Audio Long Reads, From The New Statesman podcast

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33:58

In this episode, we delve into the concept of being "qualified" in the workplace, examining who gets labeled as such, who doesn't, and the underlying reasons. We explore "competency checking"—the practice of scrutinizing individuals' abilities—and how it disproportionately affects underrepresented groups, often going unnoticed or unchallenged. Our discussion aims to redefine qualifications in a fair, equitable, and actionable manner. Our guest, Shari Dunn , is an accomplished journalist, former attorney, news anchor, CEO, university professor, and sought-after speaker. She has been recognized as Executive of the Year and a Woman of Influence, with her work appearing in Fortune Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Ad Age, and more. Her new book, Qualified: How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work , unpacks what it truly means to be deserving and capable—and why systemic barriers, not personal deficits, are often the real problem. Her insights challenge the narratives that hold so many of us back and offer practical solutions for building a more equitable future. Together, we can build workplaces and communities that don’t just reflect the world we live in, but the one we want to create. A world where being qualified is about recognizing the talent and potential that’s been overlooked for far too long. It’s not just about getting a seat at the table—it’s about building an entirely new table, one designed with space for all of us. Connect with Our Guest Shari Dunn Website& Book - Qualified: https://thesharidunn.com LI: https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/sharidunn TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesharidunn Related Podcast Episodes: How To Build Emotionally Mature Leaders with Dr. Christie Smith | 272 Holding It Together: Women As America's Safety Net with Jessica Calarco | 215 How To Defy Expectations with Dr. Sunita Sah | 271 Share the Love: If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform! 🔗 Subscribe & Review: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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The New Statesman is the UK's leading politics and culture magazine. Here you can listen to a selection of our very best reported features and essays read aloud. Get immersed in powerful storytelling and narrative journalism from some of the world's best writers. Have your mind opened by influential thinkers on the forces shaping our lives today.

Ease into the weekend with new episodes published every Saturday morning.

For more, visit www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/audio-long-reads

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Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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Ease into the weekend with new episodes published every Saturday morning.

For more, visit www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/audio-long-reads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

88 επεισόδια

#Society #New Statesman #Long Reads #Journalism #Report #Stories #Storytelling #Essays #Philosophy

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Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

1
The UK’s leading romance fraud specialist 46:13

πριν 1 year46:13

46:13

How did one detective take on an international network of romance fraudsters? This episode was written Stuart McGurk and read by Will Dunn. The commissioning editor was Melissa Denes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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The great private school con 29:19

πριν 1 year29:19

29:19

They no longer have a stranglehold on Oxbridge and would lose tax breaks under Labour. So what is elite education really selling? At the Labour Party conference in Liverpool in October, the Independent Schools Council hosted a forlorn drinks reception: not one of the more than 40 MPs showed up. ‘We are not the enemy,’ one private school headmaster complained to a sympathetic Daily Mail . But if Labour does win the next general election, it has committed to removing tax breaks on business rates and 20% VAT on private school fees – raising £1.6bn to be invested in state schools. On top of this, Starmer’s cabinet (as it stands) would be the most state-educated in history – with only 13% having attended private school (against Rishi Sunak’s 63%). Can elite education survive – and cling on to its charitable status? In this week’s audio long read – the last in this series – the New Statesman ’s features editor Melissa Denes attends three school open days to understand how these winds of change might affect them. She also follows the money, calculating that – allowing for tax breaks - the average taxpayer subsidises an Eton schoolboy at a far higher rate than a state school one. As the gaps in spending between the two sectors grow, and society strives to become more fair, will an expensive education evolve into a luxury service rather than a charitable concern? Written and read by Melissa Denes. This article originally appeared in the 10-16 November edition of the New Statesman; you can read the text version here . If you enjoyed listening to this article, you might also enjoy The decline of the British university by Adrian Pabst. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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How Rishi Sunak became the first Silicon Valley prime minister 22:27

