Novara Media Podcasts

Andy Burnham has won the Makerfield byelection by a landslide, and Keir Starmer is weighing up his future as Prime Minister. With Michael Walker & Aaron Bastani.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has called on Keir Starmer to resign after the Makerfield by-election, with Andy Burnham ahead in the polls for the seat. Plus: Trump claims the US-Iran peace deal will leave the Strait of Hormuz open and “toll-free”, and FIFA tells Iranian monarchists to hide their colours at the World Cup. With […]

* We’ll be at Crossed Wires festival in Sheffield on 4th July! Final tickets: https://crossedwires.live * Moya has a big theory about why wealthy elites seem to have stopped caring about culture, which leads to wondering if addiction and dependency are the best framework for understanding modern society. Plus: when you’re body-shamed by a much […]

The court of appeal has ruled that the Home Secretary’s decision to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist group was lawful. We speak to Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori about what’s next for the organisation. Plus: A school-girl suggests an innovative source of entertainment after Starmer announces new social-media restrictions. And finally, Iran confirms that […]

The so-called ceasefire in Gaza has not ended the genocide. The bombing runs may be quieter, but the bulldozers roar on. Israel is tearing up homes, orchards, schools and hospitals, then flattening the rubble to erase the memory that Palestinian life was ever there. To understand this architecture of death, Richard Hames spoke to Eyal Weizman, author of Ungrounding: The Architecture of Genocide and founder of Forensic Architecture. His team builds meticulous 3D reconstructions from the scattered traces of an event – phone footage, survivor testimony, documented shrapnel – to prove what really happened, even when states want it covered up. Their work is rigorous enough to have been submitted in South Africa’s case against Israel at the ICJ. Get the map here: https://novaramedia.com/category/video/do-your-own-research/ Music by Iglooghost.

Elon Musk has become the world’s first trillionaire, what does it mean for the rest of us? We bring you the latest updates from the Palestine Action sentencing hearing as it happened. Plus: A GB News presenter refuses to believe her own eyes.  With Michael Walker, Banseka Kayembe & Mathew Scherer.

Ignited by a knife attack in Belfast on Monday, racist violence continued in Northern Ireland while spreading to Glasgow, as minorities of many denominations were forced to flee for their lives. Plus: Defense Secretary John Healy falls on his sword, or lack thereof, citing insufficient defence spending. The Southampton rioters are read the riot act […]

Anti-immigrant violence erupts in Belfast following a horrific knife attack. Plus: The US launches multiple strikes on Iran in response to the downing of an Apache helicopter, and we speak to the mother of a Palestine Action activist, who was herself held in solitary confinement for five days. With Steven Methven, Aaron Bastani, Amanda Ferguson […]

A horrific knife attack in Belfast threatens to trigger unrest in the city. Plus: The latest on the upcoming Makerfield byelection, a top referee has been denied entry to the US ahead of the World Cup, and a viral Jennifer Lopez clip sparks debate on who gets to be a New Yorker. With Aaron Bastani […]

* Come to see us at Crossed Wires in Sheffield on 4th July! https://crossedwires.live * Moya tunes into the background hum of money worries. Does our upbringing predict our attitude to finances? And does more money always equal more freedom? Plus: when to let go of a long-term romantic hangup. Send us your dilemmas: [email protected] […]

Wes Streeting is set to resign his cabinet post on Thursday and challenge Keir Starmer. But will he really take the plunge? And who will challenge him? Plus: Who should control the economy, prime ministers? Or the bond market? With Michael Walker and Aaron Bastani

Ash went to the Songkran water fight in Thailand and now has a few questions about health and safety culture. Where do we draw the line between personal safety and freedom to take risks? Plus: should you chase a holiday romance? Come to see us at Crossed Wires in Sheffield on 4th July! Tickets available […]

The Labour Party is in crisis following a disastrous set of local election results. Plus: Reform UK’s latest slate of racist councillors, and we discuss whether the Green Party is ready for power. With Michael Walker & Ash Sarkar.

British politics is in turmoil. The two party system has collapsed, the far right has won huge gains across the country. Crises of this scale can create huge opportunities for socialists too, but only when the left is organised and ready. Peter Mertens is the general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Belgium. If recent years in British politics have had a manic-depressive quality, with extreme highs and extreme lows, the Workers’ Party of Belgium under Mertens takes a very different approach. They might be relatively unknown in the UK, but as we speak, they’re fourth in the national polls, and leading in Brussels. They’ve got 15 parliamentary seats – not bad for out and proud Marxist-Leninists. How have they done it? By growing cautiously and deliberately. They run community health clinics, organise locally, and impose strict internal discipline. Their party prioritises unity and strategy. But how well-placed is it to take on the overlapping crises of the 21st Century? What advice does Mertens have for Zack Polanski? How can we stop middle class people taking over and dominating the left? And how is politics like football?

