Podcast appearances and mentions of Ian Dunt

With defence spending rising and welfare cuts causing unease, is it finally time for Labour to bite the bullet and raise taxes? Plus, DOGE has been tearing the US government apart at breakneck speed. But are Elon Musk and his band of merry nerds doing it legally and could the consequences be to everyday Americans? Dr. Casey Burgat, author of We Hold These “Truths”: How to Spot the Myths that are Holding America Back and host of the Mastering the Room podcast. joins the panel to get into it. • Join Dorian and Ian Dunt for Origin Story Live: Grand Theft America in London on Weds 16 April.  • Buy We Hold These "Truths": How to Spot the Myths that are Holding America Back through our affiliate bookshop and you'll help fund Oh God, What Now? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. • We're on YouTube!: https://www.youtube.com/@ohgodwhatnow   www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Dorian Lynskey, Zoë Grünewald and Marie Le Conte. Producer: Chris Jones. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What do you do when the planet's most evil man is in the White House? Ask Superman! “Bad guy wins power” is a comics mainstay, and now it's happening for real everywhere. Lifelong comics readers Ian Dunt of Origin Story (DC) and Andrew Harrison (Marvel) team up to see what classic stories can tell us about the tyrant-vs-hero dynamic. Featuring President Lex Luthor from Superman, Mayor Kingpin from Daredevil, Chief Judge Cal from Judge Dredd, and the USA's Ambassador to Iran… The Joker? • Support us on Patreon for early episodes and more. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to indeed.com/bunker to get your £100 sponsored credit.   Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Tom Taylor and Charlie Duffield. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ngày 16/02/2025, trong bài diễn đàn đăng trên nhật báo Anh The Telegraph, thủ tướng Anh tuyên bố khẳng định chính phủ Anh sẵn sàng « tham gia bảo đảm an ninh cho Ukraina qua việc gởi quân đến nếu cần thiết ». Quan điểm này đã được lãnh đạo chính phủ Anh nhắc lại trong hội nghị không chính thức giữa các lãnh đạo châu Âu diễn ra tại Paris một ngày sau đó khi đưa ra thông điểm rất rõ ràng : Hòa bình bằng sức mạnh. Vì sao Anh Quốc luôn tỏ ra kiên bảo vệ Ukraina ? Luân Đôn tính gì khi khá ủng hộ các lập trường của Paris và không phê phán các đường lối của chính quyền Trump hiện nay ?Mời quý vị theo dõi phần giải thích của thông tín viên Nguyễn Giang tại Luân Đôn.---------- ********* ----------RFI Tiếng Việt : Anh Quốc và Ukraina có quan hệ như thế nào ?TTV Nguyễn Giang : Mối quan hệ giữa Anh và Ukraina đã có từ lâu, nhưng sự kiên quyết của Anh Quốc trong việc hỗ trợ Ukraina trở nên rõ ràng hơn trong bối cảnh gần đây. Vào tháng Giêng năm 2025, thủ tướng Sir Keir Starmer đã ký kết Hiệp ước Đối tác-Đồng minh 100 năm giữa Anh và Ukraina cùng tổng thống Volodymyr Zelensky, thiết lập 9 trụ cột cho quan hệ song phương, bao gồm: Quốc phòng, An ninh, Hàng hải, Kinh tế & Thương mại, Năng lượng & Khí hậu, Tư pháp, Chống lũng đoạn Thông tin, Khoa học & Công nghệ, và Văn hóa-Thể thao.Trước đây, dưới thời thủ tướng Boris Johnson, vào tháng 2/2022, Anh ký với Ba Lan và Ukraina một hiệp ước an ninh ba bên (trilateral security pact), vừa để hỗ trợ hai nước kia chống lại Nga, vừa giúp Anh có một vị trí chiến lược Đông Âu. Hiệp ước này được ký sau khi ba nước Pháp-Đức và Ba Lan ký thỏa thuận có tên là « Tam giác Weimar » nhằm tạo xương sống cho chiến lược chống Nga của ba thành viên đông dân của Nato châu Âu và EU.Nhưng việc ký kết liên minh sâu nặng như thế 100 năm với Ukraina là điều hiếm xảy ra với Anh. Bởi nước này có truyền thống thực dụng là giữ cho lục địa châu Âu không bị một nước nào thống trị, và trên đại dương thì Anh phải thống trị. Ví dụ năm 1806, Anh đã cấm vận (embargo, blockade) vùng biển ra Đại Tây Dương để nước Pháp của Napoleon không thể vươn ra biển. Anh chỉ bỏ bao vây Pháp trên biển vào đúng ngày 11 tháng 4 năm 1814 khi Napoleon thoái vị. Sau khi Đức mạnh lên thì đã có một Liên minh Trái tim (Entente Cordiale) đã được Anh ký với Pháp năm 1904, thời Vua Edward VII. Bởi vậy, có thể nói liên minh 100 năm với Ukraina là rất đặc biệt, cho phép Anh có mặt ở khu vực Đông Âu.Sự ủng hộ cho Ukraina nhận được sự đồng thuận từ cả hai đảng lớn của Anh: Đảng Lao động (đang cầm quyền) và Đảng Bảo thủ (đối lập), cũng như các đảng nhỏ hơn như LibDem và Đảng Xanh. Điều này cho thấy một sự đồng thuận chính trị mạnh mẽ trong việc bảo vệ Ukraina chống lại các mối đe dọa từ Nga. Ngay cả ông Nigel Farage, một nhân vật có tiếng trong phong trào cánh hữu, cũng đã bác bỏ những lời chỉ trích của tổng thống Trump về Tổng thống Zelensky « là nhà độc tài » mới đây.Truyền thông Anh và người dân cũng tích cực hỗ trợ, với khoảng 25.000 người Ukraina được tiếp nhận để tị nạn trong suốt ba năm qua.Luân Đôn đánh giá mối đe dọa từ Nga cho an ninh nước Anh như thế nào ?TTV Nguyễn Giang : Về mặt tâm lý, theo chuyên gia David Landsman, nước Nga vẫn là một quốc gia ít quen thuộc nhưng lại là « kẻ thù quen thuộc » với người Anh (unfamiliar country but a familiar enemy), nhất là sau sự kiện an ninh Nga (GRU) cử người sang gây ra vụ đầu độc tại Salisbury trên đất Anh. Người Anh nhận thấy Nga đã xâm lược Ukraina, và điều này làm sống lại những ký ức về kẻ thù cũ. Cả hai phía trong cuộc tranh luận Brexit đều đồng ý rằng, sau khi ra khỏi EU, Anh cần phải khôi phục vị thế của mình trên trường quốc tế, trong đó việc hỗ trợ Ukraina chống lại Nga được coi là « quyền lực thông qua giá trị đạo đức ».Về phương diện kinh tế, Anh đã giảm sự phụ thuộc vào khí đốt Nga từ tháng 2/2022, điều này đã tạo thuận lợi cho chính trị Anh trong việc phát biểu mạnh mẽ về vấn đề Nga, khác với Đức, nước cho tới gần đây vẫn chịu ảnh hưởng lớn tác động của nguồn năng lượng khí đốt của Nga. Trong các nước châu Âu, Anh là quốc gia có nền kinh tế mở, hướng ra thế giới hơn hẳn các nước ở lục địa, gần Nga, gần biển Baltic và Hắc Hải, nên Anh có thể không bị ràng buộc nhiều bởi các lợi ích cục bộ gắn với Nga.Là đồng minh lâu đời của Mỹ và luôn đi theo chiến lược của Mỹ, nhưng Luân Đôn không những không chỉ trích Washington về việc bỏ rơi Kiev mà còn tuyên bố sẵn sàng gởi quân sang đảm bảo an ninh cho Ukraina. Thủ tướng Anh còn tỏ lập trường ủng hộ quan điểm của Pháp. Thủ tướng Anh trông đợi điều gì tổng thống Trump nhân chuyến thăm Mỹ ? TTV Nguyễn Giang : Cho dù là đồng minh lâu dài của Mỹ, lần này Anh không chỉ trích Mỹ về việc bỏ rơi Kiev mà ngược lại, còn cam kết cử quân sang Ukraina. Thủ tướng Starmer muốn đóng vai trò cầu nối giữa Mỹ và châu Âu. Sự bắt tay giữa Starmer và Macron diễn ra trong bối cảnh mà cả hai bên cần tăng cường quan hệ, nhất là khi vị thế của Macron tại châu Âu đang bị lung lay.Luân Đôn nhận ra rằng không thể "tái xác lập" quan hệ với EU mà thiếu sự ủng hộ từ Paris. Đảng Lao động ở Anh phải tăng cường quan hệ với Pháp để gia tăng sức mạnh đối phó với mối đe dọa từ Nga, khi mà chính quyền Trump có xu hướng thiên về cánh hữu.Chuyến công du Mỹ của thủ tướng Starmer nhằm mục tiêu thuyết phục Tổng thống Trump đảm bảo an ninh cho Ukraina sau chiến tranh. Ông Starmer đã công bố ngân sách quốc phòng mới, dự kiến tăng từ 2.3% lên 2.5% GDP vào năm 2027, với kế hoạch nâng lên 3% GDP đến năm 2030.Bên cạnh đó Anh sẵn sàng đưa quân sang Ukraina để gìn giữ an ninh cho đường phi giới tuyến trong tương lai. Điều này nhằm thể hiện sự cam kết của Anh trong việc cùng đồng minh châu Âu gánh vác trách nhiệm bảo vệ khu vực NATO.Cùng lúc, tân đại sứ Anh tại Mỹ, Peter Mandelson nói hai nước muốn một MEGA – Make Economies Great Again – tức là một hiệp định tự do thương mại lớn, đẩy mậu dịch song phương lên hơn mức hiện nay là gần 300 tỷ bảng/năm. Chưa rõ là trong hai hồ sơ : Quốc Phòng và Kinh Tế - Thương Mại thì ông Trump mặn mà hơn với Anh ở hồ sơ nào.Pháp có thể giúp được gì cho chiến lược của Anh về hồ sơ Ukraina?TTV Nguyễn Giang : Ngay sau khi tổng thống Pháp Emmanuel Macron có cuộc gặp với đồng cấp Mỹ Donald Trump ở Nhà Trắng hôm thứ Hai thì sang ngày thứ Ba, 25/02, ông Macron đã điện đàm với thủ tướng Anh Starmer, hẳn là để trao đổi trước khi ông Starmer tới Mỹ gặp ông Trump thứ Năm 27/02 này. Có lẽ chính giới Anh và Pháp vẫn đang cân nhắc xem họ giúp nhau được gì, để đối phó với Mỹ và để thể hiện uy lực tối đa của hai cường quốc duy nhất trong NATO ở châu Âu đang sở hữu vũ khí nguyên tử, đã cam kết hợp tác về an ninh châu Âu.Ví dụ tổng thống Macron nói Pháp sẵn sàng dùng cái ô nguyên tử bảo vệ cho Đức, và kêu gọi Anh cũng làm như thế. Để đảm bảo hỗ trợ hiệu quả cho Kiev, cả Paris và Luân Đôn đều cần có sự tham gia của Berlin, dưới thời tân thủ tướng của đảng Dân chủ Thiên Chúa giáo (CDU), Friedrich Merz.Ông Merz tuyên bố tân chính phủ Đức có nhiệm vụ làm cho Đức tự chủ hơn so với Mỹ về an ninh và quốc phòng, điều này có thể dẫn đến khả năng hợp tác tốt giữa ba nước lớn nhất châu Âu. Hiển nhiên là nếu ba nước này không hợp tác chặt chẽ, sẽ rất khó khăn để đạt được những nỗ lực hỗ trợ Ukraina một cách hiệu quả.Anh Quốc có thể có vai trò gì trong trường hợp Mỹ rút lui khỏi Ukraina ? Liệu nước Anh có thay thế được Mỹ bảo đảm an ninh cho Ukraina ?TTV Nguyễn Giang : Hiện tại, chính giới Anh chưa có kế hoạch thay thế Mỹ tại Ukraina  và vẫn muốn thuyết phục Mỹ ở lại châu Âu. Vai trò của Anh chủ yếu là đánh giá xem một phương án hợp tác cùng Pháp, Đức, và Ba Lan có khả năng đảm bảo an ninh cho Ukraina trong bối cảnh mối đe dọa từ Nga tiếp tục hiện hữu hay là không, và một khi Hoa Kỳ rút hay giảm vai trò tại châu Âu thì họ sẽ phải làm gì. Tuy thế, cũng có ý kiến như của nhà báo Ian Dunt nói trước sau gì thì Anh và châu Âu cũng cần « độc lập khỏi Mỹ » trong vấn đề an ninh, nên đây là cơ hội để London đi theo chiến lược đó.Ngoài đảng Lao động đang cầm quyền thì cả hai đảng đối lập ở Anh (Bảo thủ và Tự do Dân chủ) đều đồng ý về việc tăng chi tiêu quốc phòng « để phòng chống Nga ». Tuy nhiên, có sự lo ngại trước việc cắt giảm viện trợ phát triển toàn cầu của Anh từ 0.5% GDP xuống 0.3% GDP, theo nhà báo Robert Peston. Ông cho rằng điều này có thể làm giảm sức mạnh mềm của Anh, nhất là khi Trung Quốc đang gia tăng ảnh hưởng tại nhiều khu vực, bao gồm cả châu Phi.Mặc dù vậy, một phần dư luận tại Anh có vẻ đồng ý với chính phủ là cần tăng chi tiêu quốc phòng. Trên trang của BBC, một bài viết về việc tăng chi tiêu quốc phòng và giảm viện trợ hải ngoại (Starmer cuts aid to fund increase in defence spending-26/02)#đã thu hút trên 5 ngàn bình luận chỉ sao một ngày. Trong phần bình luận nhiều người đã ủng hộ việc tăng chi tiêu quân sự mà không ngần ngại cắt giảm viện trợ cho các nước khác để « cứu người nghèo và vô gia cư trong nước Anh ».Nhưng thú vị hơn là có một số ý kiến đặc biệt nhấn mạnh rằng những hợp đồng quốc phòng nên được trao cho các công ty vũ khí Anh và châu Âu, mà không giao cho các công ty Mỹ, với lý do các công ty này thường đi kèm với điều kiện khắt khe trong các hợp đồng.Ý kiến  cá nhân này còn cho rằng « Hoa Kỳ nay đang ngày một trở nên một quốc gia côn đồ » (British defence firms should be first priority, then European allies' firms second. US defence firms must now be avoided at all costs – the last thing we need is military kit that has both parts/maintenance and usage rules attached to an increasingly rogue state).Tất nhiên, đó chỉ là một ý kiến cá nhân, và theo tôi, đa số người dân Anh vẫn yêu quý nước Mỹ. Thế nhưng giống như đại đa số các tờ báo chính ở đây, người ta thấy những gì ông Trump hơn một tháng qua là rất đáng lo ngại cho tương lai nước Anh vì cấu trúc an ninh 80 năm qua (Anh dựa vào Mỹ) đang tan vỡ.

Alex and Naomi talk to a pantheon of special guests to dissect the week's news. Arthur Snell on the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas Market and a new breed of self-radicalised individual who fits no profile. Ian Dunt on the latest peers elevated to the Lords. Zoe Williams on the backlash over gov't denying compensation to WASPI women. Peter Geoghegan on the first cracks appearing in the Trump/Musk bromance and dark money. A special episode to end the year. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** Arthur: “A classic example of self-radicalisation. People in a very isolated way online can be drawn into a very personal version of a dangerous ideology. You can end up with people with very bizarre uniquely generated private views.” Arthur: “Whilst it's a slightly bewildering case, it's a fairly neat illustration of the way that radicalisation has become a profound danger and that you don't have to have pale skin and ‘Aryan' looks to be radicalised into far-right ideology.” Peter: “Labour's failure [to proactively regulate money in politics] has put them in this position and they still don't have a strategy. When the Musk story broke, they briefed that they might cap donations, now that they may do something by 2026, or that they may limit the amount a company can give. This is very piecemeal, very reactive and not being led from the front.” Peter: “We have seen time and again how unlimited donations, dirty money and dark money in British politics, has warped the political agenda. Musk unintentionally is illuminating this, shining a great big light onto it. And the public care about this. That's the most compelling reason to act, rather than party political ramifications.” Zoe: “A lot of these plans, like the winter fuel payment withdrawal, are not well formulated. I'm not sure that a blanket ‘no' to the WASPI women is the right thing to do. At the same time, this government is being treated atrociously by the commentariat. Conservative gov'ts, and the coalition before them, introduced waves of extreme hardship and barely a peep was made about it.” Zoe: “I don't think anything [Labour] do would be enough to restore trust in democracy…  We went from austerity, which was often just performative cruelty, into the fecklessness of Brexit, and then into a pandemic that was defined by corruption. I worry that that did taint the reputation of politics so profoundly, I don't see how you turn it around.” Ian: “We cannot have PM after PM just come in and just cram the place with their cronies… and see the numbers just expand and expand. Even for those of us who are defenders of the Lords, it makes our job impossible, because you cannot support this stuff, you cannot defend the way they are behaving.” Ian: “Starmer is the most consistently underestimated politician in my lifetime. People cannot stop looking at him and going ‘he's so boring', ‘he's got no ideas', ‘he's bad at politics', ‘he's got no connection to the public'. There's loads to criticise him on, but some of the stuff he's doing is huge. When you look at planning, labour practices, local gov't, net zero, criminal justice - in 15 years, we will look back on this period as engine room policy change.” Ian: “Having a surging Farage - which will be the story of next year, because that is what the press wants the story to be - is poison for the national conversation and will pull us further to the right. But electorally, the basic boring answer is still the correct one: a surging Reform just divides the right.” CALLS TO ACTION LINKS: Peter's substack Democracy for Sale. It's free and you should subscribe. Find us on Facebook and Twitter as @quietriotpod. On Bluesky click here for our Starter Pack. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of Wise Words Book Summaries! Today, we're dissecting How Westminster Works... And Why It Doesn't by Ian Dunt—a revealing exposé on the dysfunction embedded in British politics and why our government seems rigged to fail.In this episode, you'll uncover:1. The Roots of Dysfunction

The Tory party have once again chosen violence against themselves, as Keir Starmer's Labour party are languishing in the polls after 90-something days of a lack of action. Nish and Coco burst the bubble on the news that Starmer's Chief of Staff has been replaced by his election guru, joined by political journalist Ian Dunt to find out just how big a deal this backroom reshuffle is for the machinations of government. Ian also unravels the ideology of centrism - explaining why it was a huge part of the Labour Party's success at the general election and why it might not be enough to keep the electorate happy without some actual policy to back it up. Later, Labour MP Nadia Whittome calls in from Portcullis House to talk about why she's still hopeful for what the new government can deliver, before the biggest WTF moment since Rishi Sunak walked out in the rain - the Tory Party eliminating centrist candidate James Cleverly from the leadership. Guests: Ian Dunt Nadia Whittome MP  Audio Credits: LBC Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media.Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.ukWhatsApp: 07494 933 444 (UK) or + 44 7494 933 444 (internationally)Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheukTwitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheukTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheukFacebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheukYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/podsavetheworld

