Jacqueline Rose returns to the show to discuss her new book, The Plague: Living Death in Our Times. We talked about what the Covid-19 pandemic revealed about contemporary society and whether the the initial wave of global solidarity provoked by the crisis was purely a mirage. We also talked about the Ukraine crisis - how Jacqueline connects the themes of war and pandemic in the book - and how Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion has had the troubling consequence of appearing to redeem the foreign po...
Aug 23, 2023•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Richard Seymour responds to questions sent in by listeners on subjects ranging from conspiracy theory, the ferocity of anti-communist rhetoric on the right - in spite of the absence of a global communist movement - to the history of the eastern European left since the end of the Cold War.
Aug 12, 2023•1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Amber Husain joins PTO to talk about her new book, Meat Love: An Ideology of the Flesh. We talked about whether it's possible for there to be such a thing as 'ethical meat', why Amber thinks veganism need not be solely about lifestyle and personal consumption choices - as is commonly argued by left critics of veganism, and we also talked about King Charles, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalll and other lovers of small scale animal farming, and how they invoke notions of love and care, classical tragedy...
Aug 03, 2023•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Adam Shatz joins PTO to talk about his new book, 'Writers and Missionaries: Essays on the Radical Imagination'. We talked about why Adam, though a huge admirer of Edward Said and his classic work Orientalism, feels that some of the work subsequently inspired by Said has failed to give a well rounded picture of middle eastern societies in all their complexity. We also talked about why Adam thinks that there can be value in reading reactionary writers whose politics we might abhor, and why nuance ...
Jul 20, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast On the 23rd of June, following months of increasing tension between the Wagner Group and the Russian Ministry of Defence, Yevgeny Prigozhin launched his rebellion. Prigozhin's forces quickly took control of the head quarter's of Russia's Southern Military District in the city of Rostov-on-Don, after which an armoured column of Wagner troops advanced towards Moscow. In today's episode of Interregnum I asked Richard Seymour about Prighozin's background in crime and his early business ventures, the...
Jul 10, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast David Wearing joins PTO to discuss his article 'The myth of the reforming monarch: Orientalism, racial capitalism, and UK support for the Arab Gulf monarchies' We talked about the nature of Britain's relationship with the Gulf states, and why it's a mistake to see Western support for brutal, absolutist authority in the region as simply self-consciously cynical realpolitik. And we also talked about the nature of the Sportswashing debate and what's missing from mainstream discussion of the purchas...
Jun 25, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast The recent National Conservatism conference in Britain brought together an array of politicians, journalists, and academics of varying stripes of conservatism, but united by their hostility to so-called woke politics. I spoke to Aurelien Mondon about his recent article in Jacobin, Right-Wing Grifters Love to Say They’re “Canceled” — but Get All the Elite Support They Want, in which Aurelien provided ten rules for making a successful career in the anti-woke grift. We talked about some of those ru...
Jun 14, 2023•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hil Aked joins PTO to talk about their new book, Friends of Israel: The Backlash Against Palestine Solidarity, the first book length treatment of the pro-Israel lobby in Britain. We talked about the strategies that Israel and pro-Israel organisations in Britain have adopted to deflect criticism of the ongoing occupation and the dispossession of the Palestinian people, and their efforts to undermine the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign. Hil explained why they characterise contemporary Z...
May 16, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Richard Seymour discusses the protest movement in Israel that has emerged in response to the plans of the most right-wing Israeli government in history to dramatically curtail the power of the judiciary and further empower the executive. We discussed the makeup, social base and ideology of the parties in the coalition government, why the Israeli protest movement and liberal Israelis remain anchored to an ethno-nationalist politics (in spite of their opposition to the government) and we also talk...
Apr 24, 2023•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sebastian Budgen returns to PTO to talk about the protest movement in France, sparked by Emmanuel Macron's pension reform bill. We talked about why the new bill has encountered such broad opposition in the country, and why it is that Macron has been so intransigent over a policy that is opposed by around two thirds of the French public. We also discussed the tactics of the French unions, the increasing involvement of young people in the protest movement, and the extent to which Marine Le Pen's f...
Mar 31, 2023•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Adam Tooze returns to PTO to discuss the key causal factors that allowed fascism to emerge in the early twentieth century and whether conditions that would enable fascism on the interwar model exist today. We also talked about whether describing the Bolsanaros, the Le Pens and the Orbans of this world as fascist may be analytically wrong but tactically effective, and about how close the Latin American dictatorships of the 1970s and 80s are to the fascist model. Links: Adam's chartbook post: http...
Mar 16, 2023•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Richard Seymour returns to respond to listener's questions on the recent episode on the so-called lockdown sceptics. We talked about the leaking of former UK health secretary Matt Hancock's pandemic whatsapp messages, and whether they vindicate the arguments of lockdown critics such as Isabel Oakeshott. Amongst the other excellent questions sent in, Richard responded regarding the the widely cited Cochrane study that challenged the efficacy of mask wearing, the motivation of self described socia...
Mar 03, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Paul Rogers returns to talk about the Ukraine war, one year after the beginning of the Russian invasion. We discussed why the Russian military have been so unsuccessful in their aims and whether the extraordinary scale of Russian casualties will undermine support for Putin within Russia. We also talked about whether Ukrainian strategic goals align totally with those of the US and NATO states, and if there is any plausibility to the idea of a negotiated settlement. Finally, we talked about why th...
