Pleasure Spots
Join us as we discuss the 1946 essay "Pleasure Spots". Orwell is often regarded as rather dour and Spartan, but one of his main concerns was how the masses could enjoy themselves. What is an Orwellian...
19 Okt 202159min
Money and Guns
Join us as we discuss Orwell's most clickbaitily (?) titled essay. We touch on Orwell's ideas of pleasure and luxury and the best ways of enjoying yourself in troubled times. This essay was originally...
13 Okt 202149min
A Good Word for the Vicar of Bray
Join us as we discuss the 1946 essay "A Good Word for the Vicar of Bray". George Orwell loved the natural world, but did he invent carbon-offsetting? Was he a closet Buddhist? Does this essay tell us ...
10 Sep 202141min
Funny, But not Vulgar
Join us as we discuss the Orwellian theory of humour. Is each joke really a tiny revolution? Does humour have the power to change society and lay low the mighty? Should we be punching up, or in all di...
11 Juni 202141min
George Orwell's review of Mein Kampf
Join us as we take a look at an extraordinary essay in which the greatest anti-totalitarian of all time analyses the writing of the worst totalitarian of all time. Along the way we consider the origin...
5 Juni 202158min
Rudyard Kipling
Join us as we discuss the world's most famous Anglo-Indian writer's opinion of the world's other most famous Anglo-Indian writer. Can anti-imperialists appreciate literature produced by arch-imperiali...
28 Maj 202154min
As We Please 1
Join us for something completely different. In imitation of Orwell's deeply personal As I Please column for the Tribune, we talk about whatever we like. It's not just a ramble, though - expect comment...
21 Maj 202158min
Just Junk - But Who Could Resist It?
Your hosts talk junk - what's new? We discuss Orwell's love of second hand shops and there's a surprising amount of controversy. Is this essay nothing but a middle-class intellectual taking pleasure i...
15 Maj 202140min
