubed ice. Fine strain into a rocks glass filled with ice and garnish with an expressed grapefruit peel.Glassware:      RocksGarnish:         Grapefruit peelABV:             20%Pro tip: Italicus is an Italian liqueur made with bergamot and floral botanicals. It adds a lovely and rich floral backdrop to this cocktail. You can substitute a couple dashes of floral or lavender bitters or St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur. Or you can just used 15ml of simple syrup instead.Support the show

Over six decades, Ken Loach has forged a reputation as Britain's foremost politically-engaged filmmaker, exploring issues of social justice, freedom and power. He has twice won the prestigious Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival, in 2006 for The Wind That Shakes The Barley, set amidst the Irish struggle for independence, and twenty years later for I, Daniel Blake, a contemporary British story about unemployment and poverty. Ken Loach recalls his Midlands childhood as the son of a factory worker, and annual summer holidays in Blackpool. It was there that he saw end-of-pier variety acts and comedians, including Jewell and Warris, Nat Jackley and Frank Randle, all of whom helped ignited an early passion for storytelling and performance. He recalls how, after studying law at Oxford, he joined the BBC's Wednesday Play production team, with the aim of creating television drama out of contemporary social issues. His television films Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home, which tackled abortion, unemployment and homlessness, were each seen by over 10 million people, and played an influential part in the public debate about the issues. Loach reveals that Czech cinema of the 1960s, including the films of Miloš Forman, were a huge inspiration on his own filmmaking career, with the use of the naturalistic performances and camera-work that captured the environment from a distance most clearly seen in his classic 1969 film Kes. Ken Loach also chooses as a major influence, the real lives of people whose stories have inspired his films throughout his career, including veterans of the Spanish civil war and Nicaraguans who had seen schools and health centres destroyed by the Contra rebels. Producer: Edwina Pitman

Tom Loach is on the show today talking about moving to Crozet, his time on the CCAC, iterations of the Crozet Master Plans and his time on the Planning Commission.  I hope you enjoy today's show. -Brad---Email: bradrykalbrief@gmail.comTwitter: @bradrykalIf you like the show - subscribe, leave a review or tell a friend. 

This week, Grace talks to brilliant young climate campaigner Mikaela Loach about her work trying to shut down oil production in the North Sea, taking the UK government to court over fossil fuel subsidies, and the best ways to organize among Gen Z! Mikaela has been involved with campaigns such as Stop Cambo, Stop Jackdaw, and Paid to Pollute.A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and Tribune bringing you a weekly dose of socialist news, theory, and action with guests from around the world. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and to the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Grace talks to brilliant young climate campaigner Mikaela Loach about her work trying to shut down oil production in the North Sea, taking the government to court over fossil fuel subsidies, and the best ways to organise among Gen Z! Mikaela has been involved with campaigns such as Stop Cambo, Stop Jackdaw, and Paid to Pollute.You can support our work on the show by becoming a patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and to the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.

Hidden lore poetry by Mia Cong. Mia is an aspiring chef, occasional poet, and current scribe working under the handle theshitpostcalligrapher across all platforms. Still looking through the urban wilds of Toronto Canada for a kitchen to call home, you can find her writings and love of the deep ocean and decay at genericpoetryblog on tumblr. Special thanks to Guy Montgomery for voicing this episode's field report. Guy does stand up comedy and you can watch him do his new show “Guy Montgomery By Name, Guy Montgomery By Nature” this month at the Melbourne Comedy Festival or in May at the Sydney Comedy Festival. If you aren't going to be in Australia for those shows, check him out on Twitter @guy_mont or on the podcast The Worst Idea of All Time, a show that started with two friends watching and reviewing the movie Grown-Ups 2 every week for a year and, if anything, has gotten stranger since then. Guy is a delight. Look him up. His website: guymontgomery.co.nz Check out Field Guide to the Haunted Forest by Jarod K. Anderson wherever books are sold. Reminder: Transcripts of this and every episode are available at cryptonaturalist.com. Mailing Address: The CryptoNaturalistPO Box 837Delaware, OH 43015 Exclusive stickers, pins, shirts, and access to bonus content and strange expertise on strange topics awaits you at our patreon page. Patreon.com/CryptoNaturalist. You'll find information about submitting your poetry or prose for our hidden lore segments in the about section of our website at CryptoNaturalist.com. The CryptoNaturalist is written and read by Jarod K. Anderson. Thanks to Adam Hurt for the use of his song Garfield's Blackberry Blossom from his album Insight. For more information on Adam's music, performances, and teaching, visit adamhurt.com.

Mikaela Loach is a climate justice activist, co-host of The Yikes Podcast, writer and 5th year medical student. She is one of three claimants on the Paid To Pollute case taking the UK government to court to challenge the Oil & Gas Association's policy in the North Sea and the subsidies and tax breaks the industry is given by the UK government.Her organizing work and Instagram focuses on highlighting the harm caused by the fossil fuel industry, and the intersections of the climate crisis with oppressive systems such as white supremacy and migrant injustices. You can support the Paid To Pollute court case by visiting the website.In This Episode:You can find Mikaela on Instagram & TwitterCheck out the Stop Cambo Campaign and The Yikes PodcastYou can pre-order Andre's book All The White Friends I Couldn't Keep. Sign up for Andre's Hope & Hard Pills Newsletter at his website. Catch up with Andre on Twitter, Instagram, & Facebook. Check out Andre's Patreon if you'd like to support what's going on with his work!Music: It Doesn't Have To Be This Way (Remix) by Andre Henry