ACFM Trip 55: Parties

ACFM Trip 55: Parties

Author: Novara Media October 19, 2025 Duration: 1:51:15

Amid the bumpy launch of a new left-wing party and the rise of the Greens and Reform, the ACFM crew turn their attention to parties. Do we still need them? Do parties work by drawing people together, or by excluding the uninvited? And should a political party have anything in common with a dance party?

Nadia, Keir and Jem discuss, with reference to the Paris Commune, Unite the Right, Abigail’s Party and Jem’s own party, Beauty and the Beat, and music from Fred Wesley and The Beastie Boys.

Find the books and music mentioned in the show: https://novara.media/acfm
Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters
Follow our ever-expanding playlist on Spotify by searching ‘ACFM’.

Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support


Tune in to Novara Media for a distinct and probing take on the world as it is, and as it could be. This independent podcast offers a necessary space for the conversations often sidelined elsewhere, weaving together sharp analysis of current affairs with deeper explorations of culture, philosophy and power. Each episode naturally delves into the interconnected crises shaping our time-be it the fraying edges of our economic system, the urgent fight for climate justice, or the enduring struggles against structural inequality. The discussions are built on a foundation of radical thought and a commitment to imagining alternatives, moving beyond the day's headlines to examine the root causes and potential futures. Hosted by the team at Novara Media, the audio format brings a direct, engaging and often challenging perspective, featuring interviews, panel debates and solo commentaries that refuse simplistic answers. It’s for anyone who finds mainstream narratives insufficient and is looking for a podcast that treats politics, society and culture as the complex, urgent and deeply human matters they truly are.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 306

Novara Media
Podcast Episodes
Pro Revolution Soccer 2.1: Euro 2024 Reboot [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:25
Novara Media’s football podcast returns for another crack at the silverware! Every Wednesday until the Euro 2024 final, Juliet Jacques and Tom Williams provide political and tactical analysis of the tournament in an epis…
ACFM Microdose: Notes on Camp [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:29:03
After investigating the politics of cool on the last Trip episode, the crew turn their attention to another distinctly modern sensibility: camp. Digging into Susan Sontag’s formative 1964 essay on the camp aesthetic, Nad…
Downstream: Is India Really a Democracy? w/ Alpa Shah [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:14:58
The Indian election will be one of the largest the world has ever seen, with almost 1 billion people eligible to vote. It’s often said that India is the world’s biggest democracy. But what if that isn’t quite true? What…
ACFM Trip 43: Cool [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:38:42
What exactly is cool? Well, if it was that easy to describe, it obviously wouldn’t be cool. In this Trip, Keir, Jem and Nadia wonder if cool can ever be politically useful, and what happens when cool is used as a discipl…
Novara FM: How Trans Misogyny Works w/ Jules Gill-Peterson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:21:38
The difference between sex and gender is fundamental to how we talk about trans people. But what if it obscures the richness of life outside of gender norms? There is so much more to gender non-conforming people than thi…
Novara Live: Rishi Sunak Announces July General Election [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:20
In the pouring rain and 20 points behind in the polls, Rishi Sunak has announced that a UK general election will take place on 4 July. Michael Walker and Moya Lothian-McLean report. Plus: Ireland, Spain and Norway have a…