{"podcast":{"title":"The Collators","slug":"the-collators-7459521","podcast_index_feed_id":7459521,"rss_url":"https://feeds.libsyn.com/589500/rss","website_url":"https://sites.libsyn.com/589500","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/b/f/7/f/bf7f138e1bd05fa1d959afa2a1bf1c87/c5large.png","author":"Mark Lockwood","episode_count":35,"summary":"Dive into the philosophy and practice of analysis and information sharing, with insights from leaders in tech, academia, intelligence and beyond on how they make sense of the world. Hosts Mark and Howard draw on experience in intelligence, law enforcement and academia to unpack the ideas and methods that shape understanding. Thoughtful but accessible, it's a podcast for anyone who wants to sharpen their thinking in a complex, fast-changing world.","last_synced_at":"2026-08-01T14:23:34.655409+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-collators-7459521"},"episode":{"title":"The madness of our times","slug":"the-madness-of-our-times","published_at":"2026-01-25T17:08:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-collators-7459521/the-madness-of-our-times","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-collators-7459521","url":"https://thecollators.com/s2e1","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/2e8c179d-6d2c-4b0b-a52f-0ba80b14fdac/20260109_final2.mp3?dest-id=5118630","summary":"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","meta_description":"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-winni…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4462,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-collators-7459521/episodes/the-madness-of-our-times/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-collators-7459521/the-madness-of-our-times.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}