Episodes
Thursday Nov 22, 2018
/54/ Numbers Are Too Powerful ft. William Davies
Thursday Nov 22, 2018
Thursday Nov 22, 2018
We discuss Nervous States with its author: How has debate became so angery!1!! and fractious? Why don't we trust institutions any more -- or better, which institutions do we still trust and why? How has war increasingly encroached onto peace? And maybe believing in stats too much means that we now don't believe in anything...
Readings:
Nervous States (William Davies)
Postscript on the Societies of Control (Gilles Deleuze)
Monday Nov 19, 2018
/53/ Brexit's Hotel California
Monday Nov 19, 2018
Monday Nov 19, 2018
Theresa May's Brexit deal seems to have satisfied no one. Britain doesn't properly leave, nor does it stay, it just becomes a passive rule-taker. What are the prospects for the UK actually leaving? Will there be a second referendum? And does the difficulty in seeing through Brexit confirm that "there is no alternative"?
Readings:
The Full Brexit: for popular sovereignty, democracy and economic renewal
Costas Lapavitsas: Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour vs. the Single Market
Thursday Nov 08, 2018
/52/ Duterte's Despotism ft. Nicole Curato
Thursday Nov 08, 2018
Thursday Nov 08, 2018
In which we learn of Duterte's promises of blood and how he's lived up to those promises. Is massacring drug user, dealers and anyone caught in the crossfire actually popular? How does violence fit in with his development model? Do elites back his rule - and which elites? And how does he compare to other far-right authoritarians?
Readings:
The Duterte Reader (ed. Nicole Curato)
Nicole Curato in the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/opinion/philippines-rodrigo-duterte.html?smid=fb-share&referer=http://m.facebook.com