This is just a quick note to let you know that I'm putting the free version of the podcast on hiatus at the moment, but you can still get the pod on Patreon at www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawley. You'll also get access to my entire backlog of full interviews and audio essays as well as my ongoing new work. Hope to see you there!…

Lenore Skenazy is the author of Free Range Kids and one of the founders of Let Grow along with Jonathan Haidt, Daniel Shuchman, and Peter Gray. Here, Skenazy explains how Let Grow attempts to give kids (and parents) back some of their lost freedoms. We discuss how parenting became so paranoid and what happens when kids are allowed some of the indep…

I have been trying to do a video essay which I shot in the highest quality I could, but either my computer or editing program were not having it! Here is a rough cut of the audio which is part 1 of this week's podcast. In part 2, psychologist John Bunch takes me to task with the arguments I make here. While he agrees with the overall thrust of my a…

Andrew is a "fallen BBC journalist", filmmaker and multi-linguist. He's the host of the award-winning podcast Heretics and the author of a new book, The Psychology of Secrets: My Adventures with Murderers, Cults and Influencers. We discuss the role that secrets play in keeping people controlled, or conversely, how revealing them can be freeing. On …

I spoke with Freddie Sayers, Editor-in-Chief of UnHerd to outline the challenges he's faced trying to finance his publication in light of shadowy forces targeting "disinformation". Despite high ratings from some agencies, UnHerd was blacklisted by the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) for hosting content deemed anti-LGBTQI+, notably opinions from g…

Claire Fox is the Head of the Academy of Ideas, a former MEP for the Brexit Party and now a Baroness. We discuss whether she really has charted a confusing political trajectory or if it's the world that's gone off course. We also discuss free speech, her thoughts on Israel-Palestine, and her history of activism in relation to anti-imperialism.…

My guest this week is Alex Hochuli, co-author of "The End of the End of History: Politics in the Twenty-First Century" and co-host of Bungacast. We discuss an article he recently wrote for Damage Magazine titled, "From ADHD to Let me Be: Taking Control of Time". Is everything in society accelerating? What effect does this have on autonomy? Can we t…

Timandra Harkness is a broadcaster, writer and comedian. Her new book is called, "Technology is Not the Problem" out from HarperCollins on the 23rd of May. We discuss the relationship between tech, identity and society and decide whether tech's been unfairly blamed for our culture of narcissism. How are people using tech to navigate their quest for…

Apologies as I somehow missed uploading the audio for this podcast! But here is my interview from about 2 weeks ago with Buck Angel. Buck is a former adult film actor and trans advocate. He's spent the past few years trying to speak to the trans community about where they've gone wrong and has been cancelled many times as a result. You can find par…

The is the second part of my conversation with Joel Best, the world's leading expert on social problems. We talk about why no one cares about heightism, how to mangle statistics, and (coming soon!) my favourite forgotten sociologist, Joseph Gusfield. For part 2 of all my weekly podcasts as well as my ongoing writing visit: www.patreon.com/AshleyAFr…

Debbie Hayton is the author of Transsexual Apostate: My journey back to reality. We discussed the role that male sexuality played in her transition and why it's the love that would really rather we didn't speak its name. For part 2 visit: www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawley #trans #transrights #gender #sexuality #sociology #woke #wokeness #debbiehayton …

Joel Best is Professor of Criminology at the University of Delaware and the world's leading expert in the sociology of social problems. He is the author of over a dozen books and many more articles and book chapters on themes ranging from the satanic panic to the misuse of statistics. We spoke about why stories like poisoned Halloween candy spread …

Back in action with this interview with trans barrister Robin Moira White. We discuss what the WPATH leak means and doesn't mean for the future of transpeople and trans medicine. Should we go back to "transsexualism"? When is it meaningful to talk about sex versus gender? What's the most challenging case that Robin has dealt with? Patrons this week…

I was away last week and Doug had a bit of difficulty uploading the audio of the podcast, so apologies for the delay. Christopher J. Schneider is a professor of sociology at Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada. He is the author "Defining Sexual Misconduct: Power, Media, and #MeToo," and "Policing and Social Media: Social Control in an Era of New…

Gord Magill returns this week to discuss new developments in the case of four protestors who were arrested and held without bail following the truckers protests in 2022. We discussed why it's necessary to defend the freedom of your enemies, surveillance, government overreach and how, even if you thought the truckers were wrong, the bureaucratic sta…

I spoke with journalist and writer Thomas Fazi about his new report for MCC Brussels on the dangers of "carbon farming". Are we seeing a "greening" of a new wave of dispossession? Are farmers just right-wing terrorists in waiting? And is carbon farming even a good policy to begin with? If you enjoy these podcasts, consider supporting on Patreon whe…

