Podcast appearances and mentions of peter robb

  • 19PODCASTS
  • 23EPISODES
  • 54mAVG DURATION
  • ?INFREQUENT EPISODES
  • Jul 1, 2024LATEST

POPULARITY

20172018201920202021202220232024


Best podcasts about peter robb

Latest podcast episodes about peter robb

The Real Life in Italy
Understanding Cosa Nostra - The Italian Mafia Series

The Real Life in Italy

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2024 30:35


In this episode of 'The Real Life in Italy,' we're following up our Understanding the Italian Mafia episode to specifically focus on Cosa Nostra.   Now, there's a LOT. This podcast episode is just giving you a basic understanding to put into context of your life as an expat in Italy. We'll cover a bit about  Cosa Nostra's history, organizational structure, and how it has managed to adapt and survive over the years.   Key historical events, such as the Maxi Trials in the 1980s and 1990s, are highlighted for their role in reshaping the mafia's operations. The episode also covers how the mafia influences today's Italy, including its impact on politics, business, and everyday life. I'll share a few antimafia movements you should be aware of, and details on how corruption happens today in Italy. I promised a lot of resources, so here are a few: About the mafia in Italian food: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hHVuK8cA04 To read: Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb; The Day of the Owl by Leonardo Sciascia; Sites to stay informed: Antimafiaduemilla And the list goes on, keep reading and learning about it as deep into as you'd like to know   Timstamps: 00:00 Introduction to Cosa Nostra 02:18 The Structure of Cosa Nostra 03:20 Cosa Nostra's Influence on Society 06:51 Initiation and Rules of Cosa Nostra 10:03 Historical Evolution of Cosa Nostra 12:34 Modern-Day Operations and Financials 15:02 The Infamous Pizzo and Anti-Mafia Movements 17:07 The Maxi Trials: A Turning Point 18:47 Legal Reforms Post-Maxi Trials 24:25 Modern-Day Mafia Operations 29:48 Conclusion: Living in Italy Today   If you enjoyed the episode, and show, please leave us a 5 ⭐️ rating, it means a lot! Thanks for listening to the Real Life in Italy. This podcast is for foreigners living in Italy, who are all just trying to make sense of it all. Listen in to learn all about a side of living in Italy everyone else forgot to tell you about. But don't expect us all to be better, I promise. Expect some good laughs, helpful tips and cultural explanations, and expat stories to remind you that you aren't alone, and it'll all work out. Learn more about Evelyn at www.collineallemontagne.com www.instagram.com/collinemontagne You can show your support by buying me a glass of wine, I always appreciate it: www.buymeacoffee.com/colline  

Human Voices Wake Us
Caravaggio's Severed Heads / Herodotus Among the Scythians / Ian McKellen on Macbeth

Human Voices Wake Us

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 8, 2023 64:11


An episode from 9/8/23: In the first part of tonight's episode, I read from Peter Robb's M, a biography of the painter Caravaggio (1571-1610). Through a discussion of two of his paintings which depict decapitation, we can understand how, in Caravaggio's early career, he was able to paint directly from life; but when he went on the run to escape a charge of murder, he depended instead upon his memory. In the second part, I read from the father of history, Herodotus (c. 484-c. 425 BCE), and his description of royal the burial rites of the "barbarian" Scythians, who lived in the area of the Black Sea. The translation and essays I read are from the Landmark Herodotus, edited by Robert B. Strassler. In the last part, I play a section of a talk given by Ian McKellen on the "Tomorrow and tomorrow" speech from Macbeth. You can find the clip on YouTube here. Don't forget to support Human Voices Wake Us on Substack, where you can also get our newsletter and other extras. You can also support the podcast by ordering any of my books: Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone. Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support

HUM Curated Podcasts
11 - How To Win Clients and Influence People PART ONE

HUM Curated Podcasts

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2023 73:21


Podcast: TRAP: The Real Adviser Podcast (LS 43 · TOP 1.5% what is this?)Episode: 11 - How To Win Clients and Influence People PART ONEPub date: 2023-01-20In this latest pile of TRAP, the Trap Pack discussTopical issues, including a Trappist Six Nations rugby shindig on 4th Feb - all Trappists welcome! Come meet the Trap Pack and inhale some of their greatnessA glowing review of the podcast, incredibly mangled by AndyMeat and Potatoes: The Client Acquisition Process in great depthQuestions posted by our beloved Trappists Dar, @JcolcloughFP, @MAPSinclairCulture CornerLinks referred to in the show:“Midnight In Sicily” by Peter Robb: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Midnight-Sicily-Vintage-Classics-Peter/dp/009959580X/ref=asc_df_009959580X/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310891088870&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16607971176645754484&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046037&hvtargid=pla-469120406857&psc=1&th=1&psc=1Executive Fit Club: https://www.executivefitclub.com/Venue for the 4th Feb Six Nations shindig: https://www.theroyaloakmarylebone.co.uk/Equitable Life: https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2004/mar/08/businessqandas.equitablelifeDrive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drive-Daniel-H-Pink/dp/184767769XShaping Wealth programme https://www.shapingwealth.com/ocboBad Sisters: https://tv.apple.com/ie/show/bad-sisters/umc.cmc.14kr4vv65unannh7doqgvlh20Take part in the conversation! We want YOU to suggest topics and questions you'd like the Trap Pack to answer. The best way to do this is to ask them here. Help us to help you! The more followers we have, the more we can do stuff going forward. So please: Subscribe and Like our YouTube Channel Leave a 6/5 star review on iTunes Share TRAP with your peers and colleagues 'Enjoy' the Twitter chat at @AdviserPodcast. The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Alan Smith; Andy Hart; Carl Widger; Nick Lincoln, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

