Best Podcast Reviews

The Podcasts To Listen To If Fall Is Not Your Thing

October 12, 2021 5:05 pm

Last updated on October 19th, 2021

Cliched in some respects, both sides of the Pond are guilty of it: Autumn – or ‘fall’ to US residents – has become a significant period of time every year. Influencers post Instagram photos aplenty of their feet in piles of auburn and golden leaves, pumpkin lattes (or some variation thereof) are sold by the dozen from places like Costa and Starbucks, we start wearing our ‘winter woolies’ while debating the merits of fashionable knitwear vs the sexier and sleeker Shackets.

This has become a huge cultural flashpoint for a particular generation, no matter what side of the Pond on which you reside – but what about if fall is really ‘not your thing’? Personally, I find it tedious, and it gets old very quickly. There is beauty in nature, but what is the big fuss about the change in the annual seasons to fall? We aren’t celebrating anything in particular, nor does fall seem to have any grand meaning, besides the one-off celebration of Halloween. Instagram photos are for the social kudos, a kind of social cache; the winter woolies conversation just something mundane to talk about.

Right now a lot of conversations are being had about listening and learning to be a better ally on multiple fronts. While the podcasting world is imperfect, here are some examples you should take the time to listen to if fall is not your ‘scene’.

Daisy Is Insatiable

Daisy Buchanan is a writer based in the UK, and is also known for her other podcast You’re Booked. Like several high profile authors these days – think Dolly Alderton, Pandora Sykes – she released Daisy Is Insatiable, kind of as a promotional tool for her latest book release, Insatiable. (The tagline is ‘a love story for greedy girls.’ We can get on board with that quickly.)

The podcast is feminist in its frank conversations with guests which largely centre on sex and relationships. There is a lot of detail and is not what you could listen to while at work – however it tackles issues like how sex is portrayed in films, and so much more. It’s a bit like the best ‘girls night out’ at a bar, just without having to go anywhere – and that includes all the things you’d usually not dare to say out loud.

Dope Black Disabled

(Disclosure: I have previously worked with the co-host of this podcast on my own podcast.)

In order to be an ally, allyship has got to be intersectional – and not fulfilling stereotypes like only hiring white disabled individuals for a job role, for example. (This is just a very superficial example, but the point still stands – in order to be an ally, you have got to be diverse. And that means being nuanced across all categories best described as ‘ticking other’.)

Dope Black Disabled is a podcast everyone should be listening to right now. Co-host Kimmy has a bright future as a motivational speaker; the reguler episodes will leave you feeling like you can take on the world. A range of topics are discussed – and it’s intersectional, too. Excellent!

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Ask Twitter for favourite podcasts, and there is a lot of love for How To Fail By Elizabeth Day right now. The premise is simple in that journalist and author Elizabeth Day talks to a range of guests about their failures and how that shaped them – particularly in terms of things such as personality, experience, later life, and in other facets. This podcast has a range of guests – from Derren Brown and Mo Gawdat, to Siena Castellon and Dame Jacqueline Wilson.

Good allyship begins with the process of listening and learning, and wanting to actively do better – and this podcast is a key example of how to do that. You will learn a lot. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry – but it should be a key podcast everyone should be listening to right now.

Life Downlow’Ed

Disability, when it comes to representation in cultural media terms, is often spoken about in pitying terms. Case in point: language still implies oppression far too much – such as when using phrases like wheelchair-bound. (Spoiler: that is actually quite an offensive term.) The same goes for the term ‘special needs’.

Life Downlow’Ed is hosted by Samantha Renke and Dan Edge, who are both disabled and wheelchair users. The conversation is frank, funny, and disarming when it comes to all things under the umbrella of disability. It’s like talking to your mates over coffee – and you will learn something, too, in connection with ongoing matters in cultural spheres.

The Constant Cheerleader

(Disclosure: the co-host of this podcast is a friend of mine.)

A lot has been said about sports and everything sporting recently, owing to huge cultural events such as the Olympics. The Constant Cheerleader is a conversation over a cup of tea – a British favoured habit – with game changing women in the sectors of sports, the arts, business and every day life.

Representation of women needs to be better across the board. Period. And this is just a start of a conversation.

It is never too late to learn, to be curious, and to want to do better. Allyship is to be a work in progress, knowing that you will make mistakes and accepting that – but aiming to do better, to build a better world. Podcasts are an excellent way to start doing that, to start small. This list is not exhaustive, it is just a beginning step for you to start with.