ACFM

ACFM Microdose: The ‘Radical Realists’ of Mainstream, Labour’s New Faction

21 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After a Trip episode about the meaning of mainstream, this time the gang go deeper into ‘Mainstream’ – that is, the new soft-left faction inside...

ACFM Trip 56: The Mainstream

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jem, Nadia and Keir debate the meaning of ‘mainstream’ – something none of them could ever possibly be, of course. Is ‘woke’ the new mainst...

ACFM Microdose: What’s Going On With Your Party?

02 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After last week’s episode on Parties, this time ACFM exposes the predicament facing Your Party, the new leftwing faction led by Zarah Sultana and Je...

ACFM Trip 55: Parties

19 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Amid the bumpy launch of a new left-wing party and the rise of the Greens and Reform, the ACFM crew turn their attention to parties. Do we still need ...

ACFM Microdose: Sci-Fi

28 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After last week’s ACFM Trip to the Future, Jem and Keir reconvene to talk about science fiction. Is sci-fi a reaction to the “time-space compressi...

ACFM Trip 54: The Future

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What if we stopped treating the future like a speculative asset and started trying to actually build and prepare? The ACFM gang look to the horizon in...

ACFM Microdose: Gardening

31 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Are gardens a sanctuary or an enclosure? The ACFM gang sketch out a weird-left history of gardening, from the walled gardens of paradise to the tarmac...

ACFM Trip 53: Growth

03 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Keir Starmer claims that growth is the only cure for a country in decline. But why is it the central obsession of modern capitalist economies? And can...

ACFM Microdose: Social Reproduction

13 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Following their Trip episode about Cleaning, the ACFM crew take a closer look at the hidden labour that keeps the economy running. Would public cantee...

ACFM Trip 52: Cleaning

29 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the socialist utopia of our dreams, who exactly is doing the cleaning? Nadia, Jem and Keir confront a tricky topic in this ACFM Trip. With music fr...

ACFM Microdose: Superheroes

02 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Following the recent Trip episode on Heroes, Keir and Jem return with a Microdose focusing on the masked, the winged and the mutated. Why are superher...

ACFM Trip 51: Heroes

18 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The ACFM crew offer a weird-left perspective on the role of the hero (and heroine) in politics and culture. Nadia, Jem and Keir assess theories of Gre...

ACFM Microdose: Make Way For Winged Eros!

27 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The ACFM gang gather for a springtime reading of a prototype acid-communist text by Russian revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai. Download the text and f...

ACFM Trip 50: Fifty Shades of Acid

30 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The gang present a milestone 50th Trip all about acid: a drug, a genre, a political concept, a mental tool and a thought corrosive. Looking back on si...

ACFM Microdose: Making Art in a World on Fire w/ Amber Massie-Blomfield

09 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What’s the point of the arts when the world is on fire? To follow the pipeline from creativity to activism and back again, Nadia Idle is joined by A...

ACFM Microdose: Making Sense of Sovereign Debt w/ Heidi Chow

02 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After last week’s ACFM on the meaning and morality of personal debt, Keir and Nadia zoom out to the macroeconomics of debt. Joining them to make sen...

ACFM Trip 49: Debt

26 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The concept of debt is as slippery as it is powerful. In this Trip episode, Keir, Nadia and Jem explain why debt is more like a belief than a calculat...

ACFM Microdose: The Communist Manifesto

03 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The ACFM gang gather for a midwinter reading of one of the most influential political tracts ever written. Download a version online and follow along ...

ACFM Trip 48: Political Commitment

08 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Which side are you on? Keir, Nadia and Jem consider the ebb and flow of political commitment with ideas and music from Jodi Dean, Gramsci, John Coltra...

ACFM Trip 47: Disruption

17 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Disruption is a byword for success in the tech industry, but when it affects people’s daily routines – say, when JSO activists are slow-marching ...

ACFM Trip 46: Death

13 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Of all the unseen forces that shape human society, could death be the most powerful? The ACFM crew take a leftwing look at mortality in this Trip, ask...

ACFM Microdose: The Joy Of Fascism

15 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A month after racist riots engulfed the country, the ACFM crew ask what fascism – and antifascism – look like in Britain today. Do the riots and ...

ACFM Trip 45: Holidays

25 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Everybody hates a tourist, as Jarvis Cocker once pointed out, and the ACFM gang are no exception in this ACFM Trip exploring the allure of holidays. ...

ACFM Trip 44: Humility

04 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when you lose? In this Trip, the ACFM crew explore the role of humility – and humiliation – in politics. Should we cultivate humili...

ACFM Microdose: Election ’24 Vibecheck

09 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The ACFM crew offer their first reactions to Labour’s landslide election win. Can Starmer’s government rescue the public sector? Where will the mo...

ACFM Microdose: Notes on Camp

09 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After investigating the politics of cool on the last Trip episode, the crew turn their attention to another distinctly modern sensibility: camp. Diggi...

ACFM Trip 43: Cool

26 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What exactly is cool? Well, if it was that easy to describe, it obviously wouldn’t be cool. In this Trip, Keir, Jem and Nadia wonder if cool can eve...

ACFM Microdose: Reactionary Democracy w/ Aaron Winter & Aurelien Mondon

05 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How do mainstream politicians and pundits contribute to the normalisation of far-right ideas, even as they claim to reject racism and populism? That’...

ACFM Trip 42: Fascism

21 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A lot of people are saying that fascism is on the rise. But what are we pointing to when we call a system, or a person, fascist? On this Trip, Nadia, ...

ACFM Trip 41: Trust Your Gut

17 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From fecal transplants to the yoghurt-industrial complex, we’ve never been more absorbed in the workings of our gut. But can we trust it? Nadia, Jem...

ACFM Microdose: Aliens On Screen

25 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last time on ACFM, the gang explored the impact of UFOs on politics, from deep-state conspiracies to the Posadists. But to really understand how alien...

ACFM Trip 40: UFOs

04 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Should the left care about the existence of aliens? The ACFM gang explore the impact of UFOs on political thought in this Trip. Keir, Jem and Nadia di...

ACFM Microdose: Plugged-in Protest w/ Jeremy Gilbert

21 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Music has the uncanny power to stir up big feelings, which makes it an obvious vehicle for political statements of hope, anger, despair, or how to cas...

ACFM Microdose: A Festive 50 For 2023

22 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The ACFM gang get together for the last time this year to deliver a Festive 50. Keir, Jem and Nadia select the best bits of culture and politics from ...

ACFM Trip 39: Protest

17 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Millions have protested against the bombing of Gaza by taking part in marches, boycotts, sit-ins and other demonstrations. But what difference does it...

ACFM Trip 38: Movement and Stillness

05 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ever feel like there’s too much change these days? Don’t worry, you’re not (necessarily) becoming more conservative. On this Trip, Nadia, Jem an...

ACFM Trip 36: Festivals

03 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Festivals. The perfect embodiment of the ACFM aesthetic, and even social politics… or are they? As the season comes to a close, Nadia, Jem and Keir ...

ACFM Trip 35: The Internet

06 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this bumper Trip, the gang survey the totalising modern phenomenon that is The Internet. Nadia, Keir and Jem dredge up their early interactions wit...

ACFM Microdose: Californian Capitalism w/ Malcolm Harris

02 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ahead of an ACFM Trip about the internet, Keir Milburn is joined by Malcolm Harris to talk about the unique political history of his hometown of Palo ...

ACFM Trip 34: The Outdoors

25 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As the longest day arrives in the northern hemisphere, Jeremy, Nadia and Keir ponder our obsession with the great outdoors. How did parks become polit...

