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Oh hello! James McMahon here. It's been a time! I’m currently working on season 2 of Shame, a podcast about... shame, but I thought I’d share one episode of it early, mainly because the person I’m speaking to today - the journalist Christie Smythe - is writing a book, Smirk, about her relationship with the notorious ‘pharma bro’ Martin Shkreli. You know Martin Shkreli. Hedge fund dude. Bit of a troll. Actually, and I say this as a Wu-Tang Clan fan, a lot of a troll. Massively hiked the prices of life saving pharmaceutical drugs. Went to prison for securities fraud, though he's in a half-way house now. You know who Christie is too. You read about her in the 2020 ELLE piece 'The Journalist and the Pharma Bro'. You read it (and in the unlikely event you didn’t, you should do that now). The internet went bonkers, and you probably had opinions about it and her and Martin. Donald Trump did. And Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders too. But Christie – who is a very good journalist and an excellent writer, it should be said – has often been shrouded by the hysteria that surrounds Martin. And so now you can get the truth about what happened when a woman fell for – and I quote the Elle article here – ‘one of the least liked men in the world’ by subscribing for missives from Christie’s book at smirk-book.com. I hope you enjoy this conversation. Season 2 is coming. Shame is a Spoook Media production. Spoook is also a record label, a promoter, a shop, a Substack - it's many things. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. And please do Like, Review and Subscribe - it actually really helps people find our podcasts! Watch the series trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/7r326hhc

And so to the Season 1 finale of Shame! When I started this podcast, I did it for three reasons. One, because I have my own experience with shame, and, at various points in my life, I’ve been gripped by it. This podcast was me working that out, episode to episode – and it’s helped. Meeting other people who’ve had the experience of being shamed, or who carry shame about from something that happened in their lives. It’s helped me find new perspectives – and, as my guest on this episode describes as being the 'cure' for shame – empathy for other people. The second reason is that I'm a journalist. I’m fascinated by people and psychology and I’ve always thought that as a writer, you write – or in this case speak – about what you know. As I say, I know shame. But the third reason is this – I find this world we’re living in too cruel, too unforgiving, too siloed… and I wanted to find people who felt the same way too. My tribe so to speak. On this front, the podcast has delivered too. I’d like to take this moment to thank anyone who has appeared on the show, has left a nice review, has shared an episode or two… but most of all I’d like to thank Jon Ronson, who I’m speaking to today.  Back in 2015, my fellow journalist Jon wrote a book that had a great effect on me. It’s called So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. I’m a fan of Jon's work. Have been for years. And I’ve tried to follow the teachings I’ve gleaned from that work – value people over polemic, be curious of others and the world around you, pursue truth and tolerance. But that book in particular blew my head off. It might have even saved my life. We go deep on this episode – the audio is a bit scratchy in places. Jon’s voice too, the result of a long day doing press for his new podcast series Things Fell Apart, for the BBC. As of yesterday, January 25th, that series is available to listen to wherever you get your podcasts – it comes highly recommended, and, at the time of broadcast, is the most salient thing I’ve heard on the 'culture wars' that are raging around us. I love all the episodes of Shame to date – and don’t worry, we’ll be back with Season 2 at some point – but this one is really special to me. I’m so grateful to Jon for taking the time. Shame is a Spoook Media production. Spoook is also a record label, a promoter, a shop, a Substack - it's many things. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. And please do Like, Review and Subscribe - it actually really helps people find our podcasts! Watch the series trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/7r326hhc

Well, it’s been a time, has it not. Yeah, it’s been ages since a new episode of Shame… a podcast about shame. But now it’s 2022 and now it’s time for a rush of episodes to wrap up Season One of this episodic exploration of the emotion… shame. We kick this run off with a conversation with the journalist Katherine Brodsky, who not only has her own story to tell about the psychological terror of her own public shaming, but on what our societies thirst for critiquing and pillorying others tells us about ourselves. Truth be told, this episode gets further into the 'culture wars' than on regular episodes of this podcast. I think when you’ve been through experiences like both myself and Katherine have, it changes you, and it changes your view on the world. We cover a lot of ground in this conversation; fear, class, racism… and the Ramones.  I’m so thankful to Katherine for taking the time to speak to me – please do check out her Substack, which you can find at https://randomminds.substack.com. Shame is a Spoook Media production. Spoook is also a record label, a promoter, a shop, a Substack - it's many things. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. And please do Like, Review and Subscribe - it actually really helps people find our podcasts! Watch the series trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/7r326hhc

