Thinking Class

Ryszard Legutko is a Polish scientist and politician, professor of philosophy, publicist, author of over twenty books on socio-political topics, translator and commentator of Plato’s works. He specializes in political and social philosophy, ancient philosophy and the history of philosophy. Ryszard has served as a member of the European Parliament since 2009 and is Chairman of the European Conserva...

Mark Walsh is a teacher of embodiment, trauma, education, and resilience. He is the author of Embodiment: Working with the Body in Training and Coaching   and Embodied Meditation . Mark also hosts the Embodiment Podcast , which has been downloaded over two million times, and was the founder of the Embodiment Conference, which brought together over 1,000 teachers and half a million participants. In...

Ed Davies is Policy Director of the Centre of Social Justice . A veteran of health policy, he has a storied career as a journalist, editor, and policy wonk and has worked for several UK government cabinet ministers during his career. His work has focused on the role of relationships in making us truly happy and healthy. In this conversation, Ed and I think out loud about the issues surrounding fam...

Philip Pilkington is a macroeconomist and investment professional. He is the author of a book on economic theory, The Reformation in Economics and his most recent book is The Collapse Of Global Liberalism: And The Emergence Of A Post-Liberal World Order . Philip also runs the Macrocosm substack. Philip regularly writes for a variety of outlets, including Unherd, The Spectator, The Telegraph, The N...

Lois McLatchie-Miller is a Senior Legal Communications Officer for the Alliance For Defending Freedom International . Lois is a writer, speaker, and thinker on issues of bioethics, faith, family and freedom. In this conversation, Lois and I think out loud about abortion, how prevalent it is and how it became so prevalent, the methods used, changing cultural perceptions, why the emotional impacts o...

Alan Macfarlane is a historian and anthropologist who taught at the University of Cambridge for 34 years. He is now Professor Emeritus of Anthropological Science and a Life Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. His comparative work spans England, Nepal, Japan, and China, with a particular focus on the origins and nature of the modern world. In this conversation, Alan and I think out loud about the...

Ben Cobley is a journalist, former Labour Party activist, and author of The Tribe: The Liberal-Left and the System of Diversity and T he Progress Trap: The Modern Left and the False Authority of History . He has written for The Spectator , UnHerd , The Critic , Quillette , and The New Statesman , and appears regularly on Sky News. You can find him on X @BenCobley and on Substack at Existential Pol...

Adam Williams is the Leader of the youth wing of the Social Democratic Party, the SDP, in the UK. In this conversation, Adam and I think out loud about what motivated his journey into politics, why decline is all he's ever known and why he wants to change this, his experiences knocking on doors in local elections, the challenges of political branding for the SDP, how the public know very litt...

Driss Ghali is a political author and speaker. Driss was born in Morocco and educated in Europe. He graduated from prestigious French universities and spent a lot of time in a corporate career focused on high-tech companies. Driss is an intellectual and observer of human nature as it is: ugly and splendid at the same time. Since 2017, he has written books about Violence and Identity. He frequently...

This is a compilation episode focused on the themes of England and Britain's history at home and abroad, the making of its social, political, and cultural life. You can expect to hear from the likes of Peter Hitchens, Connor Tomlinson, Charlie Downes, David Starkey, Nigel Biggar, Robert Tombs, Paul Embery, Lionel Shriver, Douglas Carswell, Neema Parvini, Alan MacFarlane, & many more.    T...

Dr. Bijan Omrani is a classicist, historian, and Oxford-educated barrister. His research explores questions of religious history and cultural identity, spanning from ancient Roman Greece to Afghanistan and the Silk Road. He has taught Classics at Eton College and Westminster School, is a former editor of Asian Affairs, and currently serves as a Research Fellow at the University of Exeter. He is al...

Prof. Tim Lang is the emeritus professor of food policy at City University London Centre for Food Policy. He was professor of food policy at Citi from 2002 to 2021 and had founded the Centre in 1994 at Thames Valley University, now the University of West London. After a PhD in social psychology at Leeds University in the early seventies, he became a hill farmer in the forest of Boland Lancashire,...

