Politics Theory Other

Richard returns to talk about this year's wildfires. We talked about the scale and extent of the wildfires, how they compare to recent years, and the threat of the so-called weather whiplash effect, with heatwaves and wildfires being followed by severe flooding. We also talked about how fire is impacting biodiversity, how better land use management could reduce the threat posed by wildfires, and why Richard thinks we should be cautious about applying an apocalyptic framing to the phenomenon.

Notes:

Welcome to the Pyrocene:

https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/climate-international-politics/2026/08/welcome-to-the-pyrocene

Europe’s summer of wildfires is just a taste of what’s to come:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/europes-summer-of-wildfires-is-just-a-taste-of-whats-to-come/

James Meadway joins PTO to discuss the report he recently authored for the Verdant think tank on the economic costs of the recent UK heatwaves. We talked about how the extreme weather hit productivity right across the economy - from construction workers and delivery drivers to office workers. And about how the increasing casualisation of the workforce makes UK workers increasingly vulnerable to the physical and financial damage caused by such events. We also talked about the impact on infrastructure and about the inadequacy of the Burnham government's response to the situation.

Notes:

The Cost of Heat: Summer 2026 UK heatwaves - an economic impact update:

https://www.verdantthinking.org/publications-and-events/the-cost-of-heat-may-to-july

Adam Tooze - "Mad dogs and ...": Heatwave economics - summer 2026:

https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-467-mad-dogs-and-heatwave

In the Wisconsin primary last week the socialist candidate Francesca Hong was narrowly defeated by her more centrist opponent. It's a result that some argue shows the limits of left politics in swing states and outside of Democrat voting heartlands - in spite of the prior victory of Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. To talk through both campaigns, and what they tell us about the viability of left politics in the United States, PTO is joined by Maurice Weeks - co-founder of the Action Center on Race and the Economy.

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Although it's increasingly common to describe the Palestinian struggle for liberation in terms of a conflict with settler colonialism, it's more rare for Palestine to be situated in the broader context of anti-imperialist struggles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and specifically the wars for liberation conducted by the FLN in Algeria and the Vietminh and the National Liberation Front in Vietnam. Hamza Hamouchene seeks to do just that.

In our conversation we talked about the importance of recognising that although the success of past decolonisation struggles is seen today as inevitable, they were not so perceived at the time and that in the cases of both Algeria and Vietnam their battles for independence endured for an extremely long time and were punctuated by what seemed to be possibly permanent defeats. We also talked about the Vietminh's victory of the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and the shockwaves this sent through territories under the control of the French and other European empires elsewhere.

We went on to talk about the direct assistance the Vietnamese and Algerians provided to each other, and how both aided the Palestinians after they had achieved independence. Finally, we talked about the relevance of the moment of the high point of anti-colonial struggle to the Palestinian cause now, given the even more challenging geopolitical situation that Palestinian resistance faces today.

Notes:

Towards Palestinian Liberation: Global Perspectives on Anti-Colonial Resistance and Solidarity, edited by Abi Bae and Hamza Hamouchene:

https://www.tni.org/en/publication/towards-palestinian-liberation