The Burner Episode #246: the Writing on the Wall
After ten weeks of lockdown, James Butler asks: what have we learned? Plus, a little announcement on the future of this show.
The Burner is a daily briefing on the news that matters to the left during the current Covid-19 crisis and beyond.
The Burner #245: Two Pandemics
Ash Sarkar goes to the Black Lives Matter protest in London, and talks to the protestors on the new front line of antiracist struggle in the UK.
The Burner Episode #244: Who Counts?
As the UK death toll passes 50,000 and Black Lives Matter protests continue in the US, James Butler asks: who gets to matter in politics?
The Burner Episode #243: Ease Off, Second Wave + Talking Teachers
James Butler asks what the government ease-off in regulations is really about – should we expect a second wave? Plus, as teachers are pressed back to work, we hear from one trade unionist about what’s really going on in schools.
The Burner #242: ‘And You Have to Do It All the Time’
Cummings survives: but what’s the wreckage? Lockdown eases, but R is high: so why? Plus, James Butler wonders about political hope in difficult times.
The Burner #241: Dangerous Liaisons
Ash Sarkar breaks down Boris Johnson’s first appearance at the Commons liaison committee. Plus the danger of false negatives.
The Burner #240: Squid Ink + Prison Viruses
Cummings splashes round the squid ink: will it be enough to escape the consequences? Gary McQuiggin takes a deep dive into the impact of the virus in the prison system in conversation with Oonagh Ryder.
The Burner Episode #238: Emergency Brakes
Eight weeks in, James Butler asks what kind of judgements can we make about the crisis – and what it reveals about Britain. Does the sudden global stoppage let us see what real political change might look like?
The Burner Episode #237: Remembering Emanuel Gomes
Ash Sarkar on class and coronavirus risk. Plus, is lockdown unfair on the young?
The Burner Episode #236: Tick, Tick, Tick – and Technocracy
Sunak softens his economic instincts: so what does that say about what’s coming? Is organised labour really in a position of strength? Plus – what does the pandemic mean for the future of technocracy?
The Burner Episode #235: Your Fault
Boris Johnson changes the lockdown rules – but is he also trying to shift the blame?
The Burner Episode #234: on Victory
James Butler considers the 75th anniversary of VE Day: what are the politics of memory? Plus, Georgia Anderson catches us up on the story of the Nightingale hospitals.
The Burner Episode #233: the Totem and the Cipher
Ash Sarkar asks whether the long shadow of Corbyn stops us seeing Keir Starmer clearly. Plus, the government fears we’ve become “addicted” to income support. James Meadway breaks it down.
The Burner Episode #232: Get Free?
Papers are awash with stories of the ‘bonking boffin’: but with the highest death toll in Europe, is that what matters? Plus, what does the pandemic reveal about the nature of the state and what might it really mean to be free?
The Burner Episode #231: Lessons in Winning, Right-Wing Leninism?
As the left wonders how to make a better world out of the crisis, Aaron Bastani asks: are there lessons we can learn from how the right does politics? Plus, James Butler on the politics of freedom.
The Burner Episode #230: Enemies, Foreign and Domestic
How will the lockdown end? James Butler asks: why is the US so intent on blaming China? Do states need ‘official enemies’?
The Burner Episode #229: the Cause of Labour Is the Hope of the World
James Butler delves into the strike wave prompted by the coronavirus: might the pandemic mean a stronger position for workers? Plus, we hear from a participant in Oxford’s vaccine trial. And James wishes a happy birthday to Resonance FM.
The Burner Episode #228: Boris Johnson’s Two Bodies
Ash Sarkar ponders whether the media’s elevation of Boris Johnson to symbol of the nation’s health is a sign of something rotten in the state of politics. Plus, Matt Hancock’s testing pledge comes a cropper as South Korea’s test, trace and isolate strategy bears fruit.