TWT FM

At this year’s TWT festival in Brighton, TWTFM recorded its very first podcast in front a live audience.  Featuring a glittering line up of actors, musicians and speakers from across the TWT community, we explored the role of political meetings in political organising and in the social lives of activists. Taking up the suggestion that 'freedom is an endless meeting', we looked back at experiments in radical and participatory democracy across history up to the present day. TWTM is a podcast from The World Transformed. This episode was produced by James Roadnight, Sarah Vowden, Matt Huxley and Aron Keller. 

During lockdown, walking became one of the only activities we were allowed to do. Some people trudged the same daily route while others go out into the rural or urban environment to explore on foot, but for almost everyone, their relationship to walking changed in some way. But our ability to walk only extends as far as we are allowed to go. Access to space has been a key theme of this series, and questions about who owns land in both country and city dictates how we are able to use it - for walking, protesting, residing and more, rights being further curtailed by the proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act currently going through Parliament. So come on an audio ramble with us, as we turn our attention to walking. TWT FM is a podcast from The World Transformed. This episode was produced by Oli Cox, Matt Huxley, Sarah Vowden, Jess Thorne and Seth Wheeler with contributions from Nick Hayes, Luke Smith and Chloe Massey. You can find out more about the campaign for the right to roam by visiting www.righttoroam.org.uk, and you can find out more about how we can Kill the Bill by listening to our podcast on the subject from March. .

Spas, saunas and bathhouses may not seem to be the most obvious leisure spaces for the left to be fighting for. For many, they bear association with luxury and decadence. But this impression misses a rich and complex history of bathhouse culture,  one is imbued with a democratic and communal spirit. In this episode of TWT FM, we’ll explore spas as a place of relaxation and recovery from work, a space that challenges rigid masculinity and celebrates queer culture. This episode of TWT FM was produced by Sarah Vowden, Charlie Clarke, Matt Huxley and Aron Keller with contributions from Julian Siravo from Autonomy, Sarah Anand, Alessandro Brava and Wayne Gruba from New Docklands Russian Banya and Steam bath, with audio from the film ‘The Baths’ by Anouska Samms and Sofia Pancucci-McQueen. You can view ‘The Baths’ here - https://vimeo.com/547387966

There was something of a national frenzy when pubs partially reopened on April 12th. But what exactly is it about these cozy wood-panelled institutions that inspires an almost fanatical level of devotion? To answer this question, we’ve ordered up three rounds of refreshing audio beverages to quench the minds of even the most parched listeners, including a potted history of pubs, discussions on organising bar staff, and a pub crawl to remember across time and space.  TWT FM is a podcast from The World Transformed. This episode was produced by Matt Huxley, Sarah Vowden, Aron Keller, James Roadnight, Tom Williams and Charlie Clarke with contributions from Callum Cant, George Brierly, and Liz from the South London Bar Tenders Network.

On Sunday evening the 18th of April, 12 European football clubs shocked the footballing world by announcing plans for a new European Super League. The move by billionaire owners of the ‘dirty dozen’ clubs to create a closed-shop oligopoly would eviscerate grassroots football and destroy any remaining integrity at the top of the sport. As opposition rings out from all quarters, we thought it would be good opportunity to release our extended interview with football writer David Goldblatt, which first aired in our Football Fandom episode. David is a writer, academic, and broadcaster who has written several highly acclaimed books about football including, ‘The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football’ and ‘The Game of Our Live’. Speaking to TWT’s Tom Williams, David traces the transformation of football from an elite aristocratic past-time to a mass working class phenomenon and latterly, a plutocratic plaything for finance capitalism TWT FM is a podcast from The World Transformed. This episode was produced by Tom Williams, Matt Huxley and Aron Keller with contributions from David Goldblatt.

