The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

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   Number 1: E. M. Forster

   Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! Live from Sheffield DocFest, it's E. M. Forster: who in his 91 years of life was one of Britain’s most successful novelists. He was raised in a climate of Victorian propriety so extreme he went to university without understanding human reproduction, and then fell in with a secret society known for alternative thinking and "aggressive" homosexuality. Italy — and later India — represented paradises of freedom and liberation in comparison to the cramped, horrid Edwardian upper middle classes. Erotic contact with the working-class/brown Other was the waters of Lourdes for this uptight Englishman, who was never able to transcend his own position. ----more---- SOURCES Wendy Moffat, E. M. Forster: A New Life (Bloomsbury, 2010). https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-a-man-out-of-time-e-m-forsters-a-passage-to-india-at-100-and-the-legacies-of-colonialism-236324 https://www.varsity.co.uk/features/25279 http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/cambridge_apostles_S.pdf https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/11/06/forster-love-story/ https://variety.com/2017/film/global/james-ivory-why-wont-u-s-actors-do-nude-scenes-starting-with-call-me-by-your-name-stars-1202581485/ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/03/23/man-with-a-past https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/subjects/diversity/lgbt-history/fwwhomosexuality/forster-fww/# https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/feb/17/e-m-forster-my-policeman https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n01/alan-hollinghurst/poor-dear-how-she-figures https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/books/review/Toibin-t.html Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

   December 30, 2025·1h 3min
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   Number 2: Mandelson: A Homosexual History - Episode Two

   Subscribe on Patreon to hear Episode Three now, get our monthly Extra Bad Gays episodes, and stay a week ahead on the miniseries. Last week we looked at Mandelson’s early years, and his move from a flirtation with Marxism to being firmly on the right of the Labour Party. We also discussed the left-right split in the Labour Party, and how, in the 1980s, that became a full blown civil war. This week, it's time for the 1987 General Election, and for the paranoid homophobia of late-Eighties Britain: section 28, sleaze, AIDS panic, and tabloid hell.

   May 06, 2026·1h 3min
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   Number 3: Special Episode: Liza Minnelli's Bad Gays

   Happy pride! Gather around, we've got a story to tell! For Stonewall weekend, a special treat: writer, critic, and journalist Cameron Cook joins Ben to talk about the one and only Liza through the stories of the bad (and good) gays in her life, from her father Vincente Minnelli to her first husband Peter Allen to her diabolical fourth husband David Gest. Liza learned on her (and our) mother Judy Garland's knee how to survive by appealing to gay guys. Gay guys used Judy, then Liza to self-fashion. None of it is particularly healthy, and yet we love it so. Our main source for this episode was Liza's new memoir, Kids, Wait Til You Hear This!, and Cameron's newsletter Cooked, with monthly essays and regular music playlists for pop culture obsessives, can be found here. Support our work by subscribing to Extra Bad Gays on Patreon or Apple, and get an extra monthly episode!

   June 27, 2026·1h
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   Number 4: Mandelson: A Homosexual History - Episode 6

