Fresh Dialogues

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interviewhttps://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Ukraine-FD-podcast-Sergey-final-.mp3We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New Window

I can only imagine you share my disgust and horror at what’s going on in Ukraine. It’s heart breaking. This week on Fresh Dialogues, we get an intimate look at the war, from a Ukrainian in Silicon Valley who has team members on the front lines. Highlights of our interview were picked up by the BBC World Service. I asked Sergey Lubarsky what’s likely to happen in the next few days and week. He explained why he expects an apocalyptic escalation of violence in Ukraine and how that could be averted.

“The world has never been that close to a nuclear holocaust. Never. You have a deranged person with a nuclear strike capabilities who has nothing to lose. He has zero regard for human life….Putin is irrational. He cannot back off, has no exit strategy. He’s not going to be killed by his cabinet members.”  Sergey Lubarsky, tech entrepreneur. 

[Photo credit: Nicole, a half Russian, half Ukrainian girl attending an anti-war protest by Kaylee C Greenlee Beal, San Antonio Express News]

This week, I reached out to Lubarsky who was born in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, close to the border with Russia. Today, Lubarsky is a Silicon Valley based tech entrepreneur with a team of 15 in Ukraine. He shared:

powerful stories from colleagues on the front lines of the Ukrainian resistance.

an insightful perspective on the role of tech companies in the information war.

why President Zelensky is “the George Washington of Ukraine.”

the worst case scenario he expects, and how it might be prevented.

BBC Host, Fergus Nicoll, invited me on Wednesday to share highlights of my interview on the BBC World Service program, Business Matters. We also discussed, with Peter Ryan of ABC in Australia, the propaganda war in Russia and Ukraine; the role of cryptocurrency; and how President Zelensky and his cabinet are expertly leveraging social media to rally support from tech companies and the Western world to meet their urgent needs. I also added my perspective on Donald Trump’s latest speech, when he calls the U.S a “stupid country” and praises Putin’s “smarts”. Given what’s happening today in Ukraine, in my view, it should make his Republicans supporters examine their consciences. 

Listen to the BBC Business Matters podcast (starting at 15:30)

Here’s the Fresh Dialogues podcast 

https://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Ukraine-FD-podcast-Sergey-final-.mp3

This week’s Fresh Dialogues podcast includes highlights of the BBC program and some powerful extracts from my interview with Sergey Lubarsky. Here is a transcript of some of our conversation (edited for length and clarity):

Sergey Lubarsky: I’ve never had Ukrainian by passport. I left (31 years ago) holding a Soviet passport. Until the first invasion in 2014, I would never consider myself Ukrainian because it was a moot point, I’m bilingual.

Alison van Diggelen: How do you feel about that now?

Sergey Lubarsky: I’m proud to be Ukrainian. I’m so proud of my people. A week ago if you asked me, I’d have said there’s corruption there… (Today) I’m speechless, they deserve so much credit. 

Sergey has a team of 15 in Ukraine. He says some are on the front lines, some are hiding in subways or basements and some have fled the country. 

Alison van Diggelen: Are you concerned that they’re in danger?

Sergey Lubarsky: Several of them joined the national territory defense. It’s basically the national guard. 

Alison van Diggelen: Are they sharing details?

Sergey Lubarsky:  One of my developers said: This is open safari. We’re burning their tanks, the Russians are fleeing their tanks, the locals are killing them by the bunch, their dogs are eating their flesh and we’re [...]

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Julian Guthrie about her action packed career as a journalist, best selling author and founder of Alphy, an exciting new app designed to empower and inspire women. Julian is the epitome of an action mindset! Here’s her take on what to do when someone blocks your career path:

“’No’ is not something that you should feel is fixed. That ‘no’ in fact, simply means: find another way around. And if you fully believe in what you’re doing, find another way, keep working at it. If you’re earnest, if you’re authentic, if you are bringing a certain skill set and a vision, find another way.” Julian Guthrie, Alphy CEO and Founder

We explored why we get stuck and what we can do to get unstuck, and build momentum in our lives and careers. Julian’s story and the one she shares about XPrize’s Peter Diamandis demonstrates how sometimes, having audacious goals, and making audacious promises without having all the pieces in place, can help propel you into an action mindset and phenomenal success.