πριν 1 year22:27

22:27

On 2 November 2023, Rishi Sunak closed his global AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park by interviewing the richest man on Earth, Elon Musk. The mood was deferential (the PM towards the tech billionaire). Was Sunak eyeing up a post-politics job in San Francisco, some wondered , or calculating that Musk’s Twitter might be an effective campaigning tool come 2024? In this week’s audio long read, the New Statesman contributing writer Quinn Slobodian examines the origins of Sunak’s “fanboy-ish enthusiasm” for the billionaire tech disruptors. These lie in the publication of a 1997 business book, he writes: The Sovereign Individual: How to Survive and Thrive During the Collapse of the Welfare State , by the American venture capitalist James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg, father of Jacob. The book has become cult reading among tech leaders, and influential on the alt-right: its world view of a libertarian internet and the rise of economic freeports and tax havens chimed with a wealthy elite who saw a chance to get much, much richer. In Sunak, Slobodian argues, we see the arrival of the sovereign individual in Downing Street: “a ‘two-fer’, as they say in America: both its first Silicon Valley prime minister and its first hedge fund prime minister”. Written by Quinn Slobodian and read by Will Lloyd. This article originally appeared in the 2 November 2022 issue of the New Statesman ; you can read the text version here . If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy Sam Bankman-Fried and the effective altruism delusion by Sophie McBain. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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Israel, Hamas and the unravelling of the West 16:11

πριν 1 year16:11

16:11

What might be the long term impact of the Israel-Hamas war on global alliances? In this week’s audio long read, the New Statesman ’s contributing writer John Gray reflects on three weeks of bloodshed, beginning with the massacres of 7 October, and their wider consequences. An escalating conflict will empower Iran and Russia , he writes, as well as strengthen swing states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar . The United States might abandon Ukraine , or dilute its commitment to defending Taiwan from China. And with a presidential election on the horizon, does the White House have the stamina for a protracted foreign war? Already support for both Israel and Palestine has become sorely contested across the West, as Keir Starmer faces pressure from Muslim (and non-Muslim) MPs in the UK, while Emmanuel Macron has banned pro-Palestinian protest. Egypt and Lebanon have said they will not accept Palestinian refugees. For Gray, the events of 7 October mark the point at which the post-Cold War order finally fractured. “We have entered a world of imperial rivalries like that before 1914, which ended in Europe’s suicide in the trenches,” he writes. If America rose to become the global superpower after the second world war, that influence is now coming to an end. Written by John Gray and read by Melissa Denes. This article originally appeared in the 27 October-2 November edition of the New Statesman; you can read the text version here . If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy listening to The Dawn of the Saudi Century, by Quinn Slobodian . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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Has your AI therapist got your back? 21:53

πριν 1 year21:53

21:53

In May this year, an American woman sought the help of a chatbot on an eating disorders website. The bot, named Tessa and running on an evolving, generative AI, advised her to start counting calories. Perhaps she should get some calipers, it suggested, to measure her body fat. When it emerged that Tessa had given similarly dangerous advice to others, the bot was taken down. As countries around the world face a mental health crisis, exacerbated by the pandemic and a lack of human therapists, a new tech goldrush has begun. Can the latest self-help chatbots help meet a desperate need, delivering “microtherapy” sessions on demand? Do they have a place in disaster zones - or do people in crisis deserve human attention and support? In this week’s audio long read, freelance reporter and author of Sex Robots and Vegan Meat Jenny Kleeman talks to the people behind the latest incarnations of AI therapy in the UK and the US, as well as the technology’s critics. Written by Jenny Kleeman and read by Zoe Grunewald. This article originally appeared in the 13-19 October edition of the New Statesman. You can read the text version here . If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy The psychiatrists who don’t believe in mental illness by Sophie McBain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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How Britain became a dangerous place to have a baby 23:54

πριν 1 year23:54

23:54

What are the roots of today’s maternity crisis? Recent research by the Care Quality Commission has found a “concerning decline” in England, with over half of maternity wards rated substandard. Donna Ockenden’s review of Shrewsbury and Telford maternity trust found that, between 2001 and 2019, 201 babies and nine mothers had died avoidable deaths. In this week’s audio long read, the editor of the New Statesman ’s Spotlight magazine Alona Ferber traces the origins of this decline – from the advent of woman-centred care in the 1980s to today’s more frayed and divided landscape. Are austerity and political indifference the key factors, and does an ideological split over ‘natural’ and ‘medical’ birth play a part? “Thirty years ago,” Ferber writes, “when power moved from the institution to the individual, that shift was radical, progressive and revolutionary. It was about women’s rights and politics, as much as it was about health. But today the system is so stretched that the nexus of power is nowhere. It is not with clinical staff, nor with families. Instead, we muddle through.” Drawing on interviews with practitioners and her own birth experiences, she pieces together the elements of an ongoing crisis. Written and read by Alona Ferber. This article was originally published on 30 September 2023 and you can read the text version here . If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like Sophie McBain on The ADHD decade: what’s behind the boom in adult diagnoses Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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A year inside GB News: "We’re going to disrupt" 47:35

