The Phileas Club

4.8 (101)
SOCIETY & CULTURE
UPDATED MONTHLY

World news, the "not boring" way: get the news at the source! People from around the world tell you what has been making the news in their country, both locally and internationally. The Phileas Club is a show about different cultures and opinions, and the space between them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5D AGO

Hey Phileas, it's the last letter of 2025!

Hey Phileas, Patrick talks about former president Nicolas Sarkozy and his stint in prison and Tom ponders just how important recognising our bias is. If you're interested in becoming an AWESOME contributor please fill out this form: ➡️➡️ https://forms.gle/KJdRRqh4ngERAu7G7 ⬅️⬅️ -- Patrick I'm on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/notpatrick.com Come chat on Discord: https://notpatrick.com/discord/ The Phileas Club 201 - Hey Phileas, it's the last letter of 2025! Contributors: Patrick does podcasts for a living and hails from France (and often Finland) with his wonderful wife and two kids. Tom is a US-based independent tech podcaster who lives in Los Angeles with his excellent content creator wife and their Instagram-famous dog. And finally the unbiased Bruce Woodward produces the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

35 min
DEC 5

Hey Phileas, We all have biases

Hey Phileas, Patrick talks about how we have biases, Matthias discusses the institutionalisation of fascism in Germany and Baptiste talks about how people vote in Switzerland and what that says about us as a society. If you're interested in becoming an AWESOME contributor please fill out this form: ➡️➡️ https://forms.gle/KJdRRqh4ngERAu7G7 ⬅️⬅️ -- Patrick I'm on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/notpatrick.com Come chat on Discord: https://notpatrick.com/discord/ The Phileas Club 200 - Hey Phileas, We all have biases Contributors: Patrick does podcasts for a living and hails from France (and often Finland) with his wonderful wife and two kids. Born in the 80s, Matthias is a millennial who grew up with the promise of a brave new world with jet packs and warp drive, only to end up in whatever this is right now. On his way he studied political science, which makes him despair every time he overhears people talk about politics on the train but also made him want to explain to people how political systems actually work. Which he also got to do for an international audience on the Phileas Club. He has lived in different parts of the country over the years but is now based in the southwest of Germany, near the French border, where he follows some of his nerdier passions and is working for a non-profit organization running a maker space and supporting repair initiatives. Baptiste is 26, he grew up in a small village in eastern France and moved to Switzerland at 18 to pursue his studies. He now works as an engineer in Zürich, where he also enjoys outdoor sports, podcasting, and cooking. Politically, he describes himself as a classical liberal, though he believes most people don't fit neatly into any one category. And finally Bruce "Amazing People" Woodward produces the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1h 1m
NOV 21

Hey Phileas, I'm not special anymore

Hey Phileas, Patrick makes a special request, Gunnar discusses the government shutdown on local politics and John talks about AI bubbles whilst amongst race riots. If you're interested in becoming an AWESOME contributor please fill out this form: ➡️➡️ https://forms.gle/KJdRRqh4ngERAu7G7 ⬅️⬅️ -- Patrick I'm on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/notpatrick.com Come chat on Discord: https://notpatrick.com/discord/ The Phileas Club 199 - Hey Phileas, I'm not special anymore Contributors: Patrick does podcasts for a living and hails from France (and often Finland) with his wonderful wife and two kids. Gunnar Carlson (he/him) is a lifelong resident of Minnesota and loves the outdoors and working on equity and representation in outdoor recreation. Gunnar spends his personal time advocating for all outdoor recreation to be more inclusive and welcoming while also advocating for more opportunities in general. He loves to fish, camp, hike and mountain bike. Gunnar currently works for Riverton Community Housing at the University of MN where he works with seven cooperative boards to help build their capacity to better represent their members to Riverton while also improving their quality of life through governance. In this role Gunnar has had the opportunity to represent Riverton to the larger community and focus on the policy side of things. John was born in Melbourne, Australia, let's face it, an ever-increasing long time ago. His childhood saw him moving between the UK, Melbourne and Sydney. He initially pursued a career in sound (a highlight from this era was mastering Metallica's legendary Black Album (for its cassette release (though he usually doesn't mention that bit)). He later switched gears, studying archaeology and then IT/Programming, which launched a successful tech career. He remains a lifelong musician, currently playing with the band Monkeyskin (monkeyskin.au), and is a loving husband and father of four. The great Bruce Woodward produces the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

