Crisis What Crisis?

My guest for this episode is former Conservative MP Craig Mackinlay - one of the most resilient and courageous individuals we’ve had the privilege to talk to on this podcast.In September 2023 Craig contracted a severe and sudden case of sepsis, leading to all four of his limbs being amputated. What followed was the most inspiring journey of acceptance, recovery and positivity. Craig has used his experience and recent elevation to the House of Lords, to raise awareness about sepsis and the poor availability of NHS prosthetics.Craig has an incredibly positive attitude, never dwelling on what he can’t do and instead rejoicing in what he can.I hope you enjoy this inspirational conversation and my thanks to Craig who invited us into his home to record this episode.Links    Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm    Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk      Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682    Host – Andy Coulson   CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering   With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Fred MacAulay – a true master of the art of standup who spoke movingly about dealing with the death of his father to cancer, his son’s health battles and his own crisis of confidence when his long running radio show was suddenly cancelled – shares his three crisis comforts.  N.B. This was recorded whilst hiking and as men of a certain age so apologies for the occasional breathlessness.  Full episode https://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/fred-macaulay-on-a-crisis-of-confidence-grief-and-the-true-power-of-comedy/  Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bmSome Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.ukYour Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682Host – Andy Coulson   CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering   With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Over a long walk in the Scottish Highlands, I had good natter with one of Britain’s top comedy talents, Fred MacAulay – a true master of the art of stand up.  Having performed at The Edinburgh Fringe 29 times, Fred was a regular voice on BBC Scotland Radio for almost 18 years and now hosts on Greatest Hits Radio. He has also appeared on our screens on Mock the Week, QI and Have I got News For You. Fred, however, is no stranger to the difficulties life can throw at us … and in this episode he talks movingly about dealing with the death of his father to cancer, his son’s health battles and his own crisis of confidence when his long running radio show was suddenly taken off air.  N.B. This was recorded whilst hiking so, as men of a certain age , our apologies for the occasional breathlessness!    Charitable AssociationsProstate Cancer: https://prostatecanceruk.org/Type 1 Diabetes: https://jdrf.org.uk/LinksStream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bmSome Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.ukYour Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682Host – Andy Coulson   CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering, Linus DiffordWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Jill Halfpenny – the familiar and popular face on Britain’s televisions who has opened up about the terrible losses she has suffered and how she got through - shares her three crisis comforts.   Full episode https://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/jill-halfpenny-on-navigating-loss-living-with-grief-and-rediscovering-joy/BookA Life Reimagined: My Journey of Hope in the Midst of Loss, 2024.  Links Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bmSome Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.ukYour Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682Host – Andy Coulson   CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering, Linus DiffordWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

From the age of 13, Jill has been a familiar and popular face in the sitting rooms of Britain in shows from Byker Grove, Coronation Street and EastEnders to Humans. She won an Olivier award for her role in the musical Legally Blonde and was, of course, a Strictly Come Dancing champion in 2004.But hidden beneath her incredible and durable career, Jill has suffered terrible loss, both as a child and more recently. At just four years old, she faced the sudden and heartbreaking death of her father to a heart attack. Then in 2017, in cruelly similar circumstances, her partner, Matt, died in their local gym. A devastating blow for Jill and her nine-year-old son Harvey.  Jill has brilliantly documented how those terrible events impacted and shaped her in her book A Life Reimagined. In this conversation we talk about the practical methods she has deployed to navigate the multiple crises in her life.  BookA Life Reimagined: My Journey of Hope in the Midst of Loss, 2024.  Links Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bmSome Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.ukYour Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682Host – Andy Coulson   CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering, Linus DiffordWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Christian O’Connell – the radio presenter who has opened up about his crippling panic attacks, life changing therapy and the danger zone of men’s mental health – shares his three crisis comforts.  Full episode https://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/christian-oconnell-on-panic-attacks-a-professional-unravelling-and-how-story-telling-saved-him/ Links https://christianoconnell.com/Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bmSome Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.ukYour Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682Host – Andy Coulson   CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering, Linus DiffordWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Radio presenter Christian O’Connell talks to Andy about his crippling panic attacks, life changing therapy and the danger zone of men’s mental health. As a young teenager Christian was hit with anxiety - beginning, as he puts it ‘as a whisper’ - until it forced him off air … leading him to leave Britain’s most popular breakfast show and risk it all on a life in Australia.  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------From working as a dustman, being fired from hospital radio and working in telesales - Christian O’Connell went on to host the Number 1 breakfast show on Absolute Radio and pick up 11 Sony Radio Academy Gold Awards. He was at the peak of his career, yet behind the scenes he was at his lowest point.  In 2018, after suffering a series of acute panic attacks, he finally sought help with the support of his wife, and then took a huge risk and uprooted his family to the other side of the world. This move to Australia however was met with more challenges of its own as Christian struggled to be accepted.  He talks candidly and with real emotion about how he had to build a new life, take care of his family and reach another peak in his career. Christian is arguably a national treasure both here and Down Under – his is a story of remarkable resilience and one we can all learn from.  Links https://christianoconnell.com/Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bmSome Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.ukYour Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682Host – Andy Coulson   CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering, Linus DiffordWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Ben Goldsmith – the passionate environmentalist and financier who tragically lost his 15-year-old daughter in an accident on a farm in Somerset - shares his three crisis comforts.  Full episodehttps://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/ben-goldsmith-on-losing-his-daughter-iris-a-desperate-search-for-meaning-and-how-nature-saved-him/Ben’s Crisis Comforts:  Wild swimming. Anywhere I go, I love to swim in wild water. In the sea, swimming in the sea, we all love it, but swimming in rivers, ponds, I find that somehow cleanses me of emotional overload. Walking in nature. I think we need this every day. If I don’t spend a little bit of time in nature, just for a few moments each day I start to feel short of something. I start to feel anxious.Playing with children. Just rolling around on the floor with children and playing games and you know, just losing yourself in play with children, your own or someone else’s, I think is enormously cathartic. Links:Ben’s book: God Is An Octopus: https://amzn.to/3Iei6ubBen’s podcast - Rewilding the World with Ben Goldsmith: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rewilding-the-world-with-ben-goldsmith/id1685196752The Iris Project: https://theirisproject.org/Ben’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenGoldsmith?s=20Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bmSome Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.ukYour Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682Host – Andy Coulson   CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering   With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

NOTE: This episode includes themes of child sexual abuse, violence, and suicide. The following material may be distressing to some listeners.  Bonfire of the Vanities novelist Tom Wolfe would have described our guest for this episode as a ‘King of the World’. A banker who through skill and a love of risk made his fortune as a city trader.  Now the CEO of the World Gold Council, David Tait is also an accomplished mountaineer having climbed Everest an astonishing five times, in the process raising over £8m for charity.  But Wolfe’s description would, in fact, not come close to explaining the truth of who David really is.The clue lies in the beneficiary of David’s incredible fund raising, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. For David, at the age of 10, was the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of his grandfather’s brother and three other men. He was also abused by his own father.Like so many who suffer this horror David kept his abuse secret.  Doing so, he believes, allowed him to build that successful city life … but at a terrible price that very nearly claimed his life.  David’s story was portrayed movingly in the 2020 film Sulphur and White named after the butterfly that become a symbol of hope for David. In this podcast we talk about that film and a personal crisis journey that can only be described as inspiring.  Please remember - if you, or anyone you know needs support for child abuse, you can reach out to NSPCC here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/child-sexual-abuse/ and here 0808 800 5000.  LinksSulphur and White Watch Sulphur and White | Prime Video (amazon.co.uk)      Sulphur and White - Apple TV (UK)Sulphur and White | Official Movie Website | Watch Now  David’s websiteDavid Tait  NSPCC Donate to Charity Online | Give to NSPCC today | NSPCC  Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm    Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk      Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682    Host – Andy Coulson   CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering   With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.comFull transcipthttps://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/david-tait-on-how-he-turned-the-darkest-of-secret-crises-into-a-superpower/

As regular listeners and viewers will know, at the end of all our conversations we ask our guests for their three crisis comforts; their go-tos for inspiration and strength during the challenging times. Short but perfectly formed advice for getting you through the tough moments.  Over the years we have heard some incredibly interesting and more importantly, useful tips for anyone who might be feeling the weight of their own problems.    In this short episode – Julia Hobsbawm – one of the world’s most connected women - shares her three crisis comforts.  Full episodehttps://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/julia-hobsbawm-on-battling-sepsis-facing-down-failure-and-being-a-jew-who-doesnt-support-israel/ BookWorking Assumptions: What We Thought We Knew About Work Before Covid and Generative AI - And What We Know Now, 2024.  Links Julia’s Podcast: The Nowhere OfficeJulia’s SoulCycle: https://www.justgiving.com/page/julia-hobsbawmsixtysoulcyclesforjessicaStream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bmSome Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.ukYour Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682Host – Andy Coulson   CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering   With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com