Podcasts about Reith Lectures

Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption, isn't afraid of hard work or an intellectual challenge. He's combined a high-profile legal career with a passion for medieval history, and his books include a five volume, 4000 page account of the Hundred Years War, widely described as ‘monumental.' For much of his career he was a very successful barrister working on commercial law, constitutional law and human rights cases, with clients ranging from the British government to Roman Abramovich. Then in 2012 he made history when he was appointed to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, without ever having served as a full time judge. In 2019, he gave the Reith Lectures, under the title Law and the Decline of Politics, examining how the courts are taking on more of the role of making law. It's a topic he follows up in his most recent book, The Challenges of Democracy and the Rule of Law. Jonathan's musical choices includes Berlioz, Schumann, Britten and Mozart.

Crime Time Inc: Season 3 Review and Upcoming Charles Manson SeriesIn this episode of Crime Time Inc, hosts Simon and Tom dive into an in-depth review of Season 3, discussing the show's past episodes, themes, and variety. They explore notable subjects like serial killers, massacres, kidnappings, and historical cases, reflecting on the different approaches and techniques used in investigations. Additionally, they share insights on famous assassinations and the impact of global events. The episode also introduces the upcoming deep dive series on Charles Manson and his notorious crimes. Stay tuned for more gripping true crime stories and fascinating discussions.00:00 Introduction and Season Three Overview00:43 Introducing the Charles Manson Series03:17 Upcoming Live Shows and Events04:35 Reflecting on Past Seasons and Serial Killers11:38 Challenges in Long-Running Investigations18:22 Massacres, Slaughters, and Kidnappings21:52 School Shootings and Firearm Regulations23:22 Tiger Kidnappings: A Personal Experience24:43 The Unarmed Police Force: A Cultural Contrast28:33 Community Policing: The Lost Art31:57 The Reith Lectures and Notorious Crimes32:47 Assassinations: Patterns and Conspiracies38:34 Book Release and Historical Reflections39:50 Final Thoughts and Upcoming Topics Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In her final 2024 BBC Reith Lecture, forensic psychiatrist Gwen Adshead assesses how we deal with violent offenders, and assesses the effectiveness and impact of therapeutic interventions with offenders in prisons. *The Reith Lectures originally aired on BBC Radio 4.

With very rare access, forensic psychiatrist Gwen Adshead gives her third Reith Lecture inside Grendon prison, in England, where she talks to a small number of prisoners and staff, and asks the question: Does trauma cause violence? Does being a victim of violence, in some circumstances, make you more likely to become a perpetrator of violence? *The Reith Lectures originally aired on BBC Radio 4.

In a career spanning over 30 years, Dr. Adshead has heard many of her patients ask: "I have done evil things, but does that mean I am evil? In her second BBC Reith Lecture, Adshead asks if there is such a thing as evil. She argues we all have capacity for 'evil' and says we need to find ways to cultivate societal and individual 'goodness.' *The Reith Lectures originally aired on BBC Radio 4.

This month, IDEAS features the 2024 BBC's Reith Lectures by forensic psychiatrist Gwen Adshead. Her four lectures address pertinent questions she has faced in her career. To start, she asks if violence is a normal part of human life — whether we are all capable and tempted by violence — or whether it is an aberration in just some people. *The Reith Lectures originally aired on BBC Radio 4.

Understanding Violence: Dr. Gwen Adshead's First Reith LectureIn this episode of Crime Time, Inc., we delve into the first of four Reith Lectures by Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Gwen Adshead. Titled 'Is Violence Normal?' this lecture explores the complexities surrounding human violence. Dr. Adshead, who has extensive experience working in prisons and high-security hospitals like Broadmoor, argues that violence is a part of human nature and is influenced by various social and individual factors. She challenges the conventional notion of profiling typical killers and urges us to understand the relational contexts and risk factors that lead to violence. Using the analogy of a bicycle lock, she explains how different risk factors combine to unlock violent behaviour. Dr. Adshead highlights the importance of responsibility and the dangers of normalising violence through media and societal narratives. The discussion also touches on the role of mental illness, the potential for rehabilitation, and the need for nuanced approaches to preventing violence. Tune in for a thought-provoking episode that pushes us to reconsider our assumptions about violence and its perpetrators.00:00 Introduction to the Reith Lectures00:42 Overview of Dr. Gwen Adshead's Lectures00:54 Is Violence Normal?01:40 Understanding the Roots of Violence03:30 The Bicycle Lock Analogy04:28 Neutralization and Responsibility06:19 Challenging the Concept of Evil13:41 Rehabilitation and Change15:24 Final Thoughts and Takeaways Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Simon and Tom discuss a range of topics including Tom's upcoming book on the bombing of Edinburgh, the infamous FIFA corruption scandal, and its implications on global football governance. They dive deep into high-profile cases examined by their 'Deep Dive' team, such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the 'Ice Man' hitman Richard Kuklinski, and the mysterious D.B. Cooper heist. They also explore historical events like the Rosenberg espionage case and the Assyrian genocide, touching on themes of system failures, historical justice systems, and the complex nature of evil. The episode concludes with a look into future episodes and live events featuring special guests.00:00 Introduction and Greetings00:32 Tom's Upcoming Book on WWII01:55 FIFA Corruption Scandal04:36 American Law Enforcement and FIFA14:17 Sandy Hook and Gun Control Debate20:32 The Ice Man: Richard Kuklinski21:43 The Hitman's Double Life23:03 The Reith Lectures on Evil24:33 The D.B. Cooper Mystery28:45 The Rosenberg Espionage Case34:49 Understanding Genocide: The Assyrian Case39:07 Reflections on Historical Conflicts41:58 Upcoming Events and Announcements Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrea Catherwood presents the programme that hears your views on BBC audio. A new series of The Reith Lectures is underway, presented by forensic psychologist Dr Gwen Adshead. She poses four questions about violence and the prison system - and so two listeners who work in prison services and have lived experience of being in prison visited our VoxBox to give their thoughts on the broadcasts. Paula Harriott, Chief Executive of the charity Unlock, and Marc Conway, CEO of Fair Justice, give their assessment on how Gwen answered her own questions.And following last week's episode of Feedback many listeners jumped to the defence of a recent Archers storyline featuring a holiday lets scam. But why did some say that it was getting them in the Christmas spirit?We also heard from more listeners on the end of Short Cuts, the programme that highlights short and experimental audio documentaries by makers from around the world. Presenter: Andrea Catherwood Producer: Pauline Moore Executive Producer: David PrestA Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4

Artificial intelligence could make some of us rich — but leave some behind. In part two of the BBC Reith Lectures, Oxford professor Ben Ansell argues that AI can increase inequality, while appearing to increase prosperity, leading to skepticism about democracy.

