Is Hindu fundamentalism becoming a dangerous force in India? Is the world’s largest democracy becoming less secular and less democratic? What does this mean for India’s future? Priyamvada Gopal is a Reader at the University of Cambridge in Anglophone and Related Literature. Her new book, Insurgent Empire, is due out with Verso in 2017 and follows Literary Radicalism in India: Gender, Nation and the Transition to Independence (2005) and The Indian English Novel: Nation, History and Narration (2009). A regular writer for The Guardian,The Independent and Times Higher Education Supplement (UK), The Nation(USA), The Hindu and Open (India), she also has appeared on the BBC, Channel 4, Al Jazeera and NDTV (India). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alexei Sayle’s comedy career kicked off as Thatcherism took hold in Britain and generated unprecedented political conflict and protest. Was this part of what made him one of the funniest voices of his generation? What does his comic persona – full of rage, and with a dark and dangerous edge – owe to the politics of the time? And how does he make Stalin and Thatcher funny? Alexei David Sayle was born in Liverpool and moved to London in 1971 to attend Chelsea Art School. He became the first MC of the Comedy Store, and later, the Comic Strip. After years of stand-up, television, sitcoms, films and even a hit single, he published his first highly acclaimed collection of short stories, Barcelona Plates, which was followed by The Dog Catcher, two novels – Overtaken and The Weeping Women Hotel – and a novella, Mister Roberts. The first volume of Alexei’s memoirs was Stalin Ate My Homework; it was followed byThatcher Stole My Trousers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Living with Asperger’s, John Elder Robison had come to terms with the way he was different, riding life’s ups and downs. But what if it was possible to unlock the emotional insight that we assume is ‘missing’ in people living with Aspergers – if only you undertook an experimental brain therapy? Is that fixing?  Chaired by Van Badham John Elder Robison is The New York Times bestselling author of Look Me in the Eye. He is a world-recognised authority on life with autism; the Neurodiversity Scholar in Residence at the College of William and Mary; and a member of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee for the US Department of Health and Human Services. John is also a member of the International Society for Autism Research. He lives with his wife and son in Amherst, Massachusetts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why are young people worse off than their parents? Why is the gap between older and younger Australians – in terms of work, wealth and wellbeing – growing wider? Is Australia cheating the young?  Chaired by Van Badham Jennifer Rayner was born into aspirational Australian suburbia during the Hawke years and came of age in the long boom of the Howard era. Her lifetime tracks the yawning inequalities that have opened up across the Australian community in the past 30 years. She has worked as a federal political adviser, an international youth ambassador in Indonesia and a private sector consultant. She holds a PhD from the Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suddenly it’s not queer to hear people talking about 'gender fluidity’, ‘gender transition’ or a spectrum of gender identity – did the world conversation decide gender no longer matters? And if the biological constraints of gender have been loosened, how do we deal with enduring gender-based social inequality and injustice? Jesse Bering is an award-winning science writer. His "Bering in Mind" column at Scientific American was a 2010 Webby Award Honoree. Bering's first book, The Belief Instinct (2011), was included on the American Library Association's Top 25 Books of the Year. This was followed by a collection of essays - the critically acclaimed Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That? (2012), and Perv (2013), a New York Times Editor's Choice. All three books have been translated into many different languages. An expert in psychology and religion, he began his career at the University of Arkansas, as an Assistant Professor of Psychology from 2002-2006. He then served as the Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at the Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he was a Reader in the School of History and Anthropology until 2011. Presently, he is Associate Professor of Science Communication at the University of Otago, New Zealand. His next book, on the science of suicidology, will be released in 2017. Raewyn Connell is one of Australia's leading social scientists. She is best known internationally as a sociologist of gender and a pioneer of research on masculinities and best known in Australia for work on class inequality and social justice in education. She’s author or co-author of 23 books including Gender In World Perspective,Southern Theory, Masculinities, Schools & Social Justice, Gender & Power, Making the Difference, and Ruling Class Ruling Culture. Her work has been translated into 18 languages. She is a long-term participant in the labour movement and peace movement, and is now Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney, and a Life Member of the NTEU. Cordelia Fine is an Associate Professor at Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne. Her second