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    Tomorrow Never Knows

    Tomorrow Never Knows is a podcast by historians Charlotte Lydia Riley and Emma Lundin in which we share our thoughts based on what we know, what we've heard, what we've seen and what we've listened to.
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    Episodes (28)

    #27: Foreign Policy (Part II)

    #27: Foreign Policy (Part II)

    FOOTNOTES

    Foreign Policy Part I is episode #24 - listen to that here;

    Sarah Crook & Charlie Jeffries' book, in which Charlotte has a chapter, is called Resist, Organize, Build: Feminist and Queer Activism in Britain and the United States during the Long 1980s. It was published by SUNY Press in 2022. Charlotte's chapter is called "Spiritualists, ideologues, pragmatists, feminists, and women of all descriptions": The British Women's Liberation Movement, the UN Decade for Women, and Feminist Transnationalism in Spare Rib. Read more about Sarah here and Charlie here, and the book here;

    Joceyln Olcott’s book is International Women's Year: The Greatest Consciousness-Raising Event in History and it was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. Read more about Jocelyn’s work here;

    Charlotte’s book - Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain - was published a few weeks ago, and a must-have (according to Emma who keeps buying every copy she sees - let’s hope Waterstones on Argyle Street in Glasgow have managed a re-up since my visit…). Buy your copy here!

    Charlotte’s chapter in Rethinking Labour's Past - an edited by Nathan Yeowell and published by I.B. Tauris in 2022 - is called ‘This Party is a Moral Crusade or it is Nothing’: Labour and Ethical Identity at Home and Abroad;

    ‘Swedish parliament elects new PM backed by far right', a BBC news story from 17 October 2022;

    Many thanks to the editors of this Wikipedia page on Sweden’s relation with NATO and Erdoğan who seemingly don’t tire easily;

    This is the UN’s take on Feminist Foreign Policy - Emma hopes to publish something on the topic in 2024;

    Kate Law is a historian at the University of Nottingham; the research network she runs with Emma is called Global Solidarity Activism: Connecting Local and Global Histories;

    Swedish research ethics law is complicated;

    Theresa May’s feminist t-shirt and Frida Kahlo bracelet featured in TNK episode #2, back in 2017. Listen to that here;

    The full quote from Veep is “You have achieved nothing, apart from one thing: the fact that you are a woman means we will have no more women presidents. Because we tried one, and she f—ing sucked.” Read a recap of Season 4 Episode 5 (Convention) here;

    We talk about the gendering of women in politics in episode #2, episode #11, and episode #13;

    Emma was on Progressive Britain talking about women in politics in the autumn of 2022 - listen here;

    There are plenty of videos of Liz Truss’ gaffs on the internet;

    This is how the BBC reported on the criticism in Foreign Affairs Select Committee report on the evacuation of Afghanistan;

    Here’s Nigel Farage’s last speech in the European Parliament;

    Emma recently took 25 students and colleagues to the Scottish Parliament for First Minister’s Questions - which is by far her favourite parliamentary debate forum as of now;

    Amineh Kakabaveh was born in Kurdistan, trained as a guerilla fighter, arrived in Sweden at the age 19 and was an MP in the Swedish parliament 2008-2022;

    Emma first spotted Swedish foreign minister Tobias Billström’s phone cases in this Sydsvenskan article (they also feature in our episode header photo);

    Here are Tony Benn and Hilary Benn’s speeches on Iraq and Syria respectively, as featured by BBC News;

    Here is Robin Cook’s resignation speech, as recorded by Hansard, on 17 March 2003;

    Emma runs an online module on anti-apartheid activism - in South Africa and in a global perspective - in the autumn of 2024;

    ‘Sweden's new right-wing govt slashes development aid’, The Local, 8 November 2022;

    Barbara Castle features in plenty of TNK episodes, like this one;

    DfID was the Department for International Development, founded on the election of the Labour government in 1997 and dissolved by Boris Johnson in 2020;

    Here’s the House of Commons’ Library’s research briefing on the 0.7% development aid target;

    Sarah Champion is a Labour MP since 2012; Clare Short was a Labour MP 1983-2006 and an independent MP 2006-2010;

    Emily Baughan is a historian at the University of Sheffield, while Tehila Sasson is a historian at Emory. Read more about Emily here, and Tehila here;

    Mary Agnes Hamilton features in TNK Episode #2 - listen here;

    AJP Taylor’s distinction between pacifism and pacifists is: “Pacificists are those who favour peaceful foreign policies and who seek to develop international institutions for the promotion of peace. Pacifism in its pure form is a total rejection of war as an instrument of policy.” London Review of Books, 2 October 1980;

    Cynthia Enloe is one of our favourites. We spoke about her in episode #11, which you can listen to here.