IDEAS presents the first of the BBC Reith Lectures delivered by Ben Ansell. The Oxford professor and author of Why Politics Fails examines the threats facing modern democracy, how artificial intelligence can distort its integrity, and how politicians can invest in a democratic future.

The Reith Lectures are an annual tradition, started in 1948 by the BBC's first director general. In a special edition, we hear your thoughts on the programme, and we're joined by the man who gave this year's address. We also talk to the BBC executive who commissioned it.Presenter: Rajan Datar Producer: Howard ShannonA Whistledown production for the BBC World Service

Hap-py New Year! We welcome our first guest of the Chatteroo-era, and what a guest: This year's BBC Reith Lecturer, Professor Ben Ansell - political scientist and former teaching assistant to Ed Miliband (as Ed mentions 5,000 time during the conversation.)Listen to/read Ben's Reith Lectures: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729d9Buy Ben's book, 'Why Politics Fails': https://www.pagesofhackney.co.uk/webshop/product/why-politics-fails-ansell-ben-w/Visit Ben's website: https://benwansell.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More than two billion people go to the polls next year in elections across the world. So, with that in mind, Adam catches up with political scientist Ben Ansell. Professor Ben Ansell delivered this year's BBC Radio 4 Reith Lectures, following in the footsteps of Robert Oppenheimer, Hilary Mantel and Stephen Hawking. They're called: Our Democratic Future and in this episode, Adam and Ben discuss how we can make politics work for all of us in the 21st century. Listen to all the Reith Lectures here on https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729d9 You can join our Newscast online community here: https://tinyurl.com/newscastcommunityhere Today's Newscast was presented by Adam Fleming. It was made by Chris Gray with Gemma Roper. The technical producer was Matt Dean. The senior news editors are Jonathan Aspinwall and Sam Bonham.

We are honoured to have as our guest in this episode Professor Stuart Russell. Stuart is professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, and the traditional way to introduce him is to say that he literally wrote the book on AI. Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, which he co-wrote with Peter Norvig, was first published in 1995, and the fourth edition came out in 2020.Stuart has been urging us all to take seriously the dramatic implications of advanced AI for longer than perhaps any other prominent AI researcher. He also proposes practical solutions, as in his 2019 book Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control.In 2021 Stuart gave the Reith Lectures, and was awarded an OBE. But the greatest of his many accolades was surely in 2014 when a character with a background remarkably like his was played in the movie Transcendence by Johnny Depp. The conversation covers a wide range of questions about future scenarios involving AI, and reflects on changes in the public conversation following the FLI's letter calling for a moratorium on more powerful AI systems, and following the global AI Safety Summit held at Bletchley Park in the UK at the beginning of November.Selected follow-ups:Stuart Russell's page at BerkeleyCenter for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence (CHAI)The 2021 Reith Lectures: Living With Artificial IntelligenceThe book Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of ControlMusic: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration

With the fall of the Soviet Union, the theoretical physicist Armen Sarkissian returned home and became first the Prime Minister and then the President of the newly reformed state of Armenia. In his book, The Small States Club: How Small Smart States Can Save the World, he argues that successful smaller nations have had to learn to be more agile, adaptive and cooperative, compared to the world's ‘greater' powers.The world map has changed considerably, especially in the 19th and 20th century, as empires fell apart and smaller nations fought for independence. The Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan looks back at this time, and considers how small states survive during times of conflict. In 2018 she presented the BBC's Reith Lectures, The Mark of Cain, on the tangled history of war and society. The BBC's Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet is no stranger to conflict in the world, as she has covered all the major stories across the Middle East and North Africa for the past two decades. But she is also interested in the way small states have been instrumental in mediating world conflicts, and punching above their weight on international issues like the climate crisis.Producer: Katy Hickman

I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast – for the second time! – is Dame Professor Marina Warner, one of the leading historians on this planet! A writer, lecturer, author of almost 40 books, and former president of the Royal Society of Literature, Marina Warner, according to the New Yorker, is an authority on things that don't actually exist – from magic spells, monstrous beasts, to pregnant virgins. A world specialist on myths, fairy tales and stories from ancient times, Warner has written indefatigably for the last five decades on how these tales – some thousands of years old – still speak to our culture today and allow us to appreciate how they are shaped by the societies that tell them. I have poured over her books, from Alone of All Her Sex, her study of the cult of the Virgin Mary, to my favourite, Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form, that so pertinently looks at how women are represented as allegories, bringing about ideas of actual power vs perceived power – for example, while Lady Liberty might be ubiquitous, how much power does she, a woman, actually have? Warner's list of accolades is extensive: a distinguished fellow at All Souls College, Oxford; an honorary fellow at many more; the giver of the BBC's Reith Lectures in 1994; and awarded doctorates of eleven universities in Britain, such as King's, the Royal College of Art, Oxford University, and more. But it's stories and the power of imagination that fascinate her, and has what led me to be so captivated by her work. She has written – inside stories was the place I wanted to be, especially stories that went beyond any experience I could live myself at first hand. The very first stories I heard were saints' lives: the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries of the Virgin Mary, the terrible gory violence of the martyrs' ends … When I first encountered myths and fairy tales, the wonder I felt was pure wonder. But as I have grown older, wonder has taken on its double aspect, and become questioning too. And that is why I couldn't be more excited to be, instead of looking at a woman artist, investigate the representation of female figures that we so often see across history and art history – Eve and Lilith from the Bible, and Medusa and Athena from mythology. MARINA'S BOOKS: https://www.marinawarner.com/ https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520227330/monuments-and-maidens https://www.waterstones.com/book/forms-of-enchantment/marina-warner/9780500021460 https://www.waterstones.com/book/joan-of-arc/marina-warner/9780198718796 https://www.waterstones.com/book/alone-of-all-her-sex/marina-warner/9780198718789 THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.instagram.com/famm.mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 ENJOY!!! Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Music by Ben Wetherfield https://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/

