Episodes
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As mainstream space tourism grows ever more likely, New Yorker writer Nicholas Schmidle tells Niki Seth-Smith about life inside the new space race, as explored in his new book 'Test Gods'. What motivates men like Bezos, Branson and Musk? How does the approach to risk in private business compare with that at NASA? And should we be looking to space at all, with so much unresolved here on planet earth? Plus, Nicholas reflects on fatherhood and masculinity, including the life of his father: a fighter pilot and Top Gun grad.
Podcast listeners get a year's subscription to New Humanist magazine for just £13.50 by using the offer code WITHREASON. Subscribe now.**Recorded in August 2021**
Further reading:
'Test Gods: Tragedy and Triumph in the New Space Race' (2021), Nicholas Schmidle
'The Right Stuff' (1979), Tom Wolfe
'In Praise of Astronauts' (2013) Paul Sims for New Humanist magazine -
Racism is not an externality to British policing but is integral to its history, says sociologist and ex-youth worker, Adam Elliott-Cooper. He tells Samira Shackle about the ideas behind his book ‘Black Resistance to British Policing’. Recognising racism as far more than just interpersonal or about prejudice alone, he connects it to colonialism and the state, and highlights the role of resistance - including by women of colour who have long championed justice and radical change.
Plus: why the tendency in the UK to see racism as "something that happens somewhere else"? What’s obscured when we talk about “knife crime”? And why must we insist on continuing to talk about whiteness?
Podcast listeners can get a year's subscription to New Humanist magazine for just £13.50. Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON
Hosts: Samira Shackle and Alice Bloch
Executive producer: Alice Bloch
Sound engineer: David Crackles
Music: Danosongs
Reading list:‘Black Resistance to British Policing’ (2021) Adam Elliott-Cooper
W.E.B Du Bois (1868-1963) collected works
‘Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order’ (1978) Stuart Hall et al.
‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’, (1972) Stanley Cohen
‘There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack’ (1987) Paul Gilroy
‘Women, Race and Class’ (1981) Angela Davis
Frantz Fanon (1925-1962) collected works
‘And Still I Rise’ (2006) Doreen Lawrence
‘Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays’ (1950) George Orwell
‘Leviathan’ (1651) Thomas Hobbes
‘On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life’ (2012) Sara Ahmed
‘Assembly’ (2021) Natasha Brown
‘In Search of Whiteness’ (2017), Lola Okolosie for New Humanist magazine, with Vron Ware
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Missing episodes?
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What does it mean to contemplate 'motherhood' in a world that values some bodies - and some decisions - over others? Behavioural scientist Pragya Agarwal tells Alice Bloch about her experiences as a woman of South Asian heritage - from abortion, to pregnancy, to surrogacy - and the social, historical and scientific factors that shape how we talk about motherhood. How have women been controlled and contained through history? And how does that continue, worldwide, today?
A candid conversation about maternity and reproductive justice, asking what motherhood means in a world of inequality, prejudice and control.
Hosts: Alice Bloch and Samira Shackle
Exec Producer: Alice Bloch
Sound Engineer: David Crackles
Music: Danosongs
Image artwork: Ed Dingli
If you want access to more fresh thinking, why not subscribe to New Humanist magazine? Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON to get a whole year's subscription for just £13.50
Reading list:
'(M)otherhood: On the Choices of Being a Woman' (2021) Pragya Agarwal
Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias (2020) Pragya Agarwal
Alice Bloch, Review of 'Childless Voices' by Lorna Gibb (2019) New Humanist Magazine -
Carlo Rovelli, the globally celebrated physicist and bestselling storyteller of science, talks to Niki Seth-Smith about the history - and sheer wonder - of quantum theory. How did a feverish young man named Werner Heisenberg, working alone on the North Sea island of Helgoland in 1925, develop a radical insight that would shake the world of physics? What’s its legacy for how we think about the nature of reality and perception itself? And how does the ‘relational’ interpretation of quantum mechanics transform the way that we might see not only the physical world, but our relationships and politics, too?
A fascinating conversation about collaboration and mentorship, our attachment to truth and certainty, and the humbling power of science.
