SA Institute of Race Relations 2 Crickets In A Thorn Tree

2 Crickets In A Thorn Tree

Nicholas Lorimer and Gabriel Crouse provide their unique take on everything and anything going on in South Africa and the world at large, with a focus on history, philosophy and current affairs.

Getting away with murder in South Africa, Russian oligarchs, American elections and geopolitical strategy all feature in this unconventional podcast.
Occasionally English South Africa News Commentary · Philosophy
130 Episodes
60 – 80

How racism keeps creeping back in

Nick and Gabriel begin with a discussion of the recent shooting of 8 people at massage parlors in the United States and then go on to examine how the failed idea of racial nationalism keeps returning again and again.
21 Mar 2021 1 hr 21 min

Art and the Taliban

Nick and Gabriel discuss Gabriel's visit to an art gallery and the history of one of South Africa's best artists. They then move on to discuss the alleged ending of the war in Afghanistan and Adam Habib's recent clash with wokeness.
15 Mar 2021 1 hr 24 min

How to judge dictators

Gabriel and Nick chat about China's current eagerness to test for Covid-19 with anal swabs and then go on to talk about how leaders of authoritarian nations should be judged.
3 Mar 2021 1 hr 03 min

Some of our favourite things

Nick and Gabriel talk about some of the best things out there and about the importance of finding humor in tough times.
20 Feb 2021 1 hr 02 min

Strikes, blood and lawlessness

Nick and Gabriel start off with some virus news and then Gabriel tells the story of a recent trip he went on to Mpumalanga to investigate a strike at a sawmill.
8 Feb 2021 1 hr 09 min

How did China go communist?

Gabriel and Nick discuss the history of China and Japan since 1912 and present an interesting counterfactual on how the communists might not have won the war for China.
31 Jan 2021 1 hr 10 min

What even is herd immunity?

In another virus episode, Gabriel talks about why a cure for Covid is just as important as a vaccine, and Nick reveals it's been far too long since he did maths.
22 Jan 2021 1 hr 08 min

What is a mutant virus?

Nick and Gabriel discuss Gabriel's findings in the search to find out what is going on with South Africa's mutant strain of Covid-19.
17 Jan 2021 1 hr 09 min

A decade of dangers and delights

Nick and Gabriel discuss the year and how we ended up here by tracing the currents of thought through the 2010s.
8 Dec 2020 1 hr 09 min

Is there a paradox of tolerance?

Nick and Gabriel are joined by Nicholas Babaya to discuss the idea that tolerance by its nature requires 'intolerance' to be sustainable.
2 Dec 2020 1 hr 08 min

The great dislocation

Nick and Gabriel take a journey through the world of dislocation, dislocating fingers, narratives, and a nation.
26 Oct 2020 1 hr 04 min

What went down in Senekal

Nick asks Gabriel about what happened at Senekal and the crickets chat about the Bafana Bafana scenario for SA.
19 Oct 2020 1 hr 10 min
60 – 80