Casement's Leftovers

Feeling alone? Sexually inadequate? Is your dating app fueled anxiety getting you down?  We're here to help. This week Casement's Leftovers is cringing over the "Sex Positive" identity industrial complex. We weigh in on whether being into p*ss play makes you a better comrade or if wearing latex to sex parties will get you radical points online.Glen discusses the marketplace of TikTok "non-straight" masc queer baiting, and reveals his appreciation of the stanislavski method on P*rnHub.Helen and Heather get into it about performative sexuality, and discuss how much of what we do in bed is something we do for our own enjoyment. Matt dispatches from Berlin, discussing the psychotic history of the German Green Party.***Don't forget you can email us at casementsleftovers@gmail.com, tell us if we forgot to mock your personal kink.Intro music by Lick The Tins - "Can't  Help Falling in Love"Outro music by Birdcloud - "Saving Myself for Jesus" Support the show

All the way back in 1977 John and Barbara Ehrenreich coined the term “the professional-managerial class” to refer to “salaried mental workers who do not own the means of production and whose major function in the social division of labour may be described broadly as the reproduction of capitalist culture and capitalist class relations.” The term reemerged in the 2010s with renewed vigour as a useful way of denoting a class of technocratic liberals who occupy an increasingly dominant role in culture and politics, indulging in performative social justice posturing with one hand while resolutely defending the status quo with the other. On this episode, the crew discuss the latest intervention into this particular discourse, Catherine Liu’s 2021 book Virtue Hoarders: The Case Against the Professional-Managerial Class. In an attempt to locate the PMC in Ireland, we dive deep into the perverse habits and proclivities of this group of people, skewer their tendency to scold and moralise, and debate whether or not we should even think of them as a separate class at all. Oh, and about two thirds of the way through, we also watch some porn. Don’t ask me why. Oh, and because we always forget, a quick request (note: not begging) to share the podcast with your friends and family if you think they’d like it. People always say that iTunes reviews help, so maybe do that as well? Otherwise you might just be a perverted PMC dog. Support the show

Following an unexplained absence almost as traumatic as that of the Galaxy Truffle, everyone’s favourite Irish republican podcast is back, and just in time for the holidays! As the out of control woke brigade continues its unprovoked and ruthless war on Christmas, the Casement's crew get in the festive spirit by looking back on a war possibly even more pointless and unjust: Iraq. More specifically, Helen ruins your favourite Christmas film by arguing that Love Actually (2003) is literally Iraq War propaganda. Elsewhere, Heather is repulsed by the film’s promotion of creepy male behaviour and Glen is repulsed by the film’s Britishness. Turn the Christmas lights on and the Nostalgia dial all the way up to Sickly Sweet, and join Helen, Glen, Heather and brand new permanent co-host Matt on a trip back to the early 2000s, when Hugh Grant literally did 9/11 and George Bush told us "There’s WMDs, Actually".Support the show

We know what you're thinking - why hasn't my favourite republican podcast done an episode about the KEY event in the communist calendar: The Eurovision Song Contest?! It's TOMORROW NIGHT and THEY HAVEN'T SPOKEN ON IT YET - WELL WORRY NO MORE!!! HERE IT IS!!!!!!We talk everything from Johnny Logan to Dana, the American influence to the growing stalinisation of the competition, Riverdance to the event's typically European centrist claim of being "unpolitical" (and thus being explicitly political). We answer the question on everyone's lips: how big an impact did Dustin the Turkey have on the Lisbon Treaty? And finally we shine a much needed spotlight on Eurovision's elusive Soviet cousin: Intervision. DUN DUN DUNEnjoy, don't cancel us x Support the show

There's a reason we chose Roger Casement as the symbol for this podcast: a queer figure in Irish revolutionary history (queer here meaning gay, a failure and truly disruptive) and a genuine anti-imperialist who saw through a persuasive ideological hegemony in order to understand the brutality and illegitimacy of colonialism and dedicated his life to fighting it, he represents an active, civic republicanism that offers the contemporary Left so much. It's about time we dedicated an episode to him, and so Helen and Glen are joined by Professor Gerry Kearns to discuss Casement's life and the lessons we can take from his actions and ideas. They examine his cruising and the intersectional spaces of encounter that this carved out for him, his ability to identify and articulate the problems of colonialism in an explicitly socialist, materialist way, the importance he placed on love and humanity and his haunting final speech before his execution. They debate the limits of cultural nationalism, specifically with a 1916 framework, and look at how nationalism can be expanded through a re-imagining of the nation, an impetus on what kind of nation you want to build, and a centring of love, loyalty, legitimacy and humanity.  As if this wasn't enough, they finally discuss contemporary colonialism and how unregulated late stage capitalism has led us into a world as confusing and inhospitable as the one Casement faced, and use Casement's many lessons to try to understand how to make our way into a future he would be proud of. Prof Gerry Kearns has written a piece on Casement which can be read here: https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/11094/1/Kearns%2CNally%2CAn%20accumulated%20wrong.pdf*Note: around 19 minutes in Gerry mentions Thomas Davitt, but this should actually be corrected to Michael Davitt. Support the show

That's right, we're giving the people what they want: another Mark Fisher episode! We obviously couldn't do it without Matt Wrafter from @therockisdead, so here he joins Helen and Glen to review Mark Fisher's recent posthumously published book; Post-Capitalist Desire. The book is a transcript from Mark's final lecture series and it's a revisiting of both the failures and successes of past countercultures in order to try and build a movement for the future. It's a beautiful, optimistic text which holds so much for any Leftist. Matt, Helen and Glen chose certain moments or quotes that meant to a lot to them and discuss why and how we can use them out here in the real world. They attempt to answer some of the scary questions about coping with material desire as an anti-capitalist, and discuss everything from the power of building a collective consciousness and how we'll manage this in our fractured, digital, post-covid world to the real problems with identity politics (not just right wing talking points about them) and how to move past their limitations into a shiny new post-capitalist world. Buy Post-Capitalist Desire here: https://repeaterbooks.com/product/postcapitalist-desire-the-final-lectures/Support the show

The sequel to Anne Rice's cult classic is here and this time it features an even more deranged, amoral and blood sucking protagonist! As you well know Casement's Leftovers are committed socialist republicans and we wanted our own go at the age old brawl between those who want to fix the state and make it a socialist dreamscape and those who want to burn it down and build ehh something  they're not sure. Glen and Helen got one of those little gremlins into the studio and engaged them in half debate about how we'll build the future and half vicious roast of their character and the character of anarchism as a whole.  Time to decide: which side are you on? Support the show

It was a time of helicopters to work, fire dancers of a Wednesday evening, Girls Aloud at your 21st and the meddling of Deutsche Bank. How did we fuck it up so badly, what do we have to show for it all and where did all the money go? Helen, Glen and Heather revisit the hazy, heady years of Celtic Tiger tomfoolery to explore the most hysterical excesses and finally boil down to the pivotal question: why is Conor McGregor still haunted by the ghost of the boom and what lessons can we head from him? Tune in to find out .Support the show

Tackling astrology, witchcraft, and the expansive Irish diaspora, the Casement's Leftovers clan raise a few important questions. What are the motivating factors for today's modern emigrants? Is the Irish state at fault? And why are Libras... so Libra?Support the show

Casement's is back after a long Christmas hiatus to discuss what has rightfully dominated Irish headlines for the last few weeks. We're joined by our new co-host Heather to cover what struck us about the report, whether the influence of the church really has waned as much as is said, the state's perpetual practices of incarceration, and what needs to be done now, by church and state, to bring about any sort of justice. Support the show