In this episode, we examine our political class' TikTok neurosis, how Gaza fueled its sell to US and Israeli military contractors, and the long history of elite panics around unsanctioned information flows. With guest Omar Zahzah.

In this Stand-up Special Finlay Christie makes his Radio 4 debut in front of a live audience at The Brunswick in Brighton.

He provides insight into how he and his generation have grown into the adults they’re now expected to be. Using new and existing material from his critically acclaimed Edinburgh shows he’ll cover topics like; the expectations of different generations; “pensioners complaining they can’t heat their house. That sounds like a boast – You’ve got a house?!’ ...”

- the differences between the generations; “People say young people are more sensitive, but every generation is sensitive, we’re just sensitive about different stuff. We’re sensitive about pronouns, old people are sensitive about Princess Diana.”

- how his generation feel about the world; "Gen Z are very nihilistic. World’s gonna end in our lifetimes and we don’t care. One girl in Sweden cared and that made the news.”

“TikTok has made me see people who watch films as intellectuals. Ooh, you have a penchant for cinéma?? Ohohoho.” And how it now feels to be a man; “ the difference between Man and Boy - "Landlord bad…. rent boy..nice….” " “It’s a boy” - “congratulations”. “It’s a man” - “allegations.”

At 19, Finlay became one of the youngest ever winners of the prestigious So You Think You’re Funny competition, following in the footsteps of Peter Kay, Lee Mack and Sarah Millican. 3 years later, his debut Edinburgh show “OK Zoomer” was nominated for NextUp’s “Best Show” award and was released as a special in October 2023. His material, based around his experience as a Gen Z, led Chortle to describe him as “the voice of his generation.”

Producer: Julian Mayers

The Reagan Doctrine puts Angola in the crosshairs as aid to UNITA is uncorked.

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MintPress News journalist Alan MacLeod returns to Bad Faith to talk us through the latest Epstein file revelations: New links between Epstein & Mossad, race science & Jewish supremacy, celebrity sightings, media influence, right-wing pedophile apologia, & more.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Armand Aviram.

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Matt and Daniel are joined by California Green Party Gubernatorial Candidate Dr. Butch Ware to speed through Norm Finkelstein’s promise to bring a campfire’s worth of smoke to Dersh and Epstein, each of their individual honors in the field of supposed anti-semitism, and expressions of at least two of the pillars of hip hop.

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On the agenda this week is Starmer vs Burnham in Labour's latest civil war, Suella Braverman’s defection to Reform, and working out how to save The Great British pub. To get to the bottom of all this, Andy is joined by Daliso Chaponda, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Hugo Rifkind and Holly Walsh.

Written by Andy Zaltzman.

With additional material by: Christina Riggs, Cameron Loxdale and Sarah Mills Producer: Georgia Keating Executive Producer: Pete Strauss Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman Sound Editor: Marc Willcox

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.

Denote includes the option of adding different directories, so this now makes sense:

(setq denote-directory
      (if (eq system-type 'gnu/linux)          ; If I'm using Linux, include the private folder.
          (list (expand-file-name "~/Sync/Notes")
                (expand-file-name "~/Documents/private"))
        (list (expand-file-name "~/Sync/Notes")))) ; If I'm using anything else (macOS) just Notes.

(setq denote-excluded-directories-regexp "data") ; the data folder (with attachments) is excluded.

I have a private folder for Denote notes on Linux only. I used to only sync my Sync/Notes folder, which includes my informational notes and blog posts, but that means I’m missing out on Denote’s abilities in my private folder, which is slowly increasing in size. This solves this problem.

There’s no need to list the data folder (which includes my attachments, mostly in file formats that are not Denote’s format), so that’s why the exclusion is there.

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Journalist from The Grayzone and author of Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire Anya Parampil returns to Bad Faith to discuss the latest developments in Venezuela following the kidnapping of Maduro -- a story that somehow emerged this month but is already out of the headlines. But first, we tackle an insane news week, including the ICE shooting death of Alex Pretti, the Democratic Party's feeble response and willingness to compromise ahead of this week's government funding deadline, settler attacks in the West Bank on Holocaust memorial day, Israelis starting fires in Patagonia, the physical attack on Ilhan Omar, TikTok becoming part of the Ellison empire, & more.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Armand Aviram.

