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MOVERS SHAKERS MAKERS
The Next Step - Billy Elliot (2000)

MOVERS SHAKERS MAKERS

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2025 75:33


We couldn't make The Next Step mini series without including BILLY ELLIOT. Is this the seminal dance coming of age film? How does it hold up a quarter of a century after it was released and became a cultural phenomenon? Bonus film: THE FITS (2015) starts eerily the same as Billy Elliot, but steers firmly away from the predictable halfway through...I'm joined this episode by host of Drinks at the Bar podcast, Paul James Rooney...who apart from being a podcast host and experienced dancer has actually played older Billy Elliot in the very successful stage version! We muse over Thatcherism, homophobia, questionable "ballet" choreography and whether Billy would've realistically had a shot at getting into the Royal Ballet School.LINKSDrinks at the Barre Podcast on AppleDrinks at the Barre Podcast on SpotifySpice Girls, Stop Right NowIndie Wire interview with Stephen Daldry Billy Elliot: Class Traitor  

Keen On Democracy
Episode 2542: John Cassidy on Capitalism and its Critics

Keen On Democracy

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2025 48:53


Yesterday, the self-styled San Francisco “progressive” Joan Williams was on the show arguing that Democrats need to relearn the language of the American working class. But, as some of you have noted, Williams seems oblivious to the fact that politics is about more than simply aping other people's language. What you say matters, and the language of American working class, like all industrial working classes, is rooted in a critique of capitalism. She should probably read the New Yorker staff writer John Cassidy's excellent new book, Capitalism and its Critics, which traces capitalism's evolution and criticism from the East India Company through modern times. He defines capitalism as production for profit by privately-owned companies in markets, encompassing various forms from Chinese state capitalism to hyper-globalization. The book examines capitalism's most articulate critics including the Luddites, Marx, Engels, Thomas Carlisle, Adam Smith, Rosa Luxemburg, Keynes & Hayek, and contemporary figures like Sylvia Federici and Thomas Piketty. Cassidy explores how major economists were often critics of their era's dominant capitalist model, and untangles capitalism's complicated relationship with colonialism, slavery and AI which he regards as a potentially unprecedented economic disruption. This should be essential listening for all Democrats seeking to reinvent a post Biden-Harris party and message. 5 key takeaways* Capitalism has many forms - From Chinese state capitalism to Keynesian managed capitalism to hyper-globalization, all fitting the basic definition of production for profit by privately-owned companies in markets.* Great economists are typically critics - Smith criticized mercantile capitalism, Keynes critiqued laissez-faire capitalism, and Hayek/Friedman opposed managed capitalism. Each generation's leading economists challenge their era's dominant model.* Modern corporate structure has deep roots - The East India Company was essentially a modern multinational corporation with headquarters, board of directors, stockholders, and even a private army - showing capitalism's organizational continuity across centuries.* Capitalism is intertwined with colonialism and slavery - Industrial capitalism was built on pre-existing colonial and slave systems, particularly through the cotton industry and plantation economies.* AI represents a potentially unprecedented disruption - Unlike previous technological waves, AI may substitute rather than complement human labor on a massive scale, potentially creating political backlash exceeding even the "China shock" that contributed to Trump's rise.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Full TranscriptAndrew Keen: Hello, everybody. A couple of days ago, we did a show with Joan Williams. She has a new book out, "Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back." A book about language, about how to talk to the American working class. She also had a piece in Jacobin Magazine, an anti-capitalist magazine, about how the left needs to speak to what she calls average American values. We talked, of course, about Bernie Sanders and AOC and their language of fighting oligarchy, and the New York Times followed that up with "The Enduring Power of Anti-Capitalism in American Politics."But of course, that brings the question: what exactly is capitalism? I did a little bit of research. We can find definitions of capitalism from AI, from Wikipedia, even from online dictionaries, but I thought we might do a little better than relying on Wikipedia and come to a man who's given capitalism and its critics a great deal of thought. John Cassidy is well known as a staff writer at The New Yorker. He's the author of a wonderful book, the best book, actually, on the dot-com insanity. And his new book, "Capitalism and its Critics," is out this week. John, congratulations on the book.So I've got to be a bit of a schoolmaster with you, John, and get some definitions first. What exactly is capitalism before we get to criticism of it?John Cassidy: Yeah, I mean, it's a very good question, Andrew. Obviously, through the decades, even the centuries, there have been many different definitions of the term capitalism and there are different types of capitalism. To not be sort of too ideological about it, the working definition I use is basically production for profit—that could be production of goods or mostly in the new and, you know, in today's economy, production of services—for profit by companies which are privately owned in markets. That's a very sort of all-encompassing definition.Within that, you can have all sorts of different types of capitalism. You can have Chinese state capitalism, you can have the old mercantilism, which industrial capitalism came after, which Trump seems to be trying to resurrect. You can have Keynesian managed capitalism that we had for 30 or 40 years after the Second World War, which I grew up in in the UK. Or you can have sort of hyper-globalization, hyper-capitalism that we've tried for the last 30 years. There are all those different varieties of capitalism consistent with a basic definition, I think.Andrew Keen: That keeps you busy, John. I know you started this project, which is a big book and it's a wonderful book. I read it. I don't always read all the books I have on the show, but I read from cover to cover full of remarkable stories of the critics of capitalism. You note in the beginning that you began this in 2016 with the beginnings of Trump. What was it about the 2016 election that triggered a book about capitalism and its critics?John Cassidy: Well, I was reporting on it at the time for The New Yorker and it struck me—I covered, I basically covered the economy in various forms for various publications since the late 80s, early 90s. In fact, one of my first big stories was the stock market crash of '87. So yes, I am that old. But it seemed to me in 2016 when you had Bernie Sanders running from the left and Trump running from the right, but both in some way offering very sort of similar critiques of capitalism. People forget that Trump in 2016 actually was running from the left of the Republican Party. He was attacking big business. He was attacking Wall Street. He doesn't do that these days very much, but at the time he was very much posing as the sort of outsider here to protect the interests of the average working man.And it seemed to me that when you had this sort of pincer movement against the then ruling model, this wasn't just a one-off. It seemed to me it was a sort of an emerging crisis of legitimacy for the system. And I thought there could be a good book written about how we got to here. And originally I thought it would be a relatively short book just based on the last sort of 20 or 30 years since the collapse of the Cold War and the sort of triumphalism of the early 90s.But as I got into it more and more, I realized that so many of the issues which had been raised, things like globalization, rising inequality, monopoly power, exploitation, even pollution and climate change, these issues go back to the very start of the capitalist system or the industrial capitalist system back in sort of late 18th century, early 19th century Britain. So I thought, in the end, I thought, you know what, let's just do the whole thing soup to nuts through the eyes of the critics.There have obviously been many, many histories of capitalism written. I thought that an original way to do it, or hopefully original, would be to do a sort of a narrative through the lives and the critiques of the critics of various stages. So that's, I hope, what sets it apart from other books on the subject, and also provides a sort of narrative frame because, you know, I am a New Yorker writer, I realize if you want people to read things, you've got to make it readable. Easiest way to make things readable is to center them around people. People love reading about other people. So that's sort of the narrative frame. I start off with a whistleblower from the East India Company back in the—Andrew Keen: Yeah, I want to come to that. But before, John, my sense is that to simplify what you're saying, this is a labor of love. You're originally from Leeds, the heart of Yorkshire, the center of the very industrial revolution, the first industrial revolution where, in your historical analysis, capitalism was born. Is it a labor of love? What's your family relationship with capitalism? How long was the family in Leeds?John Cassidy: Right, I mean that's a very good question. It is a labor of love in a way, but it's not—our family doesn't go—I'm from an Irish family, family of Irish immigrants who moved to England in the 1940s and 1950s. So my father actually did start working in a big mill, the Kirkstall Forge in Leeds, which is a big steel mill, and he left after seeing one of his co-workers have his arms chopped off in one of the machinery, so he decided it wasn't for him and he spent his life working in the construction industry, which was dominated by immigrants as it is here now.So I don't have a—it's not like I go back to sort of the start of the industrial revolution, but I did grow up in the middle of Leeds, very working class, very industrial neighborhood. And what a sort of irony is, I'll point out, I used to, when I was a kid, I used to play golf on a municipal golf course called Gotts Park in Leeds, which—you know, most golf courses in America are sort of in the affluent suburbs, country clubs. This was right in the middle of Armley in Leeds, which is where the Victorian jail is and a very rough neighborhood. There's a small bit of land which they built a golf course on. It turns out it was named after one of the very first industrialists, Benjamin Gott, who was a wool and textile industrialist, and who played a part in the Luddite movement, which I mention.So it turns out, I was there when I was 11 or 12, just learning how to play golf on this scrappy golf course. And here I am, 50 years later, writing about Benjamin Gott at the start of the Industrial Revolution. So yeah, no, sure. I think it speaks to me in a way that perhaps it wouldn't to somebody else from a different background.Andrew Keen: We did a show with William Dalrymple, actually, a couple of years ago. He's been on actually since, the Anglo or Scottish Indian historian. His book on the East India Company, "The Anarchy," is a classic. You begin in some ways your history of capitalism with the East India Company. What was it about the East India Company, John, that makes it different from other for-profit organizations in economic, Western economic history?John Cassidy: I mean, I read that. It's a great book, by the way. That was actually quoted in my chapter on these. Yeah, I remember. I mean, the reason I focused on it was for two reasons. Number one, I was looking for a start, a narrative start to the book. And it seemed to me, you know, the obvious place to start is with the start of the industrial revolution. If you look at economics history textbooks, that's where they always start with Arkwright and all the inventors, you know, who were the sort of techno-entrepreneurs of their time, the sort of British Silicon Valley, if you could think of it as, in Lancashire and Derbyshire in the late 18th century.So I knew I had to sort of start there in some way, but I thought that's a bit pat. Is there another way into it? And it turns out that in 1772 in England, there was a huge bailout of the East India Company, very much like the sort of 2008, 2009 bailout of Wall Street. The company got into trouble. So I thought, you know, maybe there's something there. And I eventually found this guy, William Bolts, who worked for the East India Company, turned into a whistleblower after he was fired for finagling in India like lots of the people who worked for the company did.So that gave me two things. Number one, it gave me—you know, I'm a writer, so it gave me something to focus on a narrative. His personal history is very interesting. But number two, it gave me a sort of foundation because industrial capitalism didn't come from nowhere. You know, it was built on top of a pre-existing form of capitalism, which we now call mercantile capitalism, which was very protectionist, which speaks to us now. But also it had these big monopolistic multinational companies.The East India Company, in some ways, was a very modern corporation. It had a headquarters in Leadenhall Street in the city of London. It had a board of directors, it had stockholders, the company sent out very detailed instructions to the people in the field in India and Indonesia and Malaysia who were traders who bought things from the locals there, brought them back to England on their company ships. They had a company army even to enforce—to protect their operations there. It was an incredible multinational corporation.So that was also, I think, fascinating because it showed that even in the pre-existing system, you know, big corporations existed, there were monopolies, they had royal monopolies given—first the East India Company got one from Queen Elizabeth. But in some ways, they were very similar to modern monopolistic corporations. And they had some of the problems we've seen with modern monopolistic corporations, the way they acted. And Bolts was the sort of first corporate whistleblower, I thought. Yeah, that was a way of sort of getting into the story, I think. Hopefully, you know, it's just a good read, I think.William Bolts's story because he was—he came from nowhere, he was Dutch, he wasn't even English and he joined the company as a sort of impoverished young man, went to India like a lot of English minor aristocrats did to sort of make your fortune. The way the company worked, you had to sort of work on company time and make as much money as you could for the company, but then in your spare time you're allowed to trade for yourself. So a lot of the—without getting into too much detail, but you know, English aristocracy was based on—you know, the eldest child inherits everything, so if you were the younger brother of the Duke of Norfolk, you actually didn't inherit anything. So all of these minor aristocrats, so major aristocrats, but who weren't first born, joined the East India Company, went out to India and made a fortune, and then came back and built huge houses. Lots of the great manor houses in southern England were built by people from the East India Company and they were known as Nabobs, which is an Indian term. So they were the sort of, you know, billionaires of their time, and it was based on—as I say, it wasn't based on industrial capitalism, it was based on mercantile capitalism.Andrew Keen: Yeah, the beginning of the book, which focuses on Bolts and the East India Company, brings to mind for me two things. Firstly, the intimacy of modern capitalism, modern industrial capitalism with colonialism and of course slavery—lots of books have been written on that. Touch on this and also the relationship between the birth of capitalism and the birth of liberalism or democracy. John Stuart Mill, of course, the father in many ways of Western democracy. His day job, ironically enough, or perhaps not ironically, was at the East India Company. So how do those two things connect, or is it just coincidental?John Cassidy: Well, I don't think it is entirely coincidental, I mean, J.S. Mill—his father, James Mill, was also a well-known philosopher in the sort of, obviously, in the earlier generation, earlier than him. And he actually wrote the official history of the East India Company. And I think they gave his son, the sort of brilliant protégé, J.S. Mill, a job as largely as a sort of sinecure, I think. But he did go in and work there in the offices three or four days a week.But I think it does show how sort of integral—the sort of—as you say, the inheritor and the servant in Britain, particularly, of colonial capitalism was. So the East India Company was, you know, it was in decline by that stage in the middle of the 19th century, but it didn't actually give up its monopoly. It wasn't forced to give up its monopoly on the Indian trade until 1857, after, you know, some notorious massacres and there was a sort of public outcry.So yeah, no, that's—it's very interesting that the British—it's sort of unique to Britain in a way, but it's interesting that industrial capitalism arose alongside this pre-existing capitalist structure and somebody like Mill is a sort of paradoxical figure because actually he was quite critical of aspects of industrial capitalism and supported sort of taxes on the rich, even though he's known as the great, you know, one of the great apostles of the free market and free market liberalism. And his day job, as you say, he was working for the East India Company.Andrew Keen: What about the relationship between the birth of industrial capitalism, colonialism and slavery? Those are big questions and I know you deal with them in some—John Cassidy: I think you can't just write an economic history of capitalism now just starting with the cotton industry and say, you know, it was all about—it was all about just technical progress and gadgets, etc. It was built on a sort of pre-existing system which was colonial and, you know, the slave trade was a central element of that. Now, as you say, there have been lots and lots of books written about it, the whole 1619 project got an incredible amount of attention a few years ago. So I didn't really want to rehash all that, but I did want to acknowledge the sort of role of slavery, especially in the rise of the cotton industry because of course, a lot of the raw cotton was grown in the plantations in the American South.So the way I actually ended up doing that was by writing a chapter about Eric Williams, a Trinidadian writer who ended up as the Prime Minister of Trinidad when it became independent in the 1960s. But when he was younger, he wrote a book which is now regarded as a classic. He went to Oxford to do a PhD, won a scholarship. He was very smart. I won a sort of Oxford scholarship myself but 50 years before that, he came across the Atlantic and did an undergraduate degree in history and then did a PhD there and his PhD thesis was on slavery and capitalism.And at the time, in the 1930s, the link really wasn't acknowledged. You could read any sort of standard economic history written by British historians, and they completely ignored that. He made the argument that, you know, slavery was integral to the rise of capitalism and he basically started an argument which has been raging ever since the 1930s and, you know, if you want to study economic history now you have to sort of—you know, have to have to address that. And the way I thought, even though the—it's called the Williams thesis is very famous. I don't think many people knew much about where it came from. So I thought I'd do a chapter on—Andrew Keen: Yeah, that chapter is excellent. You mentioned earlier the Luddites, you're from Yorkshire where Luddism in some ways was born. One of the early chapters is on the Luddites. We did a show with Brian Merchant, his book, "Blood in the Machine," has done very well, I'm sure you're familiar with it. I always understood the Luddites as being against industrialization, against the machine, as opposed to being against capitalism. But did those two things get muddled together in the history of the Luddites?John Cassidy: I think they did. I mean, you know, Luddites, when we grew up, I mean you're English too, you know to be called a Luddite was a term of abuse, right? You know, you were sort of antediluvian, anti-technology, you're stupid. It was only, I think, with the sort of computer revolution, the tech revolution of the last 30, 40 years and the sort of disruptions it's caused, that people have started to look back at the Luddites and say, perhaps they had a point.For them, they were basically pre-industrial capitalism artisans. They worked for profit-making concerns, small workshops. Some of them worked for themselves, so they were sort of sole proprietor capitalists. Or they worked in small venues, but the rise of industrial capitalism, factory capitalism or whatever, basically took away their livelihoods progressively. So they associated capitalism with new technology. In their minds it was the same. But their argument wasn't really a technological one or even an economic one, it was more a moral one. They basically made the moral argument that capitalists shouldn't have the right to just take away their livelihoods with no sort of recompense for them.At the time they didn't have any parliamentary representation. You know, they weren't revolutionaries. The first thing they did was create petitions to try and get parliament to step in, sort of introduce some regulation here. They got turned down repeatedly by the sort of—even though it was a very aristocratic parliament, places like Manchester and Leeds didn't have any representation at all. So it was only after that that they sort of turned violent and started, you know, smashing machines and machines, I think, were sort of symbols of the system, which they saw as morally unjust.And I think that's sort of what—obviously, there's, you know, a lot of technological disruption now, so we can, especially as it starts to come for the educated cognitive class, we can sort of sympathize with them more. But I think the sort of moral critique that there's this, you know, underneath the sort of great creativity and economic growth that capitalism produces, there is also a lot of destruction and a lot of victims. And I think that message, you know, is becoming a lot more—that's why I think why they've been rediscovered in the last five or ten years and I'm one of the people I guess contributing to that rediscovery.Andrew Keen: There's obviously many critiques of capitalism politically. I want to come to Marx in a second, but your chapter, I thought, on Thomas Carlyle and this nostalgic conservatism was very important and there are other conservatives as well. John, do you think that—and you mentioned Trump earlier, who is essentially a nostalgist for a—I don't know, some sort of bizarre pre-capitalist age in America. Is there something particularly powerful about the anti-capitalism of romantics like Carlyle, 19th century Englishman, there were many others of course.John Cassidy: Well, I think so. I mean, I think what is—conservatism, when we were young anyway, was associated with Thatcherism and Reaganism, which, you know, lionized the free market and free market capitalism and was a reaction against the pre-existing form of capitalism, Keynesian capitalism of the sort of 40s to the 80s. But I think what got lost in that era was the fact that there have always been—you've got Hayek up there, obviously—Andrew Keen: And then Keynes and Hayek, the two—John Cassidy: Right, it goes to the end of that. They had a great debate in the 1930s about these issues. But Hayek really wasn't a conservative person, and neither was Milton Friedman. They were sort of free market revolutionaries, really, that you'd let the market rip and it does good things. And I think that that sort of a view, you know, it just became very powerful. But we sort of lost sight of the fact that there was also a much older tradition of sort of suspicion of radical changes of any type. And that was what conservatism was about to some extent. If you think about Baldwin in Britain, for example.And there was a sort of—during the Industrial Revolution, some of the strongest supporters of factory acts to reduce hours and hourly wages for women and kids were actually conservatives, Tories, as they were called at the time, like Ashley. That tradition, Carlyle was a sort of extreme representative of that. I mean, Carlyle was a sort of proto-fascist, let's not romanticize him, he lionized strongmen, Frederick the Great, and he didn't really believe in democracy. But he also had—he was appalled by the sort of, you know, the—like, what's the phrase I'm looking for? The sort of destructive aspects of industrial capitalism, both on the workers, you know, he said it was a dehumanizing system, sounded like Marx in some ways. That it dehumanized the workers, but also it destroyed the environment.He was an early environmentalist. He venerated the environment, was actually very strongly linked to the transcendentalists in