HUM Curated Podcasts
11 - How To Win Clients and Influence People PART ONE

HUM Curated Podcasts

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2023 73:21


Podcast: TRAP: The Real Adviser Podcast (LS 44 · TOP 1% what is this?)Episode: 11 - How To Win Clients and Influence People PART ONEPub date: 2023-01-20In this latest pile of TRAP, the Trap Pack discussTopical issues, including a Trappist Six Nations rugby shindig on 4th Feb - all Trappists welcome! Come meet the Trap Pack and inhale some of their greatnessA glowing review of the podcast, incredibly mangled by AndyMeat and Potatoes: The Client Acquisition Process in great depthQuestions posted by our beloved Trappists Dar, @JcolcloughFP, @MAPSinclairCulture CornerLinks referred to in the show:“Midnight In Sicily” by Peter Robb: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Midnight-Sicily-Vintage-Classics-Peter/dp/009959580X/ref=asc_df_009959580X/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310891088870&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16607971176645754484&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046037&hvtargid=pla-469120406857&psc=1&th=1&psc=1Executive Fit Club: https://www.executivefitclub.com/Venue for the 4th Feb Six Nations shindig: https://www.theroyaloakmarylebone.co.uk/Equitable Life: https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2004/mar/08/businessqandas.equitablelifeDrive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drive-Daniel-H-Pink/dp/184767769XShaping Wealth programme https://www.shapingwealth.com/ocboBad Sisters: https://tv.apple.com/ie/show/bad-sisters/umc.cmc.14kr4vv65unannh7doqgvlh20Take part in the conversation! We want YOU to suggest topics and questions you'd like the Trap Pack to answer. The best way to do this is to ask them here. Help us to help you! The more followers we have, the more we can do stuff going forward. So please: Subscribe and Like our YouTube Channel Leave a 6/5 star review on iTunes Share TRAP with your peers and colleagues 'Enjoy' the Twitter chat at @AdviserPodcast. The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Alan Smith; Andy Hart; Carl Widger; Nick Lincoln, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

TRAP: The Real Adviser Podcast
11 - How To Win Clients and Influence People PART ONE

TRAP: The Real Adviser Podcast

Play Episode Play 30 sec Highlight Listen Later Jan 20, 2023 73:21 Transcription Available


In this latest pile of TRAP, the Trap Pack discussTopical issues, including a Trappist Six Nations rugby shindig on 4th Feb - all Trappists welcome! Come meet the Trap Pack and inhale some of their greatnessA glowing review of the podcast, incredibly mangled by AndyMeat and Potatoes: The Client Acquisition Process in great depthQuestions posted by our beloved Trappists Dar, @JcolcloughFP, @MAPSinclairCulture CornerLinks referred to in the show:“Midnight In Sicily” by Peter Robb: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Midnight-Sicily-Vintage-Classics-Peter/dp/009959580X/ref=asc_df_009959580X/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310891088870&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16607971176645754484&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046037&hvtargid=pla-469120406857&psc=1&th=1&psc=1Executive Fit Club: https://www.executivefitclub.com/Venue for the 4th Feb Six Nations shindig: https://www.theroyaloakmarylebone.co.uk/Equitable Life: https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2004/mar/08/businessqandas.equitablelifeDrive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drive-Daniel-H-Pink/dp/184767769XShaping Wealth programme https://www.shapingwealth.com/ocboBad Sisters: https://tv.apple.com/ie/show/bad-sisters/umc.cmc.14kr4vv65unannh7doqgvlh20Take part in the conversation! We want YOU to suggest topics and questions you'd like the Trap Pack to answer. The best way to do this is to ask them here. Help us to help you! The more followers we have, the more we can do stuff going forward. So please: Subscribe and Like our YouTube Channel Leave a 6/5 star review on iTunes Share TRAP with your peers and colleagues 'Enjoy' the Twitter chat at @AdviserPodcast.

trap venue influence people win clients trappists peter robb equitable life
The Leslie Marshall Show
Despite Slim Majority, Democrats Notched Major Achievements for Workers and Their Families

The Leslie Marshall Show

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 19, 2022 41:56


Leslie is joined by Kim Miller, who serves as an Assistant to USW International President Tom Conway. She primarily works on political and legislative projects, including overseeing much of the union's member-to-member outreach around the 2022 midterm elections. The two discuss how Democrats, despite currently having just a slim majority in both houses of Congress, have worked with President Biden to notch major achievements in favor of workers and their families. While some don't garner as much attention in the headlines as they deserve, many of these accomplishments are truly historic. - This includes a once-in-a-generation win on infrastructure, investing $1.2 trillion in our roads, bridges, ports and more. Politicians have been saying for years that they had an infrastructure plan, but this administration and this Congress actually delivered. - In addition to transportation infrastructure, this includes $55 billion to deliver clean drinking water to millions of Americans. - And a further $65 billion to help ensure every American has access to reliable high-speed internet. - This not only will make our communities safer, it will create and sustain good, union jobs and help us maintain our economic competitiveness. - USW members up and down the supply chain are providing and will continue to provide the goods and services needed to make this infrastructure upgrade a reality. Congressional democrats were also finally able to achieve a major victory on behalf of 1.2 million workers whose retirements were in jeopardy because of troubled multi-employer pension plans. - These workers stood to lose everything as a result of a convergence of corporate greed, unfair trade, deregulation and the financial crisis. - American Rescue Plan was a significant achievement in its own right, but one of the lesser-known, but hugely important things it did was shore up multi-employer pension plans so these workers could retire in dignity. - Even though there wasn't a single Republican who voted for this plan, years of worker-led advocacy and Democratic action mean that more than a million families' future is more secure. Democrats also delivered another sweeping victory for ordinary Americans this summer with the Inflation Reduction Act. - Among its many provisions, it will lower prescription drug prices by allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices for seniors and instituting inflation caps for Medicare prescription drugs and improvements to prescription benefits. The law also prevents a premium spike for Affordable Care Act enrollees. - It will also build out our nation's capacity for solar, wind and other sources of renewable energy, which will create good, domestic manufacturing jobs and help break our dangerous dependence on foreign producers to meet our needs. - At the same time, providing incentives for a wide variety of technologies like carbon capture, direct air capture, and nuclear power will help ensure that our steel and other critical industries remain among the cleanest in the world. Not all of the work has been legislative. - Instituting a new pro-worker direction at the National Labor Relations Board means that workers have real advocates in an agency that is supposed to be protecting their rights. One of Biden's first actions was to remove pro-corporate, anti-worker Peter Robb as NLRB general counsel. The Senate also confirmed two more board members that Biden nominated who are re-balancing the way the board works toward workers' rights. - Just as importantly, Biden nominated a union member to run the Department of Labor and put workers and their advocates in key positions overseeing safety. - Biden issued executive orders in support of American manufacturing, including establishing the new Made in America office to review any request to bypass the rules and maximize domestically-manufactured components for federal projects. - And a new inter-agency task force on worker organizing and empowerment is harnessing the power of all government agencies to advance workers' rights. In order to keep up this momentum, working people will need to vote in the midterm elections. Republicans made it clear that they stand against many pro-worker initiatives and intend to tip the balance back to pro-corporate interests if elected. The website for the United Steelworkers is USW.org and their handle on both Twitter and Instagram is @steelworkers.  Kim's Twitter handle is @kimkmiller.

