Oldmate and Josh, The Podcast

What if everything you thought you knew about the Cold War started 30 years too late?

Most history books place the beginning of the Cold War around 1947. But what if the real story began in 1917, with a revolution that would change the world forever?

This week, Oldmate and Josh tackle a fascinating argument presented in an essay shared with us by one of our listeners: the Cold War didn’t begin after World War II. Its foundations were laid decades earlier.

From the Bolshevik Revolution and the rise of communism to Stalin, Churchill, nuclear weapons, espionage and the collapse of the Soviet Union, we’re tracing the ideological battle that divided the planet.

But this isn’t just a history lesson.

It’s a conversation about fear, power, propaganda and what happens when two competing visions of the world become so convinced they’re right that everyone else gets caught in the middle.

Did the Cold War actually end in 1991, or did we just convince ourselves it had?

History, uncomfortable questions, questionable humour and two blokes trying to make sense of a century of geopolitical madness.

Welcome to Episode 110 of Oldmate & Josh, the Podcast.

EXPLORE THE RESEARCH

• Cambridge University — Ideology and the Origins of the Cold War, 1917–1962
• Oxford Academic — The Cold War: Origins, 1917–1945
• UK National Archives — The Cold War

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CREDITS

Hosted by Oldmate & Josh.

Special thanks to our listener for sharing the essay that inspired this episode.

Music by Pity Lips.

Work Less. Question More.

You bought the game. You paid for it. It’s sitting in your digital library.

But do you actually own the bloody thing?

This week, Oldmate and Josh pull apart the rapidly changing world of video game decompilation, where developers are using artificial intelligence to reverse-engineer classic games, rebuild old favourites and challenge the way the gaming industry operates.

From Nintendo 64 classics being decompiled in record time to fan communities falling apart over AI, credit and copyright, the gaming world is facing some serious questions.

Who owns a game once you’ve paid for it? Should abandoned games be rescued? Is AI saving gaming history or creating an entirely new problem?

And what happens when the boundaries between consoles, games and platforms start disappearing?

Oldmate has a dream: one machine, every game, every generation. Josh has questions. The gaming industry might have a nervous breakdown.

Because when you buy a game, are you buying something you own — or just renting permission to play it?

Welcome to Episode 109 of Oldmate & Josh, the Podcast.

MERCH

Support the podcast and grab yourself some Oldmate & Josh merchandise.

Website: https://www.oldmateandjosh.com

MUSIC

Music by Pity Lips.

A fortune hidden in a salt mine. National reserves stolen. Desperate escapes with a country’s wealth in tow.

This week, Oldmate and Josh follow the Nazi gold trail—from looted vaults to the banks and transactions that helped turn stolen wealth into spending power. Who moved it? Who accepted it? And when the war ended, who actually got it back?

Expect uncomfortable history, questionable tangents and two blokes discovering that finding the treasure is where the complicated bit starts.

Because behind the bars, coins and bank balances were people—and returning the gold could never undo what had been taken.

📚 Research and further reading

Chasing Gold — George M. Taber

The Merkers Mine Treasure — US National Archives

Tracing Nazi Gold and Recovery Efforts — US National Archives

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🎙️ Hosted by Oldmate & Josh🎛️ Produced by Caleb🎵 Music by Pity Lips.

I went to Bathurst with 17 dads who already knew the mountain. I knew very little about motor racing. I started taking photos and trying to learn the stories. Then I found myself caught up in Peter Brock’s legacy, the details in the museum, and the people and traditions that bring fans back year after year.

Then car 17 won. Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood took the 2026 Bathurst 1000 after Anton De Pasquale ran out of fuel on the final lap. We’d backed number 17, and the podcast won $65. I don’t follow sport, so I don’t know if I’ll ever feel that kind of race-day excitement again.

I came for the cars. I stayed for the people.

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Music by: Pity Lips

But Life Was Good for Me!