πριν 1 year47:35

47:35

For today’s Audio Long Read we’re bringing you one from our archives, which is suddenly extremely prescient. This week GB News is in the spotlight once again, this time for broadcasting misogynist comments made by Laurence Fox about a female journalist, Ava Evans. The channel has suspended Fox, along with host Dan Wootton, and has apologised for broadcasting the comments. But this is the latest in a long line of incidents in which GB News has pushed the boundaries of what is acceptable in broadcast journalism. In 2022 we published Stuart McGurk’s investigation into the origins of the right-wing news channel, speaking to insiders working in the founding team including senior journalists, editorial and production staff, and the chief executive himself. Stuart’s article, which is both alarming and hilarious, sheds light on the tumultuous origins of GB News and provides context for its current battle to be taken seriously. This article was originally published online on the New Statesman in April 2022; you can read the text version here . If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also like Cancel culture comes to GB News , by Clive Martin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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The philosopher and the crypto king: Sam Bankman-Fried and the effective altruism delusion 36:12

πριν 1 year36:12

36:12

At the time of writing, the crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried is due to stand trial on 3 October 2023. He stands accused of fraud and money-laundering on an epic scale through his currency exchange FTX. Did he gamble with other people’s money in a bid to do the maximum good? In this week’s long read, the New Statesman ’s associate editor Sophie McBain examines the relationship between Bankman-Fried and the Oxford-based effective altruism (EA) movement. The billionaire was a close associate and supporter of William MacAskill, the Scottish moral philosopher who many consider EA’s leader. It was MacAskill who had persuaded him – and many other young graduates – to earn more, in order to give more. But how much money was enough – and what should they spend it on? Was EA just “a dumb game we woke Westerners play”, as Bankman-Fried told one journalist? In conversations with EA members past and present, McBain hears how the movement was altered by its enormous wealth. As the trial of its biggest sponsor approaches, will effective altruism survive – or be swallowed by its more cynical Silicon Valley devotees? Written and read by Sophie McBain. This article originally appeared in the 22-28 September 2023 edition of the New Statesman ; you can read the text version here . If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also like Big Tech and the quest for eternal youth , by Jenny Kleeman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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How Chile (almost) democratised Big Tech 22:18

πριν 1 year22:18

22:18

Fifty years after Salvador Allende was ousted, might his greatest legacy be his battle with the emerging tech giants? On 1 August 1973, a seemingly mundane diplomatic summit took place in Lima, Peru. But there was nothing mundane about its revolutionary agenda. The attendees – diplomats from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru – aspired to create a more just technological world order, one that might have prevented the future dominance of Silicon Valley. As the Chilean foreign minister lamented even then: “500 multinational corporations control 90 per cent of the world’s productive technology”. Could a new international institution - a tech equivalent of the IMF - ensure that developing countries had access to all the benefits of technological progress? Six weeks later, Salvador Allende’s government was toppled, paving the way for General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship of Chile. In this week’s audio long read, the author and podcaster Evgeny Morozov considers Allende’s legacy. Often viewed as a tragic but hapless figure, his government in fact oversaw a number of radical and utopian initiatives - many of them to do with technology. Might Chile under Allende have evolved into the South Korea or Taiwan of South America? Read by Catharine Hughes and written by Evgeny Morozov, who hosts The Santiago Boys: the Tech World that Might Have Been podcast series. This article was originally published on newstateman.com on 9 September 2023; you can read the text version here . If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also enjoy Would climate change have been worse without capitalism ? Download the New Statesman app: iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=US Subscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week: https://newstatesman.com/podcastoffer Sign up to our weekly Saturday Read email https://saturdayread.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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The prime minister and the AI that solved the climate crisis 22:49

πριν 1 year22:49

22:49

After the extreme heat of summer 2024, which saw children stretchered out of their exams, Britain’s prime minister calls a press conference in Westminster Hall. He has one eye on life after office (skiing in Aspen, a big gig in Silicon Valley), but before he leaves, he wants to unveil something truly ground-breaking: a large language model that has been trained by the best minds to solve the climate crisis. In this satirical work of speculative fiction, the New Statesman ’s business editor Will Dunn explores the government’s love affair with Big Tech, fast-forwarding to the dying days of a Conservative government. Climate protestors have been cleared from the roads - but the tarmac is melting and people want answers. Could an advanced AI called Tom provide the prime minister’s moonshot moment? Written and read by Will Dunn. You can read the text version at newstatesman.com If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy Edward Docx reading Boris Johnson: the death of a clown . Download the New Statesman app: iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=US Subscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week: https://newstatesman.com/podcastoffer Sign up to our weekly Saturday Read email https://saturdayread.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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Summer of Light: a new short story by Jonathan Coe 20:22