Progressive Voices
Leslie Marshall - Despite Slim Majority, Democrats Notched Major Achievements for Workers & Families

Progressive Voices

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 19, 2022 41:56


Leslie is joined by Kim Miller, who serves as an Assistant to USW International President Tom Conway. She primarily works on political and legislative projects, including overseeing much of the union's member-to-member outreach around the 2022 midterm elections. The two discuss how Democrats, despite currently having just a slim majority in both houses of Congress, have worked with President Biden to notch major achievements in favor of workers and their families. While some don't garner as much attention in the headlines as they deserve, many of these accomplishments are truly historic. - This includes a once-in-a-generation win on infrastructure, investing $1.2 trillion in our roads, bridges, ports and more. Politicians have been saying for years that they had an infrastructure plan, but this administration and this Congress actually delivered. - In addition to transportation infrastructure, this includes $55 billion to deliver clean drinking water to millions of Americans. - And a further $65 billion to help ensure every American has access to reliable high-speed internet. - This not only will make our communities safer, it will create and sustain good, union jobs and help us maintain our economic competitiveness. Congressional democrats were also finally able to achieve a major victory on behalf of 1.2 million workers whose retirements were in jeopardy because of troubled multi-employer pension plans. - These workers stood to lose everything as a result of a convergence of corporate greed, unfair trade, deregulation and the financial crisis. - American Rescue Plan was a significant achievement in its own right, but one of the lesser-known, but hugely important things it did was shore up multi-employer pension plans so these workers could retire in dignity. - Even though there wasn't a single Republican who voted for this plan, years of worker-led advocacy and Democratic action mean that more than a million families' future is more secure. Democrats also delivered another sweeping victory for ordinary Americans this summer with the Inflation Reduction Act. - Among its many provisions, it will lower prescription drug prices by allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices for seniors and instituting inflation caps for Medicare prescription drugs and improvements to prescription benefits. The law also prevents a premium spike for Affordable Care Act enrollees. - It will also build out our nation's capacity for solar, wind and other sources of renewable energy, which will create good, domestic manufacturing jobs and help break our dangerous dependence on foreign producers to meet our needs. - At the same time, providing incentives for a wide variety of technologies like carbon capture, direct air capture, and nuclear power will help ensure that our steel and other critical industries remain among the cleanest in the world. Not all of the work has been legislative. - Instituting a new pro-worker direction at the National Labor Relations Board means that workers have real advocates in an agency that is supposed to be protecting their rights. One of Biden's first actions was to remove pro-corporate, anti-worker Peter Robb as NLRB general counsel. The Senate also confirmed two more board members that Biden nominated who are re-balancing the way the board works toward workers' rights. - Just as importantly, Biden nominated a union member to run the Department of Labor and put workers and their advocates in key positions overseeing safety. - Biden issued executive orders in support of American manufacturing, including establishing the new Made in America office to review any request to bypass the rules and maximize domestically-manufactured components for federal projects. In order to keep up this momentum, working people will need to vote in the midterm elections. Republicans made it clear that they stand against many pro-worker initiatives and intend to tip the balance back to pro-corporate interests if elected.