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Democracy Now! 2026-02-04 Wednesday

• Headlines for February 04, 2026
• "No Means No": AZ Secretary of State Calls for Resistance as Trump Pushes to "Nationalize" Voting
• Why Was Spy Chief Tulsi Gabbard at FBI Election Raid in Georgia? Ex-DOJ Attorney Speaks Out
• A New Nuclear Arms Race Could "Spiral" as Last U.S.-Russia Treaty Expires: Dr. Ira Helfand
• "Geopolitics of the Weak": Colombian Senator Urges "Collective Action" Against U.S. Aggression

Download this show

Democracy Now! 2026-02-05 Thursday

• Headlines for February 05, 2026
• Rep. Khanna Slams DOJ for Not Launching New Probes of Jeffrey Epstein's "Co-Conspirators"
• "Tear Down ICE" & Probe Trump-UAE $500M Crypto Deal: Rep. Ro Khanna
• Shot, Harassed & Threatened: U.S. Citizens Describe Surviving Violent Attacks by Immigration Agents
• Elon Musk Under Fire for Epstein Links, Grok's Sexualized AI Deepfakes & SpaceX-xAI Merger

Download this show

This is a special episode, and it’s not like our usual livestream recordings. Instead, our producer Ozzy dug through the Fresh AI Hell archives to create a supercut of Alex's improvised transitions. She's made up dozens of skits and songs about the demons of AI Hell, based on weekly prompts from Emily and listeners. Finally, hear all the lore together in one place!

Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.

Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.

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Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. 
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.

Ciarán, Uma and Nick discuss the post Davos fallout and revelations in what they're calling the most Brussels Bubble bullshit episode ever

Despite a complex childhood, and with her teenage years spent guiding the career of her controversial comedian mother Janey Godley whilst caring for her depressed autistic father, Ashley has just had the most surreal, dramatic, tragic… and successful year of her life.

Her dream job was always in the magical world of TV with all its escapism, justice and happy endings. But the universe has a twisted sense of humour, and just as Ashley finally gets her big break, Janey is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Yay.

In this episode, we jump inside the brilliant and unhinged autistic brain of our “adult perma-child” protagonist and attempt to unspool this tragicomedy with some hilarious digressions en route.

Produced by Julia Sutherland Sound Design by Sean Kerwin A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4

Krystal and Saagar discuss Epstein pushes Palantir to Israeli PM, Prince Andrew shocking images, Bari Weiss connections, Pizza codewords in files.

 NOTE: After recording, Peter Attia released the following statement: https://x.com/PeterAttiaMD/status/2018350892395774116?s=20 

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Krystal and Saagar discuss Trump in the Epstein files, politicians lie about relationship, Bill Gates and Elon Musk.

 NOTE: After recording, Peter Attia released the following statement: https://x.com/PeterAttiaMD/status/2018350892395774116?s=20 

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When it comes to sharing written documents with my co-workers, I usually need to use Word or PDFs. Org-mode includes an export option to odt files, which does the job in a pinch, but it’s a bit harder to customize, especially if I want to preserve certain formatting elements. In the past, I used to create ODT files, import them into Word, make whatever changes I needed, and save them in a docx file. The problem there, besides the manual work, is consistency. If I want to make sure I use the same style for fonts, header sizes, and table formats, things get annoying fast.

About a year ago, I discovered that Pandoc can use an external Word document (docx) as a style template. As long as I have this file accessible, every org file I convert to docx will automatically (and beautifully, I may add) retain the exact style changes I need. This, of course, can be automated later inside Emacs, so the export process is basically seamless.

The problem lies in the fact that you need to work with Word and understand how its styles. Readers of this blog know I love to complain about Microsoft’s UI and its lack of consistency, and the instructions here are one fine example in my opinion. Be it as it may, I will try to keep the snarky comments in check.

Creating the default style sheet

The first thing to do is get Pandoc to create its default style reference document as a .docx. This can be done with pandoc -o custom-reference.docx --print-default-data-file reference.docx.

What you’re telling Pandoc here is to output (-o) a file named custom-reference.docx (you can call it whatever you’d like, as long as it’s a docx, since you want to work with Word). What to output goes into this file? The default reference document.

Once you do that, you will have a custom-reference.docx in the folder you ran the command from.

Now it’s time to work inside Word.

Modifying the styles

What you will see is a rather plain file listing a bunch of styles and their name. First, you will see “Title,” and it will be nice and big because it’s using the Title style in Word. Heading 1 will use the Heading 1 style, Body Text (further down) will use the Body Text style, and so on.

What you want to do is to access these styles in Word. You will be modifying them to fit to your liking.

To do that, search for the Styles Pane. In my case, Office 365 for macOS, I can find it in the ribbon under Home, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s a little different if you’re using Windows, or a different version of Word.

With the Style Pane open, you will see a long list of the available styles. You can navigate this way, but I find it’s easier to just look for them in the document to the left and select them; it will then show under Current style: to the right.

Now that you have a style selected, select the name of that style from the Style Pane and choose Modify Style…¹. You will see the options available to you, such as the font name, text color, alignment, etc.

