Podcast appearances and mentions of ian winn

This week we catch up with friend of the podcast Ian Winn about things that you need to consider when getting a home loan if you're self-employed. 

Today we discuss franchises! Should you buy a franchise? What are the benefits? What should you look for when considering which franchise to go into business with? These are all questions we answer with Ian Winn who has a wealth of experience in franchising including being the COO, CEO and board member of several large franchising businesses in Australia. 

Coast Beat Ep. 90: This week we talk water. Debates over whether to focus on emergency drought measures or securing a bigger drinking water supply continue at the Sunshine Coast Regional District. And, in salt water related news, a parliamentary committee on the latest derelict boat legislation hears from a couple of local government reps. Show Notes: Our story on the latest SCRD water debates: http://www.coastreporter.net/news/local-news/milne-urges-action-on-reservoir-1.23175112 Our story on SCRD directors Frank Mauro and Ian Winn’s appearance at the parliamentary committee studying Bill C-64: http://www.coastreporter.net/news/local-news/scrd-directors-to-weigh-in-on-abandoned-vessels-bill-1.23168935

Without a doubt, it was our worst-ever show. We never had a guest walk out on us before; the shitstorm that followed saw us branded all over the Internet as racially-insensitive bigots. The author’s publicist swore never to work within us again, and insinuated that he’d try to pull us off the air. All this happened because the Canadian novelist Joseph Boyden walked out of the studio when invited by host Ian Winn to discuss his First Nation origins. We thought at the time – and still do – that it was a direct but fair question, given Boyden’s close association with First Nation matters. All this happened three years ago, and but the topic has suddenly been given new prominence by an Aboriginal Peoples Television Network investigation by award-winning reporter Jorge Barrera. Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Without a doubt, it was our worst-ever show. We never had a guest walk out on us before; the shitstorm that followed saw us branded all over the Internet as racially-insensitive bigots. The author’s publicist swore never to work within us again, and insinuated that he’d try to pull us off the air. All this happened because the Canadian novelist Joseph Boyden walked out of the studio when invited by host Ian Winn to discuss his First Nation origins. We thought at the time – and still do – that it was a direct but fair question, given Boyden’s close association with First Nation matters. All this happened three years ago, and but the topic has suddenly been given new prominence by an Aboriginal Peoples Television Network investigation by award-winning reporter Jorge Barrera. Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

How To Make A Movie: Have a great idea. Write a screenplay. Offer it to Hollywood (this step may take sixteen years waiting tables) Sell your soul (i.e. tarnish your great idea with two nudes, an astronaut, graphic sex, two vampires and three fart jokes) Watch the whole thing get mothballed and die in pre-production. (Despite promises to the contrary, Johnny Depp will not be involved) But there is another way... Tonight we welcome into the studio three authors, three film buffs, two directors and a memory of jam-- all contained by three great guests! Shamim Sarif not only had a great idea, wrote a novel, had it published, adapted it for film, wrote the screenplay and directed it herself-- her partner Hanan was the producer. And they've won awards. Dozens-- plural! And this isn't some low-budget zombie high school rom com set on an exploding train (copyright LAD). Her Cold War Russian love thriller, Despite the Falling Snow, has big-name stars and is coming soon to a theater near you. How did Shamim do it? Well, for one thing she bought a copy of the Guerrilla Film Makers Handbook, co-authored by tonight's second guest-- accomplished filmmaker, screenwriter and certified cinematic sniper Chris Jones. Chris is currently running the AI Singularity edition of Create50, a collaborative film project which "began life with a simple question-- how can we get fifty screenwriters' work produced?" Chris is also the genius behind London Screenwriters' Festival, 2nd to 4th September. As if that weren't enough, our final guest is up-and-coming novelist and Sofilm contributer David Sanger. His hauntingly compelling post American civil war novel All Our Minds In Tandem revolves around The Maker, a man whose supernatural animation can erase, enhance or alter people's memories. We'd tell you more about it except-- OMG it seems our cranial hard-drives has been compromised! Tonight's show encompasses memory, love, sexuality, voyeurism, moral compromise, the smoke-and-mirrors that is Hollywood and film, film, film! Oh and jam. Mustn't forget the jam. Follow Shamim on twitter! Read her books! Watch her films! Follow Chris on twitter! Buy his books! Join Create50! Follow David on twitter! Buy his book! Share your first memory at #memoryswap! Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

How To Make A Movie: Have a great idea. Write a screenplay. Offer it to Hollywood (this step may take sixteen years waiting tables) Sell your soul (i.e. tarnish your great idea with two nudes, an astronaut, graphic sex, two vampires and three fart jokes) Watch the whole thing get mothballed and die in pre-production. (Despite promises to the contrary, Johnny Depp will not be involved) But there is another way... Tonight we welcome into the studio three authors, three film buffs, two directors and a memory of jam-- all contained by three great guests! Shamim Sarif not only had a great idea, wrote a novel, had it published, adapted it for film, wrote the screenplay and directed it herself-- her partner Hanan was the producer. And they've won awards. Dozens-- plural! And this isn't some low-budget zombie high school rom com set on an exploding train (copyright LAD). Her Cold War Russian love thriller, Despite the Falling Snow, has big-name stars and is coming soon to a theater near you. How did Shamim do it? Well, for one thing she bought a copy of the Guerrilla Film Makers Handbook, co-authored by tonight's second guest-- accomplished filmmaker, screenwriter and certified cinematic sniper Chris Jones. Chris is currently running the AI Singularity edition of Create50, a collaborative film project which "began life with a simple question-- how can we get fifty screenwriters' work produced?" Chris is also the genius behind London Screenwriters' Festival, 2nd to 4th September. As if that weren't enough, our final guest is up-and-coming novelist and Sofilm contributer David Sanger. His hauntingly compelling post American civil war novel All Our Minds In Tandem revolves around The Maker, a man whose supernatural animation can erase, enhance or alter people's memories. We'd tell you more about it except-- OMG it seems our cranial hard-drives has been compromised! Tonight's show encompasses memory, love, sexuality, voyeurism, moral compromise, the smoke-and-mirrors that is Hollywood and film, film, film! Oh and jam. Mustn't forget the jam. Follow Shamim on twitter! Read her books! Watch her films! Follow Chris on twitter! Buy his books! Join Create50! Follow David on twitter! Buy his book! Share your first memory at #memoryswap! Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

