Standing Places

In this episode we meet the voice and the inspiration behind Blanco White, the stage name of Josh Edwards, a guitarist and singer-songwriter from London. Josh studied flamenco guitar in Cádiz in Spain, and later the Andean instrument the charango in Sucre in Bolivia. In 2016 he released his first EP, 'The Wind Rose' which was followed by 'Colder Heavens' and 'Nocturne'. His first full album, 'On The Other Side' was released in 2020. His growing fan base is now global and he's performed to sell out concerts across Europe and the United States. The music of Blanco White brings together Andalusian and Latin American traditions from both sides of the Atlantic and the songs are filled with forgotten histories, lost poetry and languages, ocean crossings and soundscapes that are other-worldly. This is the story - told through his own songs - of the places that have shaped Josh as a musician, how he learned the musical traditions of very different cultures, and the search for his own creative voice and musical identity in the spaces in between. Music on this episode is exclusively by Blanco White. Special thanks to Yucatan Records and the Blanco White project for permission to use the songs.

What is happening to the soul of America? It's a question the whole world is asking as Americans start voting in the most bizarre general election in their history. Yet regardless of who wins the 2020 Presidential race, it's clear that something is going horribly wrong in the world's oldest democracy. Tempting as it may be to blame America's malaise exclusively on Donald Trump, to do so would be naive. Trumpism is a symptom of a disease that's ravaged America's body politic for generations. In this episode we meet the American author and political commentator, Jared Yates Sexton to discuss his new book "American Rule: How A Nation Conquered The World But Failed Its People". We explore the myth of American exceptionalism, and how white identity, evangelical Christianity, and conspiracy theories like QAnon are weaponised in American politics. SHOW NOTES If you'd like to do some further exploring of the themes that we cover in this episode, below are some links you may find helpful. The two books by Jared Yates Sexton that are mentioned in this episode are "The People Are Going To Rise Like Waters Upon Your Shore: A Story of American Rage", which chronicles Jared's experience of covering Donald Trump's Presidential campaign in 2016. His most recent book, "American Rule: How a Nation Conquered the World But Failed It's People" explores the myth of American exceptionalism, white identity, and evangelical Christianity as a powerful political tool. Reply All is a podcast about the internet, but in many ways it's a show about making sense of modern life, and how to survive it! They've recently done two episodes dedicated to Q Anon: episode #165 (The Mold and the Beautiful) and episode #166 (Country of Liars) which explores who's behind QAnon. Rabbit Hole is an 8-part podcast series produced by the NYT tech columnist, Kevin Roose. The show explores how the internet is affecting us and what can happen when we move our lives online. It doesn't look exclusively at Q Anon per se but the wider digital environment, and how You Tube in particular has been directing people to extremist content for years. If you'd like to understand more about the Satanic panic of the 1980s, Gimlet Media has produced a brilliant podcast series called Conviction: American Panic. Conviction tells the story John Quinney who grew up in the 1980s and at the age of 10 falsely accused his own father of being the leader of an underground satanic cult that was sacrificing babies and sexually abusing children. What John's family didn't realise at the time was that right across America there were hundreds of families being swept up in this religious panic, and by the time it subsided scores of people were in jail on little to no evidence. It's one of the most bizarre chapters in American judicial history, but it's also very relevant to today's satanic hysteria and the cult of QAnon. NPR's regular podcast 'Throughline' explores stories from history that have a modern day resonance, and two recent episodes are particularly relevant to this episode; Conspiracy, which delves into how and why conspiracy theories are fundamental to American life, and how they're so easily manipulated by political opportunists; and The Evangelical Vote which looks at what it means to be an evangelical Christian in America today and how evangelicals have become a powerful electoral bloc in US politics. Throughline has also just started a new series called "(mis)Representative Democracy" which unpacks some of the myths and popular assumptions about American democracy. The first episode tells the not-so-democratic history of how and why America's Electoral College was created - the body that elects the President of the USA and which you're likely to hear a lot more about over the coming weeks and months. The long history of white supremacism and systemic racism in American comes up several times in this episode, although we didn't have time to explore it in depth. Scene On Radio, produced by the Centre for Documentary Studies at Duke University, is a Peabody-nominated podcast hosted by veteran broadcaster John Biewen. He recently produced and co-presented a 14-part series called 'Seeing White' which explores what's happening in mainstream white identity in America (not the KKK and neo-Nazis) and how the idea of whiteness has evolved over the centuries. The series also has a study guide and fully referenced bibliography for further reading and listening. More recently, Scene On Radio produced a 12-part series earlier this year called "The Land That Never Has Been Yet". It tells the less well known story of democracy in America going right back to the beginning of the republic. It looks at authoritarianism, voter suppression, gerrymandering, foreign intervention and the role of money in America's elections. ***FOLLOW THE SHOW***  You can subscribe to Standing Places on iTunes, Google Podcasts and Spotify and please rate, review and share the show so that more people can hear about it. You can also like and follow the Facebook page.

