Podcasts

Comment

Prodcasts (as I suspect many members have realised) have now largely replaced TV as the main place for serious political public debate, with some exceptions perhaps. The BBC, of course, is now hugely crippled, both by Government interference and a political agenda largely controlled by our right wing press – who, in turn, use this public broadcasting to amplify their propaganda into an out of control and insidious social media where a lot of the public now get their information. It’s often finely targetted using the mechanisms that have been employed to gain massive financial rewards from advertising.

You can even see how these considerations have influenced the way Sunak handled his first debate with Starmer.

Whilst podcasts are less public, of course, they have huge advantages. There is little censorship (beyond that imposed by the financial backers) and none of the restraints on time that made for ridicule in our recent electoral “debates”. A lot of individuals and campaigning groups are able to set up a podcast with their own agenda – and, of course, there are many of those – but you are free to give your time to the ones you consider worthwhile.

It makes for very interesting and stimulating listening. And you can do it when and how you want to (but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend being on a bike or in the shower, if you need hearing aids).

Please feel free to add your own comments to this comment using this input form, and I will add it to podcasts comment responses page when I am able to. (This is only available to Peterborough Fabian members who will know the required password).

An introduction to podcasts

Podcast series

The Rest is Politics with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart

Comment

Deservedly popular and during the election had a late slot on Channel 4.
Rory’s book and is worth reading just for this description of Johnson:
“His hair seemed to have become less tidy, and his cheeks redder since I had first met him in Iraq, as though he was turning into an eighteenth-century squire, fond of long nights at the piquet table at White’s. The air of roguish solidity, however, was undermined by the furtive cunning of his eyes, which made it seem as though an alien creature had possessed his reassuring body, and was squinting out of the sockets. Sitting with him, alert and upright, was … Simon McDonald, who carried himself with the smile of a man who was not sure that he had a boss.”