I spoke with Kevin Yuill, Professor Emeritus at the University of Sunderland about why he opposes assisted dying as an atheist and humanist. Is assisted dying really as progressive and liberal as it's made out to be? This is part 2 of our conversation which was only available for patrons. I'm releasing it here to give you a sense of what patrons ge…

I spoke with Kevin Yuill, Professor Emeritus at the University of Sunderland about why he opposes assisted dying as an atheist and humanist. Is assisted dying really as progressive and liberal as it's made out to be? For part 2, visit: www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawleyBy ashleyfy

I talked to Reid Kane, author and "Old Fashioned Marxist" on Twitter/X, about Libertarian Communism. What does it mean to call yourself a libertarian communist? Is it an oxymoron or the best attempt to stay true to Marx's impulse toward freedom? For part 2 visit: www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawley #libertarianism #liberalism #libertariancommunism #libe…

I talked to Reid Kane, Old Fashioned Marxist on X/Twitter, about why it's so difficult to think dialectically. We also discussed the Hegelian "conspiracy" of thesis-antithesis-synthesis and how/whether we can ever think our way through the impasse.By ashleyfy

Social problems are not harmful conditions. In the fourth lecture in my series about why you should think of social problems as myths, I introduce the concept of social constructionism. Constructionist sociologists of social problems understand them in very different ways than you might expect. For part 2, visit www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawley…

I just realised that I neglected to upload the audio only version of last week's podcast. Apologies to those who do not listen or follow on YouTube or Patreon! Please do subscribe there so you never miss an uplaod! Back to my regular weekly uploads this week! I spoke with "Bonnie Prince Bob", described as a "rabble rouser", but who describes himsel…

This is the third lecture in a series about how to think critically about social problems. In part 1, I introduce examples of moral panics from recent history. In part 2, I go into depth on what features need to be present for something to be characterised as a "moral panic". For part 2, visit: www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawley…

I'm doing bi-weekly uploads for the month of December while I visit my family in Canada. This week, I spoke with drag queen Vanity Von Glow on being cancelled for standing up (next to some unsavoury characters) for free speech. In part 1, she talks about defending drag queen story time, swearing on national TV, and what it's like to be equally hate…

This is part 2 of my conversation with Paul Cockshott, which is normally for patrons only. I promised him that I would release it publically. This week, patrons get an exclusive lecture - part 2 of my series on how to think about social problems as myths. Visit: www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawleyBy ashleyfy

Paul Cockshott, now retired, was a Reader at the University of Glasgow and is the author of numerous works on socialism and economic planning. We discussed how workers' control of the means of production gradually moved outside the imagination of the organised Left and how capitalism itself leads us to question how we might move beyond it. For part…

This is the first lecture in a series about how to think critically about social problems. If you would like to hear/watch the rest of the series, please send me a comment. In this edition, I tell two stories and ask you to think about what makes them memorable. The stories that we tell about social problems are similar: They are memorable, but we …

Calum Nicholson is a social anthropologist and a lecturer at the Institute of Continuing Education at the University of Cambridge. He is the Director of the MCC's Climate Policy Institute and has written on diverse issues from climate migration to the culture wars--even though he himself has chosen to stay off social media. For part 2 visit: www.pa…

Gord Magill is a Canadian trucker and the host of the Voice of Gord podcast. He also writes for Newsweek, UnHerd, Compact and others. In this special, recorded on location in New York, we talked about the legacy of the trucker convoy, the pervasiveness of surveillance, and why no one believes in humanity anymore. Part 2 is at www.patreon.com/Ashley…

Jennie Bristow is a Reader in Sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University. She is the author of several books including The Sociology of Generations and Stop Mugging Grandma. We talked about how our understanding of generations influences how we think about problems in social and political life and whether young people today have been shortcha…

Eli Sennesh is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Vanderbilt University in the field of computational affect science. We spoke about how human subjects are degraded in our scientific and technological approaches and the way that this leads to bad outcomes. In part 2, we went into more depth about the effect of bad economics and how we might overcome t…

Umut Ozkirimli is the author of the recently released Cancelled: The Left Way Back from Woke. He is a Senior Research Fellow at IBEI (Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals), a professor at Blanquerna, Ramon Llull University, and a Senior Research Associate at CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs). We talked about the origins of i…

It's October! My favourite month! Susanna Kleeman, Doug Lain and I discuss why we seem to love all things horror. For part 2 visit: www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawleyBy ashleyfy

