Bloom

In this episode, Nick and Paul discuss the emergence of Artificial Intelligence and the critical question: What does it mean to be human in the age of AI? Nick and Paul discuss: Intelligence and the Turing Test: Examining the definition of intelligence, the limitations of computational capacity, and the philosophical significance of the Turing Test. Emotions vs. Logic: Using the Voigt-Kampff test...

In this podcast, Nick Fabbri and Dr. Paul Monk discuss the fragility and instability of the global order following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and reflect on the nature of international relations and decision-making. Key Discussion Points include: The Unipolar Moment and US Decline: Discussing Aaron Friedberg's 1988 book, The Weary Titan, which anticipated relative US decline just before the...

In this episode, Dr. Paul Monk features a selection of poems from his recent anthology, Love on the Road of Life. This collection is dedicated to his lifelong companion, Claudia Alvarez, and celebrates their deep, 20-year relationship lived largely across continents. Paul credits Claudia with having been the catalyst for him embracing his identity as "a writer and a poet". Key discussion points in...

In this podcast, Nick Fabbri and Dr. Paul Monk discuss and recite a further selection of poems from Monk's recent collections dedicated to his muse, Rachael: Red Ochre For The Moon Goddess and Wine On The Flames. These 600+ poems represent a unique, enduring, and intellectually intimate poet-muse relationship forged largely across continents and oceans. Key Discussion Points include: Poetry as Sel...

In this podcast, Nick Fabbri and Dr. Paul Monk discuss the decision to write his three-volume autobiography and reflect on the nature, structure, and meaning of autobiography and memoir. Key discussion points include: Why Write: Monk's impetus to write his own life story to preserve his interpretation of events, citing Socrates' idea that the "unexamined life is not worth living". Autobiography's...

In this podcast, Nick Fabbri and Dr. Paul Monk discuss and read from two major collections of love poetry written for Paul’s muse, Rachael: Red Ochre For The Moon Goddess and Wine On The Flames. These 600+ poems document their extraordinary, long-distance relationship, which Monk calls the "culminating experience" of his life. Key Discussion Points include: Poetry as Self-Expression: Monk asserts...

In this podcast, Nick Fabbri and Dr. Paul Monk discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, reflecting on its profound personal and societal impact, and its depth as a work of fantasy. Key Discussion Points include: A Profound Personal Impact: The book had a deeper impression on Paul's education and life than any other work from his youth, helping instil within him a love of learning, knowledge...

In this episode of the Oxford Policy Podcast, host Nick Fabbri sits down with Haibado Abdoulkader Yacin , a Mastercard Foundation AfOx Scholar and Master of Public Policy student at Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. Haibado, a dedicated public servant from Djibouti, shares her incredible personal story and journey from Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, to studying and working across three co...

In this episode, Nick Fabbri speaks with Gargi Sharma Goel about her life and career in New Delhi, India, her work in the Ministry of Finance and Indian Revenue Service, key economic and tax policy interests, her journey to the Master of Public Policy at Oxford, balancing parenthood with studies, and the happiest memories from her time in the UK. *** Gargi Sharma Goel  is career civil servant, par...

In this episode crossposted from the Oxford Policy Podcast , Nick Fabbri speaks with The Hon. Tony Abbott AC , Former Prime Minister of Australia. They discuss: The influence of the Jesuits, Oxford, and Father Paul Mankowski on Mr. Abbott's life and leadership qualities The art of effective opposition and developing alternative policies for the nation Achievements and regrets of the Abbott Governm...

In this episode, Nick Fabbri speaks with fellow MPP students Anushka Jadhav and Rafaela Viana about the 2024 Education World Forum , their personal education journeys in India and Brazil respectively, Education Policy in Oxford, and some of the major education policy issues and developments globally. Anushka and Rafaela also reflect on their time at Oxford and in the 2023-24 MPP cohort, and offer...

Lord Christopher Patten is the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, having served in the role since 2003. Lord Patten was the 28th and final British Governor of Hong Kong, who oversaw its handover to the People's Republic of China in 1997, symbolically marking the end of the British Empire. Lord Patten was also a Conservative Member of the UK Parliament from 1979-1992, where, as Conservative Pa...

