This week's bonus episode features Riley, Milo, Alice, and special guest Olly Thorn (@PhilosophyTube). We're talking the royal family, Davos, epistemological lacunae, and so much more. Remember AdBusters? Remember Occupy? So much of it makes an appearance in this delightful bonus content.
*WEB DESIGN ALERT* Tom Allen is a friend of the show (and the designer behind GYDS.com). If you need web desi...
2020-01-23 00:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostAnd on the pedestal, these words appear: 'bung a bob for Big Ben to bong for Brexit.' This accursed phrase has melted our brains, and you get to hear it happen in real time on this episode. It's a mass gathering of Riley, Milo, Nate, Alice, Olga, and special guest Soweto Kinch (@sowetokinch), and things get weird. We hope you'll love this episode as much as we hate being alive after reading the material that went in to it...
2020-01-16 00:02:00 +0000 UTC View PostIt's the chaos configuration of Riley, Milo, and Alice on this week's bonus episode (Nate and Hussein were busy being boring lames). We're talking about the assassination of Qassem Soleimani and the tragic hilariousness of America's constant self-sabotage when it tries to do imperialism. Guess what: it's not good, folks!
2020-01-09 00:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostIt’s our first episode of 2020 and we’ve got a real treat for all of you subscribers. We’ve brought on Theo Pengelly (@AynRandy) of Boonta Vista (@boontavista) to discuss Andrew Lillico’s demented plan to terraform Mars. That is not a typo. Hope you enjoy!
*COME SEE MILO*If you want to catch Milo’s stand-up on tour, get t...
2020-01-02 00:14:39 +0000 UTC View PostThis week, we’re reviewing a startup called WhiteHat, digesting a terrible Giles Coren wankfest about Oxford admissions, and—most importantly—speaking to friend of the show and biology teacher Devon (@Devon_OnEarth) about the state-mandated ‘British Values’ education. Spoiler alert: it’s inchoate and weird!
2019-12-27 01:20:18 +0000 UTC View PostLook, maybe we just needed a break. Maybe there's nothing particularly good to talk about politically in this moment of elected dictatorship. However, we can talk about trash culture and the cult of super-smart drones, and as such we've reviewed the 2008 Ridley Scott film 'Body of Lies,' which is bad. Why does Leo DiCaprio dress like a podcaster? Why are there basically zero Arab actors in major roles in this film? Why is Russell Crowe such a weird Foghorn Leghorn ass guy? Listen to hear our ...
2019-12-20 16:28:12 +0000 UTC View PostThis week, we speak to David Adler of DiEM25 about what Remain and Revolt would actually mean -- and why the EU's labyrinthine politics is intentionally boring. We also discuss some great pre-election post-mortem columns, a thing that makes sense. You'll love it!
2019-12-05 00:02:03 +0000 UTC View PostThis week's bonus episode features us discussing the Tory manifesto with John Duncan (@Johntheduncan) on the topic of neoliberalism, the neoliberal weaponisation of rights, and the absurd Tory manifesto. Hope you enjoy!
John's YouTube channel is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g2Ku4i7l6A&featur...
2019-11-28 01:46:50 +0000 UTC View Post
[Sorry for the late release!] This week, Riley, Milo, Alice, and Nate speak with famed detective Loki Nash (@lokinash06) about his experience being the go-to consultant on BBC radio for what is and is not shitposting. We also discuss a Lib Dem PPC who got sacked for being racist in the early 2010s, the recent Prince Andrew interview, and much more. Hope you enjoy!
2019-11-21 22:42:06 +0000 UTC View PostThis week's bonus features three-peat guest India Block (@indiablock) on the topic of Bolivian coups, Tory housing pledges that got zero new houses built, and beyond-parody op-eds defending landlords. We love it and so will you.
ELECTION STUFF:
*Register to vote* You can do this here — it’s fast! https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
*Do some canvassing* 2019-11-14 00:02:03 +0000 UTC View Post
You wake up. You turn on your computer to do Fiverr jobs until breakfast. You go to your job. Your contract is secure for another two weeks. You buy lunch for a tenner because you can't go on. You come home, exhausted. It's time for your next job. And you have to pay seven kinds of bills. You've become a burned out husk of a person. But now there's an exciting new venture capital backed startup called Pattern that wants to change all that with luxury cookware somehow. Riley, ...
2019-11-07 00:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostThis week's bonus features author and economist James Meadway on his fourth TF appearance, and we're talking about the right-wing thing tanks that make British public life so unbearable. Did you know that everything is fine because people today have 100 percent more wifi access than the Royals did 300 years ago? Learn about this, and more, by listening.
2019-10-31 06:01:52 +0000 UTC View PostIt's that time again! Riley's Commie Book Club is back a brief hiatus. This month, we're discussing Stafford Beer's lecture series "Designing Freedom." Beer, one of the principal architects of Cybersyn, the information network that served as the nerve centre for Allende's Chile, spent his life thinking of ways that people could organise to solve common problems in ways that do not create pointless hierarchies between them. Check it out!
I reference an episode of the podcast 99% Invisibl...
2019-10-26 23:02:00 +0000 UTC View PostThis week’s episode features the full cast of Riley, Milo, Hussein, Nate, and Alice on the topic of three distinctly horrible things: a startup that promises to create its own Chuck E. Cheese tokens instead of paying its workers; Amazon killing people in its fulfillment centres and deciding that actually, this is fine; and the truly most yer da thing in existence, a ‘satirical’ Brexit disco album that’s truly on the outer limits of bad. You’ll love it!
2019-10-23 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThis week, we've done a deep dive into the work of the king of the airport books: Malcolm Gladwell. Riley, Milo, and Alice join Felix Biederman (@ByYourLogic) of Chapo Trap House (@chapotraphouse) to discuss the horror and the banality of the truest of thinkers. Hope you enjoy!
