Casement's Leftovers

It's a new government in the 26 counties! And it's the same as before! 

We unpack the 2024 elections, the new Dáil and we beg you for money for a sound mixer. Enjoy! 

Help us buy a mixer: https://gofund.me/8597a85c

Support the show

They're apparently saying we've been "caught lacking" on the podcast front lately, so to make up for our recent flop era we are giving you all a bumper episode to review the year 2024. We talk all the major events in politics and beyond, plus have a chat about the year's culture with Luke & Eleanor. You may have heard we were "washed", but today we are definitely "goated". 

From now on, new episodes will come out on the last Thursday of every month, plus there'll be some bonus eps in between. So make sure you're subscribed and follow us on socials so you don't miss an ep x

Also, follow @puregrand and @palelegs on Instagram for more Luke & Eleanor! 

Outro song is 'I Want' by mk.gee

Support the show

What can we say really 

Support the show

To celebrate 75 episodes of pure socialist republican slurry, we thought we would kick off Season 2 of Casement's Leftovers by returning to the man who first brought us all together: Mark Fisher. The Weird and the Eerie – published just weeks before Fisher's death by suicide in January 2017 – is a work of literary criticism that has always seemed strange to us. We get together to try to make sense of this final work, which brings us to conversations about the nature of reality, capitalism, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and everything in between. What is the "weird" and the "eerie"? Why does any of this matter? Cross the threshold and get weird with us. It's nice in here.

The rabbit killer did not eat for a week  
And no way he can look at meat  
No bottle has he anymore  
It could be his mangled teeth  
He sees jawbones on the street  
Advertisements become carnivores  
And roadworkers turn into jawbones  
And he has visions of islands  
Heavily covered in slime  
The villagers dance round pre-fabs  
And laugh through twisted mouths  
Don't eat, it's disallowed  
Suck on marrowbones and energy from the mainland

Support the show

It was good while it lasted

Support the show

Helen and Matt finally conclude their famed Berlin trilogy by speaking to Caoimhe of The Irish Bloc Berlin. A "Berlin-based platform for Irish solidarity with Palestine", the Irish Bloc has been on the frontlines of opposition to Germany's continued support for Israel and the Berlin police's brutal repression tactics. We talk to Caoimhe about the group's organising efforts, but also dig deeper into just why Germany is so fucked. 

Follow The Irish Bloc at irishblocberlin on Instagram

Support the show

We continue our German urlaub with a very simple question: what the fuck is going on in Europe??

There is no one better to help us with this burning question than Ciarán from the fantastic Corner Späti podcast. Ciarán (like somebody else we know) is an Irish podcaster currently living in Berlin, but he also happens to be the only person in the world who actually understands the EU (editor's note: we fact-checked this, it's true). 

Recorded from Matt's safehouse in the heart of the European empire, we discuss an array of topics such as odd socks, our favourite flags, and the benefits of drink-driving, before Ciarán answers all of our questions about Europe, like: what is Ursula von der Leyen's actual *job?*  What's a "fiscal transfer"? And who the fuck are Volt?

Make sure to check out Corner Späti for all your European needs and tune in next week for the conclusion of our Berlin Trilogy! 

Support the show

The housing crisis is the definitive social issue of our time, affecting almost everybody across the West in varied and horrifying ways. But how do we go about. solving it?

One seemingly novel idea has been put forward by housing activists in Berlin: simply take properties out of the hands of the massive landlords and place them back under tenant control. In this, the first in our mini-series of episodes recorded live from Matt’s bedroom in Berlin, Matt and Helen speak to Danielle of Right 2 The City / 'Deutsche Wohnen & Co. enteignen' about the 2021 referendum on the expropriation of over 200,000 properties in Germany’s capital. What’s the thinking behind this move? What has happened since? And can we learn anything from this mass movement that we can apply to the situation in Ireland?  

Support the show

The moment you've all been waiting for: Helen's first solo episode! They're joined by Mark Malone from The Hope & Courage Collective (formerly The Far Right Observatory) to talk about the far right in Ireland. 
They talk about the influence of the British far right, the key actors and funders, the gains they made in the local elections and crucially; how to tackle them. 
(We had a few technical issues recording this so it's not the cleanest listen: please forgive us.) 

Support the show

The whole gang is back together for a quick catch-up and a dive into what each has been reading. Glen brings us on a culinary trip through the history of Ireland via Margaret Hickey's Ireland's Green Larder., Helen finds God in John Dominic Crossan's Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, and Matt disproves the labour theory of value through the divine power of tunes in Jacques Attali's Noise: A Political Economy of Music. 

Support the show