The Origin Story podcast host Ian Dunt comes by to gloat after the UK finally elects a left-wing government to clean up the mess of the past decade plus. Evil Geniuses author Kurt Andersen stops by to talk about the fun prank he played on Donald Trump and how it haunts him to this day. Author Ruth Ben-Ghiat examines the bad week fascists have had across the globe.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"The Origin Story" podcast host Ian Dunt details the comedic turns the UK's election keeps taking. Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin examines the right's never-ending aggressions towards reproductive rights. The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper reports what he sees as he attends MAGA rallies.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is Parliament's vote to ban alleged sex pest MPs the first step towards restoring some respect to the Commons? Plus the Tories are spouting conspiracies again – this time it's Maria Caulfield and 15-minute cities. What is she on about and what even are 15-minute cities? And in the Extra Bit for subscribers, Apple destroys the tools of creativity in its new iPad advert and no-one is impressed. Do our panel hate it too? Want more from the House of Podmasters? Origin Story Season 5 is out now! Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey are back with more deep dives into political concepts and personalities that are perhaps a little TOO misunderstood. George Orwell is up first. Listen here.  And are you confused by the US election? Then why not listen to our new podcast American Friction? Out every Friday lunch time in the run-up to November's big vote. Available here, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're on YouTube!: https://www.youtube.com/@ohgodwhatnow  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Marie Le Conte and Zöe Grünewald. Producer: Chris Jones. Audio production by: Robin Leeburn. Video production by Kieron Leslie. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Oh God, What Now? is a Podmasters production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rishi Sunak's speech on Monday was one step short of giving the British public a very dreary ultimatum – vote Tory or else. But with Natalie Elphicke defecting, Nadhim Zahawi stepping down, and Dominic Cummings and Matt Goodwin wanting to create their own parties - can any message Sunak sends to the public give him a chance at the next election? Plus, Keir Starmer announced his plan to tackle immigration last week – what's in it, and ultimately how does the UK feel about immigration right now? • “It is very strange to make an apparently serious and scary speech and then to dilute all that by throwing in all this culture war stuff.” – Ros Taylor • “The chaos of the content demonstrates how bad his team really is at politics.” – Hannah Fearn • “I'm amazed more of them aren't standing down, to be honest.” – Ros Taylor • “I really hope the phrase ‘stop the boats' disappears after this election.” – Hannah Fearn We're on YouTube!: https://www.youtube.com/@ohgodwhatnow  Want more from the house of Podmasters? We've got loads for you to get your ears around. Origin Story Season 5 is out now! Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey are back with more deep dives into political concepts and personalities that are perhaps a little TOO misunderstood. George Orwell is up first, listen here! Jam Tomorrow's season finale is out this week with the next season already in the works. Listen to Ros Taylor and guests right here! And are you confused by the US election? Then why not listen to our new podcast American Friction, out every Friday lunch time in the run-up to November's big vote. Available here, or wherever you get your podcasts. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Alex Andreou with Hannah Fearn and Ros Taylor. Producer: Chris Jones. Audio production by: Robin Leeburn. Video production by Kieron Leslie. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this spirited and candid episode, the incisive LBC presenter and bestselling author James O'Brien addresses the state of the nation. In conversation with political journalist Ian Dunt, James maps the UK's hidden webs of power and shares his candid reflections on the bruisers of British politics. It's an unmissable conversation for anyone who wants to understand how we got here - and discover why a nation on its knees is not in fact a foregone conclusion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Origin Story Podcast host Ian Dunt previews the massive victories Labor will soon achieve in the UK. Check My Ads' Nandini Jammi details her efforts to get the MAGA-loving disinformation site The Gateway Pundit kicked off ad exchanges. Congressional candidate George Whitesides details his run against extremely vulnerable Rep. Mike Garcia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For 1800 years, Western conceptions of the end of the world were dominated by the Book of Revelation: Armageddon, the Millennium, Judgement Day. But in 1816, political upheaval, Enlightenment science and the Romantic imagination converged to give birth to a radical idea: the end of the world without God. When Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley came together beside Lake Geneva that summer, a volcanic eruption was producing endless rain and apocalyptic prophecies. Drawing on his new book Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World, Dorian explains how that season of confusion and gloom led to not just Frankenstein but Byron's revolutionary poem Darkness. And how the deaths of her companions led Mary to write The Last Man, the first ever novel about a world-destroying pandemic. It's a story of personal tragedy, temporary climate change, shocking new ideas about the past, present and future of life on earth, and the summer that kicked off two centuries (and counting) of apocalyptic fiction. Buy Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World through our affiliate bookshop and you'll help fund Origin Story by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Audio production by Simon Williams. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

W/C 1st April 2024The New Statesman email has started landing in my inbox and I am not sure why. I can only assume it is something to do with signing up for the Ian Dunt blog that I told you about, but whatever the reason I am quite enjoying it.It seems to be a bit sporadic in terms of its cadence, and I would be lying if I didn't tell you that was triggering my OCD tendencies a little, but generally it has been a positive.So far this week I have enjoyed pieces penned by David Gauke, and Lewis Goodall, both of whom I have a lot of time for, along with some interesting stuff from Freddie Haywood. I appreciate that I am just being baited and played, and after a couple of attempts with an 'exclusive subscriber offer' they will no doubt move on, but it is all good for the moment. It really is the small things.Stay safe.Blink 182 - All the small thingsTherapy For Me (or TFM as I now refer to it) is a bit of an audio curiosity. It started out as a mechanism for me to clear my head, with the hope that by saying stuff out loud it would act as a little bit of self-help. It's remains loose in style, fluid in terms of content and raw - it's a one take, press record and see what happens, affair.If you want to keep in touch with TFM and the other stuff I do then please follow me on Facebook, Insta, Twitter or Patreon. Thanks for getting this far.

Joining Iain Dale on Cross Question this evening are Conservative MP and leader of the 'Common Sense Group' of Tory MPs Sir John Hayes, Labour MP and Party Chair Anneliese Dodds, political commentator Anita Boateng and Ian Dunt, author of 'How Westminster Works . . . and Why It Doesn't'.

Hope for power-sharing in Northern Ireland and should we recognise a Palestinian state?Joining Iain Dale on Cross Question this evening are Conservative MP and leader of the 'Common Sense Group' of Tory MPs Sir John Hayes, Labour MP and Party Chair Anneliese Dodds, political commentator Anita Boateng and Ian Dunt, author of 'How Westminster Works . . . and Why It Doesn't'.