This week on Fresh Dialogues, I’m including highlights of our conversation. I hope it will inspire you to have an action mindset. 

Listen to the Fresh Dialogues podcast on Listen Notes,  on iTunes or below:

https://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Julian-G-Action-FD-podcast-.mp3

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First of all, you might be wondering what do you mean by an action mindset? Here’s my definition: it’s the belief that you can take action to change your future; that your abilities are not fixed, but can be improved by a bias to action.

If you’re familiar with the term Growth Mindset, think of an action mindset as a growth mindset on steroids. Not only do you embrace new challenges as a learning opportunity, but you harness that attitude to propel you to take more and more action.

New research reveals that our mindsets are NOT binary as was previously thought. We don’t have either a growth or a fixed mindset. Instead we’re all capable of accessing a continuum of mindsets. By becoming aware of our mindset triggers, and using tools from psychology, we can nurture a proactive and potent ACTION MINDSET.

I asked Julian to share the story of one excruciating time she was stuck and found it hard to move forward. After she secured a book deal for her best seller, “The Billionaire and the Mechanic” she hit a wall. She could not convince Oracle founder Larry Ellison (the billionaire in question) to be interviewed for the project. Without his cooperation, her book was dead in the water. 

Here’s what Julian told me (edited for length and clarity).

Julian Guthrie: So I get this book deal and there’s a lot of interest in it and my editor starts asking how are the interviews going? In the meantime I’m frantically reaching out to his people at Oracle in the marketing departments. I tried Larry himself, had his email and got no response from him. It went on for a couple of months, so needless to say it was getting more and more unnerving. And finally, one of his chief marketing people told me: you know, Larry answers his emails personally at between one and two am, so you might want to try then. 

So I set my alarm. 

There’s a fine line between reaching out to someone politely, but consistently, and bugging someone so much, you’re going to get a ‘no’ or they’re going to block you. So I would set my alarm and I’d get up and I’d send some very short email, at 1am or 2am. And I did that for a period of two or three weeks, and got no response. But I kept at it and finally, I sent him another email. “This is a great story…” Brevity is key in these emails I’ve learned.  And it was probably at 2am, very late, and I got an immediate response. And it was from Larry and it was a three word response, and it was: “Happy to talk.”

And that was what began a year of very in-depth interviews. 

So it put me on that journey. I went from: I was stuck and I was [...]

It was hard to focus on anything else these last two weeks as the Climate Conference took place in my home city of Glasgow. Although the deal isn’t perfect, I have three reasons for hope. This week on Fresh Dialogues, I’m sharing those reasons and a recent conversation I had with Vivienne Nunis on the BBC World Service. Her reporting from Brazil also gives me hope and underlines our need for an action mindset on climate.

What’s an action mindset? On a personal level, an action mindset is the belief that your actions can change your future, that your abilities are not fixed, but can be improved by a bias to action. Your action can change your future and the future of the planet. The promises made in Glasgow must now be followed up by action. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr said it best:

“An idea without action is like a bow without an arrow,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Photo credit above: Jasmin Sessler

Listen to the Fresh Dialogues podcast this week:

https://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Glasgow-FD-climate-podcast-nov-21.mp3

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Here are my three reasons for hope after Glasgow’s COP26:

Renewal of international collaboration: The cooperation in Glasgow was in stark contrast to the nationalistic trends we’ve witnessed around the world in recent years. The unexpected joint statement by the U.S. and China gave me hope, as well as the final agreement which requires countries to come back next year with even more ambitious plans.

Private sector driving change: Mark Carney’s announcement of a $130 Trillion commitment from financial institutions is significant. Enlisting the private sector to finance the transition to net zero is crucial, but it also needs to stop funding for fossil fuels. Regulation could accelerate that change by penalizing institutions for holding dirty fuel assets on their balance sheets. 

