Freethinking with Laura Dodsworth

Olivia Hartley is a sub-editor and podcast interviewer at The Critic magazine. After she interviewed me last week for her podcast she told me that her thinking had completely changed while working there. Obviously, that meant I had to interview her too, to offer hope to humanity - nothing less! -  so we can answer the question, how do we stop thinking like the group and thinking independently? We chatted about some of her epiphanies and how she moved on from being a self-appointed 'Covid Marshall'. . Her freethinking recommendation is '100 Nasty Women of History' by Hannah Jewell

I had a great conversation with Dr Zoe Harcombe about her trailblazing dietary advice. If you follow the NHS's Eatwell Guide the first think you should know is that Zoe calls it the Eat Badly Diet! We talked about eating to lose weight, food for optimum nutrition and how to stay healthy in the time of Covid and lockdown. . Her website: https://www.zoeharcombe.com . A freethinking challenge from Zoe is a rebuttal to the Netflix documentary, 'The Game Changers': https://www.crossfit.com/essentials/game-changers-zoe . Please support more episodes of Freethinking at www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth  

Professor Ellen Townsend leads the Self-Harm Research Group (SHRG) within the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham. She up Reachwell, to collect evidence and advocate for children and young people during lockdown. We talked about the impacts of Covid and lockdown on children and young people, how we move on from fear and help everyone get back to normal post-Covid. . Her links: . Research group: https://sites.google.com/view/self-harm-research-group/home . Reachwell: https://reachwell.org/ . A study she mentions during the podcast: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2772834?utm_source=silverchair&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_alert-jamanetworkopen&utm_content=wklyforyou&utm_term=111320 . Please support more episodes of #Freethinking at Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

James Caspian is a psychotherapist interested in Jungian psychology. He has a practice in Sussex and in the North Pennines. He worked for a decade in a clinical setting with people undergoing gender transition, and was a trustee of the Beaumont Trust, a charity which helped 'trans' people of all descriptions. He trained the public sector and NHS staff in transgender awareness. He became caught up in the cultural conflicts of the 21st century when he was refused permission by his university to research detransitioners, and took the university to court, a case which is now going to the European Court of Human Rights. He has subsequently become an adviser to media and has taken part in many documentaries and interviews about transgender issues. James and I talked about his 'controversial' planned research into detransition and more widely about a Jungian interpretation for the current cultural conflicts, covering the trans narrative, detransition, Covid, cancel culture and free speech.   His freethinking recommendation is 'The Undiscovered Self' by Carl Jung.   Please support more episodes of Freethinking on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

Rev'd Kat Campion-Spall is a priest in the Church of England.  She was ordained in 2010 and currently serves as Associate Vicar in a church in central Bristol.  Kat was recently appointed Dean of Women's Ministry in the Diocese of Bristol alongside her parish role.  This follows many years of working within and outside church structures towards the Church of England being a place where women can flourish in their ministry and fulfil their God-given calling. We talked about being reconciling feminism with being in the church, a feminist reading of the Bible, the right pronouns for God, and worship during lockdown. . Her freethinking recommendation is 'Womanist Midrash: A reintroduction to the women of the Torah and the Throne' by Wilda C Gafney. . Thinking is free but podcasts are not! Please support more in creating more episodes of #Freethinking at Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

I interviewed Kirsty Brimelow QC in her Doughty Street Chambers. She has a stellar career in human rights, criminal and public law and a string of successes and awards. She become one of my early lockdown heroes when I read about her work in identifying and overturning wrongful convictions under the UK Lockdown regulations, starting with the very first conviction Marie Dinou. We talked about the UK's Lockdown Regulations, what they mean for us, how the government keeps confusing law and ‘rules'/guidance and the public service she has undertaken by trying to overturn wrongful convictions.  ‘We have become too used to being a liberal democratic country and our rights are being pulled away by stealth.' Kirsty Brimelow QC: https://www.doughtystreet.co.uk/barristers/kirsty-brimelow-qc . Liberty in Lockdown: https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/september-2020/liberty-in-lockdown/  . Please support Freethinking on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/freethinking 

