TRASHFUTURE

This week, friend of the show Juliet Jacques ( @zinovievletter ) joins Riley, Milo, Nate, and Alice to discuss her brain-destroying foray into ‘sensible disagreement’ politics podcasts in the UK, featuring guys with definitely no baggage such as George Osborne, Alistair Campbell, Rory Stewart, and more. We also discuss a startup that promises a revolution in being even more annoying. Check out Jul...

A rare in-studio episode with Riley, Milo, Alice, and friend of the show Sophie from Mars, in which we discuss the anti-LGBTQ backlash that's making corporations decide that actually they were always completely homophobic. We also discuss orb-related news and a deeply strange AI-generated store that's paying for ads on Twitter.   Check out Sophie's videos here! https://www.youtube.com/c/sophiefrom...

We’re joined by friend of the show Gareth Dennis ( @garethdennis ) to discuss newly unveiled plans to close every ticket counter at every train station in England. Nothing else is going to be improved, of course, but we’ve envisioned some potential cost-cutting efficiencies: turning station guides into large human-sized braille dots, cutting the civil service down to just one guy that everyone get...

We found a documentary about Neom and brought on Hesse from Seeking Derangements and Chapo Trap House's Movie Mindset podcast. It's a movie about a lot of architects with expensive eyewear making the world's wildest 3d renderings of buildings that will never, ever be built. Or will they?   Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/were-all-gonna-85649620   *LIVE SHOW ALE...

This week, we speak with Bureau of Investigative Journalism reporter Emiliano Mellino about how changes to the UK’s migrant visa system for agricultural workers have created unbelievably exploitative conditions—often reported to be worse than in any other developed or developing country—and how the agency charged with enforcing the rules gets less money each year than the Home Office spends on pen...

Softbank has shifted to offense mode, and Masayoshi Son has declared himself Priest King of humanity. Riley, Alice, and Hussein browse through our old friend's new outlook, and learn about Masayoshi Son's 24 hour ChatGPT invention habit.   Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/when-masayoshi-85251050   *LIVE SHOW ALERT* We're going to be recording a live podcast in L...

With interest rates going to 5% in the U.K., Milo, Riley, and Alice wonder how making the money more expensive will solve Spanish droughts leading to reduced olive production (for example). Also, we bid a fond farewell to the newest residents of the challenger deep and read an article about the dangers of the fifteen minute city in the New Statesman for some reason. If you want access to our Patre...

For this month's first Britainology, we watched the 2004 UK gangster movie LAYER CAKE, featuring a much younger Daniel Craig, a very Essex'ed-up Sienna Miller, and a very unknown-at-the-time Tom Hardy. And it's a good movie! Which we enjoyed! And had a lot of fun talking about, especially as regards it being a snapshot of peak Blair years Britain. Get the whole episode on Patreon here! https://www...

For the last stop of our Regional Authenticity Tour, we performed live at Slay in Glasgow and completed our review of one of the worst books ever written. We also discuss a dismal-sounding 'what if your doctor was an app' startup, and hear a story about a deranged British aristocrat who brought our her ancestral machete to settle a crypto dispute. We simply had a blast, and we hope you enjoy heari...

Journalist and friend of the show Becca Wilks ( @WilksBecca ) joins the gang to discuss how the Welsh government’s plans on rent control have evolved (spoiler: they’ve been useless because the Welsh government loves a landlord), but first we have an update on the numerous political obituaries being written in the U.K. and a systematic review of Matt Hancock’s TikTok. If you want access to our Patr...

Jathan and Ed from This Machine Kills ( @machinekillspod ) join the gang to discuss the long, terrible essay by Marc Andreesen about why AI will save the world. Part of his argument is that Marx was wrong because Elon Musk SELLS cars rather than hoarding them for himself. It's... well, it's something?   Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/dr-robotniks-84608248   *S...

Author Yara Rodrigues Fowler joins Riley and Alice to talk about her book, There Are More Things. There Are More Things is a love story, a history, and an exploration of the radical possibilities of fiction. What does good, radical fiction look like? Find out here! Check out There Are More Things here! And get the whole episode on Patreon here!   *STREAM ALERT* Check out our Twitch stream, which a...