AM Quickie
Feb 16, 2021: Vaccine Supply Lags Behind Demand

AM Quickie

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2021 7:20


Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Despite a new purchase of doses by the federal government, supply of the vaccine isn’t keeping up with demand, as states broaden the eligibility requirements and open up the vaccine to millions more people. Meanwhile, the Senate’s predictable but infuriating decision to acquit Donald Trump has reinvigorated pressure from the left to finally do away with the filibuster, as the GOP’s hold over half of Congress threatens to stymie most of Biden’s first term. And lastly Trump’s handpicked postmaster general Louis DeJoy is still in charge, busy sabotaging his own department as much as possible, because Biden is still blocked from firing him by some bloated bureaucracy. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Once again, we’ve got good news and bad news in the battle with COVID-19. The good news is that many states have broadened their eligibility standards to let millions more Americans with pre-existing conditions to access the vaccine. The bad news is that right now, there just isn’t enough vaccine to keep up. The New York Times reports that large states like California and New York have already almost exhausted their initial supply of the vaccine, even as they make more appointments available. That doesn’t mean everything will grind to a halt, however: More doses are on the way, as the government is buying them up as quickly as possible, but right now, it appears that available supply is quite a bit lower than demand. Some states are taking the opposite tact in this situation, and keeping their eligibility requirements strict. But either way, increasing the rate of vaccination is one of the most crucial things we should be looking to the government for right now. Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines at wide use in the U.S. have been shown to be effective on the more contagious British variant of the virus, which is quickly becoming the dominant strain in the country. The WHO recently added to this vaccine arsenal, certifying the AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday. That vaccine could alleviate some of these supply concerns, as it requires less delicate handling than the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines do. The more vaccines, the better at this point. Trump Acquitted, But Will the Filibuster Get Off Easy? By now you’ve surely heard the news. Over the weekend, the Senate voted to acquit former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment case. In all, a total of 57 Senators voted to convict Trump -- a clear majority but still well short of the two-thirds vote needed to succeed. Crucially, the Senate also failed to even call witnesses in the case, a development that Senate Democrats basically passed up in favor of delivering the predictable result just a bit faster. There are a couple ways the grand case against Trump could go from here. As Common Dreams notes, it’s still technically possible for charges to be filed against Trump in the nation’s usual criminal justice system. That could be popular: one recent poll showed that 60 percent of Americans think the Senate should have convicted Trump -- so why not a normal court? Still, that option is probably a long shot, as politicians in power on both sides seem more interested in getting Trump out of the public eye as quickly as possible. The second after-effect of the Senate’s failure could be a little more promising. Activists hope that the failure to secure a supermajority to convict Trump could be the final straw that pulls the Senate toward ending the filibuster, the procedural roadblock that could let Republicans jam up the Democrats’ legislative agenda. To do so, they’ll have to convince hold-outs like Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema that tossing the filibuster is the only way to go, which is still a tall order. But still -- the failure of Donald Trump’s second trial is a pretty compelling argument as to why Democrats should seize the reins for real. Biden Can't Fire Trump's Mailman Thus far, Joe Biden has done a pretty good job at rooting out Trump loyalists from the ranks of the supposedly nonpartisan civil service. He made short work of Peter Robb, the Trump flunkie who was running the National Labor Relations Board, but over at the U.S. Postal Service, Trump’s man in charge is proving a bit harder to dislodge. That’s Louis DeJoy. You may remember him from his last minute shenanigans around voting by mail, and his general cost-cutting policies that have crippled the department he’s supposed to be running. Now, the Washington Post reports that DeJoy is moving to institute more policies that would further slow down regular mail ​_and_​make it more expensive. DeJoy’s goal, of course, is to chop up the USPS and hand conservatives a chance to further privatize it. That’s what they’ve always wanted. The problem is, Biden can’t toss DeJoy as easily as he did Robb over at the NLRB. Slate explains that federal law actually prohibits the president from firing the postmaster general for any reason. Instead, the postmaster general reports to a board of directors that the president can appoint, which is currently still dominated by Trump appointees, because of, get this, Senate Republicans blocking Obama’s nominees way back before Trump. Biden is surely putting pressure on DeJoy to quit behind the scenes, but attempting to force him out could cause severe legal problems. There are three vacancies on the board, which means Biden could technically flip it with new appointments, but it’s anyone’s guess as to how long that will take. And all the while, Louis DeJoy will continue to slow down the mail. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: After more than a month offline, the controversial social media site Parler is back, with a new CEO who is, surprise, a member of a far-right group called the Tea Party Patriots. Sounds like more of the same over there. A sudden cold snap and snowstorm in Austin, Texas has crippled infrastructure throughout the city as frozen wind turbines and limited gas supplies caused rolling power blackouts and some long-term outages around the city and surrounding areas, leaving thousands without consistent heat and over a million without power. In Myanmar, protests against the recent military coup continue even in the face of brutal repression. The latest tactic is widespread work stoppages, as government employees have led a semi-organized campaign of walkouts and skipped work that have limited the new military leaders’ ability to govern. And finally, in Afghanistan, Taliban advances around major cities have once again pushed the country to the breaking point, according to the New York Times. The final 2,500 U.S. troops are set to leave the country in May, giving the Biden administration basically a no-win scenario for the country’s future. FEB 16, 2021 - AM QUICKIE HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

America's Work Force Union Podcast
Dorsey Hager (C/CO Building and Construction Trades Council) / Sylvia Casaro Dietert (Community Services Agency)

America's Work Force Union Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2021 54:40


Columbus Building and Construction Trades Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Dorsey Hager joined the AWF Union Podcast today to discuss President Biden’s first month in office, the firing of Peter Robb and Alice Stock from the NLRB, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown fighting for a new relief bill and updates on the Driving Futures and Building Futures programs.Our second guest on the show today was Sylvia Casaro Dietert of the Community Services Agency of the MWC, AFLCIO. She spoke with Ed “Flash” Ferenc about their Building Futures Construction Pre-Apprenticeship program, connecting thousands of ready-to-work candidates to the area's registered apprenticeship programs and recruiting local talent to the building trades.

Out d'Coup Podcast
Out d'Coup LIVE (sort of) | Sean and Kevin stick their toes in the "new normal" | January 25, 2021

Out d'Coup Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2021 114:29


Biden is president. Kamala Harris makes history as first woman, first South Asian, and first African American vice president.  Republicans are wasting no time in showing their true colors. McConnell pulls a stunt on Day One to block Democrats from taking over the majority on committees.  Yes, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as president and vice president this past week, but Chairman Sanders stole the inauguration and became an instant internet meme with his winter coat and mittens. Speaking of Chairman Sanders, he started Biden’s presidency by waving two big middle fingers to everyone’s “unity talk.”  Senator Sanders wasted no time threatening Republicans with reconciliation if they do not agree with COVID relief.  Sanders stated that Republicans used budget reconciliation to push tax-cuts through for the rich and that Democrats will use the process to help working families.  Earlier today, Biden lifted the Trump ban on transgender individuals serving openly in the military.  As we go LIVE, the House has delivered the article of impeachment against former president Donald Trump to the Senate. Apparently, Chief Justice Roberts was unwilling or uninterested in presiding over a second trial. The Constitution says the Chief Justice is to preside over a sitting president but does not spell out what happens in a trial against a former president. Senator Leahy has been tapped to be the presiding officer.  Joe Biden is making in-roads with labor in ways that previous administrations haven’t.  On his first day in office, Biden fired Peter Robb, the former head of the National Labor Relations Board.  Robb was a corporate lawyer who helped Rondal Regan fire thousands of air-traffic controllers in the 1980’s.  Robb was just replaced with Peter Ohr as interim head of the NLRB.  Ohr made waves in a ruling that allowed Northwestern University football players to unionize. Big Twitter-verse controversy over #ForceTheVote leads to frustrating debate between Sam Seder of the Majority Report and Briahna Joy Gray, former national press secretary for the Bernie Sanders campaign. The debate took place on Bad Faith podcast, which Briahna Joy Gray co-hosts with Virgil Texas from Chapo Traphouse.  Documents obtained by Pennsylvania Spotlight showed that Pennsylvania Senate Republicans spent over $1 million in legal fees to disenfranchise Pennsylvania voters.  That’s right.  They spent your tax dollars to stop you from voting last year. On Friday night, it was reported in the New York Times that an unnamed Pennsylvania Politician played a key role in trying to stage a coup within the Department of Justice in order to force Georgia to overturn their election results.   It turns out that in a follow-up reporting, it was Scott Perry who aided Trump in trying to fire the senior staff at the Department of Justice to install a Trump loyalist who was willing to overturn the Georgia election results.  The plot thickens in the case against Riley Williams, the 22-year-old Harrisburg area woman who took part in the Capitol insurrection, allegedly stole Nancy Pelosi’s laptop, and then tried to sell it to Russia. According to DC-based NBC investigative reporter, Scott MacFarlane, Williams, who was released on bail under the supervision of her mother, hopped on the internet and encourage people involved in the insurrection to destroy evidence. MacFarlane reported on Twitter that the U.S. Justice Department told the judge in the case just that as they sought to prohibit Williams’s internet access.  We’re not out of the woods, but PA saw the lowest number of new cases of COVID-19 and the lowest number of deaths in weeks.   On today’s last call: what’s new at Free Will Brewing; Levante Brewing stout haul; cooking with Sean; and other randomness.

