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Novara Media crew - what do you reckon? [split topic]

Started by Barry Admin, October 20, 2019, 01:11:51 AM

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Barry Admin

Quote from: Johnny Yesno on October 19, 2019, 05:58:52 AM
Rifkind and Coren-Mitchell should be ashamed. Corbyn discusses being a life long anti-racist when he's given the chance:

Ash Sarkar Meets Jeremy Corbyn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzUTMQVjBww

Shame neither he nor Ash appear to realise the pogo stick story was written as a satire on the constant baseless criticism of him. I guess it's because the support was from such an unlikely source.

I've become somewhat besotted with Ash Sarkar. Watched most of this the other night and need to finish doing so. Really been enjoying the Novara Media lot of late. A great bunch of lads.

imitationleather

Quote from: Barry Admin on October 20, 2019, 01:11:51 AM
I've become somewhat besotted with Ash Sarkar. Watched most of this the other night and need to finish doing so. Really been enjoying the Novara Media lot of late. A great bunch of lads.

Yeah TyskySour on the Novara channel has become required viewing in our house. It's just so refreshing to see people talking intelligently about UK politics from a left-wing perspective for a long running time.

Hyped that it will be broadcasting every night once the election date is announced.

Johnny Yesno

Quote from: Barry Admin on October 20, 2019, 01:11:51 AM
I've become somewhat besotted with Ash Sarkar. Watched most of this the other night and need to finish doing so. Really been enjoying the Novara Media lot of late. A great bunch of lads.

Yeah, she's utterly gorgeous. And smart. And lefty. What's not to like?

Agreed that Novara in general are doing a good job.

Jockice

Quote from: Barry Admin on October 20, 2019, 01:11:51 AM
I've become somewhat besotted with Ash Sarkar. Watched most of this the other night and need to finish doing so. Really been enjoying the Novara Media lot of late. A great bunch of lads.

I saw someone in the pub last week who looked EXACTLY like her. I nearly told her but I think a middle-aged stranger going up to talk to a woman in her 20s would get me cancelled these days.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

What Ash manages to do most of the time is find humorous angles and change the tone of her approach, avoiding falling into the 'sanctimonious lefty' trope which Owen Jones more or less defines.

imitationleather

What is everyone's problem with Aaron Bastani, by the way? He seems completely fine to me when he's on TyskySour.

I mean, I guess it is people like TFM who seem to loathe him so that should tell me all I need to know.

pancreas

I think I fancy Michael Walker. Sometimes Ash irritates me with the endless sass.

imitationleather

Quote from: pancreas on October 20, 2019, 11:34:54 AM
I think I fancy Michael Walker.

He rouses confusing feelings within me that I try not to think about too much. :/

Barry Admin

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on October 20, 2019, 10:27:48 AM
What Ash manages to do most of the time is find humorous angles and change the tone of her approach, avoiding falling into the 'sanctimonious lefty' trope which Owen Jones more or less defines.

Yeah, she's very smart and well-informed, but also tries to keep it light and humorous. It doesn't always come off 100%, which is endearing.

Quote from: imitationleather on October 20, 2019, 10:29:14 AM
What is everyone's problem with Aaron Bastani, by the way? He seems completely fine to me when he's on TyskySour.

I dunno, I'll split this off and see if we can get a wider discussion of Novara.

QuoteI mean, I guess it is people like TFM who seem to loathe him so that should tell me all I need to know.

As he's banned from Corbyn threads, it's best not to invoke him.

Funcrusher

It's really good. The first really substantial discussion channel on British politics that's on the level of US stuff like The Majority Report. Proper weighty discussions of the issues that are really informative rather than just booing and hissing at Boris or whoever.

Sebastian Cobb

I like the idea of it based on the snippets I've seen, but haven't really bothered to watch it. Ash Sarkar's great like.

jonnycuba

I first heard of 'Novara FM' from their radio show on Resonance FM years ago, it was full of high concept politics and ideas, it took me a while to get used to the language and theory, but it also helped me define a lot of thoughts I had myself and articulated a new left perspective that really came into being under the Corbyn administration of the Labour party. The radio show is still going, presented by James Butler and is well worth listening to especially as it focuses on ideas and theory rather than the ins and outs of current affairs. I have garnered a whole host of brilliant writers through Novara's introduction: Richard Seymour, David Graeber, Tom Mills to name a few.

finnquark

Bastani commissioned a friend of a friend to paint a huge, wall sized portrait of him a while back.

