Best Peter Birch Podcasts (2025)

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32. From slavery to anticolonialism: John Maynard and Tony Birch on Black and Indigenous boxing 46:19

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17h ago46:19

46:19

What does boxing have to do with anticolonial politics? How did the sport become a space where Black and Indigenous fighters in Australia pushed back against racism and empire? From Peter Jackson to Jack Johnson, Marcus Garvey to Les “Ranji” Moody, this episode explores how Black and Indigenous fighters turned the ring into a stage for resistance a…

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31. Peter Jackson: Boxing champion and pioneer of Black self-representation 42:02

17h ago42:02

42:02

Did you know that the most famous Australian in the world in 1890 was from the Caribbean? Peter Jackson was born in St Croix in the Caribbean in the years after slavery was abolished. He arrived in Sydney as a teenager and got noticed when he single-handedly fought off seven in a brawl at Wynyard Square. He soon stepped into Sydney’s boxing rings a…

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30. History Lab is changing 3:33

2d ago3:33

3:33

History Lab is back—refreshed and reimagined. From now on, you’ll hear us in regular seasonal runs, dropping new episodes once or twice a fortnight over six to eight weeks. Each run will showcase a mix of formats: History Lab Originals – our signature investigative storytelling that digs into the gaps between us and the past. History Lab Studio – i…

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Amber Canavan: The Labels That Lie 30:34

7d ago30:34

30:34

“That is no life for these birds and it is definitely not what the consumer is thinking or assuming. When they see these nice labels and they think, ‘oh, I'm paying so much more for this, that change must be going for the animals, right?’ No, it's lining the pockets and it's keeping that status quo of that factory farm going.” Amber Canavan Most of…

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Carlos Alberto Sánchez on Mexican Philosophy 21:22

22d ago21:22

21:22

What is distinctive about Mexican philosophy? How much is it linked to its geopolitical context? Carlos Alberto Sanchez, author of Blooming in the Ruins, a book about major themes in 20th century Mexican philosophy discusses this topic in conversation with David Edmonds. This episode was supported by the Ideas Workshop, part of Open Society Foundat…

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Christine Mott: Free Bird 29:54

1M ago29:54

29:54

“How could this owl, who was born in captivity, lived his whole life in a cage, how could he possibly survive? He's going to be dead in a few days. That's what everybody thought.” – Christine Mott In February 2023, a Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco made headlines—and captured hearts—when he escaped from his small enclosure at the Central Park Zoo. B…

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My QP Journey Ep6 - Carol Felgar 56:40

1M ago56:40

56:40

In this latest episode of My QP Journey, Carol Felgar joins host Peter Deegan to share her full journey to becoming a Qualified Person, from early doubts to eventual success. Along the way, Carol reflects on: How the thought of the Viva almost knocked her off course The critical role building a network of trusted colleagues, mentors and a support s…

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Ellie Robson on Mary Midgley on Animals 16:05

1M ago16:05

16:05

Mary Midgley didn't begin publishing until she was 59 years old, but nevertheless made a significant impact and had a distinctive approach. In this episode of Philosophy Bites Ellie Robson discusses some of her key ideas about our relationship with other animals.

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Sari Nusseibeh on Philosophy and Conflict 24:23

1M ago24:23

24:23

Many people think philosophical discucssion is a luxury in times of conflict, but the Palestinian philosopher Sari Nusseibeh is more optimistic. In this episode of Philosophy Bites, recorded in early 2025, he explains why.

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Edita Birnkrant and Tracy Winston: The Horse Who Collapsed in the Street 37:03

1M ago37:03

37:03

“I could be walking in Central Park and come up on one of these horse and buggies. I don't think twice about it because I see it as part of the New York attraction. You know, you have the Statue of Liberty, you have Times Square, and you have these romantic horse and buggy things where people get married in the park and they ride these carriages. A…

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Mari Andrew: How To Be A Living Thing 41:18

2M ago41:18

41:18

“It was just this love I developed of life, all life and how much life can be a joy to witness and experience if we're not severing ourselves or severing other lives from our own. And then you start to see all the connectedness and it's like a drug.” - Mari Andrew What if healing wasn’t about fixing yourself—but about remembering what it means to b…

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Robert Talisse on Civic Solitude 17:42

2M ago17:42

17:42

Democracy is about acting as a group, but, surprisingly, Robert Talisse argues that what it needs to function well is a degree of solitude for citizens. In-group and out-group dynamics mean that individuals become vulnerable to being pushed towards more extreme views than they would otherwise hold. There is, Talisse, maintains, a need to balance ti…

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Dr. Shirley Strum: The Echoes of Our Origins 39:06

