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What happens when curiosity, resilience, and storytelling collide over a lifetime of building something meaningful? In this episode, I welcome Nick Francis, founder and CEO of Casual Films, for a thoughtful conversation about leadership, presence, and what it takes to keep going when the work gets heavy. Nick's journey began with a stint at BBC News and a bold 9,000-mile rally from London to Mongolia in a Mini Cooper, a spirit of adventure that still fuels how he approaches business and life today. We talk about how that early experience shaped Casual into a global branded storytelling company with studios across five continents, and what it really means to lead a creative organization at scale. Nick shares insights from growing the company internationally, expanding into Southeast Asia, and staying grounded while producing hundreds of projects each year. Along the way, we explore why emotionally resonant storytelling matters, how trust and preparation beat panic, and why presence with family, health, and purpose keeps leaders steady in uncertain times. This conversation is about building an Unstoppable life by focusing on what matters most, using creativity to connect people, and choosing clarity and resilience in a world full of noise. Highlights: 00:01:30 – Learn how early challenges shape resilience and long-term drive. 00:06:20 – Discover why focusing on your role creates calm under pressure. 00:10:50 – Learn how to protect attention in a nonstop world. 00:18:25 – Understand what global growth teaches about leadership. 00:26:00 – Learn why leading with trust changes relationships. 00:45:55 – Discover how movement and presence restore clarity. About the Guest: Nick Francis is the founder and CEO of Casual, a global production group that blends human storytelling, business know-how, and creativity turbo-charged by AI. Named the UK's number one brand video production company for five years, Casual delivers nearly 1,000 projects annually for world-class brands like Adobe, Amazon, BMW, Hilton, HSBC, and P&G. The adventurous spirit behind its first production – a 9,000-mile journey from London to Mongolia in an old Mini – continues to drive Casual's growth across offices in London, New York, LA, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong and Greater China. Nick previously worked for BBC News and is widely recognised for his expertise in video storytelling, brand building, and corporate communications. He is the founding director of the Casual Films Academy, a charity helping young filmmakers develop skills by producing films for charitable organisations. He is also the author of ‘The New Fire: Harness the Power of Video for Your Business' and a passionate advocate for emotionally resonant, behaviorally grounded storytelling. Nick lives in San Francisco, California, with his family. Ways to connect with Nick**:** Website: https://www.casualfilms.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@casual_global  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/casualglobal/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CasualFilms/  Nick's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickfrancisfilm/  Casual's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/casual-films-international/  Beyond Casual - LinkedIn Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=6924458968031395840 About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson  01:21 Well, hello everyone. I am your host, Mike hingson, that's kind of funny. We'll talk about that in a second, but this is unstoppable mindset. And our guest today is Nick Francis, and what we're going to talk about is the fact that people used to always ask me, well, they would call me Mr. Kingston, and it took me, as I just told Nick a master's degree in physics in 10 years to realize that if I said Mike hingson, that's why they said Mr. Kingston. So was either say Mike hingson or Michael hingson. Well, Michael hingson is a lot easier to say than Mike hingson, but I don't really care Mike or Michael, as long as it's not late for dinner. Whatever works. Yeah. Well, Nick, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're Nick Francis  02:04 here. Thanks, Mike. It's great to be here. Michael Hingson  02:08 So Nick is a marketing kind of guy. He's got a company called casual that we'll hear about. Originally from England, I believe, and now lives in San Francisco. We were talking about the weather in San Francisco, as opposed to down here in Victorville. A little bit earlier. We're going to have a heat wave today and and he doesn't have that up there, but you know, well, things, things change over time. But anyway, we're glad you're here. And thanks, Mike. Really looking forward to it. Tell us about the early Nick growing up and all that sort of stuff, just to get us started. Nick Francis  02:43 That's a good question. I grew up in London, in in Richmond, which is southwest London. It's a at the time, it wasn't anything like as kind of, it's become quite kind of shishi, I think back in the day, because it's on the west of London. The pollution from the city used to flow east and so, like all the kind of well to do people, in fact, there used to be a, there used to be a palace in Richmond. It's where Queen Elizabeth died, the first Queen Elizabeth, that is. And, yeah, you know, I grew up it was, you know, there's a lot of rugby played around there. I played rugby for my local rugby club from a very young age, and we went sailing on the south coast. It was, it was great, really. And then, you know, unfortunately, when I was 10 years old, my my dad died. He had had a very powerful job at the BBC, and then he ran the British Council, which is the overseas wing of the Arts Council, so promoting, I guess, British soft power around the world, going and opening art galleries and going to ballet in Moscow and all sorts. So he had an incredible life and worked incredibly hard. And you know, that has brought me all sorts of privileges, I think, when I was a kid. But, you know, unfortunately, age 10 that all ended. And you know, losing a parent at that age is such a sort of fundamental, kind of shaking of your foundations. You know, you when you're a kid, you feel like a, you're going to live forever, and B, the things that are happening around you are going to last forever. And so, you know, you know, my mom was amazing, of course, and, you know, and in time, I got a new stepdad, and all the rest of it. But you know, that kind of shaped a lot of my a lot of my youth, really. And, yeah, I mean, Grief is a funny thing, and it's funny the way it manifests itself as you grow. But yeah. So I grew up there. I went to school in the Midlands, near where my stepdad lived, and then University of Newcastle, which is up in the north of England, where it rains a lot. It's where it's where Newcastle Football Club is based. And you know is that is absolutely at the center of the city. So. So the city really comes alive there. And it was during that time that I discovered photography, and I wanted to be a war photographer, because I believe that was where life was lived at the kind of the real cutting edge. You know, you see the you see humanity in its in its most visceral and vivid color in terrible situations. And I kind of that seemed like an interesting thing to go to go and do. Michael Hingson  05:27 Well, what? So what did you major in in college in Newcastle? So I did Nick Francis  05:31 history and politics, and then I went did a course in television journalism, and ended up working at BBC News as a initially running on the floor. So I used to deliver the papers that you know, when you see people shuffling or not, they do it anymore, actually, because everything, everything's digital now digital, yeah, but when they were worried about the the auto cues going down, they we always had to make sure that they had the up to date script. And so I would be printing in, obviously, the, you know, because it's a three hour news show, the scripts constantly evolving, and so, you know, I was making sure they had the most up to date version in their hands. And it's, I don't know if you have spent any time around live TV Mike, but it's an incredibly humbling experience, like the power of it. You know, there's sort of two or 3 million people watching these two people who are sitting five feet in front of me, and the, you know, the sort of slightly kind of, there was an element of me that just wanted to jump in front of them and kind of go, ah. And, you know, never, ever work in live TV, ever again. But you know, anyway, I did that and ended up working as a producer, writing and developing, developing packets that would go out on the show, producing interviews and things. And, you know, I absolutely loved it. It was, it was a great time. But then I left to go and set up my company. Michael Hingson  06:56 I am amazed, even today, with with watching people on the news, and I've and I've been in a number of studios during live broadcasts and so on. But I'm amazed at how well, mostly, at least, I've been fortunate. Mostly, the people are able to read because they do have to read everything. It isn't like you're doing a lot of bad living in a studio. Obviously, if you are out with a story, out in the field, if you will, there, there may be more where you don't have a printed script to go by, but I'm amazed at the people in the studio, how much they are able to do by by reading it all completely. Nick Francis  07:37 It's, I mean, the whole experience is kind of, it's awe inspiring, really. And you know, when you first go into a Live, a live broadcast studio, and you see the complexity, and you know, they've got feeds coming in from all over the world, and you know, there's upwards of 100 people all working together to make it happen. And I remember talking to one of the directors at the time, and I was like, How on earth does this work? And he said, You know, it's simple. You everyone has a very specific job, and you know that as long as you do your bit of the job when it comes in front of you, then the show will go out. He said, where it falls over is when people start worrying about whether other people are going to are going to deliver on time or, you know, and so if you start worrying about what other people are doing, rather than just focusing on the thing you have to do, that's where it potentially falls over, Michael Hingson  08:29 which is a great object lesson anyway, to worry about and control and don't worry about the rest Nick Francis  08:36 for sure. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, it's almost a lesson for life. I mean, sorry, it is a lesson for life, and Michael Hingson  08:43 it's something that I talk a lot about in dealing with the World Trade Center and so on, and because it was a message I received, but I've been really preaching that for a long time. Don't worry about what you can't control, because all you're going to do is create fear and drive yourself Nick Francis  08:58 crazy, completely, completely. You know. You know what is it? Give me the, give me this. Give me the strength to change the things I can. Give me the give me the ability to let the things that I can't change slide but and the wisdom to know the difference. I'm absolutely mangling that, that saying, but, yeah, it's, it's true, you know. And I think, you know, it's so easy for us to in this kind of modern world where everything's so media, and we're constantly served up things that, you know, shock us, sadness, enrage us, you know, just to be able to step back and say, actually, you know what? These are things I can't really change. I'd have to just let them wash over me. Yeah, and just focus on the things that you really can change. Michael Hingson  09:46 It's okay to be aware of things, but you've got to separate the things you can control from the things that you can and we, unfortunately aren't taught that. Our parents don't teach us that because they were never taught it, and it's something. That, just as you say, slides by, and it's so unfortunate, because it helps to create such a level of fear about so many things in our in our psyche and in our world that we really shouldn't have to do Nick Francis  10:13 completely well. I think, you know, obviously, but you know, we've, we've spent hundreds, if not millions of years evolving to become humans, and then, you know, actually being aware of things beyond our own village has only been an evolution of the last, you know what, five, 600 years, yeah. And so we are just absolutely, fundamentally not able to cope with a world of such incredible stimulus that we live in now. Michael Hingson  10:43 Yeah, and it's only getting worse with all the social media, with all the different things that are happening and of course, and we're only working to develop more and more things to inundate us with more and more kinds of inputs. It's really unfortunate we just don't learn to separate ourselves very easily from all of that. Nick Francis  11:04 Yeah, well, you know, it's so interesting when you look at the development of VR headsets, and, you know, are we going to have, like, lenses in our eyes that kind of enable us to see computer screens while we're just walking down the road, you know? And you look at that and you think, well, actually, just a cell phone. I mean, cell phones are going to be gone fairly soon. I would imagine, you know, as a format, it's not something that's going to abide but the idea that we're going to create technology that's going to be more, that's going to take us away from being in the moment more rather than less, is kind of terrifying. Because, I would say already, even with, you know, the most basic technology that we have now, which is, you know, mind bending, compared to where we were even 20 years ago, you know, to think that we're only going to become more immersive is, you know, we really, really as a species, have to work out how we are going to be far better at stepping away from this stuff. And I, you know, I do, I wonder, with AI and technology whether there is, you know, there's a real backlash coming of people who do want to just unplug, yeah, Michael Hingson  12:13 well, it'll be interesting to see, and I hope that people will learn to do it. I know when I started hearing about AI, and one of the first things I heard was how kids would use it to write their papers, and it was a horrible thing, and they were trying to figure out ways so that teachers could tell us something was written by AI, as opposed to a student. And I almost immediately developed this opinion, no, let AI write the papers for students, but when the students turn in their paper, then take a day to in your class where you have every student come up and defend their paper, see who really knows it, you know. And what a great teaching opportunity and teaching moment to to get students also to learn to do public speaking and other things a little bit more than they do, but we haven't. That hasn't caught on, but I continue to preach it. Nick Francis  13:08 I think that's really smart, you know, as like aI exists, and I think to to pretend somehow that, you know, we can work without it is, you know, it's, it's, it's, yeah, I mean, it's like, well, saying, you know, we're just going to go back to Word processors or typewriters, which, you know, in which it weirdly, in their own time, people looked at and said, this is, you know, these, these are going to completely rot our minds. In fact, yeah, I think Plato said that was very against writing, because he believed it would mean no one could remember anything after that, you know. So it's, you know, it's just, it's an endless, endless evolution. But I think, you know, we have to work out how we incorporate into it, into our education system, for sure. Michael Hingson  13:57 Well, I remember being in in college and studying physics and so on. And one of the things that we were constantly told is, on tests, you can't bring calculators in, can't use calculators in class. Well, why not? Well, because you could cheat with that. Well, the reality is that the smart physicists realized that it's all about really learning the concepts more than the numbers. And yeah, that's great to to know how to do the math. But the the real issue is, do you know the physics, not just the math completely? Nick Francis  14:34 Yeah. And then how you know? How are the challenges that are being set such that you know, they really test your ability to use the calculator effectively, right? So how you know? How are you lifting the bar? And in a way, I think that's kind of what we have to do, what we have to do now, Michael Hingson  14:50 agreed, agreed. So you were in the news business and so on, and then, as you said, you left to start your own company. Why did you decide to do that? Nick Francis  14:59 Well, a friend of. Ryan and I from University had always talked about doing this rally from London to Mongolia. So, and you do it in an old car that you sort of look at, and you go, well, that's a bit rubbish. It has to have under a one liter engine. So it's tiny, it's cheap. The idea is it breaks down you have an adventure. And it was something we kind of talked about in passing and decided that would be a good thing to do. And then over time, you know, we started sending off. We you know, we applied, and then we started sending off for visas and things. And then before we knew it, we were like, gosh, so it looks like we're actually going to do this thing. But by then, you know, my job at the BBC was really taking off. And so I said, you know, let's do this, but let's make a documentary of it. So long story short, we ended up making a series of diary films for Expedia, which we uploaded onto their website. It was, you know, we were kind of pitching this around about 2005 we kind of did it in 2006 so it was kind of, you know, nobody had really heard of YouTube. The idea of making videos to go online was kind of unheard of because, you know, broadband was just kind of getting sorry. It wasn't unheard of, but it was, it was very, it was a very nascent industry. And so, yeah, we went and drove 9000 miles over five weeks. We spent a week sitting in various different repair yards and kind of break his yards in everywhere from Turkey to Siberia. And when we came back, it became clear that the internet was opening up as this incredible medium for video, and video is such a powerful way to share emotion with a dispersed audience. You know, not that I would have necessarily talked about it in that in those terms back then, but it really seemed like, you know, every every web page, every piece of corporate content, could have a video aspect to it. And so we came back and had a few fits and starts and did some, I mean, we, you know, we made a series of hotel videos where we were paid 50 quid a day to go and film hotels. And it was hot and it was hard work. And anyway, it was rough. But over time, you know, we started to win some more lucrative work. And, you know, really, the company grew from there. We won some awards, which helped us to kind of make a bit of a name for ourselves. And this was, there's been a real explosion in technology, kind of shortly after when we did this. So digital SLRs, so, you know, old kind of SLR cameras, you know, turned into digital cameras, which could then start to shoot video. And so it, there was a real explosion in high quality video produced by very small teams of people using the latest technology creatively. And that just felt like a good kind of kick off point for our business. But we just kind of because we got in in kind of 2006 we just sort of beat a wave that kind of started with digital SLRs, and then was kind of absolutely exploded when video cell phones came on the market, video smartphones. And yeah, you know, because we had these awards and we had some kind of fairly blue chip clients from a relatively early, early stage, we were able to grow the company. We then expanded to the US in kind of 2011 20 between 2011 2014 and then we were working with a lot of the big tech companies in California, so it felt like we should maybe kind of really invest in that. And so I moved out here with some of our team in 2018 at the beginning of 2018 and I've been here ever since, wow. Michael Hingson  18:44 So what is it? What was it like starting a business here, or bringing the business here, as opposed to what it was in England? Nick Francis  18:53 It's really interesting, because the creatively the UK is so strong, you know, like so many, you know, from the Beatles to Led Zeppelin to the Rolling Stones to, you know, and then on through, like all the kind of, you know, film and TV, you know, Brits are very good at kind of Creating, like, high level creative, but not necessarily always the best at kind of monetizing it, you know. I mean, some of those obviously have been fantastic successes, right? And so I think in the UK, we we take a lot longer over getting, getting to, like, the perfect creative output, whereas the US is far more focused on, you know, okay, we need this to to perform a task, and frankly, if we get it 80% done, then we're good, right? And so I think a lot of creative businesses in the UK look at the US and they go, gosh. Firstly, the streets are paved with gold. Like the commercial opportunity seems incredible, but actually creating. Tracking it is incredibly difficult, and I think it's because we sort of see the outputs in the wrong way. I think they're just the energy and the dynamism of the US economy is just, it's kind of awe inspiring. But you know, so many businesses try to expand here and kind of fall over themselves. And I think the number one thing is just, you have to have a founder who's willing to move to the US. Because I think Churchill said that we're two two countries divided by the same language. And I never fully understood what that meant until I moved here. I think what it what he really means by that is that we're so culturally different in the US versus the UK. And I think lots of Brits look at America and think, Well, you know, it's just the same. It's just a bit kind of bigger and a bit Brasher, you know, and it and actually, I think if people in the US spoke a completely different language, we would approach it as a different culture, which would then help us to understand it better. Yeah. So, yeah. I mean, it's been, it's been the most fabulous adventure to move here and to, you know, it's, it's hard sometimes, and California is a long way from home, but the energy and the optimism and the entrepreneurialism of it, coupled with just the natural beauty is just staggering. So we've made some of our closest friends in California, it's been absolutely fantastic. And across the US, it's been a fantastic adventure for us and our family. Michael Hingson  21:30 Yeah, I've had the opportunity to travel all over the US, and I hear negative comments about one place or another, like West Virginia, people eat nothing but fried food and all that. But the reality is, if you really take an overall look at it, the country has so much to offer, and I have yet to find a place that I didn't enjoy going to, and people I never enjoyed meeting, I really enjoy all of that, and it's great to meet people, and it's great to experience so much of this country. And I've taken that same posture to other places. I finally got to visit England last October, for the first time. You mentioned rugby earlier, the first time I was exposed to rugby was when I traveled to New Zealand in 2003 and found it pretty fascinating. And then also, I was listening to some rugby, rugby, rugby broadcast, and I tuned across the radio and suddenly found a cricket game that was a little bit slow for me. Yeah, cricket to be it's slow. Nick Francis  22:41 Yeah, fair enough. It's funny. Actually, we know what you're saying about travel. Like one of the amazing things about our Well, I kind of learned two sort of quite fundamentally philosophical things, I think, you know, or things about the about humans and the human condition. Firstly, like, you know, traveling across, you know, we left from London. We, like, drove down. We went through Belgium and France and Poland and Slovenia, Slovakia, Slovenia, like, all the way down Bulgaria, across Turkey into Georgia and Azerbaijan and across the Caspian Sea, and through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, into Russia, and then down into Mongolia. When we finished, we were due north of Jakarta, right? So we drove, we drove a third of the way around the world. And the two things that taught me were, firstly that human people are good. You know, everywhere we went, people would invite us in to have meals, or they'd like fix our car for not unit for free. I mean, people were so kind everywhere we went. Yeah. And the other thing was, just, when we get on a plane and you fly from here to or you fly from London, say to we, frankly, you fly from London to Turkey, it feels unbelievably different. You know, you fly from London to China, and it's, you know, complete different culture. But what our journey towards us, because we drove, was that, you know, while we might not like to admit it, we're actually quite, you know, Brits are quite similar to the French, and the French actually are quite similar to the Belgians, and Belgians quite similar to the Germans. And, you know, and all the way through, actually, like we just saw a sort of slowly changing gradient of all the different cultures. And it really, you know, we are just one people, you know. So as much as we might feel that, you know, we're all we're all different, actually, when you see it, when you when you do a drive like that, you really, you really get to see how slowly the cultures shift and change. Another thing that's quite funny, actually, was just like, everywhere we went, we would be like, you know, we're driving to Turkey. They'd be like, Oh, God, you just drove through Bulgaria, you know, how is like, everything on your car not been stolen, you know, they're so dodgy that you Bulgarians are so dodgy. And then, you know, we'd get drive through the country, and they'd be like, you know, oh, you're going into Georgia, you know, gosh, what you go. Make, make sure everything's tied down on your car. They're so dodgy. And then you get into Georgia, and they're like, Oh my God, you've just very driven through Turkey this, like, everyone sort of had these, like, weird, yeah, kind of perceptions of their neighbors. And it was all nonsense, yeah, you know. Michael Hingson  25:15 And the reality is that, as you pointed out, people are good, you know, I think, I think politicians are the ones who so often mess it up for everyone, just because they've got agendas. And unfortunately, they teach everyone else to be suspicious of of each other, because, oh, this person clearly has a hidden agenda when it normally isn't necessarily true at all. Nick Francis  25:42 No, no, no, certainly not in my experience, anyway, not in my experience. But, you know, well, oh, go ahead. No, no. It's just, you know, it's, it is. It's, it is weird the way that happens, you know, well, they say, you know, if, if politicians fought wars rather than, rather than our young men and women, then there'd be a lot less of them. Yeah, so Well, Michael Hingson  26:06 there would be, well as I tell people, you know, I I've learned a lot from working with eight guy dogs and my wife's service dog, who we had for, oh, gosh, 14 years almost, and one of the things that I tell people is I absolutely do believe what people say, that dogs love unconditionally, unless they're just totally traumatized by something, but they don't trust unconditionally. The difference between dogs and people is that dogs are more open to trust because we've taught ourselves and have been taught by others, that everyone has their own hidden agenda. So we don't trust. We're not open to trust, which is so unfortunate because it affects the psyche of so many people in such a negative way. We get too suspicious of people, so it's a lot harder to earn trust. Nick Francis  27:02 Yeah, I mean, I've, I don't know, you know, like I've been, I've been very fortunate in my life, and I kind of always try to be, you know, open and trusting. And frankly, you know, I think if you're open and trusting with people, in my experience, you kind of, it comes back to you, you know, and maybe kind of looking for the best in everyone. You know, there are times where that's not ideal, but you know, I think you know, in the overwhelming majority of cases, you know, actually, you know, you treat people right? And you know what goes what goes around, comes around, absolutely. Michael Hingson  27:35 And I think that's so very true. There are some people who just are going to be different than that, but I think for the most part, if you show that you're open to trust people will want to trust you, as long as you're also willing to trust Nick Francis  27:51 them completely. Yeah, completely. Michael Hingson  27:54 So I think that that's the big thing we have to deal with. And I don't know, I hope that we, we will learn it. But I think that politicians are really the most guilty about teaching us. Why not to trust but that too, hopefully, will be something we deal with. Nick Francis  28:12 I think, you know, I think we have to, you know, it's, it's one of the tragedies of our age, I think, is that the, you know, we spent the 20th century, thinking that sex was the kind of ultimate sales tool. And then it took algorithms to for us to realize that actually anger and resentment are the most powerful sales tools, which is, you know, it's a it's something which, in time, we will work out, right? And I think the problem is that, at the minute, these tech businesses are in such insane ascendancy, and they're so wealthy that it's very hard to regulate them. And I think in time, what will happen is, you know, they'll start to lose some of that luster and some of that insane scale and that power, and then, you know, then regulation will come in. But you know whether or not, we'll see maybe, hopefully our civilization will still be around to see that. Michael Hingson  29:04 No, there is that, or maybe the Vulcans will show up and show us a better way. But you know, Nick Francis  29:11 oh, you know, I'm, I'm kind of endlessly optimistic. I think, you know, we are. We're building towards a very positive future. I think so. Yeah, it's just, you know, get always bumps along the way, yeah. Michael Hingson  29:24 So you named your company casual. Why did you do that? Or how did that come about? Nick Francis  29:30 It's a slightly weird name for something, you know, we work with, kind of, you know, global blue chip businesses. And, you know, casual is kind of the last thing that you would want to associate with, a, with a, with any kind of services business that works in that sphere. I think, you know, we, the completely honest answer is that the journalism course I did was television, current affairs journalism, so it's called TV cadge, and so we, when we made a film for a local charity as part of that course. Course, we were asked to name our company, and we just said, well, cash, cash casual, casual films. So we called it casual films. And then when my friend and I set the company up, kind of formally, to do the Mongol Rally, we, you know, we had this name, you know, the company, the film that we'd made for the charity, had gone down really well. It had been played at BAFTA in London. And so we thought, well, you know, we should just, you know, hang on to that name. And it didn't, you know, at the time, it didn't really seem too much of an issue. It was only funny. It was coming to the US, where I think people are a bit more literal, and they were a bit like, well, casual. Like, why casual, you know. And I remember being on a shoot once. And, you know, obviously, kind of some filmmakers can be a little casual themselves, not necessarily in the work, but in the way they present themselves, right? And I remember sitting down, we were interviewing this CEO, and he said, who, you know, who are you? Oh, we're casual films. He's like, Oh, is that why that guy's got ripped jeans? Is it? And I just thought, Damn, you know, we really left ourselves open to that. There was also, there was a time one of our early competitors was called Agile films. And so, you know, I remember talking to one of our clients who said, you know, it's casual, you know, when I have to put together a little document to say, you know, which, which supplier we should choose, and when I lay it on my boss's desk, and one says casual films, and one says agile films, it's like those guys are landing the first punch. But anyway, we, you know, we, what we say now is like, you know, we take a complex process and make it casual. You know, filmmaking, particularly for like, large, complex organizations where you've got lots of different stakeholders, can be very complicated. And so, yeah, we sort of say, you know, we'll take a lot of that stress off, off our clients. So that's kind of the rationale, you know, that we've arrived with, arrived at having spoken to lots of our clients about the role that we play for them. So, you know, there's a kind of positive spin on it, I guess, but I don't know. I don't know whether I'd necessarily call it casual again. I don't know if I'm supposed to say that or not, but, oh, Michael Hingson  32:00 it's unique, you know? So, yeah, I think there's a lot of merit to it. It's a unique name, and it interests people. I know, for me, one of the things that I do is I have a way of doing this. I put all of my business cards in Braille, so the printed business cards have Braille on them, right? Same thing. It's unique completely. Nick Francis  32:22 And you listen, you know what look your name is an empty box that you fill with your identity. They say, right? And casual is actually, it's something we've grown into. And you know it's we've been going for nearly 20 years. In fact, funny enough for the end of this year is the 20th anniversary of that first film we made for the for the charity. And then next summer will be our 20th anniversary, which is, you know, it's, it's both been incredibly short and incredibly long, you know, I think, like any kind of experience in life, and it's been some of the hardest kind of times of my entire life, and some of the best as well. So, you know, it's, it is what it is, but you know, casual is who we are, right? I would never check, you know? I'd never change it. Michael Hingson  33:09 Now, no, of course not, yeah. So is the actual name casual films, or just casual? Nick Francis  33:13 So it was casual films, but then everyone calls us casual anyway, and I think, like as an organization, we probably need to be a bit more agnostic about the outcome. Michael Hingson  33:22 Well, the reason I asked, in part was, is there really any filming going on anymore? Nick Francis  33:28 Well, that's a very that's a very good question. But have we actually ever made a celluloid film? And I think the answer is probably no. We used to, back in the day, we used to make, like, super eight films, which were films, I think, you know, video, you know, ultimately, if you're going to be really pedantic about it, it's like, well, video is a digital, digital delivery. And so basically, every film we make is, is a video. But there is a certain cachet to the you know, because our films are loved and crafted, you know, for good or ill, you know, I think to call them, you know, they are films because, because of the, you know, the care that's put into them. But it's not, it's, it's not celluloid. No, that's okay, yeah, well, Michael Hingson  34:16 and I know that, like with vinyl records, there is a lot of work being done to preserve and capture what's on cellular film. And so there's a lot of work that I'm sure that's being done to digitize a lot of the old films. And when you do that, then you can also go back and remaster and hopefully in a positive way, and I'm not sure if that always happens, but in a positive way, enhance them Nick Francis  34:44 completely, completely and, you know, it's, you know, it's interesting talking about, like, you know, people wanting to step back. You know, obviously vinyl is having an absolute as having a moment right now. In fact, I just, I just bought a new stylist for my for my record. Play yesterday. It sounded incredible as a joy. This gave me the sound quality of this new style. It's fantastic. You know, beyond that, you know, running a company, you know, we're in nine offices all over the world. We produce nearly 1000 projects a year. So, you know, it's a company. It's an incredibly complicated company. It's a very fun and exciting company. I love the fact that we make these beautifully creative films. But, you know, it's a bit, I wouldn't say it's like, I don't know, you don't get many MBAs coming out of business school saying, hey, I want to set up a video production company. But, you know, it's been, it's been wonderful, but it's also been stressful. And so, you know, I've, I've always been interested in pottery and ceramics and making stuff with my hands. When I was a kid, I used to make jewelry, and I used to go and sell it in nightclubs, which is kind of weird, but, you know, it paid for my beers. And then whatever works, I say kid. I was 18. I was, I was of age, but of age in the UK anyway. But now, you know, over the last few 18 months or so, I've started make, doing my own ceramics. So, you know, I make vases and and pictures and kind of all sorts of stuff out of clay. And it's just, it's just to be to unplug and just to go and, you know, make things with mud with your hands. It's just the most unbelievably kind of grounding experience. Michael Hingson  36:26 Yeah, I hear you, yeah. One of the things that I like to do is, and I don't get to do it as much as I would like, but I am involved with organizations like the radio enthusiasts of Puget Sound, which, every year, does recreations of old radio shows. And so we get the scripts we we we have several blind people who are involved in we actually go off and recreate some of the old shows, which is really a lot of fun, Nick Francis  36:54 I bet, yeah, yeah, sort of you know that connection to the past is, is, yeah, it's great radio. Radio is amazing. Michael Hingson  37:03 Anyway, what we have to do is to train some of the people who have not had exposure to old radio. We need to train them as to how to really use their voices to convey like the people who performed in radio, whatever they're doing, because too many people don't really necessarily know how to do that well. And it is, it is something that we're going to work on trying to find ways to get people really trained. And one of the ways, of course, is you got to listen to the old show. So one of the things we're getting more and more people to do when we do recreations is to go back and listen to the original show. Well, they say, Well, but, but that's just the way they did it. That's not necessarily the way it should be done. And the response is, no, that's not really true. The way they did it sounded natural, and the way you are doing it doesn't and there's reality that you need to really learn how to to use your voice to convey well, and the only way to do it is to listen to the experts who did it. Nick Francis  38:06 Yeah, well, it's, you know, it's amazing. The, you know, when the BBC was founded, all the news readers and anyone who appeared on on the radio to to present or perform, had to wear like black tie, like a tuxedo, because it was, you know, they're broadcasting to the nation, so they had to, you know, they had to be dressed appropriately, right, which is kind of amazing. And, you know, it's interesting how you know, when you, when you change your dress, when you change the way you're sitting, it does completely change the way that you project yourself, yeah, Michael Hingson  38:43 it makes sense, yeah, well, and I always enjoyed some of the old BBC radio shows, like the Goon Show, and completely some of those are so much fun. Nick Francis  38:54 Oh, great, yeah, I don't think they were wearing tuxedo. It's tuxedos. They would Michael Hingson  38:59 have been embarrassed. Yeah, right, right. Can you imagine Peter Sellers in a in a tux? It just isn't going to happen. Nick Francis  39:06 No, right, right. But yeah, no, it's so powerful. You know, they say radio is better than TV because the pictures are better. Michael Hingson  39:15 I agree. Yeah, sure, yeah. Well, you know, I I don't think this is quite the way he said it, but Fred Allen, the old radio comedian, once said they call television the new medium, because that's as good as it's ever going Nick Francis  39:28 to get. Yeah, right, right, yeah. Michael Hingson  39:32 I think there's truth to it. Whether that's exactly the way he said it or not, there's truth to that, yeah, but there's also a lot of good stuff on TV, so it's okay. Nick Francis  39:41 Well, it's so interesting. Because, you know, when you look at the it's never been more easy to create your own content, yeah, and so, you know, and like, in a way, TV, you know, he's not wrong in that, because it suddenly opened up this, this huge medium for people just to just create. Right? And, you know, and I think, like so many people, create without thinking, and, you know, and certainly in our kind of, in the in the world that we're living in now with AI production, making production so much more accessible, actually taking the time as a human being just to really think about, you know, who are the audience, what are the things that are going to what are going to kind of resonate with them? You know? Actually, I think one of the risks with AI, and not just AI, but just like production being so accessible, is that you can kind of shoot first and kind of think about it afterwards, and, you know, and that's never good. That's always going to be medium. It's medium at best, frankly. Yeah, so yeah, to create really great stuff takes time, you know, yeah, to think about it. Yeah, for sure, yeah. Michael Hingson  40:50 Well, you know, our podcast is called unstoppable mindset. What do you think that unstoppable mindset really means to you as a practical thing and not just a buzzword. Because so many people talk about the kinds of buzzwords I hear all the time are amazing. That's unstoppable, but it's really a lot more than a buzzword. It goes back to what you think, I think. But what do you think? Nick Francis  41:15 I think it's something that is is buried deep inside you. You know, I'd say the simple answer is, is just resilience. You know, it's, it's been rough. I write anyone running a small business or a medium sized business at the minute, you know, there's been some tough times over the last, kind of 1824, months or so. And, you know, I was talking to a friend of mine who she sold out of her business. And she's like, you know, how are things? I was like, you know, it's, it's, it's tough, you know, we're getting through it, you know, we're changing a lot of things, you know, we're like, we're definitely making the business better, but it's hard. And she's like, Listen, you know, when three years before I sold my company, I was at rock bottom. It was, I genuinely thought it was so stressful. I was crushed by it, but I just kept going. And she's just like, just keep going. And the only difference between success and failure is that resilience and just getting up every day and you just keep, keep throwing stuff at the wall, keep trying new things, keep working and trying to be better. I think, you know, it's funny when you look at entrepreneurs, I'm a member of a mentoring group, and I hope I'm not talking out of school here, but you know, there's 15 entrepreneurs, you know, varying sizes of business, doing all sorts, you know, across all sorts of different industries. And if you sat on the wall, if you were fly on the wall, and you sit and look at these people on a kind of week, month to month basis, and they all present on how their businesses are going. You go, this is this being an entrepreneur does not look like a uniformly fun thing, you know, the sort of the stress and just, you know, people crying and stuff, and you're like, gosh, you know, it's so it's, it's, it's hard, and yet, you know, it's people just keep coming back to it. And yet, I think it's because of that struggle that you have to kind of have something in built in you, that you're sort of, you're there to prove something. And I, you know, I've thought a lot about this, and I wonder whether, kind of, the death of my father at such a young age kind of gave me this incredible fire to seek His affirmation, you know. And unfortunately, obviously, the tragedy of that is like, you know, the one person who would never give me affirmation is my dad. And yet, you know, I get up every day, you know, to have early morning calls with the UK or with Singapore or wherever. And you know, you just just keep on, keeping on. And I think that's probably what and knowing I will never quit, you know, like, even from the earliest days of casual, when we were just, like a couple of people, and we were just, you know, kids doing our very best, I always knew the company was going to be a success act. Like, just a core belief that I was like, this is going to work. This is going to be a success. I didn't necessarily know what that success would look like. I just but I did know that, like, whatever it took, we would map, we'd map our way towards that figure it out. We'd figure it out. And I think, you know, there's probably something unstoppable. I don't know, I don't want to sound immodest, but I think there's probably something in that that you're just like, I am just gonna keep keep on, keeping on. Michael Hingson  44:22 Do you think that resilience and unstoppability are things that can be taught, or is it just something that's built into you, and either you have it or you don't? Nick Francis  44:31 I think it's something that probably, it's definitely something that can be learned, for sure, you know. And there are obviously ways that it can there's obviously ways it can be taught. You know, I was, I spent some time in the reserve, like the Army Reserve in the UK, and I just, you know, a lot of that is about teaching you just how much further you can go. I think what it taught me was it was so. So hard. I mean, honestly, some of the stuff we did in our training was, like, you know, it's just raining and raining and raining and, like, because all your kits soaking wet is weighs twice what it did before, and you just, you know, sleeping maybe, you know, an hour or two a night, and, you know, and there wasn't even anyone shooting at us, right? So, you know, like the worst bit wasn't even happening. But like, and like, in a sense, I think, you know, that's what they're trying to do, that, you know, they say, you know, train hard and fight easy. But I remember sort of sitting there, and I was just exhausted, and I just genuinely, I was just thought, you know, what if they tell me to go now, I just, I can't. I literally, I can't, I can't do it. Can't do it. And then they're like, right, lads, put your packs on. Let's go and just put your pack on. Off you go, you know, like, this sort of, the idea of not, like, I was never going to quit, just never, never, ever, you know, and like I'd physically, if I physically, like, literally, my physical being couldn't stand up, you know, I then that was be, that would be, you know, if I was kind of, like literally incapacitated. And I think what that taught me actually, was that, you know, you have what you believe you can do, like you have your sort of, you have your sort of physical envelope, but like that is only a third or a quarter of what you can actually achieve, right, you know. And I think what that, what the that kind of training is about, and you know, you can do it in marathon training. You can do it in all sorts of different, you know, even, frankly, meditate. You know, you train your mind to meditate for, you know, an hour, 90 minutes plus. You know, you're still doing the same. You know, there's a, there's an elasticity within your brain where you can teach yourself that your envelope is so much larger. Yeah. So, yeah, you know, like, is casual going to be a success? Like, I'm good, you know, I'm literally, I won't I won't stop until it is Michael Hingson  46:52 right, and then why stop? Exactly, exactly you continue to progress and move forward. Well, you know, when everything feels uncertain, whether it's the markets or whatever, what do you do or what's your process for finding clarity? Nick Francis  47:10 I think a lot of it is in having structured time away. I say structured. You build it into your calendar, but like, but it's unstructured. So, you know, I take a lot of solace in being physically fit. You know, I think if you're, if you feel physically fit, then you feel mentally far more able to deal with things. I certainly when I'm if I'm unfit and if I've been working too much and I haven't been finding the time to exercise. You know, I feel like the problems we have to face just loom so much larger. So, you know, I, I'll book out. I, you know, I work with a fan. I'm lucky enough to have a fantastic assistant who, you know, we book in my my exercise for each week, and it's almost the first thing that goes in the calendar. I do that because I can't be the business my my I can't be the leader my business requires. And it finally happened. It was a few years ago I kind of, like, the whole thing just got really big on me, and it just, you know, and I'm kind of, like, being crushed by it. And I just thought, you know what? Like, I can't, I can't fit other people's face mask, without my face mask being fit, fitted first. Like, in order to be the business my business, I keep saying that to be the lead in my business requires I have to be physically fit. So I have to look after myself first. And so consequently, like, you know, your exercise shouldn't be something just get squeezed in when you find when you have time, because, you know, if you've got family and you know, other things happening, like, you know, just will be squeezed out. So anyway, that goes in. First, I'll go for a bike ride on a Friday afternoon, you know, I'll often listen to a business book and just kind of process things. And it's amazing how often, you know, I'll just go for a run and, like, these things that have been kind of nagging away in the back of my mind, just suddenly I find clarity in them. So I try to exercise, like, five times a week. I mean, that's obviously more than most people can can manage, but you know that that really helps. And then kind of things, like the ceramics is very useful. And then, you know, I'm lucky. I think it's also just so important just to appreciate the things that you already have. You know, I think one of the most important lessons I learned last year was this idea that, you know, here is the only there. You know, everyone's working towards this kind of, like, big, you know, it's like, oh, you know, when I get to there, then everything's going to be okay, you know. And actually, you know, if you think about like, you know, and what did you want to achieve when you left college? Like, what was the salary band that you want? That you wanted to achieve? Right? A lot of people, you know, by the time you hit 4050, you've blown way through that, right? And yet you're still chasing the receding Summit, yeah, you know. And so actually, like, wherever we're trying to head to, we're already there, because once you get there, there's going to be another there that you're trying to. Head to right? So, so, you know, it's just taking a moment to be like, you know, God, I'm so lucky to have what I have. And, you know, I'm living in, we're living in the good old days, like right now, right? Michael Hingson  50:11 And the reality is that we're doing the same things and having the same discussions, to a large degree, that people did 50, 100 200 years ago. As you pointed out earlier, the fact is that we're, we're just having the same discussions about whether this works, or whether that works, or anything else. But it's all the same, Nick Francis  50:33 right, you know. And you kind of think, oh, you know, if I just, just, like, you know, if we just open up these new offices, or if we can just, you know, I think, like, look, if I, if I'd looked at casual when we started it as it is now, I would have just been like, absolute. My mind would have exploded, right? You know, if you look at what we've achieved, and yet, I kind of, you know, it's quite hard sometimes to look at it and just be like, Oh yeah, but we're only just starting. Like, there's so much more to go. I can see so much further work, that we need so many more things, that we need to do, so many more things that we could do. And actually, you know, they say, you know, I'm lucky enough to have two healthy, wonderful little girls. And you know, I think a lot of bread winners Look at, look at love being provision, and the idea that, you know, you have to be there to provide for them. And actually, the the truest form of love is presence, right? And just being there for them, and like, you know, not being distracted and kind of putting putting things aside, you know, not jumping on your emails or your Slack messages or whatever first thing in the morning, you know. And I, you know, I'm not. I'm guilty, like, I'm not, you know, I'm not one of these people who have this kind of crazy kind of morning routine where, like, you know, I'm incredibly disciplined about that because, you know, and I should be more. But like, you know, this stuff, one of the, one of the things about having a 24 hour business with people working all over the world is there's always things that I need to respond to. There's always kind of interesting things happening. And so just like making sure that I catch myself every so often to be like, I'm just going to be here now and I'm going to be with them, and I'm going to listen to what they're saying, and I'm going to respond appropriately, and, you know, I'm going to play a game with them, or whatever. That's true love. You know? Michael Hingson  52:14 Well, there's a lot of merit to the whole concept of unplugging and taking time and living in the moment. One of the things that we talked about in my book live like a guide dog, that we published last year, and it's all about lessons I've learned about leadership and teamwork and preparedness from eight guide dogs and my wife's service dog. One of the things that I learned along the way is the whole concept of living in the moment when I was in the World Trade Center with my fifth guide dog, Roselle. We got home, and I was going to take her outside to go visit the bathroom, but as soon as I took the harness off, she shot off, grabbed her favorite tug bone and started playing tug of war with my retired guide dog. Asked the veterinarians about him the next day, the people at Guide Dogs for the Blind, and they said, Well, did anything threaten her? And I said, No. And they said, there's your answer. The reality is, dogs live in the moment when it was over. It was over. And yeah, right lesson to learn. Nick Francis  53:15 I mean, amazing, absolutely amazing. You must have taken a lot of strength from that. Michael Hingson  53:20 Oh, I think it was, it was great. It, you know, I can look back at my life and look at so many things that have happened, things that I did. I never thought that I would become a public speaker, but I learned in so many ways the art of speaking and being relaxed at speaking in a in a public setting, that when suddenly I was confronted with the opportunity to do it, it just seemed like the natural thing to do. Nick Francis  53:46 Yeah, it's funny, because I think isn't public speaking the number one fear. It is. It's the most fit. It's the most feared thing for the most people. Michael Hingson  53:57 And the reality is going back to something that we talked about before. The reality is, audiences want you to succeed, unless you're a jerk and you project that, audiences want to hear what you have to say. They want you to be successful. There's really nothing to be afraid of but, but you're right. It is the number one fear, and I've never understood that. I mean, I guess I can intellectually understand it, but internally, I don't. The first time I was asked to speak after the World Trade Center attacks, a pastor called me up and he said, we're going to we're going to have a service outside for all the people who we lost in New Jersey and and that we would like you to come and speak. Take a few minutes. And I said, Sure. And then I asked him, How many people many people were going to be at the service? He said, 6000 that was, that was my first speech. Nick Francis  54:49 Yeah, wow. But it didn't bother me, you know, no, I bet Michael Hingson  54:54 you do the best you can, and you try to improve, and so on. But, but it is true that so many people. Are public speaking, and there's no reason to what Nick Francis  55:03 did that whole experience teach you? Michael Hingson  55:06 Well, one of the things that taught me was, don't worry about the things that you can't control. It also taught me that, in reality, any of us can be confronted with unexpected things at any time, and the question is, how well do we prepare to deal with it? So for me, for example, and it took me years after September 11 to recognize this, but one of the things that that happened when the building was hit, and Neither I, nor anyone on my side of the building really knew what happened. People say all the time, well, you didn't know because you couldn't see it. Well, excuse me, it hit 18 floors above us on the other side of the building. And the last time I checked X ray vision was fictitious, so nobody knew. But did the building shake? Oh, it tipped. Because tall buildings like that are flexible. And if you go to any tall building, in reality, they're made to buffet in wind storms and so on, and in fact, they're made to possibly be struck by an airplane, although no one ever expected that somebody would deliberately take a fully loaded jet aircraft and crash it into a tower, because it wasn't the plane hitting the tower as such that destroyed both of them. It was the exploding jet fuel that destroyed so much more infrastructure caused the buildings to collapse. But in reality, for me, I had done a lot of preparation ahead of time, not even thinking that there would be an emergency, but thinking about I need to really know all I can about the building, because I've got to be the leader of my office, and I should know all of that. I should know what to do in an emergency. I should know how to take people to lunch and where to go and all that. And by learning all of that, as I learned many and discovered many years later, it created a mindset that kicked in when the World Trade Center was struck, and in fact, we didn't know until after both towers had collapsed, and I called my wife. We I talked with her just before we evacuated, and the media hadn't even gotten the story yet, but I never got a chance to talk with her until after both buildings had collapsed, and then I was able to get through and she's the first one that told us how the two buildings had been hit by hijacked aircraft. But the mindset had kicked in that said, You know what to do, do it and that. And again, I didn't really think about that until much later, but that's something that is a lesson we all could learn. We shouldn't rely on just watching signs to know what to do, no to go in an emergency. We should really know it, because the knowledge, rather than just having information, the true intellectual knowledge that we internalize, makes such a big difference. Nick Francis  57:46 Do you think it was the fact that you were blind that made you so much more keen to know the way out that kind of that really helped you to understand that at the time? Michael Hingson  57:56 Well, what I think is being blind and growing up in an environment where so many things could be unexpected, for me, it was important to know so, for example, when I would go somewhere to meet a customer, I would spend time, ahead of time, learning how to get around, learning how to get to where they were and and learning what what the process was, because we didn't have Google Maps and we didn't have all the intellectual and and technological things that we have today. Well intellectual we did with the technology we didn't have. So today it's easier, but still, I want to know what to do. I want to really have the answers, and then I can can more easily and more effectively deal with what I need to deal with and react. So I'm sure that blindness played a part in all of that, because if I hadn't learned how to do the things that I did and know the things that I knew, then it would have been a totally different ball game, and so sure, I'm sure, I'm certain that blindness had something to do with it, but I also know that, that the fact is, what I learned is the same kinds of things that everyone should learn, and we shouldn't rely on just the signs, because what if the building were full of smoke, then what would you do? Right? And I've had examples of that since I was at a safety council meeting once where there was somebody from an electric company in Missouri who said, you know, we've wondered for years, what do we do if there's a fire in the generator room, in the basement, In the generator room, how do people get out? And he and I actually worked on it, and they developed a way where people could have a path that they could follow with their feet to get them out. But the but the reality is that what people first need to learn is eyesight is not the only game in town. Yeah, right. Mean, it's so important to really learn that, but people, people don't, and we take too many things for granted, which is, which is really so unfortunate, because we really should do a li