Armando and Anoosh delve into the inner workings of British political reporting, exploring the complex world of the Lobby, the blurred relationships that many political journalists and politicians balance - trading access and trust, - and how this landscape has been evolving over the past few years with the rise of digital and alternative media. To do this they are joined by Ash Sarkar, senior editor at Novara Media, and Ian Dunt, columnist at the I and former editor of Politics.co.uk.This us the last episode of this series of Westminster Reimagined.Listen to all previous episodes of Westminster Reimagined here: https://podfollow.com/westminster-reimagined-with-armando-iannucci-the-new-statesmanDownload the app:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=USSubscribe to the New Statesman WhatsApp channel:https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9latS0wajogms2z02c Sign up to our daily politics email: https://morningcall.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Sutcliffe talks to Andy Serkis and Louisa Harland about Ulster American, a new play in which they star at Riverside Studios with Woody Harrelson.It's panto season (oh no it isn't), a form that has always played with ideas of gender. Megan Lawton explores how this year's crop continue that tradition.Plus Rachel Cooke and Ian Dunt choose their graphic novels of 2023, and we announce the winner of this year's First Graphic Novel Award.Rachel's picks of the year: Monica by Daniel Clowes Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki Social Fiction by Chantal Montellier, translated by Geoffrey Brock Juliette by Camille Jourdy Ian's picks of the year: The Lion and the Eagle by Garth Ennis and PJ Holden Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Phil Jimenez, Gene Ha and Nicola Scott Eight Billion Genies by Charles Soule and Ryan BrowneProducer: Eliane Glaser

In the last episode of season four, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey discuss effective altruism. Last month the US entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy related to the dramatic collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Bankman-Fried was also a prominent advocate of effective altruism, a philanthropic movement based on utilitarian philosophy, and the scandal has thrown the EA community into crisis. Dorian and Ian explain how two maverick young Oxford philosophers ended up creating a multi-billion-dollar movement, explore the ideas behind it, and track its journey towards long termism: the philosophy of safeguarding the future of the human race from threats such as hostile AI. Are the principles of EA sound? Did the influx of billionaires and the obsession with existential risk knock it off course? Was Bankman-Fried a true believer who blew it or just a grifter who took the idealists for a ride? And can EA survive one of the biggest financial scandals of this century? When big ideas collide with big money and big tech, things get messy. Support Origin Story on Patreon for exclusive benefits www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  Reading list Books: Carol J.Adams, Alice Crary, Lori Gruen, (eds.) — The Good it Promises, the Harm it Does: Critical Essays on Effective Alturism, (2023) Nick Bostrom and Milan M. Ćirković (eds.) — Global Catastrophic Risks (2008) Nick Bostrom — Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (2014) Zeke Faux — Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall (2023) John Leslie — The End of the World: The Science and Ethics of Human Extinction (1996) Michael Lewis — Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon (2023) William MacAskill — Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and How You Can Make a Difference (2015) William MacAskill — What We Owe the Future (2022) Toby Ord — The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity (2020) Online: Core EA Principles, Centre for Effective Altruism Peter Singer — Famine, Affluence and Morality, 1971 Peter Singer — TED talk, 2013 William MacAskill — The history of the term ‘effective altruism', Effective Altruism Forum, 2014 Raffi Khatchadourian — The Doomsday Invention, New Yorker, 2015 Gideon-Lewis Krauss — The Reluctant Prophet of Effective Altruism, New Yorker, 2022 Charlotte Alter — Effective Altruist Leaders Were Repeatedly Warned About Sam Bankman-Fried Years Before FTX Collapsed, Time, 2023 Sophie McBain — Sam Bankman-Fried and the effective altruism delusion, New Statesman, 2023 Podcasts: 80,000 Hours: Sam Bankman-Fried, 2022 80,000 Hours: Toby Ord, 2023 Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In part two of the history of eugenics, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey explain how the pseudo-science of “racial hygiene” seduced everyone from feminist birth-control pioneers and social democrats to the ardent white supremacists whose screeds shaped US immigration laws and influenced Hitler. Then they turn to the rise of eugenics in Germany and how it enabled the Nazis to introduce massive programs of sterilisation and extermination. After the Second World War, the name of eugenics was discredited but many of its leading thinkers and institutions kept going under the more acceptable guise of genetics. How was eugenics quietly rehabilitated by IQ fetishists and population-control advocates? Why has it become so popular in Silicon Valley? And does it even make scientific sense or is it really a pseudo-science designed to formalise bigotry? Despite its association with historic atrocities, the belief that biology is destiny and procreation is political has not gone away. Support Origin Story on Patreon for exclusive benefits including an extended version of the podcast. www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  Reading list: Alison Bashford and Philippa Levine (eds) - The Oxford Handbook of the History of Eugenics (2010) Edwin Black — War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race (2003) Elof Axel Carlson — The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea (2001) GK Chesterton — Eugenics and Other Evils (1922) Charles Darwin — The Descent of Man (1871) Lyndsay Andrew Farrall — The Origins and Growth of the English Eugenics Movement 1865-1925 (1969) Francis Galton – Hereditary Genius (1869) Henry H Goddard – The Kallikak Family (1912) Stephen Jay Gould — The Mismeasure of Man (1981/1996) Madison Grant – The Passing of the Great Race (1916) Philippa Levine — Eugenics: A Very Short Introduction (2017) Gina Maranto — Quest for Perfection: The Drive to Breed Better Human Beings (1996) Adam Rutherford — Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics (2022) Lothrop Stoddard – The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy (1920) HG Wells – Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought (1901)  Online: Quinn Slobodian — ‘The rise of the new tech right', The New Statesman (2023) Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey get started on the history of eugenics, the idea of finding biological solutions to social problems. Say the word now and it calls to mind skull-measuring cranks or Nazi death camps but for decades it was a mainstream project in many parts of the world, attracting not just white supremacists and elitist snobs but liberals, socialists and feminists. Winston Churchill, HG Wells, Nikola Tesla and John Maynard Keynes all expressed an interest. How did bad science and dangerous politics become so popular? Dorian and Ian explore how Francis Galton and Herbert Spencer's fascination with inherited characteristics was supercharged by Victorian science, from Darwin's theory of evolution to early breakthroughs in genetics. They talk about how Galton's voluntary “positive eugenics” led to the authoritarian “negative eugenics” of compulsory sterilisation, and how hardcore American eugenicists drew up a blueprint for Hitler. Also: the birth of scientific racism, the sinister history of IQ tests, how GK Chesterton helped save Britain from eugenics laws, and, yes, the people who thought you could identify criminals by the shape of their skulls. It's a disturbing and complicated story which mangles your political preconceptions. Support Origin Story on Patreon for exclusive benefits. Reading list Alison Bashford and Philippa Levine (eds) - The Oxford Handbook of the History of Eugenics (2010) Edwin Black — War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race (2003) Elof Axel Carlson — The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea (2001) GK Chesterton — Eugenics and Other Evils (1922) Charles Darwin — The Descent of Man (1871) Lyndsay Andrew Farrall — The Origins and Growth of the English Eugenics Movement 1865-1925 (1969) Francis Galton – Hereditary Genius (1869) Henry H Goddard – The Kallikak Family (1912) Stephen Jay Gould — The Mismeasure of Man (1981/1996) Madison Grant – The Passing of the Great Race (1916) Philippa Levine — Eugenics: A Very Short Introduction (2017) Gina Maranto — Quest for Perfection: The Drive to Breed Better Human Beings (1996) Adam Rutherford — Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics (2022) Lothrop Stoddard – The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy (1920) HG Wells – Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought (1901)  Online: Quinn Slobodian — ‘The rise of the new tech right', The New Statesman (2023) Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. Follow Origin Story on X Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Born in Haitian folklore and inadvertently reinvented by director George A. Romero, the zombie is the most flexible metaphor in horror fiction, if not all of popular culture. It can represent a war, a virus, a natural disaster, terrorism, capitalism, climate change and much more. In fact, it's hard to tell a zombie story that isn't political in one way or another. Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey follow the trail of the walking dead from the Caribbean to Night of the Living Dead and the global outbreak of zombiemania in the 21st century. What does the zombie tell us about life, death and civilisation? How can it contain so many different meanings? And why do the living dead remain uniquely disturbing after all these years? Support Origin Story on Patreon for exclusive benefits including bonus chat about how Ian and Dorian make each episode: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  Resources: Books Kyle William Bishop — American Zombie Gothic: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Walking Dead in Popular Culture, 2012 Kyle William Bishop — How Zombies Conquered Popular Culture: The Multifarious Walking Dead in the 21st Century, 2015 Max Brooks — World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, 2006 Greg Garrett — Living with the Living Dead: The Wisdom of the Zombie Apocalypse, 2017 Zachary Graves — Zombies: The Complete Guide to the World of the Living Dead, 2011 Peter Haining, ed. — Zombie!: Stories of the Walking Dead, 1985 Richard Matheson – I Am Legend, 1954 Kim Paffenroth — Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth, 2006 George Romero & Susanna Sparrow — Dawn of the Dead, 1979 Jamie Russell — Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema, 2014 Colson Whitehead — Zone One, 2012 Tony Williams — The Cinema of George A. Romero: Knight of the Living Dead, 2015 Films, TV and games White Zombie, 1932 I Walked with a Zombie, 1943 The Last Man on Earth, 1964 Night of the Living Dead, 1968 Dawn of the Dead, 1978 Day of the Dead, 1985 Resident Evil, 1996 28 Days Later, 2002 Shaun of the Dead, 2004 28 Weeks Later, 2007 I Am Legend, 2007 Dead Set, 2008 The Walking Dead, 2010-22 The Last of Us, 2022 Online Doug Gross, Why we love those rotting, hungry, putrid zombies, CNN, 2009 https://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/10/02/zombie.love/index.html Torie Bosch, First Eat All the Lawyers, Slate, 2011 https://slate.com/culture/2011/10/zombies-the-zombie-boom-is-inspired-by-the-economy.html Thomas Jones, Les zombies, c'est