2M ago39:06

39:06

"So I think this whole idea of cumulative culture is a way to make humans exceptional. But it's clear to me that humans are exceptional, and seeing it through baboon glasses, I can understand in a different way why they're exceptional. But many of the things that we think are uniquely human are actually present in other animals." - Dr. Shirley Stru…

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Jeffrey Reed: Cry Wolf: Decoding the Language of the Wild 46:59

2M ago46:59

46:59

“I sit in the camp that is going to defend wildlife, and I will live and die in that space. Even though what I see is in the West, wolves have a bad reputation. It's still there…" -Jeffrey Reed What if we could understand wolves? How they communicate, what they might be saying? Jeffrey Reed, is a computational linguist, naturalist, and technologist…

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Hanno Sauer on The World History of Morality 24:33

3M ago24:33

24:33

How did morality evolve? Why do different cultures have such a similar set of moral norms and values? Hanno Sauer gives an evolutionary story that explains the genealogy of morality through human co-operation.

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29. Truth-telling: From Country to Classroom 25:20

3M ago25:20

25:20

What is the work of truth-telling? How is evidence collected? What happens next? What role should schools play in teaching Australia’s full history? Australia has completed its first, formal truth-telling process — the Yoorrook Justice Commission of Victoria. We joined Commissioner Travis Lovett on his 500-kilometre Walk for Truth from Portland on …

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28. Fishing for Answers 37:53

3M ago37:53

37:53

This special episode from our archives speaks to this year’s NAIDOC Week themes of strength, vision and legacy. Fishing for Answers explores the sophistication of the fishing practices of Eora women in Sydney Harbour, and asks, How can we hear from the women themselves and find out what their world sounded like? Content warning: If you are an Abori…

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Takeshi Morisato on Japanese Philosophy 18:05

3M ago18:05

18:05

Most Western philosophers are deeply ignorant of Japanese philosophy. Takeshi Morisato who was brought up in Japan, and who has studied both continental and analytic Western traditions provides and introduction to some of the key strands in Japanese philosophy.

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Trevor Ritland: The Golden Toad 34:01

3M ago34:01

34:01

I think you could probably go back and track the stages of grief, probably that is what I went through. But I think if you do it right, you end up at acceptance. And that's where I ended up. And that's not to say that I've fully accepted the idea that the golden toad is extinct. Personally, I do still hold out hope that it could still be out there …

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My QP Journey Ep5 - Ben Broadbent 50:10

3M ago50:10

50:10

Six years ago Ben and our host Peter Deegan had an informal chat over coffee about the benefits and challenges of becoming a QP. After many eventful years Ben and Peter come together again to discuss Ben’s journey to Viva success. In this episode, Ben and Peter touch on: - Juggling family life with the demands of study - The importance of a strong …

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Melissa Lane on Plato, Rule, and Office 15:04

3M ago15:04

15:04

Melissa Lane, a classics scholar as well as a philosopher, discusses some key features of Plato's political philosophy and shows its continuing relevance.

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Reuven Bank and Andrew Kim: When the Ocean Lost Its Stars 30:54

3M ago30:54

30:54

By Species Unite

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Delcianna Winders: The Beginning of the End of Animal Testing 40:08

4M ago40:08

40:08

“We don't actually know how many animals we're testing on in this country, because most of them are not protected by any laws. There's not even a requirement that you track their numbers.” – Delcianna Winders Today, I have the pleasure of sharing some genuinely promising news. For decades, the FDA and NIH have required or relied on animal testing a…

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Jeff Kerr: Our First Amendment Right to Receive Communications (from Monkeys) 30:14

4M ago30:14

30:14

"It is a scientific fact that these macaques, like all other primates, including humans, are communicating. They communicate in much the same way we do - facial expressions, vocalizations, body postures, those kinds of things." - Jeff Kerr Jeff Kerr is PETA foundations Chief Legal Officer. I asked him to come on the show to talk about one of PETA’s…

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Isabella La Rocca Gonzalez: Censored Landscapes 31:41

4M ago31:41

31:41

"The one that really surprised me was the organic humane Certified Egg Farm. I thought Humane Certified would at least mean that I would see some chickens running around somewhere, but it looked exactly the [00:00:30] same as any other egg facility. They were just big warehouses. You don't see a chicken anywhere in sight. And then I learned, of cou…

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John Kinder: World War Zoos 42:33

4M ago42:33

42:33

John Kinder is the director of American studies and a professor of history at Oklahoma State University. And he is an author. His most recent book is called World War Zoos: Humans and Other Animals in the Deadliest Conflict of the Modern Age. John’s book tells a story most of us have never heard: what happened to the world’s zoos—and the animals in…

