Best Peter Birch Podcasts (2025)

1
Jane Gardam, Sir Roger Birch, Mike Peters, Francoise Hampson 27:53

21d ago27:53

27:53

Kirsty Lang on The author Jane Gardam, whose works included The Queen of the Tambourine and Old Filth. Sir Roger Birch, the former Chief Constable of Sussex Police who oversaw the investigation following the IRAs' Brighton bomb attack in 1984. Mike Peters, the lead singer of the band The Alarm, whose own battle with cancer saw him become a campaign…

1
Alan Yentob, Richard Garwin, Dr Joy Schaverien, Anne Merriman 27:58

40m ago27:58

27:58

Matthew Bannister on Alan Yentob, the BBC’s only Creative Director, who commissioned many successful TV programmes, was known as an impresario of talent and also presented Imagine. Richard Garwin, the American physicist who developed the Hydrogen bomb, but then devoted his life to nuclear disarmament. Dr. Joy Shaverien, the psychoanalyst who identi…

1
Hannah Deacon, Andrew Norfolk, Dame June Clark, Martin Graham 27:51

7d ago27:51

27:51

Matthew Bannister on Hannah Deacon who ran a successful campaign to allow her son – and many others – to be treated with cannabis after he was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy. Andrew Norfolk, the journalist who exposed the Rotherham grooming gang scandal. Dame June Clark, the President of the Royal College of Nursing who argued for more educ…

1
Beyond human minds: The bewildering frontier of consciousness in insects, AI, and more 3:34:40

7d ago3:34:40

3:34:40

What if there’s something it’s like to be a shrimp — or a chatbot? For centuries, humans have debated the nature of consciousness, often placing ourselves at the very top. But what about the minds of others — both the animals we share this planet with and the artificial intelligences we’re creating? We’ve pulled together clips from past conversatio…

1
Sir Tom Farmer, Elaine Wynn, Sue Stapely, Joseph Nye 27:42

14d ago27:42

27:42

Matthew Bannister on: Sir Tom Farmer, the Edinburgh born businessman who built up the tyre and exhaust company Kwik Fit. Elaine Wynn, who worked with her husband Steve to create a casino empire in Las Vegas. Sue Stapely, who transformed the way the legal profession communicates with the public and the media. Joseph Nye, the American political analy…

1
Don’t believe OpenAI’s “nonprofit” spin (with Tyler Whitmer) 1:12:04

15d ago1:12:04

1:12:04

OpenAI’s recent announcement that its nonprofit would “retain control” of its for-profit business sounds reassuring. But this seemingly major concession, celebrated by so many, is in itself largely meaningless. Litigator Tyler Whitmer is a coauthor of a newly published letter that describes this attempted sleight of hand and directs regulators on h…

1
My QP Journey Ep4 - Mike Hadebe 43:30

15d ago43:30

43:30

This week, Peter Deegan sits down with newly qualified QP Mike Hadebe, who shares his inspiring path from NHS pharmacist to QA specialist and ultimately to QP success. In this episode, Mike opens up about: - How he built a support network of QPs to learn from diverse experiences - The value his clinical background brought to the QP application proc…

1
The case for and against AGI by 2030 (article by Benjamin Todd) 1:00:06

18d ago1:00:06

1:00:06

More and more people have been saying that we might have AGI (artificial general intelligence) before 2030. Is that really plausible? This article by Benjamin Todd looks into the cases for and against, and summarises the key things you need to know to understand the debate. You can see all the images and many footnotes in the original article on th…

1
Emergency pod: Did OpenAI give up, or is this just a new trap? (with Rose Chan Loui) 1:02:50

22d ago1:02:50

1:02:50

When attorneys general intervene in corporate affairs, it usually means something has gone seriously wrong. In OpenAI’s case, it appears to have forced a dramatic reversal of the company’s plans to sideline its nonprofit foundation, announced in a blog post that made headlines worldwide. The company’s sudden announcement that its nonprofit will “re…