The deforestation agreement: This historic pact was signed by countries that account for about 85% of the world’s forests, including Brazil.  The agreement aims to conserve and speed up restoration of forests and increase investment to promote sustainable forest management and support for indigenous communities. It adds about $19 billion in public and private funds, including large contributions from the Ford Foundation and foundations led by Jeff Bezos and Mike Bloomberg.

One powerful speech in Glasgow which caught my attention was that of Txai Surui, a 24-year-old indigenous climate activist from Brazil who accused global leaders of “closing their eyes” to climate change.

“The animals are disappearing, the rivers are dying… The Earth is speaking: she tells us we have no more time,” Surui says.

She urged leaders to think of people like her in “the front line of the climate emergency”, and she shared a moving story about a dear friend who has been murdered for protecting the forest. Sadly, her friend is one of thousands. 

Making forests worth more alive than dead

The three largest rainforests in the world are located in the Amazon, Congo River basin and Southeast Asia. Together they absorb about a third of carbon dioxide emissions. In 2020, the world lost a staggering 100,000 square miles of forest — a swathe of land bigger than the United Kingdom. Is there a role for the private sector to step in where governments have failed? The key to stopping deforestation is making forests worth more alive than dead.

“We’re going to work to ensure markets recognize the true economic value of natural carbon sinks and motivate governments, landowners and stakeholders to prioritize conservation,” President    Biden said in Glasgow.

The BBC’s Vivienne Nunis spoke to Robert Muggah of the Igarapi Institute about the fate of Brazil’s rainforest and the urgency of documenting the destruction and taking action to reverse current trends. Although land clearing, for mining and agriculture has increased under Brazil’s President Bolsonaro, [...]

This is a timely story about addiction, suffering, and how one tenacious woman found her purpose in life. Everyone I’ve talked to about this story has been fascinated, full of questions. That got me more and more excited about sharing it.

Sometimes I just pinch myself that I became an accidental journalist. This week more than ever.  Interviewing people like Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Meryl Streep is thrilling. Being in the same space as the Dalai Lama, or witnessing the first solar-powered plane take off from a Silicon Valley runway is inspiring, but this month’s assignment for the BBC outshines all of that. Raising awareness about a relatively unknown, and potentially lethal syndrome, and helping to save lives, gives my work a more profound purpose. My research shows the syndrome is growing in prevalence and severity around the world. 

Katie Nava, a nurse in California, almost died from this syndrome, but she’s now helping people recover. I’m so thankful to her for sharing her vulnerability and her inspiring story so candidly. 

“I gave up weed and went to my Facebook page. I’ve found my calling. It was an unfortunate way to find it. I owe my life to the page. We’re spreading awareness.” Nurse, Katie Nava.

We’re all aware that the impacts of the Covid pandemic on our mental health has been brutal. The data is only now coming to light and experts say it’s just the tip of the iceberg. So, if one of your coping mechanisms has been to start using, or use pot a wee bit more than you did previously, please read on and share this with friends who might be over-indulging  their love for cannabis.  And tell your friends in the medical field how to identify this syndrome. 

Keith Humphreys is a professor at Stanford, an expert in addiction, and one of my favorite academic experts to interview. He sums up the problem like this:

“Everyone in public health needs to be engaged and not fall for the line that cannabis is unlike any other drug in history. Every drug can have a bad effect. That’s the reality of our experience, the reality of chemistry.” Keith Humphreys

Photo credit above: www.maxpixel.net

Here’s the report that aired this week on the BBC World Service program, Health Check.

Listen to the BBC podcast (starts at 12:34)

And Listen to the Fresh Dialogues podcast below:

https://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Cannabis-FD-podcast-final.wav

 

Here’s a longer version of the transcript:

Alison van Diggelen: When Katie Nava had her first experience of Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, CHS, she felt like she was going to die…

Katie Nava: It’s the most painful thing. You want to commit suicide in the middle of an episode.