What does radical inclusion really look like – and what would change if dignity, access and belonging were built into our systems from the start?Marking the UN's International Day of Persons with Disabilities, this episode of Our World, Connected explores how societies can move beyond charity and good intentions towards a rights-based approach to disability inclusion – one that centres listening, participation, and meaningful action.Host Christine Wilson is joined on this episode by Nada Ehab, a youth development specialist and advisor to the British Council's Inclusive Youth Empowerment Programme in Egypt. Nada reflects on her journey from empathy-driven inclusion to a collective rights-based, participatory model, and shares insights from her work supporting young people with disabilities to engage in advocacy, social entrepreneurship, and community-led change. Together, they discuss the barriers that still exist in education, public spaces and digital environments, and why inclusion must be embedded across systems, not treated as a quota.We also hear a personal story from Saja Mohammed Alkadhimi, a 19-year-old student from Baghdad, UN Youth Advisory Council member, and disability rights advocate. Saja shares her experiences navigating education as a wheelchair user, the importance of accessible infrastructure, and why inclusive schools matter not just for learning, but for belonging. Her story brings the conversation to life, reminding us that inclusion is about unlocking potential, not lowering expectations.From education and policy to technology and leadership, this episode asks how we turn conversations about inclusion into concrete change - and why the responsibility for removing barriers must sit with society as a whole.Listen to Our World, Connected, the award-winning podcast from the British Council, exploring culture, communication, and the power of collaboration in a changing world.