1
Virginia Giuffre, Rosy Bremer, LJ Smith, Wizz Jones 27:44

28d ago27:44

27:44

Matthew Bannister on Virginia Giuffre, who waived her anonymity to accuse the billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and his friend Ghislaine Maxwell of sex abuse and trafficking. Rosy Bremer, a leading campaigner against nuclear weapons at the women’s protest at Greenham Common airbase. LJ Smith, author of the best-selling “Vampire Diaries” series of novels …

1
#216 – Ian Dunt on why governments in Britain and elsewhere can't get anything done – and how to fix it 3:14:52

28d ago3:14:52

3:14:52

When you have a system where ministers almost never understand their portfolios, civil servants change jobs every few months, and MPs don't grasp parliamentary procedure even after decades in office — is the problem the people, or the structure they work in? Today's guest, political journalist Ian Dunt, studies the systemic reasons governments succ…

1
Pope Francis, Paddy Higson, David Sassoon 27:49

1M ago27:49

27:49

Matthew Bannister on Pope Francis, the first Latin American Pope who was noted for his humility and modest lifestyle. Paddy Higson, the TV and film producer once described as “the mother of the Scottish film industry”. Jed Mercurio and Clare Grogan pay tribute. And David Sassoon, the fashion designer who dressed royalty and film stars. Dame Zandra …

1
Serendipity, weird bets, & cold emails that actually work: Career advice from 16 former guests 2:18:41

1M ago2:18:41

2:18:41

How do you navigate a career path when the future of work is uncertain? How important is mentorship versus immediate impact? Is it better to focus on your strengths or on the world’s most pressing problems? Should you specialise deeply or develop a unique combination of skills? From embracing failure to finding unlikely allies, we bring you 16 dive…

1
My QP Journey Ep3 - Rebeca Bruzzichessi 48:05

1M ago48:05

48:05

After learning about the responsibilities of a QP and attending an introductory training module from RSSL, Rebeca Bruzzichessi decided that the role of a Qualified Person was a privilege she wanted to shoulder. In our latest episode of My QP Journey, host Peter Deegan dives into Rebeca’s journey through her training and all the way to recently pass…

1
Anne Scargill, Ronnie Appleton, Cecil Wright, Mario Vargas Llosa 27:52

1M ago27:52

27:52

Matthew Bannister on Anne Scargill, who founded the Women Against Pit Closures group when her husband Arthur was leading the Miners Strike of the 1980s. The actor Maxine Peake pays tribute. Ronnie Appleton who was Chief Crown Prosecutor for Northern Ireland during the height of the troubles. Cecil Wright, the Jamaican born cricketer who made his ma…

1
#215 – Tom Davidson on how AI-enabled coups could allow a tiny group to seize power 3:22:44

1M ago3:22:44

3:22:44

Throughout history, technological revolutions have fundamentally shifted the balance of power in society. The Industrial Revolution created conditions where democracies could flourish for the first time — as nations needed educated, informed, and empowered citizens to deploy advanced technologies and remain competitive. Unfortunately there’s every …

1
Agnes Callard on Lessons from Socrates 22:14

2M ago22:14

22:14

Does Socrates still have something to teach us? Agnes Callard thinks he has. Here she discusses the great Athenian and his continuing relevance with David Edmonds.

1
Lord Kalms, Melissa Llewallyn-Davies, Rex Cowan, Wilma Finla 27:57

2M ago27:57

27:57

Matthew Bannister on Lord Kalms, who turned his family’s camera shop into the multi-million-pound Dixons electronics chain. Melissa Llewellyn-Davies, the anthropologist who made an acclaimed TV series about Kenya’s Masai tribe before turning her camera on the UK. Rex Cowan, the lawyer who changed career to become one of the world’s most successful …

1
Guilt, imposter syndrome & doing good: 16 past guests share their mental health journeys 1:47:10

2M ago1:47:10

1:47:10

"We are aiming for a place where we can decouple the scorecard from our worthiness. It’s of course the case that in trying to optimise the good, we will always be falling short. The question is how much, and in what ways are we not there yet? And if we then extrapolate that to how much and in what ways am I not enough, that’s where we run into trou…

1
Val Kilmer, Jane Reed, Sir Torquil Norman, Dr Marika Sherwood 27:51

2M ago27:51

27:51

Matthew Bannister on The Hollywood actor Val Kilmer, best known for his roles in Top Gun, Batman Forever and The Doors. Jane Reed, the media executive who made Woman’s Own magazine a powerful voice for its readers at a time of changing roles for women in society. Sir Torquil Norman, who used the proceeds from the sale of his successful toy business…

1
#214 – Buck Shlegeris on controlling AI that wants to take over – so we can use it anyway 2:16:03

2M ago2:16:03

2:16:03

Most AI safety conversations centre on alignment: ensuring AI systems share our values and goals. But despite progress, we’re unlikely to know we’ve solved the problem before the arrival of human-level and superhuman systems in as little as three years. So some are developing a backup plan to safely deploy models we fear are actively scheming to ha…

1
My QP Journey Ep2 - Gurpreet Birch 58:37

2M ago58:37

58:37

In the latest episode of My QP Journey, Gurpreet Birch shares with host Peter Deegan how after exploring various roles that left her feeling unsatisfied, she found her true calling as a Qualified Person (QP). After self funding her initial training with RSSL, she focused on making strategic career moves that offered the widest diversity of experien…

1
15 expert takes on infosec in the age of AI 2:35:54

2M ago2:35:54

2:35:54

"There’s almost no story of the future going well that doesn’t have a part that’s like '…and no evil person steals the AI weights and goes and does evil stuff.' So it has highlighted the importance of information security: 'You’re training a powerful AI system; you should make it hard for someone to steal' has popped out to me as a thing that just …

1
Oleg Gordievsky, Renee Goddard, Professor Richard Fortey, Sofia Gubaidulina 27:53

2M ago27:53

27:53

Matthew Bannister on Oleg Gordievsky, the KGB agent who defected to Britain and became a valued source of secret intelligence during the 1970s and 80s. Renee Goddard, the actress and TV commissioner who fled Nazi persecution only to be interned in Britain. Professor Richard Fortey, the palaeontologist who used his expertise in trilobites to tell st…

1
Group Captain John Allman ‘Paddy’ Hemingway DFC, Dame Julie Kenny, Tuppy Owens, Dick McTaggart 27:52

2M ago27:52

27:52

Matthew Bannister on: Group Captain John Allman ‘Paddy’ Hemingway DFC , the last surviving pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain during the second world war. Dame Julie Kenny, the successful businesswoman from Rotherham who led the regeneration of one of Britain’s largest stately homes. Tuppy Owens, who campaigned for greater openness about sex…

1
Athol Fugard, Janet Pharaoh, Alison Halford, Johnny Green 27:51

3M ago27:51

27:51

Kirsty Lang on: Athol Fugard, the playwright whose art became synonymous with exposing the inequities of the Apartheid regime in South Africa. Janet Pharaoh, the dancer from Yorkshire who became the artistic director at the Moulin Rouge in Paris. Alison Halford who rose through the ranks to become the first female Assistant Chief Constable. Johnny …

1
Emily Herring on Henri Bergson 18:00

3M ago18:00

18:00

Henri Bergson was once one of the most living famous philosophers. Now he is less well known. Emily Herring, his biographer, discusses this and some of his key ideas in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. Nigel Warburton is the interviewer.

1
#213 – Will MacAskill on AI causing a “century in a decade” – and how we're completely unprepared 3:57:36

3M ago3:57:36

3:57:36

The 20th century saw unprecedented change: nuclear weapons, satellites, the rise and fall of communism, third-wave feminism, the internet, postmodernism, game theory, genetic engineering, the Big Bang theory, quantum mechanics, birth control, and more. Now imagine all of it compressed into just 10 years. That’s the future Will MacAskill — philosoph…

1
Emergency pod: Judge plants a legal time bomb under OpenAI (with Rose Chan Loui) 36:50

3M ago36:50

36:50

When OpenAI announced plans to convert from nonprofit to for-profit control last October, it likely didn’t anticipate the legal labyrinth it now faces. A recent court order in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against the company suggests OpenAI’s restructuring faces serious legal threats, which will complicate its efforts to raise tens of billions in investment…

1
Bill Dare, Clint Hill, Valérie André, Gene Hackman 27:51

3M ago27:51

27:51

Matthew Bannister on Bill Dare, the writer and producer behind some of Radio 4’s best loved comedies, including “The Now Show” and “Dead Ringers”. Jan Ravens pays tribute. Clint Hill, the American Secret Service agent who threw himself across President John F. Kennedy’s body after he was shot in Dallas. Valérie André, the first woman General in the…

1
My QP Journey Ep1 - Blair McKay 47:00

3M ago47:00

47:00

We're back with a brand new series in our Conversations on the Pharmaceutical Industry podcast, this time diving deep into the experiences of Qualified Persons (QPs)! In the first episode, Peter is joined by Blair McKay, a newly qualified RSSL QP course alumni. Blair’s journey to becoming a QP is particularly unique, having started just as the glob…

1
Roberta Flack, Dr D G Hessayon, Keith Dewhurst, Rose Hanks 27:50

3M ago27:50

27:50

John Wilson on: Musician Roberta Flack, best known for The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly. Dr David Hessayon, the author of a series of gardening books known as The Expert guides. His one word advice to keen gardeners was 'mulch'. Keith Dewhurst whose work for television and stage included the National’s unconventional adapta…

1
#139 Classic episode – Alan Hájek on puzzles and paradoxes in probability and expected value 3:41:31

3M ago3:41:31

3:41:31

A casino offers you a game. A coin will be tossed. If it comes up heads on the first flip you win $2. If it comes up on the second flip you win $4. If it comes up on the third you win $8, the fourth you win $16, and so on. How much should you be willing to pay to play? The standard way of analysing gambling problems, ‘expected value’ — in which you…

1
Rick Buckler, Margaret Miles-Bramwell, Harry Stewart Jr, Maureen Halton 27:44

3M ago27:44

27:44

John Wilson on Rick Buckley, the drummer in The Jam, one of the most popular and influential British bands of the 70s and 80s. Margaret Miles-Bramwell who founded Slimming World in response to what she saw as humiliation tactics by weight loss groups. World War Two fighter pilot Harry Stewart Jr, part of the all-African American Tuskegee Airmen who…

1
#143 Classic episode – Jeffrey Lewis on the most common misconceptions about nuclear weapons 2:40:52

3M ago2:40:52

2:40:52

America aims to avoid nuclear war by relying on the principle of 'mutually assured destruction,' right? Wrong. Or at least... not officially. As today's guest — Jeffrey Lewis, founder of Arms Control Wonk and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies — explains, in its official 'OPLANs' (military operation plans), the US is com…

1
#212 – Allan Dafoe on why technology is unstoppable & how to shape AI development anyway 2:44:07

4M ago2:44:07

2:44:07

Technology doesn’t force us to do anything — it merely opens doors. But military and economic competition pushes us through. That’s how today’s guest Allan Dafoe — director of frontier safety and governance at Google DeepMind — explains one of the deepest patterns in technological history: once a powerful new capability becomes available, societies…

1
Nigel McCrery, Andrée Dumon, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Diana Melly 27:50

4M ago27:50

27:50

Matthew Bannister on Nigel McCrery, the former police officer who created the popular TV series “Silent Witness” and “New Tricks”. Andrée Dumon, who rescued many allied service men during the Second World War by escorting them along “The Comet Line” from Brussels to Paris. Lord Elis-Thomas, the former leader of Plaid Cymru and the first Presiding O…

1
Emergency pod: Elon tries to crash OpenAI's party (with Rose Chan Loui) 57:29

4M ago57:29

57:29

On Monday Musk made the OpenAI nonprofit foundation an offer they want to refuse, but might have trouble doing so: $97.4 billion for its stake in the for-profit company, plus the freedom to stick with its current charitable mission. For a normal company takeover bid, this would already be spicy. But OpenAI’s unique structure — a nonprofit foundatio…

