FRDH Podcast with Michael Goldfarb

Britain in 2025 is in the grip of a malaise that has no single focus. What is behind it? Things have been much worse economically and politically but the mood in the country is sour edging towards bitter. In this FRDH podcast Michael Goldfarb looks at the malaise and Britain's deep discontent with former BBC news presenter Robin Lustig. They discuss recent history, the effect the growing together of the MAGA movement and Britain's hard right in media and politics and can the BBC survive? Give them 50 minutes to explain what is -- and is not -- happening.

27 years after the Good Friday Agreement what is Northern Ireland like, how much conflict still exists? In this wide ranging conversation, Declan Lawn who grew up during the Troubles, became a BBC news reporter and now is the co-creator of the internationally popular series, Blue Lights, briefs Michael Goldfarb on where Northern Ireland is in its post-conflict phase. Lawn also explains how he works on Blue Lights, keeping the show authentic to its Belfast setting.

Across Western society, the hot topic of conversation is how young men -- boys, really -- seem lost, caught up in something called the manosphere where resentments are stoked against women and the existing political order. No wonder many of them vote for neo-fascists like Donald Trump. James Bloodworth, is a writer who practices immersive journalism. Bloodworth submerged himself in the manosphere beginning in 2018 and stayed in it for years. Now he has written a book called: Lost Boys: a Personal Journey Through the Manosphere. He talks to a very perplexed FRDH host Michael Goldfarb about the manosphere and those it ensnares and how easily it leads them to embrace a fascist world view.

Professor Brian Klaas , who has already written three books on the Trump epoch, wonders how America will make it to the midterms a year from now and what condition it will be in. Klaas, Professor of Global Politics at University College London and columnist for the Atlantic Magazine, and FRDH podcast host Michael Goldfarb discuss the current situation in America. Will the midterms be free and fair? Will the results be accepted by the MAGA Republican party? Will the midterms even be held? Give us 56:41 to talk it out.

After nearly two years of Israel's war of revenge in Gaza are there any lessons to be learned that might end the bloodshed? Professor Yehuda Halper thinks there are and in this FRDH podcast he shares them. The key is for Israeli Prime Minister to stop speaking about Israel as the new Sparta. After all, Sparta lost the battle of Thermopylae and left virtually no trace of its civilization. Plus other lessons from ancient Greece and Biblical history that modern Israelis and the global jewish diaspora would do well to remember. Give us 41:17 to explain.