popular science book, Delusions of Gender: The Real Science of Sex Differences was described as “a welcome corrective” (Nature), ”carefully researched and reasoned" (Science) and “required reading for every neurobiology student, if not every human being.” (PLoS Biology). It was short-listed for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Non-Fiction, the Best Book of Ideas Prize (UK), the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for Literature (UK) and the international cross-genre Warwick Prize (2013), and the New York Times advised readers to "read this book". Cordelia also writes regularly for the popular press, including pieces in The Monthly, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian and Financial Times, and her latest book, Testosterone Rex, will be published in early 2017. Elizabeth Anne Riley, PhD is a Sydney-based counsellor, academic & clinical supervisor specialising in gender diversity. Elizabeth has extensive experience working with gender diverse clients and has a PhD titled ‘The needs of gender variant children and their parents’ Elizabeth also has a Masters in Counselling and provides gender specific support and counselling for children, youth & their families. Elizabeth delivers professional development in gender diversity for schools, clinicians and other service providers and has 10 publications in the area of gender identity. As an advocate for the trans community Elizabeth appears for Mardis Gras interviewing transgender trailblazers, including  Chaz Bono and Catherine MacGregor. Elizabeth’s media presence includes Insight, 60 Minutes, A Current Affair, The Project, ABC’s 7.30, Radio National & JJJ. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are scientists the new gods? As we increasingly rely on science to solve our problems, are we stretching scientific method to mystique? If scientists are not infallible, can we trust what they tell us? And if we can’t trust scientists, can we still trust science? Tim Flannery is one of Australia’s leading writers on climate change. An internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer and conservationist, Tim was named Australian of the Year in 2007. Tim has held various academic positions including Professor at the University of Adelaide, director of the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Museum and Visiting Chair in Australian Studies at Harvard University in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. A well known presenter on ABC Radio,NPR and the BBC for more than a decade, he has also written and presented several series on the Documentary Channel including The Future Eaters (1998), Wild Australasia (2003), Islands in the Sky (1992) and Bushfire (1997). His books include Here on Earth (2010) and The Weather Makers (2005). Alok Jha is the science correspondent for ITV News in the UK. Before that, he did the same job at The Guardianfor a decade, where he wrote news, features, comment and presented the award-winning Science Weeklypodcast. He has also reported live from Antarctica and presented many TV and radio programmes for the BBC. Natasha Mitchell is a multi-award winning journalist and presenter of flagship ABC Radio National programs including the daily morning show, Life Matters (2012-15), and the popular science, psychology & culture radio program, All in the Mind (2002-12). She was vice president of the World Federation of Science Journalists, and a recipient of the MIT Knight Fellowship.  Co-founder of The Maintainers themaintainers.org, a research group focused on maintenance, repair, infrastructure and mundane labor, Lee Vinsel is an Assistant Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Stevens Institute of Technology. His research focuses on science and technology policy, and his first book examines the history of government regulation of the automobile in the United States, from the birth of the internal combustion engine to the Google Car. His work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Le Monde, Fortune and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the recent nuclear deal transforms geopolitical relationships with the Islamic Republic of Iran, what do Westerners need to understand of the past and the future of Iran’s dissenting voices? Laura Secor has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Foreign Affairs, and other publications and has worked at The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The American Prospect and Lingua Franca. She has been a fellow at the New York Public Library's Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers and at the American Academy in Berlin. She has taught journalism at New York University and at Princeton. Her book, Children of Paradise: The Struggle for the Soul of Iran, was published by Riverhead Books in February. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The scale of the Middle East refugee crisis is overwhelming authorities. But war, failed states and climate change seem to be the new world normal – and so does the global flow of desperate people. What does it mean for the future? Philippe Legrain is a critically acclaimed thinker and communicator who has also been a senior policy adviser. A senior visiting fellow at the London School of Economics’ European Institute, he is the founder of Open Political Economy Network (OPEN), an international think-tank. A columnist for Project Syndicate, Foreign Policy and CapX, he commentates for many international media outlets. From 2011 to 2014 he was economic adviser to the President of the European Commission and head of the team providing the president with strategic policy advice. Previously he was special adviser to World Trade Organisation director-general Mike Moore and trade and economics correspondent for The Economist. Philippe is the author of four successful books, includingImmigrants: Your Country Needs Them (2007), which was shortlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year, and European Spring: Why Our Economies and Politics are in a Mess – and How to Put Them Right(2014), which was among the FT’s Best Books of 2014. His first study for OPEN is Refugees Work: A Humanitarian Investment that Yields Economic Dividends (2016). As The Economist's environment correspondent, Miranda Johnson attended UN climate negotiations at COP21, the UN Paris Climate Conference, and the GLACIER conference on the state of the Arctic, in Alaska, last year. She also helped run The Economist's own recent events on energy and sustainability in England. Prior to this, Miranda was the influential UK title’s US southeast correspondent based in Atlanta, Georgia, and has written for its International, Europe, United States, Britain, China, Science and Business sections, on topics ranging from youth unemployment to energy policy and smartphones to fiscal corruption. Miranda also edited online coverage as a science correspondent and served as the editorial assistant for The Economist’s 'The World in 2014' publication. Hamish Macdonald is an award winning International Affairs Correspondent and Harvard Fellow. In recent years Hamish has covered war in Ukraine, the rise if ISIS in the Middle East, missing Nigerian schoolgirls, and the Gaza conflict. Previously, Hamish worked as anchor and correspondent for Aljazeera English. At Australia’s Ten Network he was creator, Executive Producer & host of prime-time documentary series ‘The Truth Is?’. Hamish has received a prestigious Walkley Award for Journalism and a Human Rights Australia Award for Journalism. Britain’s Royal Television Society named him “Young Journalist of the Year” in 2008 and GQ Magazine named Hamish “Media Man of the Year” in 2012. Jane McAdam is Scientia Professor of Law and Director of the Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW. She is a non-resident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at The Brookings Institution in Washington DC, a Research Associate at Oxford University’s Refugee Studies Centre, and an Associated Senior Fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Norway. Professor McAdam publishes widely in international refugee law and forced migration, with a particular focus on climate change and mobility. She is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Refugee Law, the leading journal in the field. Professor McAdam serves on a number of international committees, and has provided expert advice to organizations including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Organization for Migration, and the World Bank. She holds a doctorate in law from the University of Oxford, and first class honours degrees in law and history from the University of Sydney. In 2013, she was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In 2015, she was honoured as one of Australia's top ten Women of Influence, winning the ‘global’ category of the Australian Financial Review and Westpac’s 100 Women of Influence awards. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The tumultuous 17th century Enlightenment created the modern mind. What were the radical forces that shaped this intellectual world view we still share? And how is this under threat today? A.C. Grayling is the Master of the New College of the Humanities, London, and its Professor of Philosophy, and the author of over thirty books of philosophy, biography, history of ideas, and essays. His new book, The Age of Genius, was published by Bloomsbury in April 2016. He is a columnist for Prospect magazine, and was for a number of years a columnist on The Guardian and Times. He has contributed to many leading newspapers in the UK, US and Australia, and to BBC radios 4, 3, 2 and the World Service, for which he did the annual 'Exchanges at the Frontier' series; and he has often appeared on television. He has twice been a judge on the Booker Prize, in 2015 serving as the Chair of the judging panel. He is a Vice President of the British Humanist Association, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a time of turmoil, what happens when art and politics collide? Molly Crabapple is an artist and journalist who has covered Occupy Wall Street, Guantanamo Bay, migrant workers in Abu Dhabi, the US prison system, and the Syrian civil war.  Is it time for art to get out of the galleries and back on to the street? Molly Crabapple is an artist, journalist, author of the memoir, Drawing Blood and, according to New Republic, "an emblem of the way art can break out of the gilded gallery”. She has drawn and reported from Guantanamo Bay, Abu Dhabi's migrant labor camps, and in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, and Iraqi Kurdistan. Crabapple is a contributing editor for VICE, and has written for publications including The New York Times, Paris Review, and Vanity Fair. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.