I’ve had people gossip about me. And I’m no saint, I’ve probably gossiped about other people too. Sometimes when I’m bored I’ll Google ‘professional wrestling gossip’ – I can’t believe I’m telling you that – so I’m as bound to the rewards of tittletattle and scuttlebutt as much as anyone. We all gossip. But what’s the appeal? And what’s it go to do with Shame? I stumbled upon an article by the journalist Rachel Connolly the other day. It was called ‘The Year in Gossip’, for the Hazlitt publication. And then I stumbled upon another of Rachel's articles, and another, and then another. And then I thought I need to get her on this podcast for a conversation – about gossip, but also about cancel culture and internet bullshit… and shame. What transpired is a bonus episode that I’m really proud of, and one of the best episodes I think we’ve published in the couple of months we’ve been in existence. I hope you agree. Shame is a Spoook Media production. Spoook is also a record label, a promoter, a shop, a Substack - it's many things. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. And please do Like, Review and Subscribe - it actually really helps people find our podcasts! Watch the series trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/7r326hhc

Fourteen years ago – yesterday in fact, on November 1st, 2007 – British exchange student Meredith Kercher was murdered in Perugia, Italy. She was just 21 years old. The truth about what happened that night isn’t hard to source, despite the hash of misinformation, prejudice and sloppy policework that began being assembled the very moment police were called to the murder scene. What happened to Meredith Kercher is a tragedy. To her loved ones she will be forever missed. But this isn’t a podcast about Meredith. This isn’t a true crime podcast, though that’s unquestionably territory within which this podcast's subject matter resides. This is a podcast about shame. And this episode is about Amanda Knox. You know Amanda Knox – or at least you think you do. You probably have an opinion on her, the court of public opinion is vast and far reaching. Seattle born Amanda was also an exchange student. She was Meredith’s roommate at the time of the murder. Amanda and then boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted of the murder. She spent four years in prison. She got a retrial and was released. There was another trial. She was found guilty once more. Then, on March 27th, 2015, both Amanda and Raffaele were definitively equited of their role in the murder. The court report stated that there were 'sensational failures' in the investigation, and that the lower court had been guilty of 'culpable omissions' in ignoring expert testimony that demonstrated contamination of evidence. If you’d like to know more about the case, the Netflix documentary Amanda Knox and Amanda’s recent interview with Joe Rogan come much recommended.  But right now, let’s talk about shame. What happens when you’re cast as a character you don’t know the lines of, in a life that’s a play not of your direction? What happens when you walk into a room and hear whispers? Where strangers on the internet think they know more than a court of law? What happens when you’re given a name, it’s doused in oil and mud. How do you reclaim it? Can you? This podcast, since it’s very beginning, has largely hung around one central premise - can you escape shame? Talking to Amanda, I think maybe we can. My name is James McMahon. And episode 9 of Shame is my conversation with Amanda Knox. Shame is a Spoook Media production. Spoook is also a record label, a promoter, a shop, a Substack - it's many things. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. And please do Like, Review and Subscribe - it actually really helps people find our podcasts! Watch the series trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/7r326hhc

On episode eight of Shame, I'm talking to the American author and journalist Kat Rosenfield about exactly why people shame – and what we can do about it. Kat’s got first hand experience of this – I invite you to listen to her interview on Episode 85 of Blocked & Reported, one of my very favourite podcasts – where she breaks down a disturbing incident that threatened to derail her career. As a journalist she’s explored themes of shame, polarisation and digital outrage further – her most recent piece for the Unherd publication, ‘America’s Racial Farytales’, breaks down an encounter between a man and a woman in a Brooklyn dog park last month that led to the woman losing her job and being shooed from the internet by the braying mob. Disingenuous stuff, weaponized shame. Exactly the sort of stuff this podcast is here for. I’m so pleased that Kat took the time to speak to me for this episode. Do go buy her new novel, No One Will Miss Her, which explores a lot of this stuff further.  Shame is a Spoook Media production. Spoook is also a record label, a promoter, a shop, a Substack - it's many things. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. And please do Like, Review and Subscribe - it actually really helps people find our podcasts! Watch the series trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/7r326hhc

On episode seven of Shame, I’m speaking to my fellow journalist Rachel Cunliffe, who serves as the Deputy Online Editor of the enduringly fascinating New Statesman. Rachel wrote an article a few weeks back under the headline, ‘Why New Age puritans are the enemies of progress’. Hmmm. I’m into that. This was the standfirst; ‘From sex to Covid to climate change, some people just really like telling others what to do.’ Sounds like someone I should speak to for this podcast, right? Way ahead of you chief. Great minds and all that. No exaggeration, but I thought Rachel was fascinating in explaining some of the socio-economic reasons why so many people behave how they do, policing our lives, ringfencing us with faux virtue. Most importantly, I think all these things she says come from a place of great empathy. It’s not performative. I think she really does care a lot about people. But – and this is something I think we both agree with – I think we both agree that in order for a person to be happy, they need to be free from shame. They need to be free. I think you agree with this too. After all, why are you here otherwise? Shame is a Spoook Media production. Spoook is also a record label, a promoter, a shop, a Substack - it's many things. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. And please do Like, Review and Subscribe - it actually really helps people find our podcasts! Watch the series trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/7r326hhc