We're talking about hashtags. Hashtags for Twitter.我们今天要谈的是标签（hashtag）。Twitter 上使用的标签。I'll stop you right there, Jackie.杰姬，我先打断你一下。You know I don't know hardly anything about Twitter whatsoever, but can you just clarify for me the difference between the hashtag and I've also seen the at symbol used for Twitter.你知道我对 Twitter 几乎一无所知，不过你能不能帮我解释一下 hashtag 和我在 Twitter 上看到的 @ 符号之间的区别？OK. So, the hashtag is basically a way for people to search for tweets that have the same topic or specific theme, whereas the at symbol is followed by the username.好的。Hashtag 基本上是一种让人们搜索同一主题或特定话题推文的方法，而 @ 符号后面则接的是用户名。It's the person's Twitter handle. It's used by a specific user.那是一个人的 Twitter 帐号，也就是某个特定用户使用的标识。Okidoki.好的，明白了。So, if we take the British Council or any other language organisations, learners or teachers of English, if they put in hashtag EFL, then they'll find all the tweets put up by people interested in that topic – English as a foreign language.例如，如果我们以英国文化协会或其他语言机构为例，英语学习者或教师输入 #EFL，他们就能看到所有有关该主题（英语作为外语）的推文。Right, OK. So, it's a bit like just simply Googling a topic.好，明白。所以这有点像直接用 Google 搜索一个主题。Exactly. But if you want to write someone, you'd put at.没错。但如果你想写信给某个人，你就用 @。Right. You're writing directly to that user.对，你是在直接留言给该用户。OK. So, anybody can make up a hashtag then on any topic they want?所以任何人都可以随意创建一个 hashtag，对任何主题都可以吗？Yes.是的。So, what's the issue then with businesses or organisations using the hashtag?那么企业或组织在使用 hashtag 时会遇到什么问题？Well, as we've said, the hashtags are shared, OK? So, if you take the University of Georgia, their hashtag is UGA, OK?如我们之前说过，hashtag 是共享的。比如佐治亚大学，他们的 hashtag 是 UGA。Right.好。Now, the problem is that during the Olympics, UGA was the three-letter code used by... Uganda.问题是，在奥运会期间，UGA 也是乌干达的三字母代码。Exactly.没错。And Twitter decided that all countries with their three-letter code would have a little flag attached to the code. So, it was hashtag UGA with a Ugandan flag.Twitter 决定所有国家的三字母代码都会附上一个小国旗。所以 #UGA 就自动加上了乌干达国旗。Right, OK.好，我知道了。So, the University of Georgia, which is American, their hashtag suddenly had a Ugandan flag attached to it.所以美国的佐治亚大学，他们的 hashtag 突然变成带有乌干达国旗的 #UGA。And people got confused when they were making searches, presumably.而用户在搜索时自然就产生了困惑。Well, exactly.完全正确。So, hashtag GBR for the Great Barrier Reef suddenly had a Union Jack.例如，大堡礁（Great Barrier Reef）的 hashtag #GBR 也突然变成带有英国国旗。For the great British Olympic team.因为英国奥运队的国家代码也是 GBR。Yeah.没错。So, businesses kind of had... you have to be careful that you might have your hashtag hijacked.所以企业必须小心，因为你的 hashtag 可能会被“挟持”。Mmm.嗯。Now, going back to hashtag EFL, right?回到 #EFL 这个例子。Yes. English as a foreign language.对，英语作为外语。Now, the problem there is the Football League in the UK, you're probably aware, has been completely rebranded.问题在于英国的足球联盟（Football League），你可能知道，他们已经完全重新品牌化。Yes.是的。They've got the Premier League but the other teams are in different leagues. They've branded themselves now as the English Football League. With their new logo.除了英超联赛，其他球队组成的联盟现在改名为“英格兰足球联赛”（English Football League），并启用了新的标志。So, they have started a Twitter account. They have a Twitter handle, at EFL.他们开了一个 Twitter 帐号，账号名称是 @EFL。Right.好。But if anyone puts the hashtag EFL, they'll get a mixture of the English Football League and English as a foreign language.但如果有人使用 hashtag #EFL，他们会同时看到英语足球联赛和英语作为外语两方面的内容。Exactly. It's like getting information about goals, like getting information about football rather than phonology.没错——你会看到进球信息，而不是语音学内容。Right, OK.好，我明白了。So, if you're a company, you've got to be very careful about what hashtags you choose for your company.所以，如果你是企业，你必须非常小心选择你的 hashtag。And we certainly can't use hashtag pie for obvious reasons.而我们当然不能用 #pie，这原因显而易见。Yes, exactly. So, businesses, just maybe do a little research before you choose the hashtag that goes with your tweet.没错。因此企业在选择 hashtag 时，最好先做一点研究。

