Casting Pods | The Friday(ish) Update

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Friday(ish) Update, in which I give a little insight into what I’ve been up to for the past seven days.

What have I been up to this week?

The past couple of weeks have, as is usually the case following the release of one of my videos, involved a change of gear. The latest video about Energy Privatisation is out there in the world and so I’ve been turning my attention to new projects.

Firstly, something completely new! A few weeks back, I mentioned that I’m currently working on launching a podcast. Work on that project took a bit of a pause whilst we put the final touches to the energy privatisation video but this week we’ve been recording a bunch more episodes of the show to launch with.

I’m really pleased with how the episodes we’ve got completed are looking/sounding so far. I think it will take me a bit of time to get really good at hosting and we might experiment with the format a little bit. However, I’ve been very lucky to have secured some wonderful, intelligent guests.

Outside of this, I’ve also been hard at work researching and writing for the next video. But more on that soon!

And outside of work?

It was my birthday last week! And it’s a big one this year! Which meant that I spent the weekend with friends and family doing nice things. In fact, over the course of the week, I ended up going out for three pub dinners with various combinations of people which felt very excessive and luxurious!

The big night was Saturday. My best friend, who lives a few hours away, travelled down and I spent the afternoon catching up with him over a few drinks. We then met up with even more friends to go for a big meal. And then, we went out to watch the comedian Stewart Lee who happened to be in town that night.

A really lovely birthday weekend!

What have I been reading/watching/listening to?

This might be a little hint as to what I’m working on for my next video, but…

One morning this week, I absolutely devoured Christopher Hill’s The English Revolution 1640. The English Revolution is an essay written in 1940 about the English Civil Wars, the Commonwealth of England and the eventual restoration of the monarchy. It argues that the English Parliament’s war against King Charles I, the execution of that monarch and the country’s brief experiment with republican governance should be seen as a social revolution similar to the French Revolution of 1789.

The essay does get a bit technical in places, but I think it’s a really worthwhile read for anyone interested in the history of England, the emergence of capitalism  or historiography more broadly. Although some of the ideas from it will no doubt bleed into my next video!

That brings us to the end of this week’s edition of the Friday Update. I hope you’ve found it mildly insightful.

Thanks as ever for your generous support and I’ll look forward to updating you more next week!!