Damien Shannon is a DPhil candidate in Economic and Social History at New College, Oxford. In this episode of the Oxford Policy Podcast , Nick and Damien speak about: Damien's experience in suing Oxford University over its admissions criteria, which initially prevented him from taking up his degree place on financial grounds Educational access and equity Damien's current DPhil research on the abol...

In this episode of the Oxford Policy Podcast , Nick Fabbri speaks with George Brandis, former Australian Attorney-General and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. They discuss George's time at Oxford and Magdalen College as a law student, his career in the law, the philosophical traditions of liberalism and conservatism and how they might be applied to policy issues in the 21st century, some m...

In this episode of the Oxford Policy Podcast , Nick Fabbri speaks with Bob Carr , a former Australian Foreign Minister and long-serving Premier of New South Wales. They discuss politics and embarking on a political career, the art of good policymaking and some of the major policy reforms of the Carr Labor Government, international affairs and security issues, Australia and its natural beauty, and...

In this episode cross-posted from the Oxford Policy Podcast , Nick Fabbri speaks with Grace Fox , a student of the Master of Public Policy at Oxford University, about her personal story, the history of the Native American Seminole Nation, her family, identity, and belonging. Grace also reflects on her work with the US Department of the Interior in the Bureau of Indian Education in Native American...

In this conversation cross-posted from the Oxford Policy Podcast , Nick Fabbri speaks with Lord Michael Heseltine , former UK Deputy Prime Minister and leading figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. In this interview, we reflect on Lord Heseltine's love of gardening, his time at Oxford University and presidency of the Oxford Union, his political career and lessons in leader...

In this episode cross-posted from the Oxford Policy Podcast , Nick Fabbri and Dr. Paul Monk discuss the crises facing the liberal democracies today, and the lessons that the Roman Republic and Greek democracies may hold for the 21st century. We cover Paul's recent papers delivered to the Institute of Law and Strategy, and his tours of Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia discussing the...

Originally published with transcript at: https://www.nickfabbri.com/bloom/paulmonkpoetryscienceandclassics In this podcast, Dr Paul Monk and Nick Fabbri discuss the relationship between poetry, science, and the classics, and how these subjects inform Paul’s poetry, and what it means to live poetically. This conversation includes readings of a number of Paul’s poems from Red Ochre for the Moon Godd...

Originally published with transcript at: https://www.nickfabbri.com/bloom/paulmonkdefenceofaustralia   In this podcast, Dr Paul Monk and Nick Fabbri discuss Sam Roggeveen’s new book The Echidna Strategy: Australia’s Search for Power and Peace, Australia's geopolitical and security context, the rise of China and its increasing militarisation, what the Australian Defence Force force posture would lo...

Shane Fitzsimmons currently leads Resilience NSW - the peak disaster management and recovery agency in NSW - as its inaugural Commissioner, following a long and distinguished career with the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS). Shane came to national prominence in Australia through his role as Commissioner of the NSW RFS during the 2019-2020 bushfires, where he led NSW’s response to the fires which raged...

Tú Lê is a young lawyer, community worker, and political advocate. Tú recently came to national and international prominence, with articles recently published in The New York Times , in the wake of the Australian Labor Party’s decision to nominate the former Premier of NSW and current federal Senator Kristina Keneally for preselection in the Western Sydney electorate of Fowler, ahead of Tú as the...

Originally published with transcript at https://www.nickfabbri.com/bloom/paulmonklyricpoetry   In this podcast, Nick and Paul discuss: Poetry’s Touch by Professor William Waters and its influence on Paul’s approach to lyric poetry The ‘addressable you’ in poetry Reflections on communicative intimacy and the idea of authentic understanding between people in romantic or other relationships A number...

Originally published with transcript at https://www.nickfabbri.com/bloom/paulmonkoncancer   In this podcast, Nick and Paul discuss: Paul's cancer journey and the odds of his survival The development of immunotherapy and other revolutionary cancer treatments Cancer research and the medical establishment The examples and books of Jimmy Stynes, Lance Armstrong, and Christopher Hitchens Reflections on...

Originally published with transcript at https://www.nickfabbri.com/bloom/paulmonkmortalityandmeaning   In this podcast, Nick and Paul discuss: The commemoration of the dead through religious rituals, such as the Kaddish Representations of mortality, death, and dying as expressed in poetry and literature Why death exists in the world at all, as a function of life and natural selection The intersect...