Different Matters by Damien Grant

Nigel Biggar CBE is Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Pusey House, Oxford.

In his recent book, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning Nigel Biggar addresses the crucial questions in eight chapters: Was the British Empire driven primarily by greed and the lust to dominate? Should we speak of ‘colonialism and slavery’ in the same breath, as if they were identical? Was the Empire essentially racist? How far was it based on the theft of land? Did it involve genocide? Was it driven fundamentally by the motive of economic exploitation? Was undemocratic colonial government necessarily illegitimate? and, was the Empire essentially violent, and its violence pervasively racist and terroristic?

Biggar makes clear that, like any other long-standing state, the British Empire involved elements of injustice, sometimes appalling. On occasions it was culpably incompetent and presided over moments of dreadful tragedy.

Tune in as controversial writer and podcast host, Damien Grant, interviews Professor Nigel Biggar about his book. 

For more information, or to get in touch, visit the Different Matters Website. 

Roger Partridge is chairman and a co-founder of The New Zealand Initiative and is a senior member of its research team. He led law firm Bell Gully as executive chairman from 2007 to 2014, after 16 years as a commercial litigation partner.

Roger recently published a report titled, Who Makes the Law? Reining in the Supreme Court, in which he warns of a looming constitutional crisis in New Zealand, as the Supreme Court increasingly oversteps its bounds, threatening the balance of power between the courts and Parliament.

Tune in as controversial writer and podcast host, Damien Grant, interviews Roger Partridge about the report, law and some alarming decisions made by the New Zealand’s Supreme Court recently. 

For more information, or to get in touch, visit the Different Matters Website. 

Martin van Beynen was born in Christchurch, and lived in West Auckland from the age of 11, where he attended St Peter's College. He later graduated from University of Auckland where he studied law and wrote for Craccum.

He also completed a Diploma in Journalism at the University of Canterbury in 1989, and began working with the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin and joined The Press in Christchurch in 1991. After several roles, he was appointed senior writer in 2004 and was a leading columnist on The Press for 17 years until 2021.

In 2020 Van Beynen published Black Hands, a gripping account of New Zealand's most controversial criminal case.

Join me, Damien Grant, as I interview Martin Van Beynen about Black Hands, the victims, and whether David Bain was infact guilty.

For more information, or to get in touch, visit the Different Matters Website

The book Resilience, written by the late Inge Woolf, covers her remarkable life story. Born in Vienna before the war, her story tells of fleeing from Nazi oppression and genocide, establishing a tenuous life in England, her arrival in New Zealand, marriage, tragedy and children.

Join me Damien Grant, as I talk to lawyer, director, adviser, independent reviewer, chief executive, advocate, community volunteer and daughter of Inge Woolf, Deborah Hart.

For more information, or to get in touch, visit the Different Matters Website.

Dr Oliver Hartwich is the Executive Director of the NZ Initiative; New Zealand’s premier free-market think tank.

Before joining the Initiative, he was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, the Chief Economist at Policy Exchange in London, and an advisor in the UK House of Lords. Oliver holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business administration and a PhD in Law from Bochum University in Germany.

Join myself, Damien Grant, and Dr Hartwich as we discuss the book Autocracy, Inc, and Twilight of Democracy, both written by Anne Applebaum.

For more information, or to get in touch, visit the Different Matters Website.

Dr Eric Crampton is the chief economist at The New Zealand Initiative, New Zealand's leading private think-tank. He previously served for over a decade as lecturer and senior lecturer in economics at the University of Canterbury.

In this second interview with Dr Eric Crampton we discuss Paul H. Ruben's book, Darwinian Politics: The Evolutionary Origin of Freedom.

Join me, Damien Grant, and Dr Eric Crampton as we discuss the environment of evolutionary adaptiveness (EEA), the origin of preferences, inheritibility and more. 

For more information, or to get in touch, visit the Different Matters Website.

Marilyn Waring is a New Zealand feminist, former politician, author of multiple books, academic, and activist for female human rights and environmental issues.

She is best known for her 1988 book If Women Counted, and she obtained a D.Phil in political economy in 1989. Through her research and writing she is known as the principal founder of the discipline of feminist economics.

Join me, Damien Grant as I interviews Marilyn Waring about her career in politics, her relationship with her father, attending Bob Marley's funeral in Jamaica, and femisim. 

For more information, or to get in touch, visit the Different Matters Website.

Toby Young is a British social commentator and the founder and director of the Free Speech Union in the United Kingdom, an associate editor of The Spectator, and a former associate editor at Quillette.

Toby recently visited New Zealand on invitation from the NZ Free Speech Union. In this Episode we talk about his book, How to lose friends and alienate people, his magnificently chaotic years in Manhattan, working for Vanity Fair, his redemption, his marriage, his brief period of abstinence from alcohol. We also briefly talk about the problems facing the United Kingdom before the upcoming elections.

For more information, or to get in touch, visit the Different Matters Website.

Evan Paul Moon is a New Zealand historian, a professor and author of New Zealand history and biography. 

Moon is widely recognised for his study of the Treaty of Waitangi, and has published two books on the topic. More recently he published Ans Westra: A Life in Photography,  the story of the photographer Ans Westra, who died in 2023.

Join me, Damien Grant as he interviews Dr Paul Moon, about the life, success and family of Ans. We also discuss what I got from the book. Something Dr Moon perhaps did not intend.   

For more information, or to get in touch, visit the Different Matters Website.

In the podcast 

Jonathan Rauch is an American journalist,  philosopher and author of eight books and many articles on public policy, culture, and government.

He has also written on topics as widely varied as adultery, agriculture, economics, gay marriage, height discrimination, biological rhythms, number inflation, and animal rights.

Join Damien Grant as he interviews Jonathan Rauch, who is currently in New Zealand  on behalf of the Free Speech Union.  The discussion starts with Plato, later progresses to Cancel Culture and even takes a turn to Donald Trump.  

For more information, or to get in touch, visit the Different Matters Website.