America, people like Thoreau, who went to visit him when he visited Britain and he saw the sort of destructive impact that capitalism was having locally in places like Manchester, which were filthy with filthy rivers, etc. So he just saw the whole system as sort of morally bankrupt and he was a great writer, Carlyle, whatever you think of him. Great user of language, so he has these great ringing phrases like, you know, the cash nexus or calling it the Gospel of Mammonism, the shabbiest gospel ever preached under the sun was industrial capitalism.So, again, you know, that's a sort of paradoxical thing, because I think for so long conservatism was associated with, you know, with support for the free market and still is in most of the Republican Party, but then along comes Trump and sort of conquers the party with a, you know, more skeptical, as you say, romantic, not really based on any reality, but a sort of romantic view that America can stand by itself in the world. I mean, I see Trump actually as a sort of an effort to sort of throw back to mercantile capitalism in a way. You know, which was not just pre-industrial, but was also pre-democracy, run by monarchs, which I'm sure appeals to him, and it was based on, you know, large—there were large tariffs. You couldn't import things in the UK. If you want to import anything to the UK, you have to send it on a British ship because of the navigation laws. It was a very protectionist system and it's actually, you know, as I said, had a lot of parallels with what Trump's trying to do or tries to do until he backs off.Andrew Keen: You cheat a little bit in the book in the sense that you—everyone has their own chapter. We'll talk a little bit about Hayek and Smith and Lenin and Friedman. You do have one chapter on Marx, but you also have a chapter on Engels. So you kind of cheat. You combine the two. Is it possible, though, to do—and you've just written this book, so you know this as well as anyone. How do you write a book about capitalism and its critics and only really give one chapter to Marx, who is so dominant? I mean, you've got lots of Marxists in the book, including Lenin and Luxemburg. How fundamental is Marx to a criticism of capitalism? Is most criticism, especially from the left, from progressives, is it really just all a footnote to Marx?John Cassidy: I wouldn't go that far, but I think obviously on the left he is the central figure. But there's an element of sort of trying to rebuild Engels a bit in this. I mean, I think of Engels and Marx—I mean obviously Marx wrote the great classic "Capital," etc. But in the 1840s, when they both started writing about capitalism, Engels was sort of ahead of Marx in some ways. I mean, the sort of materialist concept, the idea that economics rules everything, Engels actually was the first one to come up with that in an essay in the 1840s which Marx then published in one of his—in the German newspaper he worked for at the time, radical newspaper, and he acknowledged openly that that was really what got him thinking seriously about economics, and even in the late—in 20, 25 years later when he wrote "Capital," all three volumes of it and the Grundrisse, just these enormous outpourings of analysis on capitalism.He acknowledged Engels's role in that and obviously Engels wrote the first draft of the Communist Manifesto in 1848 too, which Marx then topped and tailed and—he was a better writer obviously, Marx, and he gave it the dramatic language that we all know it for. So I think Engels and Marx together obviously are the central sort of figures in the sort of left-wing critique. But they didn't start out like that. I mean, they were very obscure, you've got to remember.You know, they were—when they were writing, Marx was writing "Capital" in London, it never even got published in English for another 20 years. It was just published in German. He was basically an expat. He had been thrown out of Germany, he had been thrown out of France, so England was last resort and the British didn't consider him a threat so they were happy to let him and the rest of the German sort of left in there. I think it became—it became the sort of epochal figure after his death really, I think, when he was picked up by the left-wing parties, which are especially the SPD in Germany, which was the first sort of socialist mass party and was officially Marxist until the First World War and there were great internal debates.And then of course, because Lenin and the Russians came out of that tradition too, Marxism then became the official doctrine of the Soviet Union when they adopted a version of it. And again there were massive internal arguments about what Marx really meant, and in fact, you know, one interpretation of the last 150 years of left-wing sort of intellectual development is as a sort of argument about what did Marx really mean and what are the important bits of it, what are the less essential bits of it. It's a bit like the "what did Keynes really mean" that you get in liberal circles.So yeah, Marx, obviously, this is basically an intellectual history of critiques of capitalism. In that frame, he is absolutely a central figure. Why didn't I give him more space than a chapter and a chapter and a half with Engels? There have been a million books written about Marx. I mean, it's not that—it's not that he's an unknown figure. You know, there's a best-selling book written in Britain about 20 years ago about him and then I was quoting, in my biographical research, I relied on some more recent, more scholarly biographies. So he's an endlessly fascinating figure but I didn't want him to dominate the book so I gave him basically the same space as everybody else.Andrew Keen: You've got, as I said, you've got a chapter on Adam Smith who's often considered the father of economics. You've got a chapter on Keynes. You've got a chapter on Friedman. And you've got a chapter on Hayek, all the great modern economists. Is it possible, John, to be a distinguished economist one way or the other and not be a critic of capitalism?John Cassidy: Well, I don't—I mean, I think history would suggest that the greatest economists have been critics of capitalism in their own time. People would say to me, what the hell have you got Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek in a book about critics of capitalism? They were great exponents, defenders of capitalism. They loved the system. That is perfectly true. But in the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, middle of the 20th century, they were actually arch-critics of the ruling form of capitalism at the time, which was what I call managed capitalism. What some people call Keynesianism, what other people call European social democracy, whatever you call it, it was a model of a mixed economy in which the government played a large role both in propping up demand and in providing an extensive social safety net in the UK and providing public healthcare and public education. It was a sort of hybrid model.Most of the economy in terms of the businesses remained in private hands. So most production was capitalistic. It was a capitalist system. They didn't go to the Soviet model of nationalizing everything and Britain did nationalize some businesses, but most places didn't. The US of course didn't but it was a form of managed capitalism. And Hayek and Friedman were both great critics of that and wanted to sort of move back to 19th century laissez-faire model.Keynes was a—was actually a great, I view him anyway, as really a sort of late Victorian liberal and was trying to protect as much of the sort of J.S. Mill view of the world as he could, but he thought capitalism had one fatal flaw: that it tended to fall into recessions and then they can snowball and the whole system can collapse which is what had basically happened in the early 1930s until Keynesian policies were adopted. Keynes sort of differed from a lot of his followers—I have a chapter on Joan Robinson in there, who were pretty left-wing and wanted to sort of use Keynesianism as a way to shift the economy quite far to the left. Keynes didn't really believe in that. He has a famous quote that, you know, once you get to full employment, you can then rely on the free market to sort of take care of things. He was still a liberal at heart.Going back to Adam Smith, why is he in a book on criticism of capitalism? And again, it goes back to what I said at the beginning. He actually wrote "The Wealth of Nations"—he explains in the introduction—as a critique of mercantile capitalism. His argument was that he was a pro-free trader, pro-small business, free enterprise. His argument was if you get the government out of the way, we don't need these government-sponsored monopolies like the East India Company. If you just rely on the market, the sort of market forces and competition will produce a good outcome. So then he was seen as a great—you know, he is then seen as the apostle of free market capitalism. I mean when I started as a young reporter, when I used to report in Washington, all the conservatives used to wear Adam Smith badges. You don't see Donald Trump wearing an Adam Smith badge, but that was the case.He was also—the other aspect of Smith, which I highlight, which is not often remarked on—he's also a critic of big business. He has a famous section where he discusses the sort of tendency of any group of more than three businessmen when they get together to try and raise prices and conspire against consumers. And he was very suspicious of, as I say, large companies, monopolies. I think if Adam Smith existed today, I mean, I think he would be a big supporter of Lina Khan and the sort of antitrust movement, he would say capitalism is great as long as you have competition, but if you don't have competition it becomes, you know, exploitative.Andrew Keen: Yeah, if Smith came back to live today, you have a chapter on Thomas Piketty, maybe he may not be French, but he may be taking that position about how the rich benefit from the structure of investment. Piketty's core—I've never had Piketty on the show, but I've had some of his followers like Emmanuel Saez from Berkeley. Yeah. How powerful is Piketty's critique of capitalism within the context of the classical economic analysis from Hayek and Friedman? Yeah, it's a very good question.John Cassidy: It's a very good question. I mean, he's a very paradoxical figure, Piketty, in that he obviously shot to world fame and stardom with his book on capital in the 21st century, which in some ways he obviously used the capital as a way of linking himself to Marx, even though he said he never read Marx. But he was basically making the same argument that if you leave capitalism unrestrained and don't do anything about monopolies etc. or wealth, you're going to get massive inequality and he—I think his great contribution, Piketty and the school of people, one of them you mentioned, around him was we sort of had a vague idea that inequality was going up and that, you know, wages were stagnating, etc.What he and his colleagues did is they produced these sort of scientific empirical studies showing in very simple to understand terms how the sort of share of income and wealth of the top 10 percent, the top 5 percent, the top 1 percent and the top 0.1 percent basically skyrocketed from the 1970s to about 2010. And it was, you know, he was an MIT PhD. Saez, who you mentioned, is a Berkeley professor. They were schooled in neoclassical economics at Harvard and MIT and places like that. So the right couldn't dismiss them as sort of, you know, lefties or Trots or whatever who're just sort of making this stuff up. They had to acknowledge that this was actually an empirical reality.I think it did change the whole basis of the debate and it was sort of part of this reaction against capitalism in the 2010s. You know it was obviously linked to the sort of Sanders and the Occupy Wall Street movement at the time. It came out of the—you know, the financial crisis as well when Wall Street disgraced itself. I mean, I wrote a previous book on all that, but people have sort of, I think, forgotten the great reaction against that a decade ago, which I think even Trump sort of exploited, as I say, by using anti-banker rhetoric at the time.So, Piketty was a great figure, I think, from, you know, I was thinking, who are the most influential critics of capitalism in the 21st century? And I think you'd have to put him up there on the list. I'm not saying he's the only one or the most eminent one. But I think he is a central figure. Now, of course, you'd think, well, this is a really powerful critic of capitalism, and nobody's going to pick up, and Bernie's going to take off and everything. But here we are a decade later now. It seems to be what the backlash has produced is a swing to the right, not a swing to the left. So that's, again, a sort of paradox.Andrew Keen: One person I didn't expect to come up in the book, John, and I was fascinated with this chapter, is Silvia Federici. I've tried to get her on the show. We've had some books about her writing and her kind of—I don't know, you treat her critique as a feminist one. The role of women. Why did you choose to write a chapter about Federici and that feminist critique of capitalism?John Cassidy: Right, right. Well, I don't think it was just feminist. I'll explain what I think it was. Two reasons. Number one, I wanted to get more women into the book. I mean, it's in some sense, it is a history of economics and economic critiques. And they are overwhelmingly written by men and women were sort of written out of the narrative of capitalism for a very long time. So I tried to include as many sort of women as actual thinkers as I could and I have a couple of early socialist feminist thinkers, Anna Wheeler and Flora Tristan and then I cover some of the—I cover Rosa Luxemburg as the great sort of tribune of the left revolutionary socialist, communist whatever you want to call it. Anti-capitalist I think is probably also important to note about. Yeah, and then I also have Joan Robinson, but I wanted somebody to do something in the modern era, and I thought Federici, in the world of the Wages for Housework movement, is very interesting from two perspectives.Number one, Federici herself is a Marxist, and I think she probably would still consider herself a revolutionary. She's based in New York, as you know now. She lived in New York for 50 years, but she came from—she's originally Italian and came out of the Italian left in the 1960s, which was very radical. Do you know her? Did you talk to her? I didn't talk to her on this. No, she—I basically relied on, there has been a lot of, as you say, there's been a lot of stuff written about her over the years. She's written, you know, she's given various long interviews and she's written a book herself, a version, a history of housework, so I figured it was all there and it was just a matter of pulling it together.But I think the critique, why the critique is interesting, most of the book is a sort of critique of how capitalism works, you know, in the production or you know, in factories or in offices or you know, wherever capitalist operations are working, but her critique is sort of domestic reproduction, as she calls it, the role of unpaid labor in supporting capitalism. I mean it goes back a long way actually. There was this moment, I sort of trace it back to the 1940s and 1950s when there were feminists in America who were demonstrating outside factories and making the point that you know, the factory workers and the operations of the factory, it couldn't—there's one of the famous sort of tire factory in California demonstrations where the women made the argument, look this factory can't continue to operate unless we feed and clothe the workers and provide the next generation of workers. You know, that's domestic reproduction. So their argument was that housework should be paid and Federici took that idea and a couple of her colleagues, she founded the—it's a global movement, but she founded the most famous branch in New York City in the 1970s. In Park Slope near where I live actually.And they were—you call it feminists, they were feminists in a way, but they were rejected by the sort of mainstream feminist movement, the sort of Gloria Steinems of the world, who Federici was very critical of because she said they ignored, they really just wanted to get women ahead in the sort of capitalist economy and they ignored the sort of underlying from her perspective, the underlying sort of illegitimacy and exploitation of that system. So they were never accepted as part of the feminist movement. They're to the left of the Feminist Movement.Andrew Keen: You mentioned Keynes, of course, so central in all this, particularly his analysis of the role of automation in capitalism. We did a show recently with Robert Skidelsky and I'm sure you're familiar—John Cassidy: Yeah, yeah, great, great biography of Keynes.Andrew Keen: Yeah, the great biographer of Keynes, whose latest book is "Mindless: The Human Condition in the Age of AI." You yourself wrote a brilliant book on the last tech mania and dot-com capitalism. I used it in a lot of my writing and books. What's your analysis of AI in this latest mania and the role generally of manias in the history of capitalism and indeed in critiquing capitalism? Is AI just the next chapter of the dot-com boom?John Cassidy: I think it's a very deep question. I think I'd give two answers to it. In one sense it is just the latest mania the way—I mean, the way capitalism works is we have these, I go back to Kondratiev, one of my Russian economists who ended up being killed by Stalin. He was the sort of inventor of the long wave theory of capitalism. We have these short waves where you have sort of booms and busts driven by finance and debt etc. But we also have long waves driven by technology.And obviously, in the last 40, 50 years, the two big ones are the original deployment of the internet and microchip technology in the sort of 80s and 90s culminating in the dot-com boom of the late 90s, which as you say, I wrote about. Thanks very much for your kind comments on the book. If you just sort of compare it from a financial basis I think they are very similar just in terms of the sort of role of hype from Wall Street in hyping up these companies. The sort of FOMO aspect of it among investors that they you know, you can't miss out. So just buy the companies blindly. And the sort of lionization in the press and the media of, you know, of AI as the sort of great wave of the future.So if you take a sort of skeptical market based approach, I would say, yeah, this is just another sort of another mania which will eventually burst and it looked like it had burst for a few weeks when Trump put the tariffs up, now the market seemed to be recovering. But I think there is, there may be something new about it. I am not, I don't pretend to be a technical expert. I try to rely on the evidence of or the testimony of people who know the systems well and also economists who have studied it. It seems to me the closer you get to it the more alarming it is in terms of the potential shock value that there is there.I mean Trump and the sort of reaction to a larger extent can be traced back to the China shock where we had this global shock to American manufacturing and sort of hollowed out a lot of the industrial areas much of it, like industrial Britain was hollowed out in the 80s. If you, you know, even people like Altman and Elon Musk, they seem to think that this is going to be on a much larger scale than that and will basically, you know, get rid of the professions as they exist. Which would be a huge, huge shock. And I think a lot of the economists who studied this, who four or five years ago were relatively optimistic, people like Daron Acemoglu, David Autor—Andrew Keen: Simon Johnson, of course, who just won the Nobel Prize, and he's from England.John Cassidy: Simon, I did an event with Simon earlier this week. You know they've studied this a lot more closely than I have but I do interview them and I think five, six years ago they were sort of optimistic that you know this could just be a new steam engine or could be a microchip which would lead to sort of a lot more growth, rising productivity, rising productivity is usually associated with rising wages so sure there'd be short-term costs but ultimately it would be a good thing. Now, I think if you speak to them, they see since the, you know, obviously, the OpenAI—the original launch and now there's just this huge arms race with no government involvement at all I think they're coming to the conclusion that rather than being developed to sort of complement human labor, all these systems are just being rushed out to substitute for human labor. And it's just going, if current trends persist, it's going to be a China shock on an even bigger scale.You know what is going to, if that, if they're right, that is going to produce some huge political backlash at some point, that's inevitable. So I know—the thing when the dot-com bubble burst, it didn't really have that much long-term impact on the economy. People lost the sort of fake money they thought they'd made. And then the companies, obviously some of the companies like Amazon and you know Google were real genuine profit-making companies and if you bought them early you made a fortune. But AI does seem a sort of bigger, scarier phenomenon to me. I don't know. I mean, you're close to it. What do you think?Andrew Keen: Well, I'm waiting for a book, John, from you. I think you can combine dot-com and capitalism and its critics. We need you probably to cover it—you know more about it than me. Final question, I mean, it's a wonderful book and we haven't even scratched the surface everyone needs to get it. I enjoyed the chapter, for example, on Karl Polanyi and so much more. I mean, it's a big book. But my final question, John, is do you have any regrets about anyone you left out? The one person I would have liked to have been included was Rawls because of his sort of treatment of capitalism and luck as a kind of casino. I'm not sure whether you gave any thought to Rawls, but is there someone in retrospect you should have had a chapter on that you left out?John Cassidy: There are lots of people I left out. I mean, that's the problem. I mean there have been hundreds and hundreds of critics of capitalism. Rawls, of course, incredibly influential and his idea of the sort of, you know, the veil of ignorance that you should judge things not knowing where you are in the income distribution and then—Andrew Keen: And it's luck. I mean the idea of some people get lucky and some people don't.John Cassidy: It is the luck of the draw, obviously, what card you pull. I think that is a very powerful critique, but I just—because I am more of an expert on economics, I tended to leave out philosophers and sociologists. I mean, you know, you could say, where's Max Weber? Where are the anarchists? You know, where's Emma Goldman? Where's John Kenneth Galbraith, the sort of great mid-century critic of American industrial capitalism? There's so many people that you could include. I mean, I could have written 10 volumes. In fact, I refer in the book to, you know, there's always been a problem. G.D.H. Cole, a famous English historian, wrote a history of socialism back in the 1960s and 70s. You know, just getting to 1850 took him six volumes. So, you've got to pick and choose, and I don't claim this is the history of capitalism and its critics. That would be a ridiculous claim to make. I just claim it's a history written by me, and hopefully the people are interested in it, and they're sufficiently diverse that you can address all the big questions.Andrew Keen: Well it's certainly incredibly timely. Capitalism and its critics—more and more of them. Sometimes they don't even describe themselves as critics of capitalism when they're talking about oligarchs or billionaires, they're really criticizing capitalism. A must read from one of America's leading journalists. And would you call yourself a critic of capitalism, John?John Cassidy: Yeah, I guess I am, to some extent, sure. I mean, I'm not a—you know, I'm not on the far left, but I'd say I'm a center-left critic of capitalism. Yes, definitely, that would be fair.Andrew Keen: And does the left need to learn? Does everyone on the left need to read the book and learn the language of anti-capitalism in a more coherent and honest way?John Cassidy: I hope so. I mean, obviously, I'd be talking my own book there, as they say, but I hope that people on the left, but not just people on the left. I really did try to sort of be fair to the sort of right-wing critiques as well. I included the Carlyle chapter particularly, obviously, but in the later chapters, I also sort of refer to this emerging critique on the right, the sort of economic nationalist critique. So hopefully, I think people on the right could read it to understand the critiques from the left, and people on the left could read it to understand some of the critiques on the right as well.Andrew Keen: Well, it's a lovely book. It's enormously erudite and simultaneously readable. Anyone who likes John Cassidy's work from The New Yorker will love it. Congratulations, John, on the new book, and I'd love to get you back on the show as anti-capitalism in America picks up steam and perhaps manifests itself in the 2028 election. Thank you so much.John Cassidy: Thanks very much for inviting me on, it was fun.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