The AI Asia Pacific Institute (AIAPI) has hosted a series of conversations with leading artificial intelligence (AI) experts to study ChatGPT and its risks, looking to arrive at tangible recommendations for regulators and policymakers. These experts include Dr. Toby Walsh, Dr. Stuart Russell, Dr. Pedro Domingos, and Dr. Luciano Floridi, as well as our internal advisory board and research affiliates. The following is a conversation with Dr. Toby Walsh and Dr. Stuart Russell.  Dr. Toby Walsh is Chief Scientist at UNSW.ai, UNSW's new AI Institute. He is a Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence in the School of Computer Science and Engineering at UNSW Sydney, and he is also an adjunct fellow at CSIRO Data61. He was named by the Australian newspaper as a "rock star" of Australia's digital revolution. He has been elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, a fellow of the ACM, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence. He has won the prestigious Humboldt Prize as well as the NSW Premier's Prize for Excellence in Engineering and ICT, and the ACP Research Excellence award. He has previously held research positions in England, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Sweden. He has played a leading role at the UN and elsewhere on the campaign to ban lethal autonomous weapons (aka "killer robots"). His advocacy in this area has led to him being "banned indefinitely" from Russia. Dr. Stuart Russell is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of California at Berkeley, holder of the Smith-Zadeh Chair in Engineering, and Director of the Center for Human-Compatible AI and the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public. He is a recipient of the IJCAI Computers and Thought Award and Research Excellence Award and held the Chaire Blaise Pascal in Paris. In 2021 he received the OBE from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and gave the Reith Lectures. He is an Honorary Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, an Andrew Carnegie Fellow, and a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His book "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach" (with Peter Norvig) is the standard text in AI, used in 1500 universities in 135 countries. His research covers a wide range of topics in artificial intelligence, with a current emphasis on the long-term future of artificial intelligence and its relation to humanity. He has developed a new global seismic monitoring system for the nuclear-test-ban treaty and is currently working to ban lethal autonomous weapons. *** For show notes and past guests, please visit https://aiasiapacific.org/podcast/ For questions, please contact us at contact@aiasiapacific.org or follow us on Twitter or Instagram to stay in touch.

The BBC Reith Lectures return and this year's theme is The Four Freedoms. In the first lecture, Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi-Aidichie analyzes the state of free speech today, including the phenomenon some call “cancel culture.” She argues that moral courage is required to resist threats to freedom of speech, be they political, legal or social.

In this one-off episode we discussed the late Richard Rogers, particularly his Reith Lectures, given for the BBC in the mid-90s on the subject of the 'Sustainable City'. We compare and contrast his rhetoric and his design work, try to decipher his vision for the future of the city, and think about the ways in which architectural culture has and hasn't changed in the intervening decades. You can listen to the Reith lectures here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p00gxnzz This is a one-off episode, our first in a little while! Next we'll be talking about the 'Primitive Hut' as voted for by our Patreon subscribers. Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show. Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us! Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook We're on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

In this Intelligence Briefing, the guys go over Edward Said's book Representations of the Intellectual, which was based on his 1993 series of Reith Lectures.  This book focuses on the conceptions of intellectuals and the roles that they should play within society.  A very fun conversation, on a very important work!  Part 2 of this conversation will be coming out as a Patreon Exclusive episode very soon. You can listen to Said's series of Reith Lectures for free here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gxr1s  Guerrilla History- Intelligence Briefings will be roughly a twice monthly series of shorter, more informal discussions between the hosts about topics of their choice.  Patrons at the Comrade tier and above will have access to all Intelligence Briefings. Your hosts are immunobiologist Henry Hakamaki, Professor Adnan Husain, historian and Director of the School of Religion at Queens University, and Revolutionary Left Radio's Breht O'Shea. Follow us on social media!  Our podcast can be found on twitter @guerrilla_pod.  Your contributions make the show possible to continue and succeed!  Please encourage your comrades to join us, which will help our show grow. To follow the hosts, Henry can be found on twitter @huck1995, and also has a patreon to help support himself through the pandemic where he breaks down science and public health research and news at https://www.patreon.com/huck1995.  Adnan can be followed on twitter at @adnanahusain, and also runs The Majlis Podcast, which can be found at https://anchor.fm/the-majlis and the Muslim Societies-Global Perspectives group at Queens University, https://www.facebook.com/MSGPQU/.   Breht is the host of Revolutionary Left Radio, which can be followed on twitter @RevLeftRadio cohost of The Red Menace Podcast, which can be followed on twitter at @Red_Menace_Pod.  You can find and support these shows by visiting https://www.revolutionaryleftradio.com/. Thanks to Ryan Hakamaki, who designed and created the podcast's artwork, and Kevin MacLeod, who creates royalty-free music.

By some measures, the last two years have seen a surge in demand for consumer learning platforms like Masterclass, CreativeLive and Skillshare. Often, these platforms position themselves as an alternative to streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Is this part of a broader trend towards learning as entertainment? If so, what does that mean for learning in the workplace?  In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D, Owen, Nahdia and Ross G discuss: whether there truly is increased demand for 'edutainment' the difference between entertainment and 'fun' the role of entertainment in the design of workplace learning Show notes At the start of this week's show, Ross G challenged the premise of Ross D's opening question by citing data from the ONS. You can find these data here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/satelliteaccounts/bulletins/coronavirusandhowpeoplespenttheirtimeunderrestrictions/28marchto26april2020 In WILTW, Ross D recommended Stuart Russell's Reith Lectures on artificial intelligence: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001216k/episodes/player The Netflix series Nahdia mentioned was School of Chocolate: https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81207686 Ross G discussed the history of the burpee, created by Royal Huddleston Burpee Sr. You can find out more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burpee_(exercise) For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtoolsbusiness.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Ross Dickie - @RossDickieMT Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT Nahdia Khan - @_nahdia_khan 

In part two of the BBC Reith Lectures, professor Stuart Russell examines the future of work, as Artificial Intelligence takes over more of the economy. People have been worried about robots displacing workers since at least Aristotle. But in this lecture, Russell argues there's reason for optimism.

The founder of University of California Berkeley's Artificial Intelligence lab Stuart Russell is this year's presenter of the BBC Reith Lectures. His series examines how AI is rapidly becoming integral to the economy, military, and daily life. He argues that we have a responsibility to put moral limits on AI as we continue to cede ethical decision-making to machines.