Kelvin

Novaras obviously very good for all the above reasons, but I do find that interview with Corbyn to be the left wing equivilant of a Kuensberg interview with a Tory leader, i.e. overly chummy and compromised.

Arguably there's a gap for that alongside so much right wing media, but I don't consider it to be a particularly "good" political interview for that reason - overt bias always gets in the way of truth or insight, and especially on a channel viewed by people already sympathetic to Corbyn, I'd rather see left wing interviewees taking Corbyn to task over left wing concerns and priorities, not just giving him a soap box.

In effect, the proliferation of right wing media and the left's understandable defensiveness in the face of constant criticism (and lies) have resulted in people championing this kind of left wing Parkinson interview over interrogative journalism.

Ash is obviously great overall, though. I just prefer her in contexts other than this.

Quote from: Kelvin on October 20, 2019, 02:21:14 PM
Novaras obviously very good for all the above reasons, but I do find that interview with Corbyn to be the left wing equivilant of a Kuensberg interview with a Tory leader, i.e. overly chummy and compromised.

Arguably there's a gap for that alongside so much right wing media, but I don't consider it to be a particularly "good" political interview for that reason - overt bias always gets in the way of truth or insight, and especially on a channel viewed by people already sympathetic to Corbyn, I'd rather see left wing interviewees taking Corbyn to task over left wing concerns and priorities, not just giving him a soap box.

In effect, the proliferation of right wing media and the left's understandable defensiveness in the face of constant criticism (and lies) have resulted in people championing this kind of left wing Parkinson interview over interrogative journalism.

Ash is obviously great overall, though. I just prefer her in contexts other than this.

I think the key issue is though that Laura K et Al are supposed to be impartial journalists whereas Ash Sarker is openly a left wing campaigner, or literally a communist, and Novara are openly a biased source of journalism.

I'm a big fan of Ash, she's intelligent, am excellent communicator and she's also successfully very funny which is quite refreshing on the left. I think she also does the best out of all that lot on mainstream TV etc

I like Michael Walker, don't really like Bastani as I think he's occasionally a liability, but it also amuses me how much people hate him and obsess over him - see the thriller writer's obsession with his thesis etc.




Funcrusher

I only know Bastani through Novara and he seems totally sound - particularly advocating deselecting Jess Phillips just for a laugh.

That interview with Corbs is basically an election promo, which is fine. These things are a bit cringe but they have a place, particularly given the total vilification he gets everywhere else.

Johnny Yesno

Quote from: Kelvin on October 20, 2019, 02:21:14 PM
Novaras obviously very good for all the above reasons, but I do find that interview with Corbyn to be the left wing equivilant of a Kuensberg interview with a Tory leader, i.e. overly chummy and compromised.

Arguably there's a gap for that alongside so much right wing media, but I don't consider it to be a particularly "good" political interview for that reason - overt bias always gets in the way of truth or insight, and especially on a channel viewed by people already sympathetic to Corbyn, I'd rather see left wing interviewees taking Corbyn to task over left wing concerns and priorities, not just giving him a soap box.

In effect, the proliferation of right wing media and the left's understandable defensiveness in the face of constant criticism (and lies) have resulted in people championing this kind of left wing Parkinson interview over interrogative journalism.

Ash is obviously great overall, though. I just prefer her in contexts other than this.

No. Novara have a duty to be accurate but they have no more duty to be impartial than trade unions. They take money from left wing supporters to present left wing alternatives to the current status quo. Kuenssberg's salary is drawn from the contributions of people of all political persuasions and therefore does have the duty of impartiality.

Kelvin

Quote from: The Always Red Society on October 20, 2019, 02:29:18 PM
I think the key issue is though that Laura K et Al are supposed to be impartial journalists whereas Ash Sarker is openly a left wing campaigner, or literally a communist, and Novara are openly a biased source of journalism.

I agree, that's a worthwhile distinction. I still wish there was more room to be critical of the left from a left wing perspective. Interviews like that shouldn't just be a safe space from the right.

Quote from: Johnny Yesno on October 20, 2019, 02:37:10 PM
No. Novara have a duty to be accurate but they have no more duty to be impartial than trade unions. They take money from left wing supporters to present left wing alternatives to the current status quo. Kuenssberg's salary is drawn from the contributions of people of all political persuasions and therefore does have the duty of impartiality.