Stella O'Malley is a psychotherapist, bestselling author (‘Cotton Wool Kids', 'Bully-Proof Kids' and ‘Fragile') and the presenter of the Channel 4 documentary ‘Trans - Kids: It's Time To Talk' and she works in private practice in rural Ireland. Her body of work about fear, anxiety and developing emotional resilience couldn't be more relevant to 2020. In a long and fascinating conversation we talked about collective hysteria, becoming bored of fear, and what it's like to be a sceptic in a society which increasingly values safety and belonging. I could have talked to her all day! . Link: www.stellaomalley.com  . Stella's freethinking suggestion is her book 'Cotton Wool Kids'. . Please support more episodes of Freethinking: http://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

Helen Cooke is an expert in disability and graduate recruitment and she's a wheelchair user. She works with organisations to provide them with the expertise to be disability confident in their strategy and recruitment. We talked about her background, from overcoming challenges like going to a school with no lift and needing to be carried up the stairs, to completing a half marathon, and her successful business that helps young people with disabilities. Although she describes herself as completely normal, she's a remarkably resilient achiever. . Links: https://www.myplusconsulting.com/ . https://myplusstudentsclub.com/ . Please share on social media and support more episodes of Freethinking on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

Joanna Williams is the author of 'Women vs Feminism',  'Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity'  and 'Consuming Higher Education, Why Learning Can't Be Bought'. She is a columnist for Spiked and writes regularly for The Times, The Spectator and American Conservative. She is the founder of the think tank Cieo and director of the Freedom, Democracy and Victimhood Project at Civitas.  We had a refreshingly honest conversation about why she wrote 'Women vs Feminism', why the gender pay gap is complex, victim culture and why feminists should have a problem with masks. She's clear-thinking and courageous, not contrarian, and I recommend you listen to challenge your views on feminism.   Links: https://www.cieo.org.uk/people/joanna-williams/  .   Her freethinking recommendation: The book ‘The Rise of Victimhood Culture: Microaggressions, Safe Spaces, and the New Culture Wars', (2018)  by sociologists Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning - really helps explain some of the cultural shifts taking place in society right now.   Thinking is free, but podcasts are not. Please support more episodes of Freethinking: http://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

Wild food experimentalist, course faciliator, forager, the ever-curious Fergus Drennan, aka Fergus The Forager, has been gathering and learning about wild plants, seaweeds, and fungi for over 40 years. Badger pizzle, a mermaid's purse and squirrel milk featured on the menu of this Freethinking podcast. Links: http://fergustheforager.co.uk/ https://www.instagram.com/fergustheforager/ . His freethinking recommendation: Think outside the box and consider the sexy wonders of seaweed. It really is sexy stuff! A red seaweed (found in a rare fossil record) dated to 1,200 million years ago, is understood to be the first sexually-reproducing organism EVER; whether or not the experience was also orgasmic, nobody knows. https://fergustheforager.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/FergusDrennan-TheBushcraftJournal-Issue-9-1.pdf

Fionne Orlander is a British transwoman who finds themselves at odds with the trans ideology & activism that represents that supposedly represents them. (Fionne's choice of pronouns.) Despite a more controversial stance, Fionne is a rare and charming breath of air on Twitter, and her common sense and politeness might be what earned her a public invitation to go for a drink with JK Rowling. We talked about realising they were trans, what it means to them, being an outlier in the trans community, surviving hostile social media, and why we are all standing in the ruins of gender.   Find Fionne on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FionneOrlander  . Fionne's freethinking recommendation is an article by Miranda Yardley which imagines society without gender: https://mirandayardley.com/en/judith-lorber-imagining-a-world-without-gender/  . Thinking is free but podcasts are not! Please support more #Freethinking on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth  

