All posts by Barry Daniel

About Barry Daniel

I live in the Lake District in the UK where I run a guesthouse with my partner Kate and my cat Manuel. I enjoy painting, hillwalking, reading, visiting and entertaining friends, T’ai Chi and playing the guitar. I’m engaged to a certain degree in the local community, as a volunteer with Samaritans and I’m a fairly active member of the local Green party. I’ve had a relatively intuitive sense of the Middle Way most of my adult life but it found a greater articulation and a practical direction through joining the society. It’s also been interesting and great fun engaging with other people with a similar outlook. My main contribution to the society is conducting the podcast interviews, something that gives me a lot of satisfaction and that I’ve learnt a lot from.

The MWS Podcasts 131: Emma Byrne on the Benefits of Swearing

Culture, Linguistics, Podcast, ,

We are joined today by the scientist Emma Byrne. Emma normally specialises in the field of artificial intelligence, however she’s recently taken a different tack and is here to talk about her latest book entitled ‘Swearing is good for you’. Using peer reviewed science, she argues that swearing is likely to have been one of the first forms of language that we developed and that since then, it’s been helping us to deal with pain, work together, manage our emotions and improve our minds.



MWS Podcast 131: Emma Byrne as audio only:
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The MWS Podcast 130: Daniel P Keating on Epigenetics, Anxiety and Social Inequality

Health, Podcast, Psychology, Science, ,

Our guest today is Daniel P Keating, a professor of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Paediatrics at the University of Michigan. He’s the author of several books including ‘Developmental Health and the Wealth of Nations’, ‘Nature and Nurture in Early Child Development’ and he’s here to talk to us today about his latest book ‘Born Anxious: The lifelong impact of Early Life Adversity and how to break the cycle.



MWS Podcast 130: Daniel P Keating as audio only:
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The MWS Podcast 129: Peter Tatchell on Homophobia

Education, Podcast, Sexuality, ,

Our guest today is the British journalist and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell who is perhaps most well-known for his work with LBGT social movements and advocacy. He’s here to talk to us today about homophobia, its history, causes and what can be done about it.



MWS Podcast 129: Peter Tatchell as audio only:
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The MWS Podcast 128: Barbara Gail Montero on Thought in Action

Podcast, The Body,

Our guest today is Barbara Gail Montero who is a Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York. Her work focuses on one or the other of two different notions of body: body as the physical or material basis of everything, and body as the moving, breathing, flesh and blood instrument that we use when we run, walk, or dance. Before entering academia, she was a professional ballet dancer and she’s here to talk to us today about her recently published book ‘Thought in Action: Expertise and the conscious Mind’ which challenges what she refers to as the ‘Just do it’ principle.



MWS Podcast 128: Barbara Gail Montero as audio only:
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The MWS Podcast 127: Tim Farron on Liberalism and the Middle Way

Podcast, Politics, ,

Our guest today is the British politician, Tim Farron. Tim was the leader of the Liberal Democrats from July 2015 to July 2017. He’s been the Member of Parliament for Westmoreland and Lonsdale since 2005 and he’s here to talk to us today about Liberalism, its origins and development, its core values and how it might relate to the Middle Way.



MWS Podcast 127: Tim Farron as audio only:
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