David Harvey is a legendary Marxist geographer. He’s taught Marx for over half a century – maybe you’ve even been one of his millions of students. He’s the author of the new The Story of Capital as well as many others, such as the classic The Limits to Capital. Talking from his home town of New York City, he told Richard Hames what he’s learned from decades of studying the most important radical in history, why contradictions appear everywhere in our lives, and what he really thinks of his new mayor.   Do Your Own Research is a new show about the systems that make the modern world possible. Music by Iglooghost.

Labour and the Tories are expected to take a beating in the local elections. Reform is set to make big gains across England and Wales, but London is expecting a Green surge. Plus: Why China is more Communist than you think. With Michael Walker & Aaron Bastani.

It’s 2019 all over again, as the media and a desperate Labour party weaponise antisemitism against the left once more. Plus: Organisers of anti-genocide marches hit back at Met Commissioner Mark Rowley over misinformation; and some people will say anything to make you believe all criticism of Israel is antisemitism. With Aaron Bastani & Michael […]

Ash and Moya are reunited and ready to answer a mystery question, inspired by Lena Dunham’s memoir Famesick: do we need more women mentors? Plus: a homesick ex-pat struggling to stay in contact with his family. Come to see us at Crossed Wires in Sheffield on 4th July! Tickets available now: https://crossedwires.live Send us your […]

The 21st century runs on batteries: from phones and laptops to electric vehicles, drones and clean energy. Embedded in these batteries are rare earth minerals, drawn from a brutal supply chain that begins in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The race to electrify the global energy system is underway, but most people know almost nothing about how the necessary batteries are made – even those of us with green politics. Aaron Bastani finds out more with Nicholas Niarchos, author of The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

It’s the question that will come to define our lives: is our society going to collapse? But the field of collapse research is fragmented, chaotic, and often plain deranged. Who can you trust? Luke Kemp is the author of Goliath’s Curse and a research affiliate at the Cambridge University Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. He’s also a political radical. He told Richard Hames about how close we are to the same tipping point that brought down every other empire in history, why states are criminal gangs in disguise, and why Rome was the Isis of its day. Do Your Own Research is a new show from Novara Media about the systems that make the modern world possible. Music by Iglooghost.

To accompany our podcast series, Death in Westminster, hosts Kojo Koram and Dalia Gebrial met with investigative journalist Peter Geoghegan and former private wealth lawyer Stephanie Brobbey at EartH in Hackney last month. Digging into the dark money that flows through Westminster, Kojo and Dalia find out what made Stephanie quit her job hiding rich people’s assets, why Peter couldn’t find anyone to publish his story about Labour corruption, and what normal people can do to challenge the global system of wealth extraction. Listen to Death in Westminster, hosted by Dalia and Kojo Koram, in the Novara Media podcast feed. Follow Peter’s work through the Democracy For Sale newsletter.

Fill in our audience survey: https://novara.media/survey For fifty years, Alfred McCoy has exposed covert operations. In 1972 he uncovered the CIA and French intelligence’s complicity with the heroin trade during the Vietnam War – research that the CIA tried to suppress. He’s the author of many books, most recently Cold War on Five Continents, which gives a comprehensive account of late 20th century geopolitics, decolonisation, and covert operations. But now he’s warning of a New Cold War. Is it over for the US empire? He talked to Richard Hames about the strange parallels between the 1956 Suez Crisis – a turning point in global British influence – and the 2026 war on Iran and the new Chinese World Order. Do Your Own Research is a new show from Novara Media about the systems that make life possible. Music by Iglooghost.

To mark the launch of our new podcast series, Death in Westminster, host Dalia Gebrial sat down with Hannah Spencer, the new MP for Gorton and Denton, and Faiza Shaheen, the director of Tax Justice UK, at EartH in Hackney. They talked about Hannah’s landslide victory, her first few weeks in Parliament, and what a wealth tax would actually look like. What approach did Faiza and Hannah take with Reform voters when they went canvassing? What lessons should progressives learn from past failures? And what are the conspiracy theories swirling about Hannah online? Listen to Death in Westminster, hosted by Dalia and Kojo Koram, in the Novara Media podcast feed.

In the last decade and a half, society has got vastly more politicised: Occupy, Black Lives Matter, the Me Too Movement and many other movements besides mobilised hundreds of millions of people around the world. So where are the massive organisations that big mobilisations brought in the 20th century? They don’t exist. For all the increased political activity, society hasn’t become much more organised. This has produced what Anton Jäger calls ‘hyperpolitics’. He’s the author of Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicisation without Political Consequences as well as a columnist at The New York Times and a lecturer at Oxford University. He explained to Richard Hames how we got so isolated, why fascism isn’t even the biggest threat right now, and whether the worldwide organising around Palestine, anti-ICE uprisings in the US and the Gen Z Revolutions have already hurtled us into yet another era of political struggle. Do Your Own Research is a new show from Novara Media about the systems that make the modern world possible. Music by Iglooghost.