vous, London Review of Books, 2012 https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v34/n02/thomas-jones/les-zombies-c-est-vous Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Max Brooks Is Not Kidding About the Zombie Apocalypse, New York Times, 2013 https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/magazine/max-brooks-is-not-kidding-about-the-zombie-apocalypse.html Interview with Alex Garland, 2015 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/interview-director-alex-g_b_7038618 Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Part Two of John Maynard Keynes, Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt reconnect with Keynes in the 1930s, as he slowly pulls together his magnum opus, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. This book changed everything for Keynes, and the rest of us, by establishing Keynesianism as a new way to understand both the economy and society. Ian and Dorian discuss the last decade of Keynes' life, from the New Deal to the Second World War to the Bretton Woods conference which established the post-war order. When Keynes died suddenly in 1946, his ardent disciples had just begun remaking the world. Did Keynes save capitalism from itself? “We are all Keynesians now,” declared Time magazine in 1965, but 10 years later a global economic crisis was opening the door to the neoliberal counter-revolution, led by Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. Were the Keynesians more Keynesian than Keynes himself? Should he be credited with the post-war boom and blamed for its dramatic implosion? Is the relationship between Keynesian and neoliberal visions more complex than it appears? And are Joe Biden and Keir Starmer taking us into a new age of Keynes? Reading list for both episodes Books Roger E. Backhouse and Bradley W. Bateman — Capitalist Revolutionary: John Maynard Keynes, 2011 Bradley W. Bateman, Toshiaki Hirai and Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, eds. — The Return to Keynes, 2010 Zach Carter — The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes, 2020 Peter Clarke — Keynes: The Twentieth Century's Most Influential Economist, 2010 Roy Harrod — The Life of John Maynard Keynes, 1951 John Maynard Keynes — The Essential Keynes, 2015 Robert Skidelsky — John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman, 2004 Nicholas Wapshott — Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics, 2011 Online: John Maynard Keynes, ‘Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren', 1930 https://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/archive/keynes_persuasion/Economic_Possibilities_for_our_Grandchildren.htm We Are All Keynesians Now, Time, 1965 https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,842353,00.html Tides of History podcast with Zach Carter https://podcasts.apple.com/bg/podcast/john-maynard-keynes-and-his-legacies-interview-with/id1257202425?i=1000476041925 Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey discuss perhaps the most extraordinary individual they have encountered so far: John Maynard Keynes. The most significant economist since Adam Smith rewrote our understanding of the relationship between the state and the market. But Keynes was also a philosopher, a statesman, an aesthete and a hell of a writer: a one-man advertisement for the virtues of refusing to stay in your lane. In part one Dorian and Ian track Keynes' remarkable life in the fifty years leading up to his game changing “general theory” in the 1930s. They talk about his gilded youth at Eton and Cambridge, his complicated friendship with the Bloomsbury Group, his sensational journalism, his rivalries with classical economists, and his rise to wealth and influence. But for all his achievements, his policy prescriptions were usually ignored, from the Treaty of Versailles to the Great Depression. His failures made him Mister Told-you-so. Why was Keynes such a remarkable figure and why wouldn't politicians listen to him? Was he an arch-centrist in an age of extremes? Along the way we meet Virginia Woolf, Winston Churchill, Bertrand Russell, Oswald Mosley and zingers galore. Next week: the rise and fall (and rise again) of Keynesianism. Reading list for both episodes Books: Roger E. Backhouse and Bradley W. Bateman — Capitalist Revolutionary: John Maynard Keynes, 2011 Bradley W. Bateman, Toshiaki Hirai and Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, eds. — The Return to Keynes, 2010 Zach Carter — The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes, 2020 Peter Clarke — Keynes: The Twentieth Century's Most Influential Economist, 2010 Roy Harrod — The Life of John Maynard Keynes, 1951 John Maynard Keynes — The Essential Keynes, 2015 Robert Skidelsky — John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman, 2004 Nicholas Wapshott — Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics, 2011 Online: John Maynard Keynes, ‘Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren', 1930 https://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/archive/keynes_persuasion/Economic_Possibilities_for_our_Grandchildren.htm We Are All Keynesians Now, Time, 1965 https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,842353,00.html Tides of History podcast with Zach Carter https://podcasts.apple.com/bg/podcast/john-maynard-keynes-and-his-legacies-interview-with/id1257202425?i=1000476041925 Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt look at the most powerful and divisive generational cohort of them all: boomers. The people born between 1946 and 1964 have been credited, and blamed, for creating the world we live in. They're the 60s generation, the Me generation, the Reagan generation and the Third Way generation. Where they lead, the world follows. Now that most of them have passed the age of 60, they are allegedly at war with millennials over their legacy: OK, boomer. But does it really make sense to generalise about a cohort which extends from Dolly Parton to Donald Trump, and Theresa May to Prince? And what is a generation anyway? Ian (early millennial) and Dorian (late Gen X) discuss the roots of generation theory, track the boomers' rise to power and assess the charges that boomers and millennials throw at each other across the divide. Is the generation gap bigger than ever or a phoney war cooked up by politicians and the media? Reading list Books: Helen Andrews — Boomers: The Men and Women Who Promised Freedom and Delivered Disaster, 2020 Jennie Bristow — Baby Boomers and Generational Conflict, 2015 Bobby Duffy — The Generation Divide: Why We Can't Agree and Why We Should, 2021 Jill Filipovic — OK Boomer, Let's Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind, 2020 Bruce Cannon Gibney — A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America, 2017 Landon Y Jones — Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation, 1980 Joseph Sternberg — Theft of a Decade: Baby Boomers, Millennials, and the Distortion of Our Economy, 2019 William Strauss and Neil Howe — Generations: The History of America's Future 1584 to 2069, 1991 Jean M Twenge — Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silent — and What They Mean for the Future, 2023 David Willetts — The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children's Future — And Why They Should Give It Back, 2010 Online: Karl Mannheim — ‘The Problem of Generations', 1928 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjln8-IiteBAxU2XUEAHcSICu4QFnoECA4QAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmarcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu%2Fclasses%2F201%2Farticles%2F27MannheimGenerations.pdf&usg=AOvVaw37Wl_dRsSZ_rDdODQ0fMbd&opi=89978449 Richard Lorber and Ernest Fladell — ‘The Generation Gap', Life, 1968 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BVUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA81&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false Neil Howe and William Strauss, ‘The New Generation Gap', The Atlantic, 1992 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1992/12/the-new-generation-gap/536934/ Louis Menand — ‘It's Time to Stop Talking about “Generations”', The New Yorker, 2021 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/18/its-time-to-stop-talking-about-generations Justin E Smith — ‘My Generation', Harper's, 2023 https://harpers.org/archive/2023/09/my-generation/ Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Origin Story host Ian Dunt engages in a battle with Molly over whether UK or US politics are in greater disarray. Political scientist Norm Ornstein dissects the growing radicalization of the GOP after elevating MAGA Mike Johnson to Speaker of the House. Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer shares his perspective on the conflicts in Israel and Ukraine.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, it's part two of the riddle of Jordan B Peterson, the bestselling author and culture warrior. Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey dig into his two megasellers, 12 Rules for Life and Beyond Order, and try to understand why these very strange cocktails of self-help advice, comparative mythology and biological essentialism resonated with millions of readers, especially men and boys.  Do his ideas add up to a coherent view of how to live? How does he reconcile mythology with zoology? What on earth is “postmodern neo-Marxism”? And what is it with Peterson and Pinocchio?  Dorian and Ian discuss how the man with so many rules for life wound up at the end of his tether in a Russian hospital, and how to reconcile his books with his increasingly eccentric and extreme social media presence. Is he really an intellectual at all? Support Origin Story on Patreon for exclusive benefits: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod Reading list for both episodes: Books: Ben Burgis, Conrad Hamilton, Matthew McManus and Marion Trejo — Myth and Mayhem: A Leftist Critique of Jordan Peterson, 2020 Jordan B Peterson — Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief, 1999 Jordan B Peterson — 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, 2018 Jordan B Peterson — Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life, 2021 Sandra Woien, ed. — Critical Responses to Jordan Peterson, 2022 Online: Jason McBride — ‘The Pronoun Warrior', Toronto Life, 2017 https://torontolife.com/city/u-t-professor-sparked-vicious-battle-gender-neutral-pronouns/ David Brooks — ‘The Jordan Peterson Moment', The New York Times, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/opinion/jordan-peterson-moment.html Dorian Lynskey — ‘How dangerous is Jordan Peterson, the rightwing professor who “hit a hornets' nest”?', The Guardian, 2018 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/07/how-dangerous-is-jordan-b-peterson-the-rightwing-professor-who-hit-a-hornets-nest Kelefa Sanneh — ‘Jordan Peterson's Gospel of Masculinity', The New Yorker, 2018 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/jordan-petersons-gospel-of-masculinity Pankaj Mishra — ‘Jordan Peterson & Fascist Mysticism', The New York Review of Books, 2018 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2018/03/19/jordan-peterson-and-fascist-mysticism/ Nellie Bowles — ‘Jordan Peterson, Custodian of the Patriarchy', The New York Times, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/18/style/jordan-peterson-12-rules-for-life.html Vinay Menon — ‘Jordan Peterson is trying to make sense of the world — including his own strange journey', Toronto Star, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20191219104703/https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2018/03/16/jordan-peterson-is-trying-to-make-sense-of-the-world-including-his-own-strange-journey.html Bernard Schiff — ‘I was Jordan Peterson's strongest supporter. Now I think he's dangerous', Toronto Star, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20200115120600/https:/www.thestar.com/opinion/2018/05/25/i-was-jordan-petersons-strongest-supporter-now-i-think-hes-dangerous.html Johanna