Starting with a reading from Martin Duberman's book Stonewall about the riots that kicked off a revolution, we reflect on the history of increasing corporate involvement in Pride, some unreasonably horny Subaru ads, a Raytheon Pride slogan from this year that made both of us momentarily speechless, and the politics and ethics of engaging with corpo…

Today's special guest is Will Tosh, Head of Research at Shakespeare's Globe, London, and the author of a new book, “Straight Acting: The Many Queer Lives of William Shakespeare.” Having answered the obvious question in the prologue, the book becomes a sort of emotional biography of Shakespeare’s private life, but uses that his life and his work to …

The whole gang is back together for a quick catch-up and a dive into what each has been reading. Glen brings us on a culinary trip through the history of Ireland via Margaret Hickey's Ireland's Green Larder., Helen finds God in John Dominic Crossan's Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, and Matt disproves the labour theory of value through the divine …

Helen’s on holiday this week but Glen and Matt bravely soldier on without them, as the news isn’t going to react to itself. Tune in to the world’s only male-exclusive podcast as we perform our semi-regular temperature check on the state of Western civilisation. The U.K. is having an election, the U.S. is entering a home, and Germany’s brain is unfo…

During the middle of the 20th century, the Third World movement represented the desires of billions for agency and justice. As the old colonial empires collapsed and new power structures were emerging, there was a brief moment of hope for a world in which the Global South stood strong, united and liberated. This was until the collapse of the Soviet…

We close out our season with the story of a dashing tomboy who was the first woman to found a British political party. The only problem: that party was the British Fascists. Subscribe to EXTRA BAD GAYS, our monthly conversation about queer life, culture, and politics. ----more---- SOURCES: Colin Cross, The Fascists in Britain (London: Saint Martin'…

What happens when scions, aristos, tycoons, speculators, moguls and tech gets thrown into a blender? We’re living it. In this episode of Casement’s Leftovers; Helen, Matt and Glen come together to chat Techno-feudalism. When so many of the global hyper rich are treated like deities and given unprecedented access to policy and power, can the serfs p…

Enjoy a sneak preview of EXTRA BAD GAYS, our monthly, subscriber-only show on contemporary queer politics and culture. For the full episode and a new episode every month, click 'subscribe' on Apple Podcasts or join our Patreon by clicking here.By Huw Lemmey & Ben Miller

Today’s subject had a multi-hyphenate name and a multi-hyphenate resume––, in his 55 years of life, he was an adventurer, a geologist, a spy, a dinosaur scientist, one of the founders of paleobiology, the world’s first airplane hijacker, a founder of the field of Albanian studies, a cosplay artist, and a murderer. Born in 1877 in Transylvania, the …

"If you have to take an beautiful enslaved convert boy from another province to become your lover, and then you fall hopelessly in love with him, and then promote him and he attains great power, do be aware than he might actually want to take your throne." Somehow, this extremely specific lesson was forgotten by two generations of rulers. Join us i…

Marthe Hanau built a several-hundred-million-franc financial powerhouse: which turned out to be a fraud. Her investors had been promised returns of 8% interest on savings and in investments forty percent a year —but by the time she died in prison, they were owed a hundred and fifty five million francs. Some people even credit her spectacular swindl…

Leo Varadkar has resigned, and we couldn’t be more upset about it Support the Show.By Casement's Leftovers

Today's episode is about England and its capacity to be deeply weird. Weget into one of England's weirdest, bloodiest, and maybe horniest moments, the English Reformation: a time of enormous tumult and violence, but also new ideas that reconfigured and reshaped the world. Today’s Bad Gay is perhaps an unlikely and unfamiliar candidate, but one whos…

Warning: this episode contains discussions of child sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and workplace sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised. Many people may have seen Maestro, a biopic about the American conductor Leonard Bernstein, a handsome and extroverted communicator. The next most famous gay Jewish conductor of the 20th century was, in …

This episode has everything: a tyrannical little boy king, a dictator who wanted to overthrow the Roman pantheon and install a meteorite as the object of a new monotheism, prostitution and vestal virgins, and drowning your party guests in rose petals. We break down Elagabalus: the myth, the legend, the gender-bending icon and the searcher for the b…

With an almighty Helen-shaped hole to fill, Glen and Matt recruit culture journalist Gary Grimes for a Boys Only episode on Pitchfork, and the culture media landscape in general. We talk lay-offs, the devaluing of culture writing, the changing tide of popular music, the artifice of celebrity, the cancer of fake authenticity, Stan culture, and the f…

Today’s subject was an uneducated woman who was born in approximately 1880 and rose in her nearly 70 years of life from enslavement to sex work to female king. She was a leader of her community of Enugu-Ezike in present-day Nigeria and a collaborator with British colonialism in the region. Finally removed from power by British officials and local e…

