TRASHFUTURE

This week, it’s Riley, Milo, Alice, and Nate discussing a startup that will make it even easier for you to not own a home, the dreaded ‘football situation’ in England, the UK government’s plans to end all COVID distancing measures, and a dicey situation in the US state of Maine involving self-declared MILFs. If you want access to our Patreon bonus episodes, early releases of free episodes, and pow...

This week, we're discussing a few things: weird academy schools in Britain that want to do performative draconian discipline, a startup that is, uh, child-centric, and much more. We are pleased to welcome Devon from Kill James Bond and Da YouTube Zone to give us their perspective as a former teacher, and pharaoh-tier riffs. Listen to the full episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/...

This week, we're discussing Secret Cinema's plan to crowfund investor capital, the fact that Secret Cinema did a performance in Kabul in 2011, a dumb 'parody' startup, a Tory Lord being criticised for corruption (shocker), our pre-election take on Batley & Spen, and much more. Riley is on a fancy holiday so this episode is a gathering of Milo, Hussein, Nate, and Alice. Hope you enjoy! If you want...

We brought on Riley to discuss a phenomenon as eternally British as bad weather itself: the legend. Who are British legends? What makes them act this way? How do you create a taxonomy of figures to distinguish between the Essex Geezer, the Entrepreneurial Legend, the High Street Hard Man, and Tim Westwood? Well, we gave it our best go. This episode is from October 2020 so if anything is out of dat...

This week, we've rounded up our favorite historians and subjected them to yet another absolutely terrible movie--this time it's Ridley Scott's 'Robin Hood,' a nearly 150-minute long film that sucks. Who could not say they loved a long digression into the Magna Carta's origins or a sequence we can only call Medieval Saving Private Ryan? You will enjoy this. Get the whole episode on Patreon here: ht...

Okay, okay, maybe you've heard the term 'posh' or 'posho' when referring to fancy British people. You're aware that this country has a reputation for its class system. But what does it actually mean? To answer this question, we brought in TF founding cohost and knower of fancy tendencies Charlie Palmer to discuss. It's all here: getting ripped at 11 am on Dubonnet, wearing a straw hat every day at...

This week, we’ve got Jesse Farrar and Mike Hale of the Your Kickstarter Sucks podcast to discuss Kickstarter as a business, the weird and deeply unethical stuff that crowdfunding platforms get away with, and much more. However, we would be remiss if we didn’t also include recent British news--particularly of the horny type. If you want access to our Patreon bonus episodes, early releases of free e...

A lot going on here! We review the recent by-election in Amersham and Chesham, the upcoming election in Batley and Spen (both of which have yielded brain god predictions from Britain's press), review an ode to Zoom by normal shaped head haver and VC elder statesman Marc Andreesen, and speak with the FT's Jamie Powell about what appears to be yet another politically connected weird company with all...

It was inevitable that we would talk about the recent NY Times article about ‘the end of the millennial lifestyle subsidy,’ as if it was a surprise that endless money was keeping rideshare apps’ prices artificially low in order to bankrupt their competition. We also discuss the Labour Party’s supposed roadmap to success or whatever. You will enjoy this! If you want access to our Patreon bonus epis...

The series has finally come to an end. Apparently the populists will ruin anything, to include when a far-left government gets elected (too much populism!) We've finished the Lib Dem wet dream series Years & Years, and we are joined by Devon (of Da Youtube Zone and the Kill James Bond podcast) to discuss. The entire episode is available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52620964 Please con...

We speak with comedian Josie Long (@josielong) about a recent article in the Atlantic about whether or not Boris Johnson is Britain’s Trump. It’s a terrible article by a guy who knows nothing about Britain, but we wanted to get down to the individual details of why it’s just so infuriating. So, enjoy this episode where we’re in a good mental space. We also talk about a startup that, despite its na...

Financial journalist Alex Scaggs returns to talk about why the American treat based economy has strained around the edges. In short - as a result of decades of a sclerotic and implacable elite unable to get beyond their ideological commitments to shareholders, the US and UK are experiencing sky high prices, shortages of crucial goods, catastrophic misallocation of resources. But first, we talk abo...