Thomas-Corr — ‘Jordan Peterson, Agent of Chaos', The New Statesman, 2021 https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2023/02/jordan-peterson-agent-chaos-psychology James Marriott — ‘Beyond Order by Jordan Peterson review', The Times, 2021 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/beyond-order-by-jordan-b-peterson-review-qnhtgs2zj Helen Lewis — ‘What Happened to Jordan Peterson?', The Atlantic, 2021 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/what-happened-to-jordan-peterson/618082/ Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gave a hastily arranged press conference this week in which he confirmed he would be rowing back on some previously made government commitments regarding net zero - the point at which we remove as much carbon from the atmosphere as we put in. The reaction has been mixed, ranging from endorsements from fellow politicians in the Conservative Party to criticism from opposition parties and environmental groups. The business community is also split. So why has Mr Sunak changed his policies on climate change - and why now? Gaia Vince speaks to Ian Dunt, editor of politics.co.uk We hear about an astonishing finding by archaeologists who have discovered expertly manufactured interlocking wooden structural parts that are half a million years old. What do they tell us about our early human ancestors in Africa? Gaia speaks to Professor of Archaeology Laurence Barham and Professor of Geography Geoff Duller about their extraordinary discovery. Approximately two billion tonnes of dust is lifted into the Earth's atmosphere each year and it is both dangerous to human life and essential to the oxidisation of our oceans and rivers. We relentlessly attempt to rid our homes of dust but it always seems to come back. Why do we hardly ever discuss dust? A new book by Jay Owens, ‘Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles' does just that. Jay talks to Gaia about why we should we be as fascinated as she is by tiny airborne particles. As we emit CO2 into the atmosphere, a significant amount - around a third - is taken in by the oceans. With growing interest in carbon removal interventions, ocean scientist Dr David T. Ho tells Gaia about undertaking an exciting experiment. Listen to this bonus content in the podcast. Presenter: Gaia Vince Producers: Laura Northedge and Emily Bird Research: Patrick Hughes Production co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth Editor: Richard Collings

Origin Story is back. The critically-acclaimed podcast uncovering the hidden histories of concepts, people and events you thought you knew.  To kick off Series 4 Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey turn their sights on Jordan B Peterson, the bestselling author, diehard culture warrior and, allegedly, the most influential intellectual in the western world. In part one they discuss Peterson's life up to the publication of 12 Rules for Life in 2018, from his childhood in rural Canada to his first book, Maps of Meaning, his role as a star professor at the University of Toronto and his first taste of public controversy.  How did an obscure academic come to the brink of global celebrity? Why did a young left-leaning activist grow into a ferocious conservative? And what ideas led him to his multi-million-dollar 12 rules? Featuring Nietzsche, Karl Jung, the absence of God and nightmares about the end of the world. Buckle up, bucko. Support Origin Story on Patreon for exclusive benefits: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  Reading list: Books: Ben Burgis, Conrad Hamilton, Matthew McManus and Marion Trejo — Myth and Mayhem: A Leftist Critique of Jordan Peterson, 2020 Jordan B Peterson — Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief, 1999 Jordan B Peterson — 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, 2018 Jordan B Peterson — Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life, 2021 Sandra Woien, ed. — Critical Responses to Jordan Peterson, 2022 Online: Jason McBride — ‘The Pronoun Warrior', Toronto Life, 2017 https://torontolife.com/city/u-t-professor-sparked-vicious-battle-gender-neutral-pronouns/ David Brooks — ‘The Jordan Peterson Moment', The New York Times, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/opinion/jordan-peterson-moment.html Dorian Lynskey — ‘How dangerous is Jordan Peterson, the rightwing professor who “hit a hornets' nest”?', The Guardian, 2018 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/07/how-dangerous-is-jordan-b-peterson-the-rightwing-professor-who-hit-a-hornets-nest Kelefa Sanneh — ‘Jordan Peterson's Gospel of Masculinity', The New Yorker, 2018 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/jordan-petersons-gospel-of-masculinity Pankaj Mishra — ‘Jordan Peterson & Fascist Mysticism', The New York Review of Books, 2018 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2018/03/19/jordan-peterson-and-fascist-mysticism/ Nellie Bowles — ‘Jordan Peterson, Custodian of the Patriarchy', The New York Times, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/18/style/jordan-peterson-12-rules-for-life.html Vinay Menon — ‘Jordan Peterson is trying to make sense of the world — including his own strange journey', Toronto Star, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20191219104703/https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2018/03/16/jordan-peterson-is-trying-to-make-sense-of-the-world-including-his-own-strange-journey.html Bernard Schiff — ‘I was Jordan Peterson's strongest supporter. Now I think he's dangerous', Toronto Star, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20200115120600/https:/www.thestar.com/opinion/2018/05/25/i-was-jordan-petersons-strongest-supporter-now-i-think-hes-dangerous.html Johanna Thomas-Corr — ‘Jordan Peterson, Agent of Chaos', The New Statesman, 2021 https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2023/02/jordan-peterson-agent-chaos-psychology James Marriott — ‘Beyond Order by Jordan Peterson review', The Times, 2021 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/beyond-order-by-jordan-b-peterson-review-qnhtgs2zj Helen Lewis — ‘What Happened to Jordan Peterson?', The Atlantic, 2021 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/what-happened-to-jordan-peterson/618082/ Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christopher Nolan has been generous enough to put together a full-on Origin Story film, combining key elements from the Nuclear War and McCarthyism episodes. So Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt put on their Oppenheimer cosplay outfits including suit trousers waisted up to the chest, and set off to the cinema to watch it.  Here's what they had to say… Support Origin Story on Patreon for more bonus episodes: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  Reading List:  Luis Alvarez – Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist  Martin Amis – Einstein's Monsters  Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin – American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer  David C. Cassidy – J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century  Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi – The Worlds of Herman Kahn  Herman Kahn – On Thermonuclear War  William Lanouette – Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard  William L. Laurence – Dawn Over Zero: The Story of the Atomic Bomb  Robert Jay Lifton and Richard Falk - Indefensible Weapons  Ronald Reagan – An American Life  Jonathan Schell – The Fate of the Earth  P.D. Smith – Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon  H.G. Wells – The World Set Free  The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, by Lawrence Freedman and Jeffrey Michaels The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production by Alex Rees, music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey host an evening of storytelling, debate, gallows humour and intense irritation recorded with an audience on a balmy evening in Soho, London. They look at the idea of The Elite. What the hell does it mean? Where did it come from? How has it changed over the years? And why does it always seem to refer to whoever you happen to disagree with?  For their sins Dorian and Ian read Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics by Matthew Goodwin and pick apart the case against the so-called “new elite". Reading list: Matthew Goodwin - Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics Charles Wright Mills - The Power Elite Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Uncovering the hidden histories of concepts, people and events you thought you knew.  In a first for Origin Story, Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt focus on a living figure: the ubiquitous and divisive richest man in the world, Elon Musk. In the past two years the public perception of Musk has changed dramatically, from Time's Man of the Year and “real-life Iron Man" to radicalised right-wing troll and destroyer of Twitter. Ian and Dorian trace his journey from sci-fi obsessed child prodigy in Apartheid-era South Africa to dotcom entrepreneur to the self-appointed techno-messiah at the helm of SpaceX and Tesla, and ask what happened to the man who said he wanted to save the world. They discuss what his career says about the arc of Silicon Valley and 21st-century capitalism, the cult of technocracy and the dangers of believing your own hype. Support Origin Story on Patreon for exclusive benefits: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  “He doesn't seem that interested in money. The choices he's made have not been your regular ‘rich guy' choices.” – Dorian Lynskey “On Twitter some of the disinformation has been morally abysmal. You think, how could you be a person who would even write these words?” – Ian Dunt "He said it was the duty of the educated to reproduce so ‘we don't devolve into a not very literate, theocratic and unenlightened future.' It's low-level eugenics.” — Dorian Lynskey Reading list: Eric Berger – Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Agustin Ferrari Braun – The Elon Musk Experience: Celebrity Management in Financialised Capitalism David S. Kidder – The Startup Playbook Hamish McKenzie – Insane Mode: How Elon Musk's Tesla Sparked an Electric Revolution to End the Age of Oil Ashlee Vance – Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Is Shaping Our Future Douglas Coupland, ‘The smartest person in any room anywhere:' in defence of Elon Musk, The Observer, 2021 Tad Friend, Plugged In, The New Yorker, 2009 Jordan Liles – What We Know About Elon Musk and the Emerald Mine Rumor, Snopes, 2022 Linette Lopez, Elon Musk Doesn't Care About You, Business Insider, 2018 David J Roth, Burning Down the House, Defector, 2023 Neil Strauss – Elon Musk: The Architect of Tomorrow, Rolling Stone, 2017 Matthew Sweet, Why Jeff Bezos and Elon's Musk real business inspiration is science-fiction, The Times, 2021 The Elon Musk Show, BBC documentary, 2022 I Do Not like Elon Musk Very Much, Behind the Bastards podcast Elon Musk: The Techno Shaman, Decoding the Gurus podcast Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explaining the most misunderstood ideas and people in politics In another two-parter, Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt break down the long, THORNY history of Zionism. In part two, the horror of the Holocaust persuades the international community to mandate a Jewish state in Palestine, with the surprising endorsement of Stalin, but Zionism remains divided.  