The most powerful CEO in history is barely a person anymore. But it’s not just his X-addled brain that has transformed him. He has deeply integrated himself in the ‘cyborg collective’ – a world of electrons, brain implants, fantastical promises, financial systems, bots, and memes – he has made for himself. Henry Ford gave his name to Fordism. According to Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff, we’re entering a globe-spanning era of capitalism we might soon call ‘Muskism’. Those two are the authors of Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed. It’s a whistle-stop tour of the world that made Musk, from the fortress futurism of Apartheid South Africa to the financial fabulations of the Bay Area. And, of course, the cyborg world that Musk is now making for us all. They told me about what they see as Musk’s ongoing land grab in space, about what’s really going on with his plan for brain implants, how our supposed climate saviour became obsessed with prepping for the end of the world, and how Musk came to define an entirely new way of making technology – and not making it, but at least making it seem like you might.   Do Your Own Research is a new show about the systems that make modern life possible. Music by Iglooghost.

Trillions of dollars of AI build-out. An economy poised on the edge of a giant crisis. Some say it’s a bubble. But what if it’s an entirely new kind of economics? One that has no need of humans at all? Marek Poliks is the co-author with Roberto Alonso Trillo of Exocapitalism: Economies with Absolutely No Limits. Together, they are the co-hosts of the Disintegrator podcast. He speaks to Richard Hames about the head-spinning world of AI economics, what the left gets wrong about technofeudalism, and what will happen to all of us bags of meat when capitalism can simply run itself.   Do Your Own Research is a new show from Novara Media about the systems that make the modern world possible. Music by Iglooghost.

The final episode. Back in Westminster, Kojo confronts the human cost of hidden wealth – and asks if change is still possible. Join Kojo Koram on 19th March at EartH in Hackney for a live event – Dark Money: How Billionaires Ruined Britain And How To Make Them Pay. Featuring Dalia Gebrial, Peter Geoghegan, Faiza Shaheen and Stephanie Brobbey. Tickets are available from Dice. Full credits and more information: https://novara.media/westminster Produced by Planet B Productions and distributed by Novara Media.

In episode three, the dark web of offshore finance connects Britain’s imperial past with its political present. Join Kojo Koram on 19th March at EartH in Hackney for a live event – Dark Money: How Billionaires Ruined Britain And How To Make Them Pay. Featuring Dalia Gebrial, Peter Geoghegan, Faiza Shaheen and Stephanie Brobbey. Tickets are available from Dice. Full credits and more information: https://novara.media/westminster Produced by Planet B Productions and distributed by Novara Media.

In episode two, the trail leads offshore. From Westminster to the Cayman Islands, Kojo uncovers how tax havens are fuelling London’s housing crisis. Join Kojo Koram on 19th March at EartH in Hackney for a live event – Dark Money: How Billionaires Ruined Britain And How To Make Them Pay. Featuring Dalia Gebrial, Peter Geoghegan, Faiza Shaheen and Stephanie Brobbey. Tickets are available from Dice. Full credits and information: https://novara.media/westminster Produced by Planet B Productions and distributed by Novara Media.

New four-part podcast. A homeless man dies in Westminster surrounded by vast wealth and empty homes. His death sparks a disturbing investigation into how secrecy and evasion have become normalised in the heart of British power. Join Kojo Koram on 19th March at EartH in Hackney for a live event – Dark Money: How Billionaires Ruined Britain And How To Make Them Pay. Featuring Dalia Gebrial, Peter Geoghegan, Faiza Shaheen and Stephanie Brobbey. Tickets are available from Dice. Full credits and information: https://novara.media/westminster Produced by Planet B Productions and distributed by Novara Media.

The US military is changing shape: it’s increasingly high-tech, intelligence led, and focused on assassinations. In short, the Israeli model. And the changing shape of war means changing flows of money and power. The primes, which have dominated the military industrial for decades, now face competition from Silicon Valley companies like Palantir and Anduril. But does their tech actually work? Or does it just drag the US into wars it doesn’t even know why it’s fighting?   Do Your Own Research is a new show from Novara Media mapping the systems that make the modern world possible. Music by Iglooghost.

Cheap food holds capitalism together. But to get it, we’ve had to cheapen almost everything on the planet: the work of women, nature and colonies. We’ve made strange new ecologies all over the world, and now we’re living in the metabolic sh*tshow. How will the ruling class keep control? On this week’s Do Your Own Research, Jason Moore tells Richard Hames why the end of cheap nature means the rise of the security state. Music by Iglooghost

There’s nothing in the world more important than the food system. The twentieth century was scarred by enormous famines – and, like the one in Gaza, they are still deliberately engineered. But since the 1970s, the absolute number of deaths from famine have dropped by over 90%. On a global scale, we now make so much food that farmers will sometimes destroy it just to keep the prices high. How is there so much food? And, amid all these calories, how are so many people still malnourished? Why is it suddenly all so expensive? And is it all about to come crashing down? Charles C. Mann tells Richard Hames about the historical power of bird shit, the strange reason Indian scientists put wheat in a nuclear reactor, and how the genius who made modern farming possible also invented the gas that was used to murder millions in the Holocaust. Music by Iglooghost