america american new york amazon california new york city donald trump english google ai uk china washington france england british gospel french germany san francisco new york times phd chinese european blood german elon musk russian mit western italian modern irish wealth harvard indian world war ii touch wall street capital britain atlantic democrats oxford nations dutch bernie sanders manchester indonesia wikipedia new yorker congratulations fomo capitalism cold war berkeley industrial prime minister sanders malaysia victorian critics queen elizabeth ii soviet union leeds soviet openai alexandria ocasio cortez nobel prize mill trinidad republican party joseph stalin anarchy marx baldwin yorkshire friedman marxist norfolk wages marxism spd biden harris industrial revolution american politics lenin first world war adam smith englishman altman bolts trots american south working class engels tories lancashire luxemburg occupy wall street hayek milton friedman marxists thoreau anglo derbyshire carlyle housework rawls keynes keynesian trinidadian max weber john stuart mill thomas piketty communist manifesto east india company luddite eric williams luddites rosa luxemburg lina khan daron acemoglu friedrich hayek emma goldman saez piketty silvia federici feminist movement anticapitalism keynesianism jacobin magazine federici william dalrymple thatcherism thomas carlyle reaganism john kenneth galbraith arkwright brian merchant john cassidy win them back grundrisse joan williams karl polanyi mit phd emmanuel saez robert skidelsky joan robinson
Mark and Pete
1 in 10 Are Broke, Celebrating Margaret Thatcher, and Fishing Quota Fury

Mark and Pete

Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2025 21:40


In this punchy episode of Mark and Pete, we tackle three explosive issues shaping the UK today. First, we dive into the shocking statistic that 1 in 10 Britons have no savings, revealing the fragile state of personal finance and what it means for national resilience. With household budgets tighter than ever, are we heading for a savings crisis? Next, we commemorate and critique the legacy of Margaret Thatcher as her 100th birthday is marked with celebratory events in Grantham. Love her or loathe her, the Iron Lady remains one of Britain's most divisive political figures. We explore how Thatcherism reshaped the UK—and whether the celebration is deserved or divisive. Finally, we cast our nets into the stormy waters of the UK-EU fishing rights dispute. With the Brexit fishing deal expiring soon, tensions rise over quotas, sovereignty, and national identity. Will British fishermen be left high and dry while Brussels demands more access? As always, Mark and Pete bring wit, wisdom, and a splash of theological insight to today's most pressing issues. Subscribe now and join the debate.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mark-and-pete--1245374/support.

