Sounding Board

“Evil is Evil. Lesser, greater, middling… Makes no difference. The degree is arbitary. The definition’s blurred. If I’m to choose between one evil and another… I’d rather not choose at all.” ~ Geralt of Rivia The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski In this first edition of 2020, Nic talks about his Christmas break of watching... The post The Witcher, Wokeness and Bad TV appeared first on sounding board...

In 2011 the residents of a small municipality in Mexico rose up against politicians, the police and illegal loggers associated with the drug cartel La Familia Michoacana. Expelling the corruption and driving those responsible from the town, the crime rate in Cherán has dropped off a cliff. What can we learn from their unique example?... The post Cherán, Mexico – How One Town Expelled The State app...

It’s results day 2019! In this episode, we discuss the UK General Election results. We look at statistics, trends, vote share and debate who, & what, were the real winners and losers this time around. We may be relieved, but is the result actually bittersweet? —— Please visit our website to download or stream all... The post Election Results 2019 – Who and what were the real winners? appeared firs...

It’s that time again! It’s polling day tomorrow, so we couldn’t record anything but a General Election special. We discuss the latest YouGov MRP (whatever that stands for…), trends amongst other polls and the state of the current crop of political parties. Just how close do we think the result will be? Will we be... The post General Election 2019 and the Current State of British Politics appeared...

Recorded straight after the last edition, we follow on with a discussion on the problems of our democratic system and whether we only have a choice of the “least worst” from here on in. We talk about whether voting matters in a “safe seat”, and whether we have been unwittingly encouraging others to vote on... The post Democracy, Libertarianism and the Trouble with Voting appeared first on sounding...

In this episode we analyse the manifestos of all major UK parties. And the Greens. Andrew reached for the short straw this week when he had to read all parties’ manifestos for the upcoming UK General Election on December 12th. Why are they all so similar? Why is it so hard to tell the difference,... The post The Leftwards Drift of UK Politics appeared first on sounding board .

Has Boris found the magic centrist formula for winning the election with his championing of both the free market and the public sector? Or will the Conservatives desire to spend, spend, spend, cause them to look like Labour Lite? After writing this blog post before there was a general election set, has anything changed? We... The post A La Cartism, Boris and the next UK General Election appeared f...

It’s the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – a crucial moment in the late 20th century that signalled the end of the Cold War and the retreat of Communism. So what has changed since then, and do people born after this moment have different sensibilities when it comes to who the... The post The Berlin Wall Fell 30 Years Ago appeared first on sounding board .

We’re finally having a general election.  But will it really solve the parliamentary problems we are currently experiencing? Why are we in the situation we are in? Why are we having a General Election at all? In this edition, Andrew and Nic discuss the craziness of the last couple of weeks in UK politics and... The post Does a General Election Mean we Finally Get Brexit? appeared first on sounding...

What if everything the government does was privatised? Not the law making, but all of the other functions and agencies and quangos. Could it be done quickly? What would be the consequences, and should we start with something small first… like the NHS. As we discuss going the whole hog, we realise we never started... The post Thought Experiment: Privatising the Public Sector appeared first on sound...

Are we heading for the end of the human species as predicted by Extinction Rebellion? In the middle of the second week of London protests and blockades, we discuss some of the issues surrounding Anthropogenic Global Warming, and climate change in general. Does it play into their hands if we arrest the protesters, as George... The post Climate Change And Extinction Rebellion appeared first on sound...

In a week dominated by reports in the media of parliament using inflammatory language, and the announcement that Sam Smith wants people to use new preferred pronouns, we discuss whether our natural language is becoming more like a formal one. What are the differences between a formal and natural language? What’s the importance of context... The post Formal Language and Woke Culture appeared first...

We are joined by the Head of Political Economy at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr Kristian Niemietz, for a conversation on the phenomenon of modern support for socialism, whether apologists for capitalism help their cause, and whether we’ll see a new classical liberal revolution in our lifetimes. You can find Kristian on Twitter as... The post Dr Kristian Niemietz Interview: Socialism, Capit...