Podcast listeners can get a year's subscription to New Humanist magazine for just £13.50. Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON
Hosts: Niki Seth-Smith and Samira Shackle
Exec producer: Alice Bloch
Sound engineer: David Crackles
Artwork: Christopher Wahl (photograph), Ed Dingli (artwork)
Music: Danosongs
Further reading:
'Helgoland' (2021), Carlo Rovelli
'There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness' (2020), Carlo Rovelli
'The Order of Time', (2018), Carlo Rovelli
'Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity' (2016) Carlo Rovelli
'Seven Brief Lessons on Physics' (2015), Carlo Rovelli
'‘‘The beauty in physics is the kind of beauty that people have embodied in art’’
A Q&A with Frank Wilczek (2015) by Daniel Trilling, New Humanist magazine. -
A special episode from the How To Academy Podcast. Human rights lawyer and award-winning author Philippe Sands QC meets the Dutch historian and viral superstar Rutger Bregman to hear a new argument: that it is realistic, as well as revolutionary, to assume that people are good.
How To Academy is London’s home of big thinking. In livestream and through live events, they host the world’s biggest thinkers, artists, entrepreneurs and leaders – from Ai Weiwei to Malcolm Gladwell, Bill Gates to Patti Smith, Isabel Allende to Denis Mukwege. Each week, their podcast offers an in-depth interview with their most exciting recent guests. The show's available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - just search for How to Academy. -
For centuries, we’ve had an intuitive sense that connecting with “nature” is good for our wellbeing. But what’s the hard evidence? What exactly is “nature” anyway? Should we be wary of it being prescribed as a catch-all cure for complex problems? And what impact does nature writing itself actually have? Science writer Lucy Jones talks to Alice Bloch about her prize-winning book ‘Losing Eden’, which surveys the mass of research – from the work of Carl Jung to cutting-edge neurology, medical and social science – on why our minds need the wild.
If you want access to more fresh thinking, why not subscribe to New Humanist magazine? Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON to get a whole year's subscription for just £13.50
Hosts: Alice Bloch and Samira Shackle
Exec Producer: Alice Bloch
Sound Engineer: David Crackles
Music: Danosongs
Image: Gemma Brunton (photo), Ed Dingli (artwork)
Reading list:
Lucy Jones (2020) ‘Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild’
Richard Mabey (2005) 'The Nature Cure'
Mary-Jayne Rust (2020) 'Towards an Ecopsychotherapy'
Carl Jung, collected works.
Richard Smyth (2019) ‘In search of the "nature cure"’, New Humanist magazine. -
Alice Roberts, one of the UK’s leading public scientists, talks to Samira Shackle about what we can learn from the burial sites of the earliest Britons, as explored in her new book ‘Ancestors’. What does our prehistory – cannibalism and all - tell us about who we are? How does the way we mark death illuminate our perspective on life? And how are genetics and archaeology shaping each other today? Plus, Alice tells Samira how she came to be a humanist, and discusses the value of storytelling and science communication in our pandemic age, and beyond.
Podcast listeners can get a year's subscription to New Humanist magazine for just £13.50. Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON
Reading list:
Alice Roberts, ‘Ancestors: A Prehistory of Britain in Seven Burials’ (2021)
Alice Roberts and Andrew Copson, ‘The Little Book of Humanism: Universal Lessons on Finding Purpose, Meaning and Joy’ (2020)
David Reich ‘Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human’ (2018)
Peter Forbes ‘What Ancient DNA says about us’, New Humanist magazine (2018)
‘Digging for Britain’ presented by Alice Roberts
Alice Roberts is President of Humanists UKHosts: Samira Shackle and Niki Seth-Smith
Executive producer: Alice Bloch
Sound engineer: David Crackles
Music: Danosongs
Image: Photo by Dave Stevens, artwork by Ed Dingli -
Polarisation is seen as a threat to democracy - and social media is seen as a cause. But what can be done? Does the blame really lie with tech alone? And what could the virtual public square look like if we dared to hit "reset" and redesigned our apps from scratch? A radical and counter-intuitive conversation between Chris Bail, head of the Polarization Lab at Duke University, and Samira Shackle, editor of New Humanist magazine, on tribalism, extremism, and not logging off. For fans of Azeem Azhar, Jonathan Haidt, Nick Srnicek and Shoshana Zuboff.
Podcast listeners can get a year's subscription to New Humanist magazine for just £13.50. Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON
Hosts: Samira Shackle and Niki Seth-Smith
Executive producer: Alice Bloch
Sound engineer: David Crackles
Music: Danosongs
Further Reading:
"Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing" (2021) Chris Bail
www.polarizationlab.com
"Terrified: How Anti-Muslim Fringe Organizations Became Mainstream" (2014) Chris Bail
"The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion" (2012), Jonathan Haidt
"The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" (2018) Shoshana Zuboff
"Platform Capitalism" (2016) Nick Srnicek
"Does the Left Have a Problem with Empathy?" (2020) Nicola Cutcher, New Humanist Magazine -
The poet, author and broadcaster Michael Rosen almost died of COVID-19. He talks to Samira Shackle about that experience, described in his new book ‘Many Different Kinds of Love’. They discuss the value of kindness, touch and practical atheism, and reflect on liminality in life and literature. Plus, Michael describes his anger at the “unethical and immoral” decisions made by the British government, and urges against the dangerous devaluing of some lives over others, amidst our present pandemic.
