Move over Deloitte Pride Float - there’s a new brand of liberalism in town! Ahmed al-Sharaa, erstwhile leader of HTS, now promoting Syria as a global investment destination, sits down with his old sporting rival David Petraeus. What’s six years of imprisonment between friends? Also, we talk about the recognition of Palestine and who “gets” to be a state, the circular financing driving useless AI valuations to new highs, and Starmer’s “fightback” against Farage.
It's the free one!
Brian Merchant, of Blood in the Machine, joins us to talk about his new series, AI Took My Job. It includes stories from not just artists and translators, but tech workers, healthcare workers, and even suicide counsellors. But before that, we decide that in the bleakness of the day we could all use a moment of TF season one whimsy, and talk about a fridge with ads on it. Remember that?
MILO ALERT Check out Milo’s tour...
2025-09-23 14:50:47 +0000 UTC View PostRiley and Nova weigh anchor, hoist the mizzen, and… unship the cannon. Desolation Island is Patrick O’Brian’s spy thriller on the high seas - come for the naval battles, stay for the gender politics (or come for the gender politics, stay for the naval battles).
2025-09-19 11:09:48 +0000 UTC View PostThe world’s most regular man takes the stand in his own defence and proceeds to… utterly waste the court’s time arguing about pronouns. Also, we talk about the ongoing collapse of civil liberties on both sides of the Atlantic, and consider what it means when the leaders of both major parties in the UK simply seem to not want their jobs very much.
MILO ALERT Check out Milo’s tour dates here:
2025-09-19 11:07:10 +0000 UTC
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A wasting disease has struck TF! The survivors, Riley and Hussein, are joined by Mattie Lubchansky who is bravely subbing in for the fallen, to discuss Trump’s state visit to the UK, the ongoing right wing cancellation march that’s spreading around the world, and then a whimsical new AI device whose main feature is that it hates you. Then, Riley talks to the Public Interest Law Centre’s Paul Heron, who is currently pursuing two Palestinian solidarity cases through the UK legal system, a...
2025-09-17 11:51:57 +0000 UTC View PostWe booked this recording with June from Kill the Computer and Ill Conceived to talk about something else, and were then overtaken by events like three times. We talk about the Epstein Book, political violence, the likely Partygating of Keir Starmer… but otherwise I guess it was kind of a slow news week.
2025-09-12 13:25:09 +0000 UTC View PostMilo is joined by Australian comedian Michael Shafar to revisit the August institution of the Edinburgh Fringe.
Follow Michael here: https://www.instagram.com/michaelshafar/
Follow Milo here: https://www.instagram.com/milo_edwards/
Come see Milo on tour now! - 2025-09-09 15:22:46 +0000 UTC View Post
It's the free one!
Jake and Jacob from Screen Rot join us to talk about the two men who post videos of themselves saying “bosh,” and why everyone in Britain (and elsewhere?) seems keen to project their politics onto these men.
2025-09-09 14:51:03 +0000 UTC View PostEd Zitron returns to talk about the AI bubble, market concentration, and popular backlash. We also look ahead at what would happen when the AI bubble begins to pop.
MILO ALERT: Check out Milo's upcoming live shows here!
2025-09-05 14:49:27 +0000 UTC View PostWe talk about a pair of startups that aim to replace the entirety of human interiority using a pair of glasses and a smartphone. Also, we discuss the Labour frontbench’s ever escalating flag habit, and the concerns for what this means at a time of rising threat towards refugees.
TF Merch is still available here!
2025-09-02 09:06:20 +0000 UTC View PostTrump’s touching the money! Nathan Tankus, the Fed whisperer, returns to talk about the political economy of dying empire, specifically as it relates to some of its more important (if somewhat… evil…) institutions. Also, we talk about the ongoing assault on the mental health of vulnerable people by chatbots.
It's the free one!
Mattie from No Gods No Mayors subs in for Nova, and we talk about what it’s like when politicians lead from the left versus right… and we discuss Eric Adams, the bag of chips, and the city’s partnership with the Citizen App. Finally, we look at the updated prospects for Trojena to host the 2029 Asian winter games and come up with some creative engineering solutions.
Auto journalist Victoria Scott joins us to discuss a question that’s been on Riley’s mind for a while… why is the American auto industry “like that”? Also, we discuss a hot new company called Minnect that we’re all excited to jump ship for right away.
TF Merch is still available here!
2025-08-22 15:26:53 +0000 UTC View PostLuke Savage drops by to talk to Riley and Nova about the KKKanadian Government’s efforts to stymie industrial action by Air KKKanada flight attendants, and how it’s emblematic of his broader lurch to the right, which we also discuss. We end by discussing everyone in Britain’s new favourite holiday… Flag Day!
TF Merch is still available here!
2025-08-19 12:50:36 +0000 UTC View PostRiley's away this week, so Nova is in charge of the bonus and welcomes Kill James Bond's very own Devon to the show to discuss - among other things - continued rulings from the EHRC making it more difficult to be trans in the United Kingdom... and then the phenomenon of people getting into relationships with ChatGPT.
2025-08-16 14:27:03 +0000 UTC View PostIt's the free one!
