The Exchange | Long-form interviews from the New Statesman

We live in a world where as many people have instantaneous access to porn as to clean water.

At peak times, close to a tenth of internet traffic is devoted to streaming adult content. But while porn has quietly taken over the world, it seems that this industry is no longer just about sex. It's about clicks, attention, data. And while the ubiquitous and instantaneous access to pornographic content has impacted our sexual relationships and habits, it’s also deeply changed how we see the world and our own place in it.

The porn industry was the blueprint for the attention economy and the forefather of personal branding. It’s also one of the starkest examples of our phones knowing us better than we know ourselves.

Patricia Nilsson, Financial Times reporter and author of Guilty Pleasure: The Pornification of the Internet, the Economy, and Everything Else joins Oli Dugmore on this episode of The Exchange.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since the publication of No Logo in 1999 - a critique of big brands and consumer culture - Naomi Klein has been one of the most influential voices in leftist politics in the world. In the past 3 decades, she’s explored the intersection of capitalism, war, climate, and conspiracies.

Now in her latest work, and first written collaboration, she turns to fascism. As she sees it, we’ve entered “End Times Fascism” - a perfect storm of the rise of right-wing authoritarianism, tech evangelism, and ever-growing inequality. “The most powerful people in the world are preparing for the end of the world,” she warns with co-author Astra Taylor, “an end they themselves are frenetically accelerating.”

It’s a difficult conversation to have, contemplating the destruction of our world. But if there’s one person who can articulate this clearly and precisely, it’s Naomi Klein.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The summer just passed was the hottest on record. Next year, the scientists predict, will be even hotter.

And what will happen between these two infernos? Respite? Wrong. More extreme weather.

Storms, droughts, and floods will sweep the world in coming months.

George Monbiot, environmental activist and author, joins Oli Dugmore to discuss our new climate reality, how prepared (or rather unprepared) we might be, and why governments and those in power around the world are still ignoring not just the warning signs - but the unfolding disaster.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Japan, couples can rent a grandchild in order to make them feel less bereft on special occasions. In South Korea, dog stroller sales have overtaken pram sales. And in France, deaths outnumbered births for the first time since the Second World War in 2025. So what's actually going on?

Award winning journalist Camilla Cavendish joins Oli Dugmore to discuss her new book, Generation Maybe: Why We're Having Fewer Children, and What It Means for Us All.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Owen Jones burst onto the scene in 2011 with his bestselling book Chavs: the demonisation of the working class. Since then his activism and journalism has followed the ebbs and flows of the left in UK politics, his own push and pull relationship with the Labour Party - which he ultimately left in 2024.

Now he wants to cast his analysis beyond Britain. He joins Oli Dugmore in this episode to discuss his new book The Fall of the West: how they really lost it.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.