Life And Life Only

Acting as a ‘gentle’ introduction to what will be a very challenging upcoming series of episodes, Antony offers some observations and questions on a sprawling range of topics, mostly focused on the harsh realities of this glorious world we inhabit.

How much do we want to know about what really goes on in our name, and what we inadvertently or actively support? What do, or should, we feel about the massive inequalities ...

The encounter between Piers Morgan and Russell Brand in April was, if nothing else, compelling and revealing. Despite their very different personae, they have had strangely similar journeys through some of the darker aspects of media and come out the other side, each now positioning himself as part of ‘alternative media’, whatever that exactly means, while still in contact with the mainstream.

Antony breaks down a quit...

For our final episode of the year, we look at a yuletide classic from a philosophical and existential angle, gently challenging the fairytale ‘happy ending’ and looking at other inconsistencies within what is close to being a perfect Hollywood tale of darkness rescued by light and hope. George Bailey and the other characters are archetypes that stay just the right side of being clichés, but there may well be more going ...

We complete our journey into Axel Rudakubana’s darkness with a look at some of the wealth of information uncovered by the recently-completed first phase of The Southport Inquiry, which has taken place at Liverpool Town Hall.

Special attention is given to the testimonies of Gary Poland, the unfortunate taxi driver who delivered Axel to the place of his atrocity, Axel’s brother Dion and their parents Alphonse and Laetiti...

We conclude our latest follow-up episodes on Axel Rudakubana and his darkest of deeds on a summer’s day in Southport last July. In this part Antony looks at apparent ‘events’ involving Rudakubana - and the media coverage of them in a world awash with rumours and agendas - since his sentencing hearing in January and the award of a 52-year minimum term life sentence.

Parallel to this is the extraordinary suffering ...

Following on from episode 57, we delve further into the dark world of Axel Rudakubana and the horrific attack(s) he perpetrated in sunny Southport last July. This time, Antony provides more details of the sometimes bizarre events surrounding the attack (without dwelling on the gory details), and also the media framing of the killer and the handling of this shocking ongoing ‘story’.

On this latter point, we are aided by...

After our journey in part 1 into anxiety and depression, we follow Matt Haig’s recovery, as detailed in his fine book ‘Reasons To Stay Alive’, and talk about all the great stuff in life, both big and small, with a little help from some of Antony’s friends and family -thanks again to all contributors- as he approaches his half century (hence the title).

Along the way, we explore regrets of the dying, how a h...

We present the first of two episodes in the lead-up to Antony’s upcoming milestone birthday. The main part of this episode features extracts from the first two sections of Matt Haig’s excellent and popular 2015 book ‘Reasons To Stay Alive’.

This profound, readable and sometimes humorous book details Haig’s recovery from ‘a sustained bout of anxiety and depression’, and Antony interjects wi...

We conclude our conversation with Peter Seal, the author of ‘The Self-Help Delusion: A Manifesto For Genuine Change’, a self-development book that seeks to help the reader evolve their way of thinking and inspire real and long-lasting life changes.

Once again, Antony and Peter discuss a range of topics, this time including anger/fear, hypnosis, NLP (neuro-linguistic programming), narratives, roles, beliefs, love and ha...

After entering dark territory with the previous episode, we return to lighter material with the first of a two-part conversation with Antony’s friend Peter Seal, the author of ‘The Self-Help Delusion: A Manifesto For Genuine Change’, which is a self-development book that seeks to help the reader evolve their way of thinking and inspire real and long-lasting life changes.

In this part, Antony and Peter discuss a r...

This is a rare true crime episode, trying (in vain) to understand the horrific crimes of Axel Rudakubana in Southport last summer. There is also some discussion of the Lucy Letby case and brief mention of John Lennon’s reviled killer Mark David Chapman, in terms of the psychology of crime and society's relationship to it. 

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Completing our foray into advertising, mostly using Antony’s talk on Julian Charles’s excellent podcast ‘The Mind Renewed’ back in 2015, we dive deeper into Edward Bernays’s work and then segue into the darker underbelly of the craft, including the engineering of a military coup and the truly egregious and unethical snaring of innocent hearts and minds involved in advertising to children. On a lighter ...

Following on from the propaganda multi-parter at the end of last year, this time we dive into a topic with quite a lot of overlap, namely advertising. The bulk of the content comes from a talk that Antony did on Julian Charles’s excellent podcast ‘The Mind Renewed’ back in 2015.

Despite the time that has passed since the talk, most of the general thrust of advertising has been in place for a long time so we are co...

And so we bring an end to another fine journey through a fascinating topic and indeed another year of this podcast.

Part 3 of this series looks at ‘positive propaganda’ in the field of public health, multiple examples of negative propaganda by way of the demonising (sometimes literally) of political rivals and rival nations, and finally a look at how technology has brought propaganda, along with the world, into a very ...

We continue our exploration of the fascinating and contentious topic of propaganda, using as our basis David Welch’s 2013 book ‘Propaganda: Power & Persuasion.

In Part 2, we look at the propaganda of nationhood and leadership before taking a deep dive into the chapter of the book on war propaganda. Is propaganda good or bad? Or does it just depend on who’s propagating the information? Part 3 will be out ...

To round off the year, we present another multi-part series, this time on a fascinating topic that I have come to see as something of an art form. The main material being used is David Welch’s very accessible and even-handed book ‘Propaganda: Power & Persuasion, which accompanied an exhibition on the topic at the British Library in 2013.

Is propaganda good or bad? Or does it just depend on who’s propagating t...

We’ve got a special episode for you this time as Antony is joined by 1990s football legend and truth-seeker Matt Le Tissier. The conversation hits on a few topics such as the recent Euro 2024 tournament and some of the problems with the mentality of English football. Antony and Matt then discuss media narratives and the wider agenda regarding sport, especially its propagandistic relationship with national identity.

We sincer...

To mark Life And Life Only’s half-century, I drove back to my original home town on the day I celebrated another journey round the sun, to share a few personal reminiscences and also muse on nostalgia, memories, socio-economic status and a few other things…

There’s a nice bit of relaxing music to finish today’s episode and an announcement of a rather special guest coming up for LALO 51

I sincerely hope yo...

And so we bring to an end another podcast series as we conclude our whistle-stop journey through some of the highlights of John Cleese and Robin Skynner’s very readable, entertaining and insightful book ‘Life & How To Survive It’, which is presented as an ongoing dialogue between the doctor and the intelligent layman.

The topics and sub-topics this time include spiritual experiences and the various ways of ach...