In the last of our Machine Learning Trilogy and final episode of Season Two, we talk about applying ML in the context of Power BI. We once again try to trick the algorithm with mentions of Excel, and end with a summary of our thoughts on Machine Learning. Artificial Intelligence in a more general sense is also the topic of this year's Reith Lectures.  Just to prove how important and topical The Clearly Podcast really is.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

Our highly anticipated Part Two to our Season Two Grand Finale on Machine Learning!This week we discuss how to decide if machine learning is the right choice for you; Do you have enough data? Are you prepared to be transparent about how you analyse customer data? Will your data create an AI monster?!  Next week, in the last of our mini-series, we will look at how you can use Machine Learning inside Power BI and other tools. Artificial Intelligence in a more general sense is also the topic of this year's Reith Lectures.  Just to prove how important and topical The Clearly Podcast really is.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

As a big finale to Season 2, we thought we'd bring you a mini sub-series on possibly the biggest buzz word of the year: Machine Learning.This week, we look at what machine learning is, and where you might have come across it in your day to day life.  We go on to discuss why business might want to use Machine Learning and the sorts of problems it can solve.Next week we will go on to talk about the considerations you will need if you want to use Machine Learning and in the final episode we look at using ML components inside Power BI and other tools.Artificial Intelligence in a more general sense is also the topic of this year's Reith Lectures.  Just to prove how important and topical The Clearly Podcast really is.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

The CBC has its Massey Lectures. The BBC has its Reith Lectures. And ABC Australia has its Boyer Lectures. This year's speaker is acclaimed Australian actor and theatre director, John Bell. He illustrates how Shakespeare's life and works have profound relevance to issues we're facing today: political self-interest, gender inequality and the growing need for good governance.

The CBC has its Massey Lectures. The BBC has its Reith Lectures. And ABC Australia has its Boyer Lectures. This year's speaker is acclaimed Australian actor and theatre director, John Bell. He illustrates how Shakespeare's life and works have profound relevance to issues we're facing today: political self-interest, gender inequality and the growing need for good governance.

Laura chats to Adam about reports that Christmas parties were held in Downing Street at the height of last year's lockdown. The BBCs Hugh Pym and Branwen Jeffreys join Adam to discuss whether festivities and school nativities will go ahead this year. We hear views from the picket line as university staff go on a three-day strike over pay, working conditions and pensions. Adam brings you Newscast's very own – and very brief – version of Radio 4's ‘The Reith Lectures'. It's all about AI. And as advent calendars are opened, Adam invents his own version, ‘the badvent calendar', a collection of the most cringeworthy moments of 2021. Please share yours: newscast@bbc.co.uk This episode of Newscast was made by Ros Jones with Georgia Coan, Ben Cooper, Alix Pickles and Sally Abrahams. The editor was Jonathan Aspinwall. The studio manager was Michael Regaard

