Hello! When Ed makes a promise, he makes a promise! It might take 6 years to deliver, but now we get to share the discussion with you. What does that all mean? Well, Ed met Architect Christophe Egret while on holiday and needed to finish the conversation they had about the transformative power of public space. He joins us, as does author and academic, Anna Minton, and CEO for the Project for Public Spaces in the US, Phil Myrick, to warn of the dangerous creep of pseudo-public space and what a really well thought out urban space can do to bring together a community.ANDComedian Heidi Regan rewards reading of tedious important governmental documents, unifying all accents to either Southern Belle or Scottish and monochrome tunics for all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! This week, with the release of the report from Shelter's cross-party commission (which included Ed) we're looking at the provision of social housing and the need for a transformation in how much we build and who it is for. Historian John Boughton, author of recent book Municipal Dreams, guides us from the past to the future, then we speak to members of the Commission, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, former Conservative Chair, and Lord Jim O'Neill to tell us how the recommendations in the report can transform the fabric of the country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! We've made our New Year's resolutions, donned the trainers and tracksuits and joined the hundreds of thousands of people who do parkrun to find out what all the hype is about. Can we start our New Year as runners? The Finsbury Park parkrunners (Geoff's local) tell us what it's all about, and give us encouragement, then we're joined by Nick Pearson, Chief Executive of ParkRun who tells us about why the project is about more than running. Then Bella Mackie, author of new book Jog On shares her journey to better mental health through running. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! Greetings pod pickers! You’re in for a treat this week. It’s our "Top 10" countdown of our favourite episodes this year. If you haven’t listened to them all or even if you have, here’s a way of getting the best bits in bite sized form—-Cheerful McNuggets. With special guest introducing the whole shebang, the legend that is Tony Blackburn! How can you resist.... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! We gathered around Geoff's kitchen table, joined by some IRL friends, a copy of the board game Class Struggle and some topics to find the cheerful from this year. Hear Josie Rourke, Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse and director of the new film, "Mary, Queen of Scots", Chris Addison, comedian, writer, actor and director and David Runciman, Professor of Politics at Cambridge and host of ‘Talking Politics’ podcast seek to provide a positive take on America, Democracy, Brexit, and Culture... and find out who wins the game. It will make you feel better...promise....maybe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! Here at Cheerful towers we're talking about how we can enable the human touch to come to the fore in public services and policy and the barriers standing in the way of the people who work in them. Our guest Julia Unwin has been thinking about kindness in public policy, Professor Anthony Costello's new book The Social Edge is about the 'sympathy groups' that transform people's life chances & Dr Agnelo Fernandes talks about his amazing 'social prescribing' experiment in Croydon.ANDComedian Adam Riches wants more sharks, scientifically modified beard, Gerard Butler and... (BOO HISS)... no more podcasts  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! This week we're talking Dads and the time off they have to look after their kids. Turns out more, properly paid paternity leave is better for kids, good for dads, and a very effective tool to close the gender pay gap. Unfortunately Britain lags behind.  We speak to Lars Arrhenius about how brilliant Sweden is and how it could be even better, Sam Smethers from the Fawcett Society about how Britain could do better and Sam White and Will McDonald, the UK’s most senior all-male job share (maybe...).ANDComedian Sindhu Vee brings us a handful of "Ted Miliband" university anecdotes as well as teenager truth day, a ban on the Br*xit word, punishment for people failing to pick up their dog's poop, celebratory school run drinks party, double pay and only sunlight working hours in January Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! Today we speak to two autistic people about what the neurodiversity movement is and what it means to them. Penny Andrews and Georgia Harper join us to talk about their personal experience of living with autism, and how our society, employers and all of us can learn to value and benefit from neurodiversity.ANDComedian Jodie Mitchell would like to tech up the fight against men stealing women's ideas, old tinted glasses for those who believe the olden days were better and a ban on incense for anyone who's not using it for religious purposes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! The death penalty still operates in many places around the world, although the good news is the number of countries using capital punishment is falling. Sevan Doraisamy, Executive Director of Human Rights Organisation SUARAM talks about the Malaysian government’s recent announcement that it intends to abolish capital punishment and Anna Yearley and Maya Foa from Reprieve talk to us about their campaigns to end the death penalty and how your voice can make a difference.AND Comedian Lauren Pattison fights for children to be banished to another train carriage, Taco Tuesdays and more politicians on reality TV Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! A special episode with author and all-around thinker extraordinaire and author of multi-million selling Homo Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari. He popped by to talk to us about the ongoing war of technology vs humankind, fake news and more of the 21 lessons from the 21st Century —-his new book. This includes the virtues of 60-day uninterrupted meditation... But how would you do a weekly podcast? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.