ACFM Microdose: Sitcoms At Work

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After last week’s look at the politics of comedy, this time the gang turn to the gogglebox for a Microdose about sitcoms. Specifically, we’re watc...

ACFM Trip 33: Comedy

14 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What’s the point of comedy? Stand-ups were at the forefront of the cultural backlash against Thatcherism, but today’s meme-driven lols are rarely ...

ACFM Trip 32: Myth

12 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

From the epic of Gilgamesh to the archetypes of Carl Jung, the mysterious power of myth is at hand. Is Genesis as mythical as Oedipus? How did the fan...

ACFM Microdose: Strikes On Screen

19 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The ACFM groupmind went into overdrive on last week’s Trip, a wide-ranging conversation about the long and violent history of strikes. This time, Na...

ACFM Trip 31: Strikes

05 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the midst of Britain’s biggest wave of industrial action in years, the gang turn their attention to the long and bloodied history of strikes. Who...

ACFM Microdose: A Ghost Story For Christmas

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ghosts have already got their own festival: Halloween. So why do they spook us at Christmas too? Do they represent forces of goodness and charity, or ...

ACFM Trip 30: Gifts

18 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Adam Smith claimed that “the propensity to truck, barter and exchange… is common to all men”, but anthropologists know that this isn’t the cas...

ACFM Trip 29: Sleep

27 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We don’t get enough of it. We take drugs all day to fend it off. We’ll do it when we’re dead. And it’s our last line of defence against 24/7 c...

ACFM Trip 28: Horror

30 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

ACFM reunite for spooky season with one thing on their minds: the horror, the horror! Nadia, Jeremy and Keir embark on a historical, literary and cine...

ACFM Trip 27: Magic

09 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We live in irrational times. From the resurgence of interest in astrology, tarot and occultism to the deepening influence of conspiracy theories and p...

ACFM Microdose: Fantasy and Conspiracy With Wu Ming 1

06 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 1999, an anonymous Italian collective published a novel called Q. Imagined by its left-wing authors as an “operation manual for cultural disrupti...

ACFM Trip 26: Care

20 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How can we care for each other within a system that doesn’t care about us? In this episode, Nadia Idle, Jeremy Gilbert and Keir Milburn get to grips...

ACFM Microdose: Tabletop Role-Playing Games

17 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG), a group of people take a trip into an imaginary world, guided by an MC or ‘dungeon master’. Not limited t...

ACFM Trip 25: Games

14 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Games are all around us. They let us escape from drudgery and experiment with other worlds and ways of being. But they can be traps too: apps designed...

ACFM Trip 24: Technology

22 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What defines each era? Historians often lean on terms that point to technology: bronze, steam, carbon, silicon. So is technology a fundamental aspect ...

ACFM Microdose: Women and Technology w/ Katrine Marçal

19 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Throughout history, countless good ideas have been side-lined or dismissed because they were put forward by women. That’s the frustration which moti...

ACFM Trip 23: War

16 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Just what is it good for? This time on ACFM, Jeremy Gilbert, Nadia Idle and Keir Milburn respond to the Ukraine invasion with a conversation about war...

#ACFM Trip 22: Democracy

13 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Has democracy broken down? Is it even an idea worth fixing? Trip 22 is a three-horse race as Nadia Idle, Jeremy Gilbert and Keir Milburn consider the ...

#ACFM Microdose: Acid Camping

22 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When he’s not working on #ACFM, show producer Matt Huxley is a musician. His recent EP under the name Muckers is the inspiration for this Microdose ...

#ACFM Trip: Unity and Difference

17 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the first #ACFM Trip of the year, Nadia Idle, Jeremy Gilbert and Keir Milburn look at the conflicting desires and demands that make up a political ...

#ACFM Microdose: Unity on the Frontline w/ Norah Lopez Holden

12 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What can we learn from the women of the Popular Front? Ahead of an #ACFM Trip on Unity and Difference, Nadia Idle talks to actor and activist Norah Lo...

