Maiden Mother Matriarch with Louise Perry

Feminists have been arguing about the politics of homemaking for a long time. In her 1963 feminist classic, The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan famously compared the suburban American home to a “comfortable concentration camp”, arguing that homemaking was not just a waste of a woman’s talents, but a form of degradation.

Maternal feminists reject this characterisation. But they also highlight the ways in which stay-at-home parents – mostly, but by no means exclusively, mothers – are made vulnerable, particularly financially. My guest today is focused on how public policy can best reduce this vulnerability.

Ivana Greco is a homemake...

I’ve just moved to Australia. I wrote a column about our move in the Wall Street Journal, which was also published in The Australian, but I haven’t otherwise spoken about our reasoning, and a lot of listeners have been asking. So today’s episode is about Australia: the issues the country is facing right now, why British people are so often attracted to moving here (including yours truly), the cultural differences between Britain and Australia, and the big political challenges that both countries are facing: immigration, economic stagnation, ageing populations, housing crises, and the rise of the populi...

In this bonus episode, Ed West and I discussed the apparent murder of Ann Widdecombe, the role that she played in British public life, and the responses to this atrocity.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode, Rob Henderson and I discussed a recent viral article in The Cut titled ‘It’s Hard to See My Parents Live So Lavishly While We’re Struggling’ and the broader issue of wealth inequality within families. Is it really true that millennials have it harder than boomers? Are downwardly mobile younger generations right to feel resentful? And how should wealthy parents protect their children from becoming spoilt and entitled?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The empire that once controlled all or part of forty modern European, Asian, and African countries no longer exists. Rome didn’t fall all at once, and it didn’t fall for any one simple reason. But it did fall. And people down the centuries have been drawn to the story of Rome’s decline and fall with a mixture of fear, curiosity, and an irresistible desire to draw parallels between the fate of the Roman Empire and the present day.

Today I’m joined by Edward J. Watts, professor of history at the University of California, San Diego...

Alec Ryrie argues that the age of Hitler is not the 1930s and 1940s, it is our own lifetimes. As the influence of Christianity receded from the 1960s onwards, the figure of Hitler stepped into the breach – the most potent possible symbol of evil, around whom the Western moral imagination was structured.

But as the Second World War recedes into history, this anti-Nazi moral consensus is unravelling, which means that our whole system of morality is coming under pressure. What happens when the Age of Hitler comes to an end? 

Alec Ryrie is Profe...

In this bonus episode, Nina Power and I discussed recent events in Britain, including the announced ban on social media use for under 16s and last week's rioting in Belfast and elsewhere. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The science of sex differences is intensely political. Traditionalists tend to exaggerate the innate differences between men and women, while progressives tend to minimise them, arguing that the behavioural differences we see between the sexes are a product of nurture, rather than nature. 

Steve Stewart-Williams wants to offer a more cautious assessment. There are a lot of average differences between the sexes, some of them very pronounced. There are also a lot of small to moderate differences that are visible at the population level, but not necessarily at the individual level. This is a controversial subject, b...

In this bonus episode, I spoke with Helen Roy about Caro Claire Burke’s bestselling novel ‘Yesteryear’ and we tried to explain why the ‘tradwife’ phenomenon attracts such strength of feeling.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Western elites tend to be xenophilic. They love the cultural other, and they abhor the dullness and small mindedness they see in their own countrymen. But, as Chris Bayliss points out, this is typically combined with what he describes as a “studiously parochial” attitude towards what the cultural other is actually like.

In his writing for The Critic Magazine, Chris often draws from his experiences of living and working overseas, including as a diplomat. Today we discuss the many areas of British public life that have been radically transformed by mass immigration from parts of the world in w...

In this bonus episode for paid subscribers, I spoke with Mary Harrington about Pope Leo's encyclical on AI, whether it should be regarded as 'normal technology' or as something entirely different, and how the digital revolution might transform politics long term. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The institution of marriage has changed a lot over the last few centuries. As Eli Finkel explains in ‘The All of Nothing Marriage’ – truly one of my favourite social science books – Americans of the early nineteenth century would look with confusion on our modern attitudes towards what a spouse ought to be. An economic partner, sure. A co-parent, obviously. But a best friend, even a soul mate?

Today, Eli and I track these changes across American history, and we ask whether our modern attitudes towards marriage have some significant downsides. It seems that the best marriages are now bett...

