News24 Listen Up!

Listen Up!

Listen Up! Is a two-person, weekly, conversational podcast featuring investment banker Mark Barnes and ranking journalist Tim Cohen. We gallop through the week’s events, offering thoughts, opinions and perspectives on South African and international affairs. We pride ourselves on being opinionated without prejudice, fun without being trivial, and thoughtful without being ponderous. Listen Up! does not reflect the editorial position of our host, News24, and quite often not even the position of the speakers. Sometimes we even agree. Sometimes...
Weekly English Explicit South Africa News · News Commentary
7 Episodes

What DJ Sumbody teaches everybody

It’s been an odd week, and not a great one. “We are moving from the rule of law to the rule of war,” says investment banker Mark Barnes, in this podcast with journalist Tim Cohen. We talk crime, Transnet, debt and other cheerful topics - but also, how other nations…
28 Jul 19 min

Is South Africa disintegrating, and would a kiss-cam help?

The news of the past week has been worrying, from the crisis in the police, to more news about the construction mafia, to SA getting bad press internationally. In this podcast Mark Barnes and Tim Cohen discuss South Africa’s ailments - and some good news too, like the buoyant stock market…
21 Jul 21 min

Mchunu's unusual leave of absence, and SA's politics as usual

How does the suspension of SA’s Police Minister Senzo Mchunu change SA’s political dynamic? Would you believe in the good way? Mark Barnes and Tim Cohen discuss this dramatic topic of the hour and its future ramifications - good and bad. We also discuss how AI is actually being used,…
14 Jul 21 min

The truth, Trump, trade and tenders

My word is my bond, so they say. But is the bond market telling us the truth? Mark Barnes and Tim Cohen discuss, wait for it, the bond market. Exciting! Also … all the other stuff. The Trump tariffs trauma is back, so the subject of trade is back on the agenda. But…
7 Jul 22 min

Marital matters of the GNU

South Africa’s GNU is having, how should we put it, “relationship issues”. In this edition of Listen Up!, Mark and Tim have a solution: focus on the kids! That would be us, the population. And try not to focus on each other so much; divorce is impossible, so work together…
30 Jun 22 min