The intensity made me nauseous. I’d spend the rest of day on the floor throwing up in this excruciating knotted up, doubled over pain. Like someone took a knife and twisted it in your stomach. You can’t stop it. We’ve coined the term scromiting: screaming while you vomit. My pain was always in the exact same place: It’s right where your stomach and esophagus meet. It’s just on fire. My throat would always be on fire, I had post nasal drip all the time…

Alison van Diggelen: For four years, Katie Nava, a licensed nurse in Southern California, was in and out of the Emergency Room, and had countless appointments with gastro, ENT and other specialist doctors. She had CAT Scans, colonoscopies, and doctors even suggested surgery to remove her gall bladder. Despite a digital trail of medical evidence from her Kaiser doctors, no one could identify what ailed her.

Katie Nava: I started thinking I was crazy. They would say nothing is wrong with me. I was getting labeled as a drug seeker. It hurt so much.

Alison van Diggelen: Finally, a nurse at another hospital recognized the symptoms and asked Katie Nava if she used marijuana. She was diagnosed with Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, also known as CHS.

The first mention of CHS in the [...]

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interviewhttps://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/FD-podcast-Adam-Grant-BBC-dialogue-Apr-21.mp3We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New WindowHyperbole is overused these days, but when the Financial Times calls someone a superstar, I’m apt to repeat the title, especially if the person in question is so humble that he insists his impact is “a mystery.”

Adam Grant is a Wharton School Professor and influential author. Lately he’s become a “superstar management thinker” according to the FT’s Andrew Hill. I had the pleasure of interviewing Adam last month about his new book Think Again, and his wise words have resonated with me ever since.

Last week I was invited to be a guest on the BBC World Service program, Business Matters. The London producers asked me if I had interviewed anyone interesting lately, so how could I resist sharing some of Adam’s insights?

But even superstars can be upstaged. This week’s podcast also features a rare appearance from my dear old dog, Mookie. Working from home is one thing, but broadcasting from home when it’s time for your dog’s walk, is a little risky! When BBC presenter Fergus Nicoll asked me about the idea of adding Covid border controls between states in America,  Mookie couldn’t help but share his perspective. You can hear clearly: he’s not a fan!

I look forward to sharing more of Adam’s observations and research in my next podcast: on why kindness builds resilience, what Malcolm Gladwell taught him about writing books, and the upsides of anger and frustration. And who hasn’t experienced some frustration over this challenging last year? He even suggests we think again about Elon Musk. According to Adam, despite his tough manager reputation, Musk scores off the charts on one far-reaching measure of kindness.  

Here are highlights of our BBC discussion:

https://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/FD-podcast-Adam-Grant-BBC-dialogue-Apr-21.mp3

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And here’s a transcript, edited for length and clarity:

Fergus Nicoll: On Business Matters, we talk to people who help us understand the way we should approach business, the way our workforce works most effectively, especially as we come out of the Coronavirus pandemic. Alison, you’ve been talking to someone who’s a bit of a management guru, who has a few pointers for us, in terms of management style?

Alison van Diggelen: I recently interviewed Wharton School Professor and “superstar management psychologist” Adam Grant. His latest book is called Think Again. He urges us to nurture more open minds. He has a clear recipe for how to identify our biases and blind spots, and become less dogmatic and more “scientific” in our decision making. He explains why he’s been called a “logic bully” and why we call need a Challenge Network.

Adam Grant: I think the first step is to catch yourself when you slip into preaching, prosecuting or politicking. So I think we’re all vulnerable to these mindsets. When you’re in preacher mode, you believe you’ve already found the truth and you’re just trying to proselytize it. When you’re in prosecutor mode, you’re trying to win an argument and prove your case. And if you stop there, you’re not going to do much rethinking because you’ve already decided that you’re right and everyone else is wrong. 

And then in politician mode you’re trying to win the approval of an audience through campaigning and lobbying and you might tell them what they want to hear, but you’re probably not changing what you really think. 

