Podcasts about Totnes

On this episode, my guest is Lewis Winks, a researcher, writer and campaigner who specialises in nature connection, cultural and behavioural change, and has a background working in the environmental and outdoor education sector. He joins us on behalf of the Right to Roam campaign as well as the Stars Are For Everyone campaign, the latter which he helped spearhed to defend wild camping rights on Dartmoor.Since 2021, Right to Roam has been organising peaceful trespasses into some of the vast areas of countryside from which the public are currently excluded. They follow the tried and tested access code which governs Scotland's right of responsible access, respecting privacy, crops and nature – all while seeking to leave a positive trace and practising deep care for the natural world: a concept they call Wild Service. Their vision is of a future countryside in which people not only enjoy the physical, mental and spiritual benefits of nature but serve as its guardians too.Show Notes* Right to Roam's origins (Guy Shrubsole & Nick Hayes)* The Stars Are For Everyone (Dartmoor National Park)* The right to wild camp in England* The commons and the enclosures* Taking back trespass* The shadow places of fortress conservation* Wild service* Levellers and landlordism* Deifying dispossession* The community right to buy* International solidarityHomework* Right to Roam UK - Website - Instagram - Twitter - BlueSky* Wild Service (Book)* The Book of Trespass* Who Owns England?* Val Plumwood* Survival International* S3 #2 | Decolonizing Conservation in Africa & Beyond | Fiore Longo (Survival International)* S5 #5 | Fortress Conservation in the Congo w/ Martin Lena & Linda Poppe (Survival International)* International Land CoalitionTranscriptChris: [00:00:00] Welcome, Lewis, to the End of Tourism Podcast.Lewis: Good to be here. Hello, Chris.Chris: Yeah. I'd like to thank you for your willingness to join me today on behalf of your comrades and colleagues at Right to Roam, as well as those of The Stars Are For Everyone. And I'd like to begin by asking you where you're tuning in from today and what the world looks like there for you.Lewis: Well, I'm currently in South Devon, where I live in the southwest of England. And I live in a town called Totnes, which is just on the edge of Dartmoor National Park. But the town that I live in has grown up around a river - the River Dart. And so that's a short walk from where I live.And, yeah, obviously, the river's shaped this place, from its headwaters up on Dartmoor, all the way down to the kind of rugged coast. So, I feel very lucky that, not far from where I live, there's a whole range of [00:01:00] landscapes, but not without their challenges.Chris: Yeah, certainly. I remember, not just a few years ago, I was there in Totnes, visiting for the first time, and I had the great honour of getting to explore Dartmoor as well, in a place not too far from where some of my old ones are from, in Devon, in Exeter.Lewis: It's a great place. I mean, Dartmoor is, on global standards, a very tiny national park, really, but I think for people like myself that live near it, to have this kind of expansive space to be able to walk for days sometimes in this sort of landscape, seemingly without boundaries, without walls, without fences, is amazing, in what feels like quite a contained landscape, a kind of patchwork of fields and enclosures. And so, a lot of people are drawn to Dartmoor because of its openness. But that also is an issue, I think. A lot of us here that live in this area are very much working on ecological [00:02:00] issues and challenges, and lots of those are found up in the national park.Chris: Well, would we all be so lucky to have such spaces to walk and roam. On that point, I'd like to ask you if you'd be willing to offer our listeners a little bit about what your organisation, The Right to Roam (in the UK), does there and your role in the organisation.Lewis: Sure, yeah. Well, the Right to Roam campaign, I mean, we've been established only for a few years in our current format, really. We were born out of the pandemic. We were formed principally by two of the co-founders of the campaign, Guy Shrubsole and Nick Hayes, who had both written books at the time and sat together around a kitchen table in 2020.Nick had written a book called The Book of Trespass, which kind of brought into public conversation this kind [00:03:00] of idea that there are places we are not supposed to be and not allowed to go, and challenging the kind of “why,” asking that question of, “Why is this? What's the historical context for our exclusion from landscapes? And through a series of adventures and walks into landscapes, he challenged that in his book. And it's an amazing primer, really, I think, for something that a lot of us take as a given, which is that we live in the corridors, really, between these vast estates here in England and in Wales, and we're excluded from much of the land. And so, it was quite a game-changing book, really, to sort of start to question that kind of assumption, that if you step off those narrow corridors, you are trespassing.And then in the meantime, Guy had written a book called Who Owns England?, asking questions of, “ Who does the land belong to? Who owns the title deeds? And really, most of us don't know. I mean, the government doesn't even really know who owns lots of land. And so, Guy embarks on this project, which he's been working on now [00:04:00] for the last decade or so, to try to find out and try to get more transparency, and really to bring about more democracy in how land is managed and how decisions are made, and really who has a stake in the land in England.And so these were kind of natural collaborators, really. And they sat around this table, and they formed this campaign called Right to Roam, which was really just to ask a simple question, which is, “Why do we not have a right of access to land in England?” And to call for new legislation for greater rights of access so that people can feel they have a greater stake in the landscapes around us.So we're a small team. We're a very much a grassroots campaign. We're not backed by big funders. We don't have any office space. We're just distributed across England, Wales and Scotland. And then, there are just six of us in the kind of core team. But we also have a network of almost [00:05:00] 20 local groups of people who are doing just amazing active work on the ground within communities to push for access reform.And we're funded by about 650 of those supporters who just give a small amount every month. So we're really just beholden to the people that are pushing for these kinds of changes. And we think we're getting somewhere. The conversation is shifting, socially and politically. We've still got somewhere to go, but we're hoping to bring about that change in law before too long.Chris: Hmm. Thank you, Lewis. And what drew you personally to the organisation?Lewis: Well, I live, as I said, down in Devon, and one of the things that happened back in 2022, was that one of the larger landowners in Dartmore National Park decided that he was gonna challenge this historic right that we have here, which is very unusual in England - the right to sleep out under the [00:06:00] stars, the right to wild camp, out in this kind of amazing landscape of Dartmoor.So, this landowner, Alexander Darwall, took the national park to court, and I was one of a few people who got together in the early days of that court case and said, “Right, we need to campaign on this. We need to stand up for these historic customary rights that have existed here and that have given so many people, these beautiful life-shaping experiences over generations.” And he was trying to snub them out. And so we thought, “let's campaign on this.”We set up a campaign called “The Stars Are for Everyone,” to protect those rights, but also to kind of say, “ Well, isn't it just mad that these rights only exist in this tiny corner of England? Shouldn't they exist also elsewhere?”Our intention right from the beginning of that campaign was to transform a court case that was about defending a set of rights into something which was really about taking a giant leap forward and putting in place something much [00:07:00] better for people in the future. And over the course of three years, that campaign was really dynamic, creative, and brought together loads of people.We actually lost the right to wild camp in early 2023. The landowner was successful in overturning that right in the High Court. And just one week after that court decision, we got together with three and a half thousand people up on quite a remote part of Dartmoor, probably one of the biggest land rights protests that we've seen since the 1930s in England. And, the voices of those people were really just... I mean, the ripples went out far and wide. I mean, we were sort of met with international support and interest. And, politically, overnight, it changed the conversation on access in England.And, really to fast forward to the present day after two more court cases, including it being escalated to the Supreme [00:08:00] Court, unanimously in the Supreme Court, the judges agreed that the case should never have been brought. And actually, then, we were able to reassert those rights as they had already existed.And so, not only have we got those rights back, we are now in a much better position, we think, to call for those rights elsewhere. And so my campaigning with the Right to Roam campaign really was kind of came out of this campaign for wild camping, to sleep under the stars.Chris: Mm-hmm. Wow. Wow, I remember, I think that was probably the thing that really drew me, for the first time, to the organisation and the work that you and your team are doing there in England, was through the social media awareness that the storyteller Martin Shaw was bringing to that campaign. Really amazing. And so, I wish nothing but blessings upon your feet and your work. It's incredibly important, and perhaps, a kind of [00:09:00] pioneering way of bringing this kind of organising and this kind of awareness to other places in the world where such access is also needed.But before we dig deeply into that work, I'd like to perhaps offer a little bit of context for our listeners in terms of the history of access in the UK to what is often referred to as “the commons.” And so, I'm wondering if you would be willing to offer a bit of historical background about what we mean when we talk about “the commons” in the English language and the history of the enclosures of the commons, that, for English people, is a kind of history that is all too well known, but for the rest of the world might be obscure.Lewis: Hmm. Well, sure. I mean, the commons, I think it's fair to say that a lot of people in England, really, this is not part of our lexicon, and our understanding [00:10:00] of the land.And, I think that demonstrates really just how effective the loss of commons has been here, is that there's not a broad understanding of what they were or what they are. But the commons really are... I mean, we're talking about a form of governance, a form of collective stewardship and governance for a place that transcends ownership. Commons are about how we relate to a place, and the rights that go with that place. And so, if we look at kind of property rights today, often those property rights exclude anybody who doesn't have their name on the title deed of the property.But yet, that's not always been the case. And certainly, we can still see today in England, and elsewhere globally, systems that acknowledge rights of others, and not just humans, but also kind of more-than-human rights. So in England, if you've gone back to the 1500s, [00:11:00] half of England or thereabouts, (it's difficult to be precise with this) would've had some form of common property understanding, or a kind of tapestry of rights that went with it. And that might have been rights to take firewood and fuel from land to dig peat, to graze animals, to put your pigs out to pannage for acorns. And these rites would've been particular to the landscapes that they were in. So, commoning rights were not the same everywhere. They were responsive to the wider kind of contexts, and today that figure is more like 3% of England. So, a diminishment of the commons in England has been part of our history here, and also part of the history which has affected almost the entire globe as well through colonial activities. But in England, really, this kind of experiment in sort of uprooting and unearthing cultures [00:12:00] that are deeply tied to the land was almost entirely effective at removing people's stake in land and in shoring up the rights of property owners.So, our commons, as they did exist, were fundamental to communities, were fundamental to how people sought to make a living, but also there were other things within that because commoning was about being on land that you didn't own. So with that came other things, which perhaps were taken for granted, which today we might call “recreation,” “being idle under a tree, watching the sunset”, and having those kinds of experiences. Now, we've kind of partitioned them off and put them into national parks and kind of put them in our holiday time, and things we might do when we're on vacation as tourists. But actually, for commoners, presumably, people were spending their time with the pigs out to pannage, thinking about other things, in conversation, meeting their neighbours under trees, doing things which were convivial.And so, [00:13:00] the erasure of the commons in England, and the enclosure acts, which sort of set about to diminish the commons and put them more firmly into private ownership, was also about a loss of community and people's stake in landscapes and also their ability to kind of relate to one another.But I should say as well that this obviously was very intentional. This was about looking at landscape through a kind of lens, a particular form of extraction, to take money from the land. It was also about control. It was about taking people, who, through that particular lens of industrialisation, seemed to be kind of labourers, their worth was kind of in the factories, it was not out on the land. And through mechanisation, as well, obviously, this was accelerated.In the early days of the enclosures, there were anti-enclosure acts in England that sought to try to prevent some of the steamrolling over of what felt like a kind of a deep-rooted culture. But by the [00:14:00] 1600s, those anti-enclosure acts were pretty much repealed, and with them, any kind of opportunity to get back those commons was lost.Loads and loads of rebellions took place to try to prevent that. And it's really interesting to look back in English history at the richness of rebellion and how it was kind of linked to how people relate to land. Looking at this today, it's sort of fairly plain to see that there's a disconnection between people and place. And I think that that kind of keenness to reconnect is a really vital ingredient for how we can kind of push back against some of the more damaging systems that we see around us.But people were rioting against the loss of rights to be able to put pigs out amongst woods that were being enclosed for the private laws, hunting rights. And there were many, many rebellions which took place by poachers, by people that were kind of deemed to be [00:15:00] poachers, who were kind of subject to some of the most harsh laws against them. And actually, a lot of the way in which criminality is portrayed now in England comes directly from the fact that they were trying to clamp down on how property was being challenged by people that have been dispossessed from something that was seen as a common good.Chris: Wow. There's so much there in the way that traditional peoples in England previously would've stewarded the lands that they lived on, even though they didn't own them, per se, and how the enclosure of those lands also led to this degree of, I would say anyways, historically, tourism wherein, the longing to gather as a community or as a group of people, in a place in order to, as you said, even just sit idle under a tree, to learn about the place that one lives in, or other places. That tourism largely took up that mantle [00:16:00] as an industry, as a way of commodifying that human longing toward being together in a place, largely outside of strict work hours. But even during them as well. And of course, the history of tourism is such that, through the enclosures, there was a schism, as you said, that brought people into the towns and cities to work as workers, essentially, rather than stewards of land.And then their “leisure time” was also separated in order to find ways in which that longing could be fulfilled, but through the industrial means of bringing people in mass to the beach or to forests, to other lands.And we'll get to that in a moment, that notion of the kind of colonial and neo-colonial enclosures that today show up as national parks or reserves. But you did mention this rich [00:17:00] history of trespass in England. And on The Right to Roam website, it says that, “it's fair to say that none of the limited access rights established in recent generations has been won without the willingness of ordinary people to cross the lines of property.”And so, it seems to me that the work that Right to Roam is doing is picking up those anti-enclosure movements of previous centuries and bringing them into the contemporary milieu. And so, I'm curious how you imagine or how you think notions of trespass might be understood and utilised as forms of resistance to the enclosures or privatisation of common lands.Lewis: Well, trespass in England is part of civil law, so if you trespass, it's not criminal. It's not a criminal act. So the police can't be called, as long as you're not causing damage. So, in fact, it's just between you and the landowner.And I think one of the first things that we try [00:18:00] to do as a campaign when we're speaking to whether it's new groups, or people that are kind of joining us, is to say, well, actually in custom and in history, we have this right. We have this right to be on land, and that it's only really through a kind of spell that we've been put under this kind of narrative that we've been told that we don't have a right to land. That we don't go there. And so, one of the main forms of action that we take as a campaign is to trespass, is to cross those lines which feel like they're kind of physical lines when you look at a map or where you see a barbed wire fence. But actually, as soon as you cross them, they become quite arbitrary, but also political.And we try to politicise it as much as we can, because if we take it for a given that we're excluded, then we will just remain excluded. So, it's both empowering and also quite an undertaking really to trespass and to do that together is one of the most empowering things you can do as a group or as a community, to go to the places that we're told we don't [00:19:00] have a right to be, but yet when you go there, it suddenly doesn't really make sense that you are excluded.And actually, quite often, as a campaign, we're able to go to places and to learn more about them and to learn more about our landscapes just outside of the towns and cities that we live in, to feel more connected to them. And, in a lot of cases actually do work for the betterment of places as well.I mean, often we're kind of reporting illegal rubbish dumps or seeing where damaging, invasive ecological species have taken hold and or reporting pollution in rivers. And I think it is part of the work of our campaign to help people feel that they can be a part of these places.And as you've mentioned, this idea that tourism is this kind of leisure time activity that we do that feels quite extractive, actually. There's something that we can do, which is about giving back as well, and giving back to our communities. And, [00:20:00] so yeah, it's about crossing lines, and it's about kind of challenging the politics that play there, but it's also just simply about reclaiming something that has historically been a cement that's held communities together.And what we find, I think, is that across the political spectrum, in various sectors and quarters, people just see that as common sense. I mean, it's interesting being part of a campaign that is at once radical as well as being, actually, just people get it, and they want to support it. And that has really helped us, I think, make headway and make progress, because we think we make quite a good argument for why we need better access to land and why we need laws to support that. And we are receiving a good amount of support from many quarters.Chris: Thank you for illustrating that. I remember as a child in Toronto going into the valleys there and the [00:21:00] creeks, and there's, thankfully, a large system of public lands, but of course, there was some areas where you would see signs, and it says “no trespassing,” and you would see this quite a bit, more so as you left the city. And there was this kind of subtle, imposed, instilled sense in me as a child that, like, “okay, obviously I can't go here. But secondly, if I do, then I am not just a guest or a visitor, I'm a trespasser, I'm a criminal. Right?And so to return to this question of the way that governments in the last centuries have taken common lands from people and kind of converted them into what we imagined to be better, pristine environments by virtue of there being no humans.I'd like to broach this question with you because in our correspondence, you referred to, “the hidden damage done to landscapes, the displacement of damage [00:22:00] elsewhere in the name of conservation, creating pristine landscapes and how this plays out as a way to restrict land access as a rationale for exclusion, while we turn a blind eye to damage and exploitation.”You write, “we can see this on a smaller scale with regard to estate and large farms or intensive agriculture in the UK, as well as on a global scale through supply chains and trace both back to a colonial mindset.”And so, previously on the podcast, I've spoken with authors and activists in regard to conservation as a kind of neocolonization of land, both in Africa and in Asia, and we also see it in Scotland.And so, I'm curious how this shows up in the UK and in the Right to Roam's work. This notion that no humans means that somehow the ecologies of place are better off and that there seems to be hiding in these considerations, in these concepts, a kind of misanthropy, a kind of hatred [00:23:00] toward humans.Lewis: Yeah, I mean, conservation I think has been doing amazing work, has also been doing some quite troubling work, I think, over the years. There's no simple kind of response to this. Conservation by its very nature is about working in relationship with place, with people, and with the more-than-human world.And I think like any relationships, those can be difficult and also fulfilling and beneficial and sometimes both. I think conservation as a movement, if you take a historical lens on this and obviously know, looking at it through a cultural perspective, taking in place, people, and history, and thinking about it as well, not just as a kind of a single place-based concern, but also kind of more broadly on a global scale, how conservation has evolved.And it's both evolved out of a kind of a controlling mindset, but also out of a kind of almost a palliative desire to sort of ease [00:24:00] the suffering of the natural world. And I think that that, when we look at it like that, there's a kind of a deep trauma which conservation has been born from, which is that we've done such huge amounts of damage to other places, to other peoples, to our own homes, and our own landscapes here in England that our kind of desire to kind of remedy that is kind of caught up in a kind of traumatic relationship with place. And I think we've learned a lot and obviously come a long way from a kind of fortress conservation mindset, but I think that the kind of misanthropy, which has been present in conservation, still comes through sometimes.I mean, we work as a campaign with so many amazing people working on the forefront of conservation, who are working very hard to try to transform and challenge the sector that they are working within. [00:25:00] But it's kind of understandable that this history of exploitation and damage is kind of wrapped up with a desire to press the emergency button and say, “actually, we need to kind of take drastic measures here.” And for some people, that's led them down the path of wanting a very exclusionary take on how we manage these places and these landscapes.And I think that the other thing is that, what I was talking about in the correspondence that I sent to you, really, particularly inspired by the work of Val Plumwood, the amazing philosopher who took this kind of incredible view of conservation, linked it to what she called “shadow places.” The idea that actually, for every time that we create one of these kinds of islands of pristine habitat, whether it's through exclusion or whether it's through management, planning and whatever else, actually, there's a whole world of things that we displace, and we neglect to see.And we see that with our national [00:26:00] parks here in England. I think it's interesting that Dartmoor, my nearest national park, is actually, historically, it is a very managed and very industrial landscape, yet it's kind of like held up and revered as a place of ecological tranquillity.I mean, it's actually in quite a damaged state. But we see it more broadly, as well. We can see it through our supply chains in England and through food security, or what we might call food security, by basically exploiting other places, the minerals we use, the resources that we use.So many of them come from landscapes that don't have the same protections that we're sort of overlaying onto landscapes here in England. So I think that it is a complex question. I think the fact that we are dealing with the kind of fallout of empire and the colonialization of other places and our exploitation of them leads us back to this sort of issue of actually “ how do we repair our relationship with land, with people? [00:27:00] How do we come to this through a lens of collaboration between people and place that's not about, ‘this is for nature, this is for people'?”And I think, one of the most concerning things I've seen happening in recent years, is this sort of resurgence of a neocapitalist economy in the countryside that's sort of operating under the guise of wanting to protect, but actually is about excluding communities and excluding people. And some of the most amazing work that's happening in England and Wales on Rewilding is about including people and ensuring that there is a joined-up approach between people, place, and ecology.Chris: Thank you, Louis. Your professional background prior to working with Right to Roam was in outdoor and environmental education. And so I imagine that such work kind of flows fairly easily into raising awareness for public access to the commons. But it also seems to me that the [00:28:00] contemporary and commonplace relationships between people in the commons run through the government in the form of laws and regulations. And you write, “there are things you can do on public lands, and there are things you will get fined or arrested for.”And so, a system based on allowances and punishment, a system of rights. But rights do not necessarily breed responsibility. And it can be argued that rights can undermine responsibility both on personal and collective levels. A central question that arises in the debate as to whether to repeal these prohibitions on access is that a people growing up in a culture of enclosure and hypermobility, such as most urban people do these days, tend to have no personal or peripheral example of what worthy stewardship looks like.And so I'm curious, how does the Right to Roam team and perhaps other authors and activists you've come across contend with this notion? There's a mention [00:29:00] on your website of the ability of people to offer “wild service,” and I'm curious what this means in the context of rights and responsibilities.Lewis: Well, I don't think that rights necessarily undermine responsibilities. I think badly designed rights can, but I think that, in a meaningful way, rights can give people a stake. They can really say to people, actually, “ this is something which belongs to you, and that's worth defending.”If people are only experiencing the countryside through prohibition, then clearly that's gonna lead to a form of feelings of unwelcome. And I think that that kind of relationship with the countryside is damaging, and particularly, I think it damages the ideas of trust and our sense that we can actually learn to care for these places. And that's deep set [00:30:00] within the culture, I think, that we're part of. And one of the things, as you've highlighted, this challenge, which is also an opportunity, is for education. And not only do we have these very exclusionary laws, which prohibit us from accessing so much land. I mean, we're talking about we only have access to 8% of England, and about 3% of our rivers. These places also only exist in particular parts of England and Wales. So there are vast parts of the country