In May 1916 three men caked in blood, dirt, blisters, and sweat arrived at the Stromness Whaling Station on South Georgia Island in the Atlantic Ocean suffering from severe exhaustion. 

They had endured a journey both by boat and on foot from Antarctica that was harrowing and miraculous in equal measure. In charge of the three men was Sir Ernest Shackleton, one of history’s most famous explorers and leaders. 

In my latest conversation I discuss what is known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration with David Cornell. In 2009 David went to the South Pole a hundred years after his great grandfather embarked on the Nimrod expedition that was led by Shackleton. 

He took me through Shackleton’s Boat Journey which has been described as the greatest story ever told. Our conversation covered what it takes to get to the South Pole as well as the leadership skills that Ernest Shackleton showed time and again through loyalty and care to his men right until his during his final attempt to reach the Pole.

Since that Centenary Expedition, David helped launch the Shackleton Foundation which provides seed funding and support to early stage social ventures  with a primary focus on benefiting young people in the UK.

A narrative of decline is permeating the developed world. Hopefully conversations like this one with David can revivify the spirit of adventure as an antidote to all the negativity and noise

You can find out more about the Shackleton Foundation click here: https://shackletonfoundation.org/

This podcast was produced by MattCooper with music composed by Loverman.

Dr Eamonn Butler is the co-founder of the Adam Smith Institute and has dedicated decades of service in spreading economic freedom. He is the author of several books including 'Foundations of a Free Society', 'The Condensed Wealth of Nations', and 'The Best Book on the Market'.

Our conversation includes his latest book "An Introduction to Schools of Economic Thought". We also coverhis return to Britain to advise the Thatcher administration on market reforms having done so in 1970s for the US House of Representatives.

If you've been unsure of how to distinguish between your Adam Smiths to your Friedrich Hayeks, then this conversation is a great place to start. We also use Eamonn's knowledge of economic theory to discuss the issues of our age - a broken Britain, the absence of risk taking, the flaws of direct democracy, and the law of Economic Rent holding back our youth.

You can find Eamonn's latest book here: https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Schools-of-Thought-Interactive.pdf

This podcast was produced by https://linktr.ee/thisismattcooper with music composed by https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy.

00:00:00 - The Rotten State of Britain
00:06:34 - Britain’s welfare state
00:10:28 - What got Eamonn into Economics
00:12:30 - Coming back to rescue Britain
00:19:10 - Why big companies hate competition
00:21:30 - Who was Adam Smith
00:24:45 - Schools of Economics Thought
00:33:15 - Hayek, Friedman and Keynes
00:40:15 - Did Marx get anything right?
00:42:17 - What is behavioural economics?
00:46:45 - Why no mention of Georgism in Schools of Economic Thought?
00:57:30 - Why don’t we take risk anymore?
01:10:05 - Is democracy inherently flawed?
01:15:10 - The long bet

Rosina Dorelli is Making Education Great Again. Why? Because schools are failing our children by crushing their sense of wonder through standardised testing and mindless clerical work. “Teaching to the exam” won’t cut it in the 21st Century. 

As a mother, artist, entrepreneur, and teacher Rosina describes Creativity as a human right. To champion this she is the founder of the Biophilic Education Alliance and creator of a new schools curriculum inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. 

In my most important conversation to date, we discussed her take on what’s wrong with the education system, both state and private, as well as the current rollout of her curriculum in schools. 

The people who have made the most positive impact on the world in history have been interdisciplinary thinkers not siloed experts (the poem from the 1997 Apple advert summarises this well*). 

Whilst year on year exam grades have consistently improved education (with a small “e”) is demonstrably on the operating table. Rosina’s movement will equip the next generation to solve the big problems of our time.

Thank you to Iain McGilchrist for making me aware of Rosina and her work. Here are more details on the Biophilic Education Alliance and the Da Vinci Life Skills curriculum:

https://www.biophiliceducation.com/

https://davincilifeskills.com/

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

*“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

James Baxter-Derrington is a writer, journalist, cricket fan and Investment Editor at The Telegraph. Our discussion began with his notorious article arguing that Bitcoin is worthless before evolving into a broader conversation on Value. We also talked about the role of legacy media in the face of online platforms, podcasts and citizen journalism. I asked James how to get Britain and the West out if its current malaise and on topic after topic his thoughtful responses made this one of my favourite conversations to date.

You can find James's articles at the Telegraph here or on X as @jamesbaxterd.

It took the humiliation of enemy ships raiding the Medway River in Kent to shake the political establishment into urgency in June 1667. 

During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, Britain* realised that in order stand a chance against its enemy it had to replicate the Dutch ability to source low cost financing. Ship building was expensive and time consuming after all. Thus the City of London was born.

Do we need another Medway humiliation to shake us out of our stupor or can that be avoided? 

For my latest episode, I sat down with Shoaib Akhtar to discuss his recently published book The Great British Disconnect: A Nation That Stood By as the City Sold Its Soul.

