Jenny Odell is an American multi-disciplinary artist, former art teacher at Stanford University and author of the New York Times best selling book, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy.

She spoke about attention, where we put it, how it shapes and forms us, and how it could be the key to understanding our increasingly polarised societies.

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2022/06/08/jenny-odell-on-attention-where-we-put-it-and-how-it-forms-us

Kate Maltby is a columnist for The i Paper, theatre critic and senior research associate at Jesus College Cambridge.

She spoke about her Jewish heritage, the power and (almost) sacredness of live theatre and of dealing with identity issues.

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2022/06/01/kate-maltby-on-her-jewish-heritage-identity-issues-and-the-power-of-live-theatre

Francesca is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter, and a patron of Humanists UK. Her latest book is called God: An Anatomy.

She spoke about her vegetarianism, her experience of growing up in a single parent household with not a lot of money and studying theology as an atheist at the University of Oxford.

Christie is an award-winning novelist, memoirist and professor of medical and health humanities at UEA. She was a registered pediatric nurse for 20 years spending most of her career in pediatric intensive care and as a resuscitation officer.

She speaks about humour as an antidote to darkness, why nurses’ stories are so rarely told, how she found meaning in the practice of care, and why compassion is what we should be judged on.

Danny Kruger MP is a Conservative Member of Parliament for the Devizes constituency in Wiltshire. He and his wife founded and ran Only Connect, a charity that works with men and women in prison or recently released, with the aim of helping them live crime-free lives. Prior to this he worked as a speechwriter for the Conservative party, for a think tank, and as a journalist.

He speaks about his conservatism, his conversion to Christianity in his 20’s, and why he thinks running a charity is harder than being an MP.

We recorded this while Danny was driving, so you may hear a faint ticking noise from his indicator.

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2022/05/11/danny-kruger-mp-conservatism-christianity-and-why-running-a-charity-is-hard-work

Frank Cottrell-Boyce is a screenwriter and novelist. He is best known for his screenplays for 24 Hour Party People, Welcome to Sarajevo and others, his award–winning children’s books, including Millions, and for being the writer of the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, one of many collaborations with his friend, Danny Boyle.

He speaks about his sacramental faith, the place of forgiveness in society, and what he sees as the writer's calling.

We had a few sound issues with this recording but we hope you agree it is still well worth listening to.

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2022/05/04/frank-cottrellboyce-on-wonder-forgiveness-and-the-writers-calling

James is co–chair and co–founder of COOK, the very fancy and very delicious frozen food company. He is also co–founder and board member of the B Corp, co–chairman of B Lab UK and a founding partner of Snowball, which is a multi–asset impact investment manager. He has also been deputy chairman of the social Stock Exchange. Wherever people have been thinking about how business and capital can be used for positive social purpose, you will find James.

He speaks about his three sacred values of original goodness, interdependence and autonomy, feeling politically homeless, and why he thinks it’s possible for business to do good in the world.

Jenn is an award-winning novelist, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Professor of writing at Lancaster University.

In this episode she speaks about her childhood Mormonism, class, the turbulence around identity and free speech on university campuses, and how society is thinking more about trauma and what that might mean.

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2022/04/20/jenn-ashworth-on-mormonism-class-and-the-universal-experience-of-suffering

Charlie is a journalist and a critically acclaimed memoirist. His memoir, ‘Featherhood’ won all manner of awards. Charlie is the adopted son of David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and Polly Samson, who’s also a writer. Charlie was famously arrested and imprisoned after being photographed swinging from the Cenotaph during the student protests in 2010. His memoir covers his time in prison, his attempts to reconnect with his biological father and his strange and beautiful relationship with an adopted magpie.

In this episode, Charlie speaks about whether it is possible to have an ethical memoir, what we are doing when we consume true stories in society, and what that means for the ways we engage with each other across our differences.

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2022/04/13/charlie-gilmour-on-fatherhood-and-the-cost-of-writing-a-memoir

Vanessa worked in education and nonprofits before attending Harvard Divinity School to become a non–denominational atheist chaplain. Whilst at Harvard she and Casper Ter Kuile who was also a guest on the podcast, launched a class and then a very successful podcast based around the idea of reading Harry Potter as a sacred text. She is now CEO and founder of Not Sorry Productions, which produces the podcasts ‘Harry Potter and the Sacred Text’, ‘Twilight in Quarantine’, and ‘Hot and Bothered’, which is about treating romance novels as sacred. Her first book is called ‘Praying with Jane Eyre.’

In this episode she speaks about her childhood raised in an atheist but practising Jewish home as the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors, what she means by reading other texts as sacred and what we might all learn from it.

You can read a full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2022/01/26/vanessa-zoltan-on-radical-hospitality-atheist-chaplaincy-and-treating-texts-as-sacred