Novara Media

They debate whether boredom is obsolete or a political resource. They explore compulsive scrolling, meditation’s repetitive practices, and punk as a response to ennui. They link tedious work, Fordism and platform capitalism to collective boredom. They consider gendered domestic tedium, migrant ‘stuckness’, and calls for a democratic right to empty time.

Anton Jäger, Oxford lecturer and author of Hyperpolitics, explores rising politicization without strong institutions. He discusses why mass parties faded, how protests often lack durable organization, the role of digital tools and 2008-era shocks, and what hybrid forms of politics might look like. Short, sharp takes on the shape and risks of our newly hyperpolitical world.

Ash Sarkar, political activist and author of Minority Rule, talks culture wars, media monopolies and how minority elites shape panic politics. She explores where the right is winning — policy, platforms and elections — and argues for real-life organising, durable institutions and rebuilding majority power through local campaigns and cross-class solidarity.

Ben Tarnoff, writer on tech, finance and infrastructure, and Quinn Slobodian, historian of global political economy, map the rise of 'Muskism' as a new industrial-political system. They track space land grabs, brain‑implant ambitions, fortress futurism rooted in apartheid‑era strategies, attention-driven financial magic, and how state symbiosis and monopoly reshape technological power.

Clara Mattei, economist and author focused on austerity, fascism and political economy. She traces how deliberate austerity policies reshape class structure and weaken democratic control. The conversation covers the political construction of capitalism, the collapse of the middle class into wage dependence, and experiments in democratic economic alternatives.

Marek Poliks, researcher and co‑author of Exocapitalism, explores AI-driven economics and a future where profit no longer needs human production. He maps how platforms and tokenization create automated profit extraction. He discusses AI agents, casino-like value dynamics, the persistence of low-paid care and platformed labor, and how regulation and hardware shifts feed a self-sustaining, lift-driven economy.

Dalia Gebrial, researcher and campaigner on urban inequality and housing. She maps luxury listings to show how empty high-end homes shape London's geography. She explores generational decline, offshore secrecy and how hidden assets squeeze housing. The conversation returns to a Westminster memorial, reflecting on human costs and what local reforms might do.

Dalia Gebrial, activist and urban-inequality commentator on homelessness and public space, and Peter Geoghegan, investigative reporter on money and power in Westminster, walk London’s power geography. They trace think-tank influence, offshore wealth in empty luxury homes, and how private money shapes political life. Short, sharp scenes move from Georgian terraces to a dark underpass where social failure becomes visible.

Nick Shaxson, investigative author on tax havens, and Anthony Travers, former Cayman Islands lawmaker and offshore industry figure. They trace how offshore finance links to London property, explain Cayman legal structures and secrecy, debate the public harms versus defenses of secrecy, and follow the trail from Westminster to the Caymans.

Karen Buck, veteran politician and housing campaigner who served as a Labour MP and local councillor, speaks about housing shortages, right-to-buy impacts and enforcement problems. The conversation covers homelessness alongside vast empty homes. Offshore ownership and secrecy hiding property beneficiaries are examined. The story follows a death that exposes policy failures and systemic neglect.