The Adam Buxton Podcast

[PlanktonSideburns]

Sorry retinend, it was liquid bantz, I've no idea what the difference is between those two things, I was pure doing a bit with no assumptions made. I don't even know which one is a public school and which one is a private one

[Thomas]

In which case I hardly think my formulation "fee-paying schools confer and are ensconced in privilege" was an misrepresentation of this opinion of yours/hers. If anything it's a milder rendering.

No; I still agree that it's possible that not 'every fee-paying school in the country is ensconced in/confers the same privilege' on every single one of their pupils.[nb]just as private hospitals don't save every single life, and 'bad schools' don't damage the life chances of all their pupils.[/nb] But these schools still, even as under-performing individual units, contribute to a deeply entrenched, unjust system.

My opinion was that the system of private education itself is the problem. A handful of schools within that might not achieve the lofty socio-economic heights of Eton, but the problem is still systemic.

Similarly, not everyone who goes to Eton (as the example name that's cropped up a couple of times) is going to emerge as a cabinet minister. But Eton itself is still a problem.

[Johnboy]

You know the way Adam says the 'a' sound in the word 'podcast' and how that's different to the way he says the 'a' sound in 'added'

Is that to do with him being a posho or is it to do with the part of England he's from?

(being from the south east of Ireland I don't know)

[popcorn]

Normal southern English accent. "Cast" is a long vowel sound, "add" is a short one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap%E2%80%93bath_split

[thenoise]

Am I allowed to send my children to a 'fee-paying university' (any of them) or is that supporting the structures of privilege too?

[turnstyle]

If posh people are so bad, how come the queen is one, and is nice, but Ronnie Biggs isn't, and is well naughty?

[Old Nehamkin]

Am I allowed to send my children to a 'fee-paying university' (any of them) or is that supporting the structures of privilege too?

As far as I know you are allowed to do this, yes.

[Mister Six]

The fact that you have to pay for all of them kind of levels the playing field, doesn't it? Admittedly the levelled playing field is on top of a tall, Monument Valley-esque plateau, but still.

And I think Smith would probably call for free, government-funded higher education (with caps on tuition fees and the abolishment of nepotism within colleges) rather than demand you not send your kids there.

[porage]

*at this point I may as well just ask: is the phrase "public school" reserved for only the big hitters (which is my gut feeling about the phrase), or is any fee-paying school automatically a "public" school? I'm sure if I had been to posho school I would know this...

In theory, only the seven big hitters mentioned in the Public Schools Act 1868 should be called public schools, but some people use the phrase for lesser posho schools as well.

[thenoise]

The fact that you have to pay for all of them kind of levels the playing field, doesn't it? Admittedly the levelled playing field is on top of a tall, Monument Valley-esque plateau, but still.

And I think Smith would probably call for free, government-funded higher education (with caps on tuition fees and the abolishment of nepotism within colleges) rather than demand you not send your kids there.

Quite. And if public/private schools were abolished there would be a level playing field there too. But there isn't, and Buckles wants his children to have the same opportunities that he had.

[McFlymo]

I don't give much of a fuck about  Buckles' kids and their posho education, but it annoys me how often he jumps in with defensive anecdotes that sound like, "EXACTLY! You can't fucking say anything these days!!" And it fucks me off something shocking, because a) his guests aren't the ones trying to debate these issues with him. And he's compelling them to take his side (which they always do, because  they're trying to be polite) and b) he clearly thinks his shitty views, but won't just say them, so it's a bit spineless and c) his shitty political views DO actually annoy me and I wish he wasn't such a cunt.

[AllisonSays]

It does sometimes feel like he's teetering on the brink of doing a 'political correctness gone mad' spiel, but he never quite does. Public school aside, to me he seems quite genuinely anguished about his incapacity to understand the contemporary social landscape, which is by turns endearing and annoying.

[spaghetamine]

It does sometimes feel like he's teetering on the brink of doing a 'political correctness gone mad' spiel, but he never quite does. Public school aside, to me he seems quite genuinely anguished about his incapacity to understand the contemporary social landscape, which is by turns endearing and annoying.

Exactly, he's so close to getting it yet so far away at the same time.

[ASFTSN]

I don't give much of a fuck about  Buckles' kids and their posho education, but it annoys me how often he jumps in with defensive anecdotes that sound like, "EXACTLY! You can't fucking say anything these days!!"

Does anyone have an example (outside of the Zadie Smith eps) of episodes where he's done this? It's something I can imagine him doing but can't actually recall him doing. I've probably only listened to about 30% of the podcast though.

[Mister Six]

He's occasionally - although the only example I can think of right now is in the Philip Pullman interview - offered halting, awkward questions about cultural appropriation to other middle-aged or older white men and followed up with a relieved-sounding "Yeah, exactly" when the concept has been dismissed (he doesn't seem to bring it up when interviewing POC, funnily enough). And I think he acknowledged in the Holly Walsh interview that it's one of his preoccupations.

He's also expressed an abject fear of being cancelled for saying the wrong thing on social media (and had to make an awkward apology in an early podcast after making a remark about women putting on makeup on trains that was a bit retrograde but fairly harmless, but invoked some ire from listeners).

I don't think he's a raging secret right-winger, and he seems to be fairly on board with a lot of progressive stuff, if not zealous about it. I think he's just very insecure about being publicly upbraided (I'm guessing as a result of an overbearing father and a public school education). And he's generally just a bit of a politically naive centrist, which isn't ideal but isn't surprising either. McFlymo's response is way over the top.