Explaining History (explaininghistory) (explaininghistory)

Margaret Thatcher sought to revive Britain's fortunes during the 1980s, she was a social conservative and a free market fundamentalist; a contradictory set of ideological positions. The liberation of market forces devastated the social structures that Thatcher claimed to uphold, principally the family, which underwent dramatic transformations throughout the decade as individualism, urbanisation, mobility, rising expectations and declining ideas of deference transformed it. *****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy author and if that's your thing you can get a copy of my debut novel The Blood of Tharta, right here:Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve Richards presents the Rock N Roll Politics podcast
With Farage backing steel nationalisation, is public ownership back in fashion?

Steve Richards presents the Rock N Roll Politics podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2025 49:33


For decades nationalisation was the great taboo in British politics, while privatisation was deemed the great triumph of Thatcherism. Blair and Brown were opposed to any attempt to renationalise – but now there is cross party support for the nationalisation of British Steel, the railways are being renationalised and there is huge support for the government to take over water companies. What's happening… and why? Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place on May 8th. Tickets available here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Start the Week
How political ideology affects the brain

Start the Week

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2025 41:45


In The Ideological Brain Leor Zmigrod studies the impact of political ideology on the makeup and shape of the brain. She found that those on the political extremes, as well as those with the most dogmatic beliefs, display more cognitive rigidity. The historian John Rees focuses on the small group of firebrand parliamentarians at the heart of the English Civil Wars. The Fiery Spirits describes how the radical republicans influenced more moderate MPs and led to the defeat, and execution, of Charles I.2025 is the centenary of the birth of Margaret Thatcher and fifty years since she became the first woman to lead a major political party in the UK. The political commentator and broadcaster Iain Dale publishes a biography of her later this year, and questions the role of ideology within Thatcherism. Producer: Katy Hickman

Pod Save America
How a Political Party Can Rise from the Dead

Pod Save America

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2025 63:17


Donald Trump is looking pretty invincible right now, and it's easy to lose hope that Democrats will ever be able to regain power. But back in the '90s, liberals in Britain were in a similar predicament. Alastair Campbell, right hand man to former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and co-host of the podcast "The Rest Is Politics," joins Tommy to discuss how the Labour Party vanquished the iron grip of Thatcherism, the importance of party rebranding, and how Democrats can reclaim populism in the age of Trump.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.Get your copy of WOODWORKING: http://crooked.com/books

The Bunker
Episode 1,500 – Neil Kinnock on Starmer's battles, Labour vs Reform, and hope for the future

The Bunker

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2025 58:09


Is it really five years and 1,500 editions since we launched The Bunker? It is! For this special episode, Labour legend and former leader Neil Kinnock joins us to talk about the story Labour should be telling… what his battles against Thatcherism can teach Starmer about fighting the rising right wing… the dangers of a radicalised Conservative Party… and how to hit Reform UK where it hurts. With Andrew Harrison and Alex von Tunzelmann.  • Support us on Patreon for early episodes and more • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Jon Gaunt Show
Was Margaret Thatcher the GREATEST UK Prime Minister ever?

The Jon Gaunt Show

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2025 45:10


Was Margaret Thatcher the greatest British Prime Minister in history, or was she the worst? In this UK politics debate, we dive deep into the legacy of the Iron Lady, exploring her economic policies, leadership style, and impact on Britain. From the Thatcher era of privatization to the controversial miners' strike, poll tax, and the Falklands War, we examine both sides of the argument.

The Mutual Audio Network
The Wires are Down(021025)

The Mutual Audio Network

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2025 39:47


Adam and Suzanne are in love, but a question about their sexual past leads to jealousy and mistrust, which they must somehow overcome if the relationship is to survive. However the specter of Thatcherism casts a long shadow across the decades, highlighting the class divide between the couple, as they both have to come to terms with their own expectations from life, and each other… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monday Matinee
The Wires are Down

Monday Matinee

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2025 39:47


Adam and Suzanne are in love, but a question about their sexual past leads to jealousy and mistrust, which they must somehow overcome if the relationship is to survive. However the specter of Thatcherism casts a long shadow across the decades, highlighting the class divide between the couple, as they both have to come to terms with their own expectations from life, and each other… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novara Media
Downstream: Who's Behind the Institute of Economic Affairs? w/ Kristian Niemietz

Novara Media

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 21, 2025 83:25


The Institute of Economic Affairs is one of the most powerful and secretive think tanks in the UK, known for promoting free-market Thatcherism as a solution to all of our economic woes. Who's behind it? This week, Kristian Niemietz, a director at the IEA and a long-time Novara Media hater, sits down with Aaron for […]

Stance
Ep.67: Exploring Tate Britain's 80s Exhibition Through a Black Queer Lens w/ Campaigner Marc Thompson

Stance

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2024 19:51


Stance visits London to explore the Tate Gallery show The 80s: Photographing Britain with campaigner Marc Thompson. The exhibition examines how photographers used the camera to respond to the seismic social, political, and economic shifts of the era, including the rise of Thatcherism, race uprisings, and the AIDS epidemic. It highlights photography as a vital tool for social representation, cultural celebration, and artistic experimentation, spanning landscapes, self-portraiture, and social documentary during this pivotal and highly creative period. Marc Thompson, a Brixton-born cultural leader and prominent British campaigner with over three decades of experience in HIV activism and education, joins Chrystal for a tour of Tate Britain. Together, they engage with the works of photographers such as Ajamu X and Rotimi Fani-Kayode, discussing the legacy of Black queer voices in shaping modern Britain, the cultural significance of Brixton as a hub for activism, creativity and nightclubs, and the ongoing fight for healthcare equity faced by marginalized communities today. If you like what you heard, please write us a review and check out more of our work at stancepodcast.com and all podcasting apps @stancepodcast This podcast was produced by Etay Zwick. Referenced In This Podcast & Show Notes Mark Thompson Linktree Marc Thompson IG London HIV Prevention Resident Survey Black & Gay Back InBlack & Gay Back In The Day IGThe Day Black & Gay Back In The Day Podcast Lost Spaces Podcast - Queer Nation (with Marc Thompson)  PrEPster Love Tank Black Health Matters Do It London - HIV Prevention Interview with Marc Thompson in London Friend  Article about Marc Thompson in The Voice We Were Always Here Podcast hosted by Marc Thompson Tate Britian The 80s: Photographing Britain at the Tate Artists include: Online Gallery of Rotimi Fani-Kayode's Photography Black British Artists 1980s Archive Pogus Caesar  Martin Parr's Ajamu X's website Dave Lewis's website  Susanne Roden Anna Fox's website Derek Bishton's website Jason Evans website  Reflections of the Black Experience: Brixton Art Gallery, 1986. PV Card, Poster, Catalogue, Time Out, Echoes & LAM Reviews A Review of an exhibition of Rotimi Fani-Kayode's work  

Calling All Stations with Christian Wolmar
3/1 Live from Liverpool where Labour is "ripping up the very roots of Thatcherism" from transport

Calling All Stations with Christian Wolmar

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 25, 2024 31:30


Launching Season 3, Christian and co-presenter Mark Walker report from the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on the keynote address by UK Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh MP [3:48]. Christian analyses a meeting discussing driverless cars addressed by Minister for the Future of Roads, Lilian Greenwood MP [13:50} and talks about his own presentation on transport challenges for the Labour Government given at the Public Transport Reception hosted by the Campaign for Better Transport and sponsored by Porterbrook [18:09]. Finally, Christian celebrates London Mayor Sadiq Khan's adoption of his own longstanding proposal for the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street [28:00].

Jam Tomorrow
North Sea Oil: Hit the gas

Jam Tomorrow

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2024 46:06


In 1969, three kilometres under the North Sea, drillers found something that would change Britain completely. It would transform us into an oil-producing nation, fuel Thatcherism in the 1980s, feed resentment in Scotland — and yet all of it happened largely out of sight of most Britons. How did North Sea oil and gas change us? What's life like for the dwindling group of people who work in the industry? And can drilled-out fields actually help to combat global heating? “At peak production, the revenue from North Sea profits were taxed at 95 percent.” – Jon Gluyas, chair in geoenergy, carbon capture and storage at Durham University “People are not blind to what is happening in the industry… It's hard for older workers.” – photographer and oil worker Peter Iain Campbell “There's no doubt about the impact the burning of fossil fuels has had on our environment. We also have to acknowledge how it has utterly transformed our society over the last 50 years.” – Peter Iain Campbell  A selection of Peter Iain Campbell's photos of North Sea oil installations are on his website. JAM TOMORROW is written and presented by Ros Taylor. The producer is Jade Bailey. Voiceovers are by Seth Thevoz. Music is by Dubstar and artwork by James Parrett. The managing editor is Jacob Jarvis and the group editor is Andrew Harrision. JAM TOMORROW is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Let’s Talk Money and More
#155 Chris Budd - What's Your Money Story?

Let’s Talk Money and More

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2024 39:32


Welcome back to another guest episode of Let's Talk Money and More Podcast!In this episode, I am joined by Chris Budd, owner of the financial planning company Ovation Finance Ltd. He is the author of six books, including the original book about financial wellbeing which he wrote in 2015, The Financial Wellbeing Book, and The Four Cornerstones of Financial Wellbeing.In this episode we delve into the fascinating concept of one's money story. Chris shares insightful anecdotes about growing up during Thatcherism and witnessing their father's bankruptcy, leading to a distinctive perspective on wealth and financial well-being. Chris and Lesley touch on the correlation between monetary success and happiness, the impact of social media comparisonitis, and the importance of purposeful actions and problem-solving in the workforce. Moreover, they emphasise the need for proper financial planning and considering life after selling a business. Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on finding meaning and purpose, making informed decisions, and seizing opportunities that align with personal values. Tune in to gain valuable insights that could reshape your approach to money and more.Key TakeawaysShifting the focus from financial rewards to purpose and belonging in the workforce, emphasising the importance of a meaningful vocation.The significance of connecting with your future self to make decisions that not only enhance your current well-being but also benefit you in the long run.The power of saying yes to opportunities that align with your values and stepping out of your comfort zone, as it often leads to unique, rewarding experiences.Connect with Chris BuddFinancial Wellbeing website www.financialwell-being.co.uk/For Advisers - The new Financial Wellbeing Pulse: www.financialwellbeingpulse.com/The Institute for Financial Wellbeing: www.instituteforfinancialwellbeing.com/To Buy the Books: www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Chris-Budd/author/B00FF6G094?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4&qid=1722241683&sr=8-4&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true Connect with Lesley ThomasBook a call with me www.calendly.com/lesley-themoneyconfidenceacademy/30minsFREE Resources www.themoneyconfidenceacademy.com/resources/My website www.themoneyconfidenceacademy.com/Join my Facebook Group www.facebook.com/groups/letstalkmoneyandmoreYoutube channel www.youtube.com/@themoneyconfidenceacademyFollow me on Instagram www.instagram.com/iamlesley_thomas/Connect with me on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-thomas Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rock N Roll Pantheon
Ugly American Werewolf in London: Oasis - Definitely Maybe

Rock N Roll Pantheon

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2024 90:05


Oasis in the UK are more than just rock royalty. They are the foul-mouthed, big riff, council estate kids with unibrows and bad attitudes that helped lift the UK out of it's 1980's/Thatcherism malaisse and into the Cool Britannia of the 1990s. Out was the doom and gloom of American grunge, in were melodic songs that kids could relate to. Anthems like Rock N Roll Star, Columbia and Cigarettes and Alcohol spoke directly to the young generation who were anxious to make their own mark on the world. Led by the songwriting and riff borrowing of Noel Gallagher and the sheer strength of the vocals of his younger brother Liam, Oasis debut Definitely Maybe became the fastest selling debut album in the UK at the time. However, in the US, though Oasis debut hit the charts and eventually went platinum, the band never took off to the heights they would enjoy in the UK and around the world. Maybe it was Creation Records lack of solid backing by the US record industry or maybe it was the brothers snarling and nasty attitudes (and those unibrows) that turned enough people off during the age of grunge that would soon give way to softer sounds like Hootie and the Blowfish. But Oasis were the spokesmen of their generation in the UK and knew who to borrow from (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, T Rex, The Jam) to make a big, bright, loud sound that would have them headline Knebworth just 2 years after the release of this debut in front of 250,000 people over 2 nights. Oasis are also the masters of the b-side (a lost art in the US) and as CD singles with 4 tracks on them were all the rage, Oasis hit the playlists and sales from singles as well as anyone in the UK. So relive the big hits (Live Forever & Supersonic), enjoy the album tracks (Slide Away, Bring It On Down) and unearth some b-sides as we celebrate Definitely Maybe as it turns 30. Ugly American Werewolf in London Website Ugly American Werewolf in London Store - Get your Wolf merch and use code 10OFF2023 to save 10%! Visit our sponsor RareVinyl.com and use the code UGLY to save 10%! Twitter Threads Instagram YouTube LInkTree www.pantheonpodcasts.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ugly American Werewolf in London Rock Podcast
UAWIL #191: Oasis - Definitely Maybe

