A podcast about End Times internet trends, pop culture moments and other girly harbingers of doom
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Subscribe to the Wheeler Centre's podcast to hear full recordings of our talks, featuring the best in books, writing and ideas from Melbourne, Australia.
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Listen to the latest literary events recorded at the London Review Bookshop, covering fiction, poetry, politics, music and much more. Find out about our upcoming events here https://lrb.me/bookshopeventspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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A selection of our favourite articles from The Spectator magazine, read aloud by their writers.
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An ambitious series which blends politics and adventure, Tumanbay is a story of upheaval, revolution and romance set in a corrupt fictional city. This epic saga is inspired by the Mamluk slave-dynasty of Egypt, Gregor (Rufus Wright) - Master of the Palace Guard - is charged by Sultan Al-Ghuri (Raad Rawi) with the task of rooting out an insurgence and crushing it. Series 1 (2016) is 10 episodes, Series 2 (2017) is 8 episodes, Series 3 (2019) is 8 episodes. Cast: Cadali - Matthew Marsh / Wolf ...
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: William Cash reveals the dark side of Hollywood assistants (1:12); Marcus Nevitt reviews Ronald Hutton’s new book on Oliver Cromwell (7:57); Nina Power visits the Museum of Neoliberalism (13:51); Christopher Howse proves his notes on matchboxes (21:35); and, Olivia Potts finds positives in Americans’ maximalist at…
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Nina and Olivia discuss the trend of young people self diagnosing with Dissociative Identity Disorder and taking to Tik Tok to showcase their expansive systems of alters. We investigate the many factors that have brought us here- from CIA backed pseudo science to the effect of the Pandemic on adolescence.…
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CAConrad is one of the most productive and inventive poets of their generation. Writing in the New York Times, Tracey K. Smith described how Conrad’s poetry ‘invites the reader to become an agent in a joint act of recovery, to step outside of passivity and propriety and to become susceptible to the illogical and the mysterious’ – a susceptibility f…
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Joan Collins reads an extract from her diary (1:15); Owen Matthews argues that Russia and China’s relationship is just a marriage of convenience (3:19); reviewing The White Ladder: Triumph and Tragedy at the Dawn of Mountaineering by Daniel Light, Sara Wheeler examines the epic history of the sport (13:52); Igor T…
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Drawing on her own experience restoring a walled garden in Suffolk, and moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton’s Paradise Lost to John Clare’s enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Olivia Laing’s The Garden Against Time interrogates the sometimes shocking c…
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As part of The Wheeler Centre's 2024 Spring Fling program and in partnership with Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, listen to an exclusive podcast interview with celebrated writer Olivia Laing, interviewed by Sophie Cunningham. Olivia discusses her new book, The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise, which moves between real and imagine…
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At a Bethesda Baptist chapel two worshippers, separated in age by three decades, are drawn together by common interests, driven apart by divergent loves, before being reunited by the mysteries surrounding their small town. Francis Spufford describes Enlightenment (Jonathan Cape) as ‘a book in which everything is kindled into light by Sarah Perry’s …
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Nina and Olivia discuss different emergent categories of tourism including the Taylor Swift dominated concert tourism industry, sports tourism brought on by the Olympics and World Cup, and the growing field of medical tourism- where Americans travel to other countries for the sole purpose of receiving healthcare that they can’t at home.…
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Richard Madeley reads his diary for the week (1:01); Cindy Yu explores the growing trend for all things nostalgic in China (6:00); Lara Prendergast declares that bankers are hot again (11:26); Pen Vogler reviews Sally Coulthard’s book The Apple (17:18); and, James Delingpole argues that Joe Rogan is ‘as edgy as Ba…
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From ‘manfluencer’ culture and the rising popularity of Andrew Tate, to lists ranking teenage girls on their appearance, there’s an urgent need to address the widespread sexism and misogyny in our schools and wider society. Left unchecked, these harmful attitudes and behaviours will see rates of male violence against women continue to rise. In this…