Hosts: Samira Shackle and Alice Bloch
Producer: Alice Bloch
Music: Danosongs
If you want to access more fresh thinking, why not subscribe to New Humanist magazine? Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON to get a whole year's subscription for just £13.50
Further reading:
“Many Different Kinds of Love: A Story of Life, Death and the NHS” (2021) Michael Rosen
“In A Word: Quarantine” (2020) Michael Rosen, New Humanist Magazine
“In A Word: Wellbeing” (2018), Michael Rosen, New Humanist Magazine
“In A Word: Deniers” (2021) Michael Rosen, New Humanist Magazine
"King Lear" (c1606) William Shakespeare
“A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” (1916) James Joyce
“Ulysses” (1922) James Joyce
The Poetry of William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
"Alice in Wonderland" (1865) Lewis Carroll
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What do we gain when we gaze at the stars? How has cosmology shaped our politics? Why take the celestial seriously? And why is awe a feeling that we can’t afford to lose? Acclaimed science writer Jo Marchant takes Niki Seth-Smith on a dazzling and surprise-filled journey through the history of science, mythology and our view of the night sky. For fans of Brian Cox, Carlo Rovelli, Robert Macfarlane and Gaia Vince.
Hosts: Niki Seth-Smith and Samira Shackle
Producer: Alice Bloch
Music: Danosongs
Sound Engineer: David Crackles
To support what we do and access more fresh thinking, why not subscribe to New Humanist magazine? Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON to get a whole year's subscription for just £13.50
Further reading:
‘The Human Cosmos: A Secret History of the Stars’ (2020) Jo Marchant
‘Cure: A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body’ (2016) Jo Marchant
‘The Order of Time’ (2017) Carlo Rovelli
‘They Didn’t Come From Outer Space’ (2013) James Gray, New Humanist Magazine -
In the last two decades, the UK has deported thousands of people to Jamaica, many of whom left that country as children and grew up in the UK. Luke de Noronha talks to Alice Bloch about his moving and urgent study of four such young men. How have racism and inequality shaped their lives? What hope remains? And why does language matter when we talk about ‘foreign criminals’? A conversation about borders and exclusion, citizenship and listening. For readers of Paul Gilroy, Gary Younge, Amelia Gentleman, Les Back and Reni Eddo-Lodge.
Hosts: Alice Bloch and Samira Shackle
Producer: Alice Bloch
Music: Danosongs
To support what we do and access more fresh thinking, why not subscribe to New Humanist magazine? Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON to get a whole year's subscription for just £13.50
Further reading:
‘Deporting Black Britons: Portraits of Deportation to Jamaica (2020) Luke de Noronha
‘The Windrush Betrayal’ (2019) Amelia Gentleman
‘Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race’ (2017) Reni Eddo-Lodge
‘Familiar Stranger: A Life Between Two Islands’ (2017) Stuart Hall, with Bill Schwarz
‘Rethinking Racial Capitalism’ (2018) Gargi Bhattacharyya
‘Us and Them? The Dangerous Politics of Immigration Control’ (2013) Bridget Anderson
‘There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack’ (1987), Paul Gilroy
‘Teaching Racial Tolerance’ (1972) Research Report, New Humanist Magazine -
What’s the relationship between people’s personal faith and their political activism? What extra dimension does religion bring to social movements and to contemporary cities? How might being a person of faith shape one’s attitude to environmentalism and to caring for life beyond the self? Moving way beyond the stereotypes of the peace-loving Quaker and the evangelical conservative Christian, Alice Bloch talks to Sydney-based sociologist Rosie Hancock about the fascinating intersection of religious belief and political action.
Hosts: Alice Bloch and Samira Shackle
Producer: Alice Bloch
Music: Danosongs
Podcast listeners can get a year's subscription to New Humanist magazine for just £13.50. Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON
Further reading:
‘Islamic Environmentalism: Activism in the United States and Great Britain’ (2018), Rosemary Hancock
‘Religion in Coalition: Balancing Moderate and Progressive Politics in the Sydney Alliance’ (2019), Religions, Rosemary Hancock
‘Is there a paradox of religion and liberation? Islamic environmentalism, activism, and religious practice’ Journal for the Academic Study of Religion (2015) Rosemary Hancock
People, Power, and Change: Movements of Social Transformation (1970) Luther Gerlach and Virginia Hine
On Social Control and Collective Behaviour (1967) Robert Park
‘Ecological Humanism’ (1979) Don Marietta, New Humanist Magazine -
In the era of #MeToo, it’s assumed that the empowered woman can and must express her desires clearly. But in ‘Tomorrow Sex Will be Good Again’, Katherine Angel argues that this an unreasonable burden to place upon women. She explains why to Niki Seth-Smith, as the two of them discuss questions such as: How do we make sex good again, while attending to power and violence? What's at risk in speaking out about sex? And how can we really research our innermost wants and desires?