    The poem is Richard Siken’s Landscape with a Blur of Conquerors:

    Land a man in a
    landscape and he’ll try to conquer it. Make him
    handsome and you’re a fascist, make him ugly and
    you’re saying nothing new. The conqueror suits up
    and takes the field, his horse already painted in

    beneath him. What do you do with a man like that?

    Read the whole poem here.

    Charlotte also quotes a line from Richard’s poem Little Beast - read that here.

    OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

    Emma is recommending Literary Friction by Carrie Plitt and Octavia Bright, which you’ll find on Apple Podcasts here, Patreon here, and NTS Radio here. It is the perfect soundtrack to walks, runs, flights and lots more. One of Emma’s favourite books of 2023 is Amy Liptrot’s The Instant - listen to the episode of Literary Friction that made her run to the (online) shop to buy it here;

    Charlotte is recommending If Books Could Kill by Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri - you’ll find it on Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here.

    THE NEXT EPISODE…

    …is not yet recorded, but future episodes will be on borders, the Second World War, publishing and poverty. We’re also planning a new Christmas special (here’s the first one, which was about Mad Men, and here’s the second, on The Crown).

    #26: TNK returns!

    #26: TNK returns!

    The end of the four-year hiatus: Charlotte and Emma discuss covid, childcare and careers, plus how to handle great historical moments, and possibly record them too.

    Visit www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com for a full list of episodes and our epic footnotes.

    EPISODE #26 FOOTNOTES

    Our last pre-hiatius episode was this one, #25: Mothers, Part II – presence and representation;

    Emma went on parental leave between Episode #20: #MeToo and Episode #22: Eugenics. That looks cheery, doesn’t it? Don’t worry, we squeezed in Episode #21: The (Second) Christmas Special (on The Crown) in the middle of it all;

    Charlotte’s book is Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain, and it’s published by Penguin on 24 August 2023. Pre-order your copy from your local bookshop or order it on Hive.co.uk!

    The exhibition at the Southbank Centre that we went to was In The Black Fantastic, which was at the Hayward Gallery between June and September 2022. Read more about it and see photos and videos here;

    We were going to link to lots of stuff on British and Swedish childcare systems, but we’ll save that for a stand-alone episode instead. In the meantime, sign up to Emily Baughan’s Substack newsletter Playgroup: children, community, and the family in contemporary Britain here;

    When Emma talks about the bleak, dark days of the pandemic, they were sometimes very dark – literally. Here’s a chart of average monthly hours of sunshine in Malmö in southern Sweden;

    The Mass Observation Archive records everyday life in Britain since 1937. Read more about online at www.massobs.org.uk It also has a podcast!

    Tony Kushner’s We Europeans? Mass-Observation, Race and British Identity in the Twentieth Century was published as a paperback by Routledge in 2016. Read more about Tony’s work here;

    James Hinton has published several anthologies and books on Mass Observation – you’ll find one here, and more about James here;

    Charlotte also recommends Claire Langhamer’s work on Mass Observation – you’ll find an article of hers here, and more about Claire here;

    Read more about Eve Colpus is Charlotte’s colleague at Southampton – read more about Eve here;

    ‘What the Hell Is a ‘Geriatric Millennial’ and How To Find Out if You're One’, Vice, 19 May 2021;

    Helen McCarthy’s article about age as a historian is called ‘Time and the Middle-Aged Historian’ and was published by History Workshop on 23 March 2023. Read more about Helen here;

    Eric Hobsbawm said “Every historian has his or her lifetime, a private perch from which to survey the world,” in his 1993 Creighton Lecture. Hobsbawm, who was born in 1917, died in 2012.

    Sociologists Beverley Skeggs & Helen Wood’s Reacting to Reality Television Performance, Audience and Value was published in 2012 by Routledge. Read more about Beverley Skeggs here and more about Helen Wood here;

    Listen to Episode #24: Foreign policy part I here - Part II is coming soon!

    The poem is Kate Baer’s Reasons to Log Off. It starts like this:

    The girl who said she could never eat a second slice

    of pizza my senior year of college is doing really well.

    My cousin posts a photo of a loaded gun. Have I ever

    heard of the Second Amendment? Have I ever heard

    of this new recipe?

    Read the whole poem – or hear Kate read it herself – at the New Yorker here.

    OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

    Charlotte is recommending Alison by Lizzy Stewart, which was published by Serpent’s Tail in 2022. Buy it in your local bookshop or on Hive.co.uk here. Here’s an interview – with plenty of photos from the book – on It’s Nice That. Lizzy Stewart’s picture book is called There’s a Tiger in the Garden, and it’s one of Emma’s favourites.

    Emma is recommending The Instant by Amy Liptrot, which was published by Canongate in 2022. Buy it in your local bookshop or on Hive.co.uk here.

    THE NEXT EPISODE…

    …is the long-awaited second part in our two-part series on foreign policy. Listen to the first one here.

    #23: Mothers, Part I - Working Mums

    #23: Mothers, Part I - Working Mums

    Episode footnotes – Rebecca Traister’s article on fathers in the presidential election, and seven things not to do in the workplace - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com
    Get in touch: we'd love to hear your thoughts on our episodes, and are very keen to answer any questions you might have. We're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter!

    You can also support us by donating to our hosting fund and buying our merch: a BLOODY-MINDED t-shirt and FEMINIST sweatshirt!

    Tomorrow Never Knows
    en-gbJune 04, 2019

    #22: Eugenics - racism, classism, and free milk

    #22: Eugenics - racism, classism, and free milk

    When the health of the nation is more important than the individual: Emma and Charlotte discuss the 19th-century pseudo-scientific invention that continues to feed racist thought, ideology and action.

    Episode footnotes - including raw eggs in pregnancy recommendations, all about the Fabians and eugenics and how the British working class became white - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we'd love to hear your thoughts on our episodes, and are very keen to answer any questions you might have. We're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter! You can also support us by donating to our hosting fund and buying our merch: a BLOODY-MINDED t-shirt
    and FEMINIST sweatshirt!

    #21: The (Second) Christmas Special

    #21: The (Second) Christmas Special

    Emma and Charlotte get festive by watching The Crown before discussing the problematic humanisation of the royal family, racism and modernisation, dramatic licence and what honour and obedience is really about. Plus: our favourite Reese Witherspoon films.

    Episode footnotes - including what Clarie Foy thinks of corsets, all you need to know about the Profumo Affair, Prince Philip's racism, the plans already in place for the Queen's funeral and much more - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we'd love to hear your thoughts on our episodes, and are very keen to answer any questions you might have. We're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter! You can also support us by donating to our hosting fund (if you do so, we'll send you TNK merch as a thank-you) - read more here.

    #20: #MeToo - consent, power and career-ending moments

    #20: #MeToo - consent, power and career-ending moments

    Consent, power relationships and career-ending moments: Charlotte and Emma discuss the #MeToo movement, testifying as punishment, and how to keep the anger alive.

    Episode footnotes - including Tarana Burke's founding of the 'me too' movement, the original Harvey Weinstein investigations by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey and Ronan Farrow, the idea of perfect victimhood and much more - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we'd love to hear your thoughts on our episodes, and are very keen to answer any questions you might have. We're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter! You can also support us by donating to our hosting fund (if you do so, we'll send you TNK merch as a thank-you) - read more here.

    #19: Elections – Part II

    #19: Elections – Part II

    Emma and Charlotte discuss populism and polarisation, how economic precarity and racism aren’t mutually exclusive, and what is happening in Sweden right now. Plus: Charlotte’s guide to the ‘no-go zone’ of Tower Hamlets…

    Episode footnotes - including updates on the Swedish election, Charlotte's review of Douglas Carswell's book, links to the works of Lynsey Hanley and Dominic Hinde and much more - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we'd love to hear your thoughts on our episodes, and are very keen to answer any questions you might have. We're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter! You can also support us by donating to our hosting fund (if you do so, we'll send you TNK merch as a thank-you) - read more here.

    #18: Elections – Part I

    #18: Elections – Part I

    Charlotte and Emma discuss glass cliffs, ticking the wrong box and how proportional representation is a lot like a bag of pick and mix. Plus: why losing an election could be a good thing.

    Episode footnotes - including all you might want to know about the Great Offices of State, the most gender-equal government in the world, what Tony Blair might smell like, and Paddy Pantsdown - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we'd love to hear your thoughts on our episodes, and are very keen to answer any questions you might have. We're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter! You can also support us by donating to our hosting fund (if you do so, we'll send you TNK merch as a thank-you) - read more here.

    #17 The [Men’s] World Cup Special

    #17 The [Men’s] World Cup Special

    It’s Germany-Sweden all over again as Charlotte and Emma discuss women’s place in football, the question of expertise and why Neymar could pay the salaries of 1,693 female players in the top leagues. Plus: What we owe Nettie Honeyball...