where the countryside might as well just be wallpaper.And so, for so many people, access is a kind of an academic exercise. It's this idea that you might be able to access it, or if you have a car, you can drive to a place. So I think there's a lot of work to be done to give people the experiences that really build up that kind of culture of care, which I think... or “stewardship” is the word that you used.Getting those laws in place, getting the right to roam legislation that we're after, is the first step on the ladder. [00:31:00] And then the next step is maybe something like, “how do we put in place those systems of infrastructure and support, which we need to actually see more people in the countryside?” And some of those things might be about, “how do we get more school kids out?” I mean, even here near Dartmoor, the only place in England where you can sleep out under the stars, most of the kids in this area won't have had that experience and probably will never have that experience. So how do we remedy things like that? How do we support schools to do more of that? How do we get more of our education systems, both formal and informal education systems, to embrace a culture of access?In England, we can look north of the border to Scotland to see where such a system's been in place since 2003, where the Scottish Land Reform Act was put in place, which gave people a default right of access to land and water in the country, which [with] sensible exceptions for things like privacy, wildlife, land with crops growing on it [00:32:00] and public safety, backed up by a code of responsibility. But that in itself is only just over 20 years old, as an act. So, culturally it's still quite young, but it's been a real success.And then, we can look elsewhere. We can maybe look elsewhere in Europe, to Norway and to Sweden, for examples where, culturally, this is sort of something which is more deeply accepted. And there are many other examples, obviously from across Europe and globally, where there are different sets of rights that give people different sets of access and mobility within landscapes.So I think all we're trying to do really here in England is point to a way of being, which is about the structures of how we do that, but it's also about our kind of mindset and how we relate to places.And we can see that it's entirely possible and preferable to the system that we have here today. So I think [00:33:00] that yes, rights in themselves are not the answer, but they are the kind of the bedrock on which we could build a whole world of possibility.Chris: Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. Thank you, Lewis. I guess the question that I was trying to drive towards is this notion that's come up quite a bit in the podcast, which is that tourism doesn't necessarily begin once you get off a plane or a boat or a train. That tourism is a kind of lifestyle that seems to exist in the bedrock of the modern condition. And so how do we bring people into the possibility of something like “wild service” or stewardship when the vast kind of understanding of how we proceed towards quote “nature” or other communities is touristic in nature.And so I'm curious, in the organising that you've done, when people have the opportunity to dig deeper into the histories of their lands, and the access to lands, and the [00:34:00] enclosure that access and the enclosure of the common lands in the UK, and when they start to see perhaps what's possible by virtue of other people showing up, interested in the same research, in the possibility, the real possibility of things being otherwise, once people gathered together toward these possibilities, I'm curious what shows up for you among people who perhaps come from this more touristic sensibility.Lewis: Yeah. Well, a couple of years ago, the campaign wrote a book, a collection of essays called “Wild Service,” which is sort of acts as a bit of a compass towards this kind of new narrative of beyond extractive tourism, beyond recreation even, towards something which we sort of playfully called “re-creation” sometimes, this sort of sense that, actually, there's another way of doing this stuff. There's another way of [00:35:00] being in new places and of experiencing nature places near to and beyond our home. And Wild Service really is about... the kind of the subtitle of the book is “Why Nature Needs You.” So it's really kind of flipping this thing we were talking about earlier, which is that kind of a lot of conservation tends to focus in on, “ we desperately need nature, so we need to protect nature, and the way we do that is by excluding people.” And that's not all of conservation, but that is a kind of prevailing mindset which has existed and is entrenched now.So, wild service is trying to chart a different way, which is that we need to find this kind of peace, really. We are feeling that we can be active agents of benefit for the world around us. And there are some great examples. I mean, Paul Powlesland's an amazing barrister activist, who lives in northeast London and is [00:36:00] guardian of the River Roding up there who kind of lives on the river in his boat, and is out on the river every day, normally waist-deep in the river, acting in service to clean that river up.And it is in a mess. This river's been a historic dumping ground for industry, and neglected by government and local authority over the years, and just trashed. And Paul is with a team of volunteers, working so hard to shine a light on that, but also just basically to clean it up, and to demonstrate how illegal rubbish dumps and illegal sewers are overflowing into it. And it's become this flashpoint really for a wider conversation of concern.And there are many other examples where, you know, on the River Wye, for example, on the border between Wales and England, which is one of the first rivers really to have its kind of legal rights asserted in England through the action of communities.And we're talking about wild swimmers and anglers and [00:37:00] kayakers and people who are kind of out on the river. And I think it's no coincidence that the River Wye is also one of the only rivers in England where there is a legal right of access to swim and to connect with the river. And that people have seen it as a gift really, to then act on behalf of the river. And of course, then that's playing out now.The rights of nature are playing out globally. I mean Ecuador, being one of the kind of trailblazing, the constitution, embedding this. And I think acting as an inspiration for so many more communities to really take on board the rights of nature. And to see a kind of community activists stepping forward in wild service to do some of this work. And in cases like Paul, they often trespass whilst they're doing it.Chris: Yeah, I think there's definitely this question of animism that comes into play, perhaps peripherally as well in these conversations, which is that, so many of our ancestors, at least at some point, [00:38:00] understood the more-than-human beings and worlds within their places as just as alive and deserving of a good life and dignity as humans are.And that over the course of the last 500 years, at least, a degree of deanimation has occurred as a result of the enclosures. Certainly, you could get into the Cartesian philosophical questions, regarding who has a soul and who doesn't. But I think there's something deeply embedded there as well about the questions of, when we find ways to ensure that rivers, for example, or other aspects of the more-than-human world have rights, that we are trying to find a way back towards respecting the dignity that exists, and is [00:39:00] more or less, demanded, if not, seen or experienced a priori, within an animistic perspective.Lewis: Yeah, I mean, absolutely the same logic that tore people from the Commons was also at play, of course, in the kind of instrumentalising and essentializing nature, and creating this sort of division between people and the rest of nature. And it is certainly there in the history of the British Isles.You just don't have to look even back that far to see that people had a much kind of closer relationship. And I think this isn't about going back to anything. This is about finding a new path where, actually, this kind of experiment in driving a wedge between humans and the rest of nature has been wildly unsuccessful, and has caused great harm, and has precipitated, also, the harms done to people elsewhere.And, part of our kind of job now, I think, is to look to other [00:40:00] ways of doing things. And I see really in the kind of richness of the work being done by communities and individuals, and increasingly, with work being done within governance, that actually rights of nature is not a panacea, but it does give us this sort of direction towards something, which is perhaps more unifying, and can be part of that future.Chris: Hmm. Yeah. I'm reminded of a fairly famous quote, at least within the psychedelic culture, of a man named Terrence McKenna, who said that this work is not a return to the archaic. It's a return of the archaic.Lewis: Hmm.Chris: And so perhaps there's something in there that can give us pause to consider and reconsider how we are with more-than-human worlds.Well, I'd like to take a, just a slight detour if we can, because there's this question of [00:41:00] what the enclosures of the commons did, to people both in England and then abroad, later. And a lot of it has to do with the human relationship to nature, to more-than-human worlds. But I'm also curious about this relationship to home, and to housing even, and to what the enclosures kind of precipitated in the behaviour of human beings, what displacement and expulsion and enclosure do to human beings.And so, I have a little quote here from a great book, called The War Against the Commons. And in that book, the author writes,“The largest number of migrants left England entirely, mostly for North America or the Caribbean. [This is as a result of the enclosures.] Net emigration in the century before 1640 was close to [00:42:00] 600,000, and another 400,000 left by the end of that century, extraordinarily large numbers from a country whose mid-1600s population was barely 5 million people.What's more, those are net figures. More people left, but their numbers were partially offset by immigrants arriving in England from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and continental Europe. Most of the emigrants were young men, and about half paid for the dangerous ocean crossing by agreeing to be indentured servants for four or more years there, in the ‘New World.' That was a high price, but hundreds of thousands of landless peasants were willing to pay it.For some, it was not a choice. English courts frequently sentenced vagrants and other criminals to indentured servitude in the New World.”And so, I don't think it's such a huge [00:43:00] stretch of the imagination to say that the chain reaction that began with the enclosures in England and later spread to most parts of the world had direct consequences for how the Americas, among other places, were colonised. I think it's quite curious and telling that the sometimes brutal dispossession and dislocation that was unleashed on commoners in the UK was then later unleashed by those same commoners turned migrants or their descendants on the other side of the Atlantic. And so, given that one of the major issues of our time revolves around migration and borders, I'm curious if this history or this unauthorised history has come up at all in the conversations around migration in your part of the world.Lewis: Yeah. Well, I think the harm that has been done to the landscapes here, clearly, the mindset and the exploitative mindset have been at play [00:44:00] elsewhere as we've discussed. You talked about how vagrants were treated. People are told they have no place on land that they don't own. And then when they find themselves, suddenly without work and dispossessed and subject to new laws that were criminalising that kind of vagrancy, I think that's such a strong kind of signal within a society that there's this kind of way of being successful or a way of undertaking a life, and of doing business, whatever you wanna call it. And so as soon as people are given an opportunity to go off and set off for new shores... we were effectively training a whole population on how to other, and how to exploit. I mean, this was the kind of place in which that mindset was cultivated.Chris: Mm-hmm.Lewis: And people, I think what I always come [00:45:00] back to in, whenever I'm reading about the enclosures and the commons, is that people were resisting, as well. And I think, the Levellers, the amazing campaigning done by the Levellers who took up arms and really knew resisted the kind of modern enclosures and the idea of landlordism, that only land landowners should have a broad set of rights, including the right to vote. The people were resisting this at every step of the way.And I think that we see that obviously internationally, as well. Colonisation by Britain and by other colonising powers has always been resisted, and there are movements globally that are working to protect the rights of people and land against these kinds of damaging and exploitative practises.But I think it comes back really, as somebody who lives here in England, that it might feel small to be a part of a campaign, which is about “I want [00:46:00] rights to be able to walk outta my door and walk into the nearby countryside, whilst there are these sort of incredibly awful, colonial practises going on in the name of progress, globally, in my name.”This is also about how we cultivate that kind of awareness and resistance. Because what I see and what I've learned through being part of this campaign is that, something which is kind of meaningful for us here today, by learning our histories and how this has kind of evolved, really, and grown out of the land where I live, part of that journey is also about educating ourselves and taking action on things which are an injustice for us in our lives, and joining those injustices to others, which are taking place in the name of the same systems that exploited the world, the more direct world around us.So, these are joined up. And, I think the other thing I wanna say is that like so many times in our campaigning we've come across the role of power and privilege and money in the countryside, [00:47:00] and how the larger states and the names that go with them that persist in the countryside today...I mean, about a third of England is still in aristocratic hands. We're unsure of the exact figure because so much of the land in England is not registered, but around about a third of England is still in the hands of... many of those people can trace their lineage right back to the Norman Conquest, to 1066, when William the Conqueror came over and handed out the land of his newly acquired domain to all of his mates. We're still living with that legacy today.And so, we see those power structures in the countryside. We see the money that's behind them. And all of the new money, the corporate money as well, that's being poured into the countryside around us. And there's a direct link there to democracy, as well, to what we're told about who belongs and who gets a say and who actually should feel welcome here. And when we look at the rise of the far-right here [00:48:00] in England, and I think, elsewhere, globally, the perpetuation of the narratives that go behind the rise of the far-right comes from that kind of land-owning, embedded power structure, the same power which has actually disconnected and dispossessed the majority of the population, the 99% of us, who don't own half of England.And that's really shocking. And I think, when we see figures like Nigel Farage here in England, pointing to migrants as the problem, it doesn't take much delving back into our history to see that this is a defence strategy, a way of deflecting blame from those who have acquired through exploitation, through murder and destruction, massive amounts of wealth and privilege and power.And so, this is the latest iteration of blaming people. We blamed the vagabonds and the [00:49:00] poor for causing problems in the countryside by criminalising activities, and exporting them off. And today we're blaming migrants, and I think, to be able to know our history and to look at how the enclosure acts and the loss of a sense of common belonging is connected to how we are having our dispossession thrown back at us through a sense of blame for others who have absolutely no stake in the uprooting of our connection.Chris: Hmm. Brilliant. Yeah. Thank you so much, Louis, for bringing this up. I mean, I've had my friend and mentor Steven Jenkinson on the pod a few times. And one of the things that he's written that describes the dynamics in a lot of the modern condition. But I think in this question, particularly around migration and colonial history,[00:50:00] he writes that, “ they deify what dispossessed their ancestors.” They turn into a God, the trauma that dispossessed their ancestors. And then, of course, in this particular context, they project it onto the people who are now being dispossessed.Lewis: Hmm.I mean, we see this logic also play out in other, smaller ways, I think, in the countryside in England. Like, for example, massive running battles and riots to protect Fenland, the fenlands of the east of England, from being drained and improved. Massive protests to prevent woodlands from being enclosed. But today, we'll see the everyday public who don't have any ownership of those lands, protecting this kind of sense of industrial improvement. And I think that there's a lot of unpicking to be done, to look back [00:51:00] and to say, actually, this is something that was done to us. And with that, we lost our rights, and also now, one of the biggest kinds of parlour tricks really of that whole system has been for us to blame each other.Chris: Yeah. I mean, I see it on a smaller scale as well in terms of landlordism and rent. I mean, we, I had an interview a few months ago, and we brought up the question of rent, which surely existed before the enclosure of the commons, but has become a staple, a normalised aspect of modern life. And it's become that rent has become so normalised that no one questions the kind of wage and rent slavery that we're born into in this late capitalist context. And therefore there's no need to imagine our relationships with home or [00:52:00] house or housing or land being any different.And as you mentioned, how the enclosures created this kind of notion perhaps among people in England in the previous hundred years, and then of course exported elsewhere, that the roots of enclosures and the different forms that they take or can take in the world, are the recipe for a ‘better life', right?And so I see that as well as a kind of historical extension of the enclosures, this notion that, like, “well, it's just the way it is and you just have to pay your rent, and there's no questioning the dynamics of private property. And if you don't like it, just submit or become a landlord yourself.Lewis: Hmm. Well, one of the interesting things I think that happened again in Scotland was that in 2003, the Land Reform Act, which came in and which [00:53:00] I've mentioned as being the acts which brought about the Scottish right to roam as we know it today, actually, that was almost a kind of footnote to the wider act. And one of the main things that it brought about was for people to have a right to buy, for communities to have a right to buy. And one of the big transformations in Scotland in recent years has been communities being able to buy up parts of whole estates and even sometimes whole islands.And so, the Isle of Eigg was one of the first examples, but now there are many, many more across Scotland where communities are starting to take literal ownership of places, and with that obviously comes things like rent controls and responsibility and accountability, between each other, within communities.And so, looking at it through that lens, where people have a greater stake in landscapes that they literally own or have a stake in, there are many, many outcomes in terms of nature conservation and public [00:54:00] access, and a wider sense of responsibility, which can kind of spill over. And it is not without problems. I mean, of course, there are still issues in Scotland with estates, and large, faceless landlords extracting massive amounts of extortionate rent from people. That's, of course, still happening.One of the things that we see in England, and I think is maybe a bit of a kind of telling contrast to that, is that in the last year we've seen two large estates, and there's probably been many more, but two that have come up on our radar, really, that have held-in properties.So one of them down in Dorset, a kind of neighbouring county to where I live, had 32 houses, ostensibly, affordable dwellings for people to live in the countryside, which is hard to come by, actually. In some parts of rural England, it's really hard to live affordably in the countryside. So, people who have been there for generations saw an estate that had been held by the same family for seven generations, suddenly bought by a [00:55:00] faceless corporation on behalf of an anonymous absentee landowner.And suddenly, overnight, the community was hit with kind of massive amounts of uncertainty. People worried about evictions or rents going up. And the same things happened just down the road from us, with an estate owned by the royal family suddenly put up for sale, and suddenly, tenant farmers, people who had had this kind of certainty that actually this has been owned by the royal family since the 1300s, are now being put up for sale.And from that point of view, the person selling it just looks at it like a set of assets that could be sold off. And I think what I would love is for, in England, for us to have a community right to buy. So when things like that happen, then actually communities get this kind of first refusal.So, landlordism and ownership patterns that are linked to the extortions going on are deeply connected to rights of access, because the golden thread that links all of those is a right to belong. And without that kind of certainty that you can call a place home [00:56:00] without being evicted, or without being told that you can get to your kind of favourite river swimming spot, for me, those two things are deeply related, and they point to the need for something much more robust for people who so desperately need it, who don't have the means to buy land themselves.Chris: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Thank you, Lewis. I'm grateful for this work that you do with the right to roam, and hopefully, as the movement grows, there'll be an opportunity for, perhaps, seemingly disparate movements or campaigns to join in this way and to recognise their mutual goals.And so I'm curious, I'd love to ask you about how this shows up on a broader spectrum, in a global spectrum, in terms of the Right To Roam, in terms of access to land and the campaigns and movements that are happening, not just in England, but elsewhere, beyond the Isles and perhaps beyond [00:57:00] Europe.And so I'm curious what kind of similar movements or campaigns might be happening in other countries or continents, for which there might be solidarity between the fight for the commons in the UK and the fight for the commons elsewhere?Lewis: Hmm. Well, land. It literally underpins everything, really.I mean, we see so many campaigns and injustices, which obviously are linked to land and the right to belong and the right to be. And land justice, globally, there's so much international solidarity. Our work today is very much about drawing those threads and remaining kind of focused on what we need to do, but we can see sort of the parallels elsewhere.And, people that we campaign with are also involved in international campaigning with Survival International, for example, doing amazing work to support the rights of indigenous peoples and rights to land globally. And the International Land Coalition, the work that they're [00:58:00] doing, a lot of which is in South America.We talked already about the rights of nature movement, and seeing lots of that kind of showing up and the rights of nature in the constitution of Ecuador, has, as I've already said, been a massive inspiration for that movement now in the UK.And, obviously, in the majority of Latin American countries, this is a real present challenge, and it's highly contested. I was speaking with a group from Dalhousie University in Canada as well recently about the kind of the rights to the coastline up there, and how, even in North American countries, there are like these challenges because of the development of coastlines, and not just coastlines, but also, the private property rights which excludes people to perhaps a more extreme extent than we have here in England.I was always struck by how, in the United States, the [00:59:00] right to roam campaign is sort of... I think people are just bewildered by it. Like, “What is this kind of campaign?” Because the rights of property are so sacrosanct, and the rights of property and the right to exclude, with the exception of the national park.So, we see these interesting challenges coming up, and international solidarity with people, in all sorts of different contexts.I was really interested in the conversation that you were having with Devon Taylor on this podcast about the rights to the coast, for example, in Jamaica, as well, and how that is absolutely linked to the exploitation of Jamaica and of people, and that land is still subject to the same kind of sets of exclusions there. And I was really interested to hear about the campaigning that's being done to just give people a simple right to get to the beach, which just seems so [01:00:00] basic and simple, but actually is fundamental. And so, I'm really gladdened and also shocked by what's happening there. And particularly if you contrast it with a place like Barbados, where there's a right to the coast, to see just what's possible with campaigning. And with political will, actually, you can see that these things are winnable and that they're winnable because of people like Devon doing that kind of work.So yeah, our work's very much focused on England, and what we can achieve within this parliament. We basically want to finish what we're doing, and then carry on with the wider work that we're all also interested in doing, and getting this law changed is our kind of like tiny puzzle piece in the wider tapestry of land justice, globally.Chris: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. May it be that the people who listen to this and who find their way towards the Right to Roam's work, join up and remember the [01:01:00] histories that have led us to this point and to people like yourself who are working to reconcile, as you said, what's been done historically in your name, or in your names.And, it's been a blessing to have you on the pod Lewis, to be able to both historically and contemporaneously, bring together a lot of the threads that a lot of other podcast guests in the past have spoken to, threads that bring us to a degree of source or historical origin in terms of how these enclosures came to be and of course, how people like yourself in the place that they began are working for their proper subversion.And so, on behalf of our listeners, Lewis, I'd like to thank you for joining me today for being willing to speak to these issues, these very complex issues. And I'm of course grateful that you're digging into the complexities in the way that you do.It's a great honour. And finally, [01:02:00] I'd like to ask you, how might our listeners find out more about the Right to Roam and its campaigns? How might they get involved and support, or begin this good work, in the places that they live?Lewis: Thanks, Chris. It is great to be on here and speaking with you, as well.And yeah, I mean, we're a small campaign. We do what we can with the small amount of resources that we have available. But I think, if people want to support our work, you can head over to our website. We've got our website at righttorome.org.uk. So check that out. We've got a mailing list, as well, and we try to send out fairly infrequent, but we hope, worthwhile emails, which give you a bit of insight.They tend to be focused on the work we are doing here for England and Wales. But I think for international listeners, this is potentially of interest as well, because, obviously, this speaks to the wider context. We've got social media as well, so you can see us on Instagram and on Blue Sky. And we're just in the process of setting [01:03:00] up a blog, as well. So, stay tuned for that. But get in touch and listen out for any updates.Chris: Thank you, Lewis. I'll make sure that those links are on the End of Tourism website in the homework section. And, for those who are outside of England who are wondering about this, perhaps the Right to Roam and their work is something not only of an inspiration, but a foundation for the ways in which you and your people might come to gather together and organise for access to land in your places.Thank you so much, Louis.Lewis: Thanks, Chris. Get full access to Chris Christou at chrischristou.substack.com/subscribe

Send us Fan MailSimon announces two big life events on the same Saturday morning: the first day of his new role as Director of the Centre for Dance Research at Coventry University, and an offer just put in on a flat. Lee's praise for the decision (steered by Annie Duke's How to Decide) tips into a riff on downsizing, industrial ovens, and buyers' markets, before Lee's own account of a solitary seal in the river at Totnes prompts a longer meditation on living double lives and how much of the self is performance. They close on inherited wisdom: Lee's mother's mantra that a bit of advice is worth a lot of sympathy, and whether either of them would actually want to hear it.MentionedHow to Decide (Annie Duke) – book on decision-making; argues a decision's quality is separate from its outcome, cited while weighing up buying a flatGet in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us Fan MailSimon is back from one week in Italy (camping, farm work, and a proper test of an air-conditioning-free apartment), while Lee has rediscovered swimming in the Dart, a habit lost somewhere around COVID and indulged daily ever since. They compare the textures of different water, from a Mediterranean "like a bath" to an unforgiving Atlantic, before Lee lands on a firm conclusion (he is riverine, not oceanic) and the conversation drifts into childhood water memories: bath-time hide-and-seek, Star Wars figures drowned in the tub, a home-built pool engineered for whirlpools. It closes with Lee taking his former student and soon-to-be PhD candidate, Charlie, for a swim up the same river, still caked in dirt from a Fringe show about fathers and masculinity.MentionedThe Dart – river in Totnes, Devon; rediscovered as a swimming spot after a long hiatus stretching back to before COVID; swum in daily for a week, becomes the episode's throughlineTotnes Fringe – theatre festival spread across roughly 19 venues, including shops, gardens, and a church; prompts a riff on what counts as a "fringe" when there is no major festival for it to be fringe ofCharlie – former undergraduate student, soon to start a PhD; runs his own solo performance company; presented a piece on masculinity, fathers, and nature at the Totnes Fringe, ending caked in stage dirt and paintStar Wars (Luke Skywalker and Han Solo figurines) – bath toys from a childhood game of submerging the figures underwater and holding them by the headGet in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Kate was born in Crosby and now lives in Totnes. She's a 60+ very late-diagnosed Audhd, which has been life-changing. She's written & published over 15 novels, many of them hard-hitting as well as short stories, flash fiction & poems, between writing memoirs. She loves singing, music, cats & photography & the smell of geraniums. Other chronic health conditions including M.E., fibromyalgia, hyperhidrosis & lifelong anxiety coexist with her creativity Website: https://kjrbooks.yolasite.com/Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/authorrigbyBlogs: https://authisticwords.blogspot.com/http://bubbitybooks.blogspot.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/kate_jay_rTikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGJTtmSAk/YouTube: https://youtube.com/@TheBubbityAmazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Kate-Rigby/author/B001KDR9GEThis podcast is for you if you're looking to;Listen to unique stories that inspire.Join a community for creatives, entrepreneurs, and anyone who thinks ‘outside the box.'Find conversations on Neurodiversity, Autism, ADHD, and AuDHD, even Otrovertism.Learn how to use your unique wiring for a purposeful life.Please Support:Your donations directly fuel the growth of this podcast! They allow Caroline to bring in even more wonderful and inspiring guests, expanding her reach to uplift even more listeners. Please show your support and become part of the magic! Donations of any amount are deeply appreciated. You can make a secure donation through PayPal using the link below. Every contribution, big or small, makes a difference! paypal.me/carolinecarey60 Visit Middle Earth Medicine to learn more and connect with Caroline. www.middleearthmedicine.com#AutisticExperience#Neurodivergent#HighlySensitivePerson#Neurodiversity#InnerWorld#SelfDiscovery#ANeurodivergentSoul Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