In this bonus episode, I spoke with Ed West about why the story of the HMS Windrush has become so important in modern Britain, despite its historical inaccuracies. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode, I spoke with Rob Henderson about the link between the decline in marriage rates and the decline in fertility rates. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Ehrlich was the author of the 1968 book 'The Population Bomb' - a book that made him into a celebrity. His message was a horrifying one. “In the 1970s and 1980s” he announced in the opening lines, “hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now.” 

Thankfully, that prediction was not realised. But Ehrlich's influence lives on after his death, not least in the work of my guest today. Les Knight is the founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT). His goal is that humans should, as the mov...

In this bonus episode, Nina Power and I discussed the local elections in Britain and what the results indicate about political polarisation, especially with regards to age, ethnicity, class, and sex. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've all heard of the manosphere. We've all come across commentators who blame it for the radicalisation of young men. Political leaders express immense concern about manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate, who are blamed for the alienation of their young fans from mainstream society. 

We hear a lot less about the femosphere. In a recent New Statesman cover story, titled 'Meet the Angry Young Women', journalist Emily Lawford and pollster Scarlett Maguire broke fresh ground in outlining just how radicalised young British women are. 

This is partly a story about the internet, specifically the ...

In this bonus episode, I spoke with Meghan Murphy about the apparent rise in the eagerness of young men to date older women. Is it because of politics? Anti-ageing skincare? Money? A lack of interest in fatherhood? Or something else? 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MMM is sponsored by 321 - a new online introduction to Christianity, presented by former MMM guest Glen Scrivener. Check it out for free at 321course.com/MMM. Just enter your email, choose a password and you’re in — there’s no spam and no fees. 

Brianna Wu is a transwoman and a passionate Democrat who wants people with gender dysphoria to be protected from discrimination and given access to sex reassignment medical treatments. But only if this treatment has proper safeguards, and is never offered to children. To achieve this compromise – a centrist position, Brianna argues – trans activists...

Give the gift of everyday luxury by going to cozyearth.com and using my code COZYMMM for 20% off site wide. And if you get a post-purchase survey do please mention that you heard about Cozy Earth from the Maiden Mother Matriarch podcast. Whether you’re buying for yourself, or for somebody else, Cozy Earth creates the comfort that makes a house feel like home. 

Philosopher Kathleen Stock is careful about terminology in her new book. Her argument is not against assisted suicide, or euthanasia, but specifically against assisted death services. That is, "formal structures for helping consenting people...

In this bonus episode, Rob Henderson and I discussed a recent controversial New York Times podcast featuring Hasan Piker and Jia Tolentino speaking in defence of so-called 'microlooting' and other criminality. We spoke about the backlash to this episode and whether the Left is now pivoting away from peak-woke priorities like language policing and towards something more militant and more masculine.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode, I spoke with the Telegraph's Poppy Coburn about the Southport Public Inquiry, and the ideological factors that led state agencies to treat Axel Rudakubana like a victim, rather than a threat to the public. We also spoke about Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane and the protests last week over a gang rape reported in the Surrey town of Epsom. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MMM is sponsored by 321 - a new online introduction to Christianity, presented by former MMM guest Glen Scrivener. Check it out for free at 321course.com/MMM. Just enter your email, choose a password and you’re in — there’s no spam and no fees. 

Nigel Biggar has personal experience of the cultural revolution that has come to the universities of the Anglosphere. In 2017, he found himself in the middle of a heated controversy over a project he was leading on the morality of empire, and he quickly discovered that there are some questions that you are not sup...

In this bonus episode, Nina Power and I discussed the rise of a new style of Leftism in the Anglosphere, embodied in figures like Zack Polanksi and Zohran Mamdani. 

Discussed in this episode: 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's safe to say that Zoe Strimpel and I don't entirely agree on whether the sexual revolution was a good thing for women. Where I have a somewhat tragic analysis of the trade offs inherent to our new sexual culture, Zoeargues that women have never had it so good. Her new book, titled 'Good Slut', is a passionate defence of sexual freedom, including of promiscuity and hedonism. In today's episode, we debate the consequences of the sexual revolution.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this bonus episode I joined the hosts of the Anglofuturism podcast, Tom Ough and Calum Drysdale, to discuss the Artemis II mission to the moon. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Give the gift of everyday luxury by going to cozyearth.com and using my code COZYMMM for 20% off site wide. And if you get a post-purchase survey do please mention that you heard about Cozy Earth from the Maiden Mother Matriarch podcast. Whether you’re buying for yourself, or for somebody else, Cozy Earth creates the comfort that makes a house feel like home. 

