TRASHFUTURE

What if you could never be fired from your job -- even if you crossed every possible line, to include threatening to sexually assault and then immolate your neighbour’s child during a row over drum practice? What if you were also insanely racist? In your published columns? Well then, you’d be Giles Coren, Britain’s worst food writer. This week, Riley (@raaleh), Milo (@Milo_Edwards), Nate (@inthesedeserts), and Olga (@rocknrolga ) join Eater London writer Jonathan Nunn (@demarionunn) to discuss Giles’s reign of terror in the British food writing scene. We also discuss transport secretary Chris Grayling’s scheme to fund a ferry company with no boats -- and, crucially, an article from Ed Husain on ‘Britain regaining its confidence’ that seems to be written by artificial intelligence. Please bear in mind that your favourite moron lads have a Patreon now. You too can support us here: https://www.patreon.com/trashfuture/overview *LIVE SHOW ALERT* We have an upcoming live show -- with comedian Josie Long -- in London on February 21st at the Star of Kings (126 York Way, Kings Cross, London N1 0AX) starting at 7.30 pm. You can buy tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trashfuture-live-ft-josie-long-tickets-54546538164 *COMEDY KLAXON* The previous Smoke event has sold out, but on January 31st at 8 pm, Milo will perform his own show at Smoke Comedy at the Sekforde (34 Sekforde Street London EC1R 0HA) with Russian comedian Yevgeniy Chebatkov. Tickets are free, but make sure to sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/smoke-comedy-presents-milo-edwards-wip-tickets-54529080949 Also: you can commodify your dissent with a t-shirt from http://www.lilcomrade.com/, and what’s more, it’s mandatory if you want to be taken seriously. Do you want a mug to hold your soup? Perhaps you want one with the Trashfuture logo, which is available here: https://teespring.com/what-if-phone-cops#pid=659&cid=102968&sid=front

Happy new year, you voles, you vulgar abbey mice. The clock might just be striking midnight, but that’s no excuse for you to not ditch your family and the people who love you in order to listen to this week’s Trashfuture. In this episode, Riley (@raaleh), Milo (@Milo_Edwards), Alice Caldwell-Kelly (@AliceAvizandum) join special guest Felix Biederman (@ByYourLogic) of Chapo Trap House to discuss Steven Pinker’s exceptional work of analysis, “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.” Okay, breaking kayfabe here -- this is the dumbest book on the planet. The idea that this even got published is proof of the sheer brain death involved among Harvard thought leaders. You will enjoy the takes, but you have to go into it with the following fact in hand: we didn’t make any of this up. These are real quotes. Please bear in mind that your favourite moron lads have a Patreon now. You too can support us here: https://www.patreon.com/trashfuture/overview *COMEDY KLAXON* Milo will host Smoke Comedy at the Sekforde (34 Sekforde Street London EC1R 0HA) on January 16 at 8 pm. Come see Ahir Shah and a list of a number of great comedians. Get a ticket for free by signing up here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/smoke-comedy-featuring-ahir-shah-tickets-53346459697 Also: you can commodify your dissent with a t-shirt from http://www.lilcomrade.com/, and what’s more, it’s mandatory if you want to be taken seriously. Do you want a mug to hold your soup? Perhaps you want one with the Trashfuture logo, which is available here: https://teespring.com/what-if-phone-cops#pid=659&cid=102968&sid=front

It’s a strange situation when we actually like something on this show - and therefore decided to have a relatively serious conversation about it. On this week’s Trashfuture, Riley (@raaleh), Hussein (@HKesvani), and Nate (@inthesedeserts) spoke with Wendy Liu (@dellsystem) and Trevor Beaulieu (@RickyRawls ) of the Champagne Sharks podcast about Boots Riley’s film ‘Sorry to Bother You.’ As you can possibly imagine, we really enjoyed this film and had a lot to say about it, specifically about how it’s an unabashedly socialist movie that’s also funny.  Spoiler alert: yes, this podcast contains spoilers. If you want to hear more from Trevor, you can access episodes of Champagne Sharks here: https://soundcloud.com/champagnesharks Please bear in mind that we still have a Patreon. You can join the legions of movie gods and rock stars, and support us here: https://www.patreon.com/trashfuture/overview Also: you can commodify your dissent with a t-shirt from http://www.lilcomrade.com/, and what’s more, it’s mandatory if you want to be taken seriously. Do you want a mug to hold your soup? Perhaps you want one with the Trashfuture logo, which is available here: https://teespring.com/what-if-phone-cops#pid=659&cid=102968&sid=front

This week's bonus is the first installment of something we've been wanting to do for a while: a Q&A episode. However, before we could get there, we had to read our beloved boy Toby Young's insane holiday column about his 'vertiginous' 'defenestration' from public life. In this preview, you can get a taste of what it's like when we have free reign to respond to our curiouscat. We did our best to answer your questions with a minimum of Yu Gi Oh references. Well, a relative minimum. If you want to hear the whole episode, sign up on the Patreon at the following link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/wehavebeenpublic-23436301 You can commodify your dissent with a t-shirt from http://www.lilcomrade.com/, and what’s more, it’s mandatory if you want to be taken seriously. ☕SOUP ALERT☕ You can also purchase a soup mug here: https://teespring.com/trashfuture-soup-mug#pid=659&cid=102910&sid=front      