Feb 27, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dhirendra K. Jha joins PTO to talk about his book, Gandhi's Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea of India. We talked about Godse's childhood and how is belonging to the elite Brahmin class facilitated his shift from an anti-imperialist position in the decades before independence, to a visceral hatred of Muslims and of Gandhi, who the Hindu nationalists blamed for partition and the creation of Pakistan. We also discussed Godse's relationship with Vinayak Sawarkar - the ideological ...
Feb 18, 2023•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast James Meadway breaks down the news that the UK narrowly avoided dipping into recession at the end of last year, a deeper dive into what that actually means for people in the UK in real terms and how all this is hurting your local pub .
Feb 15, 2023•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Richard Seymour discusses his recent blogpost on the so-called lockdown sceptics, and in particular the work of Toby Green and his book 'The Covid Consensus: The Global Assault on Democracy and the Poor—A Critique from the Left'. We talked about the straw man arguments, factual inaccuracies and conspiratorial thinking that characterise the book and the lockdown sceptic literature more generally. We also talked about why parts of the left have been receptive to some of this work and also what to ...
Feb 11, 2023•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down: new figures that signal positive news for the US economy (0:48), how good news for the US might be bad news for the rest of the globe (6:09) and the recent record-breaking profits made by fossil fuel producers (10:55). You can register here (https://bit.ly/3YAtp5J) for a free ticket for the launch of The Cost of Living Crisis (and how to get out of it), a vital book James has co-authored with Doug Nicholls and Professor Costas Lapavitsas.
Feb 08, 2023•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Richard Seymour discusses his recent blogpost on the so-called lockdown sceptics, and in particular the work of Toby Green and his book 'The Covid Consensus: The Global Assault on Democracy and the Poor—A Critique from the Left'. We talked about the straw man arguments, factual inaccuracies and conspiratorial thinking that characterise the book and the lockdown sceptic literature more generally. We also talked about why parts of the left have been receptive to some of this work and also what to ...
Feb 07, 2023•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down the economics behind the UK’s recording-breaking wave of strikes (0:42), how these compare to other strike movements around the world (4:43), and a new report from the BBC that finds issues with the “impartiality” of its economics reporting (12:32).
Feb 01, 2023•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down the shift away from the dominance of the dollar (0:41), what this means for US economic power (3:13), and a call from noble-prize winning economist Jospeh Stiglitz to tackle wealth inequality (11.26).
Jan 25, 2023•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Polly Smythe, the labour movement correspondent for Novara Media joins PTO to talk about how strikes achieve their aims and the importance - or otherwise - of public support. We also discussed the new anti-strike law being brought in by the Conservative government, what its consequences may be, and whether it will have the chilling effect on industrial action that the Sunak government hopes for. Finally, we talked about the prospects for the current public and private sector strikes in Britain a...
Jan 20, 2023•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week’s episode of Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down talk of a “poly crisis” at the World Economic Forum in Davos (00:50), the threat of default as the US breaches it’s debt ceiling (06:03), and a new report from the think tank Autonomy exploring the future of work in an era of climate breakdown (12:38).
Jan 18, 2023•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast James Meadway returns to discuss his predictions for the world economy in the year ahead, and why the notion of the polycrisis - while in some ways useful - fails to reckon with the fact that in a world of increasingly frequent severe weather events, climate disasters, and greater interstate rivalry, the notion of any kind of time-bounded crisis is increasingly at odds with reality. We talked about the prospect of debt defaults in the global south, why mainstream economics is failing to factor t...
Jan 10, 2023•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the latest episode of MACRODOSE, James Meadway breaks down a new IMF forecast that predicts China’s economic downturn, a set of predictions for our economic future from multinational asset manager Blackrock, and asks what’s happening to the wealth of the tech billionaires?
Jan 04, 2023•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jane Hayward returns to PTO to discuss the situation in China following the scaling back of the zero-covid measures and the resulting decline in public protests. We talked about the apparent scale of the covid-outbreak in the country, and the effects upon the Chinese health system. We also talked about the way in which Western media have, with little comment, dropped the prior narrative of the protests as representing a new Tiananmen square moment. Become a £5 supporter on patreon to access this...
Dec 23, 2022•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week’s MACRODOSE James Meadway takes a look at a new House of Lord’s report on economic inactivity (0:52s), the financial waste of covid contracts (7:03) and an unexpected move by Japan’s central bank (12:16).
Dec 21, 2022•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Richard Seymour discusses Britain's fraying public infrastructure and the wave of strikes that are taking place, including the first ever nationwide strike by NHS nurses. We chatted about the extent to which the public perceive the UK as being in a state of increasing decline, the state of the trade unions, and how current industrial action compares with the so-called winter of discontent of 1978-79. Finally, we talked about how the Conservative government, and the Labour opposition, are respond...
Dec 17, 2022•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week’s episode James Meadway breaks down the public sector pay dispute (0.50s), Sunak’s move to further deregulate finance (8:27), and the interest rate hikes by central banks (14:10)
Dec 14, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jane Hayward joins PTO to talk about the protests in China that have resulted in Xi Jinping's loosening of the country's zero covid strategy. We talked about the widespread grievances and sporadic protests that have taken place in China over the last decade, and the particular importance of the recent worker protests at the giant Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou. We also talked about why it might be that the Chinese state has failed to provide adequate vaccine coverage - especially for the elderly pop...
Dec 08, 2022•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week’s episode of Macrodose James Meadway breaks down the G7-backed price cap on Russian oil (1.46), the warning from the National Farmers' Union that Britain is sleepwalking into a food crisis (5.37), and the results of an experiment in a 4-day working week (11.27).
Dec 07, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