Boredom has proliferated under COVID. But the type of boredom we’ve collectively experienced during lockdown is radically different to that of previous generations. Where once boredom was an empty listlessness, today it’s hard to claim that we ever truly have nothing to do. In this mini-episode of TWTFM, we explore boredom in the age of anxiety. TWT FM is a podcast from The World Transformed. This episode was produced by James Roadnight and Aron Keller with contributions from Sam Swann, Marcus Gilroy Ware, Norah Lopez Holden, Hettie Chadwick Dickenson, Rivkah Brown, Oli Cox and Shaira Begum.

We’re taking a short break from our series on leisure to bring you a mini-episode responding to the wave of protests around the tragic death of Sarah Everard and the government's Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill. You'll hear from activists, lawyers and academics about what this draconian legislation actually entails and how we can effectively mobilise to resist it. TWT FM is a podcast from The World Transformed. This episode was produced by Sarah Vowden, Matt Huxley and Aron Keller with contributions from Seth Wheeler, Hope Worsdale, Zehrah Hasan, Becka Hudson, and Luke Smith.

At TWT we believe a good party is political praxis. But with its enclosed spaces, sweaty bodies and often licentious activities, it seems as if dance-floors will be some of the last places to reopen after lockdown. This episode we go deep on dance: from striking workers shaking their hips to David Mancuso’s perfect house party, we explore how issues like space, time and resistance to commodification come to the fore when we move our bodies together. TWT FM is a podcast from The World Transformed. This episode was produced by Matt Huxley, James Roadnight, Oli Cox, with contributions from Bile and Isabel from United Voices of the World, Dana Mills, Amirah Cole, Sophie and Teegs from Partisan, Liam from the Kazimier, Rhodri from Cube Microplex, Tim Lawrence, Jeremy Gilbert and Chloe Massey. Subscribe to TWT FM to get new episodes in your feed as soon as they’re released.

Welcome back to TWT FM. In series 2 we'll be exploring leisure - in particular, the aspects of life we’ve been missing out on during the pandemic - with episodes on our favourite leisure activities, including dance, football, holidays and more. You can think of this episode as an introduction to the concept of leisure. We’ll examine what leisure reveals about our relationship to work under capitalism and how different our lives could be if we had access to more free time. We’re grateful to be partnering with Autonomy for this series - an independent think tank focussing on the future of work and economic planning. You can find their latest research at autonomy.work. TWT FM is a podcast from The World Transformed. This episode was produced by Charlie Clarke, Sarah Vowden, Aron Keller, Matt Huxley and James Roadnight. We had contributions from Sarah Jaffe, Rhian E Jones, Joe Ryle, Maria Alvarez, Nadine Holdsworth, with songs by Rob Howat. Subscribe to TWT FM to get new episodes in your feed as soon as they’re released.

As 2020 draws to a solitary close, many are struggling to locate the season’s festive cheer. Luckily, the spirit of goodwill and merriment endures at TWT FM and in that giving vein, we are delighted to gift you, our dear listeners, a one-off, non-cancellable, tier-free, stocking-filled-to-the-brim-with-radicalism….TWT FM Christmas Special! In one sense, Christmas is a frenzy of rampant consumerism and excess, but the festive period also offers a brief respite from the endless churn of Capitalism - a short window of time where acts of community and reciprocity abound. A glimpse of the world we want. So settle down into your coziest chair, draped in your ugliest festive jumper with a mince pie to hand, for a classic Dickensian tale with a twenty-first century twist. We follow the fortunes of a notorious pandemic-profiteer, Mr Jeff Bezos, as he is haunted by the ghosts of a socialist Christmas past, present and future. Through his miserly eyes, we will rediscover the history of social solidarity that underpins the holiday in order to imagine, demand and build a Christmas transformed. This episode was produced by the TWT FM team with contributions from Jessica Thorne, Seth Wheeler, Alan Bradshaw, Jonathan Kesselman, Hilary Wainwright, Sophie Lewis, James Butler and Keir Milburn. Special thanks also to the 'A Christmas Carol Transformed' actors: Chloe Massey - Narrator. Enyi Okoronkwo - Jeff Bezos Norah Lopez Holden - Emily Cratchit and Alexa. Sam Swann - Bob Cratchit.