Warning: this episode contains discussions of domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and suicide. Listener discretion is advised. A rare twofer this week on our show: we discuss the lives and careers of Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell. Both frustrated writers from the North of England making their way in the repressive, damp climate of the postwar …

Are you wearing the Chanel boots? Yes, we are. A white-haired, powdered, starch-cuffed petty dictator who ruled over the expanding business with an iron fist, stopping every once in a while to make a misogynist or racist public comment, Karl Lagerfeld was one of the most influential figures in the fashion industry as it shifted into late capitalist…

Last Friday, January 26th, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its provisional ruling in South Africa’s case against Israel, ruling that there is a “significant risk of Genocide” in Gaza. Both supporters of Palestine and Israel have declared the outcome of the case as a victory, while there has been disappointment that there was no orde…

Bob Cratchit. Ron Weasley. Daniel Blake. Working class characters are often painted as humble folk, morally pure and deserving of our sympathy. But what if they're...not? Join us as we discuss truly progressive portrayals of the working class in film. Instead of patronising, what if films instead gave people agency over their own lives? Instead of …

Subscribe to EXTRA BAD GAYS, our monthly conversation on politics and culture, here or by clicking "Subscribe" on Apple Podcasts. Merry Christmas! Happy holidays! As usual, we're making our contribution to family holiday entertainment with an hour-plus podcast about sodomy. Today's program, recorded live at Podfest Berlin in October 2023, profiles …

Ever wondered why so many gays throughout history are so tragic, resilient and brave? This month Casement's Leftovers set fire to condescending stereotypes with incomparable author and historian Huw Lemmey. Huw -along with his co-host and author Ben Miller- have released the essential read; "Bad Gays", which explores identity formation and some of …

The decade from 2010-2020 saw more mass protests around the world than at any other point in history. But why did, so often, these huge movements result in the exact opposite of what they had set out to achieve? We are joined by American writer and journalist Vincent Bevins (of The Jakarta Method) to discuss his new book, If We Burn: The Mass Prote…

Happy Halloween! We’re bringing you the scariest thing imaginable: an off-the-cuff episode. Glen, Matt and Helen challenge each other to watch their favourite horror movies (except Glen who doesn’t understand genres) and lap up each other’s reviews. We talk Freudian fears of violence and technology on the collective subconscious (guess the director…

On reclaiming the history of the 1970s rent strikes We were delighted to be joined by Fiadh Tubridy & Aisling Hedderman from CATU to discuss the latest CATU publication Rent Strike, which tells the untold story of one of the great Irish tenants' struggles. We discuss the details of NATO (National Association of Tenants Organisations) and the succes…

On a critique of political economy for Ireland We were delighted to welcome researcher & author Conor McCabe on to the podcast to discuss the political economy of Ireland and its importance for the Irish left. This is a long but incredibly insightful discussion, as Conor refocuses our attention to the things that matter: who has power in Ireland? W…

For tickets to CCCP: Click Here. Pumpkin spiced lube, cable knit harness' and eating soup for fun. Start off October properly by letting your overheard, smoking area nightmare unravel before your ears. What was supposed to be a thoughtful meditation on American Imperialism and the "Fall"-ification of Irish Autumn culture turns into a series of bust…

We are joined by The Ditch investigative journalist Paulie Doyle to set the record straight on the latest silly season media obsession: CRIME. Is Dublin really more unsafe than it was before? Why do the media seem so hell-bent on generating a moral panic about it? And just exactly how much money is Putin giving to The Ditch? It’s a wide-ranging con…

On fatphobia and attraction. That's right baby, we're talking about desire again! We're joined by the wonderful Ellen to talk about everything from fatness and beauty standards to dating and Love Island. How can we free ourselves from society's oppressive and limiting standards? Is it possible to love and to fuck in a feminist way? And is Lizzo may…

In a desperatere attempt to stay current and relevant, (most of) the Casements crew watched the new Barbie movie and churned out an episode on it! Tune in for tepid takes on the film’s production, its post-modern meta-narratives, and its middle brow feminist politics. This Barbie thought the film was fine! Support the Show.…

It’s that time of year again. A time when businesses paint their inner colon rainbow, for your cash. When straight lads in the smoking area talk about how they held hands with a boy once in school. When basic gays walk around topless, proudly displaying their months of hard work in the gym. In short, it’s Pride month. Your favourite republican gonz…

Listen up, sheeple! Are you tired of being force-fed mainstream political news and culture? Do you want a podcast that's not afraid to take a cynical, irreverent look at society? Then you need to check out "Casement's Leftovers". In this episode, hosts Matt, Helen, and Glen sit down with the up-and-coming artist and PHD Christopher Michael to talk …

What's your favorite Paul Verhoeven film? We knew you were going to say Showgirls–but we'll put in a word for his latest, Benedetta, with Charlotte Rampling acting up a storm and nuns diddling each other with dildos carved out of statues of the Virgin. Improbably, the film is based on a true story: and within it, and within its subject's life, ther…