This week you get an exclusive look at a lecture on how problems are increasingly psychologised through the language of "trauma". Are indigenous people in Canada really "traumatised"? Is this a form of de-colonisation? Or is it deep colonisation: colonisation of our minds through a kindly language that disarms us and brings us on side. (NB: The wom…

Ted Reese is the author of The End of Capitalism and a columnist at Sublation Magazine. We did the unthinkable and allowed ourselves to think about a future that isn't a post-apocalyptic wasteland and discussed how we might get there. For Part 2, visit: www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawleyBy ashleyfy

Daniel Ben-Ami is a journalist and author. Recently, he's been raising the alarm that anti-semitism making a comeback in public debate. The trouble is that it's harder to recognise than ever. We spoke about how anti-semitism operates across the political spectrum and how it can be fed by the failure of normal politics to live up to its own ideals. …

Leigh Phillips is a science writer and political journalist and the author of Austerity Ecology & the Collapse-Porn Addicts and The People's Republic of Wal-Mart (co-authored with Michal Rozworski). We talked about whether or not capitalism is producing the basis for socialism in what might at first seem to be the most unlikely of places--Amazon an…

Thomas Fazi writes for Compact and UnHerd and is the author of The Battle for Europe, Reclaiming the State, and the Covid Consensus. We spoke about his recent essays for UnHerd where he questions the prevailing narrative that the war in Ukraine was "unprovoked" and primarily about democracy, sovereignty and freedom. For part 2, visit: www.patreon.c…

James Coyne, infamous critic of all things bad science, gives me insight into the seedy underbelly of Positive Psychology. There's gossip, there's prostitutes and there's hot tubs. Enjoy! Listen to part 2 at www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawleyBy ashleyfy

I'm a bit late getting the podcast out this week, so you get a bonus lecture introducing Marx and Marxism. The regular podcast will be out tomorrow. To see part 2 visit www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawleyBy ashleyfy

Robert Forde is the author of Bad Psychology: How Forensic Psychology Left Science Behind. He has worked as an educational social worker, a prison psychologist, and as a forensic psychologist in private practice--an experience that made him realise that forensic psychology had left science behind. Watch/listen to part 2 on Patreon: www.patreon.com/…

Okay, well maybe sometimes we do--but not nearly as often and in the ways "global early childhood development" would have us believe. Gabriel Scheidecker is an anthropologist in the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies (ISEK), University of Zurich. His ethnographic research presents a challenge to rapidly globalising ideas about t…

Lisa McKenzie is an author, anarchist and "working-class academic". She is the author of Getting By: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain. We talked about what it's like in the academy coming from a working-class background, the framing of the working class as over-consuming and toxic, and what will happen if politics continues on its tr…

Paul Embery is a trade unionist and writer. He is the author of Despised: Why the Modern Left Loathes the Working Class. We talk about Brexit and the wrong moves that Labour and the trade union movement have taken over the past several decades and what needs to be done to achieve real representation for those who feel left behind. This conversation…

Laura Dodsworth and Patrick Fagan are the authors of Free Your Mind, out today from Harper Collins. In our conversation, they explain how governments use underhanded tactics to evade democracy and get you to do what they want. How can you resist this and free your mind? Watch part 2 on Patreon: www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawley…

Chris Cutrone is the author of the Death of the Millenial Left. He teaches at the University of Chicago, where he also completed his PhD on Adorno’s Marxism. He is the original organizer and President of the Platypus Affiliated Society. We talked about his new book and whether the working class really needs to be convinced of anything we're saying.…

Philip Cunliffe is Associate Professor of International Relations at University College London, co-host of the Bungacast podcast, and co-author of Taking Control: Sovereignty and Democracy After Brexit. We talked about how Labour gave up on labour and the hope of igniting real politics after populism. In part 2, Phil actually gave me hope that mayb…

Simon Winlow and Steve Hall are the authors of The Death of the Left. We talked about the old left and what killed it, what it would take to bring it back, and whether freedom is an empty word. Listen to part 2 here: www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawleyBy ashleyfy

This week, Doug Lain was unexpectedly booted off Twitter. In pursuit of our quest to free Doug Lain from Twitter jail, I'm posting the Patreon exclusive part 2 of our conversation imagining a terrible world after capitalism. For this conversation, I read the final chapter of my new book and also managed to find my favourite podcast of Doug's, The S…

World War III, UFOs, and Apple Vision Pro's augmented reality are all in the news - but Doug Lain knew they were in our future when he wrote Bash Bash Revolution and After the Saucers Landed. I spoke to him about all of the above and whether or not we can trust humanity to shape the future. Watch/listen to part 2 where I also read the final chapter…