#ACFM Microdose: Organising for Revolution with Rodrigo Nunes

01 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What should political organisation in the 21st century look like? Wiggly? Lumpy? Diagonal? Something rather like that, suggests political theorist and...

#ACFM Trip 20: Revolution

07 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The #ACFM gang square up a suitably momentous topic for their milestone 20th Trip: revolution! Nadia Idle, Jeremy Gilbert and Keir Milburn wonder how ...

#ACFM Microdose: Revolution from Cromwell to Castro

05 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In anticipation of the next Trip, the ACFM trio deliver a condensed but essential history of revolution from Oliver Cromwell to Fidel Castro, with sto...

#ACFM Microdose: Space Forces with Fred Scharmen

27 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this #ACFM Microdose to accompany the gang’s recent Trip into space, Keir is joined by Fred Scharmen, author of Space Forces: A Critical History ...

#ACFM Trip 19: Space

12 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jeremy Gilbert, Nadia Idle and Keir Milburn explore the politics of space. What even is space, and why does it so often seem to be the domain of the p...

#ACFM Microdose: Spatial Equality with Pooja Agrawal

08 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What could our towns and streets become after the pandemic? Ahead of the next #ACFM on space, Nadia Idle goes down to street level to discuss spatial ...

#ACFM Trip 18: Therapy

25 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Keir Milburn, Nadia Idle and Jeremy Gilbert get on the couch to talk about therapy. Wrangling with how to square their collectivist politics with the ...

#ACFM Microdose: Psychodrama with Nada Sabet

22 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The point of psychodrama is not to create beautiful theatre, laughs practitioner Nada Sabet. To accompany the next #ACFM Trip on the topic of therapy,...

#ACFM Trip 17: Solidarity

20 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What do we mean by solidarity? Keir Milburn, Nadia Idle and Jeremy Gilbert consider the meaning of a much-used word in this unusual Trip, recorded liv...

#ACFM Trip 16: The Long ’90s

23 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this extended Trip, Keir Milburn, Nadia Idle and Jeremy Gilbert wrestle with the idea of “the long ‘90s”: a set of cultural, political and af...

#ACFM Microdose: Kill The Bill

15 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The proposed new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is an obvious assault on the right to protest, threatening penalties of up to 10 years in p...

#ACFM Microdose: Jeremy Gilbert on Folk Music

08 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jeremy Gilbert hits the road for a musical microdose accompanying the #ACFM Trip on Folk. Connecting different strands of folk music with their variou...

#ACFM Trip 15: Folk

04 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Keir Milburn and Jeremy Gilbert go back to the land to dig into the politics of folk. With music from The Pogues, Steeleye Span and Enigma...

#ACFM Trip 14: Desire

14 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Keir Milburn and Jeremy Gilbert explore the political power of desire from the storming of the Capitol to the millenarian strands of Corby...

#ACFM Microdose: Tabitha Bast on Dating and Desire

10 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle speaks to psychosexual therapist and writer Tabitha Bast about dating and desire. They discuss the changing dynamics of dating, how to buil...

#ACFM Trip 13: Crowds

17 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Keir Milburn and Jeremy Gilbert return to talk about the power and potential of crowds – from mobs and marches to mesmeric leaders and t...

#ACFM Microdose: Ece Temelkuran on Crowds

13 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle speaks to Turkish journalist and author Ece Temelkuran about the potency of crowds. Reflecting on their experiences in Tahrir Square and Ge...

Welcome to #ACFM!

12 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

#ACFM is a podcast about left-wing politics, culture, music and experiences of collective joy, brought to you by Novara Media. Nadia Idle, Jeremy Gilb...

#ACFM Trip 12: The Cosmic Right

16 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Keir Milburn and Jeremy Gilbert are back to discuss the recent rise of conspiratorial thinking within New Age, spiritual and ‘wellness’...