One of the things I find helpful is to ask myself: okay how much time did I spend in each of those modes today? And I catch myself regularly going into prosecutor mode when I think somebody is wrong. I just feel like it’s my moral responsibility as a social scientist to bring them sharper logic and stronger [...]

If someone had told you on January 19th that a skinny young woman from L.A. would upstage the inauguration of our new President Joe Biden, dramatic performances by J.Lo and Lady Gaga, and even the joyful swearing-in of our first female VP, Kamala Harris, you might’ve been dubious. But the effervescent Amanda Gorman outshone all the stars with her wise words and soulful delivery. She tapped into the zeitgeist of America, addressed the “terrifying hour” of January 6th, and challenged us to “rebuild, reconcile and recover.” Gorman reminds us that there’s always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.

When the world seems dark and our lives continue to be dislocated by the pandemic, I often think of Amanda Gorman, and listen to her poem, again and again. In watching her interviews with everyone from Trevor Noah to Anderson Cooper, I’m inspired by her poise, her wisdom and her optimism. Did you know that from age seven she’s been preparing to become president of the United States? That gives me hope.

This week, as Trump’s impeachment trial began in the U.S. Senate, and we’re forced to relive the horror of January 6th, I’m exploring these questions: How did our our country become so polarized and our politics so violent? And is there any hope for closing the divide? And what’s the role of empathy in the process? Is there a role for you and me?

I sought out the wisdom of three experts. And there is good news. My latest BBC report aims to do two things:

Help us understand how we got here: by exploring insights from psychology, anthropology and sociology.

Offer some tangible action we can all do to douse the fire and live more peacefully with people with whom we don’t agree. 

Although Amanda Gorman was featured in my original draft, she didn’t make the final cut for the BBC (due to time constraints). Yet the words of her inauguration poem echoed the wisdom I gleaned from the experts: We must put our differences aside and focus on what unites us, our common aspirations. We must try to build bridges, and (as hard as it is sometimes) assume good intent. So I’d like to start this week’s Fresh Dialogues podcast by revisiting Gorman’s rousing performance at President Biden’s inauguration, before I share my report.

“We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.

We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.

We seek harm to none and harmony for all…”

Amanda Gorman, National Youth Poet Laureate and Inauguration Poet

As much as it pained me to hear his provocative words again, I was forced to include some audio from Trump. You’ll understand why very soon…

Listen to my report on the BBC Health Check podcast (starting @27:00)

Or to the Fresh Dialogues podcast here or below:

https://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Amanda-Gorman-Conflict-res-FD-podcast-conflict-Feb-2021.mp3

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Here’s a transcript of the report which aired on the BBC (including some parts which didn’t make the final cut):

Trump: They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some I assume are good people.

Hillary Clinton: You could put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables: the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it…”

Alison van Diggelen: That was Democratic party candidate Hillary Clinton during her presidential run in 2016 and before her, Donald Trump during his bid as the Republican candidate, when he made his infamous comments about undocumented Mexican immigrants.

Dan Fessler is a professor of anthropology at the University of California in Los Angeles. He’s convinced that provocative language leads to dehumanization and is a key driver of the polarization problem.

Dan Fessler: Any time that you hear any politician, or candidate for office, talking about “them and [...]

I hope you and yours are staying well despite the violent insurrection in Washington DC on January 6th. This week, I want to bring you some hope and optimism for the future from an unlikely source. More on that below.

First, I’d like to share two insights that resonated with me as I sought to make sense of the attempted coup and think about a pathway forward. 

The first is from our newly elected Georgia Senator, Raphael Warnock. PBS’s Judy Woodruff asked how we can get anything done with such a divided country and Senate. Warnock said “we have no choice!” and added this: 

“Either we will learn to live together as sisters and brothers, or we will perish together as fools.” Martin Luther King Jr. speech in St. Louis, on March 22, 1964 (In Warnock’s version he added the sisters. Amen to that.)

And Warnock posed this key question: Do we want to continue in our silos of violent racial, political and religious hatred, or do we want to build what Dr. King called the beloved community?