Dr Naomi Murphy is a consultant clinical and forensic psychologist. She has over 20 years of experience of finding ways to make psychological treatment accessible to people who've found it hard to access mainstream services and have often been labelled “untreatable”. She is currently Clinical Director of the Fens Unit within a high secure prison at HMP Whitemoor which offers an innovative trauma-focused treatment programme incorporating body based therapy, mindfulness, yoga, virtual reality and bioneurofeedback.    Naomi and I talked about treating the ‘untreatable', what it's like working in a high secure prison, and what drew her to this work.   @NMPsychologist on Twitter Her freethinking recommendation is César Hidalgo, who has a radical suggestion for fixing our broken political system: automate it! This is his TED talk on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyGWML6cI_k She also recommended by 'Range' by David Epstein which, in turn, I can recommend!   Please help me create more episodes of Freethinking by supporting my Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

Mike is an independent Funeral Celebrant and Dying Doula. He runs workshops on 'death and dying' including Dying To Talk sessions, creating safe spaces to talk about death. He offers support to families to help them make informed choices about all aspects of dying and Funerals, especially Home Funerals.   I met Mike at one of his death and dying workshops about 10 years ago and it prompted to me think about death differently. His approach is 180 degrees away from the 24 hour funeral service approach. We talked about the impact of World War 1 on attitudes to death, how his mother died, using Zoom at funerals in lockdown and talking to the bees.   His freethinking recommendations: ‘Die Wise' by Stephen Jenkins and a film about him called 'Griefwalker' at https://www.nfb.ca/film/griefwalker/    Please support more Freethinking episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

Stephanie Davies-Arai is a communication skills trainer, writer and author of the book Communicating with Kids. Concerned about the trend to diagnose gender variant children, she founded the organisation Transgender Trend in 2015, produced a schools guide Supporting gender variant and trans-identified students in schools in 2018 and has delivered presentations on the subject of transgender children at events across the UK, including in the House of Commons and House of Lords. We talked about why she set up Transgender Trend, what's going on when gender variant children are diagnosed as trans, the difficulties she's faced in this most contentious of the culture wars, and how her background as a sculptor has influenced her. Links: https://www.cambridgescholars.com/transgender-children-and-young-people . https://www.transgendertrend.com/ . https://stephaniedaviesarai.com/ . Stephanie's freethinking recommendation is The Madness of Crowds by Douglas Murray.

Zuby is an independent rapper, podcast host, author, public speaker and creative entrepreneur, with over 400,000 followers online. He was born in England, raised in Saudi Arabia and is a graduate of Oxford University. He has sold over 25,000 albums independently, performed in 8 countries and achieved over 10 million online video views. Zuby has featured on The Joe Rogan Experience, BBC, Fox News, Sky News, The Adam Carolla Show, The Rubin Report, The Candace Owens Show and The Ben Shapiro Show, amongst others. Zuby and I talked about what's behind his versatility and freethinking, having an international perspective, courage, social media, Black Lives Matters and transwomen and sport.  Links: zubymusic.com twitter.com/zubymusic instagram.com/zubymusic youtube.com/zubymusic . His freethinking recommendations: 'Real Talk with Zuby' podcast - fanlink.to/zubypodcast . Please support Freethinking on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

Welcome to my first Freethinking podcast episode with Alistair Haimes! Alistair has been analysing and sharing Covid-19 graphs and information to the delight of discerning data lovers throughout lockdown.   Alistair has worked in finance since 1997 and has run a private asset management company since 2003. Being successful in investment relies on accuracy, numeracy and delivering results, and his analysis of the data has offered a fascinating counterpoint to the Downing Street briefings. We discussed Covid-19 data and media coverage from the early days till now, and how his interpretation of the data has made him a lockdown sceptic.  I hope you enjoy the episode, but I also encourage you to follow Alistair for more data and insight. Find Alistair on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlistairHaimes .  A collection of graphs and data created by Alistair: https://twitter.com/AlistairHaimes/status/1275369958382481410?s=20  . Articles by Alistair on Covid-19: https://thecritic.co.uk/author/alistair-haimes/ .  https://hectordrummond.com/2020/05/09/alistair-haimes-the-virus-that-turned-up-late/ .  His freethinking recommendations:  "Think Like a Freak” by the authors of “Freakonomics”, Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner. But I'd also like to recommend something active, which is for people to start taking part in GJOPEN super forecasting.                

Hello and welcome to my new podcast, Freethinking. I'll be interviewing fascinating freethinkers about their worldview, and how their conviction overcame consensus.