The recent gloriously warm summer weather has given me an excuse to combine sunbathing with listening to my usual podcasts and exploring the enormous variety now available. Lying back in a garden deckchair with a sandwich and a glass of wine, taking time out from the world of dark and often desperate news to listen to a favourite podcast, is pure unadulterated bliss.
Many of my friends are distinctly underwhelmed when I mention my enthusiasm. In the hope that I might convert some of the more sceptical to all that the world of podcasts can offer I’ve been inspired to put forward some suggestions for summer listening, based on my own choices.
(And of course none require that you are eating lunch lounging in a deck chair while listening – although one or two could benefit from a drop of the golden stuff as light relief.)
Great escapes from political commentary:
Add to Playlist – such a brilliant idea – a playlist not composed algorithmically but seemingly randomly, linking music of entirely different genres and eras. Guests contribute their ideas of how one piece might link to another based on an emotion, a similar musical phrasing, rhythm or instrument. Each episode adds five further tracks to the playlist and the result is a wonderfully random mix, taking you to unexpected places and often to completely unfamiliar musical genres.
A recent programme had guests Anna Lapwood and Andrew Roachford leading listeners on a journey from 1960s Jamaica via the Hunger Games and a Rolling Stones choir to the Congo, finishing with one of the best-known songs in the world.
Hosted by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe, it’s available on BBCSounds:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00106lb/episodes/guide
It’s a Fair Cop – another BBC Radio 4 show (I know, I know, I’m conforming to every woke lefty stereotype!) – ex-policeman and stand-up comedian Alfie Moore presents his audience with a real-life crime situation and signs them up as temporary cops with the classic phrase “You’re nicked, sunshine”. Taking them through the development of events, he invites them to decide what they would do if they were standing in his shoes and inevitably gets some mad and surreal responses. Hilarious and also fascinating as we learn about some of the situations he met with during his career as a cop.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b060fj66
The Rest Is History with historians Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland. The two presenters are excellent foils for one another, and the format supports a really deep dive into some critical events and historical characters.
The series on the Russian Tsar Peter the Great is absolutely fascinating – who knew? (I didn’t) that as a teenager he travelled incognito to the Netherlands and to Britain so that he could work in a shipbuilders yard, that he enjoyed vicious practical jokes, including one that involved a friend being literally blown up by having a bellows inserted into his rear end, and that he was obsessed with building his eponymous city, St Petersburg, in one of the worst possible sites in the entirety of Russia. Swampy, mosquito-infested, bitterly cold for much of the year, and consuming ten thousand lives in its construction.
The Rest Is History comes from the Goalhanger stable and can be found on Apple/Spotify or any of the usual podcast platforms.
Committed fan of political commentary?
If you are, it’s more than likely that you already listen to The Rest Is Politics, with Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell – weekly commentary on current affairs and responses to listeners’ questions. Most interesting when they cover topics or countries that are rarely mentioned in the mainstream media.
Media Confidential – a weekly exploration of events in the media – who is covering what and why – by Alan Rusbridger, ex-editor of The Guardian, and Lionel Barber, a previous editor of The Financial Times. Given their backgrounds, this can often be an extremely well-informed analysis of the thinking behind the headlines of the day, and a debate about how the media shapes public opinion.
The David Frum Show – David Frum is a senior editor of The Atlantic, a Canadian-American, and former speech-writer for George W Bush – which signposts his slightly right-of-centre politics, sometimes a useful counterbalance to my usual listening. He’s also a reminder of the “old style” intelligent Republican, an almost dying breed in the present GOP, and he very definitely detests Trump.
His focus is on understanding how democracy in America works (or doesn’t), what is worth defending, and how it can be made better. Recent episodes have included a discussion with a previous ambassador to Ukraine on Trump’s betrayal, and Tina Brown on why billionaires go crazy… Who could she possibly mean?
Some podcast recommendations from one of the regular contributors to Sussex Bylines, Susan Kerrison:
I find a lot of US podcasts really good – Judging Freedom is a particular favourite, a daily podcast commenting on current affairs and presented by, amongst others, ex ambassadors Charles Freeman and Alastair Crooke. Freeman was US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and he also speaks fluent Chinese – he was Nixon’s interpreter on that famous visit. Crooke is described as a British diplomat but worked for M16 “under diplomatic cover”.
Commentators on Ukraine and the Middle East have included a retired high ranking officer in the US military, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, and a former CIA analyst, Larry C Johnson. Wilkerson was Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, and has a wonderfully dry humour. They tell me about military strategy, how much US bombs cost, morale in the Israeli army and much more. These are all old men and have nothing to lose by talking straight.
An absolute must if you are at all interested in economics are economists Professor Richard Wolff and Michael Hudson on Dialogue Works (You Tube) hosted by Nima Alkhorshid. I love Mike Hudson in particular and have learnt more about world economy from him in the last 6 months than I have in 70 years!
Last but not least – I shouldn’t forget our very own Bylines Network Podcast, the most recent in the series being an interview with the renowned geographer Danny Dorling about his new book “The Next Crisis : What We Think About the Future”, to be found on Amazon/Spotify/any of the usual podcast platforms.
While these are my individual choices we’d love to hear recommendations from readers of podcasts that you’ve found entertaining, informative or unusual – there’s a world of sceptics out there who still remain to be convinced!
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