Episode #446: This episode marks the beginning of a three-part series created during a three-day Digital Storytelling Workshop hosted by the Insight Myanmar Podcast, with support from ANU and IDRC. Over those days, emerging storytellers came together to practice something both ancient and profoundly human: telling stories. In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, the workshop served as a reminder that genuine connection — the kind built through care, honesty, and the courage to speak and listen — can never be automated. Guided by Caleb Gattegno'sinsight that “speaking is easy, communication is a miracle,” and grounded in the simple phrase we kept returning to, “tell me more,” this episode invites you to pull up a metaphorical third chair. You'll hear participants discovering their voices in real time, offering stories that create presence, intimacy, and shared understanding through one of humanity's oldest rituals: someone speaking, and someone listening. The first discussion features Mora, a social worker from central Myanmar, who contrasts a peaceful childhood with the subtle discrimination he faced because of his family's pro-democracy leanings. Disillusioned with the university system, he studied at the British Council in Mandalay, inspiring a return to his rural hometown to expand educational access there. After training at a monastic college, he introduced child-centered teaching, built a library, created safe play spaces, and partnered with INGOs on community projects. After the coup, he remained in in the country despite threats to his family to continues humanitarian work for displaced children, believing that helping even one life remains meaningful. Nan Gyi Thoke, a Chinese visual anthropology researcher and filmmaker in Thailand, reflects on her background, her creative path and her research into migrant Myanmar filmmakers working along the Thai–Myanmar border. Her own difficulties abroad—language, culture, legal barriers and limited resources—inspired her to study how Myanmar artists persist and support one anotheramid challenging conditions and restraints. She also co-runs a volunteer Chinese-language platform that shares everyday stories from Southeast Asia to counter stereotypes. Her upbringing in a borderland minority community shapes her commitment to cultural preservation, documentary work and building meaningful connections between Chinese and Burmese communities. Eugene is a young Shan journalist from Taunggyi who creates safety content for Shan communities and translates Burmese news for international readers. Reporting and translation have shown him how conflict, displacement, exploitation, and landmine contamination affect civilians across Shan State, which led him to develop public-education materials on landmines mines and explosive ordnance for Shan communities. He hopes to expand into original reporting, long-form and visual storytelling, and mentoring younger Shan creators. Jeremy describes traveling widely across Myanmar and later throughout Asia. He stresses preparing for weather, food, and transportation before traveling. His work in digital policy gives him opportunities to attend conferences abroad. Japan is his favorite country for its food, culture, politeness, and cool weather. Regarding study opportunities, he encourages young Burmese to pursue scholarships, and to build skills through reading, volunteering, and gaining experience.

In this podcast from 2015, Jennifer Williams speaks to Salma*, an Indian poet and crusader for women's rights.  They talk about Salma's strength and bravery in the face of oppression, her commitment to writing and publishing under extremely challenging circumstances and even *gasp* the use of the ‘v' word in contemporary poetry!  Salma was born in a small village in Southern India, and overcame many obstacles to publish her poetry and fiction, now recognised as an important contribution to Tamil writing.  Salma came to Scotland as part of the Scottish Poetry Library's Commonwealth Poets United project. As part of the cultural programme surrounding the XX Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Poets United was an international exchange project between six Scottish poets and poets from six Commonwealth nations:  Canada, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, Nigeria and South Africa.  It established relationships between artists, organisations and communities through a culturally enriching poetry exchange. The project was supported by Creative Scotland and the British Council, and partnered by BBC Radio Scotland. *Rakkiaiah is an Indian Tamil writer, activist, and politician known by the pen name Salma and the nickname Rajathi, and often referred to as Rajathi Salma. Music by James Iremonger.

The Game Changers podcast celebrates true pioneers who inspire us to take the big step forward and up in education and beyond. In episode 205 (Part 3) of Game Changers, Phil Cummins joins in conversation with Dr Donnie Adams! Dr Donnie Adams is based at the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia. He obtained his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from University of Malaya under the Bright Sparks scholarship and was awarded the University of Malaya's Excellence Award 2016: PhD Completion in Less than 3 Years. His significant contributions to the field have been recognised with several awards, including the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (VIC) Fellowship Award 2025 and the Emerald Young Researcher Award 2021 from Emerald Publishing. Additionally, he was featured by Britishpedia as one of the 'Successful People in Malaysia' in Education. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of Educational Research and Evaluation and is an editorial board member of several top-tier journals. With a strong commitment to education reform, his work has shaped inclusive school leadership practices across the Asia-Pacific, driving meaningful and systemic change by empowering teachers and future leaders. He has engaged in professional consultation and research partnerships with leading institutions worldwide, including the Ministries of Education in Malaysia and the Maldives, the Department of Education in the Philippines, the British Council in Nepal, ETH Zürich in Switzerland, The HEAD Foundation in Singapore, UNICEF, Teach For Malaysia, and the Asian Universities Alliance. The Game Changers podcast is produced by Evan Phillips supported by a School for tomorrow (aschoolfortomorrow.com), and powered by CIRCLE Education. The podcast is hosted on SoundCloud and distributed through Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts. Please subscribe and tell your friends you like what you are hearing. You can contact us at gamechangers@circle.education, on Twitter and Instagram via @GameChangersPC, and you can also connect with Phil via LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Let's go!

Vicky Clarke joins Caro C to explore her experimental approach to sound, from field recording and neural synthesis to AI technologies and spatial audio. She also discusses immersive installations, open-source tools and the unconventional inspirations that drive her work.Chapters00:00 - Introduction02:06 - Field Recording, Musique Concrète and DIY Electronics05:34 - Residency In Russia06:27 - Neural Synthesis And Machine Learning10:53 - Working On Aura Machine14:16 - Working With AI Technologies16:35 - Open Source Software18:30 - Developing An Immersive Sound Installation20:41 - Fear Around Technology22:23 - Spatial Audio Using Spat25:28 - Routing Ableton For Spatial Audio27:53 - Sculptures As Sound Sources30:32 - Adopting Emergent Technology33:53 - Geology As A Source Of Inspiration#ableton #spatVicky Clarke BiogVicky Clarke is a sound and electronic media artist from Manchester, whose work explores materiality, electrical phenomena and ritual. Working with sound sculpture, DIY electronics and human-machine systems, she explores our relationship to technology considering themes of human agency in autonomous systems, post-industrialisation and techno-emotional states. Her work takes the form of composition, installation and live AV performance. She produces music as SONAMB and her debut album, SLEEPSTATES, a ‘glitchy experimental techno jerker' (Boomkat) was released in 2022, accompanied by net-art piece ‘SLEEPSTATES.NET'.‘Latent Spaces', her 2025 spatial sound installation, was created as a selected ‘In Motion' composer with Sound & Music UK. Inviting audiences to step inside a computational model, the piece draws on her research into machine learning and musique concréte, working with early neural synthesis models and custom industrial datasets. This research practice developed through artistic residencies and commissions with NOVARS electroacoustic department at the University of Manchester, UK-Russia year of music, British Council, and Cyborg Soloists at the University of Holloway, resulting in her works ‘Aura Machine' and ‘Neural Materials.'Vicky won an Oram Award in 2020 from the New BBC Radiophonic Workshop & PRS Foundation. As a solo artist and previously with DIY electronics project Noise Orchestra, she has performed and exhibited at CTM, ICA, MUTEK, National Science & Media Museum, QO2 and STEIM amongst others. Her latest EP AURA MACHINE is out now on LOL Editions.https://vickyclarke.org/https://www.instagram.com/sonamb__/https://linktr.ee/sonamb__http://sleepstates.net/https://loleditions.bandcamp.com/album/aura-machineCaro C BiogCaro C is an artist, engineer and teacher specialising in electronic music. Her self-produced fourth album 'Electric Mountain' is out now. Described as a "one-woman electronic avalanche" (BBC), Caro started making music thanks to being laid up whilst living in a double decker bus and listening to the likes of Warp Records in the late 1990's. This 'sonic enchantress' (BBC Radio 3) has now played in most of the cultural hotspots of her current hometown of Manchester, UK. Caro is also the instigator and project manager of electronic music charity Delia Derbyshire Day.URL: http://carocsound.com/Twitter: @carocsoundInst: @carocsoundFB: https://www.facebook.com/carocsound/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts

How can higher education remain resilient in an age of uncertainty?Universities everywhere are under pressure, from political interference and funding cuts, to rapid technological change and shifting public expectations.In this episode of Our World, Connected, host Christine Wilson speaks with Michael Ignatieff, an award-winning author and historian, former leader of Canada's Liberal Party, and former President and Rector of Central European University (CEU). A keynote speaker at the British Council's Going Global 2025 conference, Michael reflects on the “storm clouds” gathering over higher education, drawing on his experience leading CEU through significant challenges, including political pressure that forced the institution to relocate. Together, they examine what resilience means for higher education today, the role of international partnerships and values-led leadership, the defence of academic freedom, and the human side of teaching and learning.We also hear live reflections from three delegates at last month's Going Global conference. Urvashi Prasad, a public policy and health specialist explores the role of empathy and evidence in shaping education, whilst Rawan Taha, a UN World Food Programme officer and UK Alumni SDG Ambassador shares her experience of adapting, upskilling and building resilience through international study. Finally, Caryn Nery, Director of Transnational Education (TNE) Partnerships at Victoria University, reflects on how TNE models proved robust during Covid and why diversified, student-centred partnerships matter now more than ever. Listen to Our World, Connected, brought to you by the British Council. Subscribe and follow for more conversations on culture, connection, and the power of education.

The Game Changers podcast celebrates true pioneers who inspire us to take the big step forward and up in education and beyond. In episode 205 (Part 2) of Game Changers, Phil Cummins joins in conversation with Dr Donnie Adams! Dr Donnie Adams is based at the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia. He obtained his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from University of Malaya under the Bright Sparks scholarship and was awarded the University of Malaya's Excellence Award 2016: PhD Completion in Less than 3 Years. His significant contributions to the field have been recognised with several awards, including the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (VIC) Fellowship Award 2025 and the Emerald Young Researcher Award 2021 from Emerald Publishing. Additionally, he was featured by Britishpedia as one of the 'Successful People in Malaysia' in Education. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of Educational Research and Evaluation and is an editorial board member of several top-tier journals. With a strong commitment to education reform, his work has shaped inclusive school leadership practices across the Asia-Pacific, driving meaningful and systemic change by empowering teachers and future leaders. He has engaged in professional consultation and research partnerships with leading institutions worldwide, including the Ministries of Education in Malaysia and the Maldives, the Department of Education in the Philippines, the British Council in Nepal, ETH Zürich in Switzerland, The HEAD Foundation in Singapore, UNICEF, Teach For Malaysia, and the Asian Universities Alliance. The Game Changers podcast is produced by Evan Phillips supported by a School for tomorrow (aschoolfortomorrow.com), and powered by CIRCLE Education. The podcast is hosted on SoundCloud and distributed through Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts. Please subscribe and tell your friends you like what you are hearing. You can contact us at gamechangers@circle.education, on Twitter and Instagram via @GameChangersPC, and you can also connect with Phil via LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Let's go!

