On sovereign debt and taking back control.
The leading candidate in Argentina's election this month wants to avoid defaulting on the country's debt at all costs. But back in 2001, after a mass revolt, Argentina reneged on its debts – one of the very rare cases over the past 70 years of unilateral default.
Why are nations so eager to pay back creditors nowadays, especially wh...
2023-10-10 12:51:20 +0000 UTC View Post
On the end of politics.
Is the craziness of the past years, since 2016, ebbing away? Is the establishment back in charge? Journalist Ryan Zickgraf joins us to argue that, yes, the period of 'hyperpolitics' has passed.
Trump has lost his edge, BLM has imploded, boring Biden rules, the Proud Boys are nowhere to ...
2023-10-03 07:58:50 +0000 UTC View PostHey there friends, new and old. After a quiet month in September with Alex being away, we're excited about what we've got planned for October:
On satire of the bourgeoisie.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We discuss Luis Buñuel's "deranged masterpiece" from 1972, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, and debate the social ritual of dinner, and why the guests in the film never get to eat theirs.
How does this early 70s surrealist film – which in many ways set the template for cinematic satires of the bourgeoisie – ...
2023-09-26 06:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
On the politics of consultancy
The past 40 years have seen a whole range of things the state used to do itself outsourced to third parties. Now there is a turn against these practices. But can the state actually get stuff done, or is it doomed for its prior reliance on consultants?
It's not just the left the criticises outsourcing - the right now does too. How do these positions dif...
2023-09-12 06:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
On the internet being sh*t.
Tech critic, author and blogger Cory Doctorow joins us to talk about his new book, The Internet Con. He tells us his ONE SIMPLE TRICK to fix the internet: interoperability. Breaking down the tech giants' walled gardens is the first step to dethroning them.
How does Big Tech depend on intellectual property to cement their monopolies? How can...
2023-09-05 10:52:42 +0000 UTC View PostHello, denizens of Bungaworld.
Here's what's coming up over the next month...
On US politics being stuck.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We talk to political theorist Benjamin Studebaker about his new book, The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way is Shut. Studebaker holds that hope is a problem because it's used by professionals to keep people eng...
2023-08-29 05:09:05 +0000 UTC View Post
On the American drug binge.
Forget all the stereotypes – drug use is no longer confined to particular subcultures. US Americans are taking world-historic levels of drugs. Benjamin Fong tells us about his new book, Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge 2023-08-22 13:00:54 +0000 UTC View Post
On Australia and New Zealand at the end of the end of history.
[Patreon Exclusive]
The second part of George's interview with Shahar and Tom in which they explore why Australia and New Zealand have avoided the turbulence of the end of the end of history. Is it as simple as uninterrupted growth and high wages? How well is the political system able to respond to people's frustrations,...
2023-08-15 14:07:01 +0000 UTC View Post
On Australian and New Zealand at the End of History.
Antipodean political scientists Shahar Hameiri and Tom Chodor join us to discuss the history and politics of Australia and New Zealand. If Australia is the “lucky country”, what about New Zealand? What explains the courses both countries took economically and politically over the twentieth century? And where do the two countries fin...
2023-08-15 14:03:08 +0000 UTC View Post
On everyday, private tyranny.
Sohrab Ahmari, one of the editors of Compact Magazine, joins us to talk about his book, Tyranny, Inc. We discuss the sorts of pr...
2023-08-08 06:10:03 +0000 UTC View Post
On film and left-wing terrorism.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We talk about Uli Edel’s 2008 film The Baader Meinhof Complex, which tells the story of the Red Army Faction in 1960s and 70s Germany. What sorts of myths do films create? Is the attempt to break down myths in fact a way of re-making those myths? Is a Red Army Faction response possible today - and what does terrorism at...
2023-08-01 18:25:27 +0000 UTC View PostAhoy hoy! Hiya newbies, and hello again to longtime listeners.
Here’s what’s coming up in August:
On music, pop culture, and the politics of the spectacle.
