Why do we feel nostalgic? Newsletter version
Last night, after bathing Molly and putting her to bed, I got stuck into one of my favourite pastimes: taking the bins out. What was once a grubby chore has become a rare moment of solace. It’s just me and the night sky… and the bins. I pause for a moment after I’ve delivered the […]
Inside the Freemasons HQ
A few weeks ago, I got an unexpected invitation. I was talking on my Times Radio show about Freemasons – one of the oldest fraternal organisations in the world. Membership is secretive, but high profile Masons have included members of the Royal Family, Prime Ministers, business leaders and least fourteen Presidents. The Freemasons have often […]
Introducing… History Undone
I have a new show to introduce you to. Well, it’s not new. It’s well established. Very well established. In fact it’s so well established, with such a loyal and dedicated fanbase, that I have been more nervous about taking on this show than almost anything I have done before. It’s called History Undone, and […]
Inside the religious sect that believes Trump was anointed by God
Times Radio’s Jo Crawford travelled to Nebraska to investigate a fringe evangelical sect that believes the US is in the midst of a spiritual war and Donald Trump was anointed by God. She joined me on Times Radio to take us into her story.
TikTok’s Dystopian Britain
Last week I was in North America, and on more than one occasion I spoke to somebody who seemed to pity that I had to live in Britain. They were concerned for me. They told me they’d heard that Britain was a lawless hellhole… with gang ridden streets, wide-spread corruption and an authoritarian regime. Sure, […]
We Are Not a Conspiracy School – BBC Radio 4
Deep in the English countryside, at the end of a winding country late… a sign: NO TRESPASS. STRICTLY BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. If you listen carefully, you can hear the sounds of children playing, carried along by the breeze. Just beyond the hostile sign, there is a place – built around barns, marquees and organic allotments […]
How our biology is being weaponised against us
I have done something gross. I needed to do it. I did it for you. I did it for science, in the name of human exploration. I did it because I was a bit curious. Last week, late one evening, after my partner Michaela had gone to bed… I tasted a drop of her breast […]
Are these terrible times?
The sky was a deep purple, with lashings of red, as emerged from the radio studio a week last Sunday morning. It was a lovely morning. 04:08. Four hours and eight minutes after I should have originally gone home. It’s unusual for me to catch an early sunrise, so I drank in the quiet of […]
How to negotiate with hackers
You know that awful, gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of your stomach when you when you realise something has gone terribly wrong? The bosses of M&S know that feeling well. A few weeks ago, a cyber-attack crippled their business. We don’t know much about what the hackers have demanded, but we do know they sent […]
Cameron Mofid: visiting every country in the world
How has your week been? Accomplished much? Or just enjoyed the sunshine, like me? 24 year old Cameron Mofid from San Diego had a special week, becoming one of the youngest people ever to visit all 195 countries. It’s been a heck of a journey, which included being detained on suspicion of espionage, narrowly avoiding […]