How do ordinary people help a dictatorship take hold—and still believe they’re the good guys?

This week, Oldmate and Josh dig into They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933–45 by Milton Mayer. Drawing on his conversations with ten former Nazi Party members, we explore the excuses, the everyday comforts and the small compromises that helped make the unthinkable feel normal.

Work still happened. Bills still needed paying. And when someone else was being targeted, there was always a reason to keep your head down.

Expect uncomfortable questions, questionable tangents and two blokes trying to understand how “I’m staying out of politics” becomes a political decision.

Would we have recognised what was happening—or just carried on because life was good for us?

📚 The book and further reading

They Thought They Were Free — Milton Mayer

Read the excerpt: “But Then It Was Too Late”

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🎵 Music by Pity Lips.

The world remembers the day. How much do we know about everything that came before it?

Oldmate & Josh explore the road to September 11, drawing on Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower. From the rise of al-Qaeda to warnings that failed to become action, we follow a story of extremism, institutional failures and information that never reached the people who needed it.

We examine the FBI–CIA disconnect, the haunting story of investigator John O’Neill, and the difficult questions surrounding the official investigation. Then comes the aftermath: fear, war, political opportunity and consequences that still shape our lives.

Big questions, uncomfortable history and occasional reminders that putting “intelligence” in an organisation’s name is a bold commitment.

Who knew what? What could have been prevented? And how do we question powerful institutions without mistaking every unanswered question for proof of a conspiracy?

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Music by: Pity Lips

We recorded it. We lost it. We found it. And given Todd Gray talks about doing comedy naked, losing the recording might have been the least exposed anyone felt.

The comedian and actor joins Oldmate & Josh for a conversation that travels from greyhound jumpers and manscaping to intimacy fears, mental health and learning to accept yourself. Somewhere along the way, there’s a Wendy’s hot dog revelation you’ll have to hear for yourself.

Todd also shares the personal connection behind his Kokoda show, taking it to the Edinburgh Fringe, and what happens when an ambitious performance meets a body with other plans.

Funny, vulnerable and finally located.

Better late than deleted.

Music by: Pity Lips

Give someone enough power to keep everyone under control. Then hope they’re lovely.

This week, Oldmate and Josh unpack Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan: why frightened people surrender freedom for safety, why cooperation gets difficult when nobody trusts anyone, and why “someone needs to take charge” comes with some fairly significant terms and conditions.

From everyday rules to government power, we explore a centuries-old argument that still turns up whenever someone promises to restore order. How much control makes society possible—and when does the solution become another problem?

How do we build something strong enough to protect us without building something we eventually need protection from?

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Music by Pity Lips.

Michael Jackson almost owned Marvel. Somehow, that’s only the beginning. Oldmate & Josh follow the money through Neverland, shrewd music-catalogue deals and dreams of an entertainment empire—before asking how it all unravelled.

Drawing on former adviser Dieter Wiesner’s The Real Story, we put the insider account under the microscope: what stacks up, what remained a dream, and who benefits from telling it? Huge ambition, staggering debt, and a commercial empire that flourished after his death. Everyone seems to know the “real Michael”—especially when there’s a book to sell.

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Music by: Pity Lips

What do cowboy hats, waffle cones and a clean-shaven face have in common? Somehow, we’ve ended up talking about tuberculosis.

This week, Oldmate & Josh follow the strange connections explored in John Green’s Everything Is Tuberculosis, uncovering how one disease helped shape our clothes, homes, habits and even South Australia’s compulsory X-ray buses.

At the heart of it all is Henry Reider, a young man from Sierra Leone whose experience with drug-resistant TB brings the conversation back to a confronting question: what good is a cure if you can’t access it?

Unexpected history, ridiculous connections and a human story that stays with you.

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📚 Explore the research:

Everything Is Tuberculosis — John Green
South Australia’s TB campaign

🎵 Music by Pity Lips.