The Ugly American Werewolf in London Rock Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 25, 2024 94:05


Oasis in the UK are more than just rock royalty. They are the foul-mouthed, big riff, council estate kids with unibrows and bad attitudes that helped lift the UK out of it's 1980's/Thatcherism malaisse and into the Cool Britannia of the 1990s. Out was the doom and gloom of American grunge, in were melodic songs that kids could relate to. Anthems like Rock N Roll Star, Columbia and Cigarettes and Alcohol spoke directly to the young generation who were anxious to make their own mark on the world. Led by the songwriting and riff borrowing of Noel Gallagher and the sheer strength of the vocals of his younger brother Liam, Oasis debut Definitely Maybe became the fastest selling debut album in the UK at the time. However, in the US, though Oasis debut hit the charts and eventually went platinum, the band never took off to the heights they would enjoy in the UK and around the world. Maybe it was Creation Records lack of solid backing by the US record industry or maybe it was the brothers snarling and nasty attitudes (and those unibrows) that turned enough people off during the age of grunge that would soon give way to softer sounds like Hootie and the Blowfish. But Oasis were the spokesmen of their generation in the UK and knew who to borrow from (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, T Rex, The Jam) to make a big, bright, loud sound that would have them headline Knebworth just 2 years after the release of this debut in front of 250,000 people over 2 nights. Oasis are also the masters of the b-side (a lost art in the US) and as CD singles with 4 tracks on them were all the rage, Oasis hit the playlists and sales from singles as well as anyone in the UK. So relive the big hits (Live Forever & Supersonic), enjoy the album tracks (Slide Away, Bring It On Down) and unearth some b-sides as we celebrate Definitely Maybe as it turns 30. Ugly American Werewolf in London Website Ugly American Werewolf in London Store - Get your Wolf merch and use code 10OFF2023 to save 10%! Visit our sponsor RareVinyl.com and use the code UGLY to save 10%! Twitter Threads Instagram YouTube LInkTree www.pantheonpodcasts.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Unfinished Print
Jacqueline Gribbin : Printmaker - Adaptation

The Unfinished Print

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2024 87:53


Mokuhanga has the ability to take the artist or craftsperson anywhere they would like to be. From the subject matter in their studio to physical movement around the world, teaching, exploring, and discovering. Wonder and beauty is what makes mokuhanga so special.   In this episode of The Unfinished Print, I speak with printmaker Jacqueline Gribbin, who has spent years honing her craft in mokuhanga and other printmaking techniques across Japan, Southeast Asia, and Australia. We discuss her deep connection with Indigenous communities, collaborating with the late Ralph Kiggell, and exploring the nuances of water-based and oil-based mokuhanga. Jaqueline explains her experiences traveling to isolated communities, conducting workshops, and sharing her passion for printmaking. We'll explore her teaching methods, the importance of community in her work, and how she balances creating and selling her prints.   Please follow The Unfinished Print and my own mokuhanga work on Instagram @andrezadoroznyprints or email me at theunfinishedprint@gmail.com  Notes: may contain a hyperlink. Simply click on the highlighted word or phrase. Artists works follow after the note if available. Pieces are mokuhanga unless otherwise noted. Dimensions are given if known. Print publishers are given if known. Jacqueline Gribbin - website  Shifting Tides (2022) Nagasawa Art Park (MI Lab) Awaji City - Nagasawa Art Park was an artist-in-residence program located in Awaji City, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It was open for 12 years before evolving into MI Lab in 2012. More info, here.    Keiko Kadota (1942-2017) - was the director of Nagasawa Art Park at Awaji City from 1997-2011, and then of MI Lab at Lake Kawaguchi from 2011 until her passing.   Toru Ueba - was a print instructor at Nagasawa Art Park, and was one of Yoonmi's instructors in 2004.   Ralph Kiggell (1960-2022) -  was one of the most important mokuhanga practitioners. Originally from England, Ralph lived and worked in Thailand. Ralph pushed the boundaries of mokuhanga with extremely large pieces, jigsaw carving, and by using fantastic colour. He also worked with the International Mokuhanga Conference to promote mokuhanga around the world. He will be greatly missed. Ralph's work can be found, here. His obituary in The Guardian can be found, here. His interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here.     Orange Flower On Blue    Hiroki Satake - is a mokuhanga printmaker, and instructor based in Japan. He has taught at MI Lab, as well as given demonstrations regarding tool sharpening, around the world. Instagram   赤絵(アンドレ・マルティ「狼よ!」より) (2022) 34.7cm×28.4cm   registration - there are several registration methods in mokuhanga. The traditional method is called the kentō registration, where you carve two notches, straight another an "L." There is also a "floating kentō," which is where the notches are cut in a piece of "L" shaped wood and not on the wood where you are cutting your image, hence "floating." Lastly, there are removable "pins," such as ones made by Ternes Burton.    bokashi - is a mokuhanga technique, where the pigment fades from a heavy colour to a softer, broad colour. Made famous by prints designed by Hokusai and Hiroshige, this technique is, for me, the most popular technique utilized by  mokuhanga printmakers. There are various types: Ichimoji-bokashi or straight line graduation, used in the above mentioned Hiroshige and Hokusai prints. Ichimoji-mura-bokashi or straight line gradation with uneven edge. Ō-bokashi or wide gradation, Ate-nashi-bokashi or gradation without definition. Futa-iro-bokashi or two tone gradation, and ita-bokashi or softer-edge gradation, where the block is cut in a specific way to achieve this style of gradation. All of these styles of bokashi technique take practice and skill but are very much doable. Below is a fine example of bokashi by Paul Binnie:     The Torii Gate at Miyajima (2009) 37.5 x 26cm sizing paper - at times mokuhanga printmakers will size their paper. Size is made from water, animal glue (rabbit, horse), and alum. What the size does is keep the pigments the artist uses from “bleeding” into the outer edges of the paper. There are many recipes of size, here is one that artist Walter J. Phillips used.   intaglio printing - is a printing method, also called etching, using metal plates such as zinc, and copper, creating “recessed” areas which are printed with ink on the surface of these "recesses.” More info, here. The MET has info, here.     serigraphy - is another word for the art of silk screen printing. Silk screen printing can be in on various materials, silk, canvas, paper.    lithography: A printing process where images are transferred onto a surface using a flat plate or stone.   Yoshitaka Amano (b. 1952) - is a character designer for the Final Fantasy video game series. He uses ukiyo-e and Japanese woodblock prints as insirpation for some of his work.    Takashi Murakami (b. 1962) is a contemporary artist best known for his fine art works and contributions to the commercial market. His works are heavily influenced by manga and anime, characterized by their bright colors and distinctive style. Multicolour Superflat Flowers - archival pigment print, silkscreen, 45 cm x 17.7cm   Margaret Thatcher 1925-2013) -  was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. She was the first woman to hold the office and remains one of the most influential figures in British political history. Leading the Conservative Party, Thatcher implemented a series of economic policies known as "Thatcherism," which emphasized deregulation, privatization of state-owned industries, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Her tenure was marked by significant economic transformation, as well as controversial measures that sparked widespread debate and protest.    Tamarind Institute - was originally founded in Los Angeles in 1960 by June Wayne, and is a world renowned center for fine art lithography. Established to revive and sustain the art of lithography, which was in decline in the United States, Tamarind quickly became a leader in the education and promotion of lithographic techniques. In 1970, the institute moved to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where it continues to thrive as a key institution in the printmaking world. Dedicated to advancing the lithographic arts through rigorous education, collaborative projects, and the production of high-quality prints, the Tamarind Institute's influence extends globally, contributing significantly to the development and appreciation of lithography as a vibrant art form. More info, here.    STPI Creative Workshop & Gallery - which stands for Singapore Thailand Print Institute is an educational gallery and workshop, based in Singapore. More info, here.    International Mokuhanga Conference, 2011 - was the first international conference on mokuhanga which was separated in two parts, Kyoto and the Awaji Islands in Japan.    MI Lab - is a mokuhanga artists residency located in Kawaguchi-ko, near Mount Fuji. More info can be found, here.    Hiroki Morinoue - is a mokuhanga printmaker and artist living in Holualoa, Big Island, Hawai'i. He is a co-founding member of the Holualoa Foundation For Arts & Culture, the establishment of the Donkey Mill Art Center and Studio 7 Fine Arts. Hiroki's interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here.    Incoming Tide 30.5 x 30.5cm   Keiko Hara - is an artist and Professor of Art Emerita at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. She is a painter, and printmaker in various relief mediums, such as mokuhanga. Keiko also leads the Mokuhanga Project Space based in Walla Walla, Washington. More info on Keiko's work can be found, here. More info regarding the Mokuhanga Project Space, here.   Verse Space M-1, lithography and stencil, 55.8 cm x 76.2 cm   Yamanashi Prefecture - (山梨県, Yamanashi-ken) is located in the Chūbu region of Honshu, Japan, and borders Saitama Prefecture to the northeast, Nagano Prefecture to the northwest, Shizuoka Prefecture to the southwest, Kanagawa Prefecture to the southeast, and Tokyo to the east. The capital and largest city is Kōfu. Yamanashi is one of only eight landlocked prefectures in Japan, with most of the population residing in the central Kōfu Basin, surrounded by the Akaishi Mountains. 27% of its land area is designated as Natural Parks, and it is home to many of Japan's highest mountains, including Mount Fuji, the country's tallest peak and a significant cultural icon, which is partially located on the border with Shizuoka Prefecture.   Tiwi Islands - which means "two islands," are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, located 80 km (50 mi) north of Darwin. They comprise Melville Island, Bathurst Island, and nine smaller uninhabited islands, with a combined area of 8,320 square kilometers (3,212 sq mi). The islands have been inhabited by the Tiwi, an Aboriginal Australian people, since before European settlement, with a population of 2,348 recorded in the 2021 census. The Tiwi Land Council, one of four land councils in the Northern Territory, serves as a representative body with statutory authority under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 and holds responsibilities under the Native Title Act 1993 and the Pastoral Land Act 1992.   Charles Darwin University - was established in 2003 in the Northern Territory of Australia, and resulted from the merger of Northern Territory University, Centralian College, and the Menzies School of Health Research. Named after naturalist Charles Darwin, CDU focuses on research and education tailored to the unique challenges of the region, with strong emphasis on Indigenous education and partnerships. The university offers a broad range of programs across disciplines like health, education, engineering, business, and environmental science, and is recognized for its research in desert knowledge, Indigenous systems, tropical health, and sustainable development. With campuses in Darwin, Alice Springs, Katherine, and Nhulunbuy, CDU plays a crucial role in the educational, economic, and social development of the Northern Territory. The More Than Human World: North Australian Ecologies was the exhibit which Jacqueline speaks on in her episode. The exhibit catalogue can be found, here.    Balgo - also known as Wirrimanu, is a remote Aboriginal community in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Home to the Kukatja people and other desert groups like the Ngarti and Warlpiri, Balgo is renowned for its vibrant art scene, particularly through the Warlayirti Artists art center, which produces art reflecting the rich cultural heritage of the local people. The community, accessible mainly via local roads and air, provides essential services such as a health clinic, school and plays a vital role in preserving and promoting Indigenous culture and traditions. A description of Wirrimaru can be found, here via Deutscher and Hackett.    Printmaking Today - is a magazine published by Cello Press in England, and is published quarterly. The magazine focuses on printmaking themes and artists. More info, here.   Arnhem Land - is located in the northeastern Northern Territory of Australia, and is a vast and culturally rich region covering approximately 97,000 square kilometers. Bordered by the Arafura Sea, the Gulf of Carpentaria, and Kakadu National Park, it is one of the largest Aboriginal reserves in Australia, home to around 16,000 Indigenous people, primarily the Yolngu. Known for its stunning natural landscapes, including rugged coastlines, rainforests, and wetlands, Arnhem Land is also a cultural treasure, famous for Indigenous art, music, and traditions. Access is restricted to protect its heritage, and the region plays a crucial role in Indigenous land rights movements and the preservation of Aboriginal culture.   Foundry Vineyards - based in Walla Walla, Washington is a vineyard and art space. It has been hosting artists from all types of media such as painting and printmaking since 2010. It has exhibited The Mokuhanga Project Space, printmaker Mike Lyon,  and the International Mokuhanga Print Exhibit. More info about this space and the good it does for the art community at large can be found, here.    Ozu Washi - is a paper store located in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo. website, Instagram   Wood Like Matsumura - is an online and brick and mortar store, for woodblock printmaking, located in Nerima City, Tōkyō.   uwa senka long - is a Thai kozo machine made paper which can be used for mokuhanga.    The Japanese Paper Place- is a Toronto based Japanese paper store servicing the Mokuhanga community for many years.  Interview with the Nancy Jacobi of the JPP can be found, here.   gouache: is a water-based paint known for its opaque and vibrant colours. Made from pigment, water, and gum arabic as a binder, it offers artists versatility in creating both translucent washes and opaque layers. Gouache can be reactivated with water and comes in a range of colors, making it a popular choice for various painting techniques.   The Adelaide River - is a significant waterway in the Northern Territory of Australia, extending approximately 180 km from its source in the Litchfield National Park to its mouth at the Timor Sea. The river flows through  lush wetlands, dense mangroves, and open floodplains, providing a rich habitat for diverse wildlife. It is particularly renowned for its large population of saltwater crocodiles.    © Popular Wheat Productions opening and closing credit - Stardust by Lester Young, Oscar Peterson Trio. (1956) © UMG Recordings logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny  Disclaimer: Please do not reproduce or use anything from this podcast without shooting me an email and getting my express written or verbal consent. I'm friendly :) Слава Українi If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know. ***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***                                                

Front Row
Damian Barr on Maggie & Me, Italian neorealist film, A.I. and Fake Art

Front Row

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2024 42:24


A memoir about growing up gay in Scotland under the shadow of Thatcherism, Maggie & Me was published to wide acclaim in 2013. Damian Barr joins to discuss how he as adapted it with James Ley for a new National Theatre of Scotland touring production.As Roberto Rossellini's classic 1945 film Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta) is re-released by the BFI, writer Thea Lenarduzzi and film historian Ian Christie reassess its role in launching Italian neorealism and compare it with There's Still Tomorrow (C'è ancora domani), a new film by Paula Cortellesi that borrows many of neorealism's visual and thematic hallmarks.With news last week that fake artworks by Renoir and Monet were being sold online, Samira is joined by art specialist and A.I. expert Dr. Carina Popovici and writer and art crime expert Riah Pyror to discuss the problem and how A.I. is being used to solve it.

