Best Aint Normal Podcasts (2025)

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Can we change violent minds? 57:40

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10M ago57:40

57:40

In her final lecture, the forensic psychiatrist Dr Gwen Adshead, assesses how we deal with violent offenders and asks is it time for a re-think? The UK has more than 70 people on whole life tariffs, at incredible expense – all to appease a sense of revenge, she says. Dr Adshead assesses the effectiveness and impact of therapeutic interventions with…

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Does Trauma Cause Violence? 57:48

10M ago57:48

57:48

How best do we understand how to manage powerful emotions such as rage, fear and shame? With very rare access, Forensic Psychiatrist Dr Gwen Adshead gives her third Reith Lecture inside HMP Grendon, where she talks to prisoners and staff, and asks the question: “Does trauma cause violence?” Does being a victim of violence in some circumstances make…

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Aren't they all evil? 58:01

10M ago58:01

58:01

In her second Reith Lecture, Dr Gwen Adshead asks if there’s such a thing as “evil.”? In a career spanning nearly 40 years the forensic psychiatrist has heard many of her patients ask: “ I have done evil things but does that make me evil.”? Dr Adshead says that we have often confused “evil” with mental illness. She argues that we all have capacity …

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Is Violence Normal? 58:01

11M ago58:01

58:01

In her 2024 Reith Lectures, Dr Gwen Adshead, addresses four questions that she has most commonly faced in her work as a therapist with violent perpetrators in secure psychiatric units and prisons: Is Violence normal? What is the relationship between trauma and violence?Is there such a thing as Evil?Can we change violent minds? In this first lecture…

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4. The Future of Prosperity 57:32

2y ago57:32

57:32

This year's BBC Reith Lecturer is Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, Oxford University and author of “Why Politics Fails.” In four lectures called “Our Democratic Future,” he asks how we can build a politics that works for all of us with political systems which are robust to the challenges of the twent…

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3. The Future of Solidarity 57:41

2y ago57:41

57:41

This year's BBC Reith Lecturer is Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, Oxford University and the author of "Why Politics Fails." He will deliver four lectures in a series called “Our Democratic Future.” The series asks how we can build a politics that works for all of us with systems which are robust to …

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2. The Future of Security 57:33

2y ago57:33

57:33

This year's BBC Reith Lecturer is Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, Oxford University. He will deliver four lectures called “Our Democratic Future.” In his series Professor Ansell asks how we can build a politics that works for all of us with systems which are robust to the challenges of the twenty fi…

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1. The Future of Democracy 58:08

2y ago58:08

58:08

This year's BBC Reith Lecturer is Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, Oxford University. He will deliver four lectures called “Our Democratic Future,” asking how we can build a politics that works for all of us with systems which are robust to the challenges of the twenty first century, from climate cha…

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4. Freedom from Fear 1:02:20

3y ago1:02:20

1:02:20

In the last in a series of four lectures examining what freedom means, the foreign affairs and intelligence expert Dr Fiona Hill gives her BBC Reith Lecture on Freedom from Fear. Dr Hill is one of the world’s leading experts on Russia, and served as director for European and Russian affairs on President Trump’s National Security Council, and in sen…

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3. Freedom from Want 1:13:49

3y ago1:13:49

1:13:49

Author and musician Darren McGarvey gives the third of four BBC Reith Lectures on the theme of liberty, addressing "Freedom from Want." McGarvey argues that the present system isn't working for many but that it is incumbent on citizens to confront that and rise to the challenge of what inequality means. Individuals, he says, need to take personal r…

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2. Rhyddid i Addoli 28:42

3y ago28:42

28:42

Rowan Williams cyn Archesgob Cymru a Chaergaint yn traddodi ei ddarlith Reith i'r BBC yn y Gymraeg gan drafod ffydd a rhyddid. Yn ôl yr Arglwydd Acton, yr awdur ar ryddid o'r 19 ganrif a ddyfynnir yn y ddarlith, rhyddid crefyddol yw sail pob rhyddid gwleidyddol. Mae Rowan Williams yn cymhwyso hyn yng nghyd destun De Affrica, y gwrthdaro yn y ddadl …

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2. Freedom of Worship 1:11:11

3y ago1:11:11

1:11:11

Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, gives the second of the 2022 Reith Lectures, discussing faith and liberty. In his lecture, he cites Lord Acton, the 19th Century thinker on freedom, who said that religious freedom is the basis of all political freedom. Williams addresses this with reference to South Africa and today's controvers…

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1. Freedom of Speech 1:09:59

3y ago1:09:59

1:09:59

Best-selling Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gives the first of four 2022 Reith Lectures, discussing freedom of speech. She argues that it feels like freedom of speech is under attack. Cancel culture, arguments about “wokeness" and the assault on Salman Rushdie have produced a febrile atmosphere. Meanwhile autocrats and populists have unde…

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AI: A Future for Humans 58:12

4y ago58:12

58:12

Stuart Russell suggests a way forward for human control over super-powerful artificial intelligence. He argues for the abandonment of the current “standard model” of AI, proposing instead a new model based on three principles - chief among them the idea that machines should know that they don’t know what humans’ true objectives are. Echoes of the n…

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AI in the economy 58:04

4y ago58:04

58:04

Professor Stuart Russell explores the future of work and one of the most concerning issues raised by Artificial Intelligence: the threat to jobs. How will the economy adapt as work is increasingly done by machines? Economists’ forecasts range from rosy scenarios of human-AI teamwork, to dystopian visions in which most people are excluded from the e…

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AI in warfare 57:54

4y ago57:54

57:54

Stuart Russell warns of the dangers of developing autonomous weapon systems - arguing for a system of global control. Weapons that locate, select, and engage human targets without human supervision are already available for use in warfare,. Some argue that AI will reduce collateral damage and civilian casualties. Others believe it could kill on a s…

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The Biggest Event in Human History 58:03

4y ago58:03

58:03

Stuart Russell explores the future of Artificial Intelligence and asks; how can we get our relationship with it right? Professor Russell is founder of the Centre for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at the University of California, Berkeley. In this lecture he reflects on the birth of AI, tracing our thinking about it back to Aristotle. He …

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From Climate Crisis to Real Prosperity 57:43

5y ago57:43

57:43

Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England, argues that the roots of the climate change threat lie in a deeper crisis of values. He suggests that we can create an ecosystem in which society’s values broaden the market’s conceptions of value. In this way, individual creativity and market dynamism can be channelled to achieve broader soc…

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From Covid Crisis to Renaissance 57:45

5y ago57:45

57:45

Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England, observes that the pandemic has forced states to confront how we value health, wealth and opportunity. During the first few months of the crisis, most states chose to value human life more than the economic well-being of the nation-state. But if that seems to be changing how do we assess value…

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From Credit Crisis to Resilience 57:41

5y ago57:41

57:41

Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England, takes us back to the high drama of the financial crisis of 2008, which ended a period when bankers saw themselves as unassailable Masters of the Universe. More than a decade on, how much have the bankers changed their ways? How far has the financial sector changed? Dr Carney says that we must…

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From Moral to Market Sentiments 57:50

5y ago57:50

57:50

Mark Carney’s Reith 2020 Lectures chart how we have come to esteem financial value over human value and how we have gone from market economies to market societies. He argues that this has contributed to a trio of crises: of credit, Covid and climate. And the former Bank of England Governor will outline how we can turn this around. In this lecture, …

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Shifting the Foundations 42:23

6+ y ago42:23

42:23

Jonathan Sumption argues against Britain adopting a written constitution as a response to political alienation. The former UK Supreme Court Justice has argued that politics is in decline partly, at least, because the courts and the law is increasingly doing what politicians used to do. This has indirectly contributed to the electorate’s increasing …

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Rights and the Ideal Constitution 42:22

6+ y ago42:22

42:22

Jonathan Sumption assesses the US and UK’s constitutional models. He describes Britain's unwritten constitution as a political institution. The US Constitution is by contrast essentially a legal document. This has led Americans to address what should be political questions – such as the right to abortion – via the courts, rather than through politi…

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Human Rights and Wrongs 42:32

6+ y ago42:32

42:32

Jonathan Sumption argues that judges - especially those of the European Court of Human Rights - have usurped power by expanding the interpretation of human rights law. Lord Sumption argues that concepts of human rights have a long history in the common law. But by contrast, the European Convention on Human Rights has become a dynamic treaty, taking…

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In Praise of Politics 42:32

6+ y ago42:32

42:32

Jonathan Sumption explains how democratic processes have the power to accommodate opposition opinions and interests. But he argues that in recent years that politics has shied away from legislating and now the courts have taken on more and more of the role of making law. Lord Sumption was until recently a justice of the UK’s Supreme Court and is a …

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Law's Expanding Empire 57:40

