As 2020 comes to an end veteran BBC journalist Robin Lustig talks about how reality was obscured by twitter as we all tried to understand what was happening in the pandemic. In this FRDH podcast, host Michael Goldfarb and Robin Lustig, who have been front line journalists for a combined 75 years, go through a year like no other and its effect on them. You think you know how the world works and then suddenly you find out you haven't a clue. But it's not all doom and gloom, promise. Give us 18 min...
Dec 22, 2020•18 min
In Netflix hit series The Crown, the Margaret Thatcher on display is far from the woman who has inspired Brexit. As the final Brexit negotiations go down to the wire FRDH host Michael Goldfarb, who covered Thatcher's resignation and the Brexit vote, seeks to correct the record. He remembers the most powerful, focused and radical politician of his lifetime, Margaret Thatcher. A woman who understood big ideas and sadly walked away from them. From a speech to her constituency Conservative group: "S...
Dec 08, 2020•18 min
Everyone loves New York stories, this is FRDH host Michael Goldfarb's from 1985, the year he left his home town New York for London. It's a story of a New York that no longer exists and the pain of leaving home forever. It's a New York story that takes on big questions like "Is God Punishing Us?" Really, take 15 minutes to listen - you will get the definitive answer.
Nov 21, 2020•15 min
A diary with sound from Philadelphia and other cities in Pennsylvania, the tipping point state in Election 2020. FRDH host Michael Goldfarb records a rough draft of the dramatic 5 days between Election Day and the call that Pennsylvania had been won by Joe Biden and with that state, the election. Give him 25 minutes to tell you the story and even sing you a song.
Nov 11, 2020•24 min
In this Election 2020 podcast diary MIchael Goldfarb is in Scranton PA to feel the love for Donald Trump at one of his last campaign rallies. He also takes time to think about what the factors in American society that got Trump into the White House. Give him eight minutes to explain.
Nov 03, 2020•8 min
FRDH host Michael Goldfarb is in Pennsylvania for election 2020 keeping a diary and from Reading writes about how some Democrats are suffering from PTSD and othes used the shock of 2016 to get organizing to defeat Trump Give him 13 minutes to explain.
Nov 02, 2020•13 min
This edition of All My Presidents looks at Bill Clinton George W Bush and the British Prime Minister who links them, Tony Blair. FRDH host Michael Goldfarb, who reported on all three men during his time working for NPR, reflects on how presidential power can overwhelm the most cynical reporter and the most idealistic Prime MInister. Give him 17 minutes. He has some stories to tell.
Oct 21, 2020•18 min
As Election 2020 approaches, this All My Presidents episode of FRDH looks at Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Host Michael Goldfarb looks at America as it completed its transition from the New Deal/Civil Rights era of Democratic party dominance to the Reactionary Age of the Republicans. With a bit about the Supreme Court, as well.
Oct 06, 2020•17 min
Even before the election season, American society was being convulsed by new social/political movements but no one seemed to be in charge of them: QAnon and Black Lives Matter. In this FRDH podcast, host Michael Goldfarb looks at the 21st century history of activist political movements and wonders why so many have failed, except QAnon.
Sep 20, 2020•13 min
In this podcast originally broadcast on the BBC in 2016, FRDH podcast host Michael Goldfarb looks back at the first presidents whose terms in office he lived through; Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. He reflects on the president's role beyond politics in shaping American's sense of themselves. The stories he tells give a hint at the long downhill run American society has taken from the days of Eisenhower and Kennedy to a presidential choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Sep 08, 2020•15 min
The Biden/Harris ticket has been announced, now how do the pair campaign in a pandemic? In this FRDH podcast, Michael Goldfarb speaks to Democratic party organizer Meg Ansara, veteran of the 2012 Obama Campaign and the 2016 Clinton campaign about how to overcome the challenges of getting out the vote when you can't just knock on somebody's front door and ask to come in. Give us 17:33 of your time to explain how to do it
Aug 15, 2020•18 min
With a little under 100 Days til the US Election no one is sure what the reality of the race is. It is a measure of just how norm-shattering, traumatic, and, frankly, bizarre Donald Trump’s years in office have been that virtually no one feels confident that the previous history of US Presidential election is a guide to what will happen on November 3rd. In this FRDH Podcast Michael Goldfarb tries to see through the twitter induced paranoia engulfing American society to the historical precedents ...
Jul 25, 2020•12 min
Forget about the misery of summer 2020 and let FRDH host Michael Goldfarb tell you a summer story about Bastille Day 1970 in Paris. This departure from the usual subjects of FRDH podcast will take your mind off our present troubles.
Jul 14, 2020•14 min
A conversation about race from 1995 when FRDH host Michael Goldfarb traveled around Mississippi. Racial tensions are once again convulsing America and these two talks from a series made for the BBC a quarter of a century ago show much and how little has changed. The conversations about race Americans keep saying is necessary, Goldfarb had them in Mississippi 25 years ago, they are like nothing you expect.
Jul 03, 2020•29 min
An interview with Martin Sandbu of the Financial Times about his new book, The Economics of Belonging. Even before coronavirus struck many people did not feel a sense of belonging to the economy. Sandbu's book is an analysis of the problem and some suggestions for how to address it post-pandemic. He explains just how to FRDH host Michael Goldfarb in this clear and direct economic discussion.
Jun 28, 2020•28 min
"Look what's happening out in the streets," sang the Jefferson Airplane half a century ago. Now, as then, the Airplane could sing, "Look what's happening out in the streets" about demonstrations sparked by the murder of George Floyd. In this FRDH podcast Michael Goldfarb looks at the differences and the similarities between two uprisings of people against the police and a government that has lost moral legitimacy in their eyes.
Jun 07, 2020•13 min
The pandemic lockdown is coming to an end, summer is beginning, how will we travel? Elizabeth Becker, author of Overbooked, the definitive investigation into the travel industry, talks with FRDH host Michael Goldfarb about an impossible situation: Airlines are still not operating, countries have not opened their borders, what happens now? The travel industry represents 10% of global gdp ... if it can't get up and running quickly can the world's economy avoid depression. And if does get up and ru...
May 24, 2020•17 min
Four Dead in Ohio tells the story of the Kent State Massacre, May 4th 1970. On that day the National Guard opened fire on several hundred students at Kent State University in northeastern Ohio. Four were killed, nine wounded. Two weeks later, two more students were gunned down at Jackson State in MIssissippi. In this documentary built around sound recorded at Kent on the day and other sources, and interviews with survivors, Michael Goldfarb tells the story of the killings. he looks at how the ev...
May 04, 2020•57 min
Forget being locked in during the coronavirus pandemic and listen to some poetry. Travel down rivers and roads into realms of Gold and everywhere from your local sidewalk to the Great Wall of China. FRDH host Michael Goldfarb reads work by John Keats, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Walt Whitman
May 02, 2020•11 min
There are so many numbers being thrown around during the pandemic but only one is truly frighening: 26 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits. What does it mean when so many lose their jobs in just over a month? It's never happened before. In this FRDH podcast, nost MIchael Goldfarb looks at the frightening precedents of earlier eras of mass unemployment. Give him 11:18 to explain it all to you.
Apr 23, 2020•11 min
In any highly reported catastrophe like the coronavirus pandemic the numbers reported in the press need to be parsed with care. In this FRDH podcast, Michael Goldfarb casts a veteran journalist's sceptical eye over the pandemic numbers and offers helpful hints for parsing them.
Apr 05, 2020•13 min
We need more poems in day to day life, especially now when everyone has time to contemplate the deep distillations of experience that poets create. In this FRDH podcast, Michael Goldfarb reads poems by William Blake, John Clare and Philip Levine about lambs, springtime, mercy and love. Something we can all use in this time of self-isolation and disease.
Mar 21, 2020•16 min
Forget the Coronavirus panic and listen to these ghost stories. Five tales of when I went looking for ghosts among the forgotten of Europe. Each one is around 14 minutes long. You can listen in one go or dip in/dip out. My stories of looking for ghosts are guaranteed to take your mind off the chaos outside your door. Share with friends.
Mar 15, 2020•1 hr 11 min
America is a divided society, what can the Bible story of Solomon's wisdom in deciding who the true mother of the child is teach us about healing this division. In this Bible Study for Atheists edition of FRDH podcast, Michael Goldfarb looks at the message of this well-known story and applies it to healing the rift between America's two sides. Give him 10 minutes of your time.
Mar 08, 2020•10 min
In the latest attacks by the newsmedia on the Democratic frontrunner, Bernie Sanders, is being compared to Britain's Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, a loser by any definition. But does this comparison hold up? In this FRDH podcast MIchael Goldfarb takes the Sanders-Corbyn comparison apart and explores why the press hates Bernie and has failed to explore how he got to the front of the pack.
Feb 14, 2020•14 min
How much tolerance should we give to people who put forward propaganda as journalism claiming the protections of the First Amendment? Look at America today, hopelessly divided, how much of that division is an example of the Paradox of Tolerance? Should a tolerant society turn its back on its intolerant members? In this FRDH podcast, Michael Goldfarb puzzles out the limits of a free press.
Jan 31, 2020•20 min
Qassem Suleimani's funeral saw call after call for Iran to take vengeance on the US. But really what can Iran do? In this FRDH podcast, Michael Goldfarb talks with journalist, author and Russia/Iran expert David Patrikarakos about the Islamic Republic's options.
Jan 07, 2020•10 min
The long history of Iran-Iraq-US conflict leading to the assassination of Qassem Suleimani in the main battleground of this undeclared war: Iraq. This FRDH podcast - right in the middle of the news - is a conversation with Iraqi journalist Mina al-Oraibi about Suleimani's murder and its likely impact on Iraqi society. It is Iraqis who will pay the price.
Jan 05, 2020•15 min
Does the crushing of Jeremy Corbyn in the UK election hold a lesson for the US in 2020's election? Must the Dems nominate someone from the center? In this FRDH podcast Michael Goldfarb asks, just what is the center? Is it a fixed point? Must the center always hold
Dec 14, 2019•15 min
John the Revelator is an African-American hymn and Don the Revelator is the current President of the United States. In the latest edition of Bible Study for Atheists, FRDH host Michael Goldfarb goes on a roundabout journey to explain why Donald Trump is the Revelator of contemporary America and that's fine with evangelical Christians.
Dec 06, 2019•14 min