Helen and Dr Harry Kuchah Kuchah reflect on his lifelong ELT journey, beginning with helping classmates in Cameroon and moving through roles as a primary-teacher educator, UK-based researcher, Ministry of Education policymaker, IATEFL President, Chair of the British Council's English Language Advisory Group, and Director of the University of Birmingham's MSc TESOL programme, where he also mentors four PhD students in multilingual education. Guided by the Ubuntu idea that “I am because you are,” he values community and collective work. Harry notes that ELT is becoming more context-sensitive and globally connected, and he advocates for deeper engagement with multilingualism and how languages enrich one another. Seeing language as a tool rather than a product, he argues for assessment that recognises meaningful, culturally situated communication instead of standard RP norms. Though he never sought leadership, relationships led him there, and he views education as a calling rooted in care, mentorship, and human connection.Harry at the University of Birmingham: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/education/staff/profile?Name=dr-harry-kuchah-kuchah&ReferenceId=206555Harry's Plenary Session on 'Teaching English in Difficult Circumstances at 2015 IATEFL Conference in Manchester: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/news-and-events/iatefl-online/2015/plenary-harry-kuchah  Harry's contribution to the British Council Podcast series ‘Our World Connected'  on the theme: What role does English play in our multilingual world? https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/our-world-connected-podcast/english-multilingual-worldHarry's autobiographical chapter in Alan Maley's open access edited book is available here: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications/case-studies-insights-and-research/developing-expertise-through-experienceThe Publication from the Africa ELTA Teacher Research mentoring programme can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UIKoFKdwynMvNs4Mj5FyaZZioMgwwBPE/viewTo find the complete archive of Developod episodes, go to tdsig.org/developod-tdsigs-podcast

محمد الغضبان هو مؤسس شركة رولا للإنتاج الفني وشريك مؤسس في مؤسسة بغداد للأفلام. في هذه الحلقة من تجارب، نتحدث معه عن واقع الصناعة الإبداعية بالعراق، تحديدًا صناعة الأفلام والمحتوى السينمائي، وكيف تطورت مسيرته من العمل كعامل إنتاج إلى أن أصبح منتجًا ومديرًا ثقافيًا.نستكشف معه الفجوة الكبيرة بين ما يريد صناع الأفلام العراقيون إنتاجه وبين ما يرغب الجمهور بمشاهدته فعليًا. نناقش لماذا 83% من المخرجين يصنعون أفلام درامية ووثائقية بينما 5% فقط من الجمهور يريد مشاهدة هذه الأنواع، وكيف أن غياب المنتجين المحترفين والبنى المعرفية الصحيحة أدى لتشويه نموذج الصناعة السينمائية بالعراق.نتطرق لمفهوم "الاستعمار الثقافي" في السينما العراقية، وكيف ساهمت المهرجانات والصناديق الدولية بتشكيل قالب معين للفيلم العراقي خلال الـ 20 سنة الماضية. نحكي عن دور المنتج الحقيقي في الصناعة، والفرق بين "صناعة الأفلام" و"صناعة السينما"، ولماذا العراق عنده الثانية وليس الأولى.نغطي أيضًا الفرص الهائلة الموجودة بالاقتصاد الإبداعي العراقي: كيف ازداد الطلب على المحتوى العربي بنسبة 1600% خلال آخر خمس سنوات، ولماذا الجمهور جاهز والتمويل موجود، لكن المشكلة الحقيقية بالصناع أنفسهم. نناقش دور المنصات الرقمية مثل "والمنصة" و"1001" في تغيير قواعد اللعبة، وأهمية بناء شبكة علاقات إقليمية ودولية من خلال مبادرات مثل "لقاءات بغداد للأفلام".ونختم بالحديث عن مفهوم "ما بعد السينما" وكيف أن التطور التكنولوجي والذكاء الاصطناعي يغير من طبيعة التلقي والإنتاج السينمائي، ولماذا نحتاج لتنظير فلسفي جديد يواكب هذه التحولات.الفصول:00:00 مقدمة00:41 واقع الإعلام والسينما العراقية02:21 تحديات الدراسات العليا والتعليم المشتت05:04 الذكاء الاصطناعي ومستقبل السينما07:38 البداية: من عامل إنتاج إلى منتج10:04 الدخول لكلية الفنون الجميلة12:28 العمل بالإعلانات والمهرجانات13:20 ما هي الصناعة الإبداعية؟15:50 لماذا لا نرى أفلام عراقية بدور السينما؟17:43 الفجوة بين الصناع والجمهور20:33 الاستعمار الثقافي للسينما العراقية24:10 80% من صناع الأفلام صاروا بالصدفة28:00 تشويه صورة السينما العراقية30:38 الفيلم المستقل: مفهوم مشوّه33:01 كيف نسوّق الثقافة المحلية؟36:24 غياب المنتجين الحقيقيين39:13 أهمية الفشل في الاكتشاف الذاتي41:55 لماذا الصناعة صارت بالصدفة؟44:47 دور المنتج الحقيقي49:21 فرصة تاريخية: ازدياد الطلب على المحتوى العربي52:24 نموذج الفيلم الكردي الناجح55:00 أهمية البيانات في فهم الجمهور58:08 ما هو الاقتصاد الإبداعي؟1:03:24 لماذا الاستثمار بالعراق؟1:07:36 معوقات جذب الاستثمار1:12:27 غياب السياسة الثقافية بالدستور1:15:57 الحاجة لمؤسسة متخصصة1:19:33 شركة رولا للإنتاج1:22:48 نموذج عمل شركة الإنتاج1:25:28 مؤسسة بغداد للأفلام1:29:49 ما بعد السينما والذكاء الاصطناعي1:36:02 الهيمنة الثقافية: من السينما للهاتف1:39:33 دور المنصات الرقميةتكدرون تشوفون كل حلقاتنا على منصتكم المفضلة عن طريق الرابط: linktr.ee/tajaribpodcastارسلولنا اقتراحاتكم للضيوف على الإيميل: hello@tajarib.showللتعاون والرعاية: sponsors@tajarib.showهذه الحلقة بالتعاون مع المجلس الثقافي البريطاني (British Council) الذي يدعم تنمية الاقتصاد الإبداعي بالعراق.

The Game Changers podcast celebrates true pioneers who inspire us to take the big step forward and up in education and beyond. In episode 205 (Part 1) of Game Changers, Phil Cummins joins in conversation with Dr Donnie Adams! Dr Donnie Adams is based at the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia. He obtained his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from University of Malaya under the Bright Sparks scholarship and was awarded the University of Malaya's Excellence Award 2016: PhD Completion in Less than 3 Years. His significant contributions to the field have been recognised with several awards, including the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (VIC) Fellowship Award 2025 and the Emerald Young Researcher Award 2021 from Emerald Publishing. Additionally, he was featured by Britishpedia as one of the 'Successful People in Malaysia' in Education. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of Educational Research and Evaluation and is an editorial board member of several top-tier journals. With a strong commitment to education reform, his work has shaped inclusive school leadership practices across the Asia-Pacific, driving meaningful and systemic change by empowering teachers and future leaders. He has engaged in professional consultation and research partnerships with leading institutions worldwide, including the Ministries of Education in Malaysia and the Maldives, the Department of Education in the Philippines, the British Council in Nepal, ETH Zürich in Switzerland, The HEAD Foundation in Singapore, UNICEF, Teach For Malaysia, and the Asian Universities Alliance. The Game Changers podcast is produced by Evan Phillips supported by a School for tomorrow (aschoolfortomorrow.com), and powered by CIRCLE Education. The podcast is hosted on SoundCloud and distributed through Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts. Please subscribe and tell your friends you like what you are hearing. You can contact us at gamechangers@circle.education, on Twitter and Instagram via @GameChangersPC, and you can also connect with Phil via LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Let's go!

Săptămîna aceasta vă propunem o serie de discuții dedicate diplomației culturale și rolului Institutului Cultural Român ca instrument de soft power pentru promovarea culturii române în străinătate. Invitata noastră de astăzi este Corina Șuteu, expertă în politici culturale, fostă directoare la ICR New York, fostă ministră a culturii. Multe state europene au instituții prin care își promovează cultura în alte țări, dacă ne gîndim doar la Institutul Francez, la British Council, la Goethe-Institut sau Centrul Ceh. De ce este important să avem o instituție care să promoveze cultura română în străinătate, de ce arta are nevoie să fie susținută din bani publici pentru a trece granițele? Corina Șuteu: „E necesar pentru că politica culturală externă, felul în care exporți cultura este singurul element sensibil, emoțional pe care îl ai pentru a comunica despre o nație. Nu există alt element sensibil. Cînd a fost aici ambasador, Hans Klemm mi-a spus: îmi pare foarte rău să vă spun, doamna Șuteu, noi, americanii, am fost prezenți în trecut prin Biblioteca Americană, prin anumite schimburi iar astăzi nu sîntem prezenți decît prin schimbul de arme. Și asta nu dă o imagine bună despre America. Norocul lor este că au Netflix și au filmele pe care le fac și Hollywoodul compensează asta. Dar noi nu avem Hollywoodul, noi nu avem un magnat, un fel de uriașă mașinărie care să transmită cultura europeană, cultura română și care să le deschidă cetățenilor lumii o fereastră către zona sensibilă, empatică a unei țări. Or, asta nu poate face decît un institut ca Institutul Cultural Român, ca Goethe-Institut, ca Institutul Francez. Asta nu se poate face decît din fonduri publice. Pentru că trebuie să existe o gîndire competentă și unitară despre cum cu resurse mici putem să avem un efect important. (...) Ideea de a avea o susținere pentru acei artiști, acele proiecte, acele evenimente care cîștigă interesul piețelor culturale externe nu se poate face decît prin susținere publică. Și-mi permit să spun că, pe lîngă susținerea publică și cantitățile de resurse alocate altor domenii, alocarea din fonduri publice pentru schimburile culturale internaționale este modestă sau, dacă nu e modestă, ea încă nu are o direcție strategică foarte clară. Dacă vrem să fim cunoscuți, noi avem nevoie să explicăm și cine sîntem în sufletul nostru, nu doar în acțiunile noastre legate de economie, de industrie, de armament. Pînă la urmă, marii noștri ambasadori în lume sînt artiștii. Sîntem o țară care produce talent într-o cantitate impresionantă. Ce facem noi cu acest talent, cum acompaniem acest talent, care oricum își va găsi la un moment dat expresia? E preferabil să-i dăm acea acompaniere pentru ca el să poată să fie și reprezentativ. Nu să ne trezim abia cînd el devine reprezentativ că spunem că-i al nostru și după aceea citim în muzee Brâncuși French born in Romania.”Apasă PLAY pentru a asculta interviul integral! O emisiune de Adela Greceanu și Matei MartinUn produs Radio România Cultural

absolutely poeticThis show is about DEI, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and in a first for the podcast, we'll go absolutely poetic and start with a poem.The book, in which this poem by Alan Maley appeared, is available free of charge from the British Council. It's called Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom … Continue reading "DEI +++ Verónica Higareda +++ authenticity +++ Absolutely Intercultural 312"

Chinese takers of the International English Language Testing System test obtained an average score of 5.9 during the 2024-25 academic year, placing the mainland 35th among all participating countries and regions globally, according to the British Council.英国文化教育协会数据显示，在2024-2025学年，中国大陆地区国际英语语言测试系统考生的平均分为5.9分，在全球所有参与的国家和地区中位列第35名。Score distribution remained relatively stable, with nearly 60 percent of test takers falling into the 5.5 to 6.5 score band—a slight decrease of 1.7 percent compared with the previous year, the British Council said in a recent report on IELTS test takers' performance on the Chinese mainland.英国文化教育协会在近期一份关于中国大陆地区雅思考生表现的报告中指出，分数分布保持相对稳定，近60%的考生分数集中在5.5至6.5分区间——较上年同期小幅下降1.7%。In terms of individual skills, reading continued to be the strongest area for Chinese candidates, with an average score of 6.2.Speaking and writing, though still challenging, showed the most improvement compared with 2018-2019 levels, indicating notable progress inproductive language skills.在单项技能方面，阅读仍是中国考生的强项，平均分为6.2分。口语和写作尽管仍有挑战，但与2018-2019年的水平相比显示出最大进步，这表明学生在语言输出能力方面取得了显著进展。The report also highlighted performance trends across different education stages. Compared with 2018-2019, test takers at the secondary, vocational, undergraduate and postgraduate levels all demonstrated improvement, especially in writing and speaking.报告还强调了不同教育阶段考生的表现趋势。与2018-2019年相比，中学、职业院校、本科及研究生阶段的考生均显示出进步，尤其在写作和口语方面。Middle school students showed steady overall progress, with significant gains in speaking and writing. Vocational college candidates improved across all skills, particularly in reading and writing. Undergraduate students performed well in reading, though listening emerged as anarea requiring attention. Postgraduate candidates maintained consistently high performance in reading and writing.中学生总体稳步提升，口语和写作成绩进步显著。职业学院考生各项技能均有提高，阅读和写作尤为明显。本科生阅读表现良好，但听力成为需关注领域。研究生考生在阅读和写作上持续保持高水平表现。Regionally, Shanghai led in average scores, though gaps among regions are gradually narrowing.从地区来看，上海平均分领先，但各地区之间的差距正在逐步缩小。Among top institutions, 38 universities achieved an average academic IELTS score of 6.5 or above, with Fudan University reaching band 7 for the secondconsecutive year.在顶尖院校中，有38所大学的学术类雅思平均分达到6.5分及以上，其中复旦大学连续第二年达到7分。According to a survey by the British Council conducted in August, which collected online responses from 1,120 IELTS test takers on the Chinese mainland, study destination choices are becoming increasingly diverse.根据英国文化教育协会于8月进行的一项调查，该调查在线收集了1120名中国大陆地区雅思考生的反馈，留学目的地选择正日趋多元化。While the United Kingdom remains the most popular choice, Hong Kong has seen a significant rise in popularity, moving into second place, followed closely by Australia. Interest in various Asian and European destinations is also growing.虽然英国仍是最热门选择，但中国香港地区的热度显著上升，跃居第二位，澳大利亚紧随其后。对亚洲及欧洲各类目的地的兴趣也在增长。When it comes to decision-making, prospective students consider multiple factors, including the academic and research strength of institutions, the overall influence and reputation of the country or region, as well as employment recognition and safety upon returning to China, the survey said.调查显示，在决策时，准留学生们会综合考虑多重因素，包括院校的学术与研究实力、国家或地区的整体影响力与声誉，以及回国后的就业认可度和安全性。Applying to institutions in multiple countries continues to be a common strategy, with more than half of the surveyed respondents planning to submit applications to universities in more than one country or region, often with the UK as their primary choice, it said.申请多国院校仍是常见策略，超过半数的受访者计划向一个以上的国家或地区提交申请，且通常以英国为首选目标。The value of IELTS in the professional sphere is also becoming more evident. Among working professionals surveyed, 55 percent reported encountering IELTS scores as a mandatory requirement for job applications or promotions. About 86 percent of respondents said preparing for the test effectively improved their workplace English skills, and 85 percent agreed that the competencies assessed by IELTSalign well with real-world professional demands, the survey said.雅思在职业领域的价值也日益凸显。在接受调查的在职专业人士中，55%的人表示在求职或晋升时遇到过要求提供雅思成绩的情况。约86%的受访者称备考有效提升了其职场英语技能，85%的受访者认同雅思所考查的能力与实际职业需求契合度高。Nie Xi zi, a 21-year-old undergraduate student from the Renmin University of China, has taken the IELTS test twice to support her academic goals.来自中国人民大学的21岁本科生聂惜子（音译）为了支持她的学业目标，已经参加了两次雅思考试。Her first attempt was in February 2024, primarily to apply for a spot in an overseas exchange program. The second test took place in September this year, aimed at preparing for studying abroad at a postgraduate level. She achieved an overall band score of 8 in both exams.她第一次考试是在2024年2月，主要是为了申请海外交流项目名额。第二次考试则在今年9月，旨在为研究生阶段出国留学做准备。她在两次考试中均取得了总分8分的成绩。Through the two test preparations, Nie said she gained a deep understanding that IELTS is not only a language proficiency assessment, but also a comprehensive exercise of overall abilities.通过这两次备考，聂惜子（音译）表示她深刻体会到雅思不仅是一项语言能力评估，更是对综合能力的全面锻炼。During the process, she became more aware of her strengths and weaknesses: despite having a solid English foundation and performing excellently in listening and reading, she still faces the common issue among Chinese students of emphasizing input over output.在此过程中，她更清楚地认识到自己的优势与不足：尽管英语基础扎实，听力和阅读表现出色，但她仍面临着中国学生普遍存在的重输入、轻输出的问题。"My speaking and writing scores lag significantly behind the other two sections and remain unstable, which is an area I plan to focus on improving in the future," she said.她表示：“我的口语和写作成绩远落后于另外两项，并且仍不稳定，这是我计划未来重点提升的方面。”Score distribution分数分布productive language skills语言输出能力area requiring attention需关注领域consecutive year连续第二年align well with 与……契合度高

