The ClearOut

In this episode, Dara is scratching his head at yet another mammoth failure of the England football team. He has genuine sympathy for the players who have once again come unstuck at a crucial moment in a top tournament. And to add insult to injury, the destroyer of English dreams came in the form of their old nemesis Argentina, who turned in a schizophrenic performance of pure cynicism and fearless, fluid attack. But this defeat lies on the shores of Albion and has been years in the making...Annie Lord has got Dara examining the gender wars again as she releases her first novel, which is predicated on the seemingly evergreen premise that men are utterly useless and can only become optimal catches with female intervention. That idea is not so disturbing in and of itself, but the way it is presented in such matter of fact terms is just as problematic as the equivalent Manosphere rhetoric.The Bessborough House controversy continues to rage while the Irish government struggles to locate its moral compass. Dara once again argues for the importance of public reparation and atonement as essential for healing wounds that are deeply embedded in the national psyche.Annie Lord profile: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jul/12/people-treat-each-other-as-disposable-dating-columnist-turned-novelist-annie-lord-on-love-and-sex-in-the-age-of-appsWebsite: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: theclearoutlive@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

In this episode, Dara is feeling as angry as many others about the controversy around Bessborough House, the former mother and baby home that has one of the darkest legacies of any of the institutions that had Catholic Ireland in a stranglehold for much of the twentieth century. He tries to understand the indescribable moral failure of the Irish government to do the right thing and the importance of public acts of reparation to heal psychic wounds of such generational magnitude.A recent viewing experience touched on themes of faith, penance, guilt and redemption. Dara praises the many strengths of the HBO series Task, and singles out the performances of Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey as two characters on a collision course who are spiritually closer than they may have thought. But it is their emotionality and sensitivity that really set them apart - why is that so appealing?The World Cup is in full swing and Dara points out how the ongoing brilliance of the former Spurs striker Harry Kane continues to be somewhat unsung. An absolutely singular talent whose consistently prolific goalscoring has reached new heights since joining Bayern Munich a couple of years ago, there is a possible explanation for why Harry is not hailed as he should be - his very ordinary face!Finally, and harkening back to the backdrop of repression that coloured so much of the religious hypocrisy that allowed places like Bessborough to thrive with impunity, Dara recalls Ken Russell's 1971 masterpiece The Devils, a psychosexual exploration of religious fanaticism and barely contained sexual compulsion that featured indelible turns from Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave as church figures caught in the crosshairs of puritanical zeal. Once seen, impossible to unsee!Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: theclearoutlive@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

In this episode, Dara is reckoning with his Instagram addiction. Why does the algorithm keep sending him such juicy morsels? Why is it so enjoyable, yet so insubstantial? And who are these women who convince so many men that a great parasocial relationship is about to begin? And what was that one comment that prompted the substance of this episode?Dara considers the nature of 'real' men and women. What are they? Who qualifies and who doesn't? Is it purely aesthetic, or is there another way to differentiate the real from the unreal? Perhaps it's just another absurd reflection of online discourse. What is and isn't real can be a very subjective experience.Dara has been telling himself a story for over thirty years that has felt very real. It is a destructive and harmful story that his brain keeps convincing him to return to, no matter that there is substantial evidence that should lead in an entirely different direction. He considers the power of the stories that create our neural pathways. They are as habitual as any addiction. What makes them so alluring? Why are they so comfortable? And can they be changed?Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: theclearoutlive@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

In this episode, Dara is considering the concept of scaffolding and how it might be applied as a wellness metaphor. Utilised in the world of developmental psychology to describe evolving stages of cognitive growth and early learning, the basic idea relates to baby steps and layered instruction to help someone become more independent. Borrowing also from the world of construction, why can't scaffolding be applied to self-care?The question is about what we put in place to help ourselves stay up. And is it an act of delusion to tell ourselves we can impose either meaning or order on the chaos of existence? Dara argues for the value of repeated actions and patterns that help set our personal metronomes of daily living. He also wonders if we can imbue these habits of survival with more ritualistic significance.And what does the consumerism-capitalism axis have to do with any of this? It has something to do with notions of happiness, completion, and arrival. And maybe even sex!Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: theclearoutlive@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

It's end-to-end movies this week as Dara recalls his most vivid memories of the film scenes that shocked, scandalised and horrified him from as young as six up to his mid-twenties. It started on TV with the 1980 adaptation of James Clavell's Shogun. In that memorable mini-series, the beautiful Richard Chamberlain was subjected to an unimaginable indignity that made young Dara blush to his socks. Surely there weren't worse things still to come...From Jaws (1975) through Happiness (1998) to Irreversible (2002), featuring directors such as Tarkovsky, Aronofsky, Clarke, Coppola and Cimino, as well as provocateurs like Verhoeven and Stone, there's something grim and gross for everyone. This isn't lascivious wallowing, it's a reckoning with innocence and shockability - two very finite experiences.Dara concludes that the scariest stuff was the least horror-coded, and the things that are more likely to disturb and upset him now are connected to love, grief and family.Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: theclearoutlive@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

In this episode, Dara is trying to make sense of his relationship to repetition. What compels him to adhere so faithfully to his exercise routines? What is he trying to achieve? Or prove? And do those habits cross over to other areas of his life? He argues it is connected to his liking for order and rightness. He also acknowledges it has something to do with small 'c' conservatism and his own flavour of idealism.Idealism can be routinely dismissed by a sneering world as immature and unrealistic, but Dara makes the case for it being the most important thing we might have. He believes it is something sacred that can be at the very heart of our integrity. It can be the one thing that enables us to hold our centre and keep our heads when the whole world feels like it is going to blow.He concedes there may be something masochistic and self-punishing about continually subjecting oneself to further physical and psychological testing, but that happens to be the type of idealism he favours and he sees no reason to change it anytime soon. If it ain't broke...Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: theclearoutlive@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout