Category Archives: Podcast

The MWS Podcast 144: Simon Bell on Tribalism and Prejudice

Our guest today is Simon Bell. Simon is a retired mental health nurse who spent 37 years working in the National Health Service in the U.K. For 22 years he dealt solely with suspects, defendants and offenders from the time of their arrest until the point when criminal proceedings took place. He dealt with most types of offending behaviour and over the course of his career was involved in assessing and caring for several thousand offenders and victims of crime. His passion for history goes back to childhood; his passion for the Holocaust has its origins in being involved with the care of survivors of Nazi brutality whom he met during his early days in mental health car. He’s the author of ‘Auschwitz-Birkenau – From Hell to Hope’ and ‘Tribalism and Prejudice – The Far-Right and Lessons From History which will be the topic of our discussion today.

MWS Podcast 144: Simon Bell as audio only:

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The MWS Podcast 143: Maryanne Wolf on the reading brain in a digital world

My guest today is Maryanne Wolf. Maryanne is the John Dibiaggio Professor of Citizenship and Public Service and Director of the Center for Reading and Language Research. She is an expert on the neurological underpinnings of reading, language, and dyslexia. She is also the author of numerous scientific publications as well as two books written for the general public: ‘Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain’, which has been translated into 10 languages, and her latest book ‘Reader Come Home: The reading brain in a digital world which will be the topic of our discussion today.

MWS Podcast 143: Maryanne Wolf as audio only:

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The MWS Podcast 141: Keith Kahn-Harris on Denialism

We are joined today by the writer, sociologist, lecture and music critic, Keith Kahn-Harris. His books include Judaism: All That Matters, Uncivil War: The Israel Conflict in the Jewish Community, Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge and his latest book Denial: The Unspeakable Truth and this will be the topic of our discussion today.



MWS Podcast 141: Keith Kahn-Harris as audio only:
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The MWS Podcast 140: Jeremy Lent and Robert M Ellis on themes arising from ‘The Patterning Instinct’

We are joined today by the author and integrator Jeremy Lent and the chair of the Middle Way Society Robert M Ellis. Jeremy was a recent guest on the podcast when he spoke to us about his book “The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s search for Meaning”. Shortly afterwards Robert wrote a review of the book and some of the themes and issues raised in that review will form the basis for our discussion today.


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The MWS Podcast 139: Laura Bridgman on the Inner Critic

Our guest today is Laura Bridgman. Laura was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1995, and was resident at Amaravati and Chithurst monasteries in the UK for eighteen years until she moved out to live as a solitary nun in 2010. In 2015 Laura left the monastic tradition to pursue the Diamond Heart (Ridhwan) spiritual path alongside her Vipassana practice. She has run several retreats over the last couple of years on the subject of the ‘Inner Critic’ and this will be the topic of our discussion today.


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