The Stand with Eamon Dunphy
Ep 1942: The end of Thatcherism as British Tories look set to turn Boris's 80 seat majority into a crushing defeat

The Stand with Eamon Dunphy

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 4, 2024 27:43


Economist and commentator Chris Johns talks to Eamon about the decline of the Tory Party. Recorded on Wednesday 3rd April 2024. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/the-stand-with-eamon-dunphy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jam Tomorrow
Coal: The Pits and the Pendulum

Jam Tomorrow

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 2, 2024 41:43


Coal: filthy, dangerous, and vital to Britain's economy — but not any more. What did coal mining really mean to people? And why is coal so key to the biggest issues in politics — from the founding of the NHS, to Thatcherism, and even the issue of who should take the blame for the climate emergency?    Ros Taylor talks to Joerg Arnold, a historian at the University of Nottingham, and Ian Winwood, whose family were coal miners in Yorkshire, about why you have to understand the black stuff to understand Britain.    • “It was just so brutal.” – Ian Winwood on the Miners' Strike.  • “The Thatcher government was taken by surprise that the miners weren't united, but they were quick to exploit that split.” – Joerg Arnold  • “Nobody openly acknowledged that we were going to phase out coal.” – Joerg Arnold  • “They talk about the Red Wall. In 2019 when much of the Red Wall went blue but Barnsley didn't. That's not going to happen.” – Ian Winwood    Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Jade Bailey. Original music by Dubstar. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Jam Tomorrow is a Podmasters production  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wright on the Nail
Has Thatcherism Failed? The Young vs The Old, and Donald Trump Climbs the Rich List

Wright on the Nail

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 29, 2024 77:56


In this week's News Roundtable episode, Chris Wright is joined by writer, journalist and broadcaster, Christina Patterson, Communications Officer at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Reem Ibrahim, UK and US political commentator Edward Hardy, and Chief Economic Adviser at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, Vicky Pryce.The conversation kicks off with an in-depth analysis of the Conservative Party's scheme to tear itself apart.  They turn to the economic legacy of Thatcher and discuss whether privatisation, such as of Water and the Railways, is the foundational cause for Britain's dire problems today. They also pick apart the housing crisis and the tendency of our politics to pit the young and old against each other.   They turn to the topic of the ageing population, the pension system and the kind of policies we need to bring real change. Each of the panellists offers their views on whether they are optimistic or pessimistic about the economic future of Britain.  Economist Vicky Pryce joins the conversation to offer her thoughts on this issue, what Labour will and can do should they come into power, and how geopolitics is affecting the economy. Finally, they turn to Donald Trump's newfound wealth and the potential world consequences of his ability to get away with everything - with expert analysis from Edward and Vicky.   Many thanks,WOTN Team'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. © Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.Rock around the clock productions AB.www.rockaroundtheclock.coThis episode was produced by Sound SapienSoundsapien.comThis podcast is published by New Thinking: www.newthinking.com Explore New Thinking podcasts via our website: www.newthinking.com/podcasts

The Owen Jones Podcast
Labour Promise Return Of THATCHERISM

The Owen Jones Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2024 8:22


https://www.patreon.com/owenjones84Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-owen-jones-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Claremont Review of Books Podcast
Charles Moore on Conservatism in England and America

The Claremont Review of Books Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2024 29:39


Celebrated journalist Lord Charles Moore joins Spencer to discuss his CRB essay on the history and prospects of Thatcherism and its implications for modern conservative movements on both sides of the pond. On the one hand, the forces arrayed against Thatcher's legacy have never been stronger. On the other hand, the attitudes she represented--including the "commonsense view that people would probably be better at running their own affairs than governments would"--just won't go away. In the age of Trump and Brexit, but also of globalist bureaucrats and Conservative ineptitude, what is Thatcherism's future?  

Reel Politik Podcast
Episode 280 - The Obituary Section

Reel Politik Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2023 60:50


A morbid episode this week, as Jack and Yair pour one out for the dearly departed trinity of Henry Kissinger, Shane MacGowan and Alistair Darling. PLUS cuts to the BBC's Newsnight, the resumption of violence in Gaza, & Starmer saying the best thing about Thatcher was the Thatcherism.

1001 Album Club
608 Pet Shop Boys - Actually

1001 Album Club

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2023


In September of 1987 Pet Shop Boys released their Sophomore studio album. A loose critique on Thatcherism, the album was written in response to that harpy's perceived re-election. It has appeared on a number of “must listen” lists and deservedly so. Let's talk Pet Shop Boys, Actually!

Not A Diving Podcast with Scuba
#096 Trevor Jackson

Not A Diving Podcast with Scuba

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2023 126:50


The 2023 Annual Not A Diving Podcast Pledge Drive is here... for ONE FINAL WEEK!For the next week, support the show and receive special benefits...Option 1 - Patreon Musicality Tier (£8.50 per month)Pledge Drive Bonus = the 2024 Musicality t-shirt! Free of charge, postage and packing covered Option 2 - Patreon Solidarity Tier (£3.50 per month)Pledge Drive Bonus = a 50% off voucher to use on a basket containing any items at the Hotflush Bandcamp StoreOption 3 - a one-off donation of £8.50 or USD$10.00Pledge Drive Bonus = a 25% off voucher to use on a basket containing any items at the Hotflush Bandcamp StoreThanking you in advance for your support! What is culture anyway? This is a question which is delved into in depth on this week's episode, which a man whose work since the 1980s has covered many different areas. Trevor Jackson is a storied designer of album covers and sleeve art, a prolific producer and remixer, and the man behind Output Records who helped ease acts including LCD Soundsystem and Four Tet into the public consciousness. So there was lots to talk about, and in addition to the culture question, we tackled areas including the pre-Acid House London scene, Thatcherism, working in different art forms, counter-culture, UK Hip Hop, and a lot more...This was a great conversations, straight into the classic episodes list. You're gonna enjoy it! Join us in the Hotflush Discord Server.Listen to all (most of) the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlistFollow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport

Cinema Eclectica | Movies From All Walks Of Life
Olly Alexander in It's a Sin! (2021) Episode 108

Cinema Eclectica | Movies From All Walks Of Life

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 16, 2023 62:28


On this week's Pop Screen, Graham has a very important and special guest: Mark's dog! And, fine, yes, also Mark, with our favourite quizmaster and Film Stories writer coming back to talk about Russell T Davies's most personal drama. Set across the early years of the AIDS crisis, It's a Sin has a cast full of breakthrough young stars, memorable cameos from acting veterans, plus Olly Alexander, whose day job in Years and Years allows us to cover the show. Not that we need much of an excuse to talk about it, or indeed Davies's day job showrunning Doctor Who for its imminent 60th anniversary specials. There's also space for digressions on Prime Ministerial cameos, the real-life inspirations behind the central characters, an appreciation of Erasure and why Russell T Davies must be hopping mad at Stranger Things right now. The T stands for "Thatcherism has left a legacy of death and division", by the way. If you want to fund our dreams of leaving the Isle of Man and becoming an actor, you can donate to our Patreon where you'll get a monthly bonus episode of this show - currently it's one about Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, as if you needed further incentive - plus our other podcasts Last Night... and From the Video Aisle. You'll also get weekly written reviews of Doctor Who, Red Dwarf and The X-Files, classic Asian genre cinema under the microscope in Fantastic Asia, and more. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more information. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-screen/message

The Toby Gribben Show
Peter Tatchell

The Toby Gribben Show

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2023 29:38


Peter Tatchell is a distinguished human rights campaigner, celebrated for his unwavering dedication to advancing LGBTQI+ rights and his fervent commitment to social justice. With a career marked by courageous activism and principled advocacy, Tatchell has played an instrumental role in shaping the discourse on human rights and equality.Born in Australia, Tatchell's journey as a human rights defender took root in the United Kingdom, where he became a prominent figure in the LGBTQI+ social movements. His impact was first felt in the political arena when he was selected as the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey in 1981. However, his firm support for extra-Parliamentary action against the Thatcher government led to a denouncement by party leader Michael Foot. This initial setback did not deter him; in fact, it propelled him to stand as the Labour candidate in the 1983 Bermondsey by-election. This move, though valiant, resulted in the loss of the seat to the Liberals, yet it highlighted Tatchell's resilience and determination.The 1990s marked a pivotal era in Tatchell's career, as he co-founded the direct action group OutRage! Through this platform, he spearheaded campaigns for LGBT rights that reverberated across society. One of the most notable campaigns was "Stop Murder Music," which targeted music lyrics inciting violence against the LGBTQI+ community. Tatchell's unyielding advocacy showcased his ability to harness the power of activism to effect tangible change.Tatchell's audacious spirit manifested in his attempts to hold oppressive regimes accountable for their actions. Notably, he made daring citizen's arrest attempts on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in 1999 and again in 2001. These acts of courage underscored his commitment to justice, even in the face of adversity.In 2004, Tatchell extended his advocacy into the realm of politics by joining the Green Party of England and Wales. His political aspirations culminated in his selection as the prospective Parliamentary candidate for Oxford East in 2007. Unfortunately, a bus accident and injuries sustained during protests in 2009 compelled him to step down from the candidacy. Undeterred by personal challenges, Tatchell's passion for human rights endured.Since 2011, Tatchell has steered the course of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, an organization dedicated to advocating for a multitude of human rights causes. He has engaged in intellectual discourse through his participation in over 30 debates at the Oxford Union, tackling diverse topics such as patriotism, Thatcherism, and university safe spaces. Tatchell's eloquence and thought leadership have solidified his reputation as a multidimensional advocate.Peter Tatchell's legacy is one of unrelenting bravery and commitment to the fundamental principles of equality and justice. His journey from a determined candidate to a resolute activist and intellectual is a testament to the indomitable human spirit's capacity to drive positive change in society. Through his life's work, Tatchell continues to inspire and uplift countless individuals, leaving an indelible mark on the global human rights landscape. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Not A Diving Podcast with Scuba
#081 Bill Brewster

Not A Diving Podcast with Scuba

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2023 118:01


We do like a history discussion on this show. And who better to discuss the history of DJing with than the co-author of the most authoritative book on the subject?'Last Night A DJ Saved My Life' was originally published in 1999, but there's a 2022 edition and I highly recommend getting hold of a copy. It's a genuinely important work and something every fan of the culture should be familiar with. Actually my conversation with Bill Brewster is probably more about him than DJing at a wider level. We talk about his journey into dance music in the 1980s, and his time exploring the 90s New York club scene while working for DMC. But we do touch of some really interesting angles to the history too, including the influence of a certain disgraced former BBC personality, the impact of Thatcherism on the developments in the UK (and therefore the wider culture), and the more recent forces of technology and commercialism which arguably define DJing and dance music today. This is a great episode, worth taking a holiday for! Here's Chuck Klosterman's book 'The 90s', which I reference in this week's episode. If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features regular bonus podcasts and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else. Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation there in the public channels, so please do! Listen to much of the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlistFor more links and other info visit the official Scuba websiteFollow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport

Radio German Democratic Republic
Attila The Stockbroker

Radio German Democratic Republic

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 17, 2023 43:28


In this episode John Paul Kleiner (GDR Objectified blog) speaks with Attila the Stockbroker, an English poet, musician and songwriter with roots in the punk movement and socialist politics. During his forty year career as independent artist, Attila has produced numerous albums and books and performed more than 3,800 shows including many in the GDR and, after unification, eastern Germany. In this conversation, Attila vividly recalls his visits to the East, the people whom he met there and aspects of the Workers and Peasants State which were an inspiration and other which left him disgusted. Find Attila's active Facebook page by clicking here. Learn more about his books and albums on Bandcamp There's a great mini-doc of Attila done a few years back by filmmaker Farouq Suleiman that gives a great sense of his energy and art on YouTube here. You can hear poem and song “This is Free Europe” inspired by Attila's experiences at a 1992 gig in Hoyerswerda here. Glossary of terms Laibach: a Slovenian based music group / avant-garde art project which incorporates totalitarian aesthetics into a variety of musical styles to unsettling effect. A-Levels: university qualifying exams for British secondary school students John Peel was a DJ for the BBC between 1967 and 2004 during which time he helped popularize a number of musical genres including psychedelic and progressive rock as well as punk. New Town Neurotics are an English melodic punk band formed in 1979 and whose work took a decidedly political turn with the advent of Thatcherism in the U.K. It was through his connections to this group that Attila first made his way to the GDR. In the 1980s, the multiethnic London neighbourhood of Brixton was best known as a site of great social unrest due to widespread poverty and strained relations between residents and police. In more recent years, the area has undergone considerable gentrification, but echoes of Buna and Leuna: in the GDR-era, these two large-scale chemical combines were essential economic drivers and creators of truly appalling environmental degradation. Read more on the impact these facilities had on the East German environment in this post from the GDR Objectified blog. Bündnis 90 / Alternative Linke: Alliance '90 and Alternative Left were left-oriented political movements which emerged from the foment of anti-SED protests in the mid- to late-1980s in the GDR. Die Skeptiker (The Sceptics) are a German punk band originally formed in East Berlin in 1986. While critical of the realities of ‘real-existing socialism', the band were keen to carve out a place for themselves in the GDR music scene and used opportunities open to them within the system (incl. officially sanctioned live shows and appearances on GDR radio and new music compilation albums) to present their music to as wide an audience as possible. Our ability to bring you stories from behind the Berlin Wall is dependent on monthly donors like you. Visit us at https://www.eastgermanypodcast.com/p/support-the-podcast/ to contribute. For the price of a Berliner Pilsner, you can feel good you are contributing to preserve one of the most important pieces of Cold War history. If you feel more comfortable leaving us a review to help us get more listeners, we appreciate it very much and encourage you to do so wherever you get your podcasts or at https://www.eastgermanypodcast.com/reviews/new/. For discussions about podcast episodes and GDR history, please do join our Facebook discussion group. Just search Radio GDR in Facebook. Vielen dank for being a listener!

