The Focus

In this episode, John is joined by author and journalist John Higgs where they talk about John’s new book, William Blake Versus The World. In this podcast you will get to learn about the extremely forward-thinking English poet and artist about his unique cosmology and way of thinking. If you thought you knew something about Blake before, you’ll know much more after listening to this fascinating interview.

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In this episode, we are joined once more by former UK Labour politician, best selling author and investigative journalist, Chris Mullin. John speaks to Chris about the fate of the Johnson government, who’s likely to replace him, Scottish nationalism, the Labour Party and much more. Considering this podcast was recorded just prior to Boris Johnson’s resignation, at the time were were talking about the prospect of what will happen next at Number 10. Now that the resignation has taken place, the rest of the subject matter for this podcast is still on point. We’d also like to acknowledge that Producer Neil has moved back to New Zealand and so we are now a very international, remotely networked show! Anzac forever!

Please note that this podcast was recorded before Boris Johnson's resignation on 07/07/2022.

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In this episode John speaks with author and journalist David de Jong on his latest book, NAZI Billionaires published by Harper Collins, April 2022. Here we explore the dark history of a handful of German elite families which survived World War II to prosper in the postwar period.

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As the Russia-Ukraine War grinds on, the Western media have been replete with stories of Russian war crimes against Ukrainians. But do these war crimes amount to genocide? The language of genocide has certainly been used by the Russian president, but saying something doesn’t necessarily make it real. And what exactly are the legal parameters of genocide? Join us as John speaks with Prof. Dirk Moses on this thorny issue, Dirk is Frank Porter Graham Distinguished Professor of Global Human Rights History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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In this episode John is joined from New York by returning guest Prof. Massimo Pigliucci. John and Massimo speak frankly about the problems posed by modern celebrity looking at the two recent controversies that caught out prolific American podcaster, Joe Rogan. They also look at the celebrity of Canadian Clinical Psychologist Emeritus Prof. Jordan B. Peterson. Hang onto your hats folks, this is a broadranging and interesting take on Stoicism and its response to modern celebrity.

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For years, the US military-industrial complex has been hard at work perfecting weapon systems that can leave a lighter footprint wherever the American military is deployed. It's not a perfect path. Indeed there have been many military missions instigated by Washington that have failed despite the technologies employed. Nonetheless, with increasing accuracy, fewer manned weapons are needed to accomplish a military operation and, historically speaking, war is becoming ‘cleaner' over time. For the US and its allies that is, but what about for the rest of the world? Today, from the US, we are joined by Prof. Samuel Moyn. Sam is Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School and Professor of History at Yale University. In this episode we’ll be examining the major themes from his latest book, Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War.

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The broken state of Libya has long been the jump-off point for African and Middle Eastern refugees fleeing the trouble-plagued African continent for a dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean to Europe. But Libya is hardly a place of welcome. Having only just recovered from a brutal civil war, Libya is now an EU-funded holding-pen for African refugees, Brussels and other European capitals eager to avoid a renewed surge of undocumented arrivals as occurred in 2015. In this episode of The Focus John speaks with Sally Hayden. Sally is an award-winning journalist and photographer currently focused on migration, conflict and humanitarian crises. She is also author of the book: My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World's Deadliest Migration Route published in 2022 by Melville House.

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The Hubble Space Telescope is over 30 years old and is still finding some outstanding new discoveries. Its most recent finding has been the starlight of one of the earliest stars in the known Cosmos, Earendel. In this episode, John speaks with Dr. Victoria Strait. Victoria is DAWN Fellow at the Cosmic Dawn Center within the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.

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After the terrible performance of Russian forces in their initial attempt to crush Ukrainian resistance and their complete failure at cowering Kyiv into submission, Russian forces have been reorganised to take advantage of their better showing in Ukraine’s east and south. But by ‘better showing’, we mean more territory captured not better Russian war fighting demonstrated. To look at how the new Russian offensive along the Donbas is being prepared and how effective it is likely to be, John speaks to Senior Lecturer in Military Strategy and Law, University of Portsmouth, Dr. Frank Ledwidge. Frank is a barrister, a former British military intelligence officer and author, his latest book: Aerial Warfare, a Very Short introduction was published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in 2020.

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In this episode, Nicolas Michelon joins John in discussing the key issues and dilemmas surrounding the 2022 French Presidential Election. Macron might be slated to win, but far-right candidates will maintain their growing hold on the French electorate as people are angry at a French EU political class that has abandoned them for the power politics of the European Parliament in Brussels. The Yellow Vest movement and the issues that have sparked this revolt against the French version of ‘the swamp’ are unlikely to go away as Macron seems safe, almost arrogantly so about the inevitability of his second term. But as Nicolas says, the far-right will evolve, as will the Yellow Vest movement leading to a period of profound instability and domestic political violence in the near-term.
John apologises for having used the term 'yellow jackets’ for ‘yellow vests’! Sometimes things like this slip out while in full discussion!

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