Listen Now

After ten weeks of lockdown, James Butler asks: what have we learned? Plus, a little announcement on the future of this show.

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.

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?

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 teacher and trade unionist – Nik from the Requires Improvement podcast – about what’s really going on in schools.

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. James Butler on Dominic Cummings: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/28/dominic-cummings-democracy-laws-truth-consequences Huw Lemmey on hecklers: https://huw.substack.com/p/what-have-you-got-to-say-to-that Minnesota Freedom Fund: https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/donate

As we enter day six of The Dominic Cummings Scandal, Ash Sarkar examines the evidence and breaks down Boris Johnson’s first appearance at the Commons liaison committee. Plus the dangers of false negatives.

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 – from solitary confinement to family visits – in conversation with Oonagh Ryder, host of The Lockdown, Novara Media’s prison and criminal justice podcast.

Cummings bets that he can cling on – and Johnson backs him. Has he miscalculated? Will it matter? What does the Cummings crisis reveal about our politics – and the Tory attitude to law? James Butler on Cummings and the dark world of advisers: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/23/dominic-cummings-reign-shadowy-world-spads

Eight weeks in, James Butler asks what the crisis has revealed. Does sudden global stoppage let us see what real change might look like? Plus, a special announcement on the future of The Burner.

Ash Sarkar on class and coronavirus risk.   Plus, is lockdown unfair on the young?

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? Charlotte Bence on trade unions, organising and workplace safety — https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/05/if-your-boss-is-putting-your-life-at-risk-read-this

Boris Johnson changes the lockdown rules – but is he also trying to shift the blame? TUC Join a Union page: https://www.tuc.org.uk/join-union

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.

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.

Papers are awash with stories of the ‘bonking boffin’: but with the highest death toll in Europe, is that what matters? Plus, James Butler asks: what does the pandemic reveal about the nature of the state. And what might it really mean to be free?

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. Edelman trust barometer: https://www.edelman.com/research/trust-2020-spring-update

How will the lockdown end? James Butler asks: why is the US so intent on blaming China? Do states need ‘official enemies’? Constantin Cavafy, ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51294/waiting-for-the-barbarians Bruce Schneier, ’On COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps’:https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2020/05/me_on_covad-19_.html

Happy May Day! James Butler delves into the strike wave prompted by the coronavirus: might the pandemic mean a stronger position for workers? We hear from a participant in Oxford’s vaccine trial. And James wishes a happy birthday to Resonance FM.

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.

‘Stare long enough at a bean, or a grain, or an ear of corn, and you’ll begin to see everything – the whole world – inside it.’ James Butler dives into pandemic food shocks and the deep links between capitalist farming and viral outbreaks.