Explaining History (explaininghistory) (explaininghistory)
Post War British Society 1945-1990

Explaining History (explaininghistory) (explaininghistory)

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 10, 2023 26:45


In this episode, we delve deep into the dynamic period in British history spanning 1945 to 1990. Our exploration is based on "The People's Peace" by esteemed historian Kenneth O. Morgan, who masterfully encapsulates the cultural, social, and political transformation of post-war Britain.We open with the euphoria of victory in 1945 and the advent of the welfare state under the Labour government. Drawing on Morgan's in-depth research, we trace the rise of collectivism, the spirit of cooperation, and the development of pivotal institutions like the National Health Service, a beacon of British society.The episode moves on to consider the societal and political challenges that arose in the face of post-war optimism, delving into the complex interplay of conflicts and consensus in this period. In the latter part of the episode, we navigate the turbulent '70s and '80s, looking at the rise of Thatcherism and the decline of collectivism. We discuss the social and economic transformations under Thatcher's government, the miners' strike, and the growing societal division.Throughout the episode, we take a closer look at the daily lives of the British people, highlighting the significant shifts in social norms, living standards, and cultural values. "Post-War British Society: Collectivism, Cooperation, Conflict 1945-1990" promises an engaging, comprehensive, and nuanced understanding of this transformative period in British history. Whether you're a history buff, student, or simply curious about the past, this episode offers a captivating insight into the decades that fundamentally reshaped Britain. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Explaining History (explaininghistory) (explaininghistory)
Thatcherism's Contradictions 1975-2023

Explaining History (explaininghistory) (explaininghistory)

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 2, 2023 29:25


Episode Description:In the latest instalment of the Explaining History Podcast, join us as we delve into the multifaceted nature of Thatcherism, a political ideology that has left an indelible mark on British society. This episode, titled "Thatcherism's Contradictions, 1975-2023," explores the intricate relationship between social conservatism and economic liberalism, which have often found themselves in conflict during the era shaped by the Iron Lady.The show takes us on a captivating journey through the key events, policies, and ideologies that characterized the Thatcher years, spanning from 1975 all the way up to the present day. We uncover the profound contradictions that emerged within Thatcherism, dissecting the tension between the desire for a more socially traditional Britain and the push for a free-market economy.Exploring the writing of philosopher John Gray, the podcast navigates the complex interplay between these seemingly opposing forces within Thatcherism. On one hand, we witness the rise of social conservatism, which sought to reinvigorate traditional values and norms in response to societal shifts. From the contentious battle over Section 28 to the heightened focus on law and order, we explore the ideological motivations behind these policies and their impact on communities across the nation.Simultaneously, the episode examines the triumphs and pitfalls of economic liberalism under Thatcher's governance. We delve into the deregulation of industries, privatization of state-owned assets, and the transformation of the British economy. We analyze the ideological underpinnings of Thatcher's economic policies and the subsequent consequences for working-class communities, trade unions, and the wider social fabric of the country.The episode, skillfully weaves together expert insights and historical context to paint a comprehensive picture of Thatcherism's contradictions. By exploring the clash between social conservatism and economic liberalism, we gain a deeper understanding of the complexities and lasting legacies of this influential period in British political history.So tune in to the latest episode of the Explaining History Podcast and join us on a fascinating exploration of Thatcherism's Contradictions, 1975-2023. Discover how the tension between social conservatism and economic liberalism shaped the political landscape of Britain, leaving an indelible imprint on the nation's social, cultural, and economic fabric. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New Books Network
The Place Is Here: The Work of Black Artists in 1980s Britain

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2023 41:00


Nick Aikens and Elizabeth Robles discuss The Place Is Here (Sternberg Press, 2019) and the range of perspectives on black art in Thatcherite Britain offered by the collection of artworks, essays, and conversations found in the book. The Place Is Here begins to write a missing chapter in British art history: work by black artists in the Thatcherite 1980s. Richly illustrated, with more than two hundred color images, it brings together artworks, essays, archives, and conversations that map the varying perspectives and approaches of a group of artists who challenged the dominance of white heterosexual men in the canon of contemporary art. The many artists discussed and displayed here do not make up a “movement” or a school or a chronological progression, but represent the diverse interests and activities of artists across a decade and beyond. They grapple with black nationalism, anti-colonialism and postcolonialism, anti-Thatcherism, black feminism, black queer subjectivity, psychoanalysis, forms of narrative and documentary image-making, in different ways and through different modes of representation across a range of media. The book, which grows out of a series of exhibitions that began in 2014, offers essays, close readings of selected works, panel discussions, and archival presentations, bringing together different voices and generational perspectives. Contributions come from the artists themselves, established scholars, and younger practitioners, critics, and art historians. They discuss the exhibitions, call for a reappraisal of dominant art historical approaches, and consider the use and role of the archive in artworks; look at works by Mona Hatoum, Martina Atille, Said Adrus, Chila Kumari Burman, and Pratibha Parmar; and present key documents and other material. Hosted and produced by Sam Kelly; Mixed by Samantha Doyle; Soundtrack by Kristen Gallerneaux Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

New Books in Dance
The Place Is Here: The Work of Black Artists in 1980s Britain

New Books in Dance

Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2023 41:00


Nick Aikens and Elizabeth Robles discuss The Place Is Here (Sternberg Press, 2019) and the range of perspectives on black art in Thatcherite Britain offered by the collection of artworks, essays, and conversations found in the book. The Place Is Here begins to write a missing chapter in British art history: work by black artists in the Thatcherite 1980s. Richly illustrated, with more than two hundred color images, it brings together artworks, essays, archives, and conversations that map the varying perspectives and approaches of a group of artists who challenged the dominance of white heterosexual men in the canon of contemporary art. The many artists discussed and displayed here do not make up a “movement” or a school or a chronological progression, but represent the diverse interests and activities of artists across a decade and beyond. They grapple with black nationalism, anti-colonialism and postcolonialism, anti-Thatcherism, black feminism, black queer subjectivity, psychoanalysis, forms of narrative and documentary image-making, in different ways and through different modes of representation across a range of media. The book, which grows out of a series of exhibitions that began in 2014, offers essays, close readings of selected works, panel discussions, and archival presentations, bringing together different voices and generational perspectives. Contributions come from the artists themselves, established scholars, and younger practitioners, critics, and art historians. They discuss the exhibitions, call for a reappraisal of dominant art historical approaches, and consider the use and role of the archive in artworks; look at works by Mona Hatoum, Martina Atille, Said Adrus, Chila Kumari Burman, and Pratibha Parmar; and present key documents and other material. Hosted and produced by Sam Kelly; Mixed by Samantha Doyle; Soundtrack by Kristen Gallerneaux Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

New Books in Art
The Place Is Here: The Work of Black Artists in 1980s Britain

New Books in Art

Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2023 41:00


Nick Aikens and Elizabeth Robles discuss The Place Is Here (Sternberg Press, 2019) and the range of perspectives on black art in Thatcherite Britain offered by the collection of artworks, essays, and conversations found in the book. The Place Is Here begins to write a missing chapter in British art history: work by black artists in the Thatcherite 1980s. Richly illustrated, with more than two hundred color images, it brings together artworks, essays, archives, and conversations that map the varying perspectives and approaches of a group of artists who challenged the dominance of white heterosexual men in the canon of contemporary art. The many artists discussed and displayed here do not make up a “movement” or a school or a chronological progression, but represent the diverse interests and activities of artists across a decade and beyond. They grapple with black nationalism, anti-colonialism and postcolonialism, anti-Thatcherism, black feminism, black queer subjectivity, psychoanalysis, forms of narrative and documentary image-making, in different ways and through different modes of representation across a range of media. The book, which grows out of a series of exhibitions that began in 2014, offers essays, close readings of selected works, panel discussions, and archival presentations, bringing together different voices and generational perspectives. Contributions come from the artists themselves, established scholars, and younger practitioners, critics, and art historians. They discuss the exhibitions, call for a reappraisal of dominant art historical approaches, and consider the use and role of the archive in artworks; look at works by Mona Hatoum, Martina Atille, Said Adrus, Chila Kumari Burman, and Pratibha Parmar; and present key documents and other material. Hosted and produced by Sam Kelly; Mixed by Samantha Doyle; Soundtrack by Kristen Gallerneaux Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/art

New Books in European Studies
The Place Is Here: The Work of Black Artists in 1980s Britain

New Books in European Studies

Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2023 41:00


Nick Aikens and Elizabeth Robles discuss The Place Is Here (Sternberg Press, 2019) and the range of perspectives on black art in Thatcherite Britain offered by the collection of artworks, essays, and conversations found in the book. The Place Is Here begins to write a missing chapter in British art history: work by black artists in the Thatcherite 1980s. Richly illustrated, with more than two hundred color images, it brings together artworks, essays, archives, and conversations that map the varying perspectives and approaches of a group of artists who challenged the dominance of white heterosexual men in the canon of contemporary art. The many artists discussed and displayed here do not make up a “movement” or a school or a chronological progression, but represent the diverse interests and activities of artists across a decade and beyond. They grapple with black nationalism, anti-colonialism and postcolonialism, anti-Thatcherism, black feminism, black queer subjectivity, psychoanalysis, forms of narrative and documentary image-making, in different ways and through different modes of representation across a range of media. The book, which grows out of a series of exhibitions that began in 2014, offers essays, close readings of selected works, panel discussions, and archival presentations, bringing together different voices and generational perspectives. Contributions come from the artists themselves, established scholars, and younger practitioners, critics, and art historians. They discuss the exhibitions, call for a reappraisal of dominant art historical approaches, and consider the use and role of the archive in artworks; look at works by Mona Hatoum, Martina Atille, Said Adrus, Chila Kumari Burman, and Pratibha Parmar; and present key documents and other material. Hosted and produced by Sam Kelly; Mixed by Samantha Doyle; Soundtrack by Kristen Gallerneaux Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies

Novara Media
ACFM Trip 33: Comedy

Novara Media

Play Episode Listen Later May 14, 2023 97:34


What's the point of comedy? Stand-ups were at the forefront of the cultural backlash against Thatcherism, but today's meme-driven lols are rarely in the service of left-wing politics. Meanwhile, the world's most powerful people seem intent on having a laugh, from podcasting politicians to presidential comedians. In this Trip, Jeremy Gilbert, Nadia Idle and Keir […]

#ACFM
ACFM Trip 33: Comedy

#ACFM

Play Episode Listen Later May 14, 2023 97:34


What's the point of comedy? Stand-ups were at the forefront of the cultural backlash against Thatcherism, but today's meme-driven lols are rarely in the service of left-wing politics. Meanwhile, the world's most powerful people seem intent on having a laugh, from podcasting politicians to presidential comedians. In this Trip, Jeremy Gilbert, Nadia Idle and Keir […]

Tribe Sober - inspiring an alcohol free life!
Don't Wait for Rock Bottom - with Sam Delaney

Tribe Sober - inspiring an alcohol free life!