French Food News April 2026 brings together the biggest stories from the world of French food, drink and gastronomy this month — from a potential merger that could create the largest spirits company in the world, to a World Stuffed Cabbage Championship held in a porcelain factory in Limoges. This episode of Fabulously Delicious covers the full breadth of what is happening right now in French food culture — the serious, the surprising and the gloriously niche — with everything you need to know about the stories shaping French gastronomy in April 2026.The big business story this month is Pernod Ricard — the French spirits giant behind Ricard, Martell, Jameson and Absolut — confirming merger talks with Brown-Forman, the American company that owns Jack Daniel's and Woodford Reserve. If completed, it would create the largest spirits company in the world and put a very considerable French stamp on global whiskey culture. We also cover Roland-Garros 2026 and the brand new Jardin des Chefs — a dedicated food destination inside the tournament grounds running from the 24th of May, featuring Michelin-starred chefs, signature dishes and the Balle de Break, a chocolate treat in the shape of a tennis ball that is either the best or most ridiculous idea in French food this year.The episode also covers the 2026 Roux Scholarship, one of the most prestigious culinary competitions in Britain, with deep French roots, where winner Harrison Brockington from Gather restaurant in Totnes impressed judges including honorary president Mauro Colagreco with his Mediterranean-inspired surf and turf. We look at the Le Cordon Bleu London pâtisserie scholarship worth over £75,000, open now with applications closing the 29th of May. And we discuss a fascinating Le Monde article on why young French chefs under thirty are increasingly reluctant to take on management roles in professional kitchens — a significant cultural shift for a country where the chef has always been an almost mythological figure.The episode closes with the World Stuffed Cabbage Championship — held at the Bernardaud porcelain factory in Limoges, presided over by Philippe Etchebest, and won by Frenchman Olivier Caillon. Because every month of French food news should end with something that makes you smile. Search FabulouslySend us Fan MailSupport the showMy book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World's Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you'll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at andrewpriorfabulously.com For those who want to take things further, why not come cook with me here in Montmorillon, in the heart of France's Vienne region? Combine hands-on French cooking classes with exploring charming markets, tasting regional specialties, and soaking up the slow, beautiful pace of French countryside life. Find all the details at andrewpriorfabulously.comYou can help keep the show thriving by becoming a paid subscriber on substack where you'll also get fabulous extra content. Every contribution makes a huge difference. Join here at Substack , Merci beaucoup!Newsletter Youtube Instagram Facebook Website 

Bienvenue en 2030 Glorieuses, le podcast pour raconter les mondes de demain ! On nous répète partout que demain est foutu, qu'il est trop tard et que nous n'avons d'autre choix que de limiter les dégâts. À force de l'entendre, nous avons fini par mettre nos rêves en pause pour devenir les simples gestionnaires de notre propre extinction. Pourtant, je reste convaincu d'une chose : l'avenir ne se gère pas, il se rêve. Aujourd'hui, j'ai l'immense honneur de recevoir l'entraîneur en chef de notre muscle utopique : Rob Hopkins. Fondateur du mouvement des "Villes en Transition", Rob a semé des graines de possibles de Totnes jusqu'aux quatre coins du globe. Pour lui, l'imagination n'est pas un luxe, c'est un acte de résistance politique radical. ⚠️ À noter : Cet entretien a été réalisé en anglais. Pour vous accompagner, j'ai préparé une introduction détaillée en français et vous trouverez la transcription intégrale traduite sur 2030glorieuses.org. Ne manquez pas l'énergie de Rob, elle est contagieuse ! Avec lui, nous allons apprendre à : Passer du « Oui, mais » au « Et si ? » Saturer le futur de récits désirables pour sortir de la paralysie. Découvrir la ville de 2036, où le bitume a laissé place au vivant. Et pour retrouver notre galaxie utopiste, rendez-vous sur 2030glorieuses.org. Le podcast est soutenu par La Nef, la coopérative bancaire citoyenne qui soutient depuis plus de 30 ans les porteurs de projets sociaux, écologiques et culturels. Plus d'infos sur lanef.com.

Steve Cradock's touring with Ocean Colour Scene in 2026 and in his own show, Travellers Tunes, with his wife and son Steve – “we're like the Von Trapps!” This highly original night involves them “living like gypsies in the spirit of Ronnie Lane”. He looks back here, from his psychedelic Mod-shrine converted garage in Totnes, at the first shows he ever saw and played, which touches on … …seeing UB40 at Birmingham Odeon, aged 13 – “I was bruised for days” … an after-school Duran Duran video shoot … “three 45-minute sets a night”: doing J Geils Band and Lennon covers pre-Bingo in working men's clubs, aged 15 … playing Scooter Rallies in Gorleston-on-Sea in pilled-up homage to the Purple Hearts, the Jam and Secret Affair … the imperishable sound of the early Small Faces – “the tone, the feedback, Plonk smashing his bass” … an intense love of Northern Soul, Soft Cell, the Pretenders, Costello and the La's … the Stones Roses, “the most important show I ever saw – the hair, the clothes, the songs, the guitars” … supporting Oasis at Knebworth … “musicians' books bore me” …. three days in a pub with Chris Evans and regrets about “the double-edged sword” of the Riverboat Song on TGI Friday … and Paul Weller with love beads Buy Steve Cradock tickets here: https://www.stevecradock.com/tour/Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve Cradock's touring with Ocean Colour Scene in 2026 and in his own show, Travellers Tunes, with his wife and son Steve – “we're like the Von Trapps!” This highly original night involves them “living like gypsies in the spirit of Ronnie Lane”. He looks back here, from his psychedelic Mod-shrine converted garage in Totnes, at the first shows he ever saw and played, which touches on … …seeing UB40 at Birmingham Odeon, aged 13 – “I was bruised for days” … an after-school Duran Duran video shoot … “three 45-minute sets a night”: doing J Geils Band and Lennon covers pre-Bingo in working men's clubs, aged 15 … playing Scooter Rallies in Gorleston-on-Sea in pilled-up homage to the Purple Hearts, the Jam and Secret Affair … the imperishable sound of the early Small Faces – “the tone, the feedback, Plonk smashing his bass” … an intense love of Northern Soul, Soft Cell, the Pretenders, Costello and the La's … the Stones Roses, “the most important show I ever saw – the hair, the clothes, the songs, the guitars” … supporting Oasis at Knebworth … “musicians' books bore me” …. three days in a pub with Chris Evans and regrets about “the double-edged sword” of the Riverboat Song on TGI Friday … and Paul Weller with love beads Buy Steve Cradock tickets here: https://www.stevecradock.com/tour/Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pausing our narrative with the death of Silvius in 1111 BCE, we follow his exiled younger son Brutus, who winds up in Britain after a series of Odyssey-style adventures and becomes its first king. His family will rule Britain for centuries according to the mythological narrative of Geoffrey of Monmouth, taking us all the way to the epoch of Rome's founding before we circle back next week to deal with Aeneas II...Sources for this episode:Baker, R. (1670), A Chronicle of the Kings of England. London: Printed for George Sawbridge.Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume II). London: William Heinemann.Geoffrey of Monmouth (1966), The History of the Kings of Britain. Translated by L. Thorpe. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Sélincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Marks, A. and Tingay, G. (date unknown), Romans. London: Usborne Publishing.Shakespeare, W. (2014), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. New York: Race Point Publishing.William of Malmesbury (1847), William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England. London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden.Author unknown (date unknown), Nuremberg Chronicle: being the Liber Chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann translated in English. Morse Library, Beloit College.Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Silvius (online) (Accessed 05/09/2024).Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Totnes (online) (Accessed 05/09/2024).

In the heart of Totnes, The Bull Inn isn't just a pub, it's a manifesto. In today's episode, Molly sits down with Geetie Singh-Watson to dive deep into her journey from opening England's first organic pub back in the 80s to bringing The Bull Inn to life. Join us as we unpack what “regenerative farming” actually means and how to run a hospitality business that's deeply rooted in place, purpose and provenance. Clue, no Amazon allowed. From sourcing certified organic ingredients to rethinking supply chains and community impact, this conversation is as much about changing systems as it is about sharing a pint.Head to Curated, the world's first travel platform powered by tastemakers with soul, style and story at its heart to discover a collection of soulful stays https://curatedspaces.club/Curated Spaces is the podcast on a mission to reignite real world connection.What started as a project to share the stories behind spaces has snowballed into something a little bit bigger.From founders sharing their stories of burnout and loneliness to the spaces leading the charge in rewilding and sustainable food production, Curated Spaces is about living life in full colour and connecting deeply with the spaces and faces around us.https://www.instagram.com/curatedspacesclub/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's packed episode, there's chat about Joe being away (and podding from his car), yet more tummy troubles, a lady in a see-through blouse that David saw on Totnes bridge recently, Joe's old family holidays, lovely seaside homes and a whole host of stories about colourful characters that Joe and David have met whilst living in Brighton. They also have an impromptu game of ‘do you know anything about this town?', chat about Noel Edmonds new TV show and work out how they'd deal with being filmed all the time for a TV show. This is Chatabix drivel at its finest - or in David's words, ‘quite a good ep actually, 6.5 out of 10'. FOR ALL THINGS CHATABIX'Y FOLLOW/SUBSCRIBE/CONTACT: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chatabixpodcast Insta: https://www.instagram.com/chatabixpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chatabix Twitter: https://twitter.com/chatabix1 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/chatabix Merch: https://chatabixshop.com/ Contact us: chatabix@yahoo.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new Devoncast covers the biggest stories across the county. In Torbay, the parents of deaf children are angry at council plans to change the way schools cater for them, while in the House of Commons the local bus service gets a rough ride. Winemakers in East Devon are celebrating their success and there's news of a crackdown on rural crime. A long-running planning battle at Ottery St Mary has finally come to an end and an important wildlife haven in Totnes has been opened up to the public. Plus, Doctor Frank N. Furter - alias actor Adam Strong - tells us what we can expect when the Rocky Horror Show rolls into Torquay. It's all in the latest edition of Devoncast, from Radio Exe and the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Devoncast brings you news on a fleet of electric bikes being introduced in Totnes and we talk to campaigners on the beach at Exmouth highlighting water quality problems. Plymouth gets Tree City of the World status two years after the tree felling fiasco in the city centre and police chief James Vaughan tells us about the challenges of covering the huge Devon patch. Plus we have lots from Devon County Show and the leader of Plymouth City Council gives his thoughts on the latest feedback from the government on the council shake up in the county. It's all in the latest edition of Devoncast, from Radio Exe and the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

This talk was filmed live at the Totnes Consciousness Cafe in April 2025.

Totnes, UK Event - June 14, 2013. For this person, taking on the night shift with a sleepless baby and sensing the power in a simple hug became portals to some of life's profound questions for John to answer. Dialogues with John de Ruiter bring you into your heart, and into the depths of your being, where the meaning of life opens up in awareness.    For more information about John de Ruiter go to www.johnderuiter.com

Send us a textLee and Simon talk about things that bother them about themselves and learning to live with them. Things covered: Apple iCloud shared accounts and how shit they are, a ladybird backflip a la Jackie Chan, ladybugs, speaking all Northern, living in Lancaster, Blackpool, depressed British seaside towns, PIGS acronym (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain), Bob and Lee's ladybirds experience, finding out what ladybirds taste like, Torch Song Trilogy, the difference between hardware and software, knitting stick count in, Simon getting high on his own (bread) supply, Oliver Burkeman's Meditation for Mortals, learning to live with the the things that bother them, people pleasing, Totnes street folk singer who hates Lee, Lee sounding a bit more unhinged, chaos in the world of Bob and Lee (and singing a Christmas Carol), Bob and Lee teaching with Henry and William (their dogs at the time), performing "like me", pay them bitches no mind, self-absorption, Simon's clunking dogging him until he dies, Antipodeans going overseas to see the world (their big OE), risky humour in Turkey, the line between getting it right and getting it very wrong, squaring ourselves with ourselves, being aspirational, human beings recognising their shapes, saying goodbye. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Born with achondroplasia, one of the best known forms of dwarfism, Krysten Coombs never saw anyone that looked like him growing up in Totnes in the South West of England. Sport was his passion and was the thing that helped him to change his big challenge into his superpower. Football is a passion, and he has played with the Dwarf Sports Association and is a passionate fan of Plymouth Argyle, but it was racquet sports, and most particularly badminton, where he has excelled culminating in a magical final in the Paris 2024 Paralympics.Krysten is so open and speaks about some of the key challenges that face people with dwarfism. We talk about language, Game of Thrones, panto, social media, rooming with your main rival and the joy of sport. It's a truly beautiful episode.This series we are partnering with University Campus of Football Business and have recorded episodes at their Media City studios in Salford and at their studio next to Wembley StadiumFor more information on UCFB visit their website here - https://www.ucfb.ac.uk/You can follow us on our social media @journeyspod on Instagram and Threads and we're still hanging around on X for a while! You might even find us on TikTok too!

We talk to Rob Hopkins about the importance of unleashing our imaginations in the fight against climate change, in order to create the future that we all want to see.Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of the Transition Movement and author of 'From What is to What If'. He has spoken at multiple TED events and runs ‘Imagination Catalyst' training for a wide range of organisations around the world.Rob also challenges Gwen and Kate to take a walk around their local neighbourhood and take photos of things they see that give them hope for 2030. Join in and share your photos on instagram, using #Rump2030.Find out more about Rob Hopkins and his work hereBook – From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We WantExclusive for RUMP listeners – enjoy 30% off the above using the discount code Whatif30Podcast – From What If to What NextFind out about Other Voices Festival Thank you to our team:Music - Andrew GrimesArtwork - Erica Frances GeorgeSocial Media - Kate BallsIf you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and leave a review. It takes less than 60 seconds and really makes a difference in helping people discover the podcast. Thank you!Join the RUMP Club! Support the team and access exclusive content from as little as £3 p/month at: Right Up My Podcast | PatreonOr, if you'd like to make a one-off donation, you can buy us a virtual coffee from Buy Me a Coffee!Be social with us!InstagramFacebookTikTok

Anthony Mangnall Anthony was one of the stars of the Election 24 Series. A former adviser to William Hague, he'd been the Conservative MP for Totnes since 2019. On 4 July he lost his seat to the Lib Dems. In this candid and hilarious interview, he reflects on defeat and reveals what advice he gave his successor. SEE Matt at the Edinburgh Festival in August and on tour until March 2025: Matt Forde The End of an Era Tour 2024 31 July - 25 August: Edinburgh, The Pleasance 2 October: Norwich Playhouse 3 October: Maidenhead, Norden Farm 9 October: Middlesbrough, The Crypt 10 October: London, Leicester Square Theatre 24 October: Hull, Truck Theatre 6 November: Exeter, Phoenix 8 November: Tunbridge Wells, Trinity Theatre 14 November: Basingstoke, The Haymarket 15 November: Colchester Arts Centre 20 November: York, The Crescent 21 November: Chorley, Little Theatre 22 November: Salford, The Lowry 27 November: Chipping Norton Theatre 28 November: Leicester, Y Theatre 29 November: Eastleigh, The Berry 31 November: Faversham, The Alexander Centre 2025 4 February: Leeds, City Varieties 5 February: Sheffield, The Leadmill 6 February: Chelmsford Theatre 7 February: Bedford, The Quarry Theatre 12 February: Bath, Komedia 13 February: Southend, Palace Theatre 16 February: Cambridge, The Junction 20 February: Nottingham, Lakeside Arts 23 February: Brighton, Komedoa 25 February: Cardiff, Glee Club 26 February: Bury St Edmunds, Theatre Royal 2 March: Bristol, Tobacco Factory 11 March: Aberdeen, Lemon Tree 12 March: Glasgow, Glee Club Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a world that wants to keep hustling and believing that “bigger is better”, we've always had a different measure of success.For Laurence and Carlos, it's about forging deep friendships and relationships, getting out in nature, making things that give people delight, and making sure that those you love get more of you.To do this can mean simplifying our lives. It can mean focusing on what matters and recognising that there's another way to be in the world - and in the business world.The Happy Startup way of thinking has been influenced by Small is Beautiful by the economist and environmentalist EF Schumacher. But they're not the first to be influenced by this classic text.In 1991 Satish Kumar, a former Jain monk and activist, launched the ground-breaking Schumacher College near Totnes with a short course on Gaia Theory led by James Lovelock. In this episode, Laurence and Carlos talk with him about getting off the treadmill of endless competition and consumption, as discussed in his book Elegant Simplicity.They explore what it means to prioritise happiness, social equity, and a desire to tread lightly on the earth. Hear why we “need to go wild” and reconnect with our souls, the soil, and our society in a less complicated, less wasteful, way. Find out what it means to “live like a poet” and find purpose through relationships, contribution, and connection to the environment around us.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort

Send us a Text Message.Simon and Lee discuss many things including pizza, the D-Day landings and going dry. No one reads these show-notes so we will just leave it at that. Some other details from the episode: getting things stuck in your teeth, Lee's naked ambition, remote dinner dates, kamaikaze blue tits, stressing syllables in language, how to say Alghero, Cagliari, Dittisham, Broughan, zero-alcohol beer, sleeping better without alcohol, Lee slacking off at work, whether or not the Falmouth VC listens to Midlifing, breakfast dessert, a piece of theoretical cake, the US Army and the D-Day landings (educated and inexperienced), PTS and CPTS, two slices of pizza, Simon being woken up by his neighbours having sex, Jefrey and Lee trying to figure out what the noise is (and looking like perverts), new pop-up pizza in Totnes, pizza is great, how deep pockets can be, types of handbags and just how much Lee knows about them. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Guest Narrator: Matthew Jones My name is Matthew Jones, I used to have a channel 'MJam from London' which sadly got taken down. Ah, well... I've risen from the ashes with the channels below https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAIykVoygG4Y7hj2oou3sgA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV_d51P8y35TqoT2N7FpMjA    (my own material) and most importantly my website which has everything from my old channel https://mjam-from-london.webnode.co.uk Emund Crispin Born as Robert Bruce Montgomery on October 2, 1921, in Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire, England, Edmund Crispin was a renowned English crime writer and composer. He attended Merchant Taylors' School and later graduated from St John's College, Oxford. Crispin achieved literary acclaim under his pseudonym, Edmund Crispin, penning a series of detective novels and short stories that showcased his wit, intellect, and love for the genre. His literary career spanned from the 1940s to the 1950s, leaving a lasting impact on the British detective fiction tradition. Edmund Crispin's literary output includes nine volumes of detective novels and two collections of short stories, published between 1944 and 1953. His works are known for their intricate plots, humorous dialogue, and cleverly crafted mysteries. Notable titles include "The Case of The Gilded Fly," "Frequent Hearses," and "The Moving Toyshop," which have cemented Crispin's reputation as one of the last great exponents of the classic crime mystery genre. Despite his literary success, Edmund Crispin struggled with alcoholism, which led to periods of hiatus in his writing. He maintained a solitary existence in Totnes, Devon, where he indulged in his passions for music, reading, and bridge. Crispin resisted urban developments and preferred a quiet, contemplative lifestyle away from the bustling city. Edmund Crispin's contributions to British detective fiction are situated within a rich tradition dating back to the late 19th century. Building upon the foundations laid by authors like Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers, Crispin injected new life into the genre with his innovative storytelling techniques and irreverent humor. His works emerged during a period of transition in detective fiction, marked by a shift towards more complex plots and psychologically nuanced characters. Through titles like "The Moving Toyshop" (1946) and "Frequent Hearses" (1950), Crispin demonstrated a keen understanding of the genre's conventions while simultaneously subverting them, paving the way for future generations of writers to explore new narrative possibilities within the realm of crime fiction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tapachula, entre gigantesque refuge et prison à ciel ouvertLeur souhait à tous : atteindre le rêve américain ou simplement vivre une vie digne. Depuis la pandémie, l'Amérique connaît une crise migratoire sans précédent. Les chiffres font tourner la tête : plus de 7 millions de personnes sans papiers ont traversé la frontière américaine depuis 2021. Elles viennent de toute la planète, mais principalement d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes. Toujours, ce sont les violences ou la misère qui les poussent à partir. Très souvent, l'objectif final est d'arriver aux États-Unis, mais avant, il faut traverser le Mexique. Au sud, la ville de Tapachula, la ville du Chiapas vit au rythme de ces gens de passage qui s'accrochent à leur rêve. Sorte de gigantesque refuge, ou plutôt une prison à ciel ouvert… Un Grand reportage de Gwendolina Duval qui s'entretient avec Patrick Adam. Totnes, la ville en transition C'est une petite ville de moins de 10 000 habitants, dans le sud-ouest cossu de l'Angleterre… En surface, Totnes ressemble aux autres bourgades de cette zone touristique : des rues pavées, des cafés indépendants, une promenade en bord de rivière. Mais la commune est en fait le berceau du mouvement Transition Towns, les villes en transition : des villes qui veulent mener le mouvement vers une transition écologique et sociale.Un Grand reportage d'Emeline Vin qui s'entretient avec Patrick Adam.

Did the Chancellor's much anticipated pre-election budget fall flat? Nish and Coco pick over the details and wonder why our public services are being sacrificed for the sake of tax cuts. There's reaction from Westminster from political journalist Kiran Stacey, who says that there are signs of the budget unravelling already. Rachelle Earwaker from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says it does nothing for the poorest in society, calling it a budget for “big earners and big owners”.Find out how a sleepy corner of Devon could be about to shake up our political system. Fed up of a first past the post system that's delivered a Tory MP for the last 99 years, voters in Totnes are organising their own series of primaries to pick a progressive candidate to oust their MP Anthony Mangnall. Could it catch on in other places too?There's an International Women's Day theme to this week's hero and villain…find out what Lucy Moore and the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council have done to deserve their accolades. Meanwhile Coco's got a bone to pick with King Harold of 1066 fame, plus there are tales of micro-pigs, badgers and naughtiness at Disneyland.Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media. Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.ukWhatsApp: 07514 644 572 (UK) or + 44 7514 644 572Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheukTwitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheukTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheukFacebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheukYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/podsavetheworldGuests:Kiran Stacey, political correspondent at The GuardianRachelle Earwaker, senior economist at The Joseph Rowntree FoundationAudio credits:parliamentlive.tvX / @SDevonPrimaryX / @lucyajmmooreUseful links:https://www.jrf.org.uk/https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-america/

C'est une petite ville de moins de 10 000 habitants, dans le sud-ouest cossu de l'Angleterre… En surface, Totnes ressemble aux autres bourgades de cette zone touristique : des rues pavées, des cafés indépendants, une promenade en bord de rivière. Mais la commune est en fait le berceau du mouvement Transition Towns, les villes en transition : des villes qui veulent mener le mouvement vers une transition écologique et sociale. « Totnes, la ville en transition », un Grand reportage d'Emeline Vin.

Au Royaume-Uni, une ville s'est engagée depuis quinze ans à entamer sa transition écologique : Totnes est la première « Transition Town » dans un réseau qui en compte aujourd'hui 500. La petite ville de 9 000 habitants promeut l'économie circulaire, les petits commerces et les petits gestes pour économiser l'énergie. Dix jardinières bordent l'aire de jeu de Totnes, le long de la rivière Mouth. À l'intérieur, des poireaux, des choux, des fraises… Paul, jardinier, taille les basilics.« Dans ces jardinières, nous faisons pousser des légumes, de la salade, des herbes aromatiques. Quiconque passe par là peut se servir, prendre ce qu'il veut gratuitement. Le but, c'est que les gens reprennent l'habitude des légumes venus de la terre, plutôt que des supermarchés. »D'ailleurs, il n'y a pas de supermarché à Totnes : seulement des primeurs indépendants et locaux. Deux fois par semaine, le jardinier de métier anime des ateliers pour les bénévoles, sur les quatre sites de la commune.« J'adore l'idée de resensibiliser les gens à l'agriculture. En particulier en ville, on s'en éloigne facilement. Et puis la philosophie du projet me plaît beaucoup : faire pousser de la nourriture à donner… On a aussi d'autres évènements : trois fois par an, on organise un festival de cuisine pour aller de la jardinière à l'assiette. »Un aspect social prépondérantCe jour-là, malgré le froid et le vent, John a rejoint l'atelier et élague, lui aussi, les herbes aromatiques : « Je suis venu une dizaine de fois cette année, peut-être un peu plus. Ça me fait du bien, j'aime bien. Plus je viens et plus j'apprends ».En plus de l'aspect économie circulaire et sécurité alimentaire, ce Totnésien d'une trentaine d'années aime surtout le lien social : « Ce qui me plaît le plus, c'est que j'apprends. J'ai eu pas mal de problèmes avec ma santé mentale, et tout… Ce n'est que deux heures chaque semaine, mais l'aspect social m'apporte beaucoup, il y a toujours quelqu'un qui vient papoter ».Guy Erlacher Downing est le coordinateur local de Transition Town. En plus des jardins potagers, il supervise tous les projets de la ville : l'isolation thermique, la mise en relation de covoitureurs... « On remarque que l'impact le plus important, une fois qu'ils ont commencé, les gens savent quels changements pratiques opérer chez eux. Mais surtout, ils rencontrent six, sept personnes et créent des liens. Ce qui en retour crée de super choses : par exemple, les garages deviennent des "bibliothèques à objets" partagés. »Dans ces bibliothèques, des tondeuses ou des cocottes-minute, partagées par tout un quartier. Le jeune papa, qui vit dans une communauté autonome en eau et en électricité, estime que l'action locale collective comme Transition Town représente le meilleur remède à l'écoanxiété.À lire aussiRoyaume-Uni: la biodiversité a chuté de 20% sur le sol britannique depuis 1970

(00:00:48) Vers un nouveau "contrat européen" ? (00:14:09) Série COP28 (1/4) : Totnes, berceau des villes en transition

Words have the power to change worlds.  Powerful words, powerfully written can open doors to the future.  Beautiful words, beautifully written, can give us hope . Richard Wain's new collection of poetry is doing all of these, with panache, and heart and soul.We all know by now that we need total systemic change - and a central thesis of this podcast is that we'll get there best by creating narratives that build this - both highlighting the need for it and exploring possible paths through.  What's becoming clear is that this is an emotional and spiritual journey long before it's a logistical one.  So we need to find ways to reach beyond people's head-minds into their heart-minds and spirit-minds.  With this in mind, our guest this week is a poet, an entrepreneur and an artist.  Richard Wain is founder and director of the digital marketing agency Vu Online, and of the Positive Nature Network, both committed to creating networks of businesses that can support each other in the move towards a regenerative, flourishing future.  He is also a poet with a commitment to celebrating openness and vulnerability and he has now written a beautiful, generative book of poetry called Beyond the Brink is the Beginning.I met Richard when he came to our 6 month Thrutopia Masterclass back in May of 2022 - and was struck by his capacity to grasp the big ideas.  Then I began to read the poems that arose out of our classes and was really in awe of his capacity to take these big, complex ideas, find the emotional spark at their core and weave it into something that could open hearts and help others to understand what really matters.  We've been planning this podcast for ages, but his book is coming out soon, so now is the time - though in the end, as always happens, we roamed far and wide beyond the book, to the positive nature network and how small businesses and their owners, who are often their founders and may well be the sole employee, can begin to be part of the solution.  As ever, we approached our own edges, which, a bit like poetry, is what this kind of medium is all about.  Richard's book will launch on 27th November 2023 at The Barrel House in Totnes.  Go along if you can!Here's the event link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/beyond-the-brink-is-the-beginning-book-launch-tickets-74349440076Buy the Book here: https://www.beyondthebrinkbook.com/Positive Nature Network https://www.positivenaturenetwork.co.uk/Vu Online https://vuonline.co.uk/Richard on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@richardwainpoet