The other resonant voice for me was President Barack Obama. He laid the blame firmly with Trump and his enablers. I felt that he was also speaking directly to me and all my fellow journalists when he wrote: “For two months now, a political party and its accompanying media ecosystem has too often been unwilling to tell their followers the truth…” Obama offered Republican leaders a choice: to either continue down a dark path or “choose reality…and choose America”

Although the majority of the media blame rests with Fox News, Sean Hannity, and all those media and social media platforms that allowed the false narrative of a “stolen election” to be amplified, every single journalist should examine his or her actions over the last four years. For example, NPR’s failing to call a lie a lie was a mistake in my view. Mary Louise Kelly explained “A lie is a false statement made with intent to deceive… Without the ability to peer into Donald Trump’s head, I can’t tell you what his intent was.” 

I think the events of last week make that intent to deceive –– and win at all costs ––  abundantly clear.

By contrast, the BBC, The New York Times and other mainstream outlets used the word “lie” when it was merited, countless times. Yet even some highly regarded colleagues inadvertently fueled the fire by demonstrating lazy journalism. On January 8th, the BBC’s North America editor, Jon Sopel’s retweet of Trump’s lies about a stolen election, without clearly flagging it as a lie, was a powerful case in point. A few hours later, Twitter finally gave Trump the red card he deserved months ago, but the damage was done. Sopel and those like him need to follow the plea of New York Times journalists like Sheera Frenkel and think carefully about how they use their powerful media megaphones. 

Statements from other political elders like Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and George W Bush are also worth reading. Which brings me to my latest BBC report. 

When I read that Americans over 70 are showing remarkable resilience and optimism during this pandemic and lockdown, I thought, how can that be? We all know that the older you are, the more likely that Covid-19 can kill you, but here’s a fascinating statistic: in the United States, an 85 year-old grandmother who gets Covid is 10,000 times more at risk of death than her 15 year-old grandchildren. With odds like that, and the lockdown isolation you’d think that she’d be a lot more anxious and depressed than them, especially with the post-holiday spike in cases and prolonged lockdowns.   

Instead, I discovered compelling research that demonstrates that the reverse is true. And found some valuable truths and life lessons for you and me. 

Due to time constraints, the BBC wasn’t able to air all of the insights of the wise 19 year-old I interviewed, so I’m adding his wisdom at the end of this transcript and on the Fresh Dialogues podcast. 

Listen to [...]

I hope you and yours are staying well and relatively cheerful through this holiday season. Our family experienced a seismic shock last week and I’m feeling quite rattled. More on that below…

This dreadful year has made me more thankful than ever for a wee bit of humor. People like Janey Godley, who can make us laugh through our despair and tears, deserve a medal. I’d love to nominate her for a Covid Humanitarian Award, for bringing a smile to our faces and a belly laugh to our bodies when we needed it most. 

Last night, my sadness was more local. I took a walk through the neighborhood and it was deeply unsettling. Here in California we’re under a new, stricter Covid shutdown that lasts through January 4th: no travel, no eating out, no large family gatherings. You know the drill! As I explored the empty streets, it seemed like we were back in March, except that now it feels much, much worse. The streets have a trickle of traffic, the restaurants are deserted, and shoppers few and far between. How are these small businesses going to survive? I worry about the laid off waitresses, shop assistants and support staff going through another round of layoffs. The holiday lights and “cheerful” Christmas music pulsing through an open-air mall felt, well… rather pathetic. I shivered, as I passed shiny-new outside eating areas, and parklets with tall plastic canopies. Rapidly erected for Covid-compliant dining, they now lie neglected, like abandoned relics of a bygone age. 