#ACFM Microdose: Erik Davis on the Cosmic Right

13 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jeremy Gilbert talks to Erik Davis, scholar of weird culture, mysticism, and the fertile crossover between esoterica and politics. From gnostic reviva...

#ACFM Trip 11: Friendship

26 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Keir Milburn, Nadia Idle and Jeremy Gilbert discuss the history and theory of friendship, from Aristotle to Elland Road, while reflecting on how the p...

#ACFM Trip 10: How It Feels to Be Free

10 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia, Jeremy and Keir search for the feeling of freedom, moving from Nina Simone to Buddhist House via Jeremy Clarkson. Edited and produced by Olivia...

#ACFM Trip 9: Utopia

19 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Jeremy Gilbert and Keir Milburn discuss Utopias, including the Paris Commune, analogue dreamlands and kettle logic. Edited and produced by...

#ACFM Microdose: Acid Lockdown

06 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The #ACFM crew discuss life in lockdown including cheese care packs, the moral economy, and the crisis of liberalism. Texts: Nadia Idle- This Too Shal...

#ACFM Trip 8: Acid Urbanism

16 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Jeremy Gilbert and Keir Milburn discuss Acid Urbanism, including, The Right to the City, Communist Follies and Reclaiming the Streets. Edi...

#ACFM Microdose: The Comedown

07 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The #ACFM crew take stock in the wake of Labour’s defeat and the dawning of a new year. https://novaramedia.com/?p=16785

#ACFM Trip 7: Be Here Now

28 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Jeremy Gilbert and Keir Milburn ask why now for acid corbynism? They discuss historical conjunctures,  farcical repetitions, and left...

#ACFM Microdose: Election Special

24 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

‘You can’t say it’s boring’: the #ACFM crew bring you an election special – on organising, energy and political polarisation. Plus, a specia...

#ACFM Microdose: Extinction Rebellion

13 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The #ACFM crew discuss some of the issues and ideas raised by the ongoing Extinction Rebellion protests in London (and around the world). Links to som...

#ACFM Trip 6: Intoxication and Sobriety

07 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Jeremy Gilbert and Keir Milburn talk intoxication and sobriety: from capitalist prohibition to weekend trippers, from drunk workers to Rom...

#ACFM Trip 5: Consciousness Raising

05 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Keir Milburn and Jeremy Gilbert discuss consciousness raising. Edited and produced by Olivia Humphreys, Matt Huxley and Matt Phull. PRS LI...

#ACFM Microdose: Mica Nava on Feminist Consciousness Raising

17 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

 ACFM’s Jeremy Gilbert interviews Professor Mica Nava on her experience of women’s liberation and consciousness raising in London in the 1970s. M...

#ACFM Microdose: Theories of Consciousness

17 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The #ACFM crew discuss the history of theories of ideology and consciousness in the radical tradition. Texts referred to include: Karl Marx The German...

#ACFM Trip 5: Consciousness Raising

08 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Keir Milburn and Jeremy Gilbert discuss consciousness raising, with bonus excerpts from an interview with Mica Nava, one of the pioneers o...

#ACFM Trip 4: Love and Hate

18 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Keir Milburn and Jeremy Gilbert discuss love and hate. Listen to the full version of the show, including music and archive material on the...

#ACFM Trip 3: The Weird Left

14 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Keir Milburn and Jeremy Gilbert discuss the weird left. FULL SHOW: http://novaramedia.com/2019/06/12/acfm-3-the-weird-left/

#ACFM Trip 2: Collective Joy

07 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Keir Milburn and Jeremy Gilbert discuss the politics of collective joy. FULL SHOW: http://novaramedia.com/2019/05/07/acfm-collective-joy/

#ACFM Trip 1: Out of the Box

09 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Idle, Jeremy Gilbert and Keir Milburn bring you #ACFM, a new show examining the links between left-wing politics and culture, music and experien...