The average worker has spent almost 50% of their paycheque within 48 hours of being paid. So, how do you stretch your funds further when costs keep rising. Helen asks Carol Glynn of Conscious Finance Coaching. We also find out how the British Council in Dubai is helping the UAE harness the power of its young population - and we're joined by Cognita Education to learn a bit more about the realities of introducing AI to the nation's classrooms.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Como preparar quem ensina para um mundo cada vez mais digital? No episódio #150 do podcast do InovaSocial, conversamos com Diana Daste, Diretora de Engajamento Cultural do British Council no Brasil, sobre o papel do pensamento computacional e da programação na formação de professores da rede pública. A discussão mostra que o tema vai além do código e envolve resolver problemas, colaborar e conectar tecnologia ao currículo.A partir do Codifica+, projeto do British Council voltado à capacitação docente, Diana compartilha bastidores, aprendizados e caminhos práticos para começar: integrar projetos interdisciplinares, criar desafios conectados ao território e apoiar o professor na sala de aula com recursos acessíveis. Também falamos sobre os obstáculos de infraestrutura e tempo, e sobre como construir redes de apoio entre escolas, gestores e comunidades.Links relacionados:Conheça o Codifica+Pesquisa Next Generation

How can culture and creativity be powerful tools for connection, diplomacy, and intercultural dialogue?In this episode of Our World, Connected, we explore how art and cultural exchange can drive global cooperation, inspire climate action, embrace youth aspirations, and open new pathways for understanding in an increasingly divided world.Host Christine Wilson is joined by Ambassador Antonio Patriota, Brazil's Ambassador to the UK, and one of the country's most experienced diplomats, for a wide-ranging conversation about the power of cultural exchange in shaping international relations. We discuss Brazil's renewed environmental leadership, the UK's creative ties with Brazil, and the significance of the UK/Brazil Season of Culture 2025–26, a year-long celebration of artistic collaboration and cultural diplomacy.Also featured in the episode is British-Iranian artist Javaad Alipoor, and his work for the UK/Australia British Council season (2021-22). He reflects on the politics of art, the power of international collaboration, and the nuanced role of soft power in global cultural work.From the UK, to Australia, and onto Brazil, this episode highlights how cultural connections can foster understanding, amplify youth voices, and inspire action across borders.Listen to the award-winning podcast Our World, Connected, brought to you by the British Council. Subscribe and follow for more thought-provoking conversations on culture, communication, and the power of collaboration.

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Ruba Khalid Al-Faleet is a Palestinian writer, artist, and poet based in Gaza. Her work explores the intersection of identity, resistance, and the poetics of survival under siege. As an active member of the Gaza Poets Society and a contributor to the Resilient Voices digital storytelling project by the British Council, Ruba uses her voice to document lived realities, reclaim narrative agency, and build bridges through creative expression. Her art and poetry are deeply intertwined—each piece a visual and verbal testament to what endures when language is all that remains. She joins us from Gaza to share her story. The When Tony met Simon Podcast is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-140180209 Support Dignity for Palestine here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-good-news-140335712

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Ruba Khalid Al-Faleet is a Palestinian writer, artist, and poet based in Gaza. Her work explores the intersection of identity, resistance, and the poetics of survival under siege. As an active member of the Gaza Poets Society and a contributor to the Resilient Voices digital storytelling project by the British Council, Ruba uses her voice to document lived realities, reclaim narrative agency, and build bridges through creative expression. Her art and poetry are deeply intertwined—each piece a visual and verbal testament to what endures when language is all that remains. She joins us from Gaza to share her story. The When Tony met Simon Podcast is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-140180209 Support Dignity for Palestine here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-good-news-140335712

What does cultural heritage have to do with climate change, and how can creativity help communities respond to a crisis that threatens both land and legacy?In the opening episode of Season 3, host Christine Wilson explores cultural heritage and creativity in the context of climate action. From a local neighbourhood in Cairo, to the cultural policy conference Mondiacult, to the United Nations' global gathering on climate change (the Conference of the Parties - COP), we're asking how culture and creativity can build more resilient communities and more sustainable futures.Christine is joined by Dr. Sally Flint, a writer, researcher, and creative lead of the We Are the Possible programme at the University of Exeter - an international initiative using poetry and storytelling to communicate the climate crisis. Through Sally's work, we explore the power of the arts to foster emotional connection, shift perspectives, and imagine new possibilities for the planet.We also hear from May al-Ibrashy, a conservation architect and founder of Megawra, an Egyptian initiative preserving historic Cairo through community-led heritage projects. As the climate crisis reshapes urban life, May shares how heritage conservation can restore not only buildings, but also agency, pride and collective memory.Together, Sally and May offer a powerful reminder that culture is not just what we stand to lose, it's also how we find the strength to act.Listen to Our World, Connected, brought to you by the British Council. Subscribe and follow for more thought-provoking conversations on culture, communication, and the power of education.Additional Resources & Links:Season 1 Episode 5: Climate change and cultural heritage with Dr Scott Orr and Barbra Babweteera Mutambihttps://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/our-world-connected-podcast/climate-change-cultural-heritage-protecting-past-futureClimate change impacts on cultural heritagehttps://www.britishcouncil.org/climate-change-impacts-cultural-heritage-0The British Council Strategic Literature Review: Climate Change Impacts on Cultural Heritagehttps://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/british-council-strategic-literature-review-climate-change-impacts-cultural Follow British Council Research and Insight:Newsletter – https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/subscribeTwitter – https://twitter.com/InsightBritish Website - https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight

36. International Booker prize winners, author Banu Mushtaq & translator Deepa Bhashti talk to co-hosts Paul Waters & Jonathan Kennedy on the We'd Like A Word books & authors podcast at the 2025 Jaipur Literature Festival at the British Library in London.We talk about Banu's short story collection Heart Lamp; whether foreign language words should be italicised - Deepa says no; why Heart Lamp stands out as the first notable translation from Kannada (the language of Karnataka in southern India) into English; and the dynamic between author & translator.We also hear from Lisa Honan of the East India Walking Tour & playwright Dr Anu Kumar, together creators of A London Lark Rising - a moving, walking, street theatre all about the East India Company which ruled large swathes of India from London. Is this tour better than reading The Anarchy by William Dalrymple or listening to the Empire Podcast hosted by William with Anita Anand? (Personally, I'd say it's complementary. You should read both Anita's & William's books.)By the way, Lisa Honan used to be the Governor of St Helena - yup, the island to which Napoleon was banished for the second and final time. She has some stories - including about plumed hats - yes or no, and why.And we hear from Sanjoy Roy, author and one the geniuses behind the international web of festivals known as the Jaipur Literature Festival on providing platforms for diverse conversations which are not publisher driven, focusing on the ideas behind the books, rather than the books themselves; and about it's getting more difficult these days to have free flowing varied conversations.Plus we touch on Singaporean author Ivy Ngeow, Indian-German artistic due Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser, Anil & Kiran Agarwal & their Riverside Studios arts space in London, Catalan literature, who makes the best tea, whether only British people queue, & should seagulls eat cigarette butts?WHO IS JONATHAN KENNEDY? Jonathan was Director of Arts in India for 5 years for the British Council. He's been everywhere in India and knows everyone there involved in culture. He was also for 12 years the Executive Director of Tara Arts, looking at the world through a South Asian lens. Jonathan is doing some India & South Asian episodes of We'd Like A Word with us every now & then. We'd Like A Word is a podcast & radio show from authors Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan. (And sometimes Jonathan Kennedy.) We talk with writers, readers, editors, agents, celebrities, talkers, poets, publishers, booksellers, & audiobook creators about books - fiction & non-fiction. We go out on various radio & podcast platforms. Our website is http://www.wedlikeaword.com for information on Paul, Steve & our guests. We're on Twitter @wedlikeaword & Facebook @wedlikeaword & our email is wedlikeaword@gmail.com Yes, we're embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear from you - questions, thoughts, ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word to chat, review or read out passages from books.Paul is the author of a new Irish-Indian cosy crime series set in contemporary Delhi. The first in the series is Murder in Moonlit Square, which published by No Exit Press / Bedford Square Publishers & Penguin India in October 2025. Paul previously wrote the 1950s Irish border thriller Blackwatertown.We can also recommend Cockerings, the comic classic by Stevyn Colgan, and his hugely popular YouTube channel @Colganology

We're back! Join us over the coming 12 episodes, where we'll be continuing our global conversations about culture, education and language, asking how creativity, learning, and international exchange can help us meet the challenges of today's complex and interconnected world.This season, we'll be exploring pressing themes of our time, and meeting inspiring people who are making a difference. From how cultural heritage and creative writing are inspiring new approaches to climate action, to how international cultural seasons help build bridges between nations, we'll hear stories from people working on the ground in Egypt, Brazil, Thailand, the UK and beyond.Join Christine Wilson, Director of Research and Insight at the British Council, and her diverse range of guests as they reflect on the power of culture to shape more peaceful and prosperous futures.If you're curious about the world in 2025, or simply want to hear fresh perspectives from people shaping culture across continents, follow Our World, Connected, wherever you get your podcasts, and be the first to listen to Season 3.Additional Resources and Links:Climate change impacts on cultural heritage | British CouncilSoft power at a turning point, a comparative analysis | British CouncilUsing multilingual practices | Teaching English | British CouncilTransnational Education - What We Know | British CouncilFollow British Council Research and Insight:Newsletter - https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/subscribe Twitter - https://twitter.com/InsightBritish Website - https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight

What role can education play in times of war, displacement, and uncertainty? And how can schools and universities provide not just learning, but hope, courage, and resilience for communities in crisis?In this bonus episode of Our World, Connected, host Christine Wilson reflects on her conversation with Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin, Vice President at King's College London and founder of the African Leadership Centre. Drawing on her own experiences of conflict in Nigeria and her career at the UN, ‘Funmi shares why she sees education as central to rebuilding societies — from restoring institutions after war, to forging equitable partnerships that transcend borders.We also hear from Nigerian activist Wadi Ben-Hirki, who has spent nearly a decade advocating for marginalised girls, and from Dr Koula Charitonos of the Open University, who explores how EdTech can offer opportunities for refugees, but also how it has the potential to exacerbateinequalities, and most fundamentally, to lose that human aspect of education.Together, these voices reveal how, even in the face of violence and instability, education can act as a lifeline — shaping futures, strengthening communities, and creating the possibility of lasting peace.Listen to Our World, Connected, brought to you by the British Council. Subscribe and follow for more global stories on culture, connection, and the power of education.Additional Resources and Links:Episode 8 Season 1 | Culture and education: Seeds of hope in times of conflicthttps://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/our-world-connected-podcast/culture-education-hope Teaching for peace - British Councilhttps://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/teaching-for-peaceTransnational education: students from conflict-affected regions opting for UK universitieshttps://www.britishcouncil.org/about/press/students-conflict-affected-regions-opting-uk-universities International higher education partnerships and the Sustainable Development GoalsInternational higher education partnerships and the Sustainable Development Goals | British CouncilResearch in the midst of conflict: New perspectives on peacebuilding in Sudan and Ethiopiahttps://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/research-in-conflict Follow British Council Research and Insight:Newsletter - https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/subscribe Twitter - https://twitter.com/InsightBritish Website - https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight

What does it mean to tell stories through the spaces we live in? And how can architecture be a source of memory and repair?In this bonus episode of Our World, Connected, host Christine Wilson revisits a powerful conversation with Kabage Karanja, architect, researcher, and co-founder of Nairobi-based design studio Cave_bureau.A leading voice in rethinking architecture through the lens of ecology, memory, and justice, Kabage shares his reflections on vernacular architecture, the legacy of British colonialism, and the importance of caves as spaces of cultural knowledge. His work, including the groundbreaking UK-Kenya collaboration Geology of Britannic Repair, exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, asks urgent questions about how we live, what we build, and what we choose to remember.Christine also draws on insights from other voices featured in Season 2 — including artist Rosie Olang' Odhiambo and filmmaker Noé Mendelle — to explore how storytelling takes many forms, from exhibitions and documentaries to the natural world around us. Together, these creative practitioners show how the stories we choose to tell can become tools for connection, repair, and collective healing.Listen to Our World, Connected, brought to you by the British Council. Subscribe and follow for more thought-provoking conversations on culture, communication, and the power of storytelling.Additional Resources & Links:Digital Cultural Heritage: Imagination, innovation and opportunityhttps://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/digital-cultural-heritageUK Arts, Culture and Young People: Innovative practice and trendshttps://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/UK-arts-young-peopleOFF/TRACK Collective: Imagining New forms of Cultural Productionhttps://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/new-cultural-productionFocus on Ukraine – Supporting Decolonisation in Museumshttps://arts.britishcouncil.org/resources/focus-ukraine-supporting-decolonisation-museumsFollow British Council Research and Insight:Newsletter - https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/subscribe Twitter - https://twitter.com/InsightBritish Website - https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight

C dans l'air du 29 août 2025 - Frappes sur Kiev : à quoi joue Poutine ?C'est l'une des plus importantes attaques aériennes russes contre l'Ukraine depuis le début de la guerre. Tôt ce jeudi, plus de six cent drones ont frappé des immeubles d'habitation à Kiev, tuant au moins vingt-trois personnes, dont quatre enfants. Les missiles ont aussi endommagé un bâtiment de la mission diplomatique de l'Union européenne, ainsi que le bureau du British Council. Le président du Conseil européen, Antonio Costa, s'est dit « horrifié ». Un effroi partagé par António Guterres, le secrétaire général de l'ONU, qui appelle à un cessez-le-feu.Sur le front, les combats continuent plus que jamais. L'armée russe semble profiter de la fébrilité américaine. Les menaces de la Maison blanche contre Moscou sont timides, et si Trump se dit « pas content » des dernières frappes, il ne s'affirme « pas surpris pour autant ». « Peut-être que les deux camps ne sont pas prêts à mettre fin au conflit » explique-t-il, renvoyant l'Ukraine et la Russie dos à dos. À Kiev, les habitants voient leur quotidien bousculé. C dans l'air a passé une nuit dans le métro de la ville, où beaucoup viennent se réfugier. Si tous espèrent une paix durable, peu se font d'illusions à court terme. L'épuisement est palpable depuis trois ans, mais les Ukrainiens ne veulent pas concéder de territoires à l'ennemi russe. Pendant ce temps, la Moldavie craint d'être la prochaine cible de Moscou. Cette ancienne république soviétique, qui ne compte que deux millions d'habitants, voit déjà la Transnistrie, bande de terre à la frontière russe, être aux mains du Kremlin. Différents chefs d'état, dont Emmanuel Macron et Friedrich Merz, sont allés cette semaine soutenir la présidente moldave Maia Sandu. Celle-ci compte sur sur l'Europe pour protéger sa nation. Alors, pourquoi Poutine intensifie-t-il les frappes en pleine négociations pour la paix ? Comment les Kiéviens vivent-ils la guerre ? La Moldavie sera-t-elle protégée contre l'ogre russe ?LES EXPERTS :- Anthony BELLANGER - Éditorialiste à Franceinfo TV, spécialiste des questions internationales- Joséphine STARON - Directrice des études et des relations internationales – Synopia- Annie DAUBENTON - Journaliste-essayiste, ancienne correspondante à Kiev et Moscou- Xavier TYTELMAN - Ancien pilote de chasse, expert en défense et en aéronautique pour Air & Cosmos

On this week's Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute think tank, former Pentagon Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security, former Pentagon comptroller Dr. Dov Zakheim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's statement that the administration would take stakes in defense and aerospace firms; what's next for ending the Ukraine war a week after President Trump hosted key meetings; Russia launched its largest attack in a month with a strike just 50 yards from EU and British Council offices in Kyiv as European governments work to increase support for Ukraine; Washington continues to move toward normalizing relations with with Russia as the Wall Street Journal reports energy deals have been discussed including Exxon reentering a cooperative venture with Rosneft; the administration's drive to fire top intelligence officers specializing in Russia; South Korean President Lee Jae-myung's White House meeting that put shipbuilding at center of US-Korea alliance; China prepares for its 80th anniversary Victory Day celebration with Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and Masoud Pezeshkian; Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles visited Washington to schedule a meeting between his boss Anthony Albanese and Trump; Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Tokyo as Washington and New Delhi conduct remote 2+2 talks; GOP senators' Taiwan visit; France, Germany and Britain's call on the UN to implement “snap back” sanctions on Iran for violating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action; Israel presses ahead with operations in Gaza including two strikes on a hospital that killed five more journalists and 15 others in an attack that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he regrets and will be investigated.