In the year of Israel's 75th anniversary, Ian and Dorian discuss how successive governments lost the left and courted the right, what happened to Theodor Herzl's utopian vision, and what people really mean when they say they are anti-Zionist. Hear the next episode right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  "In 1948 Israel is one of the most popular countries in the world, perhaps the only country supported by both sides of the Cold War." – Dorian Lynskey "Ultimately if you restrict Zionism to the oldest idea of a homeland for Jews for safety and identity, that is a really provocative, radical and interesting idea.” – Ian Dunt Reading list: Steven Beller – Herzl Lenni Brenner – Zionism in the Age of Dictators Walter Laqueur – A History of Zionism Alex Ryvchin – Zionism: The Concise History Avi Shlaim – The Iron Wall Michael Stanislawski – Zionism: A Very Short Introduction Melvin J. Urofsky – American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust Jeff Walker – The Revisionists and the Rise of Right-Wing Zionism Geoffrey Wheatcroft – Churchill's Shadow Paul Bogdanor's critique of Lenni Brenner https://fathomjournal.org/an-antisemitic-hoax-lenni-brenner-on-zionist-collaboration-with-the-nazis/ The Making of Modern Zionism: The Intellectual Origins of the Jewish State, by Shlomo Avineri Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explaining the most misunderstood ideas and people in politics. In another two-parter, Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt break down the long thorny history of Zionism.  In part one, covering the 1890s to the 1930s, they explain how Theodor Herzl single handedly created a movement for a Jewish nation, Chaim Weizmann won over Churchill and Balfour, and Ze'ev Jabotinsky sowed the seeds of Likud. Utopian dreams wrestle with hard-nosed pragmatism as the Zionists clash with the world's great powers, and each other, about what a Jewish nation should be.  Hear Part Two right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  “Herzl didn't see the Holocaust coming but he was a realist about the durability of antisemitism.” — Dorian Lynskey It's a very communistic, very socialistic, very politically radical community that ends up in Palestine.” — Ian Dunt “At the time of Herzl's death, only about one per cent of the world's Jews were Zionists.” — Dorian Lynskey Reading list: Steven Beller – Herzl Lenni Brenner – Zionism in the Age of Dictators Walter Laqueur – A History of Zionism Alex Ryvchin – Zionism: The Concise History Avi Shlaim – The Iron Wall Michael Stanislawski – Zionism: A Very Short Introduction Melvin J. Urofsky – American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust Jeff Walker – The Revisionists and the Rise of Right-Wing Zionism Geoffrey Wheatcroft – Churchill's Shadow Paul Bogdanor's critique of Lenni Brenner: https://fathomjournal.org/an-antisemitic-hoax-lenni-brenner-on-zionist-collaboration-with-the-nazis/ The Making of Modern Zionism: The Intellectual Origins of the Jewish State, by Shlomo Avineri Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Uncovering the hidden histories of concepts, people and events you thought you knew. In part two of the story of climate change denial Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey take a closer look at the techniques of the “merchants of doubt" who took the denial of man made global warming into the mainstream. Ian tells the real story behind 2009's phoney scandal “Climategate”, while Dorian reads Michael Crichton's crank thriller State of Fear and watches the controversial Channel 4 documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle to explain how denial became a kind of conspiracy theory. A tale of wild claims, false balance, scientists under siege and the giant mess that the deniers have left behind. Hear the next episode right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  “It's the most malicious, cynical, unrepresentative assault on good science that you can imagine” – Ian Dunt "It's apparently a conspiracy between corrupt scientists, hippies, neo-Marxists and Margaret Thatcher. I would love to have been at the meetings." – Dorian Lynskey “Science operates within doubt, that's how it moves forward” – Ian Dunt Reading List:  Michael Crichton – State of Fear Ross Gelbspan – The Heat Is On: The High Stakes Battle Over Earth's Threatened Climate Clive Hamilton – Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About Climate Change Bjorn Lomborg – The Skeptical Environmentalist Chris Mooney – The Republican War on Science Thomas Gale Moore – Climate of Fear: Why We Shouldn't Worry About Global Warming Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway – Merchants of Doubt Nathaniel Rich – Losing Earth: The Decade We Could Have Stopped Climate Change Peter Stott – Hot Air: The Inside Story of the Battle Against Climate Change Denial The Great Global Warming Swindle (Channel 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYhCQv5tNsQ Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Uncovering the hidden histories of concepts, people and events you thought you knew.  This time: Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey try to cool their tempers as they take on climate change denial. They trace denial's journey from fossil-fuel lobbyists and neoliberal think tanks into the heart of the mainstream media and lay out the dire consequences. In this first part Ian and Dorian discuss how global warming grew from a minor nineteenth-century hypothesis into the consensus scientific position by the eco-conscious 1970s. Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House and even Margaret Thatcher was worried about carbon emissions. Starting in 1988, though, contrarian scientists, lobbyists and right-wing politicians weaponised scepticism to ensure that nothing was done about it. Also: how discredited panics about overpopulation and a new ice age helped to fuel the politics of denial. Conspiracy theories, culture wars, pseudo-science and media credulity come together in the story of one of the greatest scandals of modern times. Hear Part Two right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  Tickets for the Origin Story live show are available now: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ZwCihZbENZ “It is extraordinary how far back this goes…there's cross-party recognition of man-made climate change in the 1960's.” – Ian Dunt “It's incredible that the Clean Air Act actually makes global warming worse.” – Dorian Lynskey “It's the same technique as McCarthy, used again and again.” – Ian Dunt Reading List:  Michael Crichton – State of Fear Ross Gelbspan – The Heat Is On: The High Stakes Battle Over Earth's Threatened Climate Clive Hamilton – Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About Climate Change Bjorn Lomborg – The Skeptical Environmentalist Chris Mooney – The Republican War on Science Thomas Gale Moore – Climate of Fear: Why We Shouldn't Worry About Global Warming Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway – Merchants of Doubt Nathaniel Rich – Losing Earth: The Decade We Could Have Stopped Climate Change Peter Stott – Hot Air: The Inside Story of the Battle Against Climate Change Denial The Great Global Warming Swindle (Channel 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYhCQv5tNsQ Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Uncovering the hidden histories of concepts you thought you knew. Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey pick up the story of nuclear war in the 1950s with the arrival of the H-bomb, and travel from the deadly face-off the Cuban Missile Crisis to the theory of nuclear winter and the place of nuclear weapons in a post-Cold War world. Kennedy and Khrushchev contemplate the abyss, Ronald Reagan frets about Armageddon, and Dr Strangelove brings the twisted psychology of nuclear deterrence to the screen. Plus the dark allure of the Cobalt Bomb, the Doomsday Machine that never existed. It's a story of threats, war games and hair-raising close shaves. Did the strategists get it right in the end or were we just very lucky? Listen to next week's episode right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod “In the US there was a recognition over and over by presidents stating…we know that if we fire, we get fired back on.” – Ian Dunt “(the Cuban Missile Crisis) brought the world to the abyss of destruction and the end of mankind.” – Robert Kennedy “Distrust almost destroyed the world” – Dorian Lynskey Reading List:  Luis Alvarez – Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist  Martin Amis – Einstein's Monsters  Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin – American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer  David C. Cassidy – J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century  Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi – The Worlds of Herman Kahn  Herman Kahn – On Thermonuclear War  William Lanouette – Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard  William L. Laurence – Dawn Over Zero: The Story of the Atomic Bomb  Robert Jay Lifton and Richard Falk - Indefensible Weapons  Ronald Reagan – An American Life  Jonathan Schell – The Fate of the Earth  P.D. Smith – Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon  H.G. Wells – The World Set Free  The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, by Lawrence Freedman and Jeffrey Michaels The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recorded before the Privileges Committee report landed. We thought the whole point of resigning was to shut up and go away? On his way out, ex-MP Johnson trashes everything from the Privileges Committee to Tory detente to objective truth itself. We reassemble the original Remainiacs team to look at the squalid final days of Britain's worst Prime Minister. Could he ever come back? Plus, as Trump ends up in court and Berlusconi goes to the Great Bunga Bunga Party in the Sky, is populism unravelling? And there's news for long-time listeners. Listen to our new paper review podcast PAPER CUTS here. https://listen.podmasters.uk/PCogwn • “Johnson is treating the inquiry itself with contempt… Even his fingernails lie. There's no limit to his depravity.” – Ian Dunt • “The Trump indictment is like someone fed every John le Carré novel into ChatGPT and then asked it to write an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.” – Alex Andreou • “The mystique has gone. That sense of the ‘proven winner' has gone. The Tory Party are not complete chumps. He's running scared.” – Ian Dunt • “Johnson's version of events are undermined because he's a lying liar that lies.” – Naomi Smith Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Alex Andreou, Ros Taylor, Naomi Smith and Ian Dunt. Audio producers: Alex Rees and Simon Williams. Producer: Chris Jones. Art: James Parrett. Theme music by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Uncovering the hidden histories of concepts you thought you knew.  This time: the ‘genocide machine' – nuclear war. With Christopher Nolan's biopic of the father of the atomic bomb J. Robert Oppenheimer on its way and anxieties about Putin's nuclear arsenal in the air, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey take us through how the human race learned to live with the first weapon that could potentially spell global annihilation. From the invention of the atomic bomb in a novel by HG Wells to the triumph of the Manhattan Project and the horror of Hiroshima, a modern Pandora's Box opens. Einstein calls his role in the story his “one great mistake”, Oppenheimer says he has blood on his hands, and an anxious world wonders if it will be blown up tomorrow. This one has the lot: fear, guilt, paranoia and a glimpse of the end of the world. Listen to Part 2 right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  “It wasn't just a weapon. It's an angry god. It's Godzilla.” – Dorian Lynskey “The peoples of this world must unite or they will perish… The atomic bomb has spelled [these words] out for all to understand.” – J Robert Oppenheimer    “There should be a statue of Vasili Arkhipov in every town in the world. His refusal to fire stopped a nuclear war.” – Ian Dunt Reading List:  Luis Alvarez – Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist  Martin Amis – Einstein's Monsters  Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin – American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer  David C. Cassidy – J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century  Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi – The Worlds of Herman Kahn  Herman Kahn – On Thermonuclear War  William Lanouette – Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard  William L. Laurence – Dawn Over Zero: The Story of the Atomic Bomb  Robert Jay Lifton and Richard Falk - Indefensible Weapons  Ronald Reagan – An American Life  Jonathan Schell – The Fate of the Earth  P.D. Smith – Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon  H.G. Wells – The World Set Free  The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, by Lawrence Freedman and Jeffrey Michaels The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This time: the tumultuous history of Atheism. The concept has been around since the ancient world but for centuries it was demonised and suppressed. Who could believe such a thing? Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey track the ultimate heresy from the earliest days of western civilisation to the freethinkers of the Enlightenment and the bare-knuckle oratory of the New Atheists. What's the difference between atheism, agnosticism, secularism and deism? What does it stand for? Can it explain the world while also satisfying the need for meaning and community? Was totalitarianism the monstrous zenith of atheism or just a substitute religion? Thomas Paine, Bertrand Russell, Percy Shelley, Albert Camus, Richard Dawkins and more feature in the story of the fight for the right not to believe in God. Listen to next week's episode right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  “Every day around the world it is incalculable the amount of damage done by religions saying; you can't go there, you can't marry them, you can't say that.” – Ian Dunt “Declaring oneself an atheist is still a bold claim.” – Dorian Lynskey “It's quite a humbling experience to think it's taken us 1,500 years to get back to the position we were in in 300AD.” – Ian Dunt Reading List:   Julian Baggini – Atheism: A Very Short Introduction  David Berman – A History of Atheism in Britain: From Hobbes to Russell  Albert Camus – The Myth of Sisyphus  John Gray – Seven Types of Atheism  Christopher Hitchens – God Is Not Great  Christopher Hitchens (ed.) – The Portable Atheist  Susan Jacoby – Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism  Percy Bysshe Shelley – The Necessity of Atheism  James Thrower – A Short History of Western Atheism  Tim Whitmarsh – Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World Richard Dawkins – The God Delusion Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Episode art by James Parrett. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt explain the most misunderstood ideas and people in politics. This time: part 2 of their Winston Churchill deconstruction. The pair chronicle the turbulent decade that defined Churchill's political legacy. From Munich and his unexpected elevation to power, from the Bengal Famine to victory over Hitler, his surprise defeat in the 1945 election and his long, gloomy decline, they look at a life which still casts a shadow over Britain. And they even read Boris Johnson's Churchill book, so you don't have to. Churchill craved greatness. Did he live up to his ideal? There's only one way to find out… Listen to next week's episode right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  “I think what he did was primarily journalism, rather than being a prime minister.” – Ian Dunt “People think they can look at Churchill like a lifestyle guru they can replicate without the nuance.” – Dorian Lynskey  “Churchill personifies the European confusion that has lasted in this country to the present day” – Ian Dunt Reading List: Churchill by Roy Jenkins The Churchill Factor by Boris Johnson Churchill: Military Genius or Menace? By Stephen Napier Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom by Thomas E. Ricks Churchill: Walking with Destiny by Andrew Roberts Oblivion or Glory: 1921 and the Making of Winston Churchill by David Stafford Churchill's Shadow by Geoffrey Wheatcroft Free Thinking: Churchill's Reputation – BBC Radio 3 Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Series! Explaining the most misunderstood ideas and people in politics. This time: Winston Churchill is caricatured as either a bigoted villain or a stainless hero. Is he neither… or both? Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt take on a Churchillian task: to avoid reducing the legacy of Britain's war leader into a simple binary.  In part one they look at Churchill's complicated childhood, his military adventures, his surprisingly progressive time as Home Secretary, his role in the Gallipoli disaster and his journey from the Tories to the Liberals and back again, leaving him on the brink of the 1930s. And they weigh up the allegations against him, from racism to sending troops to fire on striking miners at Tonypandy. Between the myths and the countermyths there's a fascinating mess of a man. Get Part Two of our Churchill exploration right now – and all of our episodes a week early – when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  “Yes, he is a racist imperialist warmonger. He's also the most important antifascist of human history.” – Ian Dunt “He had no followers. No ‘Churchillites'. Nobody in politics would sacrifice a thing for him.” – Dorian Lynskey  “At this point he's Woke Winston. He's a liberal, supports votes for women, nationalising the railways and restrictions on monopolies.” – Dorian Lynskey  Reading List: Churchill by Roy Jenkins Walking With Destiny by Andrew Roberts The Churchill Factor by Boris Johnson Churchill: Military Genius or Menace? By Stephen Napier Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom by Thomas E. Ricks  Oblivion or Glory: 1921 and the Making of Winston Churchill by David Stafford Churchill's Shadow by Geoffrey Wheatcroft Free Thinking: Churchill's Reputation – BBC Radio 3 Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Coronation weekend and Charles “invites” you to pledge your allegiance to the crown. A wholesome tradition? Or just a bit much? And should we actually read much into the local elections? We ask special guest Ben Walker, senior data journalist at New Statesman and a Labour council candidate. Then in the extra bit – for subscribers only – with rock legends Aerosmith retiring, the panel discusses people they'd like to see pack it in.  “I won't be saying it and I imagine very very few people will be standing on their sofas shouting the words out either.” – Ian Dunt “You've got a fundamental problem and that is that councils have been almost completely neutralised.” – Ian Dunt “Levelling up is just a load of words, it doesn't really mean anything.” – Hannah Fearn www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Ros Taylor with Ian Dunt, Hannah Fearn and guest Ben Walker. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison Producer: Chris Jones. Audio production by Simon Williams. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Government dishes out fresh lessons in doggedness – does the strike stalemate risk a brain drain for Britain? We discuss health workers ditching the UK for Australia for better money (and weather). Plus, why doesn't Westminster work? It's a question we all want to answer – and Ian Dunt has in his new book. And, with *major* spoiler warnings, we talk about the Succession latest.  “I hate the word vocation because it tends to be a way of not paying people for their skill.” – Hannah Fearn  “Being a doctor is the ultimate non-bullsh*t job, it's something we totally rely on.” – Hannah Fearn  “Maybe we owe health care workers more than a round of applause, maybe we owe them money.” – Andrew Harrison  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Alex Andreou with Andrew Harrison, Hannah Fearn and Ian Dunt. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Alex Rees and Chris Jones. Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Origin Story podcast host, Ian Dunt, explains how England's political system may be even worse than ours. The Washington Post's Ashley Parker discusses Trump's impending indictment. Plus, Politico's Ian Ward details the Federalist Society's newest twists and turns.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

United States Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo talks to us about the Biden administration's actions to strengthen the economy. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal tells us how the Progressive Caucus and President Biden have productively collaborated. And Ian Dunt, host of Oh God What Now, talks us about the United Kingdom's current government turmoil. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As an American, it's rare we get to look down on another country's political situation, but Ian Dunt took us inside the UK's political woes and the short-lived tenure of PM Liz Truss. Then the always thoughtful Soledad O'Brien joins us to talk about her new film, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. Lastly, we talk to candidate Will Rollins who is the Democratic nominee in California's 41st district. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Queen's state funeral was watched by billions of people and marked by deep Christian symbolism. However, during the ceremony, atheist journalist Ian Dunt tweeted that he found it "empty and platitudinous, a cardboard shield against existential despair".   Ian engages with Christian thinker Andy Bannister who wrote a response article to Ian's tweet. They discuss the royal funeral, meaning, purpose and what death means to an atheist and a Christian.   For Ian Dunt: https://twitter.com/iandunt For Andy Bannister: https://www.andybannister.net/ For Andy's article: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/articles/atheist-says-queens-funeral-was-empty-and-platitudinous-i-disagree/13915.article   • Subscribe to the Unbelievable? podcast: https://pod.link/267142101 • More shows, free eBook & newsletter: https://premierunbelievable.com • For live events: http://www.unbelievable.live • For online learning: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/training-and-events • Support us in the USA: http://www.premierinsight.org/unbelievableshow • Support us in the rest of the world: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/donate

Queen Elizabeth is an important cultural mascot in a way that Americans can't understand and her death will have more implications for Great Britain and the world than simply who will take over the monarchy.That's according to Ian Dunt, columnist at the ‘i' newspaper and host of the podcasts, Oh God, What Now? and Origin Story, who tells hosts Molly Jong-Fast and Andy Levy on this episode of political podcast The New Abnormal that the country faces multiple crises as it deals with the queen's death. Also on the podcast Douglas Rushkoff, author of the new book, Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires, describes his experience talking to some very rich people about the “event.”  Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Things are going super over in the United Kingdom, jokes Molly Jong-Fast to British journalist Ian Dunt on this episode of The New Abnormal podcast. Dunt broke down the events that led to the U.K. Prime Minister's resignation as well as whether or not he thinks Boris Johnson will still hold the title by the fall and the state of U.K. politics—and whether there's a chance to actually reverse Brexit. Then, CNBC Fast Money contributor Dan Nathan explains why a recession might actually be a good thing, and that it's what the federal government likely wants. “Sadly they need the economy almost to go in a recession for inflation to come down meaningfully,” he says. Plus! Molly and co-host Andy Levy shoot the shit about Elon Musk hurting Trump's feelings, Biden's dumb move to swing “left,” and the one thing that'll actually maybe get Steve Bannon to testify in front of the Jan. 6 committee.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.