PAUL ENGLISH LIVE #137· Chickens, Compost, and Free Speech: Building the Good Life from the Ground Up

Broadcasts live every Thursday at 8:00p.m. uk time on Radio Soapbox: http://radiosoapbox.comA lively, three-hour ramble that starts with some unavoidable streaming gremlins (now tamed) and an invite to listen direct via fftradio.com. I catch up with Eric Von Essex on everything from thrift, real-food swaps and the resurgence of practical living, to over‑complicated technology, surveillance creep and why simple, repairable kit still matters. In hour two, farmer Mark drops in with a brilliant chicken run debrief (six birds, one operatic cockerel) and no‑nonsense growing tips you can act on this weekend: potatoes in buckets, quick wins like lettuce and radish, beans up a fence, compost that actually works (yes to eggshells, nettles, comfrey and diluted urine), cheap and kind slug traps, plus using mulch and woodchip wisely. We also talk food security, group buying with local farmers and schools being nudged back into beds, fruit trees and hens. Hour three pivots to Canada with Monica Schafer: AI, age‑gating and the drive toward digital ID; the Tumbler Ridge shooting and a class action aimed at an AI firm; and campus culture at the University of Lethbridge, free inquiry versus mob theatrics, and how the long march through institutions shows up in real life. We close on solutions: rebuild local culture, grow food, dance, and choose optimism one practical step at a time.FFT Radio (listen live and chat): https://fftradio.comPaul English Live (show hub/player): https://paulenglishlive.comRumble (live streams): https://rumble.comYouTube (live streams): https://www.youtube.comElectronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): https://www.eff.org“A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” (John Perry Barlow, EFF): https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independenceB&Q (tools, garden and materials): https://www.diy.comLidl Great Britain (food shopping): https://www.lidl.co.ukIceland Foods (food shopping): https://www.iceland.co.ukUniversity of Lethbridge (context for the campus discussion): https://www.ulethbridge.caDistrict of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia (context for news reference): https://www.tumblerridge.caHarrogate Spring Flower Show: https://www.flowershow.org.uk