Political Philosophy Podcast

My response to the latest round of NYTs articles

Breaking down Labour's lurch to the right, and what comes next?

What is bigotry, how should we think about it, and why a strategy of appeasement will never work.

My thoughts on the Manchester by-election

Greg & I have both recently argued that, as horrific as this moment is, it offer liberals an opportunity to push a different vision on immigration & reset the politics of the issue. We discuss what we're up against, the challenges facing us, what us winning might look like, and how we get there.

It's 1350 BC and the most powerful man on earth has lost his mind, closing the temples, moving the capital into the desert, and raving, terrifyingly, that there is only one god

Does the UK have Wine Moms? & other listener questions

What is academic tenure, what are the main arguments for or against it? Why has it gotten harder to get, and to what extent should public scholarship be a criteria for it? Deepa Das Acevedo discusses her book The War on Tenure.

Elia Ayoub, writer on politics and culture who studies how ideology invades popular stories. He explores why billionaires co-opt Tolkien and Star Trek, how performative fandom builds authority, and how mythic fantasies feed authoritarian instincts. They discuss AI and streaming flattening originality, and why richer cultural imagination matters for politics.

Matt McManus, a political theorist known for his work on liberal socialism, dives into the tumultuous relationship between fascism and socialism. He explains fascism through the lens of palingenetic ultranationalism and discusses its populist appeal compared to traditional conservatism. The conversation covers America's proto-fascist traditions, the complexities of the Nazi party's socialist claims, and the ideological failure of red-brown alliances. McManus also highlights the dangers of modern populism and calls for a united front of left and liberal forces against rising authoritarianism.