Programming Note: We are brewing another writing project. Since it demands some undivided attention (haha, so naïve!) we will not be posting for the next five weeks. We will republish a few of our older posts, maybe a few links and brief notes every week till then. Regular programming resumes on 23rd October 2021. Global Policy Watch #1: 9/11, Toynbee and Civilisations Bringing an Indian perspective to global issues— RSJI write this on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Like most adults, I have a clear memory of that day. I was in Bombay then. Just about getting my bearings straight in my first job. I left work early that evening (those were the days). Nariman Point, where I worked, to Warden Road, where I lived, was a half an hour commute then. I got into a ‘kaali-peeli’ and went past Marine Drive smoking a B&H. Quite posh. Especially, for someone who grew up in a small industrial township in eastern India and smoked unfiltered Charminar in college. I usually got off at the intersection of Napean Sea Road and Warden Road. The Shemaroo (‘circulating’) library was located right opposite the Jogger’s Park. It was a dingy little place, packed with books, kids borrowing Harry Potters and a familiar musty smell of libraries that mixed with the salty Arabian Sea breeze blowing in from across. The proprietor spoke in a lazy Sindhi drawl (‘helloo, Shemaaarooo’) while keeping his eye all the time on a small TV that was mounted high on the wall on one end. On the other side of the street, further up the Napean Sea Road, was the famous Shemaroo video library. Another landmark of those times in south Bombay. Between these two establishments, my life in Bombay was a pleasant whirl of books and world cinema. And there was the paani-puri waala at the start of the Sophia College lane. Sorry, I digress.Back to that evening. I had picked up a John Updike and was checking out from the library when the man at the counter with his eyes on the TV drawled - “yeh(hh) dekho(oo)”! So, I turned right, looked up and saw the second plane crashing into the South Tower (2 WTC). Things weren’t the same again. A couple of weeks back I saw the forlorn image of the last US soldier leaving Afghanistan. A grainy night picture enveloped in a ghostly, greenish hue. And I couldn’t help thinking of the contrast to that clear, blue fall day when the planes crashed into the Twin Towers. Those two images - one clean but ominous and the other blurry and defeated - bookend perhaps the most significant period of post-Cold War history whose echo will play out through this century. 2001 was a different time though. My life was good. India was shining. The western liberal democratic order had won the battle of superpowers. Nations, long suffering under communist dictatorships, were embracing democracy all around. Free market was in vogue. China was about to enter WTO. Borders were becoming meaningless. The end of history was nigh. We could feel it in our bones.And here we are in 2021. After many meaningless campaigns in Middle East and Afghanistan, the US is on a retreat with no interest in playing the global policeman. The global financial crisis (GFC) and the Covid-19 pandemic have dealt a body blow to globalisation. Borders have become more meaningful than ever as Brexit and the backlash against immigration have shown. The anger against the elite has seen the rise of right-wing nationalism and a retreat into authoritarian setups across the many fledgling democracies in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. China turned prosperous but it didn’t turn into a liberal, open society as many had expected. Instead, it is mounting its own threat to the liberal order offering its model of a one-party regime that draws upon its civilisational memory as an alternative. India is not exactly shining now. And for me? Well, I’m writing this newsletter. Who could have imagined this in 2001? There have been epochal events in history that changed its course. But none that lasted fewer than 20 minutes with a mere two buildings collapsing. We didn’t know it then. But they may have brought down a civilisation. In the past few years, I have found greater meaning in the essays of the great 20th-century historian, Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975), while trying to make sense of the change around us. This might seem surprising. Toynbee is hardly read any more in colleges. His last years where he made a distinct turn to the spiritual, his academic style that bypassed the factual for the ‘total human experience’, his rejection of Eurocentrism and his championing of Asian civilisational values made him an academic pariah by the end of his life. Yet, about half a century after his death, I see in his works a useful framework to appreciate the events that have unfolded in the past 20 years. I will take up two elements of this frame in this edition.Cultural Homogenisation versus Plurality of CivilisationThe idea that a dominant culture will impose its hegemony of ideas and beliefs through political will over other cultures seemed incongruous to Toynbee as he studied 19 successful and 9 abortive civilisations. That study yielded his 12-volume masterpiece, A Study of History. The two-volume abridged version by D.C. Somervell is easier to read and more accessible. For Toynbee, the dominant civilisation will export its way of life and cultural artefacts and they might even be accepted by others in a sign of apparent homogenisation. But it will be naïve to believe this acceptance and imitation of another culture signals the subsuming of a civilisation into the other. There’s a great anecdote in Toynbee’s essay Islam, The West, And The Future (as part of his 1948 book Civilisation on Trial) which illuminates this idea (reproduced below):“This state of mind may be illustrated by a conversation which took place in the nineteen-twenties between the Zaydi Imam Yahya of San’a and a British envoy whose mission was to persuade the Imam to restore peacefully a portion of the British Aden Protectorate which he had occupied during the general War of 1914-1918 and had refused to evacuate thereafter, notwithstanding the defeat of his Ottoman overlords. In a final interview with the Imam, after it had become apparent that the mission would not attain its object, the British envoy, wishing to give the conversation another turn, complimented the Imam upon the soldierly appearance of his new-model army. Seeing that the Imam took the compliment in good part, he went on: ‘And I suppose you will be adopting other Western institutions as well?’ ‘I think not,’ said the Imam with a smile. ‘Oh, really? That interests me. And may I venture to ask your reasons?’ ‘Well, I don’t think I should like other Western institutions,’ said the Imam. ‘Indeed? And what institutions, for example?’ ‘Well, there are parliaments,’ said the Imam. ‘I like to be the Government myself. I might find a parliament tiresome. ‘Why, as for that,’ said the Englishman, ‘I can assure you that responsible parliamentary representative government is not an indispensable part of the apparatus of Western civilization. Look at Italy. She has given that up, and she is one of the great Western powers.’ ‘Well, then there is alcohol,’ said the Imam, ‘I don’t want to see that introduced into my country, where at present it is happily almost unknown.’ ‘Very natural,’ said the Englishman; ‘but, if it comes to that, I can assure you that alcohol is not an indispensable adjunct of Western civilization either. Look at America. She has given up that, and she too is one of the great Western powers.’ ‘Well, anyhow,’ said the Imam, with another smile which seemed to intimate that the conversation was at an end, ‘I don’t like parliaments and alcohol and that kind of thing.’ (emphasis mine) It is difficult for the Imam to put his finger on what “kind of thing” of the western civilisation is he dead against. There’s no definition of it. You could learn the western ways, read their great texts, trade with them, watch their films and grow prosperous following their lead; and yet, you would reject ‘that kind of thing’. There’s no logic to this. It is what it is. It’s always been this way. As Toynbee continues: The Englishman could not make out whether there was any suggestion of humour in the parting smile with which the last five words were uttered; but, however that might be, those words went to the heart of the matter and showed that the inquiry about possible further Western innovations at San’a had been more pertinent than the Imam might have cared to admit. Those words indicated, in fact, that the Imam, viewing Western civilization from a great way off, saw it, in that distant perspective, as something one and indivisible and recognized certain features of it, which to a Westerner’s eye would appear to have nothing whatever to do with one another, as being organically related parts of that indivisible whole. This is the Gandhian equivalent of accepting outside influences but on our own terms (“open your windows and let the winds blow in”). And not the isomorphic mimicry of the dominant culture that the elites of weaker nations often end up doing. Eventually, the plurality of civilisation asserts itself to redress the balance. Civilisation isn’t a destination. It is ever-changing and ever assimilating. As Toynbee memorably wrote:“Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour.” This is what the past 20 years have shown us. “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” The other idea that Toynbee spent a great deal of time on was what causes civilisations to