Make sure that you do not change the Name: of the style! You’re modifying existing default styles that Pandoc recognizes; if you create a new one (by giving it a new name), Pandoc will not know what to do with it and will ignore it. Remember, you are modifying a reference sheet of existing styles, not creating new styles. Likewise, this means that you have no reason to change anything in the document itself (the content) - Pandoc doesn’t care about that and will ignore it. You’re only touching the options in the Modify Style… window.

That’s basically all there is to it. As you will see soon, some items can get a bit more complicated as they are not available in the same way. Save the files when you’re done modifying the styles. You will probably keep going back to this document as you export docx files, tweaking things until you like them.

Using Pandoc to export from org-mode to a docx file

The next step is to tell Pandoc to convert an existing org file to a docx file using the reference sheet we just worked on. To do that, use the following command:

pandoc -s <input_file.org> -o <output_file.docx> --reference-doc custom-reference.docx.

The idea is the same as before, but we use a stationary option, -s (the reason for that is that we’re telling Pandoc to use a “full” version of a document, needed with the reference doc option, otherwise it can’t use our reference document).

Then, we’re pointing Pandoc to our org file and using the output, -o, as the doc file we want, then finally using the reference-doc option by utilizing our reference file, custom-reference.docx (unless you change the name to something else). That’s it, Pandoc will create the file in the folder you are in.

Images and Tables

For me, things get a bit more complicated. My technical documents often include screenshots, and I need those embedded in the resulting Word docx file.

The above command will embed images in the Word document, as long as org-mode can find and display your images (using the inlineimages option in org-mode). My org-mode technical notes are all written with Denote these days, which keeps everything organized, including the images, which are inside the default data subfolder. If your workflow is different, be mindful of your path to the images; you’d probably want to use an absolute path in org-mode (use C-u C-u C-c C-l when linking an image instead of the usual C-u C-c C-l for this). There’s also the option to extract media in Pandoc (see the –extract-media option). In my opinion, it’s simpler and cleaner to dedicate a folder for your org documents, completed with a subfolder for attachments.

Another issue that stumbled me was the tables.

Pandoc’s default style for tables is minimal - without borders. This might look nice if you want to hide your tables, but if you need a table with borders and perhaps some shading, you’ll run into issues.

The problem is with Word. The style for the table is not included in the Style Pane. In order to change the style for your table in the reference doc, you need to locate Table Design in your ribbon. Notice that if you work on a small screen (like in my recording), you might have to expand your options to find it. Then, you will have to extend the pane further and locate the Modify Table Style below. Once again, this is true for my case, Office 365 on macOS. If you’re using a different Office version or on Windows, this menu might be located elsewhere.

Once you have Modify Table Style open, you can change the borders and shading to your heart’s content, but as before, make sure the style name remains Table. If you create a new style, Pandoc will ignore it.

A few tricks I picked up

Under the name of the style, in the Modify Style or Modify Table Style window, you will see the Style based on option. You can change this option and browse through different colors and fonts to find something you like, and then customize further instead of starting from scratch. As long as you don’t change the name of the style, you’re OK. I found this useful when working with tables, as I was looking for a table with shading on every other row.

Speaking of tables, the border button is the little square icon in the middle. I spent a few moments trying to find it.

Bonus: use dwim-shell-command for quick export

If you’re an Emacs user, you like shortcuts, and you like to use shell commands from within Emacs. If you haven’t yet, check out dwim-shell-command.

Here’s how I have it set up. All I have to do is mark the org file(s) I want to convert to a docx, and that’s it. It doesn’t matter if I want to export only one file or fifty; it’s the same ease of use.

(defun jtr/dwim-shell-command-pandoc-org-to-docx ()
  "uses pandoc to convert an org file to docx using a template docx file. The docx template file is stored in my Notes sync folder"
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "converting from org to docx"
   "pandoc -s '<<f>>' -o '<<fne>>.docx' --reference-doc ~/Sync/Notes/Info/custom-reference.docx"
   :utils "pandoc"))

Footnotes

¹ : Or, another way to work is to use to select the text you want to modify, then go to Format and select Style from there; you will need to then choose Modify in the window that shows.

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Journalist from The Grayzone and author of Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire returns to Bad Faith to discuss the latest developments in Venezuela following the kidnapping of Maduro -- a story that somehow emerged this month but is already out of the headlines. But first, we tackle an insane news week, including the ICE shooting death of Alex Pretti, the Democratic Party's feeble response and willingness to compromise ahead of this week's government funding deadline, settler attacks in the West Bank on Holocaust memorial day, Israelis starting fires in Patagonia, the physical attack on Ilhan Omar, TikTok becoming part of the Ellison empire, & more.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Armand Aviram.

