Influenced: The Tenet Media Plot
Lauren Southern, a Canadian rightwing YouTuber, tells journalist Nicky Woolf she feels as though she’s in a spy movie, “but the dumbest ever made, because I’m just a YouTuber”. Along with other members of the right-wing commentariat, Southern found herself linked with the Kremlin when a company she had worked for was revealed as a front for the Russian state. Her candour is striking, as Woolf’s investigation unfolds across six uneasy chapters. The series is available on Audible, with all episodes out now.
Staying Open
With Covid and the cost of living crisis, it has been a difficult few years for the hospitality industry. This series features illuminating kitchen table chats with chefs and founders, about the challenges (and pleasures) of restaurant work. Starting at Wilson’s in Bristol, it covers menus and managing addiction in a booze-friendly environment. Episodes are released weekly and widely available.
The Last 12 Weeks
David Wood was sentenced to death in 1992 for six murders in El Paso, Texas, and his execution is finally looming. This spare but thought-provoking podcast from Serial and The Marshall Project follows his team of lawyers as they try for a final time to prove his innocence – a concept that, naturally, seems inconceivable to the victims’ families. Episodes are released weekly and widely available.
SPLBERG
Charlie Webster of Scamanda is back with another fraud-flavoured pod steeped in 90s nostalgia. How did a Virginian high schooler convince his classmates that he was Steven Spielberg’s nephew? And was there something darker than mere catfishing going on? Access to Jonathan Taylor Spielberg himself makes this even more enticing. Episodes are released weekly and widely available.
First America
Rebecca Nagle, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, hosts this series about the often overlooked role of Indigenous people in the foundation of the United States. She also considers more recent history, and why Native identity has been crassly co-opted by kids’ summer camps, sports teams – and even one of the January 6 rioters. Episodes are released weekly and widely available.