decline and fall. For Toynbee, civilisations didn’t break down because of a loss of control over their territory or human environment. Or a decline in military might or technology prowess. These are proximate causes but not the underlying reason. For Toynbee, the real decline is rooted in the social. Civilisations build and grow because of ‘creative response’ of a minority to difficult circumstances. This creative minority that battles the odds is the genesis of all civilisations. Over time, they overcome the external material threats through their military and economic might and build a stable platform for it to flourish. And then begins their focus on challenges that arise from within which require, what Toynbee calls, an inner or spiritual response. This is when a civilisation turns inwards, introspects deeply about itself and creates cultural markers that stand the test of time. The decline comes because the creative minority (the elites as we might call them today) lose their creative power, turn self-obsessed and focus all their energies on self-preservation. The majority loses their trust in them and rebels. This leads to a loss of social cohesion and the civilisation splits into three groups. A ‘dominant minority’, a pale shadow of the creative minority of the past, that’s clinging on to their power; an ‘inner proletariat’ that’s within the civilisation but has no interest anymore in following the lead of the dominant minority and rebels against it; and lastly, an ‘external proletariat’ that’s beyond the boundaries of civilisation which now no longer is in the thrall of the dominant civilisation and resists any attempt by it to dominate any more. A civilisation in decline isn’t a pretty sight. There’s a lack of clarity on which way to steer it or even who will steer it. There’s an aimless drift in its affairs. There’s a longing for the glorious past or some kind of revolution that will usher in a new future. It is a fertile ground for demagogues. Sometime during the Vietnam War, Toynbee wrote:“Of the twenty-two civilizations that have appeared in history, nineteen of them collapsed when they reached the moral state the United States is in now.” I will leave you to draw your inferences as you read the above section and look at the course America has taken over the past two decades. History might not repeat. But it rhymes. I will close with what Toynbee thought was the only way for a civilisation to revive itself:“Schism in the soul, schism in the body social, will not be resolved by any scheme to return to the good old days (archaism), or by programs guaranteed to render an ideal projected future (futurism), or even by the most realistic, hardheaded work to weld together again the deteriorating elements [of civilization]. Only birth can conquer death―the birth, not of the old thing again, but of something new.” There’s a lesson there for the US. And if you read that closely, there’s a lesson in there for India of the present too. Global Policy Watch #2: 9/11 and the Myth of Mindless ViolenceBringing an Indian perspective to global issues— Guest Post by Ameya NaikEven if you’ve never read Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, you’ve probably come across her theories on grief and loss. She proposed that the human mind processes grief in five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Modern research has built on this model, supporting what may seem intuitive - that the five stages are often not linear, and that grief can be prolonged, impacted, and circular.As a psychiatrist, Kubler-Ross developed her theories (and then applied them) in her work with terminally ill patients in Chicago and California. As anyone who has lost a family member to such a condition will know, these are intensely personal experiences, as the afflicted person and their family grapple with illness, pain, and impending loss.Such experiences can be qualitatively different from instances of societal rupture: events that become a shared experience of loss, pain, trauma, or disruption. Unlike illness, which is ultimately an anticipable part of any personal or family life story, these societal events are like the shock of a traffic accident, magnified many times over. They can be seen as ruptures precisely because those who experience them recall feeling that the world changed -- that life would never be as it was before.It was just such an experience with mass violence and disruption that sparked Kubler-Ross’ own interest in how the human mind processes death, both actual and impending. As a volunteer with the International Voluntary Service for Peace at the end of World War II, she visited the Majdanek concentration camp outside Lublin, Poland. Her biography describes a striking image she found there: on a wall in the camp, prisoners awaiting execution had somehow carved a picture of butterflies in flight. It was an illustration, she said, not only of transformation - the philosophical idea that death is not an end, but a transition - but also of dignity among the dying. That this could be found even amidst the cruelty of a concentration camp is poetic; it cannot change the fact of the deaths that followed, but it does change their meaning.There is a second sense in which violence has meaning: the perpetrators of violence often intend it to convey a specific message to a specific group, often the community to which their victims belong. That message is usually some version of “do not imagine you are safe”. Sometimes it comes with the expectation of surrender - I can hurt you, so you had best not resist my will. In other cases, as with terrorist attacks, fear is an end in itself.Much of the study of political violence is understanding when a group uses violence against another or others, and what message they aim to convey thereby. For instance, Dara Kay Cohen and her colleagues have done exceptional work on understanding the variations in use of sexual violence in conflict - who does it, under what circumstances, and with what motive or desired effect.This is the irony of studying terrorism: it is war, and hence politics, by other means - and politics is all about messaging and influence. The perpetrators of a terrorist attack are well aware of how their actions will be interpreted, and quite deliberate in choosing actions that send such a message. We know this is true, and yet, the survivors and family members of victims of a terrorist attack are probably the last people who want to hear such an analysis. Their loved ones have been snatched away from them, suddenly and painfully. Some are fortunate to find, even in that loss, a story of courage and dignity -- for instance among the passengers on United Flight 93. Others, especially when in the stages of denial and anger, will pronounce these events -- the violence and loss -- meaningless, senseless, mindless.I have spent the past week and more listening to many voices speaking about attacks of September 11th, 2001, and what the twenty years since have involved, what lessons can be learnt, and so on. There can be no dispute that this event was a rupture -- our world has not been the same as it was before. A more complete accounting of what exactly has changed, though, is likely to prove difficult.As you take in these many voices, please take it as a sign that “what 9/11 means” is far from settled; to the extent that it meant and means different things to different people, a final answer may never be possible. What is certain is that the attacks themselves, and the “Global War on Terror” that followed, was neither mindless nor meaningless; violence never is.Matsyanyaaya: The Taliban Government and What it Means for IndiaBig fish eating small fish = Foreign Policy in action— Pranay Kotasthane(This is a draft of my article which appeared first in Times of India’s Thursday, September 9th edition.)Taliban has again done what it does best: make vague promises, extract concessions, and return to their original plan. Meanwhile, the interlocutors continue to extract more promises from the Taliban — hoping that the group has changed — only to return disappointed. This cycle repeats. Afghans suffer.The newly announced Taliban government is a good illustration of this now-familiar playbook. Former President Hamid Karzai and the Head of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah's presence in Qatar gave an impression that an interim government with broader representation is in the works. The Taliban made the right noises all through the Doha agreement negotiations about creating an inclusive government. But when the government was finally announced, it was anything but inclusive.The exclusion of women in the ministry shouldn't surprise anyone. Instead, notice three other aspects. Many old-timers have found a place in the government as a reward for their role during the twenty-year war. For the Taliban, it didn't matter if the international community had put these leaders under travel and financial sanctions. For a long time, the US  believed that these sanctions could mould the Taliban's future behaviour. Not only did the Taliban ignore this carrot of removing sanctions, but it has also chosen to appoint Sirajuddin Haqqani — still on the FBI's wanted list — as the powerful Minister of Interior. When asked on a Pakistani news show about the sanctions curtailing the ministers' ability to govern, the Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen countered that the US had gone back on its Doha agreement promise of removing the sanctions three months after the intra-Afghan dialogue began.  