Programming Note: Darts and Letters is off. We are producing a new season on Cited Podcast, which is called “the Rationality Wars“.

The Chattering Class: Contemporary Politics & Policy

  • Thumbnail for EP33: Check Out My Gravel Pit (ft. Christo Aivalis, James Naylor, & Steven High)

    EP33: Check Out My Gravel Pit (ft. Christo Aivalis, James Naylor, & Steven High)

    Canada’s 44th general election was a mess from the start. From wondering why it was called in the first place, to culture war wedge politics, the rise of the extreme-right People’s Party, and along to literal stone throwing–or gravel throwing, anyway. You might want to call that a new low. It’s definitely low. But it’s not the first time Canadian elections have been nasty affairs, and it’s not even the first time rocks have been thrown.
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  • Thumbnail for EP29: Vote for Pedro (ft. Natalia Sobrevilla & Aldo Madariaga)

    EP29: Vote for Pedro (ft. Natalia Sobrevilla & Aldo Madariaga)

    This week, Darts and Letters looks to Peru and the election victory of peasant school teacher and socialist Pedro Castillo. He won a close race against Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori. His campaign slogan was simple and powerful: “No more poor people in a rich country.”
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  • Thumbnail for EP25: The Cornish Consensus (ft. Joe Roberts of the Democratic Socialists of Canada)

    EP25: The Cornish Consensus (ft. Joe Roberts of the Democratic Socialists of Canada)

    As the G7 Summit wraps up in the United Kingdom, the blueprint for a kinder, gentler, more generous capitalism is being floated. It’s being called the Cornwall Consensus. Meanwhile, in Canada, a democratic socialist organisation has popped up during the pandemic and is attracting a lot of attention. This week, we plumb the depths of the Cornish new world order, go back to the future with a look at the end of the end of history, and sort out the state of Canada’s political left.
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  • EP15: Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Children

    In recent years, the left seems to have ceded the issue of free speech — or, rather, flipped on it. For years, it defended against censorship, stood up to global imperialism, decried efforts to silence resisters and renegades, and mocked the right for culture war stodginess and pearl-clutching that whined ‘won’t somebody please think of the children?!’ But much of the left has retreated on speech. That turn may have implications for those who work to hold power to account in a world full of fallible human beings who often get stuff wrong, and powerful actors and institutions who use censorship as a cudgel.
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  • Thumbnail for EP11: Gaming the Stock Market (w/ Matt Christman of Chapo Trap House)

    EP11: Gaming the Stock Market (w/ Matt Christman of Chapo Trap House)

    For a moment, all the eyes of the world were on GameStop. It’s unexpected, meteoric rise. It’s inevitable fall. The saga became a rorschach test for our politics. Was it a revolutionary moment, the many pushing back against the few? Was it an old school pump and dump, just folks out to make some money?
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