This week we have a packed studio featuring Riley, Milo, Hussein, Alice, and friend of the show Juliet Jacques ( @zinovievletter ) to discuss her new book Variations. However, we also discuss trouble in SoftBank world, a BBC article about how humans will evolve into two bifurcated species of Virgin and Chad, and--hence the title--a recent brain-melt Quillette article about how apparently anime and...

This week, we're discussing Years & Years again. We simply couldn't cram two episodes into this round because there was so much going on--we want to get rid of our arms and legs, or replace our eyes with the light spectrum somehow--and so we gave this Lib Dem dystopian vision the attention it deserves. You may recognise Devon's voice from Da YouTube Zone and the Kill James Bond podcast, because th...

Comedian Tom Walker joins the gang to discuss how blockchain has finally disrupted dating! Then, we look at the demons pouring cryptocurrency poison into the ears of regulators in the US and U.K., a SoftBank insurance unicorn’s underwriting technology that isn’t, and we cap it off with a reading. If you want access to our Patreon bonus episodes, early releases of free episodes, and powerful Discor...

This week, Milo, Riley, and Alice explore the recent interventions of Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson into UK political discourse about 'what needs to happen in order for Labour to win.' We also make the mistake of thinking this is the free one, until the very end of the episode where we realize it's the bonus one. Sorry about that! We are, as ever, powerful thinkers. Get the whole thing on Patreon...

(This is a preview of this month's second Britainology, available to all our $10 subscribers) We greatly appreciated the suggestion from twitter user @underscoreJoeyB about an episode centered on dogging--the British phenomenon of meeting in the woods for anonymous sex. We brought on Kent's finest podcaster and our cohost Hussein Kesvani to discuss it, and to prepare for it we watched a horrific C...

Luv Bin Men, ’Ate Grooming Gangs, and I Vote This week, it’s the super chaos configuration of Milo, Hussein, and Nate discussing a recent story in the Times about how a local, locked Facebook group influenced an election in Greater Manchester by basically posting nonstop about how the Labour candidate was running a grooming gang. We also talk about terrible UK local news, how to read the temperatu...

We did it again. No theme, just riffs, with lots of Riley's fanciest desires explained and ruthlessly dunked on. Please enjoy this Balthasar Speedboat featuring friends of the show Pierre Novellie and Alex Kealy. Learn about Google Maps. Learn about nightclub reviews in former USSR countries. You will enjoy--that is an order! To get the whole thing, visit our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/...

This week we're joined by Aron Keller ( @aronkeller ) of the anti-occupation advocacy group Na'amod to discuss the recent events in Gaza and the communications strategies (particularly the deranged ones) of the Israeli government. We also discuss Dave Cameron's released Greensill texts and assess why he's basically one of those retired Italian construction workers who hangs out at building sites g...

During World War II and the early Cold War there were a group of English intelligence operatives who spied for the Soviet Union. All of them basically walked around with huge neon signs attached to them that said 'I am a spy for the Soviet Union,' but due to the diamond-hard class solidarity of Britain's establishment, everyone forced themselves to not notice this. We brought on Alice to discuss t...

Labour MP Jon Cruddas has written the best approximation of what can be considered “Starmerism’s offer to British workers.” While some elements - eg a job guarantee - are better than nothing (but even then, run their own risk of rebuilding a modern workhouse depending on the shape of the policy), even at best, their desirability and strategy for achieving them are based on a vision of the economy...

Ed and Jathan from This Machine Kills ( @machinekillspod ) are back to discuss another titan of the tech industry. Amazon's annual leader to shareholders has been released, and in it they advance a sort of inverse labour theory of value (who can be surprised!), with hilarious results. It's scale is now approaching a level that is hard to comprehend, so come with us across the event horizon. But fi...

What if Black Mirror did This Is Us? What if your kid wanted to upload themselves to their dang phone? What if a Lib Dem wrote one of the worst TV dramas to ever exist? All of this, and more, in the TF review of Years and Years (episodes 1 and 2). We hope it doesn't count as a spoiler alert to say it is bad. Get the whole episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50911906 We support the Lo...

May 6th will mark regional local elections in the UK, to include the London mayoral election. Considering that 4 of the 5 of us are based in London, this does in fact affect us. However, all polling indicates that Sadiq Khan will win again on a platform of More Cops and handing all decisions to property developers, with the remaining candidates all basically wanting More Cops. Sian Berry? Bad. Lau...