    Episode footnotes - including everything you could possibly want to know about the history of women's football in the UK, Sweden's miraculous bronze in 1994, Charlotte’s article for History Workshop Online and the story behind Bastian Schweinsteiger's bloodied face in 2014 - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we'd love to hear your thoughts on our episodes, and are very keen to answer any questions you might have. We're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter! You can also support us by donating to our hosting fund - read more here.

    #16: Windrush, Citizenship, Empire & Migration

    #16: Windrush, Citizenship, Empire & Migration

    Charlotte and Emma discuss national identity, belonging and how the inhumane ‘hostile environment’ created by the British Home Office over the past decade fits into a much longer history of British immigration policy. Plus: British aspirations versus historical realities, and how to lose people on purpose.

    Episode footnotes - including things links to the Life in the UK test, the Coming Home to Jamaica booklet, Jimmy Thoronka's story and Imtiaz Dharker’s ‘Minority’ - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we'd love to hear your thoughts on our episodes, and are very keen to answer any questions you might have. We're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter! You can also support us by donating to our hosting fund - read more here.

    #15: How to Read

    #15: How to Read

    Charlotte and Emma discuss fiction as a source for political history, comfort reads, classics bound up in class and the problem with Elena Ferrante’s book covers. Plus: join the TNK book club.

    Episode footnotes - including things about the Mitfords, Charlotte's least favourite book, Swedish proletariat literature and links to every single work of fiction that we mention - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we'd love to hear your thoughts on our episodes, and are very keen to answer any questions you might have. We're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter! You can also support us by donating to our hosting fund - read more here.

    #14: How To Write

    #14: How To Write

    “Say something clever here.” How to condense 40 years of history into three paragraphs, coping with first lines and deadlines, the tyranny of the blank page and playing procrastination chicken. Plus: Charlotte’s most embarrassing writing story and our best books.

    Episode footnotes - including all you need to know about Pomodoro, links to things we have written, Nick Laird's take on thinking time and a long quote from Hilary Mantel - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we'd love to hear your thoughts on our episodes, and are very keen to answer any questions you might have. We're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter! You can also support us by donating to our hosting fund - read more here.

    #13: Activism, Part II

    #13: Activism, Part II

    “We are the ones we have been waiting for.” Charlotte Lydia Riley and Emma Lundin discuss Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s anger, the politics of household budgets, militant motherhood and much more.

    Episode footnotes - including June Jordan's poem, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela obituaries, research on militant motherhood, sugar boycotts and much, much more - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we'd love to hear your thoughts on our episodes, and are very keen to answer any questions you might have. We're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter! You can also support us by donating to our hosting fund - read more here.

    #12: Activism, Part I

    #12: Activism, Part I

    Demonstrations, placards and secret deals: what so significant about women’s activism? Charlotte and Emma discuss second-wave feminists, Greenham Common and Mary Whitehouse.

    Episode footnotes - including links to Audre Lorde's poem, Valerie Amos' article, research on Greenham Common and much more - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter! You can also support us by donating to our hosting fund - read more here.

    #11: Women, Organise!

    #11: Women, Organise!

    What happens to Labour and labour history when we focus on the women? Charlotte Lydia Riley and Emma Lundin discuss women's place in workplace politics, why the precariat needs to be unionised, and how we are all labourers.

    Episode footnotes - including Marge Piercy's poem, our favourite books by Cynthia Enloe and much more - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter!

    #10: Women and the vote

    #10: Women and the vote

    Charlotte and Emma celebrate the 100th anniversary of some British women getting the vote by discussing the threat of violence, Victorian values and why suffrage might not be enough. Plus: why do centenaries turn historians into killjoys?

    Episode footnotes - including links to Kim Moore's poem, news stories about suffragettes' attack on prime ministers and artwork, and much more - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter!

    #9: Imperial nostalgia

    #9: Imperial nostalgia

    Charlotte and Emma discuss the sugarcoating of violence, national myths and the relentless echoes of empire. Plus: why your favourite TV show will have been filmed in South Africa.

    Episode footnotes - including links to Merle Collins' poem, the Legacies of British Slave-ownership database, THAT episode of Call the Midwife and much more - are available at www.tomorrowneverknowspod.com

    Get in touch: we're on Twitter as @TNKpod (also @lottelydia and @emmaelinor) and Facebook (@TNKpod). Send us an email at tomorrowneverknowspod@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter!