About this episode

The episode discusses the US's new mining permits in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone and explores Singapore's unique state formation and cultural identity challenges.

The US has broken with decades of international consensus by issuing its own mining permits for the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a potato field of metallic nodules the size of Western Europe at the bottom of the Pacific. Tom, who has found his next Antarctica-level obsession, reveals that Britain has quietly sponsored two exploration licenses. The age of saying “that’s mine” appears to be back. Calum reports from Singapore. The city-state is remarkable — a nation summoned into being in 60 years through ethnic quotas, mandatory housing integration, and the relentless repetition of founding mantras. But it is now haunted by the ghost of Lee Kuan Yew, whose historically contingent decisions are being ossified into dogma. The TFR has fallen to 0.87. Entrepreneurialism is lacking. And the ethnic ratios that once stabilised the state are now preventing the emergence of a true Singaporean people. The lesson Calum draws is not about policy but about method: if Britain wants cultural renewal, it needs hyperculture — the willing use of state formation tools to remake national identity. Charles Wesley did this for Anglicanism among the newly urbanised working class. Singapore did it with light…

People in this episode

Hosts: Tom Ough, Calum Drysdale

Topics covered

• mining permits
• national identity
• cultural renewal
• Singapore's development
• ethnic quotas
• international relations

Keywords

• Clarion-Clipperton Zone
• mining
• Singapore
• Lee Kuan Yew
• cultural renewal
• ethnic quotas
• Koh-i-Noor diamond
• international relations

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Koh-i-Noor diamond

Places: United States, Clarion-Clipperton Zone, Singapore, Britain, Antarctica, Western Europe

More episodes of Anglofuturism

• 056. Nicholas Boys Smith: How to build a city on the moon · May 24, 2026 · 1h 10m
• 052. Louise Perry: Artemis II and populating the solar system · April 9, 2026 · 1h 30m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Anglofuturism podcast page.