πριν 2 years20:22

20:22

In the summer of 1924, a highly regarded painter falls – or is he pushed? – into the canal while celebrating his exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Two young women are heard running away into the night. In this dazzling new coming-of-age story first published in the New Statesman’s summer issue , the award-winning novelist Jonathan Coe explores the relationship between artist and muse, female friendship and male cruelty. Written by Jonathan Coe and read by Tom Gatti. If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy Then Later, His Ghost: a short story by Sarah Hall . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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Escaping Eden: life after the Plymouth Brethren 43:11

πριν 2 years43:11

43:11

For those who leave the ultra-conservative Christian sect, separation comes at great personal cost. The New Statesman’s assistant editor Pippa Bailey had always been curious about the Plymouth Brethren, ever since discovering that her maternal grandparents had left the group in the 1960s. What might her life have been like if they stayed? Who were the cousins separated by a doctrine of isolation from non-Brethren ‘worldlies’? In this week’s deeply reported and moving magazine cover story, Pippa tells the story of the breakaway group, from its origins in 1820s Ireland to its modern-day incarnation as a global church and effective lobbyist. She speaks to former members, many of whom mourn the loss of family and friends to an organisation they consider repressive. It’s a fascinating journey, even if, as Pippa writes, her grandmother has no interest in resurfacing the past: “After all, she says, it’s all part of the Lord’s plan, and He does not test us more than we can bear.” This article originally appeared in the 25-31 August issue of the New Statesman; you can read the text version here . Written and read by Pippa Bailey. If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy How to build a language: inside the Oxford English Dictionary , by Pippa Bailey, or our reported feature by Stuart McGurk, A year inside GB news . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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In defence of counterfactual history 23:13

πριν 2 years23:13

23:13

What if the rush to war in 1914 had been averted? What if the Berlin Crisis of 1961 had led to nuclear war? What if the liberal revolution of 1848 had been successful? A new exhibition in Berlin considers a series of momentous what-ifs, an intriguing addition to the canon of counterfactual history. In this week’s long read, the New Statesman ’s contributing writer Jeremy Cliffe assesses the value of such rival realities, as explored in fiction and, increasingly, on social media platforms and alt-fic online communities. In contemporary British politics, the tumult of the past decade has inspired a new cottage industry of counterfactual histories. Often derided as pure speculation, Cliffe makes the case for their usefulness and, from his home in Berlin, reflects on the city’s many ghosts. “History is about facts,” he writes. “But those facts include intentions, imagined futures and visions that shape actual events even when – much more often than not – they never come to pass.” Written by Jeremy Cliffe and read by Chris Stone. This article originally appeared in the 28 July-17 August summer issue of the New Statesman. You can read the text version here . If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also enjoy Thomas Mann, German identity and the romantic allure of Russia, by Jeremy Cliffe . Download the New Statesman app: iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=US Subscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week: https://newstatesman.com/podcastoffer Sign up to our weekly Saturday Read email https://saturdayread.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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What Simone De Beauvoir knew about loss, by Ali Smith 21:41

πριν 2 years21:41

21:41

The novelist Ali Smith first came across the work of Simone de Beauvoir in an Inverness bookshop, aged 18 or 19, and was instantly compelled by her “tough, troubling” prose. In this week’s long read, Smith reflects on De Beauvoir’s 1964 memoir A Very Easy Death, a slight, visceral book about her estranged mother’s death. What happens when an existentialist, bound ethically to a thinking life, confronts the end of life and thought? Why does a writer who prides herself on uncompromising truth tell her mother she is not dying of cancer, when she is? Smith blends the personal and the political in an essay that grapples with De Beauvoir’s power to disturb and provoke, sixty years on. Written by Ali Smith and read by Anna Leszkiewicz. This article originally appeared in the 28 July-17 August 2023 New Statesman summer issue. You can read the text version here . If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also enjoy Karl Ove Knausgaard: a personal manifesto on the art of fiction . Download the New Statesman app: iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=US Subscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week: https://newstatesman.com/podcastoffer Sign up to our weekly Saturday Read email https://saturdayread.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

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George Monbiot: how I escape climate despair 15:53

πριν 2 years15:53