   The final episode of our saga: Mandelson's fall from grace in the aftermath of Keir Starmer's election first as leader of the Labour Party and then as one of Britain's most rapidly unpopular Prime Ministers. Can't get enough Mandelson? Subscribe now to Extra Bad Gays to hear our subscriber-only followup discussion with James Butler of the LRB and Juliet Jacques of Suite 212. Mandelson knows too much, understands too much, to be left out of the equation. It’s because he’s sly and underhanded and deceitful that people need him, because it’s a political system that works on those qualities. This is court politics; it’s what Mandelson is a master of, it’s what Epstein was a master of, it’s what Trump is a master of: the informal power of relationships. ----more---- SOURCES: Mandelson and the making of New Labour, Donald Macintyre Mandy: The Unauthorised Biography of Peter Mandelson, Paul Routledge Outrageous! The Story of Section 28 and Britain's Battle for LGBT Education, Paul Baker Tory Pride and Prejudice: The Conservative Party and homosexual law reform, Michael McManus The Rivals : the intimate story of a political marriage, James Naughtie Bloody Nasty People, Daniel Trilling Clampdown: Pop-Cultural wars on class and Gender, Rhian E. Jones 1997: The Future That Never Happened, Richard Power Sayeed Authentocrats: Culture, Politics and the New Seriousness, Joe Kennedy https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/lord-mandelson-lord-speakers-corner/ https://newhistories.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/volumes/2011-12/volume-3/issue-7-open-theme/the-long-road-to-repeal-the-labour-party-and-section-28 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jan/25/mandelson.labour6 https://ntouk.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/wilsons-white-heat-of-technology-speech.pdf https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/media-the-dirty-world-of-mr-punch-1187016.html#:~:text=Last%20week%20an%20internationally%20famous,then%2Downers%2C%20United%20Newspapers. https://jennifrazer.com/mandelson-judaism-lord-levy-jc-dad/ https://johnmajorarchive.org.uk/1993/10/08/mr-majors-speech-to-1993-conservative-party-conference-8-october-1993/ https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/lord-mandelson-lord-speakers-corner/ https://newhistories.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/volumes/2011-12/volume-3/issue-7-open-theme/the-long-road-to-repeal-the-labour-party-and-section-28 https://www.newsweek.com/one-bonk-and-youre-out-181768 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jan/25/mandelson.labour6 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/03/mandelson.labour2 https://www.thepinknews.com/2020/12/23/peter-mandelson-boris-johnson-bum-boys-about-homophobic-attack/ https://petertatchell.net/lgbt_rights/outing/catalyst/ https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/public-attitudes-section-28 https://www.gryklaw.com/https-www-gryklaw-com-lgbt-history-month-coming-of-age-same-sex-relationship-immigration-rights/ https://www.theguardian.com/century/1990-1999/Story/0,,112756,00.html https://www.private-eye.co.uk/pictures/special_reports/justice-lost-in-the-post.pdf https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/see-epsteins-full-birthday-book-with-alleged-personal-messages-from-trump-clinton-and-others https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdr6yjzkvx6o http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/630399.stm https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/nov/17/northernireland.guardianleaders https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68079300 https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/peter-mandelson-why-its-taken-me-27-years-to-marry-the-love-of-my-life-3gx8cfgs5 https://www.stonewall.org.uk/resources/lgbtq-hubs/trans-hub/gender-recognition-act-2004 https://www.economist.com/briefing/2007/05/10/the-great-performer-leaves-the-stage https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/extras/lgbt09.pdf https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/13/mandelson-lords https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/13/mandelson-gayrights https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2008/oct/25/corfu-rothschild-russia-osborne-travel https://www.politico.eu/article/mandelson-backed-by-commission/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/22/former-trump-campaign-chief-paul-manafort-offered-help-putin-russia http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article384041.ece https://www.scotsman.com/news/italian-shoe-magnate-steps-forward-to-sponsor-spruce-up-for-colosseum-1693900 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/oct/05/over-330000-excess-deaths-in-great-britain-linked-to-austerity-finds-study https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/nov/29/politicalcolumnists.gordonbrown https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/benefits-dwp-cuts-conservatives-austerity-cap-b2956620.html https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/labour/peter-mandelson-firm-lobbies-tiktok-shell-water-labour-3409771 https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2012/03/labour-party-within-progress https://labourlist.org/2013/06/falkirk-clp-placed-in-special-measures-over-selection-allegations/ https://labourlist.org/2017/02/mandelson-i-am-working-every-day-to-bring-down-corbyn/ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/27/mandelson-and-mcsweeney-a-partnership-forged-on-winning-and-crushing-the-labour-left https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-election-abolish-tuition-fees-nationalisation-396843 https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/keir-starmers-not-driving-the-train-confessions-of-his-inner-circle-mq2kbg39x https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/who-is-josh-simons-labour-mp-andy-burnham https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/06/labour-thinktank-close-to-morgan-mcsweeney-allegedly-paid-firm-to-investigate-journalists https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/27/mandelson-and-mcsweeney-a-partnership-forged-on-winning-and-crushing-the-labour-left https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/20/labour-minister-falsely-linked-journalists-to-pro-kremlin-network-in-emails-to-gchq https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/28/keir-starmer-leadership-labour-leader-left https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/dec/20/appointment-peter-mandelson-new-uk-ambassador-to-us-divides-labour-mps https://archive.progressivebritain.org/2013/06/27/no-more-falkirks/ peterchrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69b13135cdd628b29e3495f8/V1_FINAL.pdf https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26086390-jeffey-epstein-50th-birthday-book/ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/16/revealed-mandelson-failed-vetting-but-foreign-office-overruled-decision https://www.ft.com/content/fdf7afe9-9ad3-4325-8843-f590dcdd7e57?syn-25a6b1a6=1 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/world/europe/ties-peter-mandelson-jeffrey-epstein.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn82elvzpz7o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9el4dw0z3o https://archive.ph/uWXFn https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrjd2kxw2lo https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00764113.pdf https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/peter-mandelson-epstein-swear-ambassador-trump-b2693376.html https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/04/starmer-confirms-he-knew-mandelson-kept-epstein-ties-after-prison-term https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/11/peter-mandelson-declines-to-apologise-for-association-with-jeffrey-epstein https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/jeffrey-epstein-peter-mandelson-emails-b2914283.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/world/europe/ties-peter-mandelson-jeffrey-epstein.html https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/04/starmer-confirms-he-knew-mandelson-kept-epstein-ties-after-prison-term https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/05/how-epstein-scandal-shaken-british-government-peter-mandelson https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/06/peter-mandelson-election-labour-insiders https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/20/peter-mandelson-a-timeline-of-his-appointment-as-uk-ambassadorto-the-us https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx26yz7kxzo https://www.ft.com/content/fdf7afe9-9ad3-4325-8843-f590dcdd7e57?syn-25a6b1a6=1

   June 03, 2026·1h 2min
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   Number 5: Mandelson: A Homosexual History - Episode Five

   Today we are reaching the next to last chapter––for now!––of the Mandelson story. Listen to the sixth and final episode now by subscribing to Extra Bad Gays on Patreon. As we are recording this, on 18th May 2026, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, is facing a potential leadership challenge and a collapse in legitimacy following two major crises, both of these the responsibility of Peter Mandelson; one, directly, the other a consequence of the changes of which Mandelson has been the driving force of for almost 40 years. The first crisis is Starmer’s appointment of Mandelson as Ambassador to the United States, despite his having failed a Foreign Office vetting procedure, and the fallout of that once Mandelson was outed as a close long-term friend of the child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, to whom it’s alleged he passed sensitive government and financial information while in power. The other is the complete decimation of Labour in the recent local elections, and in elections for the Welsh and Scottish devolved assemblies, which saw the party lose close to 1500 local council seats and, in Wales, lose a century-long winning streak as the country’s largest party. In today’s episode we’ll talk about Mandelson’s journey from MP to peer to Ambassador, and we’ll also discuss how his enormous influence over that time, usually behind the scenes, has led to a Labour Party and indeed the two party system itself on the edge of total collapse.

   May 27, 2026·58min
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