Uncommon Courage

Send us Fan Mail Peace with Iran is over, according to President Trump, so the price of fuel rises again, and the world’s stock markets head downwards. Let’s just say the economists are not predicting anything good from this reversal. However, the real threat is fertilizer and food shortages, which, when added to the impacts of extreme heat right now, along with the kicking from a super El Niño, s...

Send us Fan Mail A report by Zenodo suggests more than 20,000 people have died during the June European heatwave, and youth suicides are reaching alarming numbers too. As a new heat dome settles across the Eastern US, Europe is preparing for its next heatwave, however, the real alarm is happening under the oceans. The EU’s Copernicus Marine Service said the oceans are experiencing record global se...

Send us Fan Mail Has the UK become ungovernable? was just one of many questions in the headlines this week, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation. Even though it may no longer be a major news story for the rest of the world, it’s relentless in the UK, including helicopter footage of Andy Burnham (future PM?) arriving in London by train to be sworn in as an MP. The other side...

Send us Fan Mail SpaceX’s IPO went off with a bang, and it could come down with a bang, but what does its success say about us as a society? The peace deal or MOU has been signed between Iran and the US, which is getting a lot of attention, but the obvious question is: will it hold and when will the ships move? We also have the G7 meeting happening in Europe (Trump “I’m the boss”), a heatwave is b...

Send us Fan Mail  El Niño warnings are in the news every day, with some declaring a super or even Godzilla event is coming, and then someone else will say it won’t be that bad, while others declare that even if it isn’t a record event, an El Niño landing on an already overheated planet (it was just announced we had the hottest May since 2024) is not good news, regardless. It’s confusing, isn’t it?...

Send us Fan Mail The bombs started falling on Iran again this week, who retaliated by striking US bases in the Gulf. Israel attacks on Lebanon escalated, threatening UNESCO World Heritage sites, and then a ceasefire was announced, but will Hezbollah stop? Russia scaled up its attacks on Ukraine, with murmurs suggesting internal support in Russia is waning. And on the other side of the world, Pauli...

Send us Fan Mail Pope Leo’s Magnifica Humanitas encyclical was released this week, with AI taking centre stage, but it wasn’t just this document that discussed AI, in the US - due to protests against AI, mainly datacentres - ‘Anti-Tech Extremism’ is now a target for law enforcement, and of course, the bombs started to fall again on Iran. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Europe’s heatwave t...

Send us Fan Mail We went from Hantavirus to the Ebola virus this week, with the rare Bundibugyo strain unleashed in Africa. The WHO have declared a global health emergency, as the scale and speed of its emergence alarms experts. Meanwhile, the details of the US/China visit are emerging, while Trump returned to a country in chaos with shocking poll numbers and escalating inflation, Taiwan reaffirms...

Send us Fan Mail Presidents’ Xi and Trump are meeting in China right now, with experts predicting it will shape relations between the two great nations for at least the next decade. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz remains in a stalemate, gunshots were heard in the Philippines Senate as a senator wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) sought refuge, Sir Keir Starmer continues to fight for...

Send us Fan Mail We’ve all learned about the Hantavirus this week, with a cruise ship struck and at least three people dead, harkening back to the days of the pandemic. War is still up in the air, with the possibility of peace in Iran, although it’s hard to know if you’re only following President Trump’s Truth Social posts. Can someone take his phone off him? Meanwhile, the stock markets are up an...

Send us Fan Mail We are going to take a different approach this week and re-orient the conversation to the current state of our planet. Yes someone tried to assassinate the US President (and the conspiracy theories are flourishing), yes King Charles is trying to heal the “very special relationship” between the US and UK, yes the war with Iran is at a stalemate and economic impacts growing, along w...

Send us Fan Mail Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a commonly used criticism towards anyone who doesn’t agree with Trump’s agenda, but looking at what he’s doing right now, should TDS be targeted at those still fully aligned with him? Because right now, Asia is suffering immensely due to the war in Iran, we’ve heard rumblings Trump was looking for the nuclear codes (unproven but not unbelievable...

