How did the world get into the state that it is in today? Why do we hate one another so much when we are all so much alike?

Every choice has a consequence, yet we are collectively too shortsighted to realise how our own small voices can lead to such significant changes in the DNA of our societies. Since November 1963 when certain questionable actions occurred and a state cover-up was initiated, the entire world has in one way or another fallen in line with official narratives. However the last 20 years have shown us precisely the dangers of believing that the state operates in our favour.

The state, whichever one you choose, has brought the people to poverty, has given our taxes to the rich - their friends, has bombed free nations, initiated coups, supported genocides and is constantly ignoring climate change with where it puts our money - into the hands of oil producers. Even the most die hard of nationalists cannot deny these facts, they would simply agree with the policies. By staying silent and not demanding change, we have quietly allowed ourselves to be placed beside them.

This path that our ‘democratic world’ has taken, will lead to greater authoritarianism and less freedoms. It has happened before. The state will continue to justify the need to control us. We are our own enemies. Only the state can think for us. Only the state can be right. Only the state can make big guns. Only the state has the right to train people in the use of them. This is the world we live in and one of the reasons for that is the election in 1980 that was perhaps stolen by Reagan for doing a deal to keep 52 American hostages in prolonged captivity.

Here is an article that speaks of the details to Reagan’s deal. Make up your own minds: It’s All but Settled: The Reagan Campaign Delayed the Release of the Iranian Hostages | The New Republic

Walter was on the ground in Nicaragua and though his role did not involve him in what happened, by doing his very normal job he realised he too played a role. Thank you Walter for your time.

This is TwoandaMic

#Riseup and #BeCurious.

I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:

Instagram: TwoandaMic

Twitter: TwoandaMic1

Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Oh, and if there is a possibility to do some rating, that would be nice as well. Thank you.

PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content...!

#RiseUp #BeCurious

Talking about freedom when we believe we have it makes for a deeply reflective experience. There are definitely occasions where we feel free. There will be times when we even act freely. In many places we speak freely and congregate freely. Yet those freedoms are being tightened, and our free speech is being choked.

I will address those sentiments in a future episode, so for now I thank Amin for talking about his personal experiences in Jordan and travelling to different countries as well as his openness in reflecting on integration in coming to Germany.

This is TwoandaMic, #riseup and be curious.

I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:

Instagram: TwoandaMic

Twitter: TwoandaMic1

Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Oh, and if there is a possibility to do some rating, that would be nice as well. Thank you.

PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content...!

The world is melting. Climate crises and tipping points, wars, bombs, propaganda and social strife. We are experiencing everything, everywhere, all at once (isn’t that a movie title too?). Yet rather than taking a step back to calm the situation down, our apparent ‘leaders’ are making things worse. The criminals are running the show and the other leaders have simply fallen into line behind them. That’s not any form of representation I am satisfied with.

In this podcast we address these issues as well as how our education and our media have covered over the sentiment of resistance. Inspired by the post below we include these thoughts in our chat.

https://x.com/trhxianl/status/1935463041484898422

My thanks to Esheru for his insights and his time.

My best wishes to you all in the hope that we can achieve mutual respect amid our dissention.

This is TwoandaMic. Rise up and be curious!

Title inspired by د (@trhxianl) / X

I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:

Instagram: TwoandaMic

Twitter: TwoandaMic1

Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Oh, and if there is a possibility to do some rating, that would be nice as well. Thank you.

PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content...!

Rose, a specialist in Geopolitics, has worked tirelessly to create this fantastic project whereby students from Marseilles and Yerevan have the opportunity to experience life in each other’s cities, learn about the more than century-old history that unites the two towns, and the cultures that have grown through centuries of strife and fluctuation.

Below are a few links to the project.

Thank you Rose for your time. It is truly appreciated.

This is TwoandaMic!

NB: Owing to a poor sound connection, I have tried to enhance the audio to make Rose’s speech clearer. At some points this process makes her voice sound mechanical. I apologise for the lack of quality in some parts.

Links to the project:

Echange Arménie, un premier aperçu dans la presse et en vidéo - Lycée Nelson Mandela

https://www.lamarseillaise.fr/societe/les-lyceens-de-marseille-et-erevan-main-dans-la-main-ON18269043?sfnsn=scwspwa

I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:

Instagram: TwoandaMic

Twitter: TwoandaMic1

Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Oh, and if there is a possibility to do some rating, that would be nice as well. Thank you.

PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content...!

Amber from the Road to Tar Valon joins me in this episode on the cancellation of an epic TV Show the Wheel of Time. Amber has her fingers on the pulse of that big spinning wheel and world of WoT themes and theories and shares a few morsels for us to chew on.

Plus a very quick chat about Murderbot (more to come when the TV Series season 1 concludes).

As always, thank you so much Amber for your time and your insights. You can find Amber’s YouTube channel here: (117) Road to Tar Valon - YouTube

This is TwoandaMic!

#RiseUp and #BeCurious

I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:

Instagram: TwoandaMic

Twitter: TwoandaMic1

Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Oh, and if there is a possibility to do some rating, that would be nice as well. Thank you.

PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content...!

