S8 Ep1291: Padraic Scanlan — Multi-Part, Part One: Padraic Scanlan explores the deep-seated historical and economic causes of the Great Iris

The John Batchelor Show · Aug 17, 2026 · 37m

Padraic Scanlan — Multi-Part, Part One: Padraic Scanlan explores the deep-seated historical and economic causes of the Great Irish Famine, beginning with the haunting folk memory of Queen Victoria's visit to Skibbereen, a village that became an icon of social collapse and starvation. While the crisis was triggered by the failure of potato crops, Scanlan emphasizes that the vulnerability of the Irish population was manufactured through centuries of British conquest and colonial land management. By the nineteenth century, a tiny oligarchy owned the vast majority of Irish land, with 4,000 people…