My guest today doesn't reject evolutionary psychology as a discipline, but he is critical of many popular interpretations of the research on human mating. 

Of course there are psychological differences between...

In this bonus episode, Rob Henderson and I discussed Louis Theroux's manosphere documentary for Netflix.

Discussed in the episode:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Give the gift of everyday luxury by going to cozyearth.com and using my code COZYMMM for 20% off site wide. And if you get a post-purchase survey do please mention that you heard about Cozy Earth from the Maiden Mother Matriarch podcast. Whether you’re buying for yourself, or for somebody else, Cozy Earth creates the comfort that makes a house feel like home. 

MMM is sponsored by 321 - a new online introduction to Christianity, presented by former MMM guest Glen Scrivener. Check it out for free at 321course.com/MMM. Just enter your email, choose a pas...

In this bonus episode, I spoke with Meghan Murphy about Lindy West's new memoir, Adult Braces, and her account of polyamory, fat activism, and mental illness. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Britain is in a bad place at the moment. The country that gave the world the Industrial Revolution is now visibly deteriorating. "Managed decline" is the popular phrase, although there is a debate over how "managed" it really is. 

Tom Ough says that none of this is necessary. Britain could – and should – pursue a programme of innovation that benefits its people materially, but that also feels psychologically comforting in its cultural familiarity. The term for this vision is "Anglofuturism", our subject today.

Tom is a senior editor at UnHerd, co-host of the Anglofuturism podcast...

For this bonus episode I went on Against the Grain podcast with Matthew Schmitz and Julia Yost. We talked about the migration boom in Britain, birth rates, religious revivals and more.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/against-the-grain/id1823575411

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Lionel Shriver's new novel, a family with a large and lovely house in Brooklyn invite a Honduran asylum seeker to come and live with them. The young woman is pleasant and helpful. But the adult son of the family – unemployed, idle, and disagreeable – is deeply opposed to her presence in his home. This being a Lionel Shriver novel, the drama soon goes in an unexpected direction. 

'A Better Life' is a novel about immigration, gender, and political polarisation – all topics we discuss today. Lionel is the author of nineteen novels, winner of the Orange Prize for Fic...

In this bonus episode, I spoke with The Telegraph's Poppy Coburn about the ongoing threat to Dubai, and the city's (very revealing) role in the British cultural imagination.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 "It's not that it's fake, it's that it's evil." That was what today's guest replied when I asked him to describe the nature of paganism. It's a term that we usually associate with Ancient Rome. But John Daniel Davidson uses a more expansive definition of this particular outlook on the supernatural, and he warns against it in the strongest possible terms. 

John is a senior editor at The Federalist and the author of 'Pagan America: The Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come.' Today we speak about the dangers of re-enchantment, and why John...

Anthony Daniels, also known by the pen name Theodore Dalrymple, has spent a career doing something very unusual for someone of his class: talking at great length to thousands and thousands of people at the very bottom of the socioeconomic heap. 

Daniels is a doctor, as well as the author of dozens of books. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the publication of perhaps his most famous, 'Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass', a collection of essays about Daniels' time working as a doctor at both an inner-city hospital and a pri...

In this bonus episode, I spoke with Ed West about the Gorton and Denton by-election, the Islamo-gauchist coalition, and Rupert Lowe's new Restore Party. 

Discussed in this episode: 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode, Rob Henderson and I discussed the legacy of Aaron Sorkin, and the end of the political era that his work represented.

Discussed in the episode:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Give the gift of everyday luxury and make every moment comfortable. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code COZYMMM for 20% off sitewide. And if you get a Post-Purchase Survey, be sure to mention you heard about Cozy Earth at the Maiden Mother Matriarch podcast.

We are all descended from thousands of generations of parents who successfully raised their children to adulthood. But, unlike those parents, we all have access to plentiful food, indoor plumbing, effective medicine, and all of the other technologies that make modern life so comfortable. You might expect, therefore, that the modern...

In this bonus episode, Nina Power and I reviewed Emerald Fennell's new film "Wuthering Heights." 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.