So we're all grounded for the foreseeable future. None of us will be travelling the way we used to any time soon. And so we wait, and remember, and imagine the open roads and open skies we crave and miss. In this episode I share a few poems about the excitement of setting off again, and our insatiable itch for new horizons. But the best journeys are the ones that teach us new things; not just about the places we visit, but also the places we call home. And the best poems are the ones that give us hope... ***FOLLOW THE SHOW***  You can subscribe to Standing Places on iTunes, Google Podcasts and Spotify and please rate, review and share the show so that more people can hear about it. You can also like and follow the Facebook page. Music on this episode is by Lee Rosevere, Doug Maxwell, Josh Kirsch and Aaron Kenny.

Most of the world is now in some form of pandemic lockdown, and everything around us is changing – politics, economics, international relations. How do we navigate this new terrain? What are the implications for liberal democracy? What might a 'new normal' look like for the world order? Paul Buchanan is Director of 36th Parallel Assessments, a geopolitical risk and strategic assessment consultancy based in New Zealand.  He's a former intelligence and defence consultant for the US government, and an expert in authoritarianism, unconventional warfare, international security and comparative politics. Paul grew up in Argentina, and has worked extensively across Latin America and the Asia Pacific, as well as for a number of security agencies in Washington DC, including the Pentagon and the State Department. Music on this episode is by Eveningland and Blue Dot Sessions. 

As the coronavirus lockdown is further extended here in the UK, it's hard to know when or indeed how our lives will return to any sense of normality. In the meantime we wait, and we hope, and we tune in for news of better times. In this episode I reflect on the importance of journalists – the good ones – who inform us, widen our worlds, and in times of crisis can so often find just the right words to lift our spirits. One of the good ones is Fergal Keane, whose 'Letter to Daniel' remains one of the best loved pieces of audio the BBC has ever aired. I hope this episode encourages you.

Since recording my last episode it seems that I contracted the coronavirus. So here are some reflections on fighting 'The Rona', the silence of London's traffic-less skies, and the poetry of one of New Zealand's best writers, Brian Turner. If you're feeling unwell or afraid right now, I hope this episode is an encouragement. You're not alone. If you'd like to explore more of Brian Turner's writing, a good place to start is "Boundaries: People and Places of Central Otago", available from Penguin.   Music on this episode is by Chris Haugen.

We're only just starting to accept the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic here in the UK. We've never lived through anything like this in our lifetimes, and everything is about to change dramatically. So how do we stay connected and hopeful, and how do we manage our fear?  In this episode we also hear from a leading expert at the frontline of the crisis response in America; Professor Donald J. Triumph, Director of the National Institute of Super Genius's in Washington DC. 

What does it mean to be a global citizen when walls and borders are back in vogue? How do you create a permanent home that's a sanctuary? And what does permanence and sanctuary even mean when borders are being re-drawn and the ground is shifting beneath your feet? In this episode we meet Amy Hochadel and Monica Cunningham who met on the political campaign trail in Ohio - one of America's most hotly contested battleground states. A couple who also made a permanent and life-changing investment in London at a time when the winds of change are howling across Britain and America and rattling our sense of home and belonging. 

How do you find home again when you've lost the person who was your home? And what does the idea of home even mean in the aftermath of grief? Home is more than a physical place. It's something very human shaped. Because so many of us find our sense of home in the people we love. Four years ago Caroline Twigg's world was tipped upside down. Since then she slowly found a way to start again, and through it all, one of the hardest, yet most important things she's done, has been finding home again. +++++  SHOW NOTES If you or someone you know has been widowed under the age of 50, The Widowed & Young Foundation (WAY) offers online and in-person support. Visit their website to find out more about the services they provide. Brain tumours kill more people under the age of 40 in the UK than any other cancer. Yet only 2% of cancer research funding is spent on brain tumours. You can help change this by supporting the work of the Brain Tumour Charity.  If you would like to help your kids explore the importance of making and cherishing memories, whether they're experiencing grief or not, then get them a copy of Davey's Really Magic Carpet by Caroline Twigg. The full £8 goes to The Brain Tumour Charity. Most of us these days exist digitally, as well as physically, through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, emails, photos, blogs and websites. Caroline wrote this article for the Guardian about managing the digital footprint that a loved one leaves behind. Music on this episode is by Asher Fulero and Blue Dot Sessions.  

What does home mean when you've always had a complicated relationship with the country you were born in? Piali DasGupta's personal story stretches from Kolkata, India to the prairies of Canada, to the town halls of England's cities and the banks of the river Thames in London. In this episode Piali and I talk about what it means to be a modern Canadian, growing up in a Bengali home and how to prepare for the British citizenship test.  We also talk about the changing nature of local place in the UK, and what the future holds for England's towns and cities.  Music on this episode is by Eveningland, and Blue Dot Sessions. +++++  FURTHER READING If some of the topics in this episode spark your interest, there's a couple of books you might want to check out.  'Taking Power Back: Putting People in Charge of Politics' by Simon Parker.  'The Road to Somewhere' by David Goodhart