Andrea Long Chu has claimed that "everyone is female and everyone hates it", but what does that mean? Join us this for this very special 50th episode of Casement's Leftovers for a deep dive into one of our favourite theorists and writers, the recent Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Andrea Long Chu. Get ready for a new theory of gender that not has not…

Through the life of this 17th century Japanese shogun, we explore the role of same-sex relationships in Japanese court culture of the time, the radically different meanings of age and gender in different times and places, and a gay teen romance that ends, alas, with being stabbed to death in the bathtub. Order our book in paperback for a free e-boo…

There’s power in being the king who sits upon the throne, but also power in being the throne upon who the king sits. This was true as ever in the court of Emperor Ai in Han Dynasty China in 22 BC. We’re going to be talking about someone who in 21 short years of life rose from a low class status to being one of the most powerful imperial officials i…

It’s the first day of Eurovision semifinals. We know you’ve been anxious. You’ve been saying to your friends “Casements haven’t dropped their annual Eurovision episode yet. I don’t know which entries I’m allowed to like?” They’re sick of hearing it. Don’t worry - we’re here, and we brought acclaimed Dublin musician PureGrand (a.k.a Luke Faulkner), …

Today’s figure is the sort of character who has been extinguished from British public life today, and maybe that’s for the best. He’s a mass of contradictions, the sort of mass that confuses the idea of an easy history of “lessons we can learn”. How did this man manage to be both an avant-garde poet and a gossip columnist, a communist revolutionary…

Nicki Minaj once rapped: Drug Lord Griselda, I used to move weight thru Delta. She’s referring to today’s subject, la Madrina, the drug lord of the Colombian Medellín Cartel, Griselda Blanco Restrepo, the Black Widow. Born in 1943 in Cartegena, on the north coast of Columbia, she became the so-called "Queenpin," and adopted all the macho tropes of …

Sick and tired of the SILENCE from the LAMESTREAM media, the Casements gang get together for a very special episode about the latest scandal dribbling meekly out of the anus that is this Irish government. Who is Niall Collins? Did he know his wife was going to buy the public land he voted to sell? And what exactly can we get away saying on this pod…

Warning: this episode contains discussions of child sexual abuse. Listener discretion is advised. This week, we tackle the French author André Gide, a self-styled "immoralist" who oscillated between an austere Protestantism and a sensualism he associated with the so-called "Orient," and who elevated pederasty above sodomy in a way that helps us und…

Last week saw the visit to Ireland of United States President Joe Biden, and the Casements gang dig behind the tweets and headlines to reveal what it all actually means. We use the illustrious occasion as a jumping-off point to talk about American-Irish relations more broadly, and to ask tough questions like: what are the limits of nationhood and i…

Today we welcome special guest (and Associate Professor in History at the University of Cambridge) Arthur Asseraf to talk about Mustapha Ben Ismaïl, a terrifyingly ambitious twink who rose from being an illiterate street beggar to Prime Minister on the strength of the king's love for him –– and whose disastrous policies helped bring an end to Tunis…

Argentina, 1942: a scandal breaks. Tabloids scream about newly discovered photographs –– taken by the amateur photographer Jorge Horacio Ballvé Piñero –– at homosexual orgies in Ballvé's apartment, photos allegedly depicting young cadets from the national military university in compromising positions. 29 cadets are expelled, discharged, and/or puni…

She's an icon, she's a legend, and she is the moment: today’s subject caused such a scandal in her life that even its fictionalized depiction in a novel was banned by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. The Mozart of bisexual drama, sword-fighting crossdressing opera singer Julie D'Aubigny burned through a dizzying series of lives, lo…

What's the difference between etiquette and politics? To some they've become one and the same. Can you have good politics but bad manners? Is it time to relegate etiquette to the bourgeois bin-bag of time along with man servants and charity wristbands? Casements has the answers. Listen to your favourite internet inepts as they stumble through their…

We're starting off Season Six with George Santos, who rocketed the pathological homosexual narcissism we've spent much of our show discussing to the halls of Congress. In gay bar, there is at least one delusional queen who can't stop lying about his life. If you give him firearms and crystal meth, he turns into Andrew Cunanan. If you elect him to C…

Helen and Matt get together to analyse some of the biggest stories from the last few weeks of Irish politics (unfortunately we recorded this just before the release of the Windsor Protocol and the appointment of Holly Cairns as the new leader of the SocDems – of course). Helen has their sights set on the smaller parties in the state, as they chasti…

Two tribes go to war. It's that fucked conversation which has plagued smoking areas and idle canteen chit chat for decades. Art vs Artist. Can you separate the art from the artist? Should you? Are boycotts worthwhile? Is the Left honing an effective weapon against reactionaries or dainty ettiquette for dinner parties and twitter threads? Whether it…