Empathy Media Lab
89. LRPN Live - Joe McCartin, Mark McDermott, Marc Dann, Kurt Stand, Danny Schur

Empathy Media Lab

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 22, 2021 81:56


Labor Radio Podcast Network’s Weekly Wednesday Livestream interviews labor leaders about current labor issues with rotating hosts made up of network members. Guests for January 20, 2021 of LRPN Livestream included Joe McCartin (Kalmanovitz Initiative at Georgetown University),  Mark McDermott (Labor Activist), Marc Dann (Former Attorney General Ohio), Kurt Stand (Portside), Danny Schur (Composer/Producer) LRPN Hosts: Chris Garlock (Union City Radio in Washington, DC); Kris LaGrange, (UCOMM Live); Joe Cadwell, (GRIT podcast); Patrick Dixon, (Labor History Today podcast), Alan Wierdak (Labor History Today podcast), Sound engineer, broadcast producer, and editing by Evan Matthew Papp of Empathy Media Lab. Additional Guest information: JOE MCCARTIN, on the firing of Peter Robb from the National Labor Relations Board. Joe is author of Collision Course, Ronald Reagan, the Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike that Changed America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._McCartin  MARK MCDERMOTT, a longtime economic justice and labor educator; he served as Regional Representative for the Pacific NW and northern plains states under U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. http://www.markmmcdermott.com/  MARC DANN, served as Attorney General of the State of Ohio and now leads DannLaw, which specializes in protecting consumers from various forms of predatory financing. Recent column in Working-Class Perspectives: Time to Deliver: How Biden Should Respond to the Insurrection. https://workingclassstudies.wordpress.com/2021/01/18/time-to-deliver-how-biden-should-respond-to-the-insurrection/ KURT STAND, contributor to Portside, which is celebrating 20 years: Multiracial Democracy or Fascist-Like Autocracy? https://portside.org/2021-01-18/multiracial-democracy-or-fascist-autocracy DANNY SCHUR, composer/producer of Stand! (both the 2005 hit musical and the new movie), now available for streaming. https://internationalmusician.org/danny-schur-and-stand/ Credits: Produced by Chris Garlock; Executive Producer and engineer and editor is Evan Matthew Papp from Empathy Media Lab.  About the Labor Radio Podcast Network The Labor Radio Podcast Network is both a one-stop shop for audiences looking for labor content and a resource for labor broadcasters and podcasters. Resources include a weekly podcast summarizing shows produced by network members, marketing on social media, a website listing network shows and how audiences can find them, a database for contacting expert guests, access to a private listserv for Network members, and a weekly video call to increase solidarity and support amongst members. Launched in April 2020, the Labor Radio Podcast Network focuses on working class issues that are often overlooked in the corporate-controlled media. The goal of the network is to help raise the voices of working people and strengthen organized labor to demand and achieve better treatment from workplaces and elected officials. If you are a journalist interested in learning more or if you’re a labor radio or podcast producer and want to join the network, contact us at info@laborradionetwork.org. Follow the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the hashtag #LaborRadioPod or visit the website at: https://www.laborradionetwork.org/. FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/LaborRadioNet/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/laborradionet INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/laborradionet/ WEEKLY PODCAST NETWORK SUMMARY: https://laborradiopodcastweekly.podbean.com/ #LaborRadioPod #1U #UnionStrong

Union City Radio
Union City Radio Biden fires NLRB’s unionbuster

Union City Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 22, 2021 3:58


Peter Robb is a former management lawyer who helped Ronald Reagan bust the air traffic controllers union in 1981. Today’s labor quote: Joe Biden. Today’s labor history: Birth of Terence Powderly.  @wpfwdc #1u #unions #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIOProud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network