[popcorn]

He's also expressed an abject fear of being cancelled for saying the wrong thing on social media (and had to make an awkward apology in an early podcast after making a remark about women putting on makeup on trains that was a bit retrograde but fairly harmless, but invoked some ire from listeners).

I'd forgotten that one. I genuinely cannot imagine what the objection to seeing women put on makeup is. Does it ruin the secret?

However: Adam is lovely, leave him alone!!!!!!

[Ferris]

Adam is lovely, leave him alone!!!!!!

Yeah exactly.

[Ham Bap]

He's occasionally - although the only example I can think of right now is in the Philip Pullman interview - offered halting, awkward questions about cultural appropriation to other middle-aged or older white men and followed up with a relieved-sounding "Yeah, exactly" when the concept has been dismissed (he doesn't seem to bring it up when interviewing POC, funnily enough). And I think he acknowledged in the Holly Walsh interview that it's one of his preoccupations.

He's also expressed an abject fear of being cancelled for saying the wrong thing on social media (and had to make an awkward apology in an early podcast after making a remark about women putting on makeup on trains that was a bit retrograde but fairly harmless, but invoked some ire from listeners).

I don't think he's a raging secret right-winger, and he seems to be fairly on board with a lot of progressive stuff, if not zealous about it. I think he's just very insecure about being publicly upbraided (I'm guessing as a result of an overbearing father and a public school education). And he's generally just a bit of a politically naive centrist, which isn't ideal but isn't surprising either. McFlymo's response is way over the top.

Wasn't there a story in one of the Christmas episodes too which he launched into, without being prompted, about touching Alexa Chung on the arse at a festival or something.
Pre-empted a cancellation.

'Can't even touch anyone on the arse these days'
'Yeah exactly'

[Phil_A]

I think the arse-grabbing thing came up in a discussion between him and Joe about regrets they've had, but in all honesty he didn't seem like he was really sorry about it, it was presented in the same tone as one of his anecdotes about losing his rag with authority figures.

My feeling is if he was really bothered by his past behaviour, he would've contacted Alexa Chung privately and apologised, instead he brings it up semi-jokingly on the podcast in a kind-of "Oh, what an idiot I was" way.

Not his finest hour, quite honestly.

[Johnboy]

I think I've figured out why I keep checking out Adam's podcast even though he annoys me sometimes.

He's pretty much the same age as me and I'm curious about what he has to say and I enjoy the banter he has regardless of whether I agree with him or the guest.

[Pranet]

Interview today in the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/aug/29/adam-buxton-dad-more-proud-of-me-but-he-was

This is probably a stupid question, but here goes. I see that the audio book is available in various places. My question is, from any of these places do you get some MP3s you can download and put onto an MP3 player like someone from 2008 or is it all app based shit for phones?

[Lost Oliver]

Tangenitally related but Kim Noble also has a 'podcast' out and it's fecking amazing. And the link is that Adam appears on the last episode. Here's a review https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/aug/17/kim-noble-futile-attempts-at-surviving-tomorrow-review-twisted-and-tender#_=_ I think it's incredible.

[idunnosomename]

Interview today in the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/aug/29/adam-buxton-dad-more-proud-of-me-but-he-was

great another chat with a cunty terf

[Rizla]

Interview today in the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/aug/29/adam-buxton-dad-more-proud-of-me-but-he-was

Fucking hell. I love A&J but that interview is disgusting. Oh the family shame of your grandad turning out to be a...servant! Fuck off you snobby cunt. Your grandad was a class traitor, your dad doubly so. Good on John Le Carre telling him to do one. Going round with the begging bowl so you can keep your kids in a boarding school. Have some dignity, cunt.

[Rainbow Moses]

Your grandad was a class traitor, your dad doubly so.

lol, "class traitor". How quaint.

Don't see what the grandad did that's got you so wound up. If your problem is that his kid was sent to grammar school, the article even says it was his employer who sorted it out, not him.

[lankyguy95]

Buckles was being honest about his dad's insecurities and flaws, and how that affected him. He doesn't express any shame about his grandad's servant job. His dad asking around for huge loans to keep his children in private school was a patently ridiculous thing to do, and a very rude thing to ask of someone, but Buckles isn't presenting it as anything other than a flaw in his dad's mentality, again springing from his insecurity.

[popcorn]

Yeah I don't think Buckles was expressing any kind of "shame" about his grandad's job whatsoever. He says his father was "embarrassed by his background". He was talking about his dad's neuroses, not his own.

Goodness me, I went to a normal shit school and support the abolition of private schools but some of the stuff in this thread about it has been bonkers, as if we'd discovered Buckles was in the Hitler Youth.

[Rizla]

lol, "class traitor". How quaint.

Fuck off you snobby cunt.

[Retinend]

That was an extremely touching account and I feel like I know Buxton a lot better after reading it. What a complex character his father was.

so many parts worth quoting...

Buxton recalls that soon after they left school he asked Cornish if they'd still be friends in 10 years. "I don't know, man, probably not," he casually replied. Thirty years later, the comment burned enough for Buxton to put it in his book.

At the end of the audio version of Ramble Book, there is a conversation between the pair in which Cornish brings up that comment, which he had long forgotten: "I think I was probably looking for the most provocative answer. My brain issues the true standard answer and then thinks, well, that's a bit boring, what would be more interesting?" You can hear Buxton gasp, re-evaluating 40 years of casual banter. "I think the relationship worked creatively because we are very different, but I never understood that," he says now, smiling.

[billyandthecloneasaurus]

Yes Joe cornish does seem like a wanker