In this episode MEI Deputy Director, Dr Karl Pike, speaks to Professor Lea Ypi, author of the new book 'Free: Coming of Age at the End of History' - a memoir of childhood at a time of political change in the 1980s and 1990s. In the podcast, Professor Ypi talks about writing, the story of 'Free', and the philosophical theme of the book.

Dr Lyndsey Jenkins, Deputy Director of the Mile End Institute is joined by Visiting Fellow Freya Marshall-Payne, Professor Sasha Roseneil from UCL, and Rebecca Morden, one of the driving forces behind the oral history project Greenham Women Everywhere, to discuss Rebecca's new book, written in collaboration with Kate Kerrow, Out of the Darkness: Greenham Voices 1981-2000'. 

The book reunites the trailblazing women from the Greenham Peace Camp and charts their recollections of camp life, including how they organised and the ways in which they challenged the military, police and other cultural forces.

This week on the MEI Podcast, Deputy Director Colm Murphy was joined by two editors of the newly released book ‘The Neoliberal Age?’, Aled Davies and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite. They discuss the contested meaning of the term 'neoliberalism' and its relevance for understanding Britain since the 1970s.

This week, MEI Director, Patrick Diamond was joined by Paul Cairney and Emily St. Denny, authors of Why isn’t Government Policy More Preventative?

They discuss the dichotomy between policy aspiration and policy delivery, and the challenges that governments have faced in both defining ‘prevention’ and implementing preventative policies. The authors also offer their reflections on whether the Covid-19 pandemic will serve as a critical juncture in deepening the commitment to prevention-focused public policies. 

In this episode, Colm Murphy was joined by Emily Munro (National Library of Scotland) and Ewan Gibbs (University of Glasgow) to discuss the distinct and powerful relationship between Scotland and the politics of energy in the context of events since the Second World War and the current COP26 conference taking place in Glasgow.

The episode uses audio clips from Emily Munro’s new documentary, 'Living Proof: A Climate Story'.

More information on this film can be found here: https://www.screen.scot/film-in-scotland/made-in-scotland/film/living-proof-a-climate-story

In this episode, MEI Deputy Director, Dr Colm Murphy, was joined by Professor Helen Thompson and the economist, author, and journalist Duncan Weldon. They discuss what inflation is, why it has returned to the centre of political debate, whether it is a governing priority or a red herring, and its implications for politics and wider society.

In this episode of the Mile End Institute Podcast, Tim Bale was joined by Adrian Wooldridge and Emma Barrett to discuss Adrian's book, ‘The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World’.

They explore the historical origins of meritocracy and discuss how such a revolutionary concept, that had transformational effects on societies, has become corrupted and subject to attack from all sides of the political spectrum.

In the final episode of the series, Clive Gabay (QMUL), was joined by Camilla Schofield (UEA), and Bill Schwarz (QMUL), to discuss the edited collection of essays, Global white nationalism: From apartheid to Trump.

They discuss how white nationalism has long been a global phenomenon in reaction to the forces of civil rights, anti-colonial movements, and international institutions, and has been magnified in the context of the presidency of Donald Trump and the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, and their respective aftermaths.

This week, MEI Deputy Director, Lyndney Jenkins, was joined by Alana Harris (KCL) and David Geiringer (QMUL) to discuss his book, 'The Pope and the Pill: Sex, Catholicism, and Women in Post-war England'.

They consider the importance of oral history in shedding light on the often-hidden lives and experiences of Catholic women in post-war England, a time when the demands of spirituality and sexuality seemed at odds with each other.

The ability to properly get to grips with numbers has never been more vital, not least in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this episode, Tim Bale is joined by Tom Chivers and Sonia Sodha to discuss the importance of understanding the numbers we're presented with in the news and in our own lives. They discuss what journalists - and the sources they rely on - get right and wrong, and what we can all do to ensure we better understand the data we're exposed to in media each and every day.