Business Joker. You thought it was just a dumb meme, but to your hardo connections on LinkedIn, it’s a way of life. On this week’s Trashfuture, Riley (@raaleh), Milo (@Milo_Edwards), and Nate (@inthesedeserts) spoke with Sarah Manavis (@sarahmanavis) discuss Tumblr’s ban on porn (and how tech companies fundamentally do not understand their users), a WeWork job description for what sounds like the editor of a cult yearbook, why YouTube’s pro-racism user base hated its yearly rewind video, and a lot terrible business success ideas. On this episode, we discussed an article that Sarah wrote about Tumblr. You can read it here: https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/social-media/2018/12/tumblr-s-porn-ban-another-case-social-media-sites-misunderstanding Please bear in mind that your favourite moron lads have a Patreon now. You too can support us here: https://www.patreon.com/trashfuture/overview Also: you can commodify your dissent with a t-shirt from http://www.lilcomrade.com/, and what’s more, it’s mandatory if you want to be taken seriously. Do you want a soup mug? Yes, you do, because this dying planet demands more themed trinkets: https://teespring.com/trashfuture-soup-mug#pid=659&cid=102910&sid=front  

In a preview of this week's particularly festive bonus, Riley reviews the academic paper 'The End of the Transition Paradigm' by Thomas Carothers. Riley discusses international relations as a discipline, his takes on some core assumptions of the genre, how it's influenced modern politics in the general Atlantic region, and much more. You can read the article in its entirety here: https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/sites/default/files/Carothers-13-1.pdf and then tell Riley why, actually, he's wrong. If you want to listen to the episode in its entirety, click here and sign up to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/rileys-festive-23268870   Also: you can commodify your dissent with a t-shirt from http://www.lilcomrade.com/, which we strongly recommend.

Does your investment portfolio include cannabis? Do you want leverage on your dank nugs? On this week’s Trashfuture, Riley (@raaleh), Milo (@Milo_Edwards), and Nate (@inthesedeserts) spoke with Jacobin staff writer and now two-time guest Luke Savage (@LukewSavage) to discuss why Canada’s new weed legalisation regime is both gentrifying and rarefying cannabis. There are also a lot of really great names in here, like Mark Pupo and Roger Rogers, all sane people who are business leaders to emulate, as well as some spectacular highbrow weed review copy that we scrutinise. Please bear in mind that your favourite moron lads have a Patreon now. You too can support us here: https://www.patreon.com/trashfuture/overview Also: you can commodify your dissent with a t-shirt from http://www.lilcomrade.com/, and what’s more, it’s mandatory if you want to be taken seriously.

I'm going to unlock another Riley's Commie Book Club, because I'm going to do another book club episode later today. In this episode of my podcast-within-a-podcast, I'm talking about Chantal Mouffe's "For a Left Populism. Why are we constantly told that the status quo — i.e. neoliberal market economics  — is the natural order? What does it mean to be "political," versus "post-political"? And how should the left see itself?

On this week’s Trashfuture, Riley (@raaleh), Milo, Hussein (@HKesvani), and Nate (@inthesedeserts) spoke with writer Alice Caldwell-Kelly (@AliceAvizandum ) about a banner week in brain-dissolution, which included a viewing of a very popular Unicorn Poopsie Surprise unboxing video -- a toy designed by algorithms and popular with children who want to make their own unboxing videos. Also covered: Uber but for unlicensed ambulances, disingenuous Tory ‘outrage’ about a viral video showing the schoolyard abuse of a Syrian refugee boy, and a special visit from Brendan O’Neill to summarise the hypocrisy of the SJWs regarding the inhabitants of North Sentinel Island. Here’s the horrible unboxing video, in which adults dress up and act like children who are dressing up and acting like adults: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80rugwkSSig Please bear in mind that your favourite moron lads have a Patreon now. You too can support us here: https://www.patreon.com/trashfuture/overview Also: you can commodify your dissent with a t-shirt from http://www.lilcomrade.com/, and what’s more, it’s mandatory if you want to be taken seriously.

This week's bonus episode of Trashfuture is actually a pilot of sorts -- it's a comedy show we've assembled featuring an ensemble cast of Milo, Riley, Olga Koch, Pierre Noveille, Alex Kealy, and a few bits from Nate as well. It's a show about how to feel the snow in a sensual way, assigned names for criminals, Dilbert-esque porn banter, Adam Sandler's comedic oeuvre, and Nate discussing a repressed memory about a German magazine he read as a kid that depicted a very silly dog. If you want to hear the whole thing, sign up at the $5 Patreon tier or higher: https://www.patreon.com/posts/23099008 Also: you can commodify your dissent with a t-shirt from http://www.lilcomrade.com/. Here are some new slogans we recommend: 'Dragon dick energy', 'What if your phone was the cops', and '"Truly, we live in a society," -Brendan O'Neill'