A Disorderly Christmas Special

Some Hannukah music, Evoke Xmas carols, Alex in an eyecatching hat and a very funny story for paid for subscribers

We don’t usually start with Videos but this is Christmas… so here is some holiday tinsel (and leopard print) for you all as you find out what I want for Xmas…

Oh and could you please go to M&S and pick me up a few NATOs for Tax Havens for me before they sell out?

And if you are addicted to the hat (and I sure am)… here is Alex contrasting the silly with all too serious:

And now to the episode

As 2024 draws to a close, Jason and Alex celebrate Chrismukkah (when Christmas and Hanukkah fall on the same date, which is actually a rarer occurrence than you might imagine).

(What do we learn from this image? What we already knew: Christian children get better presents even if Jews get little ones for 8 days straight)

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But I digress, in our Xmas special episode (Listen on Apple podcasts here or on Spotify here) we feature some cantorial Hebrew music (From Yoav Oved) in the intro and some choral Christmas jingles (from Evoke Choir) in the outro. Alex and I share our families’ Christmas traditions, exploring the differences between American and British celebrations. We also explore the make believe of the contrasting Christmas celebrations of their alter egos, Xela Llah Llah and Nosaj Kcap.

Plus: Alex’s recent trip to Georgia, highlighting the protests against the Georgian Dream government’s cancellation of EU membership, and how the West should respond. Also: the plight of the Kurds in Northeastern Syria, the need for a jamboree international conference of aid and capacity building support for Syria, the importance of proactive Western leadership on issues like Georgia and Syria and the potential profound consequences of inaction.

And as we Order the Disorder, we express hope for positive change amidst global disorder. For Xmas, Jason wishes for ‘Two NATOs on climate change, one NATO on tax havens, and a partridge in a pear tree,’ while Alex wishes for ‘the EU to come up with a way to bypass Hungary and Slovakia and put sanctions on Georgia before the end of the year.’

(Listen on Apple podcasts here or on Spotify here)

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BACKGROUND ON THE PLIGHT OF THE KURDS AND THE SITUATION IN GEORGIA

Read more about the plight of the Kurds of Northeastern Syria- https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/16/world/middleeast/kurdish-forces-syria-turkey-isis-america.html

Alex has written this great overview article about the situation in Georgia from her recent trip: https://bylinetimes.com/2024/12/17/the-west-will-regret-abandoning-the-georgian-people-to-the-clutches-of-russia/

If you like the way the Disorder Pod sounds check out ‘Can a steel town survive if its furnaces are turned off? – podcast’ where the reporting and the audio production are done by our producer George McDonagh: https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2024/dec/19/can-a-steel-town-survive-if-its-furnaces-are-turned-off-podcast

For more on Evoke visit:

https://www.evokemusic.org/

For more of Yoav Oved visit his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/YoavSings/?locale=en_GB

Or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/yoavsings/?__d=1

Now for Paid subscribers a holiday story from Alex and some favourite quotes from the Episode