Good afternoon, I'm _____ with today's episode of EZ News. Tai-Ex opening The Tai-Ex opened up 202-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 24,438 on turnover of $6.8-billion N-T. The market's recent winning streak ended on Thursday, as the main board tumbled over 280-points after Nvidia's highly anticipated earnings report showed that sales of its artificial intelligence chipsets rose at a slower pace than analysts had anticipated. Lai admin. to hold more disaster response drills The government will be holding a series of drills that include trials (考驗，測試) of a earthquake warning system next month. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the drill will be taking place from September 17 through 19 and have been organized to coincide with the annual National Disaster Prevention Day - which falls on September 21. Deputy Interior Minister Ma Shih-yuan says the drills will simulate a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in the Ryukyu Trench east of Taiwan, followed by a tsunami .. .. while the main event will be a three-day exercise in Yilan County, simulating large-scale rescue operations. An earthquake rescue drill will also be held at Xinzhuang Sports Park in New Taipei City on September 18 and 19. Governor of Taiwan's central bank ranked A- by Global Finance Central bank governor Yang Jin-long has received an A- grade from New York-based Global Finance magazine. That grade is up from B+ last year. Based on the Central Banker Report Cards 2025, the magazine returned Yang to an A grade based on the bank's policies and decisions this year. Yang has worked for the central bank since 1989 and became governor in 2018. Yang's predecessor (前任) Peng Fai-nan has the distinction of being the only central banker in the world to have earned the top grade 14 times since the annual report was first released in 1994 - gaining straight A's from 2005-2017. UK Summons Russian Ambassador After Ukraine Strikes London says Russia's latest attack against Ukraine which killed at least 18 people in its capital, Kyiv, are "further sabotaging (破壞) international peace efforts." Russia launched nearly 600 drones and fired over 30 missiles overnight, hitting residential areas as well as the British Council building in Kyiv. Stuart Smith has more from London. US Seeks UN Authorization for Gang Suppression Force in Haiti The United States is seeking U.N. authorization for a new “Gang Suppression Force” to help tackle escalating violence in Haiti where the armed groups have expanded their activities from the capital into the countryside. Acting U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea made the announcement at a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday, but it was unclear how it would differ from the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support force now deployed in the violence-torn Caribbean nation trying to help police curb (抑制) gang violence. She said the U.S. and Panama will be circulating (傳遞) a draft resolution to the Security Council to establish the Gang Suppression Force and create a U.N. Support Office to provide logistical support to it. In February, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposed opening an office that would provide drones, fuel, ground and air transportation and other non-lethal support to the Kenya-led mission. Shea gave no indication of whether the United States would provide any military or police support to the new Gang Suppression Force. That was the I.C.R.T. EZ News, I'm _____. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

Presa internațională a reacționat imediat după ce atacurile aeriene rusești de miercuri noaptea au lovit capitala Ucrainei, ucigând 14 persoane. Printre clădirile afectate s-au numărat misiunea diplomatică a Uniunii Europene și sediul British Council. Politico titrează: ”Putin sfidează presiunile pentru pace cu un atac masiv asupra misiunii UE din Kiev”. Potrivit publicației europene, ”atacul asupra Kievului a avut loc în aceeași zi în care miniștrii apărării din UE urmau să sosească la Copenhaga pentru a discuta despre cum să pună mai multă presiune asupra Rusiei atât prin sancțiuni, cât și prin sprijin pentru Ucraina”.   Euronews vorbește despre ”unda de șoc” declanșată de atacul rusesc.   ”Convenția de la Viena din 1961 prevede protecția spațiilor diplomatice și consulare împotriva intruziunii sau deteriorării, deși nu este neobișnuit ca aceste clădiri să fie afectate în timpul de război. Kremlinul a demonstrat un dezinteres constant față de respectarea regulilor internaționale pe tot parcursul invaziei sale la scară largă împotriva Ucrainei”.   Deutsche Welle informează că ”ministrul german al Apărării, Boris Pistorius, a numit atacurile Rusiei asupra Kievului un „act teribil” care arată că președintele rus Vladimir Putin „nu este deloc interesat de pace sau chiar de un armistițiu”. „El continuă ceea ce a făcut tot timpul: atacă Ucraina, ucide civili ucraineni și este un imperialist la apogeul său”, a adăugat el.   Euractiv notează că ”Rusia și-a intensificat atacurile aeriene asupra Ucrainei în ultimele luni, în ciuda eforturilor tot mai mari ale Occidentului de a ajunge la o soluționare diplomatică a războiului. Însă aceste eforturi au stagnat în ultimele săptămâni, Moscova refuzând să accepte o întâlnire bilaterală între președintele ucrainean Volodimir Zelenski și liderul rus Vladimir Putin - în ciuda sprijinului lui Zelenski pentru această idee și a îndemnurilor repetate ale președintelui american Donald Trump către ambele părți de a ajunge la o soluționare diplomatică”.   Ziarul britanic The Independent informeazăp că ”Sir Keir Starmer l-a acuzat pe Vladimir Putin de „sabotarea păcii” după ce Rusia a lansat două rachete asupra unei clădiri a British Council din Kiev. British Council, care oferă programe în limba engleză ucrainenilor din capitală, a declarat că birourile sale au fost „grav avariate” și un paznic de noapte a fost rănit. În iunie, Moscova le-a interzis cetățenilor să colaboreze cu consiliul, susținând că acesta este o fațadă pentru spionii britanici”.   Iar Le Figaro informează că, în contextul loviturilor, ”Ursula von der Leyen și-a anunțat, de asemenea, intenția de a vizita țările UE care se învecinează cu sau sunt situate în apropierea Belarusului și Rusiei pentru a le transmite „deplina solidaritate” a UE. Ea va călători în Letonia vineri, apoi în Finlanda, înainte de a se îndrepta spre Estonia sâmbătă. Duminică, dna von der Leyen va vizita Polonia, apoi Bulgaria, înainte de a face opriri finale luni în Lituania și România”.

Day 1,282.Today, we hear from on the ground in Kyiv after a massive strike last night damaged the British Council and the EU mission. Meanwhile, Ukraine hit another 2 oil refineries in Russia continuing its strategy of undermining the Russian oil industry and economy. We look towards a meeting between the Ukrainians and Steve Witkoff in the US next week, and we hear from Ed Matthews, from Fire Aid, an organisation that brings fire trucks to vulnerable areas around the world, amongst them Ukraine. Contributors:Adélie Pojzman-Pontay (Journalist and Producer). @adeliepjz on X.Dominic Nicholls (Associate Editor of Defence). @DomNicholls on X.Anna Conkling (Independent Journalist and Telegraph Contributor). @ConklingAnna on X.With thanks to Ed Matthews of Fire Aid.Content Referenced:Mick Ryan Substack article: Smashing Russia's Oil Industry: Ten Strategic Strike Lessons from Ukrainehttps://mickryan.substack.com/p/smashing-russias-oil-industry-tenGénéral Thierry Burkhard : «Les Européens doivent être prêts à prendre des risques pour maintenir la paix en Ukraine», Libérationhttps://www.liberation.fr/international/europe/general-thierry-burkhard-les-europeens-doivent-etre-prets-a-prendre-des-risques-pour-maintenir-la-paix-en-ukraine-20250828_YNPYNISZVNDG7JEPG27VAPHEAE/Exclusive - Vance blames Zelenskyy Oval Office blowup on Biden's Ukraine policy, USA TODAYhttps://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/08/27/jd-vance-oval-office-confrontation-zelenskyy/85849085007/Fire Aidwww.fire-aid.orgBrave Minds Ukrainewww.bravemindsua.comhttps://donorbox.org/win-a-fire-helmet-signed-by-usykSIGN UP TO THE NEW ‘UKRAINE: THE LATEST' WEEKLY NEWSLETTER:https://secure.telegraph.co.uk/customer/secure/newsletter/ukraine/ Each week, Dom Nicholls and Francis Dearnley answer your questions, provide recommended reading, and give exclusive analysis and behind-the-scenes insights – plus maps of the frontlines and diagrams of weapons to complement our daily reporting. It's free for everyone, including non-subscribers.Subscribe: telegraph.co.uk/ukrainethelatestEmail: ukrainepod@telegraph.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Edition No234 | 28-08-2025 - Kyiv has awoken under a pall of smoke again. Russia last night launched the second-largest mass strike of the war, according to multiple outlets, hitting homes and — pointedly, deliberately — sites tied to Europe and the UK. The British Council's building is smashed beyond use. The EU delegation compound is damaged. The EU building is classed as a diplomatic site, and thus an extensive of European sovereign territory and the British Council is an important extension of the British government abroad. Make not mistake, these are a direct challenge, attacks on the UK and EU, their property, power, influence and authority. More importantly, children are dead, and huge numbers of Ukrainians killed. At the same time Peskov and other criminals warble on about being interested about peace. At this point, who should we be angrier at, Moscow for behaving in exactly the way we expect them to, or at our leaders for not taking decisive action, and the media for reprinting the drivel that comes from Moscow, often without appropriate context. That being, Russia always lies. So many headlines blare out, Moscow's actions sabotage the peace process, but that is to fall for the con, and to indirectly support Moscow and the appeasement of its actions. The truth is, there is no peace process to sabotage. And there has not been a serious once since Putin invaded, at least anything that would deliver peace, security and justice for Ukraine. ----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------SOURCES: Sky News live — “UK summons Putin's ambassador after British Council bombed in Kyiv; second-biggest strike of the war.” (Aug. 28, 2025)The Guardian live — “UK and EU summon top Russian diplomats after British Council and EU offices hit.” (Aug. 28, 2025)Reuters — “Russian missiles pound Ukraine, damage EU and British offices.” (Aug. 28, 2025)Kyiv Independent — “‘Moscow's true answer to peace efforts' — mass attack kills 19, including children.” (Aug. 28, 2025)TIME — “Russia strikes EU & British Council buildings in Kyiv; death toll rises.” (Aug. 28, 2025)Washington Post — “Europe furious as deadly Russian attack damages prominent Kyiv offices.” (Aug. 28, 2025)PBS/AP — “Major Russian attack includes rare strikes on center of Kyiv.” (Aug. 28, 2025)NHPR/AP — “Four children among dead… EU & British Council buildings damaged; envoys summoned.” (Aug. 28, 2025)The Times (UK) — “Second biggest strikes; 19 dead; British Council office damaged.” (Aug. 28, 2025)----------

Russian strikes on Ukraine's capital Kyiv have sparked an international incident after British Council and EU buildings were damaged in the attack. Plus: The IPC confirms that a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza are now starving. With NoJusticeMTG, Dalia Gebrial and UNICEF's Tess Ingram.

Twenty-one people were killed in the overnight strikes on the Ukrainian capital, which also damaged buildings used by the British Council, the European Union and the Embassy of Azerbaijan. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said US President Donald Trump “was not happy” about the bombardment. Also on the programme: Britain, France and Germany begin the process of reimposing sanctions against Iran, saying it's in breach of the 2015 deal to limit its nuclear activities; and we hear from an exhibition showcasing the work of artist Ralph Steadman.

How is technology shaping the way we live, learn, and connect? And what does that mean for young people growing up in a digital-first world?In this bonus episode of Our World, Connected, host Christine Wilson revisits a powerful conversation with Baroness Beeban Kidron, crossbench peer in the House of Lords and founder of the 5Rights Foundation. A leading advocate for children's digital rights, Beeban reflects on the urgent need to rethink how technology is designed and regulated — and the responsibilities of governments, educators, and tech companies in keeping young people safe online.Christine also connects Beeban's insights to other voices from across the series: from linguist David Crystal on how digital culture is reshaping our language, to consultant Larisa Halilovic on how new technologies are impacting on how we communicate — and what we feel we can trust.Together, these conversations explore a central issue of our time: how digital tools are transforming us all — and how we can harness them for connection, creativity, and positive change.Listen to Our World, Connected, brought to you by the British Council. Subscribe and follow for more thought-provoking conversations on culture, communication, and the power of education.Additional Resources & Links:Digital Cultural Relations https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/digital-cultural-relationsWhy technology needs artists: 40 international perspectiveshttps://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/why-technology-needs-artists Digital Cultural Heritage: Imagination, innovation and opportunityhttps://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/digital-cultural-heritage Relevant 5Rights Foundation research:Inquiry finds UK Government must regulate GenAI and close online safety loopholeshttps://5rightsfoundation.com/inquiry-finds-uk-government-must-regulate-genai-and-close-online-safety-loopholes/New UK data law: what does it mean for children's privacy?https://5rightsfoundation.com/new-uk-data-law-what-does-it-mean-for-childrens-privacy/ Follow British Council Research and Insight:Newsletter - https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/subscribe Twitter - https://twitter.com/InsightBritish Website - https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight

What does it really take to achieve financial independence and build a thriving business in Ghana? Laud Morgan's remarkable journey from Uber driver to real estate developer offers a masterclass in vision, discipline, and strategic thinking that challenges conventional wisdom about success.Having saved $24,000 for his master's degree in America, Morgan found himself unable to secure traditional employment despite his credentials. Rather than becoming discouraged, he embraced an unexpected opportunity—driving for Uber. What followed was an extraordinary demonstration of work ethic as he logged 16-17 hour days, seven days a week, completing over 50,000 rides across five years. This grueling schedule took a physical toll, but Morgan's unwavering focus on his ultimate goal—returning to Ghana to build something meaningful—kept him moving forward.The conversation explores the delicate balance between spiritual guidance and practical action. While Morgan credits divine prophecies for revealing his path in real estate, he emphasizes that success required relentless effort: "A lazy man is one that always spiritualizes everything." This philosophy led him to accumulate capital while simultaneously educating himself about real estate through hundreds of videos and mentorship opportunities.Perhaps most compelling is Morgan's counter-cultural assertion that "the best place to be a millionaire is Ghana." Unlike many who view relocation to Western countries as the ultimate path to prosperity, he deliberately returned home, convinced that Ghana offered unique opportunities for wealth creation. Now employing 42 workers and impacting approximately 100 lives through his business, his journey validates this belief.The podcast offers practical wisdom for aspiring entrepreneurs regardless of their starting point. Morgan stresses knowledge acquisition before capital investment, the power of relationships as currency, and the importance of discipline over motivation. His advice for those without access to significant capital—start as a realtor to learn the industry before becoming a developer—provides a concrete pathway for those inspired by his example.Ready to transform your own mindset? Join us for our first live event "Complete Transformation of Your Mindset" on August 29th at the British Council. The conversation doesn't end here—what's your biggest takeaway from Lord Morgan's journey?Support the showWatch the video episode of this on YouTube - https://linktr.ee/konnectedminds

