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Novara Media

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01:27:43

Downstream: The Dark Truth About Starmer’s Rise to...

Novara Media ·

2025/11/11

Investigative journalist Paul Holden has spent the last four years digging into the political machinations that brought Keir Starmer's Labour Party into office – findings that propel his powerful 2025 book, The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Labour Together and the Crisis of British Democracy.He tells Ash Sarkar about the cache of leaked emails that revealed the secret dealings of Morgan McSweeney – an adviser who's risen through the ranks to become perhaps the most powerful man in the Labour party – and

01:06:52

88: What are the ethics of oversharing?

Novara Media ·

2025/11/11

Come and see Ash and Moya live this winter. If I Speak hits Manchester's Contact Theatre on 25 November with special guest Lanre Bakare, author of We Were There. Then the show will return to EartH in East London on 16 December alongside Jordan Stephens – actor, author and one half of Rizzle Kicks. Tickets are available from Dice. This week, after listening to the new album by Lily Allen – the patron saint of oversharing – Moya and Ash debate the ethics of spilling your guts in public. Do we owe a

01:10:19

87: I'm losing interest in my fiancée. Should she...

Novara Media ·

2025/11/04

Come and see us live on 25th November in Manchester with special guest Lanre Bakare, author of We Were There! Tickets are available now from Contact Theatre: https://contactmcr.com/events/if-i-speak-liveInspired by a famous pop psychology quiz, Moya and Ash tackle a quiz about the culture that shaped them, from celebrity crushes to memorable quotes. Plus: advice for a young fiancé who's losing interest in his partner. Send us your dilemmas: ifispeak@novaramedia.com Music by Matt Huxley.

01:38:27

Downstream: Putin’s 1,000 Year War in Ukraine Has...

Novara Media ·

2025/11/03

In 1989, Francis Fukuyama, then a very young political scientist, declared that history was over. He wrote a book with the same title just a couple of years later. The Cold War had finished, the USSR had collapsed, liberal democracy and market capitalism reigned supreme, and it wasn’t going to change. And yet in the last few years, the script has moved quite significantly. History has returned. Emblematic of that has been the conflict between Russia and Ukraine which began in 2022, although of

01:47:20

ACFM Microdose: What's Going On Inside Your Party?

Novara Media ·

2025/11/02

After last week’s ACFM episode on Parties, this time we expose the predicament facing Your Party, the new leftwing faction led by Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn. What expectations do leftwing voters have for Your Party? Does the Corbyn faction distrust the membership? Is Zarah a politician or a poster? And does Yorp stand a chance of overtaking the ascendant Greens? Nadia, Jem and Keir analyse a turbulent few months in British left politics.

01:12:22

86: Why do we lap up other people’s horror stories?

Novara Media ·

2025/10/28

We're coming to Manchester! On 25th November we'll be at Contact Theatre for a live show with special guest Lanre Bakare. Tickets are available now from the Contact website: https://contactmcr.com/events/if-i-speak-live Moya and Ash offer a thought for spooky season: why do love hearing other people’s horror stories? Plus: Moya spills on a dating disaster, and a dilemma about a mentoring relationship gone wrong. Send us your dilemmas: ifispeak@novaramedia.com Music by Matt Huxley.

01:31:18

Downstream: The West Misunderstands Iran w/ Vali Nasr

Novara Media ·

2025/10/27

Iran has been in the news a lot in 2025. Over recent decades, it has been a variable in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine. But during the Twelve Day War with Israel in June of this year, Iran very much took centre stage. People started asking questions, chief among them being: What does Iran really want? On Downstream this week is Vali Nasr, professor of Middle East Studies and International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, and author of a new book, Iran's Grand Strategy

00:45:15

Downstream: Kidnapped at Sea by the Israeli Military....

Novara Media ·

2025/10/22

The Gaza Strip, home to 2.2 million people, is a tiny land mass about the same size as the Isle of Wight. Yet in terms of munitions by weight, Gaza has been subjected to more than all of the bombs dropped on Dresden, Hamburg, and London combined, over the whole of World War II. Another even more terrifying statistic: in Ukraine, after two years of conflict, there were around 30 cases of child amputees. In Gaza, there were a thousand cases of child amputation in two months.This October marked two

01:08:44

85: Has pop culture turned to slop?

Novara Media ·

2025/10/21

*Display your Special One status with our only piece of merch so far, available from shop.novaramedia.com* Moya and Ash are joined by Kemi Alemoru, editorial director of Glamour UK, to analyse the current state of pop culture, from Taylor Swift to A24. Has pop turned to slop? Or is it on us to fix our algorithmic intake? Plus: advice on a workplace crush. Send us your dilemmas: ifispeak@novaramedia.com Music by Matt Huxley.

01:01:13

Downstream: What Really Changed on 7th October w/...