Dr. Mario Trabucco della Torretta is a classical archaeologist trained in Sicily and Athens. Mario's expertise covers classical Greek architecture and sculpture, ancient Athens and the Elgin Marbles. He tweets @Mario_Trabucco and runs the YouTube channel @ElginMarbleGames⁩ . In this episode, Mario and I think out loud about how museums acquire artefacts, the contested nature of certain items,...

Douglas Carswell was a member of the British Parliament for 12 years. He also co-founded Vote Leave the Official campaign that won the 2016 Brexit vote in Britain. The author of five books, Douglas has written widely about bank reform and monetary policy, as well as publishing a libertarian history of human progress.  In this episode, Douglas and I think out loud about his plan to save Britain, wh...

Charles Cornish Dale, otherwise known as Raw Egg Nationalist, is a writer and owner of a popular X/Twitter account . Charlie is the editor of the Mans World Magazine and the author of four books, Raw Egg Nationalism in Theory and Practice; Three lives of Golden Age Bodybuilders; Draw Me a Gironda and Raw Egg Trilogy . His fifth book is The Last Men: Liberalism and The Death of Masculinity. He has...

Nuriyah Khan is the host of the YouTube channel Holy Humanist and is a prominent ex-Muslim and women's rights campaigner, known for her fearless advocacy and outspoken views.  In this episode, Nuriyah and I think out loud about her experiences as an ex Muslim and her views on women's rights and human rights. We also talk about the changing landscape of Islam in Britain, the perception of...

Niall Gooch is a writer and has appeared in The Spectator, Unheard, and The Catholic Herald.  In this episode, Niall and I think out loud about the unique aspects of British identity, the impact of political ideologies on historical narratives, and why we need to strike a balance between kindness and justice in public policy. We also talk about why each of us need a deeper understanding of the cul...

Lorenzo Warby writes the Substack Lorenzo from Oz and he contributes regularly to Helen Dale's Substack, Not on your team, but always fair . He needs little introduction to long time classmates because this is the third time he has appeared on the show. Check out the archives for the other two.  In this episode, Lorenzo and I think out loud about why the term capitalism is misleading and why...

Alan McFarlane is an anthropologist, historian, and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at King’s College, Cambridge. He is the author or editor of 20 books and numerous articles covering the anthropology and history of England, Nepal, Japan, and China. A fellow of both the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society, Alan has dedicated much of his work to the comparative study of the origins...

Today, I’m speaking with Dr Anthony Daniels, better known by his pen name, Theodore Dalrymple. He is an English cultural critic, prison physician, and psychiatrist who has worked in several sub-Saharan African countries and London’s East End. **Please excuse the audio issues on my side. This problem was caused by my audio interface. Anthony's audio is clear and that is the main thing** Before...

Neema Parvini is the author of eight books including The Prophets of Doom , The Populist Delusion , The Defenders of Liberty , Shakespeare's Moral Compass . He has also written dozens of chapters and articles in scholarly publications and the media. Neema is the Director of Academic Agency , which he set up to focus on core academic skills and knowledge areas which can help students and learn...

Lord Nigel Biggar CBE is Emeritus Regis Professor of Moral Theology at Oxford and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Pusey House. Nigel holds a BA in Modern History from Oxford and a PhD in Christian Theology and Ethics from the University of Chicago. In 2021, he was appointed CBE for services to higher education. His books include Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning and What's Wrong With Right...

David Starkey is a historian, broadcaster, and bestselling author. Known for The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Monarchy , David now runs the popular YouTube channel David Starkey Talks and has written extensively on the British monarchy, including Monarchy , Crown and Country , and Henry, a Virtuous Prince . In this episode David and I think out loud about why history, properly taught, is the basis...

Dr. Roy Baumeister is one of the world's most prolific and influential psychologists. He has published over 700 scientific works, including over 40 books. In 2013 he received the highest award given by the Association for Psychological Science, the William James Fellow Award in recognition of his lifetime achievements. As of 2023, Roy holds affiliations with Harvard University in the USA, Con...

Dr. Mark Dooley is an Irish philosopher, author and journalist who has taught at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, and at University College Dublin where he was John Henry Newman Scholar in Theology. He has been a columnist for both the Sunday Independent and the Irish Daily Mail , and is currently a Contributing Editor to The European Conservative magazine. His many books include The...