AM Quickie
Jan 22, 2021: Biden Unveils Pandemic Strategy

AM Quickie

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 22, 2021 8:18


Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Joe Biden has unveiled his national strategy for fighting the coronavirus pandemic. But does it aim high enough? Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s businesses are hurting, big time. And his creditors will soon come knocking for $300 million – or more – that he owes. And lastly, the Biden administration is calling a halt to deportations while they figure out what’s going on at the Homeland Security Department. It’s a big relief for immigrant families. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The new message from the White House is that things may get worse before they get better, but help is on its way. President Joe Biden used his first full day in office yesterday to go on the offensive against the coronavirus, the New York Times reports. He promised to make aggressive use of executive power to tame the worst public health crisis in a century. In a two hundred-page document called the National Strategy for the Covid-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness, the new administration outlines the kind of centralized federal response that Democrats have long demanded and Donald Trump refused. To carry it out, Biden signed a dozen executive actions in an afternoon White House ceremony. The Biden plan is in some respects overly optimistic and in others a little timid, according to the Times. His promise to inject one hundred million vaccines in his first hundred days is aiming low, since those hundred days should see twice that number of doses available. Because the approved coronavirus vaccines require two doses, Biden is promising only to vaccinate fifty to seventy million Americans. Biden bristled when a reporter asked if the goal should be higher. He said QUOTE Come on, give me a break, man ENDQUOTE. The Biden team has been quick to point fingers at the Trump administration’s failures, the Times reports. Jeff Zients, the new White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said QUOTE What we’re inheriting is so much worse than we could have imagined. The cooperation or lack of cooperation from the Trump administration has been an impediment. We don’t have the visibility that we would hope to have into supply and allocations ENDQUOTE. Fair enough, but the new administration can’t expect a long honeymoon. Biden himself acknowledged that the death toll will probably top five hundred thousand next month. Trump Businesses Bleeding Revenue Soon we’ll be able to take a break from covering Donald Trump, but this story is too juicy to pass up. According to the Associated Press, Trump is returning to a family business ravaged by pandemic restrictions. Revenue is plunging more than forty percent at his Doral golf property, his Washington hotel and both his Scottish resorts. Trump’s financial disclosure released as he left office this week was just the latest bad news for his empire. It came after banks, real estate brokerages and golf organizations announced they were cutting ties with his company following the storming of the Capitol. The disclosure showed sizable debt facing the company of more than $300 million, much of it coming due in the next four years, the AP reports. The disclosure report shows only revenue figures, not profits, but the hit to Trump’s business appeared widespread. The National Doral Golf Club outside of Miami took in $44.2 million in revenue, a drop of $33 million from 2019. The Trump International Hotel in Washington, once buzzing with lobbyists and diplomats, generated just $15.1 million in revenue, down more than sixty percent. Trump’s Turnberry club in Scotland took in less than $10 million, down more than sixty percent. Revenue at the family’s golf club in Aberdeen also dropped by roughly the same proportion. The financial blow from former business partners cutting ties to Trump could be sizable, the AP says. The PGA of America canceled a tournament at Trump’s Bedminster club in New Jersey. Several banks said they would no longer lend to the company. And New York City said it would be canceling contracts with the company, including those running skating rinks and a golf club in the Bronx. Revenue at that course, the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, fell twenty percent last year to $6.4 million. Maybe he should downsize. Try mini golf. Homeland Security Pauses Deportations The Biden administration has ordered US immigration agencies to focus their energies on threats to national security and public safety, the Washington Post reports. The policy shift ends a four-year stretch during the Trump administration that exposed anyone in the United States without papers to deportation. Acting Homeland Security Secretary David Pekoske issued a memo hours after Biden’s inaugural setting strict limits for arresting and deporting immigrants while the department reviews its policies. He also imposed an immediate hundred-day pause on many deportations, to take effect no later than today. Pekoske is in charge as the Senate considers the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas, the former deputy DHS secretary during the Obama administration, according to the Post. The memo is the first step in a broader plan to find a different solution for the eleven million undocumented immigrants in the US, many of whom are essential workers, have lived here for years and have children who are citizens. Congress has not passed a major citizenship bill since 1986. Biden has unveiled legislation that would allow millions to apply for citizenship. The Post says that during the review period, DHS said it will impose sensible priorities for enforcing civil immigration laws. Starting February 1st, immigrants eligible for deportation will fall into three categories: National security threats, such as spies or terrorists; border crossers who arrived on or after November 1st; and aggravated felons currently serving time for crimes such as murder or drug trafficking, after they are released from prison. Immigrants who voluntarily waive their rights to remain in the US, after seeking legal counsel, may be deported. Biden has said it was a QUOTE big mistake ENDQUOTE to deport as many people as the Obama administration did. Biden will announce additional immigration actions on January 29th. This country is desperate for sanity on immigration. Maybe we’ll finally get it. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Two suicide bombers detonated explosive vests in a crowded market in central Baghdad yesterday morning, killing at least thirty-two people in the biggest such attack in several years, according to the New York Times. ISIS eventually claimed responsibility, although it’s supposedly been defeated. The Washington Post reports that Lieutenant General Charles Flynn, the brother of disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn, was involved in a key meeting during the US Army’s response to the US Capitol insurrection. What’s more, the Army falsely denied this fact for days. How strange! Maybe Congress will figure it out. The Biden administration fired the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel, Peter Robb, on Wednesday night, ending the tenure of a figure seen as a foe by worker advocates and labor unions, according to the Post. Biden will now need to nominate a replacement, who must receive Senate confirmation. May we suggest Scabby the Rat? Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is proposing to give former Donald Trump two weeks to prepare his legal case for his second impeachment trial, Politico reports. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not yet transmitted the article of impeachment to the Senate, but said yesterday she would do so QUOTE soon ENDQUOTE. Let’s get it over and done. JAN 22, 2021 - AM QUICKIE HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Your Rights At Work
Biden fires Trump's union buster at the NLRB

Your Rights At Work

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 21, 2021 54:52


Broadcast on January 21, 2021 Hosted by Chris Garlock This week's show: Joe McCartin on Biden's firing of Peter Robb, Trump-appointed general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, who helped Reagan bust PATCO in 1981. McCartin wrote "Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, the Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike that Changed America." Becky Kolins Givan on “Strike For The Common Good: Fighting for the Future of Public Education”; she'll be discussing this online next Monday, January 25, 5:00 pm EST with Joe McCartin, hosted by the Albert Shanker Institute. Steve Striffler, co-editor “Organizing for Power: Building a 21st Century Labor Movement in Boston.” Plus: Worker's Song by the Dropkick Murphys. Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kaliah. @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

The Book Club Review
78. Bookshelf: Autumn reads

The Book Club Review

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2020 44:02


Our bookshelf episodes are the ones where we get to let our hair down and talk about the things we're reading outside of our book clubs, the books that we get to pick and choose. So listen in as Kate is bewitched by the new Susanna Clarke novel Piranesi, charmed by Shirley Jackson's memoir of raising her children in Life Among the Savages, and has a guilty confession to make about To Calais in Ordinary Time by James Meek. In Laura's stack are supernatural thriller Himself by Jess Kidd, Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb and The Observations by Jane Harris. Not to mention some guilty pleasure reading of Georgette Heyer and Alison Croggon's fantasy series of Pellinor novels. It's a packed episode, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it. For detailed notes on this episode, and over 70 other episodes of book club discussions, interviews and features you can find us at our new website: www.thebookclubreview.co.uk. Drop us a line there and say hello, we'd love to hear from you. Tell us what books are keeping you turning the pages right now?