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Held is Anne Michaels’ long-awaited new novel – following on from the 1996 classic Fugitive Pieces and 2009’s The Winter Vault – exploring, in the words of Margaret Atwood, ‘war and its damages, passed through generations over a century’. Michaels shared an extended reading from Held with actor Stephen Dillane, who played Jakob Beer in the 2007 fil…
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This week: Gus Carter reports from Rotherham (01:10), Paul Wood asks whether anything can stop full-scale conflict in the Middle East (05:55), Jonathan Aitken takes us inside Nixon's resignation melodrama (16:55), Laura Gascoigne reviews Revealing Nature: The Art of Cedric Morris and Lett-Haines (26:08), and Flora Watkins reads her notes on ragwort…
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Choirboy, drag act, grandson, mentor, poet, lover, activist, performer: Dean Atta has played many roles in his life. In his explosive, candid and courageous memoir Person Unlimited (Canongate) he describes a life lived in defiance of categories. Benjamin Zephaniah wrote of Atta’s work as being ‘As honest as truth itself. He follows no trend; he see…
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: James Heale interviews Woody Johnson, the former American Ambassador to the UK, about a possible second Trump term (1:19); Lara Prendergast reflects on the issue of smartphones for children and what lessons we could learn from Keir Starmer’s approach to privacy (6:35); reviewing Patrick Bishop’s book ‘Paris ’44: T…
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers have been sharing stories on this continent for millennia. From best-selling and award-winning poetry, memoir and fiction to powerful works that defy categorisation, Blak writing depicts, challenges and honours culture, community and Country. Much-loved books by First Nations writers stand strong on she…
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In The Future of Songwriting, lead singer with Throwing Muses, solo artist and songwriter Kristin Hersh reflects on the status and future of her chosen genre over a long, hot Christmas in Australia. In a series of conversations, encounters and philosophical dialogues Hersh delivers a fierce, funny and existential meditation on the art of the song -…
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Damian Thompson argues that Papal succession plotting is a case of life mirroring art (1:26); Paola Romero reports on Venezuela’s mix of Evita and Thatcher, Maria Corina Machado, and her chances of bringing down Nicolas Maduro (11:39); reviewing Richard Overy’s book ‘Why war?’, Stuart Jeffries reflects that war ha…
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In her debut novel Amma (Weatherglass), a multi-generational saga set in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and London, Saraid de Silva explores memory, trauma and displacement. She was in conversation with Nina Mingya Powles, author of Tiny Moons and Small Bodies of Water. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat…
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Nina and Olivia are joined by special guest Gabby Lopez @Mind.dies.nasty to discuss the Trump attempted assassination and the people who predicted it, from astrologers to internet schizophrenics. Nina reveals her idea for the ideal assassination and Gabby leaves us with some predictions for the next few months.…
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Kate Andrews argues vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance is more MAGA than Trump (1:27); Adam Frank explains how super-earths could help us understand what life might look like on another planet (5:15); David Hempleman-Adams recounts his attempt to cross the Atlantic on a hydrogen ballon (14:31); from Ukraine, Svi…
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Siblings (Monitor Books) is a unique round-table discussion / poetry collection, convened by Will Harris, between Harris, Jay Bernard, Mary Jean Chan and Nisha Ramayya. The four poets explore real and imaginary siblings, writing communities, and the wayward directions of the lyric mode – writing as makers and friends about the possibilities that po…
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: James Heale analyses the state of the Conservative leadership race (1:09); Svitlana Morenets reports from the site of the Kyiv children’s hospital bombed this week (5:56); Philip Hensher examines the ‘Cool Queer Life’ of Thom Gunn (12:13); Francis Beckett reviews ‘The Assault on the State’ arguing in favour of bur…
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The Olympic Games have always been a site of soft diplomacy for participating nations. This has never been truer than in 2024, as athletes and countries prepare to compete from 26 July to 11 August at the Paris Olympic Games. Olympic champions Patrick Johnson and Kieren Perkins join award-winning sports reporter Tracey Holmes to discuss the future …
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Nina and Olivia discuss the women who are serving and slaying this quarter including the internet’s hardest worker Trisha Paytas, rapper turned entrepreneur genius and or cheat M.I.A. and the woman who will be selected to be iconic perfume influencer Jeremy Fragrance’s wife. Also on the docket: a fourth of July recap, an investigation into baby goa…