What the hell is going on with publishing? Lots of empty opinion, hype, doom saying and general noise. Cutting through to the signal is difficult – but heck, that’s what LAD does best! So tonight, we bring you an author, a leading industry expert and a publishing rain-maker (oh yes) to cut through the cacophony and tell us exactly what’s going on. Hint: it’s not all bad news. While a quarter of all Americans didn’t read a single book last year (you know who you are) over in Iceland, a million books get checked out of the Reykjavík city library every year... and that’s in a city of only 200,000 residents! What's more, those frozen Icelandic nutters have a tradition where people buy each other books for Christmas and sit down to read them on Christmas eve often while drinking hot chocolate or alcohol-free christmas ale! It's called Jolabokaflod. Our rain-making guest Christopher Norris is bigging it up although frankly, it's unAmerican. Speaking of unAmerican, and books (seamless segues: it's what we do) another of tonight's guests— the whip-sharp, and ethically-focused former barrister Leila Segal-- has just published Breathe, her steamy short story collection set in Fidel Castro's Cuba. Read it and you'll know she's been there-- heck, she reads a slice to us on air! But even if Leila takes your breath away (and she will) with hundreds of new titles being publsihed every week, how can she sell the book without selling her authenticity? And even if her metric is more profound than sales, how can her work affect more people? We’re delighted that one of the publishing industry’s most senior experts can join us for this show. Neill Denny, editor of the publishing trade's daily news magazine BookBrunch, has had a ring-side seat to the publishing world's lumbering move to digital for more than a decade. Neill graciously allows us to pick his industrial-sized brain on trends, famous authors, the role of your local bookshop and more. He even offers us some hope: turns out the rise of coloring books for adults is actually propping up some first-rate literary fiction-- who knew? So look out readers, authors, agents and publishers, tonight, we're bringing sexy back. Only in paperback! Release the Jolabokaflod! Follow Christopher @chris24n! Buy Leila's book! Follow @leilasegal! Subscribe to Bookbrunch! Follow @BookBrunch! Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

What the hell is going on with publishing? Lots of empty opinion, hype, doom saying and general noise. Cutting through to the signal is difficult – but heck, that’s what LAD does best! So tonight, we bring you an author, a leading industry expert and a publishing rain-maker (oh yes) to cut through the cacophony and tell us exactly what’s going on. Hint: it’s not all bad news. While a quarter of all Americans didn’t read a single book last year (you know who you are) over in Iceland, a million books get checked out of the Reykjavík city library every year... and that’s in a city of only 200,000 residents! What's more, those frozen Icelandic nutters have a tradition where people buy each other books for Christmas and sit down to read them on Christmas eve often while drinking hot chocolate or alcohol-free christmas ale! It's called Jolabokaflod. Our rain-making guest Christopher Norris is bigging it up although frankly, it's unAmerican. Speaking of unAmerican, and books (seamless segues: it's what we do) another of tonight's guests— the whip-sharp, and ethically-focused former barrister Leila Segal-- has just published Breathe, her steamy short story collection set in Fidel Castro's Cuba. Read it and you'll know she's been there-- heck, she reads a slice to us on air! But even if Leila takes your breath away (and she will) with hundreds of new titles being publsihed every week, how can she sell the book without selling her authenticity? And even if her metric is more profound than sales, how can her work affect more people? We’re delighted that one of the publishing industry’s most senior experts can join us for this show. Neill Denny, editor of the publishing trade's daily news magazine BookBrunch, has had a ring-side seat to the publishing world's lumbering move to digital for more than a decade. Neill graciously allows us to pick his industrial-sized brain on trends, famous authors, the role of your local bookshop and more. He even offers us some hope: turns out the rise of coloring books for adults is actually propping up some first-rate literary fiction-- who knew? So look out readers, authors, agents and publishers, tonight, we're bringing sexy back. Only in paperback! Release the Jolabokaflod! Follow Christopher @chris24n! Buy Leila's book! Follow @leilasegal! Subscribe to Bookbrunch! Follow @BookBrunch! Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

As the winter solstice passes, Litopia After Dark becomes Litopia After Darker. it's time for festive cheer, certainly. But it's also the moment when the fabric (sorry) between our nightmares and our waking world is at its thinnest. A time for cosy hibernation, yes-- but also fear, depression and real-life demons. Especially in the days of glowing rectangles when the lights never completely go out. Jessica’s extraordinary handiwork is on display at most Royal weddings To help navigate this darkest part of the Northern year, we're joined by ladies Light and Wilde-- Jessica Light, one of the last remaining trimming weavers in the UK, and former Cenobite, Barbie Wilde. But which one really loves a rainbow and which one is afraid of the dark? (Hint: one of them's a real cut-up and the other will have you in stitches...) One is a horror writer who played a mutilating demon in Clive Barker's Hellraiser II. The other is a passementriere (pass-a-mon-tree-air) who helped fringe the Sultan of Brunei's throne room... and brocaded the balcony for the royal wedding! One brings zombie rapists to life in her latest book Voices of the Damned. The other makes macrame dip-bleached Taiwan tie-back tassels that retail for £95. AND WE'VE GOT THEM ON THE SAME SHOW! Follow Jessica @trimsandtassels! Follow Barbie @BarbieWilde! Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

As the winter solstice passes, Litopia After Dark becomes Litopia After Darker. it's time for festive cheer, certainly. But it's also the moment when the fabric (sorry) between our nightmares and our waking world is at its thinnest. A time for cosy hibernation, yes-- but also fear, depression and real-life demons. Especially in the days of glowing rectangles when the lights never completely go out. Jessica’s extraordinary handiwork is on display at most Royal weddings To help navigate this darkest part of the Northern year, we're joined by ladies Light and Wilde-- Jessica Light, one of the last remaining trimming weavers in the UK, and former Cenobite, Barbie Wilde. But which one really loves a rainbow and which one is afraid of the dark? (Hint: one of them's a real cut-up and the other will have you in stitches...) One is a horror writer who played a mutilating demon in Clive Barker's Hellraiser II. The other is a passementriere (pass-a-mon-tree-air) who helped fringe the Sultan of Brunei's throne room... and brocaded the balcony for the royal wedding! One brings zombie rapists to life in her latest book Voices of the Damned. The other makes macrame dip-bleached Taiwan tie-back tassels that retail for £95. AND WE'VE GOT THEM ON THE SAME SHOW! Follow Jessica @trimsandtassels! Follow Barbie @BarbieWilde! Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

This year Colorado is expected to generate $125 million in tax revenue from legal marijuana sales. In the first full year of legalization Colorado homicide rates have dropped by 24%. Medically, the (preliminary) research is in: while cannabis has been shown to have deleterious effects on developing minds, it has also been proven to treat a whole host of medical conditions. Dr. Adam Winstock Still, many people remain staunchly opposed to legalization. In the United States, where pot is still illegal federally, the main organizations lobbying to keep pot a Schedule 1 narcotic-- alongside heroin, crystal meth and cocaine-- are private prisons, the prison guard unions, law enforcement, the tobacco lobby and the pharmaceutical industry. (The alcohol industry has since backed off following an uptick in sales post-legalization in Colorado.) Following the election of Justin Trudeau, Canada, a G7 nation, is poised to legalize recreational marijuana across the board-- as is California, the world's sixth largest economy. Meanwhile, the UK shows little interest, either on the streets or at Number 10. Why? Is marijuana really safe? What kind of message does legalizing weed send to kids? What are the medical dangers? And what about Butane Hash Oil-- an increasingly popular preparation with five times the amount of THC as the strongest strain of pot? Unlike the plant itself, the answers are not cut and dried! Click to take the Global Drug Survey Tonight we talk to psychiatrist and addiction specialist Dr. Adam Winstock who runs the Global Drugs Survey, the world's most comprehensive survey of drug use, including alcohol and tobacco. (Teetotaler or total stoner, please do fill out this year's survey). From emergency rooms to psychiatric wards to advising government and law enforcement, Dr. Winstock is perfectly poised to speak to addiction, the drug war, and even -- gasp!-- how some responsible people even use drugs for pleasure. So before you smoke your next spliff-- or even directly after-- check out what Dr. Winstock has to say. His answers may surprise you. Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