When Alex sent me the article about a Cybersex club as background to this episode’s discussion, I was sold on the idea immediately. The sex industry has always been a part of society. For as long as communities have existed, sex has been traded in one form or another. Sex is the vehicle through which society grows, quite literally.

Sex motivates and inspires and innovates. Sex pushes boundaries in ways most sectors cannot fathom.

However sex and the sex industry must adhere to very specific rules if they are to operate in a law-abiding society and the first rule is legal consent.

Here are some links Alex wanted to share:

The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny, by Laura Bates (reading her books in general is a good idea, as she has evolved into an excellent resource for fighting misogyny).

https://www.awesomebooks.com/book/9781471190483/the-new-age-of-sexism

Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and The Emerging Science of Addiction, by Gary Wilson (this book is ten years old but is a good fence-post of significant research, even if I do not agree with all of it).

https://www.awesomebooks.com/book/9780993161605/your-brain-on-porn

Takedown: Inside The Fight To Shut Down Pornhub for Child Abuse, Rape, and Sex Trafficking, by Laila Mickelwait.

(This is only available in Kindle or Audio format)

https://amzn.eu/d/e0cqrdM

I can be found here, if anyone is nuts enough to want to talk to me.

https://bsky.app/profile/underdark.media

I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:

Instagram: TwoandaMic

Twitter: TwoandaMic1

Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Oh, and if there is a possibility to do some rating, that would be nice as well. Thank you.

PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content...!

A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf was inspired by the home into which she moved in 1911 called Asham House. It was a retreat and intended to alleviate her stresses and mental health issues. She was plagued with mental health issues in her older years. Some speculate that they may stem from having been sexually abused when younger by her half-brother Gerald Duckworth, an event she revealed in an essay in 1939.

These are the pains of Virginia Woolf, yet there was also a lot of love. She loved her husband even though their marriage was unconventional. She loved many friends and a few of them intimately. She was an artist, a trend-setter and a creator of movement and style. She was an activist and an inspiration.

She could have lived longer but she chose not to. She will forever be remembered.

This very short story reveals a little of how she saw the world around her and is a gentle way to slip into that world of Virginia Woolf.

TwoandaMic

#BeCurious #RiseUp

I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:

Instagram: TwoandaMic

Twitter: TwoandaMic1

Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Oh, and if there is a possibility to do some rating, that would be nice as well. Thank you.

PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content...!

There are so many hidden gems in the short story format. The ability to convey a complete sense of the characters and present a conclusion to a challenge that doesn’t creep aimlessly from one page to the next, is an art form.

Hector Hugh Munro or Saki was a master and that he himself inspired Noel Coward and P. G. Wodehouse is no wonder.

Here I narrate his short story The Mouse, typically witty and delicately mischievous.

This is TwoandaMic.

Rise Up and Be Curious

NB. The picture is taken from Barnes & Noble's publication of H. H. Munro's complete works. The narration of short stories on my channel are by me and all errors are therefore my own as well.

I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:

Instagram: TwoandaMic

Twitter: TwoandaMic1

Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Oh, and if there is a possibility to do some rating, that would be nice as well. Thank you.

PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content...!

The situation the LGBTQ+ community finds itself in today, especially in the case of Trans women, did not happen over a single April 16th night in 2025. The descent into hate has been long-winded, public and blown so far off course from the realities on the ground, it might almost read like a dystopian thriller. Which would have been preferable than it being reality by quite a distance.

Where does the hate come from? Why is this hate being supported by so many different political groups that themselves would normally be opposed to one another like feminists and establishment people and in some cases neo-nazis?

In this podcast with Alex, we talk about some of these issues and try to pull apart the reasons behind the underlying hate.

Thank you Alex for your courage in speaking out and your straightforward honesty.

This is TwoandaMic.

Rise Up and Be Curious

Here are some important links we talked about during the show:

https://basilisk.gallery/@Grey

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/uk-supreme-court-rules-that-trans-women-arent-women-under-the-equality-act-2010/

This above is excellent all round

https://goodlawproject.org/the-devastating-impact-of-the-supreme-court-judgment

Further reading

https://whatthetrans.com/category/exp/

News media for trans people

https://transsafety.network/

Trans safety network

https://transactual.org.uk/who-are-transactual-uk/

Trans Actual

I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:

Instagram: TwoandaMic

Twitter: TwoandaMic1

Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Oh, and if there is a possibility to do some rating, that would be nice as well. Thank you.

PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content...!

Greg and I look at the 1968 novel and 1980s movie entitled Bladerunner and apply the ludicrously intellectual debating skills of two seasoned seals sunning themselves after a good swim. This metaphor is not diminished in the slightest by the fact that I cannot swim.

We do not agree though this time and it is wonderful to be able to disagree with my brother and not end up getting ridiculed for my lack of vision.

Greg, your insight and analysis is greatly valued as always and I look forward to the next one.

This is TwoandaMic!

Rise Up and Be Curious

I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:

Instagram: TwoandaMic

Twitter: TwoandaMic1

Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Oh, and if there is a possibility to do some rating, that would be nice as well. Thank you.

PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content...!