49 min
NOV 7

Hey Phileas, There Are Diminishing Returns on Anger

Hey Phileas, Patrick talks about the hardships of being a content creator and Paul talks about the teacher's strike in Canada. If you're interested in becoming an AWESOME contributor please fill out this form: ➡️➡️ https://forms.gle/KJdRRqh4ngERAu7G7 ⬅️⬅️ -- Patrick I'm on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/notpatrick.com Come chat on Discord: https://notpatrick.com/discord/ The Phileas Club 198 - Hey Phileas, There Are Diminishing Returns on Anger Contributors: Patrick does podcasts for a living and hails from France (and often Finland) with his wonderful wife and two kids. Paul was born in Winnipeg Manitoba, and moved to Calgary Alberta at the age of 14. He has now lived in Alberta for almost 30 years. He is a father of 2, a 13 year old boy and a 10 year old girl. He has been married for 17 years. He enjoys PC gaming and summer outdoor activities like Cycling and running. The astounding Bruce Woodward produces the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

39 min
OCT 24

Hey Phileas, There's Hope to be Had

Hey Phileas, Patrick talks about political culture, Dan talks about the difficulties in Mexico, and Bruce gives us hope with Zack Polanski, If you're interested in becoming an AWESOME contributor please fill out this form: ➡️➡️ https://forms.gle/KJdRRqh4ngERAu7G7 ⬅️⬅️ -- Patrick I'm on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/notpatrick.com Come chat on Discord: https://notpatrick.com/discord/ The Phileas Club 197 - Hey Phileas, There's Hope to be Had Contributors: Patrick does podcasts for a living and hails from France (and often Finland) with his wonderful wife and two kids. Dan was born in a small city and moved to bigger places until he found his home in Mexico City. Far from the cows and the ranch, he has worked in advertising, taught classes, and enjoys making podcasts—even if it sometimes feels like podcasting will never catch on. He’s also a tech enthusiast and an AI skeptic—not because he doesn’t know how to use the latest digital toys, but because he uses them constantly, and his main job is fixing the things the robot overlords don’t (yet) know how to solve. You can find him as DanCampos on Bluesky and X, or just google “Noticias de Tecnología Express” or “Churros y Palomitas” and you’ll see his face. Bruce does not do podcasts and has no wife but has two wonderful kids and is happily divorced! He lives in Scotland living the lower-middle class dream, originally from Zimbabwe but moved several times over the years. He works as a data monkey for a Health and Social Care Partnership and loves to play computer games even at 47... recently back into World of Warcraft and re-learning how to play bass guitar, which is apparently not like riding a bike. He also produces the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

39 min
OCT 10

Hey Phileas, did you know France is a mess too?

Hey Phileas, Patrick talks to us about a very interesting event, Michael talks about baseball in Japan with some life lessons learned, and Alec talks about being an ex-pat, what it means, and how he feels about it. If you're interested in becoming an AWESOME contributor please fill out this form: ➡️➡️ https://forms.gle/KJdRRqh4ngERAu7G7 ⬅️⬅️ -- Patrick I'm on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/notpatrick.com Come chat on Discord: https://notpatrick.com/discord/ The Phileas Club 195 - Hey Phileas, did you know France is a mess too? Contributors: Patrick does podcasts for a living and hails from France (and often Finland) with his wonderful wife and two kids. Michael Westbay is a software developer living in Yokohama, Japan. He's lived in Japan for a total of 38 years, where he and his wife, Margarita, raised two wonderful children. Besides programming, Michael really enjoys Japanese baseball. He started writing about Japanese baseball on the Internet in 1995 and continues to manage a sports database for not only Japanese baseball, but also Korean and Taiwanese professional leagues. He helped people visiting Japan get tickets for 9 years (after which the Yomiuri Giants, who originally suggested that he get tickets through their Fan Club for early access, decided to shut the business down). He still helps people get tickets on their own via a shared Google Sheet. You can find him by his handle, Westbaystars (a combination of Westbay and BayStars -- the local Yokohama professional baseball team) in most places, though he's not really active on the socials. Alec is a middle-class white American dude originally from the suburbs of Chicago. He moved to the French/Swiss border almost exactly 3 years ago to do PhD research at CERN, and now lives with his wife in Clermont-Ferrand on a research contract. He moved knowing no French and expecting to be there for just one year, but for so many reasons he decided to stay there permanently. And the superlative Bruce Woodward produces the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

45 min
SEP 26

Hey Phileas, how do I stay sane?

