Episode summary: This week David talks to novelists Adam Biles and John Lanchester about the timeless appeal of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Why has it retained its hold far longer than other political allegories? Do readers need to know about the Russian history it describes? What makes the animals...

Episode summary: The UK Prime Minister has announced several changes to key policies designed to help Britain reach net zero by 2050. In a major speech justifying what many see as a watering down of commitments, Rishi Sunak championed Britain’s achievements to date in cutting emissions. But where do...

Episode summary: Since its rise to international acclaim, the multi-award-winning “Have You Heard George’s Podcast?” has remained famously undefinable. In its explosive new season, however, this finally changes, as George the Poet pieces together fragments of the African and Caribbean independence s...

Episode summary: What is a National Dish? with Anya von Bremzen

Episode summary: PJ Vogt introduces his new show, Search Engine, where he digs into all kinds of questions, big and small. On this episode: why are drug dealers putting fentanyl in everything? You can find the concluding episode of the story here. To find more episodes of Search Engine or to submit...

Episode summary: Guns Part 5: The Footnote

Episode summary: Our first ever guest Talia Stroud is one of the principal investigators on a slate of social science research investigating Facebook’s impacts on the 2020 elections, and we’re thrilled to welcome her back to tell us about what her team is finding when they look at the funny things a...

Episode summary: What’s the connection between Trump, margarine, and Mark Meadows?

Episode summary: Alex Cox returns to the Automators to share a few new automation tricks and get answers for some more involving NFC Tags, Keyboard Maestro, and Automation Possibilities with Apple’s Vision Pro.

Episode summary: This week Lea Ypi joins David to talk about some of the ideas in his new book, The Handover: How We Gave Control of Our Lives to Corporations, States and AIs. They discuss how to think about the power of the state in the modern world: Can it be changed? Can it be controlled? Can it...