Novara Media ·

2025/10/20

Just over two years after the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, and just days after the announcement of a ceasefire, Aaron Bastani spoke to three Palestinian writers in front of a live audience at EartH in Hackney. Ahmed Alnaouq is the host of Palestine Deep Dive and the co-founder of ‘We Are Not Numbers’, an organisation that provides international mentors for Palestinian writers. Yara Eid is a war journalist, born and raised in Gaza, who has worked for Amnesty International and been published

01:52:51

ACFM Trip 55: Parties

Novara Media ·

2025/10/19

Amid the bumpy launch of a new left-wing party and the rise of the Greens and Reform, the ACFM crew turn their attention to parties. Do we still need political parties? Do parties work by drawing people together or excluding the uninvited? And what does a political party have in common with a dance party?Nadia, Keir and Jem offer a weird-left view on parties with reference to the Paris Commune, Unite the Right, Abigail's Party and Beauty and the Beat, plus music from Fred Wesley and The Beastie

00:57:57

84: How to ace a first date (by two very different...

Novara Media ·

2025/10/14

84: How to ace a first date (by two very different daters) by Novara Media

01:36:24

Downstream: Democracy Is Under Massive Threat From AI...

Novara Media ·

2025/10/13

Artificial intelligence is set to be one of the most disruptive technologies this century. For some, a machine capable of augmenting its own intelligence is a matter of time — and could even arrive within a decade. This week’s guest is philosopher and author William MacAskill. One of the leading thinkers in the Effective Altruism movement, MacAskill is the author of several highly influential books, including Doing Good Better and What We Owe The Future. His work explores not only on how to live a

01:05:02

83: Is jealousy the spice of life?

Novara Media ·

2025/10/07

*We've got merch! It’s a big foldable bag just for Special Ones, available from shop.novaramedia.com*Prompted by Elena Ferrante’s novel My Brilliant Friend, Ash wonders what makes Moya jealous. Can friendships survive a power imbalance? What happens when YOU are the brilliant friend? And is jealousy a crucial part of desire? Reading: Wounded Attachment by Wendy Brown Send us your dilemmas: ifispeak@novaramedia.com Music by Matt Huxley.

01:52:19

Downstream: Was the 20th Century a Catastrophe, or a...

Novara Media ·

2025/10/06

Economist, and former finance minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis joins Aaron to discuss his most recent book Raise Your Soul: A Personal History of Resistance, a memoir about the women in Yanis’ family who raised him, and gave him his political conscience. They discuss the Hegelian Master-Slave dialectic, is patriarchy harmful to the perpetrators, as well as women? Did Tony Blair do more to privatise Britain than Margaret Thatcher? Does Keir Starmer have a plan? And how does fascism end up

01:09:56

82: Help! I can't stop hating men

Novara Media ·

2025/09/30

*Join the Baggu believers: it’s a huge foldable bag just for Special Ones, available from shop.novaramedia.com*Moya wants to stop hating men and start building trust – which means a dialogue about all the things that make that difficult: objectification, racist over-sexualisation, degrading comments, and rape (TW: 27m; 40m). Plus: a few things we love about men, too. Send us your dilemmas: ifispeak@novaramedia.com Music by Matt Huxley.

01:41:02

Downstream: The Right Is Stirring up Anti-Muslim Hate...

Novara Media ·

2025/09/29

In the summer of 2024, hotels sheltering Muslim asylum seekers across Britain were attacked by violent mobs. A year later, as the summer of 2025 drew to a close, a far-right demonstration of 100,000 people marched through London, bearing St George’s flags and led by Tommy Robinson. On Downstream this week is Myriam François, a broadcaster and journalist, whose conversion to Islam 20 years ago has profoundly shaped her life in Britain. In conversation with Ash Sarkar, she tells the story of how she

01:59:18

ACFM Microdose: Sci-Fi

Novara Media ·

2025/09/28

After last week's ACFM Trip to the Future, Jem and Keir reconvene to talk about science fiction. Is sci-fi a reaction to the "time-space compression" of the present? Is it inherently progressive? How did dystopian and paranoids visions of the future come to dominate sci-fi? Was Arthur C. Clarke an early acid communist?Find the books and films mentioned in the show: https://novara.media/acfm Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters Help us build people-powered media:

00:45:34

81: Is it wrong to love my AI boyfriend?

Novara Media ·

2025/09/23

*We've got merch. Gift yourself the If I Speak x Baggu bag, only from shop.novaramedia.com* A mystery question from producer Chal prompts a conversation about secrets in romantic relationships – from watching porn to cheating with an AI boyfriend. Plus: advice for an autistic dater who’s been banned from Hinge. Send us your dilemmas: ifispeak@novaramedia.com Music by Matt Huxley.

01:49:39

Downstream: How Brexit Paved the Way for Farage's Bid...

Novara Media ·

2025/09/22

It's almost 10 years since Britain voted to leave the EU, and we're still dealing with the consequences. In a new book, Between The Waves, Politico's chief UK political correspondent Tom McTague argues that the journey to Brexit really began with Enoch Powell, before be taken up by his political heir, Nigel Farage. He talks to Aaron Bastani about how the dissolution of empire shape Britain's relationship to Europe, how the Labour party switched from Eurosceptic to Europhile, and what Farage

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