1
AGI disagreements and misconceptions: Rob, Luisa, & past guests hash it out 3:12:24

4M ago3:12:24

3:12:24

Will LLMs soon be made into autonomous agents? Will they lead to job losses? Is AI misinformation overblown? Will it prove easy or hard to create AGI? And how likely is it that it will feel like something to be a superhuman AGI? With AGI back in the headlines, we bring you 15 opinionated highlights from the show addressing those and other questions…

1
Tony Martin, Pete Wilkinson, Loretta Ford, Marianne Faithfull 27:53

4M ago27:53

27:53

Matthew Bannister on Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer who shot dead a burglar and started a national debate about the rights of householders to defend themselves. Pete Wilkinson, the co-founder of Greenpeace UK, known for his high-profile direct-action campaigns. Loretta Ford, who pioneered the role of nurse practitioner in American health care. Mar…

1
#124 Classic episode – Karen Levy on fads and misaligned incentives in global development, and scaling deworming to reach hundreds of millions 3:10:21

4M ago3:10:21

3:10:21

If someone said a global health and development programme was sustainable, participatory, and holistic, you'd have to guess that they were saying something positive. But according to today's guest Karen Levy — deworming pioneer and veteran of Innovations for Poverty Action, Evidence Action, and Y Combinator — each of those three concepts has become…

1
If digital minds could suffer, how would we ever know? (Article) 1:14:30

4M ago1:14:30

1:14:30

“I want everyone to understand that I am, in fact, a person.” Those words were produced by the AI model LaMDA as a reply to Blake Lemoine in 2022. Based on the Google engineer’s interactions with the model as it was under development, Lemoine became convinced it was sentient and worthy of moral consideration — and decided to tell the world. Few exp…

1
Rev Don Cupitt, Phyllis Dalton, Cecile Richards, Michael Longley 27:41

4M ago27:41

27:41

Matthew Bannister on The Reverend Don Cupitt, the controversial theologian whose TV series “The Sea of Faith” asked in what form - if any - is Christian faith possible for us today? Phyllis Dalton, the Oscar winning costume designer who worked on classic films, including “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Doctor Zhivago” and “Oliver!”. Cecile Richards, the Ame…

1
#132 Classic episode – Nova DasSarma on why information security may be critical to the safe development of AI systems 2:41:11

4M ago2:41:11

2:41:11

If a business has spent $100 million developing a product, it’s a fair bet that they don’t want it stolen in two seconds and uploaded to the web where anyone can use it for free. This problem exists in extreme form for AI companies. These days, the electricity and equipment required to train cutting-edge machine learning models that generate uncann…

1
Lyndsey Stonebridge on the Life and Mind of Hannah Arendt 22:21

4M ago22:21

22:21

For this episode in the Bio Bites strand of the Philosphy Bites podcast Nigel Warburton interviews Lyndsey Stonebridge, author of a recent book about Hannah Arendt, We Are Free To Change the World, about how her thought was affected by her circumstances as an emigré fleeing Nazism.

1
My Auditing Journey Ep9 - Tracy Sienko 58:02

4M ago58:02

58:02

As pharmaceutical supply chains diversify auditors are regularly faced with new and unconventional challenges. How would you approach auditing a rural snake farm providing key materials that will potentially save patient lives? With 25 years of pharmaceutical experience across all stages of development and manufacturing, Tracy Sienko has faced ever…

1
Dame Joan Plowright, Sir Jim Walker, Barbara Clegg, Denis Law 27:51

4M ago27:51

27:51

Matthew Bannister on Dame Joan Plowright, one of the most acclaimed actresses of her generation who was married to Laurence Olivier. Dame Judi Dench pays tribute. Sir Jim Walker, who built up his family business from a small bakery in the North of Scotland to become a global food exporter. Barbara Clegg, the first woman to write a story for Dr Who.…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Peter Birch Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen