The Great Unravelling
By Ben Kelly and Mat Walker
The Great UnravellingFeb 24, 2022
Baby Bust
Birth rates in Britain are declining and this could lead to economic and social issues down the line. Who better to hear talk about why women are not having more kids then two middle aged white blokes?
The Cost of Living Crisis
Ben gives us the rundown on how bloody expensive everything is in this country and how shit that is, especially for the young folk (boo hoo). Also out of date condiments, Mat's recommendation dump and the next instalment of Bengeons and Dragons.
Bengeons, Dragons and Britain's Muddled Drugs Policy
Ben talks about how Britain's approach to drugs policy and it's enforcement by authorities is muddled and confusing with no sign of improvement. Also is Ben being a bad parent? And part one of special new feature segment, 'Bengeons and Dragons'.
The Great Unravelling on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UnravelPod
Top 5 Christmas Films
Ben and Mat list their top 5 favourite Christmas films and in true Christmas fashion get drunk and argue over them.
The Great Unravelling on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/UnravelPod
Ben and Mat Off-Road
Ben and Mat go for a walk up a hill, chat shit, go to some pubs.
The Great Unravelling on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/UnravelPod
The Great NHS Privatisation Myth with Kristian Niemietz
We also discuss beer and sausages… Because, you know, he’s German.
Kristian on Twitter: twitter.com/K_Niemietz
The Great Unravelling on Twitter: twitter.com/UnravelPod
Live Your Life Covid Free
Ben wants to talk about how the pessimistic predictions around rising Covid-19 rates in the UK have been proven to be nothing more than doom mongering. At least for the time being anyway... Also men's health update, James Gandolfini and Bob Mortimer.
https://twitter.com/UnravelPod
It's the Brexit, Stupid!
Global supply chain issues seem to have hit the UK harder than most. Well, why could that be? Ben and Mat discuss that, the futile drive to get people back into the office, whether to hire moving companies or not when moving house and remembering 90s TV programmes.
Live and Let Die
Ben and Mat discuss assisted dying, or assisted suicide, or maybe murder? Also Norm Macdonald died. We tried to keep this one light, anyway.
Can Facial Recognition Be Stopped?
The use of live facial recognition technology by the police and private companies represents a threat to our privacy, freedom of expression, and rights of association. Well, that's what Ben thinks anyway. Also, Grease is the Word, least favourite American imports and Ben's drinking again.
The Great Unravelling on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/unravelpod
Ben's article in The Spectator:
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/can-facial-recognition-tech-be-stopped-
How Racist is Britain? with Sunder Katwala
How racist is Britain? Have we made any progress? What role does social media play in amplifying fringe voices? How closely do those voices portray societal attitudes to racism in reality? And how was Ben's camping trip? Mat and Ben are joined by Sunder Katwala, Director of non-partisan think tank, British Future.
British Future is an independent, non-partisan thinktank and registered charity, engaging people’s hopes and fears about integration and immigration, identity and race.
https://www.britishfuture.org/
Sunder on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/sundersays
The Great Unravelling on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/UnravelPod
Fluorescent Jacketed Chain Gangs
The UK has the third largest prison population in Europe and the suicide rate in our jails is twice the European average. Meanwhile the PM launches his latest plan to get tough on crime in the shape of fluorescent jacketed chain gangs. Ben's proposes that perhaps we should try a more multi-layered approach to policy. Also we get the latest on Ben's abstinence progress.
Drugs Are Bad, Mkay?
Ian Dunt (author, political journalist and broadcaster) provides the guest monologue on this episode where Ben and Mat discuss drugs policy in the UK. Ben talks us through his journey from legalise to penalise and back again, as well as his own love affair with drugs. And what is the best drug he's had? Also Mat went to the football.
https://twitter.com/UnravelPod
Ben's Booze News
twitter.com/UnravelPod
Yes In My Backyard with Anya Martin
Ben and Mat discuss the UK housing crisis with PricedOut Director and YIMBY campaigner, Anya Martin. What makes the UK's housing market so incredibly dysfunctional compared to other countries and what can be done about it? Also featuring a guest monologue kindly contributed by Head of Political Economy at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Kristian Niemietz.
Anya on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnyaMartin8
Kristian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/K_Niemietz
The Great Unravelling on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UnravelPod
My Earliest Political Memory with Madeline Grant
Ben and Mat chat to Telegraph columnist Madeline Grant about how she got into the world of politics. Also compare nerd notes, The Simpsons, Airfix, Harry Potter, Lego, James Bond, jigsaws...
Irreversible???
Boris says lockdowns are a thing of the past and that this latest rollback of restrictions will be irreversible. Ben is desperately hoping that is the case whilst in the meantime losing himself in the role-playing psychological murder mystery game, Disco Elysium.
Czeching In with Sam Pearson-Moore
The Dumbification of the British Right
Brexit and Beyond with Roland Smith
Happy New Year?
Ben Loves Christmas
This episode is mostly about how Ben loves Christmas. Also refreshingly it features absolutely no Covid-19 chat. Join us in thoroughly forgetting that this year ever happened and step into Christmas.
Post Pandemic World Predictions Special
Prof. Jonathan Van-Tam warns Covid-19 is here to stay whilst Boris predicts we'll be hugging and kissing strangers before spring is out. Opinions are like arseholes, so they say, but how will our little society have changed once the virus is under control? Ben and Mat try not to make a tonne of predictions but fail before segueing into some good ol' dead dad chat.
Time To Take Our Medicine
This Land is My Land with Dan Sohege
Sam Bowman (Director of Competition Policy at the International Center for Law and Economics) kindly provides this weeks monologue.
Dan on Twitter: twitter.com/stand_for_all
Sam on Twitter: twitter.com/s8mb
Music When The Lights Go Out
Ben and Mat attempt to discuss the cultural catastrophe the fucking pandemic has caused for the live music industry, but get too excited by actually seeing each other in the flesh for the first time in 9 months, get very drunk and mostly forget that was the meant to be the point. We hear Ben's account of his own personal experience of rock n roll excess and Mat has a message for a particular listener.
How To Be A Liberal with Ian Dunt
Lockdown Lament pt2: A Howl of Despair
New podcast name, same old shit. Ben and Mat can't escape the inevitable all consuming subject which is the impending LOCKDOWN. Ben has a good old moan about the minor inconveniences he's experiencing, before being interrogated as to whether he's been cooking 'owt' for his family recently.
Brexit Means Breakfast
Mat and Ben discuss Ben's journey from Brexiteer to er... non-Brexiteer then what makes a great breakfast and our inability to make new friends.
Attack of the Algorithms!
Mat's shameless music plug: open.spotify.com/artist/3iDfnt9tnfCmIWmV8v7sxT?si=jgz9sFKUQL2ir5hDOt4AoQ
The No Content Episode
Working From Home or Hardly Working?
Ben and Mat discuss how the Covid-19 enforced working from home practices may be here to stay. Come for the working from home chat, stay for the bathroom cleaning tips and references to onanism.
How To Remove Mould From Silicone Sealant In Bathroom Shower: https://youtu.be/pXDFPkMKef0
Won't Somebody Please Think of the Children?
Ben and Mat discuss dodgy parenting in lockdown. Featuring a funeral for a stick insect and whether our kids are watching too much TV.
The End of the Lockdown - Time to Celebrate or Time to Worry?
Ben and Mat discuss the end of the lockdown and what it means to be emerging back to normal life. Also pubs of course and the usual other shit.
Mental Health in Lockdown
Ben and Mat discuss the impact the lockdown is having on the nation's mental health and then some other shit.
On Pubs and The New Normal
We love our pubs, but will social distancing ruin them?