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When Gillian Rose’s Love’s Work was published shortly before the author’s death in 1995, Marina Warner wrote in the LRB: ‘This small book contains multitudes. It fits to the hand like one of those knobbed hoops that do concise duty for the rosary, each knob giving the mind pause to open up to vistas of meditation on mysteries and passion.’ To mark …
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: after President Biden’s debate disaster, Freddy Gray profiles the one woman who could persuade him to step down, his wife Jill (1:05); Angus Colwell reports from Israel, where escalation of war seems a very real possibility (9:02); Matthew Parris attempts to reappraise the past 14 years of Conservative government …
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Meredith Whittaker is not afraid to take on tech giants. In 2018, she led the famous mass staff walkout at Google over the company’s laissez faire attitude towards sexual harassment allegations and the moral and ethical implications of its business practices. Now, as President of Signal, the not-for-profit encrypted and secure messaging app, Whitta…
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1917: Virginia Woolf arrives at Asheham, on the Sussex Downs, immobilized by nervous exhaustion and creative block. 1930: Feeling jittery about her writing career, Sylvia Townsend Warner spots a modest workman's cottage for sale on the Dorset coast. 1941: Rosamond Lehmann settles in a Berkshire village, seeking a lovers' retreat, a refuge from war,…
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Katy Balls reflects on the UK general election campaign and wonders how bad things could get for the Tories (1:02); Gavin Mortimer argues that France’s own election is between the ‘somewheres’ and the ‘anywheres’ (7:00); Sean Thomas searches for authentic travel in Colombia (13:16); after reviewing the books Great…
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Nina and Olivia discuss tradwives IRl and on the internet, including Nara Smith’s widespread appeal and controversies. We explore different attempts people take to control what they consume, from homesteading to paranoid reddit communities.由Apocalypse Wow!
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Lauren Oyler is one of our rowdiest and sharpest literary critics, twice causing the LRB website to crash from too much traffic, and author of the novel Fake Accounts. No Judgement is her first collection of non-fiction; a series of interlinked essays connecting internet gossip, the attention economy, and the role of criticism. Oyler is in conversa…
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Matt Ridley argues that whoever you vote for, the blob wins (1:02); William Cook reads his Euros notebook from Germany (12:35); Owen Matthews reports on President Zelensky’s peace summit (16:21); and, reviewing Michael Peel’s new book ‘What everyone knows about Britain’, Agnes Poirier ponders if only Britain knew …
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In this Wheeler Centre podcast exclusive, hear former Next Chapter recipient Khin Myint in conversation with Anna Krien as they discuss Myint's Fragile Creatures. Khin Myint is an Australian-Burmese writer from Perth. His debut memoir, Fragile Creatures, is about how his family tackled his sister’s wish to die as she fought a non-terminal illness. …
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Three of Wales' best contemporary writers in an early St David's Day celebration of Wales in words. Novelist Joe Dunthorne, National Poet of Wales Hanan Issa and Carnegie prize-winning novelist and playwright Manon Steffan Ros explore the country's literary history, share its less-known treasures, and discuss the meaning of 'Welshness' today, in a …
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Natasha Feroze reports on the return of ex-Labour MP Keith Vaz (1:10); Robert Ades presents the case against sociology A-level (7:39); Lucasta Miller reviews Katherine Bucknell’s book, Christopher Isherwood Inside Out (15:24); Sam McPhail provides his notes on the lager Madri (23:16); Toby Young explains why he wi…
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In 1993, Ma Thida was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her support of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and for ‘endangering public peace, having contact with illegal organisations, and distributing unlawful literature’. Released from prison in 1999, Thida’s advocacy for freedom of expression continues unabated as Chair of PEN Int…
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Fernanda Eberstadt’s Bite Your Friends is both a history of the body as a site of resistance to power, and a subversive memoir, drawing on a cast of outrageous heroes including Diogenes, Saint Perpetua, Pasolini, Pussy Riot and the political artist Piotr Pavlensky, who nailed his scrotum to the pavement of Red Square to protest Vladimir Putin’s tyr…
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