Politics Theory Other

PTO Extra! What happened to China's new Tiananmen moment? w/ Jane Hayward

Jane Hayward returns to PTO to discuss the situation in China following the scaling back of the zero-covid measures and the resulting decline in public protests. We talked about the apparent scale of the covid-outbreak in the country, and the effects upon the Chinese health system. We also talked...

Macrodose - The economics of inactivity, covid contracts and Japan’s policy twist

On this week’s MACRODOSE James Meadway takes a look at a new House of Lord’s report on economic inactivity (0:52s), the financial waste of covid contracts (7:03) and an unexpected move by Japan’s central bank (12:16).

Interregnum - Britain unravelling

Richard Seymour discusses Britain's fraying public infrastructure and the wave of strikes that are taking place, including the first ever nationwide strike by NHS nurses. We chatted about the extent to which the public perceive the UK as being in a state of increasing decline, the state of the tr...

Macrodose - Public pay, bankers' bonuses, and who benefits from interest rate hikes?

On this week’s episode James Meadway breaks down the public sector pay dispute (0.50s), Sunak’s move to further deregulate finance (8:27), and the interest rate hikes by central banks (14:10)

China's protests and the end of zero-Covid w/ Jane Hayward

Jane Hayward joins PTO to talk about the protests in China that have resulted in Xi Jinping's loosening of the country's zero covid strategy. We talked about the widespread grievances and sporadic protests that have taken place in China over the last decade, and the particular importance of the r...

Macrodose - Russian oil, the food crisis and a 4-day work week

On this week’s episode of Macrodose James Meadway breaks down the G7-backed price cap on Russian oil (1.46), the warning from the National Farmers' Union that Britain is sleepwalking into a food crisis (5.37), and the results of an experiment in a 4-day working week (11.27).

Hegemony Now (part three) - w/ Jeremy Gilbert

Jeremy Gilbert returns to PTO for the final part of our conversation on his new book, co-authored with Alex Williams, Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (and How We Win it back). In this part of our conversation we talked about some of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guat...

Macrodose - Episode 2: Strike Economics

On this week’s episode of Macrodose James Meadway breaks down the economics behind the strikes that are spreading across the U.K, from the railways, to teachers to nurses and oilworkers (0.49s). We take a historical view on this new wave of industrial action (7:10), and then reflect on the U.K�...

Macrodose - Inflation, austerity and the wage-price spiral

On the first episode of Macrodose James Meadway breaks down the the OECD warning that the UK’s growth prospects are the worst of all the G7 countries (1:06); the austerity 2.0 measures of Rishi Sunak’s government (6:05); and the new IMF report on inflation, which debunks the idea that advance...

Listener's Questions w/ Richard Seymour

Richard responds to the excellent questions that were sent in by listeners on the seeming demise of Twitter, the Democrats' surprisingly strong showing in the US mid-terms, and Cop27 and where the global climate movement goes from here.

Listener's questions for Richard Seymour

I'll be recording the next episode of listener's questions with Richard Seymour in a couple of days and there's still time to send in your questions. Richard of course writes incredibly widely so you might want to ask about COP27, the US mid-terms, Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, the ongoing war...

Why capitalism is not 'an economy' w/ Nancy Fraser

Nancy Fraser joins PTO to talk about her new book, Cannibal Capitalism: How Our System Is Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet—and What We Can Do About It. In the book, Nancy argues that we need to move away from seeing capitalism solely in economic terms, and instead reckon with ...

Listener's questions for Phil Burton-Cartledge and Richard Seymour

Hi everyone! First off, thank you very much for your continued support for the show. It's always appreciated but especially now given the cost of living crisis, both in the UK and elsewhere. PTO really couldn't exist without listener support so thank you so much!

This week I'll be recordin...

Interregnum - Lula's knife-edge victory

Richard Seymour on why Lula's margin of victory was so narrow in Brazil's presidential election and how it is that Jair Bolsonaro maintained such substantial support, despite Brazil's poor economic performance and his disastrous handling of the covid-19 pandemic. We also talked about what to expe...

“Woman, Life, Freedom” - On Iran's protest movement w/ Narges Bajoghli

Narges Bajoghli returns to PTO to talk about the ongoing protests in Iran, which erupted in mid-September following the killing of the twenty-two year old Mahsa Amini, by officers of the so-called guidance patrol. We talked about why Amini's death has sparked such wide scale opposition to the Ira...