6+ y ago57:40

57:40

Jonathan Sumption argues that the law is taking over the space once occupied by politics. Lord Sumption was until recently a justice of the UK’s Supreme Court, as well as being a distinguished historian. In this lecture, recorded before an audience at Middle Temple in London, Lord Sumption says that until the 19th century, law only dealt with a nar…

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War's Fatal Attraction 42:17

7y ago42:17

42:17

Historian Margaret MacMillan looks at representations of war: can we really create beauty from horror and death? Speaking at the Canadian War Museum, she discusses the paradox of commemoration. She questions attempts to capture the essence and meaning of war through art. The programme is presented by Anita Anand in front of an audience and includes…

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Managing the Unmanageable 57:14

7y ago57:14

57:14

Historian Margaret MacMillan assesses how the law and international agreements have attempted to address conflict. Speaking to an audience at the Northern Irish Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast, Professor MacMillan outlines how both states and the people have sought to justify warfare - from self-defence to civil war - focusing on exampl…

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Civilians and War 57:32

7y ago57:32

57:32

Historian Margaret MacMillan dissects the relationship between war and the civilian. Speaking to an audience in Beirut, she looks back at the city's violent past and discusses the impact of conflict on noncombatants throughout the centuries. She explores how civilians have been deliberately targeted, used as slaves and why women are still often sin…

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Fearing and Loving: Making Sense of the Warrior 57:27

7+ y ago57:27

57:27

Historian Margaret MacMillan asks why both men and women go to war. "We are both fascinated and repulsed by war and those who fight," she says. In this lecture, recorded at York University, she explores looks at the role of the warrior in history and culture and analyses how warriors are produced. And she interrogates the differences that gender pl…

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War and Humanity 42:22

7+ y ago42:22

42:22

Is war an essential part of being human? Are we destined to fight? That is the central question that historian Professor Margaret Macmillan addresses in five lectures recorded in the UK, Lebanon and in Canada. In her series, called The Mark of Cain, she will explore the tangled history of war and society and our complicated feelings towards it and …

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Reith Revisited: Angela Stent on George Kennan 14:48

8y ago14:48

14:48

Professor Angela Stent examines the lessons to be learnt from the 1957 Reith Lectures by the legendary American diplomat George Kennan, titled "Russia, the Atom and the West". Kennan, the architect of the American post-war policy of containment of the Soviet Union, was a key player during the Cold War. Stent, the former National Intelligence Office…

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Reith Revisited: Grayson Perry on Nikolaus Pevsner 15:53

8y ago15:53

15:53

'The Englishness of English Art' was the theme of the 1955 BBC Reith lectures by art historian Nikolaus Pevsner. Sarah Montague discusses them with Grayson Perry, the artist who himself was a Reith Lecturer in 2013. In Reith Revisited, Radio 4 assesses the contributions of great minds of the past to public debate, in a dialogue across the decades w…

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Reith Revisited: Brian Cox on Robert Oppenheimer 28:11

8y ago28:11

28:11

Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, gave the BBC's Reith lectures in 1953. Sarah Montague and Professor Brian Cox consider the lessons to be learnt from them today. The Reith Lectures began in 1948 on the Home Service, subsequently moving to Radio 4 and becoming a major national occasion for intellectual debate. As part of the celebratio…

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Reith Revisited: Anand Menon on Robert Birley 15:42

8y ago15:42

15:42

Robert Birley's 1949 Reith Lectures series, "Britain in Europe", remain urgently topical today. Sarah Montague discusses the lectures with Professor Anand Menon. The Reith Lectures began in 1948 on the Home Service, subsequently moving to Radio 4 and becoming a major national occasion for intellectual debate. As part of the celebrations of Radio 4'…

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Reith Revisited: Michael Sandel on Bertrand Russell 21:29

8y ago21:29

21:29

Sarah Montague and Michael Sandel look back at the inaugural Reith Lectures given in 1948 and 1949 by the philosopher Bertrand Russell. In Reith Revisited, Radio 4 assesses the contributions of great minds of the past to public debate, in a dialogue across the decades with contemporary thinkers. In 1948, households across Britain gathered before th…

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Adaptation 57:26

8y ago57:26

57:26

Hilary Mantel on how fiction changes when adapted for stage or screen. Each medium, she says, draws a different potential from the original. She argues that fiction, if written well, doesn't betray history, but enhances it. When fiction is turned into theatre, or into a film or TV, the same applies - as long as we understand that adaptation is not …