Two, as Ibraheem Bahiss of the Crisis Group points out, there are no Hazaras, just two Tajiks, one Uzbek, and hardly any representation from the north in the 33-member government. Pashtuns from the southern part of Afghanistan — Taliban's strong base — have disproportionate representation. While the world is still hoping that this caretaker government would transition to a more inclusive government in the future, the Taliban continues to maintain that it is already an inclusive formation. Despite the steadfast opposition, the Taliban's narrative has always been that without broad-based support, they wouldn't have been able to sustain a war with a superpower for twenty years.And three, the Pakistan-backed factions have cornered all the positions. Not only is the Haqqani Network in, but all candidates known to take an independent line are out. The Doha political office has been sidelined, while Mullah Abdul Ghani 'Baradar' has been relegated to a deputy prime minister role.Given the lopsided composition of this government, protests from many sections of society are likely to continue. The latest rounds of protests in Kabul were in opposition to Pakistan's interference in Afghanistan's domestic affairs. Such a perception will only gain strength with the formation of a government that came into being after an ISI Chief visited Kabul. Twitter feeds of protests in Kabul will continue to pressure other governments to modulate their engagement with the new government. Expect the resistance forces in the north to regroup once the Taliban lowers its guard there. From a foreign policy angle, the US is unlikely to grant any economic relief to this government.From the Indian perspective, hopes that the Taliban will be aggressive towards Pakistan, once in power, should be shelved for now. This government is, without doubt, a Pakistan-installed and Pakistan-controlled administration. It also means that any resumption of Indian diplomatic presence in Afghanistan will remain severely diminished for quite some time. Beyond limited contact to enable humanitarian assistance, the risks of engaging with this administration far outweigh the benefits.Finally, we shouldn't forget that the Taliban wants to transform the Afghanistan State itself. It won't be content with installing a government alone. The Taliban believes that it has freed Afghanistan from foreign powers, and its next project is to create a new constitution. Many Afghans will continue to oppose this revisionist project.India Policy Watch #1: Pluralism and its DiscontentsInsights on burning policy issues in India— Pranay Kotasthane“Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” RSJ’s invocation of Toynbee reminded me of an instance of majoritarianism from the past week that should scare us, once again. A Bengaluru-based ready-to-cook food manufacturer was accused of mixing cow bones in dosa batter, through a targeted disinformation campaign on popular social media. To sound even more compelling, the posts also said that the company employed ‘only Muslims', it Halal certified, and hence ‘every single’ Hindu should refrain from buying its products.At one level, none of this should surprise us. Like everything else in India, food is also not personal. It’s communal and hence communal. The Information Age version of food-based majoritarinism perhaps began in 2015 with the lynching of a Muslim man in Dadri following the circulation of three photos of meat and bones of a slaughtered animal via WhatsApp. Since then, such instances have become irregularly regular. And yet, this latest instance hurts. Perhaps because it is personal. I am an admiring customer of the brand facing baseless accusations. Their ready-to-cook food has popularised a whole new segment of breakfast eats, and inspired many a copycats in the process. On deeper reflection, I realised how this instance illustrates the instrumental significance of tolerance. Religious tolerance (or the lack of it) can even change the nature of acceptable competition in markets. In a communally-charged environment, instead of product quality and differentiation, targeting the religion of a seller becomes the shortest-path-to-ground for a hypothetical adversary. Why compete when you can communalise? What happens to an economy in which this hatred itself becomes the primary method for oneupmanship between employees and between firms? It is easy to blame social media apps that are used to propagate such messages. But its really the ‘social distancing’ between Hindus and Muslims that has allowed people to frame, disseminate, and want to believe, the most outlandish accusations against each other. And so, when I think of twenty years since 9/11, my heart sinks. While the terrorists have been defeated over the last decades, it seems to me that terrorism has won. It has deepened the divides between religious communities. Terrorism has even managed to set the terms for casual debates about politics, society, and culture. And most importantly, it has torn down the carefully constructed idea of Indian pluralism. Like with the language of terrorism, the ‘other’, the ‘enemy’ has become central to the existence of all our religious communities. If terrorism is theatre, the show’s been running for twenty years and still going strong.I’ll end this lament with a Puliyabaazi episode with Ghazala Wahab, whose book ‘Born a Muslim’ tries to bridge the knowledge gap between Hindus and Muslims. We need many more such stories if we truly want to vanquish majoritarianism.India Policy Watch #2: On-road behaviour and usInsights on burning policy issues in India— Pranay KotasthaneRoads are like big functions — you come across several annoying people whom you meet just once. But on roads, this fearsome interchange happens every single day. And so on-road behaviour tells a lot about our society, values, and priorities. Two thoughts regarding roads made me write this piece.One, the precipitous fall in observing traffic rules since COVID-19 began. In my city, driving on the left-side of the road divider was a rule largely followed before the pandemic hit. But that norm melted once the traffic thinned during the first-wave. Not surprising. But what’s interesting is the persistence of this norm-breaking. Observe how the norm, once broken, hasn’t been put together even as vehicle traffic has gone back to near normal on key roads. Is this your observation as well? What’s happened to rule-breaking on roads in your city? How can we return to the older equilibrium of more rule-following?Two, I read this tongue-in-cheek and yet not tongue-in-cheek story of the Union Roads Minister’s idea that vehicle horns should also play to their tunes, meaning that horns should sound like flutes, violins, and tabla (how sushil and sanskaari). So that the honourable minister doesn’t seem out of place, I have another wacko idea — a two-way horn that’s audible to drivers. I even wrote something on it seven years ago in CitizenMatters: A basic law of economics states that a rational person makes a choice by comparing the costs and benefits associated with it. If the marginal benefits of picking an alternative exceed the marginal costs, that alternative is picked. It is relevant in the current context because the marginal costs currently are too low for the offenders to force them to give up the benefit experienced by pressing the easily accessible horn button. Raising monetary costs alone will not be sufficient to change the predisposition of the average Indian driver, which is to use the horn as an object to reduce his/her on-road anxiety — much like an office desk stress ball.One way is to think beyond fines and instead increase the emotional costs for the offenders. This can be done, for example, by installation of horns that channel a portion of the sound they generate towards the vehicle users themselves.Currently, the users are practically shielded from the noise pollution because the design is such that the sound is amplified and expelled outwards. If, on the other hand, if a blaring horn also causes discomfort to the user’s ears, it will make him/her think twice before launching a noise assault on other road users, particularly the unarmed pedestrians.Though the design of such a system is simple and costs not high, it is natural that no vehicle maker will be interested in incorporating this for the fear of turning away possible customers. And this is where governments can step in. The Union government can create noise guidelines on the lines of the Bharat Stage emission standards. Such vehicular noise guidelines with broad specifications for horns that feed back to the user will help bring down noise levels.Along with the existing initiatives, this step of increasing emotional costs can make our urban public spaces sane and peaceful. Ideally, a society that is more empathetic towards others will not need such government interventions. But until we reach that enlightened state, we need our governments and our people to collectively tackle this social evil of urban noise pollution.HomeWorkReading and listening recommendations on public policy matters[Podcast] Dan Carlin on the retreat from Afghanistan: After 20 years in Afghanistan the U.S. exits the country thus ending the longest war in American history. Are there any lessons to be learned? [Article] Yuval Harari’s 2015 article on the theatre of terror[Podcast] Toynbee’s Reith Lectures from 1952. The BBC website has taken down the audio for five of the six parts. Thankfully, the transcripts are all available here (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6). Get on the email list at publicpolicy.substack.com

