Andrew Phemister is a Lecturer in British and Irish History at Kings College London. Our conversation centred around his book Land and Liberalism: Henry George and the Irish Land War (Cambridge University Press, 2023).

• Are human beings intrinsically good that need unshackling from bureaucratic, corporatist rent seeker to flourish?
• Do ideas have a causative historical role or is everything explained by technology, materialism, kings and queens?
• What is the history of radical thought, liberalism and the concept of natural rights?
• What relevance do Arnold Schwarzenegger and Total Recall have to Adam Smith's three factors of production?

Andrew is a very engaging, entertaining, and articulate thinker who fleshed out some difficult questions through the lens of one of the most popular but now almost forgotten economists - Henry George.

You can find more about Andrew's work here:

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/andrew-phemister

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper (https://linktr.ee/thisismattcooper) with music composed by Loverman (https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy)

In May 1916 three men caked in blood, dirt, blisters, and sweat arrived at the Stromness Whaling Station on South Georgia Island in the Atlantic Ocean suffering from severe exhaustion.

They had endured a journey both by boat and on foot from Antarctica that was harrowing and miraculous in equal measure. In charge of the three men was Sir Ernest Shackleton, one of history’s most famous explorers and leaders.

In my latest conversation I discuss what is known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration with David Cornell. In 2009 David went to the South Pole a hundred years after his great grandfather embarked on the Nimrod expedition that was led by Shackleton.

He took me through Shackleton’s Boat Journey which has been described as the greatest story ever told. Our conversation covered what it takes to get to the South Pole as well as the leadership skills that Ernest Shackleton showed time and again through loyalty and care to his men right until his during his final attempt to reach the Pole.

Since that Centenary Expedition, David helped launch the Shackleton Foundation which provides seed funding and support to early stage social ventures with a primary focus on benefiting young people in the UK.

A narrative of decline is permeating the developed world. Hopefully conversations like this one with David can revivify the spirit of adventure as an antidote to all the negativity and noise

You can find out more about the Shackleton Foundation click here: https://shackletonfoundation.org/

This podcast was produced by MattCooper with music composed by Loverman.

Rosina Dorelli is Making Education Great Again. Why? Because schools are failing our children by crushing their sense of wonder through standardised testing and mindless clerical work. “Teaching to the exam” won’t cut it in the 21st Century.

As a mother, artist, entrepreneur, and teacher Rosina describes Creativity as a human right. To champion this she is the founder of the Biophilic Education Alliance and creator of a new schools curriculum inspired by Leonardo da Vinci.

In my most important conversation to date, we discussed her take on what’s wrong with the education system, both state and private, as well as the current rollout of her curriculum in schools.

The people who have made the most positive impact on the world in history have been interdisciplinary thinkers not siloed experts (the poem from the 1997 Apple advert summarises this well*).

Whilst year on year exam grades have consistently improved education (with a small “e”) is demonstrably on the operating table. Rosina’s movement will equip the next generation to solve the big problems of our time.

Thank you to Iain McGilchrist for making me aware of Rosina and her work. Here are more details on the Biophilic Education Alliance and the Da Vinci Life Skills curriculum:

https://www.biophiliceducation.com/

https://davincilifeskills.com/

This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.

*“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”