This year Colorado is expected to generate $125 million in tax revenue from legal marijuana sales. In the first full year of legalization Colorado homicide rates have dropped by 24%. Medically, the (preliminary) research is in: while cannabis has been shown to have deleterious effects on developing minds, it has also been proven to treat a whole host of medical conditions. Dr. Adam Winstock Still, many people remain staunchly opposed to legalization. In the United States, where pot is still illegal federally, the main organizations lobbying to keep pot a Schedule 1 narcotic-- alongside heroin, crystal meth and cocaine-- are private prisons, the prison guard unions, law enforcement, the tobacco lobby and the pharmaceutical industry. (The alcohol industry has since backed off following an uptick in sales post-legalization in Colorado.) Following the election of Justin Trudeau, Canada, a G7 nation, is poised to legalize recreational marijuana across the board-- as is California, the world's sixth largest economy. Meanwhile, the UK shows little interest, either on the streets or at Number 10. Why? Is marijuana really safe? What kind of message does legalizing weed send to kids? What are the medical dangers? And what about Butane Hash Oil-- an increasingly popular preparation with five times the amount of THC as the strongest strain of pot? Unlike the plant itself, the answers are not cut and dried! Click to take the Global Drug Survey Tonight we talk to psychiatrist and addiction specialist Dr. Adam Winstock who runs the Global Drugs Survey, the world's most comprehensive survey of drug use, including alcohol and tobacco. (Teetotaler or total stoner, please do fill out this year's survey). From emergency rooms to psychiatric wards to advising government and law enforcement, Dr. Winstock is perfectly poised to speak to addiction, the drug war, and even -- gasp!-- how some responsible people even use drugs for pleasure. So before you smoke your next spliff-- or even directly after-- check out what Dr. Winstock has to say. His answers may surprise you. Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

"When more than 90% of ever-married women in Egypt -- including my mother and all but one of her six sisters -- have had their genitals cut in the name of modesty, then surely we must all blaspheme... to hell with political correctness." So wrote tonight's guest, Egyptian journalist and women's right's activist Mona Eltahawy in her explosive Foreign Policy magazine article Why Do They Hate Us?-- "us" being women and "they" being Arab men. Her rage was fueled by personal experience: in November 2011, just blocks from Tahrir Square, Mona was sexually assaulted, had both arms broken and came within a tweet of being gang-raped by Egyptian Armed Forces-- then headed by current Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el Sisi. Having written for the New York Times, the Guardian, the Observer as well as being featured on the BBC, CNN, Newsweek, PEN, Al Jazeera, NPR, the Atlantic, MSNBC-- Mona was saved by her profile. But how many others weren't so lucky? The article went viral. She fleshed it into a bestselling book: Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution. Since then she's been condemned by Islamists, celebrated by feminists, hijacked by neo-cons and the source of much hand-wringing by liberal multiculturalists. Oh, and dickered with over semantics by Berkeley and Oxford professors (WTF, BBC?) You don't speak for us, said some Arab women while many others-- while most others-- didn't speak at all. Tonight Mona talks candidly about her teenage years in Saudi Arabia, how Westerners can help Arab women, getting tattooed, losing her headscarf and her hymen-- and even being a bit of a cougar! In Egypt 99% of women and girls have been subject to sexual harassment. In Jordan, rapists have escaped punishment by marrying their victims. So what can be done? Listen to the show and find out. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

"When more than 90% of ever-married women in Egypt -- including my mother and all but one of her six sisters -- have had their genitals cut in the name of modesty, then surely we must all blaspheme... to hell with political correctness." So wrote tonight's guest, Egyptian journalist and women's right's activist Mona Eltahawy in her explosive Foreign Policy magazine article Why Do They Hate Us?-- "us" being women and "they" being Arab men. Her rage was fueled by personal experience: in November 2011, just blocks from Tahrir Square, Mona was sexually assaulted, had both arms broken and came within a tweet of being gang-raped by Egyptian Armed Forces-- then headed by current Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el Sisi. Having written for the New York Times, the Guardian, the Observer as well as being featured on the BBC, CNN, Newsweek, PEN, Al Jazeera, NPR, the Atlantic, MSNBC-- Mona was saved by her profile. But how many others weren't so lucky? The article went viral. She fleshed it into a bestselling book: Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution. Since then she's been condemned by Islamists, celebrated by feminists, hijacked by neo-cons and the source of much hand-wringing by liberal multiculturalists. Oh, and dickered with over semantics by Berkeley and Oxford professors (WTF, BBC?) You don't speak for us, said some Arab women while many others-- while most others-- didn't speak at all. Tonight Mona talks candidly about her teenage years in Saudi Arabia, how Westerners can help Arab women, getting tattooed, losing her headscarf and her hymen-- and even being a bit of a cougar! In Egypt 99% of women and girls have been subject to sexual harassment. In Jordan, rapists have escaped punishment by marrying their victims. So what can be done? Listen to the show and find out. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

LITOPIA AFTER DARK is back! And in typical style, our first guest for the new season spent four nights in a freezing cave in Tora Bora interviewing none other than Osama bin Laden. How’s that for openers? But that’s far from Abdel Bari Atwan’s only claim to fame. Born in Gaza, he is one of the world’s leading authorities on al-Qa’ida. Indeed, he wrote the definite book on the subject – The Secret History of al-Qa’ida. At a moment when the West seems poised for yet more intervention in a deeply unstable Middle East, this is just the right time to hear from an author, editor and journalist who knows the region, and its peoples, intimately. Bari is a regular guest on the BBC, Dateline, CNN and Al Jazeera. He has 740,000 twitter followers. His Rai Al Youn digital newspaper-- often called the Huffington Post of the Arab World-- boasts a circulation of almost half a million. He also spent four nights in a freezing cave in Tora Bora interviewing Osama bin Laden. And yet, no one seems to like Bari . He's outspoken on Israel being the enemy of the Arab world-- yet he advocates for a one state solution to the Palestinian crisis. He's blacklisted in Egypt and other Arab nations for cozying up to the infidel West, yet the state of Israel prevented him from returning to his native Palestine to visit his dying mother-- or go to her funeral. He can't even get a visa to visit the good ol' USA. Tonight he joins us to solve the Middle East crisis in 140 characters or less. He also shares his impassioned opinions on everything from drone strikes to the Alabama legal system to women's rights in the Arab World. Bari's new book is entitled Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