Is centrism really the answer to any political question? Is the centre ground really the safe area furthest from the two dominant authoritarian ideologies of the 20th century, or merely a cherry picked, statist mix of the two; dressed up to sound reasonable and measured? From critiquing Rory Stewart’s centrist “bow” to whether or not... The post The Problems With The Centre Ground appeared first o...

After Andrew surprised Nic a few episodes ago with The Left Right Game, Nic has been thinking and planning a way of getting his own back, and taking the game a step further. In this edition, we look at whether certain organisations and people are more “Left” or “Right” wing (or a bit of both),... The post The Left Right Game 2 appeared first on sounding board .

As predicted, Boris Johnson has decided to end the current parliamentary session (the longest in modern times), and trigger a new Queen’s Speech. Remainists are naturally going crazy, and talking of constitutional outrage. But what does it actually mean for Brexit on 31 October? Is there time for fast-tracked, Bercow-enabled law that would either revoke... The post Proroguing Parliament: What does...

In this edition, we have a longer chat than usual, but try to get in all the smaller topics that we feel were too short to be podcasts in their own right, or that we just want to rant about. We discuss gaming culture, and whether the terminology is creeping into political life, how Andrew... The post Bit of a chat: driving whisky, ruining Monopoly and the Chuka Umunna Award appeared first on sound...

This week, we’re interested in rights. Specifically, the difference between negative & positive rights and what they mean. We also discuss the difference between moral absolutism & relativism and how the left use the difficulties in defining boundaries for nefarious means when they talk about the greater good. —— Please visit our website to download... The post Negative Rights And Moral Relativism...

How could the Remainer establishment blunt Boris Johnson’s threat of proroguing parliament to force through Brexit? Maybe, just maybe, there is a way of playing politics that blunts Boris’s endgame ambitions for no-deal. In short, what if Theresa May prorogued parliament now, before Boris gets a chance to? —— Please visit our website to download... The post Should May, Not Boris, Prorogue Parliame...

This week, I surprise Nic with a new jape: The Left Right Game! I had the idea to state a number of different, collectivist policies and Nic had to tell me whether they were left or right wing, with evidence of course, to test my theory that many people associate all forms of statism with... The post The Left Right Game appeared first on sounding board .

This week we talk about capitalism in an unapologetic way. We talk not about the ethics, but the morality of capitalism. Something we feel isn’t talked about enough these days, if ever. We consider what capitalism means, we try to define it in a moral, meaningful way, before finally asking ourselves if it needs a... The post Does Capitalism Need A Reboot… Into Valueism? appeared first on sounding...

Why is it that only humans trade?  In this edition, we discuss how the human capacity to think has lead us to invent the concepts of specialisation and exchange, and that there is a common fallacy that trade transactions aren’t in fact Win-Win. —— Please visit our website to download or stream all our previous... The post The Uniqueness of Human Thought and Win-Win Transactions appeared first on s...

This week another book on communism was published. We know what you’re thinking. This time, it’s going to be different… So we question various obvious, and not so obvious, aspects to communism. What happens to privacy when others decide what I am allowed? How much slavery is acceptable? How is value determined? How can communism... The post What’s Up With Communism? appeared first on sounding boar...

This time, we revisit Change UK: The Independent Group. Actually, hang on: Change UK and The Independent Group. The splitters have split again. Warning: contains mild gloating. —— Please visit our website to download or stream all our previous episodes and to read our articles. Web: https://soundingboard.com Podcast RSS: https://soundingboard.com/feed/podcast Remember, you can now subscribe... The...

In this latest episode, we discuss the Lib Dems and their recent successes in the EU elections and the latest polls. We reason why they’ve experienced a recent uplift before discussing Change UK: The Independent Group and why they’ve seen precisely the opposite. —— Please visit our website to download or stream all our previous... The post Lib Dems and Change UK: Anti-democratic Politics in the UK...