Politics on the Couch

This week Rafael Behr and Helen Lewis discuss social media's corrosive effect on politics and public discourse, and how we can all respond. Helen Lewis is a staff writer at the Atlantic, was deputy editor at the New Statesman, presents BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour, and is a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's News Quiz. She's written a book about the history of feminism, is ambivalent towards Twi...

This week, Rafael Behr talks to Bobby Duffy from The Policy Institute at King's College London about trust in the government during the Coronavirus pandemic and how our identities and cognitive biases affect who we trust in politics. Topics discussed in order 1-4 Fall-out from Dominic Cummings;Public health messaging during lock-down;Stats coronavirus tests it says it’s been carrying out;Bobby Duf...

In this bonus edition Rafael Behr takes a break from his lock-down holiday to ask - what is 'political cut-through' and why Dominic Cummings appears to have cut so deep into the national conversation? In the midst of a pandemic, has a political mover renowned for capturing the mood of nation misjudged it this time? NB This episode was recorded on the morning of 26 May before any post-conference op...

This week Rafael Behr talks to The Lord John Alderdice about his incredible life as a politician, psychiatrist and psychotherapist. They discuss how his formative years living in Northern Ireland influenced his decision to train as a psychiatrist and then psychotherapist; how this then informed his whole approach to politics and his political philosophy; and how it also helped him as a key negotia...

This week our host Rafael Behr is in conversation with Dr Leor Zmigrod about how cognitive science can help us understand how political identities are formed, and how people's ideological affiliations might affect how they respond to a national crisis. If you want to delve further into the topic Reader-friendly essays Zmigrod, L. (2019). The partisan brain: cognitive study suggests people on the l...