Writers Festival Radio
12 Truth as Fiction and Fiction as Truth Featuring Helen Humphreys and Will Ferguson

Writers Festival Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 9, 2020 56:08


All history is a kind of fiction, and the best stories are often built around real people and places, so what can we learn from invented truths and our relationship with imagination and investigation? This episode features Helen Humphreys in conversation with Frances Boyle and Will Ferguson in conversation with artsfile.ca's Peter Robb. Based on a true story, Rabbit Foot Bill by Helen Humphreys is about a lonely boy in a prairie town who befriends a vagrant in 1947 and then witnesses a shocking murder. Being with Bill is everything to young Leonard, so his shock is absolute when he witnesses Bill commit a sudden violent act and loses him to prison. Fifteen years on, and reunited with Bill, he becomes fixated on discovering what happened on that fateful day. From Scotiabank Giller Prize–winner Will Ferguson, comes The Finder, a beguiling and wildly original tale about the people, places, and things that are lost and found in our world. Both an epic literary adventure and an escape into a darkly thrilling world of deceit and its rewards, this novel asks: How far would you be willing to go to recover the things you've left behind?

fiction ferguson humphreys will ferguson peter robb
Writers Festival Radio
10 The Art of the Short Story with David Bergen, Frances Boyle and Souvankham Thammavongsa

Writers Festival Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2020 77:09


Join us in celebration of the art and craft of the short story. How do these acclaimed authors distill the human experience into such a concentrated form? How can they illumine so much of live's ambiguity with so few words? This episode features Frances Boyle in conversation with artsfile.ca's Peter Robb and Rhonda Douglas with David Bergen and Souvankham Thammavongsa. Following men and boys bewildered by their circumstances and swayed by desire, and featuring a novella about a young woman who rejects the laws of her cloistered Mennonite community, the latest from Scotiabank Giller Prize-winner David Bergen deftly renders complex moral ambiguities and asks what it means to be lost—and how we might be found:. The short stories in Here the Dark explore the spaces between doubt and belief, evil and good, obscurity and light. In Seeking Shade, the debut short story collection from poet, editor and author Frances Boyle, nuanced characters endure trauma, evolution and epiphany as they face challenges, make decisions, and suffer the inevitable consequences. Named one of the best books of April by The New York Times, Salon, The Millions, and Vogue, and featuring stories that have appeared in Harper's, Granta, The Atlantic, and The Paris Review, How to Pronounce Knife from O. Henry Award winner Souvankham Thammavongsa establishes her as an essential new voice.

Progressive Voices
The Leslie Marshall Show - 8/25/20 - Trump's Anti-Union NLRB (National Labor Relations Board)

Progressive Voices

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2020 39:57


Leslie is joined by Tom Conway, President of the United Steelworkers (USW). They discuss how the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency responsible for protecting workers’ rights, has done the opposite under President Trump by becoming an avenue for silencing workers’ voices and defending corporations. Leslie and Tom detail the union-busting tactics of President Trump's NLRB, which have chipped away at long-established rights and practices that allow workers to organize for better lives. (related blog here by USW President Tom Conway: https://www.usw.org/blog/2020/a-thousand-cuts) For example: · The NLRB imposed additional required steps to the union election procedure solely to stall the process and give employers more time to squash organizing efforts. · The NLRB also made it possible for employers to withhold contact information like email addresses of employees, making union communication more difficult. · Employers can now legally discipline workers just for mentioning a union drive to a co-worker while at work. · The NLRB sought to overturn an Oregon ruling that employers could not force employees to attend anti-union meetings. If that gets overturned, workers will get hit even harder with corporate coercion and fear-mongering, weakening the potential for successful union organizing drives If the NLRB overturns Oregon’s law, employers will ramp up the coercion and launch anti-union campaigns every bit as brutal as the one Kumho Tire waged against workers in Macon, Ga., three years ago. After workers began an organizing drive with the United Steelworkers (USW), Kumho forced them into daily anti-union meetings—each lasting up to 90 minutes—in which the company repeatedly threatened to close the plant, haul away the equipment and eliminate their jobs. Kumho augmented that torture with shop-floor conversations in which supervisors continually bullied workers and demanded to know how they planned to vote. The pressure tactics began the moment workers began their shifts each day, creating an atmosphere of pure hell inside the plant. These and other unfair rules allow employers to viciously bully workers with anti-union tactics while forcing employees to stay silent or else risk losing their jobs. But the pandemic has also fueled the momentum for unions among many in frontline and essential jobs · From Whole Foods to Fed Ex and Trader Joe’s, workers have mobilized to gain union protection in the midst of the pandemic · The pandemic further widened America’s rampant income inequality and underscored corporations’ indifference to workplace safety, as workers at Cort Furniture and Orlando International Airport discovered when their bosses herded them into anti-union meetings despite the need for social distancing(!) These and other exploited workers realize that only by organizing can they win family-sustaining wages, decent benefits and safe working conditions. An NLRB that enforces labor rights is necessary for building better lives for millions of Americans. · The president nominates NLRB members and the NLRB general counsel, and the Senate confirms those nominations. · The current NLRB leans heavily anti-worker. The five-person board includes the corporate lawyers John Ring and William Emanuel, and GOP congressional staffer Marvin Kaplan. · The board’s general counsel, Peter Robb, is a longtime anti-union, management-side attorney, who has set in motion many of the anti-worker stances the current NLRB has taken. · To truly fulfill the mission of the NLRB and protect workers, America must have federal officials in charge who truly care about labor rights. The website for the United Steelworkers is USW.org. You can follow them on Twitter and Instagram using the handle @steelworkers. You can watch this episode here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vJ7wXzoFz-g

Craggy Rugby podcast
Southern Kings Away review - Craggy Rugby podcast Connacht coverage S5E36

Craggy Rugby podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2020 42:00


Connacht got back to winning ways with a hard fought bonus point win in South Africa that initially looked like it might be a stroll before a contentious red card for Peter Robb threw a spanner in the works. A slightly different podcast this week as our limited budget meant that we didn't get to travel to the sunnier climes of Port Elizabeth but we made up it by watching the game in the home of the Connacht Clan, Murty Rabbitts. We hear the post match thoughts of Andy Friend, an angry Kings coach Robbie Kempson and a dejected Kings captain JC Astle as well our Southern Hemisphere correspondent from OFM Radio Sports Morgan Piek. Alan Deegan and William Davies chat about the win and we have the in match thoughts of Connacht Clan President Shane Mulryan and the enigmatic Pinky, who had an interesting take on the refereeing decisions that had Connacht down to 13 players at one point.

