These Times

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This is usually a really classy podcast, but not today’s discussion from McTague and James Marriott. It was supposedly about the politics of popular culture but actually it was about the podcast offerings of Joe Rogan, Lex Freedman et al. Remarkably, there was no discussion at all of what really defines these podcasts, which is their essentially blokey character. Instead we were treated to a celebration of their freedom and spontaneity, said to draw listeners in preference to the plodding broadcast mainstream or, even worse, progressive lefty platforms which try to police your speech. Fine to take this view, but not fine to present it as a serious discussion of popular culture. Why stop short of exploring the gender dynamics of these podcasts? Interestingly, McTague and Marriott talk about podcasts as things listen to at home, alongside “your wife” while you both get on with things. And their political advice to Kemi Badenoch is to get on these podcasts “and just sit there, smoke a cigar and open a can of beer and talk”. Really. I don’t think Helen would have put up with this apology for a serious analysis.

Highly informative, unbiased fact-based analysis. Very rare these days and therefore highly valuable. Thank you.

Great in-depth discussions about geo-politics, economics and history.