Joe's struggles to finish the surfing saga as it's been too long and he can't recreate the life changing moment when he was surfing in California. They quickly move on to how a bookcase stuffed full of books makes you feel intelligent. Joe's bookcase is cluttered with untidy books much to David's disgust. They talk about what it's like to retire and being free from the daily grind at a young'ish age but Joe worries about running out of money by retiring too young. Campervanning is suggested as a perfect post-retirement activity. David's been to Totnes market and tries to tell Joe about it. The surfing ep morphs into a cosy ep. Follow Chatabix on Twitter & Instagram: twitter.com/chatabix1 www.instagram.com/chatabixpodcast/ Patreon for early access to our eps: https://www.patreon.com/chatabix Crunchy fresh tees and hoodies: https://chatabixshop.com/ Contact us: chatabix@yahoo.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Show Notes and Transcript Dr Tess Lawrie has been with us before to discuss the great work of World Council for Health.  One of their latest briefing papers caught our eye. Human Trafficking: A Call to Action: Ending Modern-Day Slavery.  This is a harrowing subject that many "human rights" organisations don't speak of and our media are strongly quiet, yet it remains the 2nd most lucrative criminal activity after illegal drugs.  In this interview Tess gives us some of the facts and examples of the scale and the human damage and after listening please read the short report and see which of the action points you can be a part of.     WCH Policy Brief and Call for Action on Human Trafficking https://worldcouncilforhealth.org/news/statements/human-trafficking-policy-brief/ Dr Tess Lawrie is a world-class researcher and has been a consultant to the World Health Organization. Her biggest clients happen to be those who are involved in the suppression of repurposed drugs and her highly acclaimed peer-reviewed Ivermectin Review is nearing the most acclaimed of all time. (Among the Wolters Kluwer ranking algorithm called Altimetric, her paper has been ranked #8 out of some 18 million publications.) Dr Lawrie is the Director of EbMCsquared CiC, a community interest health and research company. In the course of her work as a research consultant, she has been a frequent member of technical teams responsible for developing international guidelines and her peer-reviewed publications have received over 5000 citations. Dr Lawrie is the founder of BiRD International, (British Ivermectin Recommendation Development International initiative) and is a co-founder and steering group member of the World Council for Health. Her vision is of a healthier world in which science and learned wisdom are brought together to empower people to take responsibility for their own health, strongly believing that what defines us as human beings is our capacity, desire, and freedom to choose. Follow and support Dr Lawrie at..... SUBSTACK: https://drtesslawrie.substack.com/ X: https://twitter.com/lawrie_dr?s=20&t=-mx9hbCWxt-DQfYutomHkw World Council for Health WEB: https://worldcouncilforhealth.org/ The Great FreeSethttps://thegreatfreeset.org/ Interview recorded 25.10.23 *Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast. Check out his art https://theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com/ and follow him on GETTR https://gettr.com/user/BoschFawstin and Twitter https://twitter.com/TheBoschFawstin?s=20  To sign up for our weekly email, find our social media, podcasts, video, livestreaming platforms and more... https://heartsofoak.org/connect/ Support Hearts of Oak by purchasing one of our fancy T-Shirts.... https://heartsofoak.org/shop/ Please subscribe, like and share! Transcript (Hearts of Oak) It is wonderful to have Dr. Tess Lawrie back with us again. Tess, thank you so much for your time today.  (Dr Tess Lawrie) Thank you, Peter. Thanks for inviting me again.  Always good to have you on, and we've had you on a number of times. We're going to talk about something a little bit different today, but first of all, for all those watching stateside with the War Room Posse, who maybe haven't come across Tess because she is over in the UK. That is her handle @Lawrie_Dr that is for those listening at l a w r i e underscore Dr and she's a doctor, researcher, health advocate and co-founder of world council for health that is worldcouncilforhealth.org and betterwayconference.org convener and all those links are in the description and of course I would recommend you, for those of you who use Substack, to sign up to her Substack, drtesslawrie.substack.com. Make sure and use that. Now, Tess, we've had you on before talking about the great work that you have done, especially with World Council for Health, and I personally benefited from looking at your website, all the information. This is something slightly different. Let me bring up the website and people know what they can find when they go on the website worldcouncilforhealth.org and we're going to look up in the resources section and down in the policy brief and actually you need to jump past because you've been doing so much work you need to go past three of them onto human trafficking a call for action ending modern day slavery and I have read it when it first came out and I've read it again for this interview and it is a shocking, harrowing, in-depth, thought-provoking, brief. But maybe I can ask you, Tess, first. Obviously, we watch the work that you do on highlighting the COVID tyranny side and the attack on our medical freedoms. This is something quite different. Tell us kind of how that fits into the ethos of what you're doing.  Yeah, thanks Peter. Well, you know what's become clear over the COVID crisis and certainly in the beginning we were focused on COVID. COVID was the health crisis that was affecting everybody. We now see that it was a man-made health crisis. And in actual fact, the interventions that were rolled out by our authorities were extremely dangerous, in fact, particularly with regard to the COVID injections. However, it's become clear, especially with this concentration of power in the World Health Organization, that our sovereignty, that sovereignty is absolutely key to the health issue, to us being healthy. So our position is health sovereignty. This is what we are for. We are for health sovereignty. If you compare to the existing authorities, the legacy authorities, their position has become what they call health security. It seems more of a disease system. I would call it disease security or vaccine security, but it's certainly not a health system. And so we are for health sovereignty. And as soon as one looks at sovereignty one realizes that it's a huge issue. Now, I just wanna lay out our vision for health and a healthy world, because our slogan is there's a better way. And there's a lot of resistance. You'll see the anger and whatnot about what's going on. But we really believe that the way out of this tyranny is through creation and the creation of a better world. And we absolutely believe this is possible. And our vision for this better world is a healthy, free, and sovereign world where everyone has what we need to generate, sustain, and protect our own health, and that of our loved ones, our communities, and our environments. It's such a simple ask. But when one looks at the sovereignty side of things, the elephant in the room is the fact that we have human trafficking as the second most profitable criminal industry, but it's growing faster than the drug trade. So while we are promoting health sovereignty and we're saying sovereignty, the definition of sovereignty, or the definition that we use, and how I understand it perfectly is to personally is to, is that we act on our conscience. We know right from wrong. We govern ourselves. So we are our own territory and no one can come and do anything to me because this is my territory. And we make our own decisions. We are self-determining creatures. Now that's not what we've seen in the last three years certainly and before and we are moving into a system where the concentration of power is such that our human rights and our sovereignty is actually being derogated, it's being violated, it has been violated, there have been many violations in the last three years. So we need to all relearn about what sovereignty means and many people think sovereignty is something reserved for royalty or a king for example, but absolutely not. We all should be sovereign. And in fact, I think it's one of those words that's been hidden from us. So if you struggle with the word sovereignty, and some people certainly struggle to spell it, like me, you can use self-determination. Think of self-determination and self-governance. And the idea of self-governance frightens many people because it means taking responsibility for your actions and your behaviour and your thoughts, and everything, and your health. So it may not be something that is a desirable thing for many. But in looking at sovereignty under the lens and freedom, which is a fundamental human right, freedom to speak, to travel, to choose, and bodily autonomy and so on, these fundamental things are absolutely intangible to many, many people, and in particular, then, one has to look at slavery and human trafficking. How can we live in a world now where slavery is ubiquitous? And, you know, I was just reflecting on the fact that slavery was officially abolished in 1833, in the UK at least. So how can it be that there is still slavery occurring and not only slavery for the purposes of labour, but child sexual exploitation? So I think I probably need to refer to the document for figures, but it's something like a quarter of those. Something 6.3 million from 2019 figures per day are in a situation of forced labour, for organ trafficking, or for sexual exploitation. And a quarter of these are children. And about 2 3rds of those are children under the age of 8. So when you look at the figures, it's absolutely shocking. And it's something that's so difficult for people to engage with. And who can blame them? Because we so like to feel safe, and we like to believe in democracy, and we like to believe in the goodness of people. And so it's very difficult to look at this very, painful subject because what it says about us as society and as human beings is hard for us to face. Oh completely and when I think as when you're involved in the media space or a campaign or a policymaker you come across a lot of issues and this issue I think specifically especially on the sexual side, especially when you involve the issue of children, is extremely harrowing. And I'm very grateful, because it's a short document. It's what, 20 pages, 18 pages, reference to the back. And if I could just pull out just a few parts of it, because I went through it with a pen and highlighted some of the issues to bring. And I would encourage, I think many of our viewers and listeners are people that want truth, that want to see, as you point out, a better world, a better life, something different, and they don't necessarily agree with the narrative they're given. And I think in that context, this is an important document to read, but it is also difficult. But unless we address these difficult issues, we won't come out the other side and find solutions. But simply on just page one, Tess, it talks about, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland security. Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, with an estimated annual revenue of $150 billion. It has become the second largest criminal enterprise in the world after drug trafficking, and may soon surpass the latter. There is a financial side to this, and I guess that is why you have the success. You've got the demand, but it is about generating finance, generating money, it's about a business and that's why it's so successful and that's why there is difficulty I guess on stopping it because there are vested interests in this. Well, slavery has always been a profitable enterprise, you know, it's extraordinary, really, that this can be going on under our noses, and yet we still don't talk about it. And you know, there are classic situations like wars, when, you know, that facilitate this, the trade in human beings. So, you know, and there are wars going on at the moment, you know, so these things, these absolute horrors are what facilitate the trade in human beings and, you know, and vulnerable people and vulnerable families are also at risk. But there is also a sense that, you know, this is something that happens in, you know, the less developed countries and, you know, and so the Western countries or Western people often, you know, feel that it's not, I think, the sense is that they feel it's not their responsibility. Well, you know, the wake-up call really is that it's the market forces in the Western world that are driving human trafficking. And it is North America and Europe that are the biggest markets for child sexual exploitation and pornography. So we are absolutely central to this abhorrent industry, if you can call it that, this criminal industry. And it's very easy for us to, for individuals to say, oh, well, this is such a big thing. And if I look at this pornographic image of a child, it doesn't hurt anybody because the image is already there. I'm just looking at it or whatever. I don't know how people justify looking at these sorts of things. But pornography is highly addictive. And so if you're looking at adult images today, you could be looking at child images tomorrow, you know, it's absolutely proven to be addictive, and very destructive on the sense of moral fibre, on your sense of sovereignty, which is acting on your conscience, doing no harm and on family life and personal sense of integrity, so it has far-reaching consequences accessing that kind of material, and beyond that, sustains and feeds this absolute beast of immoral, a degenerate, unkind, harmful, deadly, in actual fact, industry. No, completely. And you talked about a couple of things. You talked about that figure. In the report it says two-thirds of the estimated $150 billion global revenue of human trafficking comes from sexual exploitation. And then again, you touch on the figures that nearly 50 million human beings, which is one in every 150 people in the world in modern day slavery on any given day. And then over 12 million of those are children, which is a third. This is, it's not just the revenue side, but it's the scale of the side. When you're in the UK and you think 50 million, that's two thirds of the size of the UK. There are many individuals and then you begin to think of actually this affects individuals. It's not just finance or a mass of people, but actually there are 50 million personal individuals involved that have their own life story, that have their own circumstances, their situations, and they have been caught up into this industry. And I think that really hit me, the 50 million of which 12 million being children. And some as small as this. You know, this is, it's really, you know, I urge your viewers to go to one of, if you go to my sub stack, there's an interview that I had with Max Lowen, who's a survivor of, of human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, and ritual satanic abuse, and she was trafficked from a baby by an uncle, and I think one of the things that really stands out is that she was not from a poor family in some far-off place, she was from Italy, from a diplomatic family, and very well-off, and she was trafficked at the highest levels. So this is something that's perpetrated by individuals at the highest levels, and they use their positions of power to engage and probably to, you know, maintain, you know, a sense, whatever their status is with, and I would expect probably there's blackmail and bribery and all that sort of stuff that is part and parcel of this very broken system that we live in and that we're actually seeing crumble down. So I think there is an upside to this, and which is why we at World Council of Health really encourage people to engage with this issue because paedophilia runs through our society. It's family men, it's neighbours, it's in parliament, it's in, you know, in business, academia, and so on, and by shining our light on this, this is how we stop it. We shine a light on it, and obviously, you know, if there are individuals, if there are people listening who do look at images from time to time while they're waiting in a car or waiting for something or whatever they're doing when they're alone, please know that what you are doing is harmful and please stop it. And this is how by taking responsibility and control individually and shining the light on these things that have been too difficult for us. Now is the time really for us to shine a light on it, to help those victims. What you will hear from Max Lerner is that, children are literally kept in cages, People are kept in cages. There is a psychopathy of anti-human mentality. And I think what's very difficult for people who believe in humanity and loving communities and that it's especially difficult for them to look at and imagine that there could be people who don't like human beings, see them just as animals, or see them as something that's just a product that can be bought and sold. But make no mistake, people are being bought and sold despite slavery being abolished. And if I could just say, and there's no reason to be surprised that there are rules and regulations that are being flouted like the abolition of slavery, because we also have very firm conventions on human rights which have been violated for us all during COVID. Human rights have been violated, left, right, and centre with regard to masking, lockdowns and so on. So we are living in a system where the man-made rules and regulations as flawed or as competent as they may have once been, they don't work anymore. Because if you have sufficient money or incentive or you're sufficiently degenerate, you don't abide by these international treaties. The Nuremberg Code is another one which was done because of all the human rights violations of The Second World War. And that was also just totally ignored. So we really need to face facts. And the big picture is we are living in a house that is absolutely decayed from the inside out. So it's like, I don't know if you know, like the boring beetle, I think it's called the death watch beetle, you know, it eats the timber from the inside out and you don't realise your house is falling down until it's, you know, fallen down. Well, our house is falling down, it's been totally infiltrated by these corrupt parties over a very long time, the whole thing's coming down, We're going to really need to, we need to really clean it up well, shine a light on everything, get rid of all the muck and build very strong, sound foundations based on health, freedom and sovereignty for all, especially and including these very poor children and others who are in cages right now.  Yeah completely and you mentioned satanic ritual abuse, will not touch and that's probably the one of the darkest subjects I've ever come across in my life, sitting in meetings with survivors on that. That's a, and I know you touch on the side of blood being used and organs be used and satanic rituals and that is part of this. Can I just bring up the, this is what people get on your Substack, drtesslawrie.substack.com for those listening, do go along and make use of that. One of the, I want to go on to the other parts of trafficking, I think the forced labour and servitude, but one of the lines in the report was, Well drugs are bought and sold once, adults and children can be treated multiple times a day and that really struck me. You have a product like a drug that's consumed and then is finished, but the whole industry of the child sexual industry, the adult sexual industry is something that's perpetuated many times and it's so, what you said is so true that's why it becomes so profitable. Yes, I absolutely agree. Peter, I must just say I cannot take credit for this wonderful document. It's a very thorough, comprehensive document. It is put together by our team of experts and political scientists and so on. So I just wanted to make sure that you're aware that there is a team behind this and I'm very grateful and thankful to them for putting together such a robust document.  I've enjoyed watching different videos that you put out and I recognize there is a great team behind you, Tess, and hugely appreciative of all the work they do behind the scenes on all the research, which I know is immense from looking at some of the topics. But the other side is the forced labour and servitude. In the document, you talked about nearly 70 million, or actually, no, sorry, over 20 million people caught in modern day slavery are trafficked for forced labour and servitude. You talk about them toiling in mines and factories and homes, construction sites. And often that can be happening close by us. It's not just in foreign countries, you're talking about Qatar being an example of that, but it can also be happening next door to us. And that is another part of this hidden abuse, I think, that many people are unaware of. Yes, and also the products, because everybody goes out and buys the latest electric vehicle or mobile phone because it's supposedly better at x or better at y or better for the environment even, which is such a big con. Because a lot of the materials for those vehicles, for example, are actually being mined by slaves in Africa. So people really need to have a look, really examine very carefully and research before they purchase things, and that is another way, just making sure that you don't fall for the propaganda that encourages you for an environmental reason to go and do something. Remember we are living in a corrupted information ecosystem, so what you see on the TV, what you read in the newspapers, or certainly the corporate media, is not true. It needs to be. It's not balanced anyway, it's not balanced, it's there because you are a consumer, we are consumers, and they're wanting to sell us something, be it an idea, an item, or so on. So we really need to recognize that the information ecosystem, like everything else, The health system, the judiciary, has been corrupted and we need to do our own research, take back responsibility and control of our decisions and make sure that we are doing things that will lead to health, freedom and sovereignty and better for ourselves and our families and our communities and our environment. Because if we don't, then we are leaving our future in the hands of the supranational entities and a handful of billionaires who see us as data to be bought and sold and hacked and so on.  Oh completely and I think some of the areas you touch on are closer to home and our responsibility and but some of them are far away but I think with an interconnected world that we are all responsible for how we respond and how we highlight injustices even if they're not necessarily in our back garden and you talk of one of the subsets in it is organ and blood harvesting, you have a whole, side section on India's blood farmers and about how blood and organs are taken and passed on and sold, and talk about the BBC highlighting this, many journalists highlighting this. I think that the whole was the Falun Gong, you see them out often demonstrating. I remember when I first came across this and thought, these are just crazy people. I'm sure that stuff doesn't happen. And then you begin to delve into it and you realize this is the reality of many individuals and parts of the world. The Falun Gong obviously is in China, you've highlighted India. But there are many parts of the world where this happens, and I think is the norm. And it is up to each of us to highlight that and speak up. Yes. You know, as I said, it really is hard to believe, and most people struggle to believe, but it's very easy to find out the truth. One just needs to... Now, what one finds is as soon as you step away from that position of disbelief, everything becomes clearer. One needs to give new ideas a chance to breathe and then one is able to discern the truth. I think, one's intuition can be heard. So it's a question, as I say, of just allowing yourself to listen to the arguments, to hear what people have to say before dismissing it, and then you're able to make up your mind in an informed choice. And in all these things, it's not victimless that you talk about organised crime being dominated in 75% of the field of human trafficking across the board. You talk about the whole issue of child sexual abuse material, the US, the United States is the number one, with Europe being the number two. Therefore it is our responsibility, and I think often these topics are difficult to have conversations with, but others, with our friends and colleagues, we traditionally want an easy life. We just want to get through. And this doesn't come up at the dinner table, over a drink with friends. But I think it is important for us who are aware this is a problem to highlight, especially if it's happening where we live.  Yes, but I think what people don't realise with this push towards the sexualisation of children in schools, that this is going to make children more vulnerable to sex exploitation. So I'm not sure if you're aware of the material coming out of the Rutgers Foundation and the WHO's Collaborating Centre on Sexual Guidance, Sex Education, but there is a drive to educate children about sex from a very early age. And there is an article about this on my Substack as well, and it has some useful links in there if you would like to access the WHO document on this. They talk about educating children on masturbation from the age of three and four and that sort of thing. And there's also some videos from the Rutgers Foundation where you see a psychologist actually speaking. I think it's a psychologist, I don't know if it's a teacher or anyway, there's somebody positioned, an adult speaking to a little boy and a little girl about sex and touching themselves and that sort of thing and what feels good. And it's highly inappropriate. But if parents don't wake up to realise that there is this agenda to sexualise their children in schools, where children spend a lot of hours in schools where parents are not privy to see what they are learning, these sorts of things will make children vulnerable to sexual exploitation, you know, if children are used to having discussions with adults about sex from a very early age, who are not their parents, you know, this lends itself to exploitation later on by, often it is, you know, an uncle or a neighbour or a teacher or something like that. So we really do not want to have, to allow the sex education, the sex miseducation in schools. And we need, there is ample reason for everyone to engage in this. If you don't see the, if you don't think that you can help that poor child in a cage in a tunnel, you know, do bring it home and think about what the sex education, mis-education at school, what the impact might be on your children and perhaps that will help you to take action and put things in context because it is by each and every one of us turning a blind eye and thinking, well, this doesn't affect me, I'm not going to engage with that. This is what leads to, this is actually what has led us, you all be complicit and what is basically the downfall of humanity, what we're seeing is the end of a civilization, this very materialistic, individual-centred kind of behaviours, this sort of sense that we're all in isolation and what we do doesn't affect anybody else, so we just do what's best for us and very money-orientated. We're seeing the end of that, it's unsustainable, it can no longer exist, and we are having to really clean up the mess now, and create what will be a healthy, free world for people going forward. I think from a male perspective, I think men have been sold a lie that this is harmless, this is victimless and one of the parts of your briefing you say in Germany law enforcement experts of the, they said the country is 250,000 that's quarter of a million to 400,000 prostitutes 60% are trapped in a form of trafficking. What is called prostitution in Germany is in large parts a field of organized crime and that's part of, then you look at all the hosting of sexual images in Europe, you talk about the Netherlands being one of the largest hosting and I think people need to not only take responsibility, people need to accept that this is not victimless, that those women who find themselves in that situation are not empowered and living the dream of their existence. They are trapped in a crime syndicate and they're not able to escape and woe be to anyone who participates in that, holding women within that. Thank you for pointing that out, Peter. You know, so many times in my life I've met men and you've said, oh, well, there's an assumption that a prostitute makes good money or enjoys it, or, you know, and so, you know there is, there are even sort of certain groups that, you know, certain and certain cultures, you know, you take your, the groom off to a prostitute before they get married. I mean, whatever next, you know, There's a degeneracy that has found its way into our lives, and we need to get rid of it. Nobody benefits from prostitution, certainly nobody who's in the position of being a sex slave for anybody. And we are as human beings, we are creative, and we thrive when we are free to do what we like. And I don't think there's any child in the world at the age of four or five saying, I want to be a prostitute when I grow up. 100%. Can I just finish off with what you want to get out of this? You finish off with a call for targeted action and you touch on three areas. You touch on public awareness, legislation, law enforcement and other actually survivors and culture and there are 23 points in that and obviously you begin with the initial point of a public document, which is public awareness by going into the others. I mean, talk to us about that. Putting this together is not about, simply about information going out. It's certainly not about entertainment. It is about actually doing something. So tell us, you've done many policy documents on different areas. Something like this, what is the goal and the reason behind it and what you want to be the kind of follow-on events as people dissect this?  Well, we want help for the victims. So that they can be restored to the creative human beings that we all should be. But we need to stop this and we need to trust that we can stop it. And it's been some time since I think we put this document out a couple of months ago and it was at the time when there was the Sound of Freedom film and so the film generated some interest and that sort of died down and now it's sort of as if it's in the past and the issue doesn't exist anymore. And so I think what we really need to do is we need to identify individuals who are involved in this industry. And we need to bring them to book and we need to expose them because in the past there have been individuals. I'm thinking Jimmy Savile who have been among others who've been actually in high profile and absolutely protected really by, in their crimes and there are many others like this. And so we need to actually as a society, we need to work together to identify these individuals and bring them to book and hold them accountable for their crimes and stop what they are doing. And I feel if we are able to do that, we will prevent others from participating too. So, you know, we certainly need, and so that is something we can do on that level. And on the other level is, we want people to really stop and examine their own behaviours, protect their own children, and stop using pornography. Yeah, no, 100%.  And prostitution.  Yeah, 100%. Tess, huge appreciation to you for putting this together with your team. It's a fantastic document and it's wonderful seeing an organization kind of looking at other areas that aren't necessarily or haven't been central to their initial purpose and realizing there are other issues they need to address. So thank you for bringing your expertise and researchers onto this subject because I think it is absolutely essential. Thanks very much, Peter. Well, you may be aware that our counter to the Great Reset, is the Great Free Set. And we certainly can't go about setting ourselves free and ignoring all those that are really held in captivity. So I do wanna just raise awareness of the Great Free Set. The Great Reset would have us all enslaved. The Great Free Set is about all of us rediscovering our dignity and extracting ourselves from this very exploitative system where we're all on a treadmill, we all work far too many hours, we have little family time, we spend our time in nature, so it's about really bringing back, bringing ourselves back to our essence of who we are as human beings, remembering who we are, remembering our power, our courage and our strength, and the way we all work together. And so the Great Free Set is something I urge everybody to look up, thegreatfreeset.org, and not only look up, but actually subscribe to, so that we can support each other in cleaning up our society and taking back our power. And let me just finish off by saying those in the UK, you've had many great events down there in Bath on the Better Way Conference. You had Dr. Peter McCullough speaking at one of your events. Of course, those abroad can tune in and watch. But maybe finish off just by reminding people of that work you do, and certainly those in the UK can physically go and be part of some of those great events. Yes, we have a lot of in-person events. I mean, just last week I've spoken in Wales, in Totnes and in Kewstoke. We have, we're planning on doing a series of tours up North come January. And we're also doing a lot of outreach internationally with other road trips. Obviously my colleagues are in Canada and South Africa and Asia, and they're doing, we have a great conference coming up the 10th, 11th, I think it's the 9th, 10th, 11th, or 10th, 11th, 12th in Asia, it's an online conference, it's free, and it's about traditional natural healing alternatives. And so I do encourage people, especially if you're in the West, to attend that conference because it's quite mind boggling and eye opening to see all of these safe natural remedies that actually have been withheld from us. And we don't get to get to know about them, but they've been around for thousands of years, hundreds and thousands of years. So that's a great conference. And the Better Way Conference is still accessible and still very, very relevant. The one from 2022, it's a solutions-focused conference. It was seven questions we looked at. How do we reclaim science? how do we address environmental issues, how do we sort out what's happening in the media, restore media credibility, the credibility of the judiciary and so on. So it's really a fascinating conference. And the way that the conferences are designed is that they are panelled. So we have short presentations with a number of experts and then they all get together and have a kind of a Q&A thing. And it's really nice and interactive. As I say, solutions focused. So I do hope that people will look at that. It's betterwayconference.org. You can watch 2022 for free. I think there's a small charge for the 2023 one. But also you gave me an opportunity to say that out of that conference in 2022 came the Better Way Charter, which is seven principles about how we all get along together to create a better way and a better world. And which is why, you know, which is why the document on human trafficking is so key as well. Because it's about the seven principles are we act in honour and do no harm. We are free beings with free will. Obviously, you know, there are many who aren't free. So we're talking about the world that we want. We are part of nature and we need nature to be healthy as well as us. We are spiritual and we thrive when our lives have meaning and purpose. We thrive together, we value different perspectives, we actually need to have conversations like these, these difficult ones, and hear from other people so that we can develop our knowledge and wisdom. We don't have to all agree. And lastly, we use technology with discernment. So those are the seven principles of the better way. And underpinning all of this is that we do not tolerate the violation of inalienable rights and freedoms, Hence why we really need to address the human trafficking issue. Completely. And all those links are in the description for those watching on video or on any of the podcasting platforms. Dr. Tess Lawrie, I always love having you on. Thank you so much for coming and sharing the work you're doing in this document. So thank you.  Thank you very much, Peter.

