Politics Theory Other

Rhian Jones joins me to discuss her article in Tribune Magazine, An Enterprise Allowance of the Left: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/10/an-enterprise-allowance-of-the-left which looks at the disappearance of working class voices from the arts and how the left might rebuild working class culture. We talked about how Britpop positioned working class people as uneducated and hostile to musical experimentation, the creation of institutions of cultural production and care by working class communities in the early and mid-twentieth century, and finally we chatted about why Grime was able emerge in spite of the decline of sites of working class cultural production.

Maya Goodfellow joins me to discuss her new book, 'Hostile Environment: How Immigrants Became Scapegoats'. We talked about the historical roots of the hostile environment policy, the punitive, cruel and deliberately confusing character of Britain's immigration system, how viewing migrants as 'economic assets' feeds into anti-migrant politics, and we also chatted about how New Labour's policies on migration and asylum laid some of the basis for the Conservative's migration policies.

Phil Burton-Cartledge joins me to discuss the Conservative's electoral victory and why he believes that the 2019 election result does not simply cancel out the long term problems the Conservatives face.

International security expert Paul Rogers joins me to discuss why the United States carried out the assassination of Qassem Suleimani and whether the attack will spark a broader regional war. We also discussed the historical roots of Iran's defence doctrine of hybrid, asymmetric warfare, and why Britain would be very likely to assist the American military in any large scale military confrontation.

Richard Seymour joins me to discuss the reasons for Labour's electoral defeat and why the left overestimated Labour's chances. We also chatted what we can expect from Boris Johnson's government and the broader issue of 'disaster nationalism'. Finally, we spoke about the likely outcome of the Labour leadership race.

Sivamohan Valluvan joins me to discuss his new book, 'The Clamour of Nationalism, Race and Nation in Twenty-first-century Britain'. We spoke about why the current era is better characterised as a reactionary nationalist one, rather than as a populist moment, and we spoke about the flirtation of parts of the European left with an anti-migrant politics. We also spoke about the differences and affinities between neoliberalism and conservatism and why we may be witnessing a disarticulation of those political tendencies.

David Wearing joins me to discuss the defence, security and international trade policies of Labour and the Conservatives, and why the election result is a matter of life and death for many people beyond Britain's borders.

Adrienne Buller joins me to discuss the climate emergency and the general election. We spoke about the policy platforms of the parties, the recent Channel 4 climate change debate and what it tells us about public discourse around climate, and finally we chatted about whether the 'Green Industrial Revolution' is the right framing for mobilising around the climate crisis.

James Meadway joins me to discuss whether the Conservative manifesto and its limited spending promises will prevent the Tories taking Labour seats in the Midlands, the north of England and Wales. We also spoke about the usefulness of opinion polling, why the Liberal Democrats are once again failing to disrupt the two-party duopoly, and the role of the media in the election and whether the UK is becoming a 'Managed Democracy'.

Thea Riofrancos joins me to discuss 'A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal' a new book co-authored by Thea. We spoke about why the New Deal is the right framing for a project to avert the worst consequences of the climate crisis, why environmental victories are necessarily entwined with the struggle against inequality, and the importance to the climate movement of forging alliances across borders and through supply chains and how to achieve rapid roll out of renewable technologies without compounding environmental devastation and injustice at sites of rare earth mineral extraction.