Interregnum - After Truss

Richard Seymour discusses the resignation of Liz Truss and the ongoing civil war within the Conservative party. We also talked about why Richard characterises the conservatives as a "middle class protest party", and finally we discussed whether or not Labour's impressive poll leads are vindicatio...

Hegemony Now (part two) - w/ Jeremy Gilbert

In part two of our three-part interview on Jeremy's new book - co-written with Alex Williams - Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back) we discuss what Jeremy and Alex call 'actually existing neoliberalism' - the distinct form of the ideology fost...

Listeners' questions - David Broder on the next Italian government

Last month historian David Broder joined the show to talk  about Giorgia Meloni and the Brothers of Italy's election victory. Today David has kindly returned to answer some of the excellent questions sent in by listeners. Before putting those questions to David, I began by asking him to comm...

Hegemony Now (part one) - w/ Jeremy Gilbert

Jeremy Gilbert returns to PTO to talk about his new book - co-authored with Alex Williams -  Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back). 

In part one of our three part conversation we talked about Antonio Gramsci's notion of Hegemony...

Listener's questions for David Broder

In a recent episode David Broder discussed the rise of Fratelli d'Italia and the Italian election result. David will be returning to PTO soon to answer listener questions on everything related to Italian politics. If you have a question for David, either on the previous interview, or on Italian p...

Interregnum - Truss is for turning

In today's episode Richard Seymour responds to the UK government's partial u-turn on its disastrous mini-budget and discusses why Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have demonstrated such political ineptitude since Truss came to power. 

The far right victorious in Italy w/ David Broder

Historian of Italian politics David Broder returns to PTO to discuss the victory of Giorgia Meloni, who is set to lead the most right-wing government since World War II. We talked about the history of the Brothers of Italy and their neofascist roots, and why the far left achieved such a poor resu...

PTO Extra! Chileans reject the new constitution w/ Camila Vergara

Earlier this month, the people of Chile voted to reject the new draft constitution that promised to be the most progressive constitution of any country on the planet, and which was the fruit of the popular uprisings in the country that in December also swept the left wing approved dignity coaliti...

Interregnum - How will Truss govern?

Richard Seymour on Britain's new prime minister, Liz Truss. We talked about how she might govern, her likely response to the cost of living crisis, and how she is far from the obsessive ideologue she's portrayed as in some quarters. We also talked about the devastating floods in Pakistan, and abo...

The racial constitution of neoliberalism w/ Arun Kudnani

Arun Kudnani joins PTO to talk about his article, The Racial Constitution of Neoliberalism which appeared in the Race & Class journal. We talked about how neoliberalism has generated novel forms of racism that cannot be understood simply as residual phenomena from the pre-neoliberal era, why ...

Nazi Billionaires w/ David de Jong

David de Jong joins PTO to talk about his extraordinary new book, Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties, which tells the story of how German tycoons made billions during the Nazi era and WWII and how many of those industrialists and financiers and their he...

The overturning of Roe vs. Wade w/ Sophie Lewis

Sophie Lewis returns to PTO to discuss the US Supreme Court's decision to reverse Roe vs. Wade. We talked about why millions of Americans already lived in a post-Roe situation - with abortion services made punitively difficult to access. We also talked about the weaknesses of the original Roe vs....

Progressive Economy Forum - Industrial Strategy Or Industrial Decline

Government intervention is back in a big way, as countries turn back on years of free market ideology to actively support national industries in an increasingly competitive and unstable world. The session presents the case for an active industrial strategy to meet social and economic goals.
2022-08-07 09:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post

A note on PTO's future

Hello everyone,

Firstly, I just want to give a huge thank you to you all for your support for the show. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to devote so much time to PTO and to have the opportunity to talk to so many interesting people through hosting the podcast. PTO began as a bit of ...

Progressive Economy Forum - Digital Futures

Covid-19 accelerated the digitisation of our economy, as more and more activity has moved online. But the technologies we have threaten an uncertain future at best: unemployment, huge inequalities of wealth and power, and a lack of democratic oversight. What might we expect, and what are the alte...