Although there is light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, I fear they won’t stop this rising death-toll overnight, and the rollout will be painfully slow. And perhaps too slow for me to make it back to Britain on time…

Last weekend my 88 year-old mother took a turn for the worse. When we spoke on Sunday, I didn’t recognize her. Something has shifted in her brain: she was agitated and impatient. She talked nonstop and wouldn’t let me get a word in. After the call, my first instinct was to jump on the next flight back to London to be at her side, but I know that’s foolish…and dangerous. I feel a million miles from her, cut-off and helpless, just like it felt in March, when she ended up in hospital with a broken pelvis. The distance makes me feel impotent and even more furious at Trump. Not only did he mishandle the Federal pandemic response, it turns out he refused an offer to buy more of the Pfizer vaccine, earlier this year, which puts America at the end of the line for the second batch of the vaccine. 

But instead of ruminating, I force myself to remember my mother’s regular advice when things get hard: 

You know you’ve just got to get on with it!

So, in that spirit, let’s get on with it. Here are highlights from my latest appearance on the BBC World Service. I’ve chosen to feature a lighthearted discussion with the BBC’s Jamie Robertson. We explored Covid etiquette and what the Scottish government is doing to keep everyone not just safe, but civil during the next few months. 

You’ll meet two women I admire more than ever this year: Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, whose steady leadership and regular Covid briefings have shown world leaders how to be strong, principled and keep a good sense of humor. The second is writer and comedian Janey Godley whose regular voice-overs of Nicola has kept our family chuckling through some of the darkest days of the pandemic. If you haven’t discovered Janey Godley’s Twitter feed or YT channel, get on it, today! 

In this excerpt, you’ll also hear about the mantra I’m trying to follow this festive season: Assume good intent! 

In today’s world of high anxiety, it’s more relevant than ever…

Also, for the politicos listening, you’ll find a wee politics extra at the end of this podcast. During my BBC appearance, I talked about the incredible hypocrisy of the Trump administration. You might be thinking: [...]

How are you? I hope you’re managing to keep your head above water these last tumultuous hours and days. This week on Fresh Dialogues, I have some reassuring wisdom and some practical tips to bring you comfort and help you keep hope alive.

Like millions of us, I watched in disbelief last night as many of the swing states turned red. The “blue wall” that some pundits anticipated –– and said Trump would pay for –– just didn’t materialize. I found myself in such a state of anxiety that I could barely breathe. 

Frankly, I’m stunned that so many people voted for Trump despite his many atrocities: the blatant lies, his anti-science stance, demolishing environmental protections and his gross mishandling of the pandemic. And with the resurgence in Covid around the world, it sometimes feels there’s no end in sight to our elevated stress levels.

As I write this, early afternoon on Wednesday November 4th, the Associated Press has yet to call several key states, but there does look like a path to victory for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I can but hope.

How do you find hope at times like these? 

If you’re also feeling high anxiety, despair, or even depression right now, this advice from a wise man named Manfred will give you hope. 

“It’s so important right now to take care of yourself, and in that act of self-love and compassion you may be able to reach out to another, and that person another still, until we collectively heal from these challenging times,” Manfred Melcher.  

As you’ll hear soon, Manfred reminds us to “Mind your own light.” You’ll find out what he means below.

My latest report for the BBC explored the timely question: Is online connection as effective as face to face meetings?

I explored the surge in teletherapy, but I think there are important lessons to be gleaned for all of us, whether you’re seeking to connect to friends, family or a mental health expert. I was reminded of the importance of radical self care.

My report aired October 28th on the BBC World Service program, Health Check. The segment starts at 28:00 on the BBC podcast

You’ll even find some humor in the report, despite the heavy topic. After the transcript below, I’ll share some tips to help you get through these next few days and weeks. And please join me at the end of the Fresh Dialogues podcast as we do some deep cleansing breaths together. You’ll be surprised at how stress relieving that can be.

https://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Mind-your-light-FD-podcast-Nov-4-2020.mp3

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Here’s a transcript of the report (lengthened and edited for clarity). Names have been changed to protect people’s privacy.  

The BBC’s Claudia Hammond: On the show last week, we were talking about the difficulty of patients and their relatives receiving bad news over the phone rather than in person due to restrictions in hospitals. Now something similar is happening in therapy sessions.