Hey Phileas, Patrick talks about American lives among other things, Tom talks about his news regime to stay sane and Matthias talks about conscription in Germany and its history. If you're interested in becoming an AWESOME contributor please fill out this form: ➡️➡️ https://forms.gle/KJdRRqh4ngERAu7G7 ⬅️⬅️ -- Patrick I'm on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/notpatrick.com Come chat on Discord: https://notpatrick.com/discord/ The Phileas Club 195 - Hey Phileas, how do I stay sane? Contributors: Patrick does podcasts for a living and hails from France (and often Finland) with his wonderful wife and two kids. Tom is a US-based independent tech podcaster who lives in Los Angeles with his excellent content creator wife and their Instagram-famous dog. Born in the 80s, Matthias is a millennial who grew up with the promise of a brave new world with jet packs and warp drive, only to end up in whatever this is right now. On his way he studied political science, which makes him despair every time he overhears people talk about politics on the train but also made him want to explain to people how political systems actually work. Which he also got to do for an international audience on the Phileas Club. He has lived in different parts of the country over the years but is now based in the southwest of Germany, near the French border, where he follows some of his nerdier passions and is working for a non-profit organization running a maker space and supporting repair initiatives. And the amazing Bruce Woodward produces the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

46 min
SEP 12

Hey Phileas, what does "integrated" mean?

Hey Phileas, Patrick talks about the fall of the 1,200th French government in 18 months, Baptiste, talks about being integrated in Switzerland and Gunnar talks about nature reserves and school shootings... If you're interested in becoming an AWESOME contributor please fill out this form: ➡️➡️ https://forms.gle/KJdRRqh4ngERAu7G7 ⬅️⬅️ -- Patrick I'm on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/notpatrick.com Come chat on Discord: https://notpatrick.com/discord/ The Phileas Club 194 - Hey Phileas, what does "integrated" mean? Contributors: Patrick does podcasts for a living and hails from France (and often Finland) with his wonderful wife and two kids. Baptiste is 26, he grew up in a small village in eastern France and moved to Switzerland at 18 to pursue his studies. He now works as an engineer in Zürich, where he also enjoys outdoor sports, podcasting, and cooking. Politically, he describes himself as a classical liberal, though he believes most people don't fit neatly into any one category. Gunnar Carlson (he/him) is a lifelong resident of Minnesota and loves the outdoors and working on equity and representation in outdoor recreation. Gunnar spends his personal time advocating for all outdoor recreation to be more inclusive and welcoming while also advocating for more opportunities in general. He loves to fish, camp, hike and mountain bike. Gunnar currently works for Riverton Community Housing at the University of MN where he works with seven cooperative boards to help build their capacity to better represent their members to Riverton while also improving their quality of life through governance. In this role Gunnar has had the opportunity to represent Riverton to the larger community and focus on the policy side of things. And the wonderful Bruce Woodward produces the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

42 min

See All (206)

4.8

out of 5

101 Ratings

One of the Best Podcasts Around!

03/31/2019

svenlore

I love listening to the different perspectives of what's going on in the world today from people living in those countries. Patrick is a wonderful host and brings his own opinions but moderates the conversations with skill and good humor. He has covered some controversial topics such as gun control in America, Brexit, and what's been happening Venezuela. You can tell he's interested in the topics and treats his guest with respect. I look forward to each episode! Merci mille fois!
Nuanced conversations from around the world!

10/25/2018

Go GreenPLZ

This podcast provides political views and cultural norms from different countries around the world. This is a great thing in the current political climate worldwide. I believe more and more of these conversations are a good thing for all!
Fantastic!

12/09/2016

Scott Simon

So refreshing to hear people discuss/debate topics in a civil manner. Very informative to hear multiple viewpoints. Keep up the awesome work Patrick (and guests)!
Great podcast!!

11/19/2016

polaris20

I don't think I've ever heard people disagree so politely before! Enjoying hearing different perspectives and opinions.