Episode Details

Broadcasts live every Wednesday at 7:00p.m. uk time on Radio Soapbox: http://radiosoapbox.com

In this episode, Scott and I began with a lively catch-up that somehow took in tree pollarding, social media-fuelled politics and the latest protests around small boats, face coverings and the steady creep of facial recognition. We reflected on how quickly public debate is being pushed into ever more polarised camps, touching on immigration, the media narrative, protest movements in Britain and Germany, and the broader concern that division is being used to justify more surveillance and control. We also marked a personal milestone as I looked back on six years of broadcasting.

The heart of the show was a fascinating conversation with political commentator and broadcaster Heiko Khoo about Palantir: what it is, where it came from, and why ordinary people should care. Heiko unpacked the company’s deep ties to intelligence, data integration, AI and state power, and we explored the wider implications for privacy, digital identity, mobile phones, social behaviour and the future of human agency. From Speaker’s Corner activism to the dangers of technological dependence, this was a wide-ranging discussion about surveillance, control and whether people can still reclaim real community in an increasingly managed world.