This podcast is supported by FX's English Teacher, a new comedy from executive producers of What We Do in the Shadows and Baskets. English Teacher follows Evan, a teacher in Austin, Texas, who learns if it's really possible to be your full self at your job, while often finding himself at the intersection of the personal, professional, and political aspects of working at a high school. FX's English Teacher premieres September 2nd on FX. Stream on Hulu.
Hello, Conflicted fans. Thomas Small here. Eamon, my co-host, is off traveling the world right now. But don't worry, he's coming back for a second season of Conflicted. You'll remember that in season one, we did a couple of things. We tried our best to tell the story of the War on Terror and to put recent Middle Eastern history in context. And we did that largely through the lens of Eamon's remarkable life experience.
a jihadist for al-Qaeda for four years, before switching sides and working for MI6 as a double agent. The theme of season one was the jihadist belief that the end of the world was nigh, and we started with 9/11. In season two, we'll explore something similar, but this time we'll start our story here.
Until now, the world we've known has been a world divided, conflict, cold war. Now we can see a new world coming into view.
A world in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order. In the words of Winston Churchill, a world order in which the principles of justice and fair play protect the weak against the strong. A world where the United Nations, freed from Cold War stalemate, is poised to fulfill the historic vision of its founders. A world in which freedom and respect for human rights find a home among all nations.
That was President George Bush Senior speaking in 1991. The Cold War was over, and America was looking forward to the continual spread of liberal democracy everywhere.
Well, 30 years on, and it's quite clear that George Bush's New World Order is coming apart. With the credit crunch and everything that followed. Its effects on income, wealth, inequality, and our politics are still with us. With the rise of China and what's
What's going on in the streets of Hong Kong? We have had a stern warning from China saying that those who play with fire will perish by it. With Brexit giving two fingers to the EU. We won't go on remaining in the EU beyond October 30. What on earth is the point? With climate crisis everywhere. The results are in and Europe is failing on climate.
and Trump flipping off the UN. America is governed by Americans. We reject the ideology of globalism and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism. Eamon and I will discuss and debate these topics and a whole lot more.
We'll go live in a few weeks, precisely when we'll let you know right here in this feed. And we're going to do things a bit differently this time. We had so many of you reach out to us in the first season. We really want to build that community. We want to create a communal space for our fans so you can join us in our conversation. Do you have ideas for season two? Get in touch.
Email [email protected] or join our Facebook discussion group where we'll be posting further reading from the episodes, answering your questions, as well as running competitions. All the links can be found in the description below.