In the 2022 local elections, in Tower Hamlets, something unprecedented happened. Not only did the borough elect a mayor previously banned from taking part in politics but his party, Aspire, took the council from Labour. Aaron speaks to Lutfur Rahman, the new mayor of Tower Hamlets.
Few political thinkers exert such an influence that their work becomes synonymous with a historic era. Francis Fukuyama’s declaration of “the end of history” after the fall of the Soviet Union made him one of those thinkers – but 30 years on, has he reassessed his own claim? Aaron Bastani speaks to Fukuyama on the […]
Throughout the 20th century, as countries gained independence from the British Empire, there was a rightful sense of renewed agency. And yet, in the world of finance and global capital, many corporate structures of empire continue to exist. Ash Sarkar speaks to Kojo Koram, author of ‘Uncommon Wealth: Britain and The Aftermath of Empire’.
How far would you go to get famous and escape poverty? Ash Sarkar is joined by Symeon Brown, Channel 4 News reporter and author of ‘Get Rich or Lie Trying: Ambition and Deceit in the New Influencer Economy’, to discuss how the democratic promise of the internet has reinvented the pyramid scheme. From cryptocurrencies to […]
In debates around the rights of transgender people, a charge often levelled at those fighting for trans inclusion is that their arguments rest on a denial of biological facts. In this episode of Downstream, Michael Walker speaks to biologist Julia Serano about what so-called ‘gender critical’ thinkers get wrong about sex and gender, and whether […]
Aaron Bastani speaks to George Monbiot about COP26, which countries are climate change leaders and how the mainstream media enabled a culture of climate denial when it mattered most.
From ancient myths through to the Batman trilogy, pop culture is littered with disabled people and those with facial differences being cast as villains. Why does disability feature so heavily in literary and cinematic traditions, and how has this hypervisiblity had the ironic effect of erasing the experiences of disabled people? Ash Sarkar is joined […]
They are claimed from all sides and by all parties. But who are Britain’s ex-service personnel? What do they want? And what do their politics – whether conservative, liberal or socialist – tell us about Britain as a post-imperial country? Aaron Bastani speaks to Joe Glenton, journalist and author of ‘Veteranhood’.
From food scarcity to extreme weather, climate change will affect the lives of billions of people around the world. But at what point are its future horrors unacceptable? And how should that shape climate politics now? Aaron Bastani speaks to author Andreas Malm about the limits of today’s activism and what is to be done […]
If neoliberalism really is over then what comes after? And could this new political and economic moment, where a larger state is embraced, see a turn right rather than left? Aaron Bastani speaks to sociologist Paolo Gerbaudo about his new book, ‘The Great Recoil’, examining how ideas of protection, control and state intervention are replacing […]
Aaron Bastani meets Nina Turner, co-chair of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, to discuss the American left under the Biden Presidency, the prospect of Donald Trump running in 2024 and how American workers can build a more progressive politics.
At Labour Party Conference 2021 Ash Sarkar & Zarah Sultana MP shared fish and chips by Brighton Pier. They discussed why the Labour Party is so boring, being a muslim woman of colour on the left and trans rights amongst other things. Batter not miss it!
Is ‘consent’ the only dividing line between good sex and bad sex? Ash Sarkar is joined by Rachel Thompson to discuss her new book Rough, and the politics of pornography, kink, and sex ambivalent feminism.
Ash Sarkar is joined by ACFM’s Jeremy Gilbert to discuss euphoria, liberation, and the wisdom in the rave.
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