Paula Zuccotti is a multi-hyphenated creative who transformed from industrial designer to design ethnographer to future archaeologist. Born in Buenos Aires, she moved to London on a British Council scholarship and spent 12 years at Seymour Powell before launching her groundbreaking project "Everything We Touch."This unique documentary project photographs every single object a person touches in one day, from waking to sleeping, creating powerful visual stories that reveal hidden truths about how we live. Paula has captured over 100 people's days across the globe - from cowboys to geishas, two-year-olds to indigenous hunters. ~Her work emerged from childhood observations of her grandmothers' different lifestyles and evolved into a method for understanding human behavior, cultural shifts, and societal changes. During COVID lockdown, she created a global archive of people's "15 essentials," collecting 1000 photos from 50 countries that revealed how humanity coped with unprecedented uncertainty.Key TakeawaysObserve with purpose - Paula's childhood habit of quietly watching people became her professional superpower, proving that curiosity about human behavior can become a careerCreate your own methodology - When Paula discovered design ethnography in a magazine, she pitched it to her employer and literally created her future role through initiativeFind stories in the everyday - The most mundane objects tell profound stories about who we are, how we live, and what we value in ways curated social media never couldEmbrace being the "frog from another pond" - Paula thrives by being the observer in new environments, taking time to understand before asserting her voiceDocument disappearing worlds - Technology changes rapidly, but Paula captures how we interact with objects as they evolve and become obsoleteUse constraints to spark creativity - Her rigid protocol (chronological order, same space, white background) creates consistency that lets individual stories shine through differencesTurn rejection into motivation - When Penguin initially rejected her book idea, Paula used it as fuel to create more work rather than waiting for permissionSelf-fund your passion projects strategically - Paula found creative ways to fund her project through book advances, commissions, and combining personal work with business travelQuestion without judgment - Her work allows her to ask intimate questions about people's lives through objects that would be impossible in normal social interactionsPreserve cultural wisdom - Her focus on indigenous communities recognizes that traditional ways of living hold valuable knowledge that deserves documentation and respect Daring Creativity. Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic Show questions or suggestions to desk@daringcreativity.com Latest books by Radim MalinicMindful Creative: How to understand and deal with the highs and lows of creative life, career and business Paperback and Kindle > https://amzn.to/4biTwFcFree audiobook (with Audible trial) > https://geni.us/free-audiobookSigned books https://novemberuniverse.co.ukLux Coffee Co. https://luxcoffee.co.uk/ (Use: PODCAST for 15% off)November Universe https://novemberuniverse.co.uk (Use: PODCAST for 10% off)

Join us in London, Osaka and online for the second event in our global partnership with the UK at Expo 2025.The UK has a rich history of advancing women's rights. In 1918, the Representation of the People Act granted voting rights to women over 30, with equal suffrage achieved in 1928. From the Equal Pay Act of 1970 to the Equality Act of 2010, trailblazing women have been at the forefront of building collective movements for progress and justice.But there remain stubborn challenges and barriers to women's full economic, legal, and social empowerment.Linking speakers in the historic Great Room of the RSA in London and in the UK Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, this event will hear from today's disruptors, influencers and innovators leading the charge for the protection and advancement of the rights of women and girls in the UK, and internationally – and for a future where everyone has equal opportunity to achieve their full potential.SpeakersPenny East, Chief Executive at the Fawcett SocietySakshi Bansal, Founder of Project Leap, Sr Strategy Consultant, Arup, and President (SDGs) of the Women's Chamber of Commerce (New Delhi, India)Chika Sudo, Head of Arts at the British Council in JapanNatalia Matsenko, Ukrainian curator, art critic, and lecturerChairsNina Nannar, journalist and arts editor for ITV News (London)Carolyn Davidson, UK Commissioner General for Expo 2025 (Osaka)RSA and UK at Expo 2025 Osaka, KansaiA bold new events partnership celebrating the UK as a place to come to study, visit and invest, and as a country of innovation and creativity where the world can come to build the future.With the deadline to the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals just five years away, the RSA and UK at Expo 2025 partnership will tackle global issues from inequality to climate change, exploring the progress that has been made and the work still to be done to secure health and wellbeing, peace, justice, and prosperity for communities worldwide. Donate to the RSA: https://thersa.co/3ZyPOEaBecome an RSA Events sponsor: https://utm.guru/ueembFollow RSA on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thersaorg/Like RSA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theRSAorg/Listen to RSA Events podcasts: https://bit.ly/35EyQYUJoin our Fellowship: https://www.thersa.org/fellowship/join

In this episode of Takeaway Chinese, Niuniu chats with Shannon West, who leads the British Council's work in the UK school sector. He focuses on promoting internationalism and Modern Foreign Languages, while helping shape education policy with a global perspective. Tune in for an insightful conversation on language learning, cultural exchange, and how Chinese is gaining traction in UK classrooms.(07:40) What are the biggest challenges for English speakers learning Chinese?
(24:23) Why is learning a second language—especially Chinese—so beneficial?

Urvashi Prasad has spent the last 15 years trying to make the world a kinder, fairer, and better place through her policy-based interventions in heathcare. Armed with degrees from Cambridge and LSTH, she worked as a director at NITI Aayog, and was awarded the India-UK Achievers Award. In addition to sharing principles and frameworks for building meaningful careers in public policy, Urvashi opens up about losing her beloved father and being diagnosed with cancer soon after. We admire her resilience and are proud to share her story with you. Here you will learnHow governments attempt to address systemic challenges in sectors like healthcareHow young professionals can carve out interesting and impactful careers in public policy How to make sense of life when you lose your beloved parent and are diagnosed with cancerUrvashi Prasad is a public health and policy advisor with over 15 years of leadership across government, academia, and grassroots innovation. As Director in the Office of the Vice Chairperson at NITI Aayog, India's apex policy think tank, she helped shape the country's COVID-19 response strategy, monitor Sustainable Development Goals in real time, and spearhead national programs advancing public health, gender equity, and social inclusion.A co-author of India's first Voluntary National Review presented at the UN High-Level Political Forum in 2017, Urvashi's policy insights have been featured in 150+ publications globally. She is also the British Council's UK Alumni Ambassador for SDG 10, an Honorary Professor at De Montfort University, UK, and a member of the World Economic Forum's Expert Network. Her accolades include the India-UK Achievers Honors and recognition among India's most influential women. In 2023, she founded Spcace by Urvashi, a pioneering platform amplifying patient voices.Diagnosed with Stage 4 ALK-positive lung cancer at age 35, Urvashi now brings lived experience to the policy table --challenging invisibility in cancer discourse and driving recognition of under-researched malignancies in young adults. Her advocacy bridges science, storytelling, and systemic reform.She holds a master's in public health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from Cambridge University, and a Bachelor's in Biological Sciences (Genetics) from the University of Birmingham, UK. In 2024, Urvashi received an honorary doctorate for her work in public health and policy.

35. Indian & Pakistani authors & poets talk to co-hosts Paul Waters & Jonathan Kennedy on the We'd Like A Word books & authors podcast at the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival London 2025 (which Paul also co-organises). We hear from Devike Rege on Indian politics, whether "home is a place where you can be comfortably racist" & her book Quarterlife; from Shueyb Gandapur on his book Coming Back - The Odyssey of a Pakistani Through India, on the unusual challenges of getting his book published in India, and on his Pakistani home Dera Ismail Khan & how Hindus and Sikhs who fled during partition preserve memories of the city in India, & on and the unusual challenges of getting his book published in India; from KSLF organiser Niloufer Bilimoria; from Saba Karim Khan on the Pakistan #itscomplicated essay collection she edited & contributed to, & how to get behind the cliches of potraying Pakistan; from Muhammed Ali Bandial on his contribution to Pakistan #itscomplicated & his complex relationship with his homeland; from Prabhu Guptara of Pippa Rann publishing, Global Resilience publishing & Salt Desert Media; from poet Tanya Rai who is @diversityofme on Instagram; & from poet Devi Chatterjee who has also helped develop the Poetry Archive's new online collection of south Asian poets reading their own work.And we also hear about the recent India-Pakistan conflict and ceasefire, Saraiki language & Pashtun culture, Lahore authors Awais Khan & Faiqa Mansab, Pakistani Olympic gold medallist javelin thrower, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji, the Marati language, poets Sudeep Sen and R Parthasarathy, the Rann of Kutch salt desert & the Great Indian Salt Hedge, Stephen Huyler's book Transformed by India - A Life, & poets Rabindranath Tagore, Bhanu Kapil & Sampurna Chatterji.WHO IS JONATHAN KENNEDY? Jonathan was Director of Arts in India for 5 years for the British Council. He's been everywhere in India and knows everyone there involved in culture. He was also for 12 years the Executive Director of Tara Arts, looking at the world through a South Asian lens. Jonathan is doing some India & South Asian episodes of We'd Like A Word with us every now & then. We'd Like A Word is a podcast & radio show from authors Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan. (And sometimes Jonathan Kennedy.) We talk with writers, readers, editors, agents, celebrities, talkers, poets, publishers, booksellers, & audiobook creators about books - fiction & non-fiction. We go out on various radio & podcast platforms. Our website is http://www.wedlikeaword.com for information on Paul, Steve & our guests. We're on Twitter @wedlikeaword & Facebook @wedlikeaword & our email is wedlikeaword@gmail.com Yes, we're embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear from you - questions, thoughts, ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word to chat, review or read out passages from books.Paul is the author of a new Irish-Indian cosy crime series set in contemporary Delhi. The first in the series is Murder in Moonlit Square, which published by No Exit Press / Bedford Square Publishers in October 2025 - but you can pre-order it now. (Ah go on.) It'll also be published in India in paperback in October 2025 by Penguin India. Paul previously wrote the 1950s Irish border thriller Blackwatertown.We can also recommend Cockerings, the comic classic by Stevyn Colgan, and his hugely popular YouTube channel @Colganology

durée : 01:15:04 - Les Nuits de France Culture - par : Albane Penaranda - En 1979, les historiens Douglas Johnson et François Bédarida dialoguaient sur France Culture autour de quelques-uns des chapitres de la relation mouvementée entre leurs deux pays, la France et la Grande-Bretagne. - réalisation : Emily Vallat - invités : François Bédarida Historien

Tune into an inspiring conversation with Sally Orange MBE and Felicity Ashley, two remarkable British athletes and cancer survivors who travelled to Nepal in May 2025 to take on the Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon – the world's highest marathon.

What happens when the state, with the pretext of protecting public safety, can detain indefinitely certain individuals whose dreams seem to indicate they may be capable of committing a crime? Set in a precarious world where sleep-enhancing devices and algorithms provide the tools and formulae for making one's unconscious a witness to one's possible waking life, this novel touches on a myriad of political, philosophical, and moral concerns as they particularly connect to issues of gender, race, ethnicity, privacy, and the security state.In this episode of Speaking Out of Place podcast Professor David Palumbo-Liu talks with award-winning novelist Laila Lalami about her new novel, The Dream Hotel. Laila Lalami is the author of five books, including The Moor's Account, which won the American Book Award, the Arab-American Book Award, and the Hurston / Wright Legacy Award. It was on the longlist for the Booker Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Her most recent novel, The Other Americans, was a national bestseller, won the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. Her books have been translated into twenty languages. Her essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, The Nation, Harper's, the Guardian, and the New York Times. She has been awarded fellowships from the British Council, the Fulbright Program, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. She lives in Los Angeles.www.palumbo-liu.comhttps://speakingoutofplace.comBluesky @palumboliu.bsky.socialInstagram @speaking_out_of_placeEpisode WebsitePhoto credit: Beowulf Sheehan

What happens when the state, with the pretext of protecting public safety, can detain indefinitely certain individuals whose dreams seem to indicate they may be capable of committing a crime? Set in a precarious world where sleep-enhancing devices and algorithms provide the tools and formulae for making one's unconscious a witness to one's possible waking life, this novel touches on a myriad of political, philosophical, and moral concerns as they particularly connect to issues of gender, race, ethnicity, privacy, and the security state.In this episode of Speaking Out of Place podcast Professor David Palumbo-Liu talks with award-winning novelist Laila Lalami about her new novel, The Dream Hotel. Laila Lalami is the author of five books, including The Moor's Account, which won the American Book Award, the Arab-American Book Award, and the Hurston / Wright Legacy Award. It was on the longlist for the Booker Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Her most recent novel, The Other Americans, was a national bestseller, won the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. Her books have been translated into twenty languages. Her essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, The Nation, Harper's, the Guardian, and the New York Times. She has been awarded fellowships from the British Council, the Fulbright Program, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. She lives in Los Angeles.www.palumbo-liu.comhttps://speakingoutofplace.comBluesky @palumboliu.bsky.socialInstagram @speaking_out_of_placeEpisode WebsitePhoto credit: Beowulf Sheehan

What happens when the state, with the pretext of protecting public safety, can detain indefinitely certain individuals whose dreams seem to indicate they may be capable of committing a crime? Set in a precarious world where sleep-enhancing devices and algorithms provide the tools and formulae for making one's unconscious a witness to one's possible waking life, this novel touches on a myriad of political, philosophical, and moral concerns as they particularly connect to issues of gender, race, ethnicity, privacy, and the security state.In this episode of Speaking Out of Place podcast Professor David Palumbo-Liu talks with award-winning novelist Laila Lalami about her new novel, The Dream Hotel. Laila Lalami is the author of five books, including The Moor's Account, which won the American Book Award, the Arab-American Book Award, and the Hurston / Wright Legacy Award. It was on the longlist for the Booker Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Her most recent novel, The Other Americans, was a national bestseller, won the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. Her books have been translated into twenty languages. Her essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, The Nation, Harper's, the Guardian, and the New York Times. She has been awarded fellowships from the British Council, the Fulbright Program, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. She lives in Los Angeles.www.palumbo-liu.comhttps://speakingoutofplace.comBluesky @palumboliu.bsky.socialInstagram @speaking_out_of_placeEpisode WebsitePhoto credit: Beowulf Sheehan

What happens when the state, with the pretext of protecting public safety, can detain indefinitely certain individuals whose dreams seem to indicate they may be capable of committing a crime? Set in a precarious world where sleep-enhancing devices and algorithms provide the tools and formulae for making one's unconscious a witness to one's possible waking life, this novel touches on a myriad of political, philosophical, and moral concerns as they particularly connect to issues of gender, race, ethnicity, privacy, and the security state.In this episode of Speaking Out of Place podcast Professor David Palumbo-Liu talks with award-winning novelist Laila Lalami about her new novel, The Dream Hotel. Laila Lalami is the author of five books, including The Moor's Account, which won the American Book Award, the Arab-American Book Award, and the Hurston / Wright Legacy Award. It was on the longlist for the Booker Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Her most recent novel, The Other Americans, was a national bestseller, won the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. Her books have been translated into twenty languages. Her essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, The Nation, Harper's, the Guardian, and the New York Times. She has been awarded fellowships from the British Council, the Fulbright Program, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. She lives in Los Angeles.www.palumbo-liu.comhttps://speakingoutofplace.comBluesky @palumboliu.bsky.socialInstagram @speaking_out_of_placeEpisode WebsitePhoto credit: Beowulf Sheehan

What happens when the state, with the pretext of protecting public safety, can detain indefinitely certain individuals whose dreams seem to indicate they may be capable of committing a crime? Set in a precarious world where sleep-enhancing devices and algorithms provide the tools and formulae for making one's unconscious a witness to one's possible waking life, this novel touches on a myriad of political, philosophical, and moral concerns as they particularly connect to issues of gender, race, ethnicity, privacy, and the security state.In this episode of Speaking Out of Place podcast Professor David Palumbo-Liu talks with award-winning novelist Laila Lalami about her new novel, The Dream Hotel. Laila Lalami is the author of five books, including The Moor's Account, which won the American Book Award, the Arab-American Book Award, and the Hurston / Wright Legacy Award. It was on the longlist for the Booker Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Her most recent novel, The Other Americans, was a national bestseller, won the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. Her books have been translated into twenty languages. Her essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, The Nation, Harper's, the Guardian, and the New York Times. She has been awarded fellowships from the British Council, the Fulbright Program, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. She lives in Los Angeles.www.palumbo-liu.comhttps://speakingoutofplace.comBluesky @palumboliu.bsky.socialInstagram @speaking_out_of_placeEpisode WebsitePhoto credit: Beowulf Sheehan