# The madness of our times

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-collators-7459521/the-madness-of-our-times
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-collators-7459521/the-madness-of-our-times.md
Podcast: [The Collators](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-collators-7459521)
Published: 2026-01-25T17:08:00+00:00
Episode link: https://thecollators.com/s2e1
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/2e8c179d-6d2c-4b0b-a52f-0ba80b14fdac/20260109_final2.mp3?dest-id=5118630
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-collators-7459521/episodes/the-madness-of-our-times
Duration seconds: 4462

## Resource

What does a banking crash have to do with frontline services quietly collapsing a decade later? In this episode, Mark and Howard are joined by award-winning political scientist and economist Mark Blyth (Brown University) to trace the "breadcrumb trail" from 2008 to today's brittle institutions, hollowed-out state capacity, and a politics increasingly powered by distraction — mostly in the UK, but with familiar echoes across the West. Warning: This was recorded late on a Friday night and the conversation got… enthusiastic at times. Apologies for the salty language, but we're talking about difficult issues and with deep feeling. https://thecollators.com for more

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## Transcript

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