A discussion about sex and pleasure, feminism and consent. For readers of Susie Orbach, Vanessa Springora, Emilie Witt and Michel Foucault.
Hosts: Niki Seth-Smith and Samira Shackle
Producer: Alice Bloch
Music: Danosongs
Photo: Matthew Sperling
To support what we do and access more fresh thinking, why not subscribe to New Humanist magazine? Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON to get a whole year's subscription for just £13.50Further reading:
'Tomorrow, Sex Will Be Good Again: Women And Desire In The Age of Consent' (2021) Katherine Angel
'Unmastered: A Book on Desire, Most Difficult To Tell' (2012) Katherine Angel
'What do Women Want: Adventures in the Science of Female Desire' (2013) Daniel Bergner
'The History of Sexuality: 1: The Will to Knowledge' (1976, 1978) Michel Foucault
‘The Female Sexual Response: A Different Model’ (2000), Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, Rosemary Basson
‘Reconceptualising women’s sexual desire and arousal in DSM-5’ (2015),
Psychology & Sexuality, Cynthia Graham
'Untrue: why nearly everything we believe about women and lust and infidelity is untrue and how the new science can set us free', (2018) Wednesday Martin
‘Why I'm Glad My Daughter Had Under-age Sex’ (2004), New Humanist Magazine, Sally Feldman
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Looking back in anger at ‘Cool Britannia’ with Jason Arday
Jason Arday (2019) 'Cool Britannia and Multi-Ethnic Britain: Uncorking the Champagne Supernova'Jason Arday & Heidi Mirza (2018) 'Dismantling Race in Higher Education: Racism, Whiteness and Decolonising the Academy'bell hooks (2004) 'We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity'Kimberle Crenshaw (2017) 'On Intersectionality : Essential Writings'Skin (2020) It Takes Blood and GutsOasis (1994) Definitely MaybeLauryn Hill (1998) The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Bloc Party (2005) Silent Alarm
The 1990s are remembered for Britpop and New Labour. But it was also a time of inequality and racism. Sociologist and Oasis fan Jason Arday draws on his South London teenage years to interrogate the period from an ethnic minority perspective that has for too long been neglected.
A discussion about music and identity, inclusion and exclusion, racism and resistance. For readers of Reni Eddo-Lodge, Robin DiAngelo - and Oasis fans, too.
Podcast listeners can get a year's subscription to New Humanist magazine for just £13.50. Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON
Presenters: Samira Shackle & Alice Bloch
Producer: Alice Bloch
Music by Danosongs
Reading/Listening List: -
The co-author of ‘Work Want Work: Labour and Desire at the End of Capitalism’ on how the logic of work has crept into all we do, and how we might untangle ourselves. Will the Covid-19 pandemic offer a way out? Or will it simply increase the twin blights of under- and over-employment – not to mention our addiction to digital labour online?
For readers of David Graeber, Donna Haraway, Aaron Bastani, Paul Mason and David Frayne.
To support what we do and access more fresh thinking, why not subscribe to New Humanist magazine? Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON to get a whole year's subscription for just £13.50.
Presenters: Samira Shackle & Niki Seth-Smith
Producer: Alice Bloch
Music by DanosongsReading List:
Mareile Pfannebecker and James A. Smith (2020) 'Work Want Work: Labour and Desire at the End of Capitalism'David Graeber (2018) 'Bullshit Jobs'Aaron Bastani (2019) 'Fully Automated Luxury Capitalism'Paul Mason (2019) 'Clear Bright Future: A Radical Defence of the Human Being'Tiqqun (1999/2012) 'Preliminary Materials for a Theory of the Young-Girl'Donna Haraway (1985) 'A Cyborg Manifesto'Sophie Lewis (2019) 'Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family'New Humanist magazine (2019) 'Fighting for the Future' by Niki Seth-Smith -
Why do we value some forms of knowledge over others? Minna Salami discusses her bold new book ‘Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone’ and its radical call to move beyond the damaging confines of the ‘euro-patriarchal’ to embrace a deeper way of knowing.