2019-10-16 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostOur review of Boris Johnson's terrible novel 72 VIRGINS continues — this time featuring Riley, Milo, Alice, and returning guest Aidan 'Taco' Jones. The story continues to get worse, because the current Prime Minister of the UK wrote racist fanfic for bitter British dads. Brace yourself for the horror!
2019-10-09 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThis week's bonus features Riley, Milo, and Alice speaking with Ben McLeay (@thomas_violence) of the Boonta Vista podcast. We discuss a horrible startup called Stockwell (you'll love this one) and a Spectator article with the most profound Brexit manager-calling energy. We almost entitled this episode ACCENTFUTURE because, as you can imagine, it got weird.
2019-10-02 23:14:43 +0000 UTC View PostThat's right, folks! It's the promised second episode in which we discuss the highlights of IT Media Lab's cursed SkyMall.
2019-09-25 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThis week, Riley, Nate, and Alice speak with Justin Roczniak (@donoteat1), the creator of the YouTube channel DoNotEat and an all-round fan of socialism and urban planning. We talk about a Google-designed hell-district that a lot of morons want to build in Toronto, plus a Telegraph Tory impression of what shopping will look like in 2030. You'll ...
2019-09-18 23:02:00 +0000 UTC View PostWe speak with Will Davies, reader in Economics at Goldsmith's University and author of the book Nervous States. We discuss mental health and capitalism, why everyone's crazy, and the Cool Kids Centrist Philosopher AC Grayling getting pissed on twitter and going beast on his stationary bike.
2019-09-11 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostWe all have Epstein Brain, or at least Riley, Milo, and Alice do. But first, this episode covers our reflections on London and which bits of it suck, a review of the Duke of Westminster's app that lets council tenants decide how they want to get kicked out, then finally we realise everyone's favourite prince couldn't possibly be involved in Epstein shit! He said so!
2019-09-04 23:01:59 +0000 UTC View PostIt's another lovely week in the British summer of, uh, impending fascism? On this week’s bonus, Riley, Hussein, and Alice are in discussion with writer and journalist Kieran Yates (@kieran_yates) on the topic of terrible internships, terrible models of home ownership, and much more. Did you know that Hussein has Trashfuture on his CV? Maybe everyone should put it on their CV, even the listeners. You’ll love it, folks...
2019-08-28 23:02:00 +0000 UTC View PostWe took Trashfuture on the road, opening up the start of of the Birmingham Transformed festival. The cast was Riley, Hussein, Nate, and returning guest Soweto Kinch. We talked about a high-tech eugenics platform and a news site that might as well be the QAnon Onion. You'll love it as much as we did, friends.
*COME SEE MILO* If you're in Edinburgh for the Fringe, come see our boy perform his show: 2019-08-21 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
We did it. We drove from London to Edinburgh with all our equipment in tow, climbed a fucking medieval staircase in a downpour, got soaked to the damn bones, and then played a (sold out!!!!) show at the Edinburgh Fringe. We only had a 50 minute time slot, so this was a short one. Thank you so much to all the fans who came out in the garbage weather to see it.
*COME SEE MILO* If you're in Edinburgh for the Fringe, come see our boy perform his show
-- it's at 2...
It's a special episode featuring only the loveliest of accents. This week's bonus features Milo with guests Aidan 'Taco' Jones, Dan Muggleton, and Pope Lonergan. It's a bunch of comedians telling some damn jokes -- about Australia, about fancy words, about rugby -- and so much more. Hope you enjoy!
2019-08-07 23:02:00 +0000 UTC View PostYou wanted to hear more Quillette close-reads, so here it is. We discuss the most bootlicking of all pro-Amazon pieces to ever appear, plus a bizarre 2006 op-ed about shoes from Rafael Behr. Our special guest Juliet Jacques (@zinovievletter) helps us break down just how brain-melt it all is. You'll love it, folks—you'll absolutely love it.
*COME SEE MILO*If you're in Edinburgh for the Fri...
2019-07-31 23:02:00 +0000 UTC View PostIt's Commie Book Club's new home! This month, Riley changes gears a little bit from the theoretical to discuss one of his favourite works of Science Fiction, Blindsight by Peter Watts. It's a hard-sci fi first contact novel that is so hard it has citations. Only very minor spoilers contained herein - you are encouraged to read it!
Find it on Watts' website, where he posted it free on his website after a dispute with his publisher.
Different format options available at the top 2019-07-31 22:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Did you know that Riley's hometown newspaper is run by horse people? Did you know that there's a Code Pink-style group that stalks people who work at the Seattle Zoo's elephant enclosure? Did you know that Fiverr wants to drive down your wages but also want to make you feel empowered? Did you know that the Telegraph has found a way to get mad about black people in Bond films? Yes. It's all true. Enjoy this bonus episode with freelance writer and editor Nathan Ma (2019-07-24 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Riley's cousin lives in London and got the absolute worst tinder-date breakup message. It was so bad, so painfully long-form and weird, that we had to convene a session of Balthasar Speedboat to discuss it. So, we brought on Riley, Milo, Olga, Alex Kealy, and Rajiv Karia (@RajivAKaria). Hope you enjoy it! If not, we're breaking up with you (in over 1000 words).
2019-07-17 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostTony Blair, what a guy! Am I right, folks? He can't stop whining about how we need fewer houses and more apps. He can't stop pointing a finger at the Labour party and saying that it was better when we were pro-privatisation and pro-bombing. And now, of course, his institute has a great plan -- a policy paper full of nothing but management consultant speak -- with one sole defined policy goal: national ID cards. Yes, he still wants them. Enjoy this dang podcast!
*LIVE SHOW ALERT*...
2019-07-10 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post