We all know the climate and ecological tipping points are terrifyingly close. What can we do - as individuals and collectively? Simon Oldridge has ideas that answer both of these.  Simon first joined us back in episode #182 when he joined his colleague Anthea Simmons and they spoke eloquently about the strategies of the South Devon Primary group which are aimed at raising one progressive candidate in borderline constituencies in the UK, so that the hard right doesn't swan through the middle on a minority of the votes because the anti-Tory vote has been split (again).  Getting progressive politicians into power is their primary aim, but they also want to make sure the candidates who become MPs understand the concerns of their constituents and are prepared to act as independent-minded individuals in the House of Commons, not simply lobby fodder.  So that was a fun and sparky conversation, but it seemed to me at the time that we could have delved down a lot more deeply into SImon's broader work to find politically viable ways to address the climate and ecological emergency, particularly his work with Zero Hour, the campaign for the Climate and Ecology Bill and which has produced a number of detailed and fascinating reports, including one about the Ambition Gap we have as we head for Net Zero and another entitled, 'Creating a Nature-Rich UK'.  Hence, we came back for another conversation  - because apart from anything else, it's so enlivening to talk with someone else who spends their entire life thinking about these things: and if I can't have fun on the podcast, what's the point? I am well aware that many of you listening are not in the UK  - and that politics is a very siloed space: we all have our own rules to work within and our own levels of bureaucracy and kleptocracy masquerading as democracy that we're trying to reform.  So I hope that some of the ideas we explore, particularly the bigger ones of global power systems and routes to net zero and nature-based solutions strike home far outside the boundaries of this island.  And yes, I still have Covid, so I apologise in advance for the state of my voice.  Target Seats suitable for replicating South Devon Primary https://www.politicalprimary.org/target-mapSouth Devon Primary on Twitter https://twitter.com/sdevonprimarySouth Devon Primary on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/sdevonprimary/Simon on Twitter https://twitter.com/SiOldridgeSimon on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-oldridge-17207a206/Zero Hour:  https://www.zerohour.uk/Zero Hour Reports https://www.zerohour.uk/reports/Zero Hour on Twitter https://twitter.com/@CEBill_nowCREDS - https://low-energy.creds.ac.uk/ Stanford study: https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/3539703-no-miracle-tech-needed-how-to-switch-to-renewables-now-and-lower-costs-doing-it/ Oxford study on how Decarbonising the Energy system could save $Trillions https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2022-09-14-decarbonising-energy-system-2050-could-save-trillions-oxford-studyClimate and Ecology Bill:https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2943Episode 182: South Devon Primary https://accidentalgods.life/primary-strategy-growing-a-new-voting-paradigm-in-the-south-devon-primary/

Yolanda Drewell, Author, Founder of The Fabulosity Movement, an unconventional cheerleader who uses flamboyant style, language, and modalities to empower women to look, feel and do fabulous in their lives and business. www.yolandadrewell.com

This week James and Toby open the discussion with James' recent gig in Dorset and the division in towns like Bridport and Totnes between the woke and the awake, particularly over traffic calming measures like LTNs, Ulez schemes and 15-minute cities. They go on to talk about Yuval Harari's calling for ‘conspiracy theorists' to be […]

This week James and Toby open the discussion with James’ recent gig in Dorset and the division in towns like Bridport and Totnes between the woke and the awake, particularly over traffic calming measures like LTNs, Ulez schemes and 15-minute cities. They go on to talk about Yuval Harari’s calling for ‘conspiracy theorists’ to be banned from the internet and Toby ask James to respond to Harari’s... Source

This week James and Toby open the discussion with James' recent gig in Dorset and the division in towns like Bridport and Totnes between the woke and the awake, particularly over traffic calming measures like LTNs, Ulez schemes and 15-minute cities.They go on to talk about Yuval Harari's calling for ‘conspiracy theorists' to be banned from the internet and Toby ask James to respond to Harari's claim that many conspiracy theories, particularly those that blame the world's problems on an elite cabal of billionaires and their acolytes, have an antisemitic component and that leads to a bigger argument about whether James's conspiracy theory about the ‘death jabs,' Paul McCartney and 'manufactured' bands.In Culture Corner, Toby heaps praise on They Cloned Tyrone, a new sci-fi conspiracy thriller (Netflix) and Lioness, the new Taylor Sheridan series (Paramount+), while James enthuses about Kohrra, an Indian police procedural (Netflix.)This week's opening sound is Yuval Noah Harari's appearance on The Lex Fridman Podcast #390.

What will happen next in Conspiracyland? In the final episode, Marianna is back where she started, in the Devon town of Totnes. With the help of locals, she makes sense of the legacy left by the conspiracy theory newspaper and the wider movement all over the UK. Host: Marianna Spring Producers: Philip Marzouk and Olivia Lace-Evans Producer for BBC Radio 4 podcasts: Nathan Jones Technical Producer: Alex Portfelix Series producer: Emma Close Senior news editor: Sam Bonham Commissioner: Rhian RobertsNew episodes released every Monday. If you're in the UK, listen to the whole series first on BBC Sounds.And please get in touch with Marianna by emailing at: mariannainconspiracyland@bbc.co.uk.

We pick out the best of the summer's festivals, including Byline  Festival, Charleston's Festival of the Garden, Cheltenham Music Festival, Henley Festival and The Idler Festival. Jo Bausor, who's been at the helm of Henley Festival for over a decade, tells us about the impressive line-up at Britain's only boutique black tie festival. Acts performing include Boney M, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Rag n'Bone Man and Westlife.  There's a fabulous line-up of comedians too, like Jo Brand, Marcus Brigstocke, Jack Dee and Adam Kay.  Expect floating stages, fine riverside dining and fireworks and much more besides. Political journalist, Otto English, tells us about the Byline Festival in collaboration with Dartington Trust. Taking place at Dartington Hall in Devon, the festival aims to change the world with its big, challenging ideas and is guaranteed to spark controversy and robust debate.   Speakers include Lord Victor Adebowale, Dawn Butler MP, Bonnie Greer, Rosie Holt, George Monbiot and Peter Oborne. Finally, Harry Hoblyn, head gardener gives us the lowdown on the Festival of the Garden at Charleston, rural retreat of the Bloomsbury set and famously home to Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell.  Celebrating communities who care about plants and the land, the festival will include butterfly walks and garden tours.  Speakers include Isabel Bannerman, Edmund de Waal, Jake Fiennes and the Antiguan-American novelist, Jamaica Kincaid. Byline Festival, 14th to 16th July, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon Charleston Festival of the Garden, 13th to 16th July, Charleston, East Sussex Cheltenham Music Festival:  8th to 15th July, around Cheltenham Henley Festival:  5th to 9th July, around Henley The Idler Festival : 7th to 9th July, Fenton House, Hampstead, London

I spoke to Nick Bilbrough today. Nick has taught and trained language teachers in many diverse contexts in Africa, the Middle East, South America and Europe,  but is now self-employed and lives in Totnes, Devon in the UK. We spoke about the work he has done as a teacher, teacher trainer and as the founder of the Hands Up Project, an organisation dedicated to giving opportunities to children in difficult circumstances, such as Palestine, to use English to communicate with each other across borders. This involves a lot of storytelling, poetry, and remote theatre

Where does all the anger come from? As Marianna delves further down the rabbit-hole, she finds herself in the alternative medicine clinic of one of Totnes' movement's figureheads. He is one of the people behind a conspiracy-theory group in the town called the New World Alliance who are key to organising monthly rallies in the town and distributing The Light. Curiously Marianna finds herself invited along to one of the rallies to learn more about it and the people within it. Host: Marianna Spring Producers: Philip Marzouk and Olivia Lace-Evans Producer for BBC Radio 4 podcasts: Nathan Jones Technical Producer: Alex Portfelix Series producer: Emma Close Senior news editor: Sam Bonham Commissioner: Rhian RobertsNew episodes released every few days. If you're in the UK, listen to the whole series first on BBC Sounds bbc.in/42x5sO5And please get in touch with Marianna by emailing at: mariannainconspiracyland@bbc.co.uk.

What do those in the movement believe? And why? BBC disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring continues her investigation into Totnes' conspiracy theory movement after hearing about one of its prominent members: an artist named Jason Liosatos. Meeting him in his gallery she learns more about some of his beliefs and what that indicates about the movement. Host: Marianna Spring Producers: Philip Marzouk and Olivia Lace-Evans Producer for BBC Radio 4 podcasts: Nathan Jones Technical Producer: Alex Portfelix Series producer: Emma Close Senior news editor: Sam Bonham Commissioner: Rhian RobertsNew episodes released every few days. If you're in the UK, listen to the whole series first on BBC Sounds bbc.in/42x5sO5And please get in touch with Marianna by emailing at: mariannainconspiracyland@bbc.co.uk.

What's happening in the Devon town of Totnes? The small town of Totnes in Devon is known for its warmth and open-mindedness, gong baths and healing crystals, but a fault line has emerged between the minority who've been drawn in by disinformation laced with hate and those who are fighting against it. Some in the town were drawn into a conspiracy theory movement during the pandemic, one whose monthly marches and rallies persist to this day. A conspiracy theory newspaper called The Light seems to have played a key part in the division there. BBC disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring investigates how the theories that dominate its pages are changing the town. Host: Marianna Spring Producers: Philip Marzouk and Olivia Lace-Evans Producer for BBC Radio 4 podcasts: Nathan Jones Technical Producer: Alex Portfelix Series producer: Emma Close Senior news editor: Sam Bonham Commissioner: Rhian RobertsNew episodes released every few days. If you're in the UK, listen to the whole series first on BBC Sounds bbc.in/42x5sO5And please get in touch with Marianna by emailing at: mariannainconspiracyland@bbc.co.uk.