In the United States, a recent survey by the American Psychological Association found that due to the virus, three-quarters of therapists are now providing remote services, either on the phone, or through video conferencing software. But when people are pouring their hearts out and talking about their innermost thoughts, can a digital encounter ever be the same as a face to face session?

For Health Check, our reporter Alison van Diggelen reports from the west coast of the U.S. where, as well as the pandemic, people have been dealing with forest fires, choking smoke, and power cuts. The demand for mental health care is growing.

Alison van Diggelen: Kristin, lives alone in a beachside community in Southern California. She faced intense challenges before Covid struck. Recently divorced, she moved house and launched a new business last year. On top of her anxiety and panic attacks, there’s now another stress factor:

Kristin: Loneliness definitely has been an issue… not being able to see family: touching [...]

With less than three weeks until the election, it’s a nerve wracking time here in the United States. Some call it a battle for the soul of the nation. Certainly the stakes could not be higher. This election will determine the future of the United States and in some respects, the world.

As a journalist, I strive to be balanced, and talk about the facts of any situation. I try not to air my personal preferences on the BBC. But this election year, I’m not pulling any punches about what an immoral and polarizing president Donald Trump has been. His dangerous impacts on civil rights, the environment and our standing in the world have and will have far reaching consequences. Another four years is unthinkable.

For these reasons, I’m backing the Biden-Harris ticket and joined the Vote Forward campaign to send handwritten letters to unregistered voters in swing states. Our goal is to convince silent voices that their vote matters and we’re urging them to take part and vote on November 3rd. 

For all those afraid to speak up and speak out, Kamala Harris is a profound inspiration. This quote resonates for me and I hope it does for you:

“You are powerful and your voice matters. You’re going to walk into many rooms in your life  where you may be the only one who looks like you. But remember that you are not alone. We are all in that room with you, applauding you. Cheering your voice.  So you use that voice and be strong.” Kamala Harris

Kamala’s words helped me speak out during my last BBC World Service appearance when I called Trump xenophobic and described his immigration policy “a lose-lose” for America. Find out below what I meant by that.

You can listen to the segment on the BBC World Service podcast, starting at 35:50.

Check out the Fresh Dialogues podcast below:

https://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Kamala-Speak-Out-Immigration-FD-podcast-Oct-2020.mp3

 

I had a lively conversation about immigration and innovation with the BBC’s Rahul Tandon and Andy Xie, an influential Chinese economist, based in Shanghai. Andy shared some insights about the Chinese education system that may surprise you.

Here is a transcript of our discussion, (edited for length and clarity).

Rahul Tandon: Alison, when you talk to people about the election, and the issues that are going to decide who people are going to vote for, where does immigration figure in that?

Alison van Diggelen: Immigration is an important issue, especially in Silicon Valley. There was a lot of backlash when Trump clamped down on H1B visas for skilled workers in Silicon Valley. A lot of tech CEOs spoke up and said it’s going to have a net effect of reducing jobs for American workers. To Andy’s point about people feeling unwelcome in America, Trump has been explicit and implicit about his xenophobic attitude, because he knows that it plays to his base. 

I think this is going to be a double whammy for America: The first loss is the immigrant innovation benefit that’s given America its competitive edge and has led to (the creation and dominance of) Silicon Valley.

The second loss is that it energizes Trump’s base and helps him potentially get re-elected. So I think Trump’s immigration policy is a lose-lose for America.

Rahul Tandon: A lot of Indians will tell you that Silicon Valley is made up of a lot of Indians. A lot of these big companies’ bosses did come from India (eg Google’s Sundar Pichai). Do you think these conversations are different if you went to a state like Texas?

Alison van Diggelen: Yes, it’s possible. Silicon Valley does face competition from Austin in Texas. It’s seen as the upstart to Silicon Valley. But what’s coming from Trump is this general feeling of: you’re not welcome if you’re an immigrant. It’s like shooting the country’s economic powerhouses in the foot. 

Rahul Tandon: Andy, do you think some of the president’s rhetoric will put some Chinese students off going [...]