LITOPIA AFTER DARK is back! And in typical style, our first guest for the new season spent four nights in a freezing cave in Tora Bora interviewing none other than Osama bin Laden. How’s that for openers? But that’s far from Abdel Bari Atwan’s only claim to fame. Born in Gaza, he is one of the world’s leading authorities on al-Qa’ida. Indeed, he wrote the definite book on the subject – The Secret History of al-Qa’ida. At a moment when the West seems poised for yet more intervention in a deeply unstable Middle East, this is just the right time to hear from an author, editor and journalist who knows the region, and its peoples, intimately. Bari is a regular guest on the BBC, Dateline, CNN and Al Jazeera. He has 740,000 twitter followers. His Rai Al Youn digital newspaper-- often called the Huffington Post of the Arab World-- boasts a circulation of almost half a million. He also spent four nights in a freezing cave in Tora Bora interviewing Osama bin Laden. And yet, no one seems to like Bari . He's outspoken on Israel being the enemy of the Arab world-- yet he advocates for a one state solution to the Palestinian crisis. He's blacklisted in Egypt and other Arab nations for cozying up to the infidel West, yet the state of Israel prevented him from returning to his native Palestine to visit his dying mother-- or go to her funeral. He can't even get a visa to visit the good ol' USA. Tonight he joins us to solve the Middle East crisis in 140 characters or less. He also shares his impassioned opinions on everything from drone strikes to the Alabama legal system to women's rights in the Arab World. Bari's new book is entitled Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

It's Easter, everybody! Time for daffodils... daylight savings... and life-sized chocolate statues of Benedict Cumberbatch. So how about we put aside Ebola, Somalian jihad, narcotraficantes, the heart-wrenching demise of a literary titan-- not to mention the greatest extinction event in the history of planet earth. Let's leave those topics for past and future shows, shall we? (We've got a rip-roarin' summer planned for Litopia After Dark!) Instead let's chat with dyed-in-the-mohair mod Ian Moore, one of the UK's leading stand-up comics. Ian is living the ex-pat dream in France. Raising a family amid barnyard animals, wearing bespoke suits, gigging across the world-- and even (keep down your jealous bile) hosting the Meat and Poultry Processing Awards of 2014. Ian's latest book, C'est Modnifique!: Adventures of an English Grump in Rural France proves more of the hilarious same. Tonight he joins us to talk escaped livestock, gigs gone wrong... and chutney as a punishment for fruit. Because we could all use a laugh. Happy Easter everybody. follow Ian @ianmodmoore Buy his books! Eat his Chutney (not a joke)! >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

It's Easter, everybody! Time for daffodils... daylight savings... and life-sized chocolate statues of Benedict Cumberbatch. So how about we put aside Ebola, Somalian jihad, narcotraficantes, the heart-wrenching demise of a literary titan-- not to mention the greatest extinction event in the history of planet earth. Let's leave those topics for past and future shows, shall we? (We've got a rip-roarin' summer planned for Litopia After Dark!) Instead let's chat with dyed-in-the-mohair mod Ian Moore, one of the UK's leading stand-up comics. Ian is living the ex-pat dream in France. Raising a family amid barnyard animals, wearing bespoke suits, gigging across the world-- and even (keep down your jealous bile) hosting the Meat and Poultry Processing Awards of 2014. Ian's latest book, C'est Modnifique!: Adventures of an English Grump in Rural France proves more of the hilarious same. Tonight he joins us to talk escaped livestock, gigs gone wrong... and chutney as a punishment for fruit. Because we could all use a laugh. Happy Easter everybody. follow Ian @ianmodmoore Buy his books! Eat his Chutney (not a joke)! >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Meet Susan Blackmore, the world’s foremost expert on memes. The intro to her seminal work The Meme Machine was written by none other than genius biologist and fundamentalist atheist blowhard Richard Dawkins. Her lectures on TED receives millions of views— even despite TED's dishwater-dull format when compared to Litopia After Dark (rowr!) “Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world,” said Marshal McLuhan. Never has this been more true. (Full quote: Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world, as the bee of the plant world, enabling it to fecundate and to evolve ever new forms.) But do memes actually exist? Or are they simply metaphors to observe our shifting culture? And who is Susan Blackmore anyway? After an out of body experience she studied the paranormal for 24 years, only to arrive at the conclusion it was bollocks— all of it. So who’s to say she won’t soon say the same about memes? But wait, there’s more! Now she’d like for us to consider what she calls temes— technology assisted memes. Replicators so powerful they may yet turn our computers against us— and sooner than you think. Just ask Stephen Hawking. Because your Macbook Pro is spreading words, tunes, images and ideas much faster than your feeble human mind can imagine. Check everything you think you know about memes at the door. Because this show is no lecture. This show is virus inside of your mind. Spread the word. (PS - Blackmore's explosive article on fellow Litopia After Dark guest Susan Greenfield can be found here!) Check out her website! Buy her book! Do it now! Photo by zooterkin >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Meet Susan Blackmore, the world’s foremost expert on memes. The intro to her seminal work The Meme Machine was written by none other than genius biologist and fundamentalist atheist blowhard Richard Dawkins. Her lectures on TED receives millions of views— even despite TED's dishwater-dull format when compared to Litopia After Dark (rowr!) “Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world,” said Marshal McLuhan. Never has this been more true. (Full quote: Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world, as the bee of the plant world, enabling it to fecundate and to evolve ever new forms.) But do memes actually exist? Or are they simply metaphors to observe our shifting culture? And who is Susan Blackmore anyway? After an out of body experience she studied the paranormal for 24 years, only to arrive at the conclusion it was bollocks— all of it. So who’s to say she won’t soon say the same about memes? But wait, there’s more! Now she’d like for us to consider what she calls temes— technology assisted memes. Replicators so powerful they may yet turn our computers against us— and sooner than you think. Just ask Stephen Hawking. Because your Macbook Pro is spreading words, tunes, images and ideas much faster than your feeble human mind can imagine. Check everything you think you know about memes at the door. Because this show is no lecture. This show is virus inside of your mind. Spread the word. (PS - Blackmore's explosive article on fellow Litopia After Dark guest Susan Greenfield can be found here!) Check out her website! Buy her book! Do it now! Photo by zooterkin >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

You might think that landing a coveted job presenting BBC TV’s Top Gear would be the peak of most people’s careers. Not for tonight’s guest, Beki Adam. For her, presenting the most widely-watched factual television programme in the world was just the start of a long, and very strange journey... that may yet take her to a seat in the British Parliament. Predecessor of the infamous, bigoted and fisticuffy Jeremy Clarkson, Beki is the opposite of a petrolhead: she runs an organic farm. She has an environmental conscience. She spent seventeen years as a Buddhist nun. And now she's running for Parliament. Against none other than the Right Honorable Sir Arthur Nicholas Winston Soames-- Conservative Party stalwart and grandson of Winston Churchill. Beki’s election opponent, The Right Honorable Nicholas Jabba Soames But is she cut out to be a politician? Her history will surely be called into question: when confronted by catastrophic flooding in Bangladesh, her reaction was to open a cannabis cafe-- and yes, unbelievably, those are related. Unlike Clarkson, she holds little appeal for the average UKIP voter, appears to be a humanitarian and has decided to run independently (currently 5 out of 650 seats are held by independents). Her district, Mid Sussex, is also girding to become one of the country's main outlets for hydraulic fracturing, a dangerous gamble that could provide the UK as little as a two-month's supply of petroleum-- yet poison the groundwater for generations. And who do you think is vociferously anti-fracking? Never mind the organic farm-- is she ready to get her hands really dirty? The odds on Nicholas Soames are 100/1. His pockets are deep, his lineage impressive. But Soames is pro-fracking, an Eton graduate and also chairman of the notorious "private military" firm Aegis-- think the UK's version of Blackwater. Aegis has "Explosive Protection Dogs Teams." She is no doubt fighting an uphill battle-- but is it unwinnable? Nonsense! says Beki. That’s the doctrine of Implied Inevitability (listen to the show). If we want things to change for the better, they can – but only if we take action. Links mentioned... Gasland documentary on Youtube Follow Beki on Twitter @bekiadam1 Help her campaign/question her here >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

