Rory Scothorne joins Tom to discuss the evolution of Scottish politics over the past century or so, and how best to understand a country that’s shifted from a centre right electoral majority in the 1950s to a Labour stronghold in the 1980s, to being governed by the SNP since 2007. Is Scotland’s left-wing tradition a myth? And with the loss of Nicola Sturgeon ... Show More
Oct 29
How Prediction Markets Work
According to their boosters, prediction markets such as Polymarket or Kalshi are ‘global truth machines’; their detractors say they’re just a glorified form of gambling. Either way, they’re zero-sum games with, as Geoff Mann put it recently in the LRB, ‘few winners and many loser ... Show More
1 h
Oct 24
Ulysses: James Joyce's properly obscene book
Tom McCarthy, writing in the LRB, described James Joyce's Ulysses as a ‘heavy book, a book full of weight, a fallen book’; a ‘properly obscene book’; ‘a book in which the central stake is the coming into being of the book itself’; a book for which ‘people should desist, once and ... Show More
53m 35s
Oct 22
How Fredric Jameson became Fredric Jameson
Perry Anderson once wrote that in Fredric Jameson’s account of postmodernism, ‘the vocation of Western Marxism has reached its most complete consummation.’ Praising the ‘spacious rhythms’ of his ‘complex, yet supple syntax’ and ‘sudden bursts of metaphoric intensity’, Anderson al ... Show More
53m 25s
Dec 2023
204. Scotland's pivotal role, the moment everything changed, and whether to serve under Starmer (Part 1)
Would Rory serve in a Keir Starmer Labour cabinet? How important is Scotland in the next election? What was the most under-appreciated political moment of 2023?
Join Rory and Alastair for an end of year TRIP special, as they answer all these questions and more. Part 2 out Thursd ... Show More
47m 33s
Feb 2024
58. Humza Yousaf, First Minister of Scotland: Nicola Sturgeon, independence, and his family's escape from Gaza
What is the future of the independence debate in Scotland? How was it to work with Nicola Sturgeon? Have world leaders done enough to curb civilian deaths in Gaza?
On today's episode of Leading, Rory and Alastair are joined by Scotland's First Minister and leader of the SNP, Hum ... Show More
1h 4m