Musician, host of This is Revolution and Sublation columnist, Jason Myles joins us to talk about how every podcast is a failed band, if pop music is dead, and whether the contemporar...
2023-07-25 18:40:17 +0000 UTC View Post
On China, Russia, the US and UK.
Professor Emeritus and one of the founders of ‘Radical Philosophy’, Sean Sayers, joins us to talk about Marxist philosophy, how it’s developed and changed over the course of the twentieth century and into this one. We talk about Sean’s background and experience in the radical academy ...
On the radical right in the global periphery.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Erdogan, Modi, Orban, Bolsonaro, Duterte. Though the latter two are gone, the first three are still going strong, in government for a decade or more. What unites these figures? They’re all right wing and authoritarian, but also popular and anti-establishment.
How similar are these politicians to their analogue...
2023-07-11 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Live event at Housman's Bookshop.
George Hoare hosts Dan Evans (author of A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petite ...
2023-07-04 13:57:10 +0000 UTC View PostHey there. Good to see you again – or if you’re new, welcome and thanks for joining.
Here’s what’s coming up in July:
On your questions and criticisms.
Bumper edition of Aufhebonus Bonus where we discuss whether we're technologically determinist with regard to artificial intelligence; whether the left should be bulding stuff; why criticising wokeness is boring; work, retirement and time; more on family abolition; and everyone's favourite topic – the PMC/new elite, etc.
On reactionary feminism.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We continue our discussions on contemporary feminism by looking at the diametric opposite of the atomistic vision presented by Sophie Lewis: the conservative, communitarian approach advanced by Mary Harrington.
Harrington is critical of 'Progress Theology'. What does that mean, beyond rejecting new orthodoxies on gender – does tha...
2023-06-20 12:53:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi died on 12 June 2023 at the age of 86. In this special episode, we say goodbye to the towering figure of the End of History, and explore how the contradictions he exemplified spoke to our age.
Contributions in order of appearance:
On power, values and class.
[Patreon Exclusive]
British professor Matt Goodwin joins us to talk about his recent new book Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics 2023-06-06 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
As previously announced, the 2023 Reading Club is focusing on three principal works. The middle part of the year will be dedicated to reading Jürgen Habermas' 1973 classic, Legitimation Crisis.<...
2023-06-05 17:32:10 +0000 UTC View PostHello again to existing Bunga supporters and a big welcome to all the newbies, lovely to see you here.
Just wanted to let you know what we’ve got coming up in June:
On work stoppages and work-doings.
Ben Hickman, published poet and senior lecturer in English at the University of Kent, joins us to discuss his project on different understandings of work, or rather, The Work.
What is The Work and why is it so pernicious? Ben wrote a piece for Compact...
2023-05-30 14:51:55 +0000 UTC View Post
On family abolition.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Amber A'Lee Frost joins us to talk through recent radical proposals to do away with the family as an institution. Author Sophie Lewis claims that "ever since the capitalist victory over the long Sixties, the shout for abolition of the family has been buried beneath a strange kind of shame”, but that now it’s back. Why?
What problem...
On whether the individual is becoming weaker.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We continue the interview by asking intellectual historian and critic Russell Jacoby what is behind the apparent flattening of the individual, and whether Western society is no longer creating subjects adequate to democracy. Is Jacoby being overly conservative in mounting a retreat to the 19th century individual?
<... 2023-05-16 16:32:06 +0000 UTC View Post
On utopia and individualism.
Renowned intellectual historian and critic Russell Jacoby joins us to talk about his lifetime of left critique. We discuss his early criticisms of psychology in light of the advance of therapy culture over the past 50 years, before moving on to the question of utopianism.
Will the breakdown of the neoliberal era lead to new utopian thinking? Does enthusi...
2023-05-16 16:21:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Read George in Damage magazine on his and Phil's new book, Taking Control: Sovereignty and Democracy After Brexit, co-written with Lee Jones and Peter Ramsay and out now.
If you have any comments, questions, disagreements, e...
2023-05-14 10:10:30 +0000 UTC View Post