The Critic Podcast

There is no reliable data on the number of people who regret their decision to undergo transgender surgery. James Caspian, a trained psychotherapist who worked for a decade with people who wanted to change their gender decided to find out more but was blocked by Bath Spa University for trying to research a non "politically correct" topic. He's now trying to take his university to court.

Laura Dodsworth is a writer and photographer who documented detransitioners for the Sunday Times through photographs of their bodies and she has written a longer piece on interviews with detransitioners here. Both join David Scullion on the podcast this week.

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Music: “Modern Jazz Samba” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this Critic magazine podcast, Graham Stewart and David Scullion talk to Radomir Tylecote about his research into how academics at British universities are cooperating with organisations linked to the Chinese military on technological projects that may have useful defence applications for Beijing.

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Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and iTunes to ensure you never you never miss an episode.

Right now we’re offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details.

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Music: “Modern Jazz Samba” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The entrepreneur Jim Mellon has a track record in investing in some of the technologies and innovations that shape our future. The one that is preoccupying him at the moment is the cultured meat market, sometimes called "cell meat". He has also written an investor's guide to the new agrarian revolution entitled Moo's Law.

In this podcast The Critic's political editor, Graham Stewart, talks to Jim about the development of cultured meat and when we can expect to see it on our supermarket shelves.

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Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and iTunes to ensure you never you never miss an episode.

Right now we’re offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details.

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Music: “Modern Jazz Samba” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this week's Critic Podcast, David Scullion speaks to the DUP leader in Westminster about an aspect of the Brexit deal under so much attention recently, the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have said freight levels to Ulster are at usual levels for this time of year and that any issues with the Protocol, which came into force at the start of the year, are teething problems. But the DUP say the Protocol undermines the Good Friday Agreement and needs to be scrapped as soon as possible, or it will do severe damage to the Northern Ireland economy.

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Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and iTunes to ensure you never you never miss an episode.

Right now we’re offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details.

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Music: “Modern Jazz Samba” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Only a year ago, Rishi Sunak was a name known only to close followers of Westminster politics. Now the Chancellor of the Exchequer is the most important figure in the government after the prime minister and the man talked about as the most likely future leader of the country, or at least the Conservative party.

But who is he? Has he risen so quickly that his views are not fully formed and how broad are his interests and his appeal? In the podcast, The Critic's political editor, Graham Stewart, talks to Michael Ashcroft, whose new book Going for Broke: the rise of Rishi Sunak is the first biography to be written about the British government's coming man.

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Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and iTunes to ensure you never you never miss an episode.

Right now we’re offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details.

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Music: “Modern Jazz Samba” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

After Michael Gove unexpectedly struck an agreement with EU Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič on Northern Ireland, the the UK agreed to remove controversial clauses in its Brexit legislation. But does this mean we're about to strike a trade deal or the opposite?

Graham Stewart speaks to David Scullion on a fast moving day in politics.

The River Thames has been the site of constant human activity for at least two millennia... is it any surprise that so much evidence of this history washes up on the foreshore every single day? Mudlarkers are those who search for such treasure, and they have a fascinating history of their own.

In this podcast, Olivia Hartley speaks to Lara Maiklem, author of The Sunday Times bestseller Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames, about what how mudlarking on the Thames foreshore has changed her relationship with the city, how she felt during lockdown when she was unable to visit the river, and some of her favourite historical finds from over the years (including an incredibly preserved child's shoe dating back to the Tudor period).

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Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and iTunes to ensure you never you never miss an episode.

Right now we’re offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details.

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Music: “Modern Jazz Samba” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The Critic's political team discuss whether the parliamentary arithmetic means Boris Johnson should be worried about the next vote to impose restrictions.

In this week's podcast David Scullion talks to British businessman and longtime Brexit campaigner John Longworth about his role in achieving a vote to leave the EU and why he dramatically broke away from his longtime ally Nigel Farage. During the 2019 General Election campaign he publically called on the Brexit Party leader to stand down candidates in Conservative seats and asked people to vote Tory at the General Election instead of his own party, leading to a rift with the former UKIP leader that hasn't been healed.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and iTunes to ensure you never you never miss an episode.

Right now we’re offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details.

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Image: John Longworth (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

Music: “Modern Jazz Samba” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In the latest issue of The Critic Magazine, Julie Bindel reveals how abused women are being let down by domestic violence perpetrator programmes, while Louise Perry shows how the political labels of ‘left’ and ‘right’ are irrelevant for feminists.

In this podcast, David Scullion talks to both Louise and Julie about their articles, and the future of feminism in the West. 

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Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and iTunes to ensure you never you never miss an episode.

Right now we’re offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details.

__

Music: “Modern Jazz Samba” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/