"We must remember we are exhaustible. We need renewal. Silence, quietude, time alone, naturally gives that. Then we can come back in to serve others in small ways. That we do. Then we take time for renewal. Jesus, the Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi and all the great sages recognize the importance of connection with others to serve, then step back from that into quietness, then renewal, and then serve. This is the great rhythm of life." Christopher Titmuss, a former hippie turned Theravada Buddhist monk turned social critic, is Britain's senior Dharma teacher. Having once lived on 39 British pounds per year for ten years, he has sat beneath The Tree of Enlightenment in Bodhgaya, India and, so impacted by the experience, returned to Bodhgaya for years afterward to offer retreats there. For five decades, he has been teaching Dharma around the world for free. Living primarily on donations since 1970, Christopher has noted his intention to stay true to the spirit of dana, a practice of cultivating generosity. Christopher is a teacher of Awakening and Insight Meditation in the Buddhist tradition. He does not use the label 'Buddhist' for himself but expresses the deep benefits of his long-standing connection with the Buddhist tradition. He is the founder and director of the Dharma Enquiry Programme as well as co-founder of the Prajna Vihar School in India and Gaia House, an international retreat center in Devon, England. Many of the spiritual practices along with the Dharma talks and videos he offers also are freely available online, including a conversation between Christopher and Krishnamurti in 1984. Christopher was born on Earth Day in 1944, in County Durham, England. As a practicing Roman Catholic, he attended Catholic school as a boy, where he broke the school record for the number of times he was caned for his self-described prankster ways and a lack of cooperation. At age 15, he left school and began clerking in the newsroom for a Roman Catholic weekly before becoming a reporter in the London office for the Irish Independent Newspaper. At 22, disillusioned with the Catholic Church and politics, Christopher began his journey around the world. "I felt that the world is such an extraordinary place," he has said. "I wanted to be connected, involved and listen to other cultures and environments." Arriving in India, Christopher picked up a couple of books on Buddhist teachings and, inspired, became a Buddhist monk three years later. He went on to spend six years as a Buddhist monk in Thailand and India, during which time his experiences led him to contemplate on the corpse as well as contend with snakes and scorpions while living in a cave for nine months. He disrobed in 1976 and completed his journey around the world before returning to England, having spent ten years abroad. "The freedom makes possible the adventure," Christopher has shared. His spiritual recognition that everything is changing, and that non-clinging leads to a sense of freedom in one's life, has given him the ability to embrace continuously the next adventure. A prolific writer, Christopher maintains an active blog and has written numerous books that dive deeply into meditation, spirituality, political, social and global issues, and other topics in the Buddhist tradition. Despite this depth, Christopher has an accessible approach. "I found myself deeply touched by his willingness to be utterly ordinary, available, and walking his talk with humility and simplicity," recounted author Eliezer Sobel after attending a meditation retreat given by Christopher. Christopher has even found opportunities to reflect on Buddhist teachings through songs by The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and The Beatles, works by William Shakespeare, and Dharma Dancing. Christopher is known as a steadfast exponent of applying the Dharma to contemporary issues facing people, animals and the environment. He speaks, writes, and campaigns on social, political, and global issues. He also advocates the development of spiritual values, community renewal, and a green economy. He encourages Dharma practitioners to be Agents of Change and Caregivers. Since 1982, Christopher has lived in Totnes, Devon, England, regularly engaging in local activities. Vegan and environmentally conscious, Christopher only takes flights out of the EU to teach. He has one adult daughter and four grandchildren. Join us in conversation with this master seeker and teacher of wisdom and compassion in action.

As you'll know by now, one of our core motivators in creating this podcast was the realisation that the 'democratic' systems of the world are largely broken and are not a useful way to affect change. I used to be a political activist. I thought I'd given all that up, but today's conversation has definitely re-awakened my political instincts because today I'm talking with two of the people who set up South Devon Primary: a group committed to changing the political system in the UK. So the first thing to say for those of you who live elsewhere is that this episode is focused on the need for change in the Westminster Parliament. But the issues are worldwide and whatever your political system, it could probably do with being shaken up. We need to share best practice across the globe and what Simon Oldridge, Anthea Simmons and Ben Long have created feels like a template that could be replicated not just throughout the UK but across the world.   The principles are basic and while it's not going to take us to full democracy in one giant leap, it's definitely a step in the right direction.  If adopted around the nation (and the world) it could see us move away from the politics of hatred, fear and resentment to something a great deal more generative. To look at these three in more depth and so understand where they're coming from: Simon Oldridge was an accountant with Ernst and Young and then CEO of a manufacturing company. More recently, his awareness of the climate and ecological crisis has led him to engage with a group endeavouring to put forward a Climate and Ecology Bill to the UK parliament (he talks about this in the podcast) and to set up the South Devon Primary campaign which you'll hear about in much more depth. Anthea Simmons is Editor in Chief of the progressive online paper, West Country Voices, speaker for Devon for Europe and author of a number of books, including one for young climate activists. Before that, rather like Simon, she worked in financial asset management. She's a passionate advocate for the South Devon Primary and invented the Democracy Meter, which you're also hear about in the conversation. Ben Long is an author and educator and currently helps his partner run her ceramics business in Devon. He didn't join us on the podcast - partly because I think two extra voices is enough to contend with - but he's a core part of the work of South Devon Primary. And that work is practical, active, really intelligently targeted and if it were taken up around the country, could do more, I think, to shape the outcome of the next general election than anything else I've found.  Listen, enjoy - and then make this happen as near to wherever you live as you can. South Devon Primary Website https://www.southdevonprimary.org/Zero Hour https://www.zerohour.ukAnthea Simmons on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/antheasimmons/West Country Voices on Twitter https://twitter.com/WCountryVoicesSimon Oldridge on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-oldridge-17207a206/Simon on Twitter https://twitter.com/SiOldridgeSouth Devon Primary on Twitter https://twitter.com/SDevonPrimaryBen Long on Twitter: https://twitter.com/benwhlongSimon - Twitter thread w Local MP  https://twitter.com/SiOldridge/status/1641713280967213056

It's been said that it's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism and our modern way of life. Why is it so hard for us to cultivate our imagination and to imagine that things might be different? What becomes possible if communities harness the power of imagination in building a more beautiful world? In this episode I speak to Rob Hopkins, writer and co-founder of the Transition movement. I visit him in the Buttercup Field and we discuss what might be possible if we moved from ‘What is' to ‘What if?' Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Network and of Transition Town Totnes, and author of several books including ‘The Transition Handbook‘ and most recently, ‘From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want'. He is a Director of Totnes Community Development Society and of New Lion Brewery, and hosts the podcast ‘From What If to What Next‘. LINKS:  Rob's website: https://www.robhopkins.net Rob's podcast: https://www.robhopkins.net/podcast/ Transition Towns: https://transitionnetwork.org Joanna Macy & ‘The work that reconnects' : https://www.joannamacy.net Jane McGonigal on the things that can change in 10 years: https://janemcgonigal.com Civic imagination office in Bologna: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-03-07/bologna-the-city-with-a-civic-imagination-office/ Antanas Mockus, ex-mayor of Bogota: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/opinion/the-art-of-changing-a-city.html New Lion Brewery in Totnes: https://www.newlionbrewery.co.uk All episodes and more at forestofthought.com Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought Share and subscribe. Find all available platforms here: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no. 

A Spring Equinox episode to inspire new beginnings and plant seeds of change... Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Network and Transition Town Totnes, and author of The Transition Handbook, The Transition Companion, The Power of Just Doing Stuff, 21 Stories of Transition and most recently ‘From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want'.  He is an Ashoka Fellow, has spoken at TED Global and at several TEDx events, and appeared in the French film phenomenon ‘Demain‘.  He is a keen gardener, a founder of the New Lion Brewery in Totnes (an example of 'REconomy'), and a director of Totnes Community Development Society, the group behind Atmos Totnes, an ambitious, community-led development project.  Rob hosts the podcast ‘From What If to What Next‘, inviting imaginative thinkers to travel in a time machine to 2030 and create a visceral, tangible, innovative sense of a greener, more integrated future, where he champions collective imagination.  Rob shows us that rapid, radical and resilient change can happen. It is possible and here are some ideas, solutions and ways to create a greener future joyfully.Recommended reading:The Entangled Activist by Anthea LawsonJoin us at ANCESTRAL and explore our other gatherings, episodes and website.Gift forward by becoming a patron. Bonus content comes out with every episode alongside giveaways and discounts. Thank you to Mike Howe and Chris Park for the music in this episode. Contribute your music and artwork.Support the show

“So there was lots of working around these nooks and crannies, and I love a nook and cranny. There's nothing better than a wobbly corner that's been there forever and you've just embraced it to make it a piece of art in the corner of a building.” We're in great company with Geetie Singh-Watson, founder and owner of The Bull Inn, nestled in the English riverfront town of Totnes, where she brings her storied experience in organic cuisine and living to her eclectic, radical and ethical pub and hotel. From growing up in a socially and environmentally conscious commune, to working in a deceiving hospitality industry, Geetie was inspired to open the first certified organic pub in the world, in London. After falling in love with a farmer and moving to the countryside town of Totnes, Geetie set her sights on renovating and restoring The Bull Inn. Come 2019, she opened its doors to nine beautiful rooms, a self catered, four-bed apartment across the road and a truly supplier led, organic restaurant. In this episode, Geetie shares with the perfect blend of humility and passion, how her business follows the planet, people, profit ethos, governing what her team buys, how they trade, and how they work as a collective to deliver on this promise. Top Takeaways [1:25] How growing up in a commune gave Geetie a sense of fight and passion for the countryside. [3:45] From introducing the First Organic Pub to the world back in 1998… [7:50] To bearing witness to “Food Citizens'' demand for how society is now built around food…organic, seasonal, values driven, fair trade. [11:42] After many years introducing London to a warmer style of hospitality and a better way of eating, a farmer draws Geetie back to the countryside of Devon. [13:43] Never wanting to be wasteful, what it was about the rundown Bull Inn that excited Geetie of its potential. [17:28] Geetie is stubborn like a bull when it comes to preserving the history of the name and the character of the building. [20:49] “In order for people to create a self belief that they can live a really ecologically balanced lifestyle, they have to experience the pleasure you can get out of it.” [23:02] Whether you come into the pub in your muddy boots or sit at the bar in your high heeled shoes, everyone's welcome. [24:55] What makes the “No Bull Rules” to work, to dine and to trade by so noble while ensuring there's no bull sh*t. [33:50] The creativity it takes to prove even historical buildings can be rebuilt to live sustainably. [37:00] How Geetie and her husband have built The Baddaford Collective, a community of chefs and growers around Totnes. [41:20] The intentional gathering space for community change makers and craftsmen and women created in the Albatross. [59:10] A few final words about the pleasure behind the hospitality that makes The Bull Inn what it is today and what fuels Geetie to continue to create spaces and conversations like this. Notable Mentions The Baddaford Collective The Albatross Event Space & Apartment Visit For Yourself The Bull Inn Website @bullinn_totnes Stay In Good Company Website

On today's show Jason Liosatos will discuss his thoughts on finding strength, peace and truth in a world gone mad. GUEST OVERVIEW: Jason Liosatos is an artist and author. He has his own gallery, exhibiting his own work in the beautiful market town of Totnes in Devon, UK. Jason started his own radio show, Global Peace Radio, and then Outside The Box video talk show where he discusses creating systems and societies independent from government manipulation and control with our own source of food, electricity, water and housing, systems which are now a necessity not a luxury if we are to avoid the reckless government trajectory which can only drag people further into digital slavery, debt, control and suppression.

This week, my guest is David O'Carroll. David runs an 11 acre agroforestry learning centre in Totnes, Devon where he teaches natural farming methods, based on the techniques around Indigenous Microorganisms (IMO) and Korean Natural Farming (KNF). He focuses on building healthy soil to produce healthy plants and is both generous with his time and knowledge as he aims to share the details of his techniques to help other growers. What We Talk About What is Korean Natural Farming? What is IMO? How do you make it? Why do you need it? What is LAB? How does it help plants? Is KNF as useful for ornamental plants as it is for edibles? Do you need a lot of space to make the KNF preparations? Preparations for home gardeners to try  Links www.ballaghbotanicals.co.uk www.zerosoap.info  Other episodes if you liked this one: Mycorrhizal Fungi with Jeff Lowenfels Garden Amendments with Nigel Palmer Patreon Membership

It is a huge pleasure – I'm sure not only to me – to start a new season with scientific ecologist, teacher at Schumacher College and author of ‘Gaia Alchemy: The Reuniting of Science, Psyche and Soul', Stephan Harding. At a very young age Stephan discovered his interest in and also his concern for nature which led him to spend a lot of time with studies in biology, physics and chemistry and culminated in obtaining a Ph.D. in behavioural ecology from Oxford University. Being a former student of James Lovelock, Stephan went on to co-found Schumacher College, which offers holistic education around ecology and sustainability and where he currently teaches as Deep Ecology Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer Gaia theory, deep ecology and holistic science. In the beginning of his academic career Stephan had the notion that something important was missing within the scientific community of teachers and students alike. The focus was very much on a pretty mechanistic quantification of nature and the love and affection for it didn't seem to play a big role. Therefore, Stephan embarked on a journey to change that. Well-equipped with Jungian material and analysis he took upon himself to combine the science of Gaia, Earth itself, with psychological insights of alchemy, in other words, to (re)-unify science and soul.  In this episode of our show, we will first introduce Lovelock's Gaia theory and reflect upon Earth's four major components – rocks, water, beings and atmosphere – and how their interactions can be studied through means of cybernetics and system science.  Of course, we will discuss Stephan's most recent book in detail which offers an excellent introduction of the different transformational stages of alchemical processes and explains how they relate to both Gaia's history and internal alchemy. As Stephan is a co-founder of Schumacher College near Totnes, Devon in Great Britain, he will tell us quite a bit about the place which is just meant for exploring rather daring ideas with the main aim to understand why modern human beings are destroying their planet and how this process can be healed. In this context, we will also talk about ‘Deep Ecology' as a science of recognising and dealing with the relationships between different parts of nature, Ecosophia as ecological wisdom and how Gaia Alchemy ties in with these concepts. In the end Stephan will take some time to explain quite a few fascinating ideas such as ‘Deep Time' and what exactly living a ‘Gaian alchemical life' means and highlight his hopes for the future of our civilisation. The book page to "Gaia Alchemy" on the Inner Traditions site Stephan Harding's page on "Human and Nature" Schumacher College website Music played in this episode Once again in this episode we play music by the great esotericist Georges GURDJEFF. He was helped in orchestration and notation by his Russian composer friend, Thomas de Hartmann. These recordings were made at a concert in Mexico City in September 2020. You can find a link to the full concert BY CLICKING HERE 1) RELIGIOUS CEREMONY - Vol III #21 - Yleana Butista and Guests (Track starts at 8:24) 2) THREE SHORT PIECES - Yleana Butista and Guests PERSIAN SONG - Vol I #6 DERVISH #3 - CEREMONY FOR A DEAR DERVISH THE TREMBLING DERVISH (Track starts at 51:50) 3) PRAYER OF NOVEMBER 4, CHRIST MOHAMMED BUDDHA LAMA - Yleana Butista and Guests (Track starts at 1:30:06) Intro and Outro Musicespecially written and recorded for the Thoth-Hermes Podcast by Chris Roberts

In this conversation, I speak with the brilliant Rob Hopkins - cofounder of the Transition Network and Transition Town Totnes, and author of several wonderful books: From What Is to What If? (one of my personal favourites), The Power of Just Doing Stuff, The Transition Handbook, and The Transition Companion. Voted one of the Independent's top 100 environmentalists in 2012, and named among Nesta and the Observer's list of Britain's 50 New Radicals, Rob has appeared on BBC Radio 4's Four Thought and A Good Read, and was featured in the French film phenomenon Demain and its sequel Après Demain. An Ashoka Fellow, Rob has spoken at TEDGlobal and three TEDx events, and holds a doctorate degree from the University of Plymouth and two honorary doctorates from the University of the West of England and the University of Namur. A keen gardener, Rob is a founder of New Lion Brewery in Totnes, and a director of Totnes Community Development Society, the group behind Atmos Totnes, an ambitious, community-led development project. He's also an artist whose beautiful lino prints you can check out at robhopkins.net, and his podcast, From What If to What Next is really worth a listen if you're looking for inspiration as to how we can unleash our collective imaginations to create a more resilient world. Recorded on 28th January 2022.