He examines multiple causes ranging from the cultural - for instance the loss of civic duty and an entrenched fear of risk taking - to the institutional - a wholesale abandonment of the UK economy from our fiduciary overlords.

I got a taste of some of the practical solutions that Shoaib thankfully has thought through and outlined in detail in his book. If followed, they could instigate a mindset shift to revive the City’s soul which was born out of necessity, urgency, and an embrace with risk.

We also discussed his writing process and what drove him to not only put pen to paper but to see it through.His passion on this issue was the key driving force and it permeated our conversation. 

You can buy a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-British-Disconnect-Nation-Stood/dp/B0FC5XNXWC

This podcast was produced by https://www.thisismattcooper.com/ with music composed by Loverman.

Isabelle was previously chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury and now serves as Principal at Ridley Hall a theological college in Cambridge. 

We discuss the meaning of justice and mercy, the pursuit of purpose for mental health, and what can be learned from old stories such as the Book of Judges and the Book of Ruth.

We also touch on some of the potential failings of the Anglican church but also a tentative Gen-Z revival in Sunday attendance.

Isabelle has worked as a probation officer and is an ambassador for Sanctuary Mental Health UK. You can find more about her publications, journals and community work here: https://www.ridley.cam.ac.uk/team/the-revd-prebendary-dr-isabelle-hamley.

Dr Kristian Niemitz is Head of Political Economy at the Institute of Economic Affairs. Our conversation covered his many works including "Socialism: the failed idea that never dies", "Imperial Measurement: a cost-benefit analysis of western colonialism" and "Universal Healthcare without the NHS". 

We discussed his journey from "teenage Commie" to classical liberal, why Britain is stagnating and what to do about it, the battle of ideas more broadly, religious influences on economics, socialism's cultural dominance, the failure of politicians to implement good policy, and whether Javier Milei is an exception to this.

Like many good Germans he's a beer connoisseur (he even has a Substack on it!). He describes Twitter as containing "the daftest opinions expressed with extreme confidence" (good thing he doesn't spend too much time on LinkedIn) and enjoys the traction he gets from gently mocking those opinions.

You can find Kristian here: https://x.com/K_Niemietz, read his longer form writing at the IEA website: https://iea.org.uk/publications, and his Substack on Beer here https://kristianniemietz.substack.com/.

Paul Crawford is the pioneer and world's first professor of Health Humanities. Our conversation covered his years of work on how creative practices can enhance well-being in and out of the clinic. 

Alongside his academic work, he's also an entertaining fiction writer. His second novel, The Wonders of Doctor Bent is out this week. Without wishing to sound dramatic, I was inspired to learn about his writing practices and was moved by the impact this field has made in the health and wellbeing of patients in recent years. 

The scope for further impact is great and this conversation gave me a thorough re-grounding in the importance of thinking outside the conventional mental silos we put our minds in.

You can find out more about Professor Crawford here: https://www.paulcrawfordauthor.com/ or on X: https://x.com/ProfessorPaulC1.

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper (https://www.thisismattcooper.com/) with music composed by Loverman (Spotify). 

Professor Robert Tombs is one of the world’s most accomplished historians. Our conversation covered questions not just relevant to today but of concern to prior and future generations. 

Winston Churchill’s advice is to “Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft” but can we truly learn from history? 

What is the role of academia and professional historians in informing policy makers and voters? Does greatness play a role or are we all a product of our environment, geography, ideology and culture?

From Marxism to the French Revolution and the Physiocrat school he populated the discussion with episodes from the past that serve as stories to guide us in understanding the world.

As you will hear, our pilgrimage to Professor Tombs’ rooms in Cambridge included his generosity of insight from a life of study. I’m pleased to be able to share this conversation to a broader audience.

Alongside numerous scholarly articles he is author of:

 
That Sweet Enemy: The History of a Love-Hate relationship  (co-written with his Wife Isabel), The English and Their History, and This Sovereign Isle: Britain in and Out of Europe. He is currently working on a history of the Union between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper (https://www.thisismattcooper.com/) with music composed by Loverman (Spotify). 

In 2009 Mark Evison was shot whilst leading a patrol in Helmand Province. Having been flown back to England, his mother Margaret was faced with no choice but to turn off his life support machine. 

She now runs the Mark Evison Foundation which enables adolescents from state schools to undertake challenges. In one of my most difficult conversations yet, we talk about Mark’s life, coping with the grief of losing a child, and the example he continues to set. The Foundation, named in his honour empowers hundreds of children to take on the spirit of adventure.

A clinical psychologist by training, Margaret is an inspiring character who had lots to say on the war in Afghanistan, military support, parenting, and the journey she has been on to lead a life of fulfilment that would make her son proud.

Her book Death of a Soldier, a Mother’s Story can be bought here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Soldier-Margaret-Evison/dp/1849544492

To learn more about the great work of the Mark Evison Foundation, please visit https://www.markevisonfoundation.org/