It’s all true - the nans were planning up to forty nine elevens. We talk about the wave of (largely) pensioner arrests this weekend and what it means for civil liberties, the homelessness minister doing a landlord whoopsie, and then we read an article about what it’s like to be gentrified out of your neighbourhood as a 0.1%er.
TF Shirts are now available in the store!2025-08-12 11:38:10 +0000 UTC View Post
We've completed fulfillment of the presales for the Phone/Cops reissue and the new Say Goodbye to His Uncle design. We ordered excess stock for these and also did a small rerun of both the Avignon Popes and Banished to the Lagoon designs. All four designs are currently on sale in all sizes!
IMPORTANT: Please also remember that as Patreon subscribers you get a discount (TFHOG69 for £5 off a single shirt, TFHOG420 for £10 off the bundle...
2025-08-09 09:48:03 +0000 UTC View PostDue to illness and absence we have convened an unusual cast configuration of Riley, Hussein, and Nate, in which we discuss recent allegations that the Reform UK party is "woke" because they're not transphobic enough somehow. We also discuss a Bloomberg article about the right-wing sealed biosphere that produced one of the DOGE tweens. Sorry this is late: we've gone woke! Also November was sick and a lot of stuff has been up in the air. We love you all.
2025-08-09 09:22:31 +0000 UTC View Post
What Willy Cook joins Riley and Milo to talk about Essex’s (second) favourite son, Jamie Oliver, and his long journey through both British food culture and the British economy, as well as his strange forays into politics. Plus about ten minutes on the band Blue.
Check out @whatwillycook's links here! https://linktr.ee/whatwilly
2025-08-06 15:12:19 +0000 UTC View PostWe do a full rundown of the reactions to the online safety bill across the political spectrum, belatedly discuss the Epstein revelations, and learn about a new Guy who has decided to become the Duke of Bedford. Plus, never trust a man with a tube amplifier.
2025-08-05 09:08:38 +0000 UTC View PostYou remember what FDR said: a car in every garage, a chicken in every pot, and approximately forty drones equipped with less lethal armaments in every school. We go deep on Mithril Defence, a company intending, finally, to deliver on the third part of this promise. Also, Josh week continues, as Josh from the Worst of All Possible Worlds joins us in Nate's place.
See the JoshPlay - https://w...
2025-08-02 14:41:57 +0000 UTC View Post
Tune in to watch our live show from the Edinburgh Fringe starting at 23:20 BST!
2025-07-31 22:12:55 +0000 UTC View PostIt's episode one of JoshWeek, as Josh from the Worst of All Possible Worlds joins us to talk about the Online Safety Act coming into force, the sudden about-turn by sensible liberals on Palestine (but you're definitely not allowed to even gently suggest that their complicity in what's happened should have any effect on their lives, of course), and then we look at the ongoing transformation of the US media industry into MAGA courtiers.
See the JoshPlay - 2025-07-29 16:51:49 +0000 UTC View Post
We talk about Elon’s terrible diner… but mostly another Summer of incipient race riots, and what are the current left responses? Finally, we end on an article about tech larvae getting into mysticism because they were spooked by AI.
2025-07-25 09:56:14 +0000 UTC View PostIt's the free one!
What happens when you step in the intellectual quicksand of the entire internet? The gang talks about two recent further examples of people getting completely oneshotted by encountering overly supportive LLM’s. Then, Gareth Fearn joins Riley to talk about the planning, energy, and infrastructure changes that the Labour Government are hoping will transform Britain (but probably won’t)
TF LIVE ALERT You can get tickets for 2025-07-23 15:54:45 +0000 UTC View Post
For this week's bonus, we're joined by writer, cartoonist, host of No Gods No Mayors, and friend of the show Mattie Lubchansky to discuss the goings on in New York City. The general consensus of the local Democratic Party: get behind the primary winner, Zohran Mamdani! The general consensus of the freaks and ghouls contingent: get weird with it! Fight with each other! Try to hate on New York City as much as possible while still hoping people will vote for you! Could anyone have seen this comi...
2025-07-18 08:01:46 +0000 UTC View PostWe’ve got trans sex worker and writer Jack Parker on to discuss the strike at the Scarlett Letters bookshop, which you can support here! Also, the first half of the episode is the TF chaos configuration of Milo, Hussein, and November, discussing football’s golden orb and the Trumpworld meltdown over the Epstein ...
2025-07-15 13:37:56 +0000 UTC View Post
For July's first Britainology, Milo and Riley discuss the late-2000s British sitcom 'The Inbetweeners' and how it relates to the specifically British kind of teenage ennui. Which is different than the North American kind because of a few choice variables like 'population density' and 'access to alcohol.'
2025-07-15 07:03:20 +0000 UTC View PostWe performed live—all five of us!—at the Big Fat Festival in London on 21st June. This is a recording of that performance. We very much hope you enjoy it.
2025-07-11 09:49:10 +0000 UTC View PostIt's the free one!
Liv Agar from QAA joins the gang to talk about Wexit - the hare brained scheme to create a promised land for drunk drivers all around the world in Alberta. Also, we discuss the latest evil from the TBI, the creation of the Bins Condittieri, and a new Guy enters the pantheon.
TF LIVE ALERT You can get tickets for our show at the Edinburgh Fringe fe...
2025-07-08 09:12:21 +0000 UTC View Post