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My QP Journey Ep4 - Mike Hadebe 43:30

4M 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…

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Richard (Kudo) Couto: The Hidden Horror Behind a Billion-Dollar Brand 42:18

5M ago42:18

42:18

“I used to be the largest dairy consumer on the planet. I used to eat so much dairy and meat. The more that I looked into the dairy industry, the more that I saw that it was the singular, most inhumane industry on the planet, that we've all been lied to, including myself, for years. I always believed that the picture on the milk carton, the cow sta…

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My QP Journey Ep3 - Rebeca Bruzzichessi 48:05

5M 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…

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Meredith Blanchard: We’ve Cured Cancer in Mice for Decades 54:41

5M ago54:41

54:41

“There's a drug called vioxx that was found to be safe and effective in animal trials, so they moved it on to preclinical trials in humans. Once on the market, that drug caused 88,000 people to have heart attacks and killed 38,000 people.” Meredith Blanchard We have some big news at Species Unite. In January and February, our team traveled to Bainb…

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Rob Read: When the Ocean Bleeds 48:55

5M ago48:55

48:55

“One year, we actually offered the Faroe Islanders One million pounds to stop the hunts. 1 million pounds, which would go to promoting whale and dolphin tourism to the islands and marine conservation education to Faroese kids in schools. And the Faroese response to our offer was the most emphatic no you've ever had in your life. They actually held …

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Agnes Callard on Lessons from Socrates 22:14

5M 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.

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Andrew Stein: Living with Lions 46:39

6M ago46:39

46:39

“If we march into that village and we start trying to persecute people for using poison, something that's very illegal, nobody's going to talk to us. We're not going to find out where the poison came from. We're not going to be able to shut anything down. We should take the approach that people are using poison because they're desperate, because th…

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My QP Journey Ep2 - Gurpreet Birch 58:37

6M 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…

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Jaap de Roode: Doctors by Nature 43:08

6M ago43:08

43:08

"But it makes a lot of sense especially when you think about how traditional healers and shamans have worked, they haven't felt that separation from nature like Western medics do. And so to rely on the knowledge of other species actually makes a lot of sense. It's probably a lot more than we know at the moment." - Jaap de Roode Jaap de Roode is a b…

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27. Faces Today: Indigenous Artists Return the Gaze 41:36

6M ago41:36

41:36

Colonial portraits have long dictated how Indigenous people were seen. But Indigenous artists continue to challenge that power. Through satire, reinterpretation, and resistance, they’re using art to question history—and reshape the future. In this episode, historians Kate Fullagar and Mike McDonnell speak with contemporary Indigenous artists who ar…

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26. Facing Off: From Botany Bay to Aotearoa 37:07

6M ago37:07

37:07

In this episode, historians Kate Fullagar and Mike McDonnell revisit Bennelong’s portraits to examine how colonial art encountered Indigenous identity. Indigenous scholar Jo Rey, a Dharug woman, challenges these depictions, questioning their accuracy and impact. The conversation then expands to the Pacific, where Māori scholar Alice Te Punga Somerv…

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25. Facing Empire: A Long History of Representing Others 40:45

6M ago40:45

40:45

Bennelong, a Wangal man of the Eora nation, was among the first Aboriginal people to travel to Europe and return. As a crucial interlocutor between his people and the British colonists, he navigated two worlds but the way he was depicted in colonial portraits raises complex questions. In one, he appears in traditional body paint. In another, years …

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Introducing: Unsettling Portraits 2:04

6M ago2:04

2:04

Can colonial depictions of Indigenous people tell us anything useful about the past? How do Indigenous people today feel about these enduring images? Unsettling Portraits is a three-part series exploring the history of portraiture and colonialism, alongside contemporary First Nations responses. Indigenous artists and historians in Australia, the Pa…

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What's coming in 2025? History Lab update and previews with Tamson Pietsch 6:05

6M ago6:05

6:05

If you're an old friend, hello and thank you for hitting play. If you're a new listener, welcome. History Lab, as many of you will know, was Australia’s first investigative history podcast. We've made five seasons so far, and our tagline is exploring the gaps between us and the past. And while you notice that from season to season our storytelling …

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Jonathan Birch: The Edge of Sentience 31:21

6M ago31:21

31:21

“I mean, organoids in general are very exciting replacements for animal research because you could model a kidney or a liver or a or a heart without taking them from a real animal, which it’s very important to support that kind of thing. But yes, when it's the brain, there's this fear that you might end up creating another sentient being. And then …

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Emily Herring on Henri Bergson 18:00

7M 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.