You might think that landing a coveted job presenting BBC TV’s Top Gear would be the peak of most people’s careers. Not for tonight’s guest, Beki Adam. For her, presenting the most widely-watched factual television programme in the world was just the start of a long, and very strange journey... that may yet take her to a seat in the British Parliament. Predecessor of the infamous, bigoted and fisticuffy Jeremy Clarkson, Beki is the opposite of a petrolhead: she runs an organic farm. She has an environmental conscience. She spent seventeen years as a Buddhist nun. And now she's running for Parliament. Against none other than the Right Honorable Sir Arthur Nicholas Winston Soames-- Conservative Party stalwart and grandson of Winston Churchill. Beki’s election opponent, The Right Honorable Nicholas Jabba Soames But is she cut out to be a politician? Her history will surely be called into question: when confronted by catastrophic flooding in Bangladesh, her reaction was to open a cannabis cafe-- and yes, unbelievably, those are related. Unlike Clarkson, she holds little appeal for the average UKIP voter, appears to be a humanitarian and has decided to run independently (currently 5 out of 650 seats are held by independents). Her district, Mid Sussex, is also girding to become one of the country's main outlets for hydraulic fracturing, a dangerous gamble that could provide the UK as little as a two-month's supply of petroleum-- yet poison the groundwater for generations. And who do you think is vociferously anti-fracking? Never mind the organic farm-- is she ready to get her hands really dirty? The odds on Nicholas Soames are 100/1. His pockets are deep, his lineage impressive. But Soames is pro-fracking, an Eton graduate and also chairman of the notorious "private military" firm Aegis-- think the UK's version of Blackwater. Aegis has "Explosive Protection Dogs Teams." She is no doubt fighting an uphill battle-- but is it unwinnable? Nonsense! says Beki. That’s the doctrine of Implied Inevitability (listen to the show). If we want things to change for the better, they can – but only if we take action. Links mentioned... Gasland documentary on Youtube Follow Beki on Twitter @bekiadam1 Help her campaign/question her here >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Daisy Waugh is literary royalty. Following in the footsteps of her legendary grandfather Evelyn and her journalist/author father Auberon, Daisy is a popular columnist and novelist in her own right. According to her regular column in the Sunday Times she promoted her last book, “a feminist diatribe modern motherhood” by “lying on a giant, polystyrene cut-out of my own name. In a tight red satin skirt which didn’t belong to me, and some magnificent shoes covered in velvet and jewels, on loan from Manolo Blahnik.” To promote her latest novel— she sits down with us! But before we get to Honeyville— the pet name of the only town in Colorado where prostitution was legal in 1913— she gripes about trying to make it as a Hollywood screenwriter. She also opens up about being a Waugh, an atheist who loves the Tarot and the personal repercussions of her successful and divisive I don’t know why she bothers: Guilt-free Motherhood for Thoroughly Modern Women. By the time we reach whether it was better to be a whore than a wife in the Wild West— as proclaimed by Honeyville’s protagonist— the gloves are well and truly off. This Daisy is no shrinking wallflower! Follow her on twitter @didwaugh >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Daisy Waugh is literary royalty. Following in the footsteps of her legendary grandfather Evelyn and her journalist/author father Auberon, Daisy is a popular columnist and novelist in her own right. According to her regular column in the Sunday Times she promoted her last book, “a feminist diatribe modern motherhood” by “lying on a giant, polystyrene cut-out of my own name. In a tight red satin skirt which didn’t belong to me, and some magnificent shoes covered in velvet and jewels, on loan from Manolo Blahnik.” To promote her latest novel— she sits down with us! But before we get to Honeyville— the pet name of the only town in Colorado where prostitution was legal in 1913— she gripes about trying to make it as a Hollywood screenwriter. She also opens up about being a Waugh, an atheist who loves the Tarot and the personal repercussions of her successful and divisive I don’t know why she bothers: Guilt-free Motherhood for Thoroughly Modern Women. By the time we reach whether it was better to be a whore than a wife in the Wild West— as proclaimed by Honeyville’s protagonist— the gloves are well and truly off. This Daisy is no shrinking wallflower! Follow her on twitter @didwaugh >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Seventy thousand dead. Twenty thousand disappeared. Severed heads with threatening messages dumped by the side of the highway. A terrorist insurgency on the verge of toppling governments. Iraq? Syria? The Congo? Ukraine? No. This is Northern Mexico— one of the most violent places on earth. Why? Because Western culture likes to take drugs. Tons of them. Drugs we brand illegal and on which we’re waging war. To walk us through the kill zone— from the peasants picking coca in the hills behind Bogota to the contract killers of Ciudad Juarez— tonight we’re joined by the amazingly-still-alive Ioan Grillo, acclaimed journalist and author of El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency. Intimately familiar with the deadly cartels, Ioan breaks down Mexico’s bloody “trampolines”, the reality of Breaking Bad— in the form of Mexican crystal meth “super-labs”— the splashy death of Pablo Escobar, and the largest cash seizure in modern history. We also discuss confirmed CIA complicity in importing cocaine into America and the character assassination and suspicious death of reporter Gary Webb— whose star-studded biopic Kill the Messenger was recently released in theaters. This is a show not to be missed. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Seventy thousand dead. Twenty thousand disappeared. Severed heads with threatening messages dumped by the side of the highway. A terrorist insurgency on the verge of toppling governments. Iraq? Syria? The Congo? Ukraine? No. This is Northern Mexico— one of the most violent places on earth. Why? Because Western culture likes to take drugs. Tons of them. Drugs we brand illegal and on which we’re waging war. To walk us through the kill zone— from the peasants picking coca in the hills behind Bogota to the contract killers of Ciudad Juarez— tonight we’re joined by the amazingly-still-alive Ioan Grillo, acclaimed journalist and author of El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency. Intimately familiar with the deadly cartels, Ioan breaks down Mexico’s bloody “trampolines”, the reality of Breaking Bad— in the form of Mexican crystal meth “super-labs”— the splashy death of Pablo Escobar, and the largest cash seizure in modern history. We also discuss confirmed CIA complicity in importing cocaine into America and the character assassination and suspicious death of reporter Gary Webb— whose star-studded biopic Kill the Messenger was recently released in theaters. This is a show not to be missed. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

At Last – The Litopia After Dark Xmas Family Murder Show is here! Yeah – it’s a tad late, folks (or early, for next Xmas). But hardcore Yule like this is worth waiting for. This is the show that puts Fifty Shades in the shade. That makes your office Xmas party look sophisticated. That cracks your Xmas nuts and then asks damn fool questions about Ants. There is no mercy; for Agent Cox is the quizmaster. And you are his prey. Don’t miss this unique chance to relive precious childhood Xmas trauma! Thrill as our panelists succumb to Stockholm syndrome – live, on-air and during the show! In true Saturnalian style – and for this show only – Ian Winn’s customary role of ringmaster is playfully usurped… throb to his gibbers! And since its the Roman winter solstice orgy we’re celebrating, our very special guests tonight are very specially-imported from the land of Chianti, bottom-pinching and speaking with your hands… we’re proud to present none other than Daniela De Gregorio and Michael G. Jacob! Daniela and Mike write together under the pseudonym Michael Gregorio. Their latest and greatest book has just been published – CRY WOLF is a hard-boiled, break-neck thriller, set in the stunning Sybilline Mountains National Park in central Italy. The first of a brand-new crime series, CRY WOLF introduces Sebastiano Cangio… who only wants to live amongst the wild mountain wolves he loves so much… but who quickly finds himself up against the most organised, the most violent crime it is possible to conceive. It’s a great holiday read… and… We have three copies to give away! To win, simply answer Ian’s question correctly, and mail us using the button on this page. The first three correct answers will win CRY WOLF as an ebook, distributed through NetGalley. Contestants will need to provide a valid email address – preferably the address connected to your eReader. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

At Last – The Litopia After Dark Xmas Family Murder Show is here! Yeah – it’s a tad late, folks (or early, for next Xmas). But hardcore Yule like this is worth waiting for. This is the show that puts Fifty Shades in the shade. That makes your office Xmas party look sophisticated. That cracks your Xmas nuts and then asks damn fool questions about Ants. There is no mercy; for Agent Cox is the quizmaster. And you are his prey. Don’t miss this unique chance to relive precious childhood Xmas trauma! Thrill as our panelists succumb to Stockholm syndrome – live, on-air and during the show! In true Saturnalian style – and for this show only – Ian Winn’s customary role of ringmaster is playfully usurped… throb to his gibbers! And since its the Roman winter solstice orgy we’re celebrating, our very special guests tonight are very specially-imported from the land of Chianti, bottom-pinching and speaking with your hands… we’re proud to present none other than Daniela De Gregorio and Michael G. Jacob! Daniela and Mike write together under the pseudonym Michael Gregorio. Their latest and greatest book has just been published – CRY WOLF is a hard-boiled, break-neck thriller, set in the stunning Sybilline Mountains National Park in central Italy. The first of a brand-new crime series, CRY WOLF introduces Sebastiano Cangio… who only wants to live amongst the wild mountain wolves he loves so much… but who quickly finds himself up against the most organised, the most violent crime it is possible to conceive. It’s a great holiday read… and… We have three copies to give away! To win, simply answer Ian’s question correctly, and mail us using the button on this page. The first three correct answers will win CRY WOLF as an ebook, distributed through NetGalley. Contestants will need to provide a valid email address – preferably the address connected to your eReader. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

When US and UK forces invaded Iraq in 2003, millions of people took to the streets to protes – to little effect. The bombs of Shock and Awe kept falling. By some estimates the civilian death toll stands at over 150,000. Like many people, tonight’s guest David Gross had a crisis of conscience. And yet unlike many people, he’s done something about it. He’s stopped paying taxes. Not by tax avoidance, but by lowering his income below the tax threshold - and by using as many loopholes as he can find within the law. You know, just like all our much-loved multi-national corporations do! Tonight’s guest tax resistor David Gross But would his solutions work for you? His recent book - 99 Tactics of Successful Tax Resistance Campaigns - combs through history for examples of tax resistance movements that actually changed government policy (like the Suffragettes. Such tactics don't come without risk: despite Mr. Gross' best efforts, the IRS is after him for thirty grand and if his profile gets much higher he risks incarceration. Is he an elitist? A traitor? Or - sin of all sins in the USA - does he not support the troops? Tonight, our host and self-confessed “taxpaying mug” producer play good cop/bad cop with one brave individual who refuses to fund the system error they call the war on terror. Catch Mr. Gross' recent feature in the Atlantic: Can Quitting A Job Help End War? Or track his nefarious schemes and suggestions on his blog The Picket Line Photo by Lwp Kommunikáció >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

When US and UK forces invaded Iraq in 2003, millions of people took to the streets to protes – to little effect. The bombs of Shock and Awe kept falling. By some estimates the civilian death toll stands at over 150,000. Like many people, tonight’s guest David Gross had a crisis of conscience. And yet unlike many people, he’s done something about it. He’s stopped paying taxes. Not by tax avoidance, but by lowering his income below the tax threshold - and by using as many loopholes as he can find within the law. You know, just like all our much-loved multi-national corporations do! Tonight’s guest tax resistor David Gross But would his solutions work for you? His recent book - 99 Tactics of Successful Tax Resistance Campaigns - combs through history for examples of tax resistance movements that actually changed government policy (like the Suffragettes. Such tactics don't come without risk: despite Mr. Gross' best efforts, the IRS is after him for thirty grand and if his profile gets much higher he risks incarceration. Is he an elitist? A traitor? Or - sin of all sins in the USA - does he not support the troops? Tonight, our host and self-confessed “taxpaying mug” producer play good cop/bad cop with one brave individual who refuses to fund the system error they call the war on terror. Catch Mr. Gross' recent feature in the Atlantic: Can Quitting A Job Help End War? Or track his nefarious schemes and suggestions on his blog The Picket Line Photo by Lwp Kommunikáció >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Ian’s guests tonight are Daisy Eris Campbell and Jon Higgs who are bringing Robert Anton Wilson’s cult classic The Cosmic Trigger, The Final Secret of the Illuminati to the stage. Impossible? Well, when you consider that this nonfiction and partly autobiographical work covers, amongst many other topics... Freemasons, Discordianism, Sufism, the Illuminati, Futurology, Zen Buddhism, Dennis and Terence McKenna, Jack Parsons, the occult practices of Aleister Crowley and G.I. Gurdjieff, Yoga, and many other esoteric or counterculture philosophies... yes, you might well conclude that it’s un-stageable. Where other producers see problems, Daisy sees... a four-hour epic. Listen to her long, strange but oh-so-necessary journey leading to The Cosmic Trigger. And buy tickets for the London show – on now – here. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Ian’s guests tonight are Daisy Eris Campbell and Jon Higgs who are bringing Robert Anton Wilson’s cult classic The Cosmic Trigger, The Final Secret of the Illuminati to the stage. Impossible? Well, when you consider that this nonfiction and partly autobiographical work covers, amongst many other topics... Freemasons, Discordianism, Sufism, the Illuminati, Futurology, Zen Buddhism, Dennis and Terence McKenna, Jack Parsons, the occult practices of Aleister Crowley and G.I. Gurdjieff, Yoga, and many other esoteric or counterculture philosophies... yes, you might well conclude that it’s un-stageable. Where other producers see problems, Daisy sees... a four-hour epic. Listen to her long, strange but oh-so-necessary journey leading to The Cosmic Trigger. And buy tickets for the London show – on now – here. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Mal Peet is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest British writers alive. His books have won many awards, and reviews range from the merely enthusiastic to the ecstatic. A deeply creative writer, Mal joins us tonight to chat about the writing process, tar-grouted macadam, nano-drones and Tolkienism. Oh, and also his newly publishing book, THE MURDSTONE TRILOGY… which isn’t a trilogy at all. Click to order from Amazon Is there a formula for writing the next George “Rolls Royce” Martin swords-and-sorcery, high-fantasy epic troll opera? Mal says yes… and what’s more, he generously shares it with us. From the Greme Caves of Devon to the unspeakable trolls lurking near Sydney’s Opera House, by way of Norfolk (not pronounced the way it looks) – you’re in for a rollicking, high-octane evening! >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Mal Peet is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest British writers alive. His books have won many awards, and reviews range from the merely enthusiastic to the ecstatic. A deeply creative writer, Mal joins us tonight to chat about the writing process, tar-grouted macadam, nano-drones and Tolkienism. Oh, and also his newly publishing book, THE MURDSTONE TRILOGY… which isn’t a trilogy at all. Click to order from Amazon Is there a formula for writing the next George “Rolls Royce” Martin swords-and-sorcery, high-fantasy epic troll opera? Mal says yes… and what’s more, he generously shares it with us. From the Greme Caves of Devon to the unspeakable trolls lurking near Sydney’s Opera House, by way of Norfolk (not pronounced the way it looks) – you’re in for a rollicking, high-octane evening! >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

On this day in 1918 – the eleventh day of the eleventh month, at the 11th hour – the hostilities of the First World war formally ended. This is Remembrance Day, aka Poppy Day. But why poppies? Well, contrary to popular belief, poppies have been associated with war since at least Napoleonic times, when a writer first noted how poppies grew over the graves of soldiers. It is theorized that the damage done to the landscape in Flanders during WW1 greatly increased the lime content in the soil, leaving the poppy as one of the few plants able to survive. At the war’s conclusion, it was an American professor who first suggested that wearing a red poppy year-round would fittingly honour the war’s fallen. Soon, the red silk poppy had been adopted as an official symbol of remembrance by the American Legion. And then the idea spread to Britain, where Field Marshal Douglas Haig – the "Butcher of the Somme” – used the motif to promote The Royal British Legion, which he co-founded. And yet, the poppy symbol remains an enigma. What we are actually celebrating, or remembering, when we buy one? Is it the glory of war? Or its poignancy? Are we remembering selfless heroism? Or the futility of human conflict? Our guest tonight, Ben Griffin, has clear views on this. Ben is no ordinary foot soldier. As a member of Britain’s elite special forces, the SAS, Ben has served his country in Northern Ireland, Macedonia, Afghanistan and Baghdad. Ben is eloquent, lucid and deeply moving. If you want to know what it is actually like to fight a war in the 21st century, listen to this show. Ben’s organisation, Veterans for Peace, can be contacted here. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

On this day in 1918 – the eleventh day of the eleventh month, at the 11th hour – the hostilities of the First World war formally ended. This is Remembrance Day, aka Poppy Day. But why poppies? Well, contrary to popular belief, poppies have been associated with war since at least Napoleonic times, when a writer first noted how poppies grew over the graves of soldiers. It is theorized that the damage done to the landscape in Flanders during WW1 greatly increased the lime content in the soil, leaving the poppy as one of the few plants able to survive. At the war’s conclusion, it was an American professor who first suggested that wearing a red poppy year-round would fittingly honour the war’s fallen. Soon, the red silk poppy had been adopted as an official symbol of remembrance by the American Legion. And then the idea spread to Britain, where Field Marshal Douglas Haig – the "Butcher of the Somme” – used the motif to promote The Royal British Legion, which he co-founded. And yet, the poppy symbol remains an enigma. What we are actually celebrating, or remembering, when we buy one? Is it the glory of war? Or its poignancy? Are we remembering selfless heroism? Or the futility of human conflict? Our guest tonight, Ben Griffin, has clear views on this. Ben is no ordinary foot soldier. As a member of Britain’s elite special forces, the SAS, Ben has served his country in Northern Ireland, Macedonia, Afghanistan and Baghdad. Ben is eloquent, lucid and deeply moving. If you want to know what it is actually like to fight a war in the 21st century, listen to this show. Ben’s organisation, Veterans for Peace, can be contacted here. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

She does her job with typically understated bravery. To meet her, you might think (for a moment) that this headscarved and very English lady is, perhaps, a headmistress, a rose grower or possibly something a bit nebulous in the arts. But this is Lindsey Hilsum. The woman for whom the expression sang-froid might have been invented. Specialising in remaining imperturbable under fire, and always meeting her deadline. As International Editor for Britain’s Channel 4 News, she reported from Belgrade in 1999 when NATO bombed Serbia, from Baghdad during the 2003 US invasion, and covered the Fallujah assault in November 2004. Her reports from Africa, the Middle East and Russia have earned her many awards. In 1994, she was the only English-speaking journalist in Rwanda when the genocide started. It’s an obvious question, but we still want to know – what’s it like being a woman in the front line? How do you cope when your friend and colleague, Marie Colvin, dies covering the siege of Homs in Syria? And – when you come back from the world’s most perilous places, having seen things that no normal person should ever see – how do you sleep at night? Tonight, fresh from Damascus, Lindsey joins us in London to help us make sense of Crimea, Syria – and the genesis of Isis. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

She does her job with typically understated bravery. To meet her, you might think (for a moment) that this headscarved and very English lady is, perhaps, a headmistress, a rose grower or possibly something a bit nebulous in the arts. But this is Lindsey Hilsum. The woman for whom the expression sang-froid might have been invented. Specialising in remaining imperturbable under fire, and always meeting her deadline. As International Editor for Britain’s Channel 4 News, she reported from Belgrade in 1999 when NATO bombed Serbia, from Baghdad during the 2003 US invasion, and covered the Fallujah assault in November 2004. Her reports from Africa, the Middle East and Russia have earned her many awards. In 1994, she was the only English-speaking journalist in Rwanda when the genocide started. It’s an obvious question, but we still want to know – what’s it like being a woman in the front line? How do you cope when your friend and colleague, Marie Colvin, dies covering the siege of Homs in Syria? And – when you come back from the world’s most perilous places, having seen things that no normal person should ever see – how do you sleep at night? Tonight, fresh from Damascus, Lindsey joins us in London to help us make sense of Crimea, Syria – and the genesis of Isis. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Making a welcome return tonight is journalist-turned-investigative-historian, Tim Butcher. Tim specialises in covering awkward places at difficult moments: Kurdistan under attack in 1991 by Saddam Hussein, Sarajevo during the Bosnian War of the 1990s, the Allied attack on Iraq in 2003, Israel's 2006 clash with Hizbollah in southern Lebanon among other crises. All good preparation, then for tonight’s skirmish with Ian... But it’s not all fol-de-rol and bon mots ce soir. Tim’s new, widely-praised book is a quest to find history's most famous terrorist before Osama bin Laden... Gavrilo Princip, the teenage assassin who triggered the catastrophic series of events that led to the First World War. You may think that everything that could possibly be told about this particular Bosnian Serb has already been written. Not so. Listen to tonight’s show – and read Tim’s excellent book, The Trigger – and you will appreciate why reviewers have been showering it, and him, with praise. We’re indeed proud to host him tonight. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Making a welcome return tonight is journalist-turned-investigative-historian, Tim Butcher. Tim specialises in covering awkward places at difficult moments: Kurdistan under attack in 1991 by Saddam Hussein, Sarajevo during the Bosnian War of the 1990s, the Allied attack on Iraq in 2003, Israel's 2006 clash with Hizbollah in southern Lebanon among other crises. All good preparation, then for tonight’s skirmish with Ian... But it’s not all fol-de-rol and bon mots ce soir. Tim’s new, widely-praised book is a quest to find history's most famous terrorist before Osama bin Laden... Gavrilo Princip, the teenage assassin who triggered the catastrophic series of events that led to the First World War. You may think that everything that could possibly be told about this particular Bosnian Serb has already been written. Not so. Listen to tonight’s show – and read Tim’s excellent book, The Trigger – and you will appreciate why reviewers have been showering it, and him, with praise. We’re indeed proud to host him tonight. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Baroness Susan Greenfield is one of the most interesting scientists alive on the planet. Reviled by some, admired by many, never short of a piercing insight and a provocative soundbite... Susan Greenfield is everywhere. But who is the real Susan Greenfield – and what is she really saying to us? On tonight’s show, we go head-to-head. And not just with our guest: but with her critics, too! >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Baroness Susan Greenfield is one of the most interesting scientists alive on the planet. Reviled by some, admired by many, never short of a piercing insight and a provocative soundbite... Susan Greenfield is everywhere. But who is the real Susan Greenfield – and what is she really saying to us? On tonight’s show, we go head-to-head. And not just with our guest: but with her critics, too! >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Donna and Peter are joined in the studio by special guest Ian Winn, who can (ab)normally be found hosting our sister show here on Litopia, Litopia After Dark. Links to stories mentioned: How Amazon got a patent on white-background photography Why Photographers Shouldn't Be Too Upset Over Amazon's White-Background Patent (Peter disagrees with this!) Victoria's Secret Loses PINK Brand Battle B&N Testing Espresso Book Machines Bert The Farting Hippo! FBI Agent Files Defamation Suit Against Ebony Philly Newspaper Editor Fired For Asian Slurs Why Female Writers Get Trolled The Most Florida Judge Rules That Facebook Likes Aren't Owned By Page Creators Judge Tosses Copyright Suit Filed By Makers Of ‘Deep Throat’ Against ‘Lovelace’ Biopic Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes

You may think you know about World War Two… but you don’t. Tonight you’ll find out why. Featuring blistering contributions from our special guests Peter Grose, author of The Greatest Escape, and journalist & WWII maven, Neill Denny. Scintillating conversation and scorching debate… from Boy Scouts to Gaza, from Obamacare to Style Nazis (what?). Provocative, informative, addictive. See you next week, Litopians! Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes If you enjoy Litopia's FREE shows, please help us to keep going by making a donation!

You may think you know about World War Two… but you don’t. Tonight you’ll find out why. Featuring blistering contributions from our special guests Peter Grose, author of The Greatest Escape, and journalist & WWII maven, Neill Denny. Scintillating conversation and scorching debate… from Boy Scouts to Gaza, from Obamacare to Style Nazis (what?). Provocative, informative, addictive. See you next week, Litopians! Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes If you enjoy Litopia's FREE shows, please help us to keep going by making a donation!

Good news! This is a brief audio note from Ian and Peter about our RSS feed. Litopia is expanding, with more shows and more RSS feeds. This feed – the one you’re currently subscribed to – will become our MASTER feed: in other words, every show we produce will appear here automatically. Hopefully, that will suit you just fine. If not, Ian and Peter explain other options. See you soon!

It started in Sochi — the most expensive winter Olympics in history. A winter Olympics which, let us not forget, saw Great Britain take the gold in curling! Then Pussy Riot— which is decidedly not a niche pornography market — were being publicly horsewhipped by men in funny hats while the world recoiled in horror and… didn’t do much of anything, really. Then, in the beating Orange heart of Kiev’s Independence Square, came the protesters — or maybe they weren’t protesters at all: maybe they were agent provocateurs from America. Next came the riot police — or maybe they weren’t riot police at all — maybe they were paramilitary thugs from the infamous mercenary force, Blackwater. Suddenly there were 70 dead, hundreds injured, a Ukrainian president forced to flee his massive gold-plated presidential palace leaving behind that most incriminating evidence of dictatorship — a private zoo. Suddenly Russian troops — or maybe they’re not Russian; the uniforms are vague —deployed inside Crimea. Suddenly, if you believe the narrative being played out on the nightly news — half of Ukraine wants an EU passport while the other half wants to strip half-naked and wrestle bears a la Vladamir Putin. On tonight’s Litopia After Dark, we have, in studio, satirist, television talking head and former Kremlin advisor Alexander Nekrassov. And folks, believe us – Alexander does not get an easy time. Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes Subscribe to our shows by Email If you enjoy Radio Litopia, please help us to keep going by making a donation!

It started in Sochi — the most expensive winter Olympics in history. A winter Olympics which, let us not forget, saw Great Britain take the gold in curling! Then Pussy Riot— which is decidedly not a niche pornography market — were being publicly horsewhipped by men in funny hats while the world recoiled in horror and… didn’t do much of anything, really. Then, in the beating Orange heart of Kiev’s Independence Square, came the protesters — or maybe they weren’t protesters at all: maybe they were agent provocateurs from America. Next came the riot police — or maybe they weren’t riot police at all — maybe they were paramilitary thugs from the infamous mercenary force, Blackwater. Suddenly there were 70 dead, hundreds injured, a Ukrainian president forced to flee his massive gold-plated presidential palace leaving behind that most incriminating evidence of dictatorship — a private zoo. Suddenly Russian troops — or maybe they’re not Russian; the uniforms are vague —deployed inside Crimea. Suddenly, if you believe the narrative being played out on the nightly news — half of Ukraine wants an EU passport while the other half wants to strip half-naked and wrestle bears a la Vladamir Putin. On tonight’s Litopia After Dark, we have, in studio, satirist, television talking head and former Kremlin advisor Alexander Nekrassov. And folks, believe us – Alexander does not get an easy time. Download the show as video file Subscribe in iTunes Subscribe to our shows by Email If you enjoy Radio Litopia, please help us to keep going by making a donation!