Send us Fan Mail The pressure keeps ramping up, and this week was like no other, with a potty-mouthed Potus threatening to destroy an entire civilization. While the media and experts try to determine what he meant by this statement – a war crime in its own right (not the act, just saying the words) - the only way a civilization the size of Iran could be destroyed is by going nuclear. Did we really...

Send us Fan Mail  Hooley dooley, what a week! We started in the middle of a 48-hour countdown that seemed to have only one possible outcome – global Armageddon - but then there was a pause (a TACO moment?) with five more days to consider options. Not long after that we heard there were behind-the-scenes peace negotiations starting according to Trump, but the Iranians said it was fake news, all whi...

Send us Fan Mail The only news story able to break through the cacophony of war is the global conversation happening off the back of Louis Theroux’s documentary, Inside the Manosphere. Every possible view is on the table, and regardless of what that view is, a conversation has begun, which is always a good thing… maybe. Sometimes what begins as positive momentum can turn into backlash, something w...

Send us Fan Mail Two weeks into the war between the US/Israel and Iran, and we’re still not sure why. But it’s over, wait, no it’s not, it could be over anytime Donald Trump wants, but it’s over, not yet, maximum damage is on the way, and we’re going to kick them while they’re down. Yes, we’ve been buffeted with war time machismo, however, we could also be in the midst of an end-times Holy War wit...

Send us Fan Mail This time last week, the US and Israel weren’t at war with Iran, alas, the very next morning the bombs started dropping. Terrific (not)! It’s been absolute chaos since, with the narrative of the “why” probably the most chaotic it’s ever been, because why did this war start? Pre‑emptive self‑defence against Iranian attacks? Yes and, because Israel started it and we had to follow? Y...

Send us Fan Mail It’s time to get back in the ring after a decent break and reset, which we always do up until after Chinese New Year, BUT what a time to have a break! Every day, multiple stories all deserving major breaking news status, and because of that intensity we risk what matters most getting lost, and what doesn’t matter gets the attention. That’s why this time is so challenging, but ther...

Send us Fan Mail It was a privilege to sit down with my dear friend Jenn Villalobos to discuss a topic that's often overlooked: what it truly means to live in exile. Jenn has been in exile from Venezuela for 27 years, part of the more than 9.5 million Venezuelans (30% of the population) forced to leave their homeland since the 90s. In this deeply personal conversation, she shares her journey...

Send us Fan Mail It’s our last show for the year and we are looking forward to a break after an intense year of news! Why not do yourself a favour and join us, because we are going to tackle the issue of loneliness in our societies and its impact, as we welcome one of the world’s leading experts on the topic. With the festive season coming up, loneliness is an issue that impacts one in six people,...

Send us Fan Mail On 27th November, ten of the UK’s leading experts briefed an invite-only audience of 1,250+ politicians and leaders from business, culture, faith, sport and the media about the implications of the planetary crisis on health, food, national security and the economy. Organizers said the climate and nature crisis is a multi-pronged emergency that will impact all aspects of British li...

Send us Fan Mail Understanding what is going on in our environment really requires understanding the whole global system. There are very few people who can grasp that complexity, which is I why I follow climate systems scientists. They help me weave it all together and make sense of the interconnections.  However, as I am in the Global South, one of the limitations is the specifics for this region...

Send us Fan Mail We are guest-free this week, which provides an opportunity to dig deeper into some of the topics we’ve been covering this season, and the biggest focus is on money… well, the economy more broadly. We always discuss the economy in relation to what’s happening in the news, going as deep as we can, because we know it’s the wider implications of what’s going on that really matter when...

Send us Fan Mail The tech broligarchy is getting a lot of attention, as is AI and the potential of a massive bubble. Tech industry insiders are calling BS on the promises executives are saying AI will deliver, while the financial market responds to every word its leaders utter. So, what is it? Is the promise real? Is it a hype cycle on steroids? We are going to dig into this, with an industry vete...

Send us Fan Mail We are in a time of great uncertainty. Multiple crises are getting our attention – from geopolitics to war to the climate emergency to mental health and more – so how do we develop the inner resilience to cope? How do we reinvent ourselves when the world around us feels so unstable? And what holds us back from speaking our truth authentically and powerfully? We are going to discus...