New Books in South Asian Studies
Peter Robb, “Richard Blechynden’s Calcutta Diaries, 1791-1822” (Oxford UP, 2011)

New Books in South Asian Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2012 68:21


Richard Blechynden came to Calcutta in 1782 as a twenty two year old, and stayed there for the rest of his life, working as a surveyor and architect. From 1791 he maintained daily diaries, and it is these that Peter Robb has so magnificently re-worked as Richard Blechynden’s Calcutta Diaries, 1791-1822 (Oxford University Press, 2011, 2 vols). Richard’s diaries are quite literally a chronicle of the everyday and the ordinary, what might even be called mundane and the petty, in Calcutta in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In these diaries Richard talks about his children, his loves, his network of colleagues, helps, acquaintances, what might today be dubbed ‘frenemies’, people, European, Indian, ‘half-caste,’ who exasperated him but without whom it was well nigh impossible to function in a city where everyone needed everyone else to get their work done. Peter Robb’s edited compendium of these diaries is a record of how social networks operated in a very cosmopolitan city, yet one whose inhabitants were always all too aware of their social, religious, ethnic and economic backgrounds. Sometimes the lines between the personal and the professional blurred, and sometimes favors were given and taken from unlikely persons, and people were not always, by modern standards, ethical, yet in the end everyone managed to establish for themselves a position that would guarantee, if not prosperity, survival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in History
Peter Robb, “Richard Blechynden’s Calcutta Diaries, 1791-1822” (Oxford UP, 2011)

New Books in History

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2012 68:21


Richard Blechynden came to Calcutta in 1782 as a twenty two year old, and stayed there for the rest of his life, working as a surveyor and architect. From 1791 he maintained daily diaries, and it is these that Peter Robb has so magnificently re-worked as Richard Blechynden’s Calcutta Diaries, 1791-1822 (Oxford University Press, 2011, 2 vols). Richard’s diaries are quite literally a chronicle of the everyday and the ordinary, what might even be called mundane and the petty, in Calcutta in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In these diaries Richard talks about his children, his loves, his network of colleagues, helps, acquaintances, what might today be dubbed ‘frenemies’, people, European, Indian, ‘half-caste,’ who exasperated him but without whom it was well nigh impossible to function in a city where everyone needed everyone else to get their work done. Peter Robb’s edited compendium of these diaries is a record of how social networks operated in a very cosmopolitan city, yet one whose inhabitants were always all too aware of their social, religious, ethnic and economic backgrounds. Sometimes the lines between the personal and the professional blurred, and sometimes favors were given and taken from unlikely persons, and people were not always, by modern standards, ethical, yet in the end everyone managed to establish for themselves a position that would guarantee, if not prosperity, survival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books Network
Peter Robb, “Richard Blechynden’s Calcutta Diaries, 1791-1822” (Oxford UP, 2011)

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2012 68:21


Richard Blechynden came to Calcutta in 1782 as a twenty two year old, and stayed there for the rest of his life, working as a surveyor and architect. From 1791 he maintained daily diaries, and it is these that Peter Robb has so magnificently re-worked as Richard Blechynden’s Calcutta Diaries, 1791-1822 (Oxford University Press, 2011, 2 vols). Richard’s diaries are quite literally a chronicle of the everyday and the ordinary, what might even be called mundane and the petty, in Calcutta in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In these diaries Richard talks about his children, his loves, his network of colleagues, helps, acquaintances, what might today be dubbed ‘frenemies’, people, European, Indian, ‘half-caste,’ who exasperated him but without whom it was well nigh impossible to function in a city where everyone needed everyone else to get their work done. Peter Robb’s edited compendium of these diaries is a record of how social networks operated in a very cosmopolitan city, yet one whose inhabitants were always all too aware of their social, religious, ethnic and economic backgrounds. Sometimes the lines between the personal and the professional blurred, and sometimes favors were given and taken from unlikely persons, and people were not always, by modern standards, ethical, yet in the end everyone managed to establish for themselves a position that would guarantee, if not prosperity, survival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Conversation: An OUP Podcast
Peter Robb, “Richard Blechynden's Calcutta Diaries, 1791-1822” (Oxford UP, 2011)

In Conversation: An OUP Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2012 68:21


Richard Blechynden came to Calcutta in 1782 as a twenty two year old, and stayed there for the rest of his life, working as a surveyor and architect. From 1791 he maintained daily diaries, and it is these that Peter Robb has so magnificently re-worked as Richard Blechynden's Calcutta Diaries, 1791-1822 (Oxford University Press, 2011, 2 vols). Richard's diaries are quite literally a chronicle of the everyday and the ordinary, what might even be called mundane and the petty, in Calcutta in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In these diaries Richard talks about his children, his loves, his network of colleagues, helps, acquaintances, what might today be dubbed ‘frenemies', people, European, Indian, ‘half-caste,' who exasperated him but without whom it was well nigh impossible to function in a city where everyone needed everyone else to get their work done. Peter Robb's edited compendium of these diaries is a record of how social networks operated in a very cosmopolitan city, yet one whose inhabitants were always all too aware of their social, religious, ethnic and economic backgrounds. Sometimes the lines between the personal and the professional blurred, and sometimes favors were given and taken from unlikely persons, and people were not always, by modern standards, ethical, yet in the end everyone managed to establish for themselves a position that would guarantee, if not prosperity, survival.