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

In 2024, the cryptocurrency industry spent more than $130 million to influence elections nationwide. Their campaign donations and lobbying efforts turned the tables for their risky boom-and-bust business, which is now poised to overtake our entire financial system.

In Part Two of What Tech Wants, Lever Time’s investigation into why Silicon Valley is buying our democracy, producer Ariella Markowitz reveals how crypto companies aligned with President Donald Trump to advance their agenda.

To listen to Part One of our series, click here.

Click here to subscribe to Molly White’s newsletter Citation Needed.

Click here to read Jacob Silverman’s book, Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley.

Click here for a full transcript of the episode.

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In 2022, nonprofit neighborhood groups, backed by Silicon Valley billionaires, helped recall a progressive district attorney in San Francisco. What happened next would change the country. 

In Part One of What Tech Wants, Lever Time’s investigation into why Silicon Valley is buying our democracy, producer Ariella Markowitz uncovers how a local experiment unlocked a new formula for political power.

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Nick hosted a live talk with our friends over at the Left Berlin. During the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the German police, courts and state apparatus have heavily cracked down on the Palestinian solidary movement through police intimidation and violence, raidings of activists, and the attempted criminalization of organizations and slogans. After tens of thousands of protesters in Germany came out in the streets on Septemerber 27th in solidarity with Palestine, is there a possible wave of change within Israel’s most dependable European ally? Join us as we sit down with special guests Roser Gari Perez, Lucas Febraro and Toufiq Haddad to discuss the current situation and challenges facing the Palestinian solidarity movement in Germany and Europe.

A couple of weeks ago I read a lovely story in The New Yorker by Calvin Tompkins about starting a journal in his hundredth year. Tompkins was born the same year that The New Yorker was founded and, ironically, spent most of his working life writing for the magazine. Last year—his hundredth—he surprised himself by deciding to start a journal as a sort of countdown to his hundredth birthday. The story is mostly entries from the journal but I found them fascinating. Perhaps you will too. If nothing else, you’ll get a first hand glimpse of what old age really looks like. The TL;DR is that there’s good news and bad news.

In any event—although I am nowhere near my hundredth year—I was inspired to start my own journal. Of course, it was going to be written with Emacs but the question is how. There is the builtin journal app as well as some third party packages but I chose simplicity. I didn’t need anything special or complex with arcane functions so I just added an Org capture template to create a file+datetree file in Org mode. Here’s the whole thing:

("J" "Personal Journal" entry (file+datetree "~/org/personal-journal.org")
         "* %<%R: >%? \n%t" :empty-lines-before 1)

I have some startup options in the file itself to set visual-line-mode, use a variable pitch mode, and couple of other things: the same setup that I use for my blog posts. All this is simple and familiar. There’s nothing new for me to learn since it’s basically the same setup that I use everyday to write my Irreal posts.

The takeaway is that if you’d like to start a journal, it’s really easy. Just use a simple Org file with a corresponding capture template.

Forrest Hylton, contributor to the London Review of Books, discusses Venezuela past, present, and future.

Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

Moe Tkacik joins us to talk about her important article,  “The Narco-Terrorist Elite: Why is Marco Rubio so hell-bent on making Iran-Contra again?”.

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Nick and Ciarán talk about Greenland

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This week’s episode of Long Reads is the second part of a two-part interview about the history of Western Sahara. Our last episode covered events leading up to Morocco’s invasion of the country. This episode examines the fifty years of occupation and the recent push by the Trump administration to legitimize Moroccan rule.

Our guest Jacob Mundy is a professor of peace and conflict studies at Colgate University. He’s the co-author of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution.

Read his piece for Jacobin, “For 50 Years, Morocco Has Denied Western Sahara Freedom”: https://jacobin.com/2025/11/morocco-western-sahara-freedom-colonialism

Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

The occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco has now lasted for half a century. The anniversary of the invasion passed at the beginning of November. It came just as the Trump administration was working at the United Nations to legitimize permanent Moroccan rule over the land and its people, including the indigenous Sahrawis.

Today’s episode is the first part of a two-part interview on the history of Western Sahara. Part one is going to cover the experience of Spanish colonial rule and the emergence of a movement for independence before the invasion by Morocco in 1975. Part two will carry the story up to the present day.

Our guest Jacob Mundy is a professor of peace and conflict studies at Colgate University. He’s the co-author of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution.

Read his piece for Jacobin, “For 50 Years, Morocco Has Denied Western Sahara Freedom”: https://jacobin.com/2025/11/morocco-western-sahara-freedom-colonialism

Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.