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Can These Bones Live? 49:48

8+ y ago49:48

49:48

Hilary Mantel analyses how historical fiction can make the past come to life. She says her task is to take history out of the archive and relocate it in a body. "It's the novelist's job: to put the reader in the moment, even if the moment is 500 years ago." She takes apart the practical job of "resurrection", and the process that gets historical fi…

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Silence Grips the Town 49:51

8+ y ago49:51

49:51

The story of how an obsessive relationship with history killed the young Polish writer Stanislawa Przybyszewska, told by best-selling author, Hilary Mantel. The brilliant Przybyszewska wrote gargantuan plays and novels about the French Revolution, in particular about the revolutionary leader Robespierre. She lived in self-willed poverty and isolati…

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The Iron Maiden 49:46

8+ y ago49:46

49:46

How do we construct our pictures of the past, including both truth and myth, asks best-selling author Hilary Mantel. Where do we get our evidence? She warns of two familiar errors: either romanticising the past, or seeing it as a gory horror-show. It is tempting, but often condescending, to seek modern parallels for historical events. "Are we looki…

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The Day Is for the Living 50:05

8+ y ago50:05

50:05

Art can bring the dead back to life, argues the late novelist Hilary Mantel, starting with the story of her own great-grandmother. 'We sense the dead have a vital force still,' she says. 'They have something to tell us, something we need to understand. Using fiction and drama, we try to gain that understanding.' She describes how and why she began …

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Culture 56:32

9y ago56:32

56:32

The philosopher and cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah says the idea of "Western civilization" or "Western culture" is a mistaken one and that we should abandon it. He uncovers the history of the idea from its roots at the time of the Crusades to its modern incarnation in the second half of the 20th century. However, we have very little cultura…

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Colour 56:33

9y ago56:33

56:33

The philosopher and cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah argues for a world free of racial fixations. He tells the story of Anton Wilhelm Amo Afer. He was five years old when he was brought from the Gold Coast to Germany in 1707, educated at a royal court and became an eminent philosopher. He argues that this elaborate Enlightenment experiment il…

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Country 56:32

9y ago56:32

56:32

The philosopher and cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah argues against a mythical, romantic view of nationhood, saying instead it should rest on a commitment to shared values. He explores the history of the idea, born in the 19th century, that there are peoples who are bound together by an ancient common spirit and that each of these nations is …

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Creed 56:34

9y ago56:34

56:34

Philosopher and cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah argues that when considering religion we overestimate the importance of scripture and underestimate the importance of practice. He begins with the complexities of his own background, as the son of an English Anglican mother and a Ghanaian Methodist father. He turns to the idea that religious fa…

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Black holes ain't as black as they are painted 29:24

9+ y ago29:24

29:24

The Cambridge cosmologist Professor Stephen Hawking delivers the second of his BBC Reith Lectures on black holes. Professor Hawking examines scientific thinking about black holes and challenges the idea that all matter and information is destroyed irretrievably within them. He explains his own hypothesis that black holes may emit a form of radiatio…

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Do black holes have no hair? 29:52

9+ y ago29:52

29:52

Professor Stephen Hawking delivers the first of his two BBC Reith Lectures on black holes. These collapsed stars challenge the very nature of space and time, as they contain a singularity - a phenomenon where the normal rules of the universe break down. They have held an enduring fascination for Professor Hawking throughout his life. Rather than se…

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The Idea of Wellbeing 42:05

11y ago42:05

42:05

The surgeon and writer Atul Gawande calls for a new focus on medical systems to ensure doctors work more effectively, alongside far greater transparency about their performance. Speaking to an audience at the India International Centre in Delhi, he describes the story of medicine over the last century through the prism of his own family. From a gra…

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The Problem of Hubris 41:49

11y ago41:49

41:49

Surgeon and writer Atul Gawande calls for a new approach to the two great unfixable problems in life and healthcare - ageing and death. He tells the story of how his daughter's piano teacher faced up to terminal cancer and the crucial choices she made about how to spend her final days. He says the teacher was only able to do this because of an esse…

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The Century of the System 41:43

11y ago41:43

41:43

The surgeon and writer Atul Gawande argues that better systems can transform global healthcare by radically reducing the chance of mistakes and increasing the chance of successful outcomes. He tells the story of how a little-known hospital in Austria managed to develop a complex yet highly effective system for dealing with victims of drowning. He s…