A conversation on decolonisation, iconoclasm, sisterhood, sexism and gender. For readers of Audre Lorde, bell hooks, James Baldwin and W E B Du Bois.
Listeners can get a year's subscription to New Humanist magazine for just £13.50. Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON.Presenters: Alice Bloch & Samira Shackle
Producer: Alice Bloch
Music by Danosongs
Further reading:
- Minna Salami (2020) ‘Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone’
- Audre Lorde (1984) ‘The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House’
- Audre Lorde (1979) ‘An Open Letter to Mary Daly’
- Mary Daly (1978) ‘Gyn/Ecology’
- W E B Du Bois (1903) ‘The Souls of Black Folk’
- James Baldwin (1956) ‘Giovanni’s Room’
- Nikesh Shukla (ed) (2016) ‘The Good Immigrant’
- New Humanist magazine (2020) - Charting Black Lives in the Fin de Siecle, by Lola Okolosie -
Society praises those who give, but the ‘good glow’ benefits the giver. Sociologist Jon Dean unpicks how charity operates in the real world, from the wave of Covid-19 volunteering to the new fear of ‘humblebrag’. Can effective altruism help us out of this tangled mess?
For those interested in charity, philanthropy and how to be truly virtuous. Featuring reflection on the Poppy Appeal, the NHS, Donald Trump and more.
If you like listening to With Reason, you'll love reading New Humanist magazine. There's a big discount for podcast listeners: head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON to get a year's subscription for just £13.50.Presenters: Niki Seth-Smith & Samira Shackle
Producer: Alice Bloch
Music by Danosongs
Further reading:
Jon Dean (2020) ‘The Good Glow: Charity and the Symbolic Power of Doing Good’
David A. Fahrenthold ‘Trump boasts about his philanthropy. But his giving falls short of his words’, Washington Post, October 29, 2016.
Anand Giridharadas (2018) ‘Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World’
William MacAskill (2015) ‘Doing Good Better’
Peter Singer (2015) ‘The Most Good You Can Do’
New Humanist magazine (1972) - 'Charities and the Pious Fraud', by Jeremy Sandford -
Will future sex tech be more inclusive? What’s at stake in the design and distribution of sex robots? And what role could they play in our relationships? Kate Devlin, author of ‘Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots’, discusses her research on technology and intimacy.
For fans of Blade Runner, Black Mirror, Ex Machina and anyone curious about the future of artificial intelligence, sex, love, feminism and relationships. To support what we do and access more fresh thinking, why not subscribe to New Humanist magazine? Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON to get a whole year's subscription for just £13.50.
Presenters: Niki Seth-Smith and Samira Shackle
Producer: Alice Bloch
Further reading:
Kate Devlin (2018) ‘Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots’
Julie Carpenter (2016). Deus Sex Machina: Loving robot sex workers, and the allure of an insincere kiss. In John Danaher & Neil McArthur (eds) (2017) ‘Sex Robots: Social, Legal and Ethical Implications’
New Humanist Magazine - Will Wiles (2016) ‘Dawn of the Replicants’
Music by Danosongs -
Anthropologist Joe Webster discusses his research amongst Protestant groups in Scotland, from Brethren fishermen to the sometimes-controversial Orange Order. We talk about apocalypse and conspiracy, faith and fraternity, hate and masculinity – and why it's vital to listen to others, even if we don’t always like what we find.
For fans of Louis Theroux and Clifford Geertz alike. A conversation on ethics and representation, listening, community and more. Podcast listeners can get a year's subscription to New Humanist magazine for just £13.50. Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON
Presenters: Alice Bloch & Samira Shackle
Producer: Alice BlochFurther reading:
Joseph Webster (2020) ‘The Religion of Orange Politics: Protestantism and Fraternity in Contemporary Scotland’
Joseph Webster (2013) ‘The Anthropology of Protestantism: Faith and Crisis Among Scottish Fishermen’
Clifford Geertz, "Distinguished Lecture: Anti Anti-Relativism." American Anthropologist, New Series, 86, no. 2 (1984): 263-78.
James Laidlaw (2013) ‘The Subject of Virtue: An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom’
New Humanist magazine - Eleanor Gordon-Smith (2019) ‘The Sleep of Reason’
Music: 'Lost in the Cinema' by Danosongs -
With Reason offers intelligent thinking for turbulent times, from New Humanist magazine and the Rationalist Association. Enjoy interviews with writers, researchers and academics who speak to our age – on subjects including religion, belief, race, politics, sex, technology, science, work and more.
Hosted by New Humanist editor Samira Shackle, deputy editor Niki Seth-Smith, and series producer Alice Bloch.