We spend a while looking over the economic dimensions of - whatever you want to call it - Starmerism, Bidenism, Levelling Up - a version of neoliberalism that realised, very suddenly and entirely too late, that it does actually matter quite a bit if your economy produces certain things. What kind of world does this look like? Let’s explore the contours of Productivism/Permanent Wartime Neoliberali...

We continued our Regional Authenticity Tour and stopped in the famous city of Manchester, where we recoiled in horror at a startup Riley found that claimed it was--and I'm saying this verbatim--'gamifying good humaning.' We then proceeded to recoil in embarrassment at the next chapter of Mister Book Eater's latest tome. Hope you enjoy!   Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.c...

Hussein, Alice, and Riley talk about a new startup that aims to replace us all with chatbots based on Socrates, Steve Jobs, and Jordan Peterson reading the news, then we discuss the wild world of AI scare-vertising and its impact on the world's most gullible government: the United Kingdom. If you want access to our Patreon bonus episodes, early releases of free episodes, and powerful Discord serve...

The entire cast of Riley, Milo, Hussein, Nate, and Alice continued our Regional Authenticity Tour with a stop in Leeds, where we discussed a startup offering what appears to be a hypothetical alternative to the labour theory of value...with loyalty points. We also discussed the second part of a new book by Britain's most storied bibliophage. Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https://www.patre...

This week, Tom Walker ( @tomwalkerisgood ) joins Riley, Milo, and Alice to discuss some recent NEOM-related news—particularly, some comments from NEOM-affiliated architects at the Venice Biennale. But we’re also talking about a recent story in the FT where all financial journalists got scooped by a random news site in Antigua…owned by a pizza-enthusiast editor who is also an ambassador to three co...

For this month's first Britainology, Nate and Milo get expert advice from The Athletic's Joey D'Urso, a lifelong football fan and a source of extremely funny anecdotes about the nutters and eccentrics of the English Premier League. We learn about Gazza, Georgie Best, Vinnie Jones, and many more. Hope you enjoy! Check out Joey's work here! https://theathletic.com/author/joey-durso/ Get the full epi...

For this week’s free episode, Riley, Milo, Hussein, and Alice discuss the perennial US debt default threat, the recent Congressional hearings about regulating AI (No Steubes were involved, sadly), and the whale botherers at the National Conservative Conference being huge, alienating freaks that the British establishment demands you take seriously. Hope you enjoy! If you want access to our Patreon...

For stop one of the Trashfuture Regional Authenticity Tour 2023, we had a live show at the Glee Club in Birmingham on May 14. We talk about a startup with a very confused ad voice in relation to its supposed value proposition, as well as a segment of a new, stupid, and probably edible book by Britain's most famous bibliophage.   Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/...

Amardeep Singh Dhillon from the South London Bartenders Network joins the gang to talk about precarity, automation, and what’s next in hospitality, and how bartenders in London have been organising to fight back. Are you working in hospitality in London, and do you feel like you need a union? Get in touch with Amardeep! Check out SLBN's website here: https://southlondonbartenders.wordpress.com/ If...

Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village is a 1966 book by academic William Hinton, documenting the experience of one particularly poor Chinese village of early efforts at land reform. It is almost opaquely dense, and yet very illuminating. Get the full episode on Patreon! If you want access to our Patreon bonus episodes, early releases of free episodes, and powerful Discord serve...

Without the guidance of their fearless leader Riley, the gang - joined by Josh Boerman of The Worst of All Possible Worlds podcast ( http://worstpossible.world/ ) - are swept up in a monarchist fervour. Get the full episode on Patreon! If you want access to our Patreon bonus episodes, early releases of free episodes, and powerful Discord server, sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/trashfuture  ...

Nick Adams, writer on such shows as BoJack Horseman, New Girl, Tuca and Bertie (and others!), takes some time off the WGA picket lines to talk to us about writing as a profession, how studios have constantly sought to break up and undermine it, and the insane plan to replace Hollywood Writers with ChatGPT. All information, including information on strike funds, is here: https://www.wgacontract2023...

Riley, Milo (now returned from holiday), Alice, and special guest David Banks (author of The City Authentic, out now on University of California Press ) get into the relationship between real estate capital and the municipal deep state to answer the question: how the same twee aesthetic took over medium sized cities in the US, UK, Australia, and elsewhere, and why has BrewDog set itself up in the...