The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast

This podcast episode delves into the ongoing Hollywood writers' strike, discussing its justification and potential impact on the entertainment industry. It explores the challenges faced by writers, the role of unions, and the threat of Artificial Intelligence. The episode also speculates on the length of the strike and explores the negative impacts of excessive TV consumption.

On episode 38, Charles begins by rebuffing a takeover attempt from a ghostly Luther Ray Abel. Afterwards, he talks to the novelist Lionel Shriver about immortality, the topic of her recent cover story at National Review. What are the personal and societal implications of immortality? What drives her to write about that topic? Does Lionel want to live forever herself? What would be her biggest fear if she could attain eternal life? Is she more bored than she was 15 years ago? What does she feel when she thinks about the size of the universe? Is Charles wrong to find it sad that, at some point soon, all his memories will be completely and permanently obliterated? Is there any point in living for a long time if you spend all your time extending your life and not much time living it?The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

On episode 37, Charles talks to historian, Andrew Roberts, about Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, King George III, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and others. Among the topics discussed: Where did Churchill get his literary ability? What would have happened if Britain had made peace with the Nazis in 1940? Was Napoleon a 'tyrant'? Is the U.S. uninvadeable? Was George III a good king? Is the Declaration of Independence accurate? Were the Allies lucky that Hitler made the strategic decisions? And does Andrew miss his subjects when he's finished writing about them?The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

On episode 36, Charles begins by highlighting his favorite parts of Becky Pringle's astonishing speech to the 2023 NEA Conference, and then chats with "school-choice evangelist" Corey DeAngelis about the dramatic increase in interest in his prescriptions since COVID-19 changed the world. Among the questions Corey answers are: "What is school choice?" "What is a charter school?" "What is a voucher?" "Which state has the best system?" "Do school-choice advocates oppose public schools?" "Should there be an income cut-off for school-choice programs?" And: "Does American democracy require an education monopoly?"The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

On episode 35 of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast, Charles begins by answering a question about what he prefers about England and what he prefers about America, and then talks to Eli Lake about whether the Espionage Act of 1917 ought to exist, and whether Donald Trump ought to have been charged under it.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.  Episode 22: The Streets Are Made of Cheese

On episode 34, Charles talks to Tim Carney about his book, Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse. Among the topics they discuss are what constitutes "the American Dream," whether that American Dream is "dead" (as Donald Trump charged in 2016), and, if so, when that decline started and what caused it. After that, Charles asks if those who are suffering are right to be angry with the government, if the malaise can be fixed, and to what extent Tim thinks that the answer lies in a resurgence of religious belief and community.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.  

On this pop-up episode, Charles talks to the Pacific Legal Foundation's Ethan Blevins about the Supreme Court's decision to strike down affirmative action, and then answers a question about his time at King's College Choir School in Cambridge.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.  

On episode 32—released on the 32nd of the month—Charles talks to Gareth Russell, who wrote a book about the Titanic (Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era) and who, a couple of years ago, was invited to take a trip on the Titan submersible that sank this week. Among the topics Charles and Gareth discuss are why the Titanic continues to command such interest, whose fault its sinking was, when the conspiracy theories started, and if its ethical to go down to what is, in effect, a mass grave.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.  

On episode 31 of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast—this one with 100% less Luther Abel—Charles chats with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya about his reflections on the pandemic. What did he get right? What did he get wrong? Has the public health establishment learned its lesson? Does it deserve to be trusted? If so, how would we get back to that? Does Dr. Bhattacharya share Charles's enthusiasm for the vaccine? What, if anything, did Anthony Fauci get right? Answers abound.Charles is now back from Italy, and in possession of quite a lot of wine.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.  

On episode 30 of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast, Charles welcomes back his old Mad Dogs and Englishmen co-host, Kevin Williamson, to talk about cities, crime, whether libertarians were wrong about marijuana legalization, going to Italy, shooting snakes with revolvers, and who is going to be the Republican nominee in 2024. No PPE money was destroyed during the making of this podcast.N.B. Charles is now on vacation. The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast will return in two weeks.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.