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2023 75:23


Sam Delaney is a journalist and broadcaster.  I contacted him after I found his article in the Guardian saying that he is having more fun than ever now that he is sober – and he is 7 years sober just like me! Sam hosts two podcasts himself – one of which is called The Reset, a podcast in which he chats to guests about mental health, addiction and recovery He has just published a new book called: Sort Your Head Out -  Mental Health…without the Bollocks In this episode:-  Sam's drinking career got off to an early start when he would go to the park with his friends at the age of 12 – drinking cans of warm beer taken from parents houses He thought nothing of it – it was just what kids did – totally normalised We agreed that times have changed and that a lot of teenage drinking came from the fact that we had so much time on our hands in those days Time to drink, to smoke weed and getting into fights was a kind of hobby to pass the time! Of course these days kids spend much of their spare time online which has a positive side to it In real terms the stats tell us that the UK streets are safer than they were in the 1980's, in spite of constant headlines about knife crime Sam's drinking didn't become problematic until his late 30's when his lifestyle hit a perfect storm The combined pressures of his career, young family, hectic social life as well as maintaining his Jack the Lad identify left him exhausted Exhausted mentally physically and emotionally We talked about the “false narratives” that are common among drinkers and Sam's internal narrative was that he was doing this for the family The drink and drugs were acting as fuel to get him through the day and night – the fun was long gone Another false narrative was that it wasn't harming anyone – whereas in fact his wife was becoming increasingly worried If she expressed her concern he would become hostile and tell her not to try to control him We agreed that the term “rock bottom” was yet another false narrative and that the last thing we should do is wait for the rock bottom Far better to step off the slippery slope as soon as possible rather than think you are fine until you get to that place! We agreed that drinking feels like freedom at first but for some of us it becomes a prison and makes our life very small We lose the ability to enjoy everyday pleasures The example of not seeing the point of a walk in the country unless the destination was a pub says it all! Towards the end of his drinking Sam would wake up each morning feeling awful and resolving not to drink that day – but of course he always did.  He was trapped in the Groundhog Day prison of daily drinking He indulged in yet another false narrative – the one about if you're drinking expensive wine then you must be a connoisseur rather than someone with a problem Of course whether a bottle of wine costs £20 or £8 its still ethanol! One day he booked a session with a therapist at the Priory and that started his recovery I love the fact that he chose what he calls a “hybrid” approach – a bit of AA, a bit of therapy, a lot of reading and most importantly community support and sharing. The modern recovery movement offers a pathway for everybody – and there is no reason why we can't mix and match the various approaches We need to throw the book at our sobriety and do whatever it takes! With 7 years of sobriety Sam can look back on his journey and realises that he'd been white knuckling for the first couple of years It was only a work crisis that made him re-evaluate and realise that he had to go deeper He'd been isolating and realised that he had to “do the work” Part of that work has been connecting with people in recovery and having conversations for his podcast or his articles I've done pretty much the same and learned so much from my podcast guests One of his revelations during sobriety was that it wasn't a binary choice – he didn't have to choose between the Jack the Lad drinker lifestyle or the “sober serious hippie talking in psychobable” as he puts it He could still be Jack the Lad but it would be a sober Jack the Lad with a bit more self awareness and self compassion I loved what he said about how boring drinking becomes after a few decades – about how nothing different ever happens Whereas sobriety is a real adventure and most people have no idea of how awesome their alcohol free life will be before they embark on the journey! He made the very important point that when we ditch the booze we can examine our life and discover what we do that are legitimate sources of fun - what is still fun...even without the drink? Sam mentioned Christmas and Football as examples of alcohol free fun! Conversely what did we waste time on because they were only bearable because they were accompanied by alcohol?! Alcohol actually dumbs us down which can result in us spending time doing stuff or hanging out with people we don't really enjoy For Sam the realisation that he actually had much to enjoy in his everyday life only came with sobriety He's written his book “Sort Your Head Out – mental health without the bollocks” for people feeling anxious, depressed and not knowing how to cope The book title is a clear message that this is not the usual self help book – and is aimed at people who would probably never read a self help book Bearing in mind that suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK I think this book will save lives It's the book Sam needed 10 years ago – when he was feeling that way If Sam had read this book he feels he could have avoided his 10 year descent into alcoholism I loved the book and it's worth buying for the brilliant subtitles alone One of the subtitles is “Glamorize Rest” – or to be more precise The Grind is Bullshit so lets Glamorize Rest! Since the Thatcherism of the 80's we've all been encouraged to keep our noses to the grindstone and its been a badge of honour to be “busy” This culture has led so many people to burnout It's time for a change – to change the competitive nature of busyness and start showing off about how many naps we had! Sam's favourite chapter – and mine is called “Thank You Alcohol” We were both driven to a point of crisis by alcohol – a crisis that opened us up to a new way of life Had we been normal drinkers we wouldn't have been so incentivised to do the work and to change our lives so radically I asked him for tips and he quoted his therapist who recommended “playing the movie forward” when hit by cravings His therapist also reminded him that nobody ever regrets having had a drink the previous evening! We both agreed on the importance of sharing – the huge relief we feel when we realise that there is nothing wrong with us – we just got addicted to an addictive substance like 20% of social drinkers do! If you're looking for a safe and supportive community where you can share your ups and downs please go to tribesober.com and hit join our tribe to read about the support we offer Do grab a copy of Sam's book – Sort Your Head Out - I loved it and the chances are that you know someone battling with depression who really needs to read it I read it on Kindle, its available on Amazon and any London based listeners can pop down to Barnes Bookshop and get a signed copy from Sam when he pops in for his daily visit Check out Sam's podcast – the Reset and you can also subscribe to his newsletter on Substack. He's on Twitter @DelaneyMan and Instagram at theresetsam  More Info Subscription membership – you can join up HERE. To access our website, click HERE. If you would like a free copy of our “Annual Tracker” or our e-book 66 Days to Sobriety, please email janet@tribesober.com. If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community, just email janet@tribesober.com. to join our mailing list click HERE    Episode Sponsor This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up today Read more about our program and subscribe HERE   Help us to Spread the Word! We made this podcast so that we can reach more people who need our help.  Please subscribe and share. If you enjoyed the podcast, then please leave us a 5-star review on Apple podcasts. Take a screenshot of your review, and DM it to Tribe Sober's Instagram page – see PS below for instructions. We'll send you something special to say thank you! We release a podcast episode every Saturday morning. You can follow Tribe Sober on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram. You can join our private Facebook group HERE.   PS: How to Leave a Rating/Review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS Device) Open the Podcasts app. EASY. Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (e.g. Recover Like a Mother) into the search field. Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes). Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews. Click Write a Review underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You'll then have the option to rate the show on a 5-star scale and write a review (you can rate without writing too but it's always good to read your experience).  

The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan
John Gray On The Dusk Of Western Liberalism

The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2023 63:34


This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comJohn Gray is a political philosopher. He retired from academia in 2007 as Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics, and is now a regular contributor and lead reviewer at the New Statesman. His forthcoming book is The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism. I regard him as one of the great minds of our time, and this is one of my favorite pods ever. For two clips of our convo — how smug liberalism led to Trump and Brexit, and why we shouldn't treat religion as intellectual error — pop over to our YouTube page. Other topics: the Judeo-Christian roots of liberalism; why Catholics never supported eugenics; the genius and licentious life of Michael Oakeshott; how Thatcherism and Reaganism turned into “inverted Marxism”; John's loathing of the “indifference to economic casualties” (e.g. Hillary's “deplorables”); his opposition to Fukuyama; Blair and the Iraq War; the liberal case for border control; the dangers of producing too many elites; Silicon Valley's obsession with eternal life; anti-wokeness in France; how Trump predicted Germany's bind over Russian energy; the disintegrating support for the war in Ukraine; reporting on the Holodomor; Fox News and Dominion; and how the gains of Western civilization could ultimately be saved by non-Westerners.Next week is Cathy Young to discuss Ukraine and what do to about CRT in public schools. Browse the Dishcast archives for an episode you might enjoy (the first 102 episodes are free in their entirety). If you missed last week's transcript with Glenn Loury, it's here for the reading.

Acid Horizon
Capitalist Realism: Is There Still No Alternative? with Alex Niven

Acid Horizon

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2022 55:49 Very Popular


To celebrate new Zer0 Classics edition of Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism, Adam and Will spoke to Alex Niven about his new introduction. Alex joins us in reflecting upon the historical context of the book in the midst of New Labour's Thatcherism, the student riots, and the global financial crisis, as well as exploring the key concepts of the book such as Market Stalinism, Depressive Hedonia, and the spectre of the Marxist Supernanny of postcapitalist desire. As Austerity and neoliberalism try to find a second wind in the midst of global crisis, we ask, how do we envision the emancipated future?Support Zer0 Books on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/zerobooksSubscribe: http://bit.ly/SubZeroBooksFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZeroBooks/Twitter: https://twitter.com/zer0books-----Other links:Check out the projects of some of the new contributors to Zer0 Books:Acid HorizonPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/acidhorizonMerch: crit-drip.comThe Philosopher's Tarot from Repeater Books: https://repeaterbooks.com/product/the-philosophers-tarot/The Horror VanguardApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/horror-vanguard/id1445594437Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/horrorvanguardBuddies Without OrgansApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/buddies-without-organs/id1543289939Website: https://buddieswithout.org/Xenogothic: https://xenogothic.com/Support Daniel Tutt's work by visiting the Torsion Groups Patreon account: https://patreon.com/torsiongroupsSupport the show

Bannon's War Room
Episode 2240: Liz Truss Steps Down As The Sharks Already Start To Circle; Thatcherism and Reaganism Has Died Today

Bannon's War Room

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2022 Very Popular


Episode 2240: Liz Truss Steps Down As The Sharks Already Start To Circle; Thatcherism and Reaganism Has Died Today

The Antifada
Ep 194 - Gilt Trip

The Antifada

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 5, 2022 58:55


Sean and Andy talk about our various malaises: personal, political, and economic. Why does everything feel like shit in the present moment? Is it just us or... Listen to the full 2 hour episode by supporting the show at https://www.patreon.com/posts/ep-194-gilt-trip-72890666 Topics covered include the ideological seduction of 'the left wing of the possible', the near collapse of pension funds in the UK from zombie Thatcherism, what its like working inside a secure state facility behind unscalable fences, the economic outlook for workers in the United States, and the Amazon/Netflix-theory of the contemporary spectacle.

What the Hell Is Going On
WTH Happened to Boris Johnson? The Uprising In the Conservative Party and What It Means for Us

What the Hell Is Going On

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 13, 2022 48:32


Last week, in the aftermath of both Party and Pinchergate – not to speak of sky-high inflation and higher taxes - Boris Johnson resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. For many, the writing has been on the wall for months: small ethical problems snowballing because of mismanagement and lies; large economic problems fostered by increasingly leftist policies. In light of these challenges, Johnson's great Brexit achievement's luster began to fade. The coming days and weeks promise an unseemly scramble for leadership of Britain's Conservatives. Where will the Tories go? A rebirth of Thatcherism to face Britain's crises? Or more drift to the squashy left? More importantly still, are there lessons for the United States in the BoJo debacle? These questions and more in today's episode with Alan Mendoza. Mendoza is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Henry Jackson Society, a leading UK think tank. Download the transcript https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Mendoza-Final-Transcript.docx (here).

Backlisted
The Kingdom by the Sea by Paul Theroux

Backlisted

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 5, 2022 74:40 Very Popular


Forty years ago the writer Paul Theroux hoisted his knapsack on his back and set off on a journey on foot around the coast of the United Kingdom; the effects of Thatcherism were being felt in earnest and the Falklands War was in progress. The Kingdom by the Sea, Theroux's grumpy, funny account of this journey, was published the following year (1983) and caused outrage in many of the seaside towns the author had passed through and seemingly written off. In this episode the Backlisted team - Andy, John, Nicky and Tess - revisit the book, and a few books like it, to discuss whatever happened to travel writing; how Britain has changed since 1982; and what Theroux got right - and wrong - about his adopted country. In addition, John enjoys a more recent travelogue, Felicity Cloake's new book Red Sauce Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey (Mudlark); while Andy reads two poems from Fiona Benson's stunning new collection Ephemeron (Cape Poetry). For more information visit https://www.backlisted.fm Please support us and unlock bonus material at https://www.patreon.com/backlisted

Rock N Roll Pantheon
The Ugly American Werewolf in London 78: Oasis - UK vs USA with Paul from Vintage Rock Pod

Rock N Roll Pantheon

Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2022 74:05


In the 90s, Oasis took over popular culture and rock music in the UK. As the country moved out of Thatcherism and into a new era of Cool Britainnia, the Gallagher Brothers, Noel & Liam, led the way with their Beatles-esque string of hit singles and albums. However, in the US they never quite got the traction they assumed was inevitable to rule North America as well as England. Why is that? Was it the Gallaghers' constant fighting? Their unabashed cockiness? Their untamed unibrows? The Wolf has struggled for years to get more of his US friends to understand the greatness of Oasis and their melodies so we explore the UK phenomenon of Oasis with Paul Stephenson from Vintage Rock Pod & This Day Rocks to understand what it was like to grow up in the UK during those heady times. As the Liam and Noel are set to start their own tours of the UK, which of the Gallaghers are you most likely to see live? A Proud Member of the Pantheon Podcast Network https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/werewolf @ugly_werewolf @actionjax72 https://www.vintagerockpod.com/ @vintagerockpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rock N Roll Pantheon
The Ugly American Werewolf in London 78: Oasis - UK vs USA with Paul from Vintage Rock Pod

Rock N Roll Pantheon

Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2022 72:35


In the 90s, Oasis took over popular culture and rock music in the UK. As the country moved out of Thatcherism and into a new era of Cool Britainnia, the Gallagher Brothers, Noel & Liam, led the way with their Beatles-esque string of hit singles and albums. However, in the US they never quite got the traction they assumed was inevitable to rule North America as well as England. Why is that? Was it the Gallaghers' constant fighting? Their unabashed cockiness? Their untamed unibrows? The Wolf has struggled for years to get more of his US friends to understand the greatness of Oasis and their melodies so we explore the UK phenomenon of Oasis with Paul Stephenson from Vintage Rock Pod & This Day Rocks to understand what it was like to grow up in the UK during those heady times. As the Liam and Noel are set to start their own tours of the UK, which of the Gallaghers are you most likely to see live?A Proud Member of the Pantheon Podcast Networkhttps://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/werewolf@ugly_werewolf@actionjax72https://www.vintagerockpod.com/@vintagerockpod

The Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed
The Learning Curve: UK's Charles Moore on Lady Margaret Thatcher & Cold War Leadership (#78)

The Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2022 48:09


This week on “The Learning Curve,” co-hosts Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Charles Moore, a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator, and the authorized, three-volume biographer of Lady Margaret Thatcher. Lord Moore explains why Lady Thatcher is considered the most important female political figure of the 20th century, and reviews the challenges she faced at home and abroad, from trade […]