In our final episode of Mark Carney’s 2020 BBC Reith Lectures, the economist and former governor of the Banks of England and Canada, focuses on how the ultimate test of a more fair economy will be how it addresses the growing climate crisis.

2020 BBC Reith Lecturer Mark Carney continues his lecture series entitled, ‘How We Get What We Value.’ In this episode, the former bank governor focuses on the 2008 financial crisis and the ongoing impact of the pandemic.

Mark Carney is the 2020 Reith Lecturer, the BBC’s flagship lecture series. In his lectures entitled, 'How We Get What We Value,' he argues the worlds of finance, economics, and politics have too often prioritized financial values, over human ones. The future depends on reversing that shift. In lecture one, he addresses the changing nature of value — and how we've come to equate 'value' to what is profitable.

Today on the Take on Board podcast, Helga is speaking to Leesa Chesser about AICD chairs mentoring program and why advisory boards are a great way to build your portfolio career.Leesa is a Non-Executive Director, and mentor who builds and Chairs Advisory Boards for start ups, SME’s, not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises to create value in the health and human services, infrastructure, defence and space industries.She is on the boards of Community Options Australia Sydney, Hen House Co-operative Ltd Adelaide and chairs or sits on several advisory boards in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide in the start up space, social enterprises and the GOGO Foundation.Contact Leesa or find out more about her:https://www.linkedin.com/in/leesa-chesser-ned/Resources mentioned in this episode:The Reith Lectures: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729d9What barrier? Getting more women in the boardroom with Jan Easton https://www.helgasvendsen.com.au/episode-64-jan-eastonCan I get some help over here? Tips for putting together an advisory board with Louise Broekman https://www.helgasvendsen.com.au/episode-63-louise-broekmanFOR MORE INFORMATION:TOB Breakfast: Event - 16 March 2021: https://www.trybooking.com/BOJER Board Accelerator 2021: https://www.trybooking.com/BLWWY)Join the Take on Board community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TakeOnBoard/Follow along on Twitter: @TakeOnBoardFor more information about Helga Svendsen: https://www.helgasvendsen.com.au/Interested in working with Helga? https://www.helgasvendsen.com.au/workwithmeContact Helga: helga@helgasvendsen.com.au

How can you extend life? Professor Tom Kirkwood is Emeritus Professor at Newcastle University where he headed the Institute for Ageing and Health. He delivered the famous Reith Lectures and was awarded a CBE in 2009. Perhaps most famously he put forward the ‘Disposable Soma Hypothesis' — which postulates that the body has a limited budget of resources and energy. It must therefore make a compromise between living longer (longevity) and activities which will help it reproduce. Interestingly, he also invented the INR in the 80s, which is a blood test used everyday by doctors to measure the clotting of a patient's blood. We talk about the disposable soma theory, how calorie restriction may extend lifespan, anti-ageing interventions which Prof Kirkwood finds interesting and how you would design a trial to show the efficacy of an anti ageing drug. You can find me on Twitter @MustafaSultan and subscribe to my newsletter on www.musty.io

Published on 28 May 2019. Jonathan Sumption explains how democratic processes have the power to accommodate opposition opinions and interests. But he argues that in recent years that politics has shied away from legislating and now the courts have taken on more and more of the role of making law. Lord Sumption was until recently a justice of the UK’s Supreme Court and is a distinguished historian. This lecture is recorded in front of an audience at Birmingham University.The Reith Lectures are presented and chaired by Anita Anand and produced by Jim Frank. Editor: Hugh Levinson

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced nation states to confront how we value health, wealth, and opportunity, apparently forcing governments to choose between the life of its citizens, and the life blood of the economy. Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England, argues this is a false dichotomy, and that we should be moving beyond a narrow and financially driven reaction, to COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced nation states to confront how we value health, wealth, and opportunity, apparently forcing governments to choose between the life of its citizens, and the life blood of the economy. Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England, argues this is a false dichotomy, and that we should be moving beyond a narrow and financially driven reaction, to COVID-19.

In 2008, the world experienced the near total implosion of the banking system.  According to 2020 BBC Reith lecturer, and former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, it was a deeper crisis in our values that underpinned that lurch towards the abyss. 

In 2008, the world experienced the near total implosion of the banking system.  According to 2020 BBC Reith lecturer, and former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, it was a deeper crisis in our values that underpinned that lurch towards the abyss. 

Mark Carney’s Reith lectures chart how we have come to esteem financial value over human value and how we have gone from market economies to market societies. He argues this has contributed to a trio of crises: of credit, Covid and climate.

Mark Carney’s Reith lectures chart how we have come to esteem financial value over human value and how we have gone from market economies to market societies. He argues this has contributed to a trio of crises: of credit, Covid and climate.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced nation states to confront how we value health, wealth, and opportunity, apparently forcing governments to choose between the life of its citizens, and the life blood of the economy. Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England, argues this is a false dichotomy, and that we should be moving beyond a narrow and financially driven reaction, to COVID-19.

In 2008, the world experienced the near total implosion of the banking system.  According to 2020 BBC Reith lecturer, and former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, it was a deeper crisis in our values that underpinned that lurch towards the abyss. 

Mark Carney’s Reith lectures chart how we have come to esteem financial value over human value and how we have gone from market economies to market societies. He argues this has contributed to a trio of crises: of credit, Covid and climate.

Expanding on her 2018 Reith Lectures, Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan argues that war and human society are deeply intertwined, and that we cannot ignore war and its impact on the development on human society if we hope to understand our world and ourselves.

As a bonus summer episode we bring you the questions and answers from  the Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association annual summer law conference in response to Jonathan Sumption’s Reith Lectures.  The panel features: Lord Dyson, Sir Stephen Laws, Lord Falconer, Professor Meg Russell, Professor Vernon Bogdanor and is Chaired by Mrs Justine Thornton.

When a dying person asks their doctor if he or she can do anything to help, is it easier for the doctor to provide a false hope than have a difficult conversation about how best to manage their last days? Hardtalk speaks to Atul Gawande, who wants to change the way doctors think - and talk - about death. It is a subject he covers in the BBC's annual Reith Lectures this year. He says doctors are good at addressing specific individual problems or diseases, but argues that the ultimate goal is not a good death but a good life - all the way to the very end.(Photo: Atul Gawande. Credit: Tim Llewellyn/BBC)

On Start the Week Andrew Marr discusses how World War II still grips the public imagination. No other period in history has presented greater dilemmas for both leaders and ordinary people, and in two sweeping accounts Max Hastings and Antony Beevor discuss the power politics at play, ideological hypocrisy, egomania, betrayal and self-sacrifice. Juliet Gardiner discusses how military history has been largely replaced by social history, as the lives of those who lived through war and its aftermath take centre stage. And for this year's Reith Lectures, Niall Ferguson questions whether the Western world, in the aftermath of WW2 and the Cold War, has become so in thrall to its institutions of democracy and the rule of law that it can no longer find solutions to today's crises. Producer: Katy Hickman.