From What If to What Next

As we start, hopefully, to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately affected older people, many people have experienced an end to their lives that was lonely and traumatic. How different would the world feel if its priorities had changed to being one where the end of life was treated with the same love and reverence as birth? My two guests for this episode are Mike Grenville and Mary Nally.

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In this podcast, we're talking about Universal Basic Income with Alexis Frasz, researcher and cultural strategist with Helicon Collaborative, and Phil Teer, author of 'The Coming Age of Imagination'.

What would it be like to live in a world in which UBI was now an integral part of everyday life? How would life, and the world around us feel different? How might we re-frame UBI as a vital strategy for rebuilding our collective imagination? All too often, UBI is discussed as being an economic issue, but might imagination provide a fresh and essential lens through which to explore the idea?

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In our fourth episode, we bring together two of the UK's most pioneering doctors to explore what a very different future for healthcare could be like. What would it be like if doctors' surgeries were key players in the wider Transition of the community, actively stimulating a reimagining of food, energy, community and much more?

In this episode we are joined by Dr Jane Myat, doing amazing work at the Caversham Group Practice in Kentish Town, North London since 1997. She is a passionate advocate of finding alternative patient-centred approaches to long-term conditions. Inspired by pioneering GPs such as Sam Everington and by our second guest here, and assisted by Transition Kentish Town, Jane founded the Listening Space, a project centred around a community garden in the courtyard of her family practice.

Dr Michael Dixon is a Devon GP whose CV and list of roles within the NHS is glittering and includes numerous national leadership roles. To name just two, he is a Chair of the College of Medicine and Clinical Champion for Social Prescription (NHS England) and Chair of The Institute for Social Prescription.

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In this third episode of 'From What If to What Next', we're talking about food. Taking a question from Patreon subscriber Tony Buck, we are asking "What If towns and cities set out to intentionally relocalise their food production?" How would it work? Where would you start? How would you involve the local government? How would you ensure that it is inclusive?

To explore this complex question, one that COVID-19 has firmly re-emphasised the importance of, we have two guests with many years of experience in this area. Dee Woods describes herself as a "food and farming action-ist and campaigner" and has been involved for many years in London, playing a role in many different projects, whilst also writing and speaking widely on issues around food insecurity, inequalities in food systems, participatory policy making, intersectionality and decolonisation.

Christian Jonet is one of the founders and co-ordinators of the brilliant Ceinture Aliment-Terre Liégeoise ( Liége Food Belt) in Belgium, one of the most remarkable examples of a citizen-led re-imagining of a city's food production.

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In this first episode, we meet singer, curator, event creator and lover of birdsong Sam Lee, speaking to us direct from a birdsong-filled woodland clearing, and Mya-Rose Craig, aka Birdgirl, who is doing amazing work promoting birdwatching among young people and promoting BME engagement with the natural world. Please consider supporting the podcast by visiting www.patreon.com/fromwhatiftowhatnext and becoming a patron.