I guess it was only a matter of time before this podcast got to the subject of religion - and I’m sure it’ll revisit the subject further down the line - but I thought it might be nice to have a conversation with my fellow music journalist Jeremy Allen. Jeremy was a teenage evangelical preacher – all fire and brimstone and all that righteous, and perhaps, deluded stuff. And he’s an alcoholic. And he’s been in a psychiatric hospital. Big brain, probably even bigger heart. His life story is a fascinating one, and I think, is one that can teach us a lot about shame… and how to escape it. Jeremy has also recently written a book about provocative, whispery French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg – and there’s a man who did not give a flying f**k about shame! You might like to read this excellent piece he wrote recently about his upbringing (and The God of Hellfire!) for the ever excellent The Quietus. It was, after all, the piece of writing that made me think, 'Yeah, I should speak to Jeremy for Episode 6...' Here it is: https://tinyurl.com/w665yvns Shame is a Spoook Media production. Spoook is also a record label, a promoter, a shop, a Substack - it's many things. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. And please do Like, Review and Subscribe - it actually really helps people find our podcasts! Watch the series trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/7r326hhc

On episode five of Shame, I’m talking to noted US TV producers Rob Rosen and Desma Simon, the creators of a podcast I’ve been gripped by these last few months. It’s called Cancelled and I think it, and the podcast you’re here to listen to, share a great deal in common. The reality of being cancelled is shame at the deep end. In my mind, it’s weaponsized shame, and while the more socially progressive among us might perform all sorts of mental gymnastics in attempting to reframe cancel culture as consequence culture… well, I’m not sure I’m buying that really. I’ve seen too many people destroyed by cancellation, and I’m not sure these people’s removal from public life has resulted in anything but more suffering and more thirst for retribution. Certainly not learnings, healing and opportunities to correct wrong doings. On this episode me, Rob and Desma have a feisty conversation about the nuances of cancellation. Please do go into this episode with an open mind. Shame is a Spoook Media production. Spoook is also a record label, a promoter, a shop, a Substack - it's many things. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. And please do Like, Review and Subscribe - it actually really helps people find our podcasts! Watch the series trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/7r326hhc

On this bonus episode of Shame, James McMahon speaks to investigative journalist Naama Kates about the tragic events that took place in Plymouth, England, last week [12/08/21]. And  about how understanding shame can perhaps help us better understand the Incel subculture that's so misrepresented within our culture - and help us avoid further tragedies. Since 2019. Naama has created and helmed the excellent Incel podcast on the Crawlspace Network. What she has to say is extremely interesting, and dare I say important. Shame is a Spoook Media production. Spoook is also a record label, a promoter, a shop, a Substack - it's many things. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. And please do Like, Review and Subscribe - it actually really helps people find our podcasts! Watch the series trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/7r326hhc

On episode four of Shame, host James McMahon has a conversation with the British broadcaster Gail Porter. He's been watching Gail on the television since he was a teenager. He may even have had a poster of her on his wall during those formative years! And this conversation duly hangs around an incident that took place during the final months of the 20th century, when the now defunct - but once hugely popular - men's magazine FHM beamed Gail's naked rear, without her knowledge or consent, onto the walls of London's Houses Of Parliament. We also cover the alopecia that arrived in Gail's life half a decade or so later, and her subsequent homelessness and mental illness. But you know what? There's more fun and more joy for existence in the episode than the majority of episodes of Shame that have come prior. Because Gail is brilliant. A hero. It's unlikely you'll think otherwise. And if you do? She really, sincerely, truly doesn't care! Shame is a Spoook Media production. Spoook is also a record label, a promoter, a shop, a Substack - it's many things. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. And please do Like, Review and Subscribe - it actually really helps people find our podcasts! Watch the series trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/7r326hhc

If you have any interest in the true crime genre, you will know the name Maura Murray. She's the internet's favourite missing person, and you probably think you have an idea of who she is - certainly who she was. These are the facts; Maura was an American woman who disappeared on the evening of February 9th, 2004, after a car crash on Route 112 near Woodsville, New Hampshire, a village in the town of Haverhill, USA. Her whereabouts remain unknown. She was a 21-year-old nursing student completing her junior year at the University of Massachusetts Amherst at the time of her disappearance. Almost everything else is conjecture. And in the absence of facts, there is shame. On the third episode of Shame, James McMahon talks to Maura's older sister, Julie, about her fight to protect the dignity of a woman who has no ability to do so herself. It's emotional and insightful stuff - and it asks big questions about the purpose of the true crime genre, and what happens to the people who are left behind. Shame is a Spoook Media production. Spoook is also a record label, a promoter, a shop, a Substack - it's many things. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. And please do Like, Review and Subscribe - it actually really helps people find our podcasts! Watch the series trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/7r326hhc