I'm not asking for impartiality. I'm asking for criticism (or at least a willingness to challenge) from a left wing perspective. That's a significant distinction, and one that serves the left's wider agenda by encouraging self improvement through constructive criticism.

To be fair, Novara types are frequently critical of the Labour Party, including the leadership, but there is probably a strategic choice to not have a heavily critical interview of Corbyn at this point, given what is at stake politically and the rarity of a sympathetic interviewer.

Buelligan

Quote from: pancreas on October 20, 2019, 11:34:54 AM
I think I fancy Michael Walker.

Yeah, it's very weird, I think he secretes a virtually unique sex pheromone that, rather like the LSD molecule, fits perfectly into a minuscule hole in ones brain, imitating the exact feelings of being attracted to someone that you know you're simply not attracted to. 

I really like Ash (and I know it's terrible to say this,) but I wish she'd get rid of the fucking nails.  I find them unattractive (unlike Michael Walker) but they make me watch them and she waves them about all the time to the degree that I stop hearing her and become entranced with watching the shiny claws dancing.  No nails and then she'd be perfect. 

Aaron Bastani is fine, speaks well, seems to know some shit but lacks both pheromones and luxury communism. 

Also, there's nothing wrong with Owen Jones, I like him fine.

I remember Bastani catching some shit for this tweet but maybe there's some context missing, I don't know. I just remember people dragging him for days about it and that's my only knowledge of 'why people are iffy on Bastani'


Large Noise

Yeah Novara is good.

Sarkar and Bastani can seem a bit too in love with themselves at times.

When I first saw Bastani a few years ago I felt like I could smell his aftershave through YouTube. Wearing a tight tshirt on newsnight to show you've been hitting the gym is not good. Sarkar can seem like she's trying too hard sometimes. Cool enough to tell twitter she's partying and fucking, but not cool enough not to.

But to be fair they do good stuff. Tyskysour is excellent whenever I listen to it.

Anyone read Bastani's book? I'm planning to at some point.

idunnosomename

Bastani wrote a wanky PhD thesis at Royal Holloway mostly about himself and his lefty larks

Bizarro Mark Bosnich

I need to see the context (is he joking?) but is Bastani saying 'secular challenges' are a bad thing? That capitalism needs to incorporate religious ideas?

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Monsieur Verdoux on October 20, 2019, 04:03:28 PM
I remember Bastani catching some shit for this tweet but maybe there's some context missing, I don't know. I just remember people dragging him for days about it and that's my only knowledge of 'why people are iffy on Bastani'



Doesn't it brush away a lot of nasty colonialism abroad and pretty nasty practices like workhouses and homeless spikes at home?

Thomas

I've been listening to their various podcasts lately. The more I learn and understand, however, the amount still left to understand grows exponentially.

Buelligan

Quote from: Bizarro Mark Bosnich on October 20, 2019, 04:09:34 PM
I need to see the context (is he joking?) but is Bastani saying 'secular challenges' are a bad thing? That capitalism needs to incorporate religious ideas?

I read it as implying that capitalism is a religion, after the eighties being challenged by some unbelievers.

Bizarro Mark Bosnich

Quote from: Buelligan on October 20, 2019, 04:12:23 PM
I read it as implying that capitalism is a religion, after the eighties being challenged by some unbelievers.

Cheers, that would make more sense. I'll go have a look at the rest (and in the meantime check out some Novara videos).

Jockice

Quote from: Large Noise on October 20, 2019, 04:05:05 PM
Anyone read Bastani's book? I'm planning to at some point.

I've owned it for about three months but am yet to open it.

Johnny Yesno

Quote from: Large Noise on October 20, 2019, 04:05:05 PM
Sarkar and Bastani can seem a bit too in love with themselves at times.

When I first saw Bastani a few years ago I felt like I could smell his aftershave through YouTube. Wearing a tight tshirt on newsnight to show you've been hitting the gym is not good. Sarkar can seem like she's trying too hard sometimes. Cool enough to tell twitter she's partying and fucking, but not cool enough not to.

I know what you mean. However, that FT interview with McDonnell, where they grudgingly admitted that his politics are preferable to the alternative, made me realise that the right will only accept a bit of Socialism if they can paint their own narrative of austerity and asceticism onto it.

That really irritated the hell out of me. I see the tight shirts and the long nails as 'fuck you' to those wealthy cunts that would try to use our need for a bit of fun as a stick to beat us with.