Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Just thought it might not be an entirely bad idea to throw up a thread for recommendations/pointers on Podcasts here for the good people. It's a very busy field, and dominated by some right fucking wankers, but gold does exist.

For my part, I'd highly recommend ex-Cracked/current Bellingcat Journo Robert Evans' "Behind The Bastards", a very irreverent and surprisingly deep and well researched take on various historical, cultural and political assholes and acts of assholery. Covers a very broad range of stuff but is rarely less than interesting and frequently darkly hilarious.

I'm a big fan of 'The News Agents', that's Emily Maitless, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall.
Suits my politics, raises many interesting topics and shows a human side of people who were once straitlaced at the BBC. Maitless says 'fuck' quite a lot.

Also James O'Brien's in depth interviews.

The rest is History with Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Hunter, very informative and opened my eyes about historical events I wan't that familiar with such as China in World War II and their series on Portugal was also very good as well.

Private Eye has taken a rare foray into 21st century and has podcast well worth listening to.

Power chronicles the lives of the sleazier characters who attain it, the Maxwells, Hugh Hefner and an extremely entertaining look at the life and legacy of Don King. Good for boxing, very bad for boxers was the verdict.

There’s also a gripping investigation podcast on the murky world of WWII diving hero (and Bond template) Lionel Crabtree. What’s different about this podcast format is not always the conclusion or the headline that’s most interesting but the investigation journey with its wrong turns, red herrings and luck breaks.

Currently listening to Word in your ear with David Hepworth, Mark Ellen and fellow music nerd mates like Danny Baker. A constant stream of amusing rock n roll anecdotes and observations.

Fan podcasts can be tedious but ‘Is it rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan’ has some great discussions with casual and dedicated fans as well as those who’ve worked with him. And still no one’s sure who the enigmatic troubadour really is. Lot of piss taking of his poorer moments from his long suffering fans also makes this podcast stand out.

The aforementioned The Newsagents with Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall is worth a listen - they have just launched a Newsagents USA which is handy for keeping up with the Trump trial.

The Rest Is Politics with Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart is often good depending what they're covering.

We Have Ways Of Making You Talk is a WWII podcast hosted by Al Murray and James Holland. I enjoy it significantly more when Al Murray is present - his touring commitments mean he's sometimes absent.

A Different Bias with Phil Moorhouse (on You Tube) has been essential listening in our house for over a year. He's sharp on analysis and a pragmatist. Labour really should hire him to sort out their dire social media presence.
Phil also sometimes hosts Labour Social on You Tube. Unfortunately Graham Hughes, the regular host's presentational style rubs me up the wrong way (he laughs at his own jokes in a way that reminds me of Keith Chegwin). He's also a Rejoin absolutist and indulges in a lot of Starmer bashing.

Finally, there are seemingly hundreds of Beatles podcasts around. they are mostly dull and unlistenable.
The exception is Nothing Is Real presented by two Irish lawyers from Dublin and Belfast. These guys have sufficient humour, lightness of touch and an irreverence for themselves and the band that I find them very good company.

Nothing is Real’s Steven Cockcroft gives a gripping account on the aforementioned Dylan podcast of Bob and Lennon’s prickly relationship. Expected to him to talk about George but the Lennon relationship I hadn’t considered or heard about beyond the early well known anecdotes.

The BBC's Robinson, time-served Tory, and Amol Rajan, his Russian bitch, on the Today podcast, it is a remarkably refreshing listen.

It's almost as if they have a shred of self-respect and an eye on what happens in the future.

New show with Marina Hyde and Richard Osman giving an informative and engaging weekly trawl through the popular media landscape. Osman is particularly good at explaining the allure of reality TV and game shows to those of us who don’t get it, he was an old hand behind the scenes in TV before he appeared on camera. Farage’s jungle appearance gets a run down as does Jeff Bazos desperate to be a celebrity doing photoshoots with his hot new girlfriend. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t ... 1718287198

The only one I listen to regularly is Past, Present, Future. David Runciman has an excellent podcasting presence, and his subjects are usually engaging, as is his approach.

Not every interview/study is as successful as the highs, or perhaps his reading isn't always the one you yourself have, but for a particular, thoughtful and enjoyable survey of different (to a certain value of different...) ideas in politics/history of ideas, it's very good.

The LRB do a nice mix of things, all very hit and miss but that's reflective of the range, not the quality. I have to confess I find a lot of podcasts trapped in the same space as one another: 'current affairs behind the news what's the real story // here's a crazy WW2 story guys!!' and rare is it that they actually cut through to anything interesting. That's more reflective of my interests though, I think.

I think this will be of interest to the many railway enthusiasts on the board.

https://www.greensignals.org/

Currently binging through the series, this is a fascinating insight into the politics and decision making at the heart of the rail industry including detailed analysis of the HS2 cancellation.

Blindboy Boat Club, the lead from the Rubber Bandits with the carrier bag on his face, had been busily constructing a pretty huge following on his podcast, swinging from silliness to pretty deep and heavy discussions on all manner of topics. His latest one, entitled "The Cat Piss Astronaut" is one of the finest little nuggets I've heard in a good long while.

It's "just" him reading one of his short stories, a lightly fictionalised account of some incidents from his childhood, growing up as an undiagnosed autistic person. If you have 45 minutes and a neurodivergent person in your life, you could definitely do a lot worse

Over at Global player, Alan Partridge has been made a commissioning editor.
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/l ... 0673776403

I'm kind of OK with Danny Dyer of late. In the new series "Rivals", he plays an Alan Sugar-esque 80s tech tycoon and does a damn good job of it.

He was really funny in a recent sitcom as a long lost waster brother crawling out of the woodwork and causing havoc.

Interesring article on Linekar's unlikely rise as a podcast media mogul. Which was an accidental off shoot of kitchen table football world griping with Danny Baker. You could argue football pundits are the podcast pioneers.
https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a626 ... t-profile/