Episodes

  • Actor Kevin Bacon on learning selflessness, the secret lives of porn addicts, and what’s it like to be a private tutor for the rich?

    Actor Kevin Bacon on learning selflessness, the secret lives of porn addicts, and what’s it like to be a private tutor for the rich?
    Jul 6 2024
    Hollywood’s great survivor discusses his band, politics, family, embracing change and learning selflessness; as pornography use soars, we meet the men who feel their behaviour is moving from a compulsion to an addiction; and, last week, a job advert emerged for a private tutor to an architecture student with potential earnings of more than £2m. One man who has worked with wealthy families describes what it takes.
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    38 mins
  • Keir Starmer’s most personal interview yet, the woman who gave birth to her granddaughter, and why do we have the dreams we do?– podcast

    Keir Starmer’s most personal interview yet, the woman who gave birth to her granddaughter, and why do we have the dreams we do?– podcast
    Jun 29 2024
    Charlotte Edwardes interviews the Labour leader as he closes in on power, but who exactly is the man who wants to run Britain? Plus the extraordinary story of the woman who stepped in as a surrogate for her daughter’s baby, and Sam Pyrah examines the latest scientific understanding about why we dream what we do
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    50 mins
  • Marina Hyde on Sunak and class, my parachute failed at at 4,000ft, my gaming-addicted son, and a new approach to quitting smoking

    Marina Hyde on Sunak and class, my parachute failed at at 4,000ft, my gaming-addicted son, and a new approach to quitting smoking
    Jun 22 2024
    Marina Hyde on poor Rishi, who had to go without a Sky subscription as a teenager; Chris Godfrey spent a decade trying to quit smoking, then he tried hypnotherapy and it changed his life; when Jordan Hatmaker pulled the string of her parachute, she realised something was very wrong; and ‘My grownup son is gaming all day and lives on takeaways’ - Philippa Perry offers advice to a mother
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    50 mins
  • Azeem Rafiq talks racism, cricket, and leaving Britain; Philippa Perry offers advice on a painful crush; why Rory Stewart quit politics; and the big British bamboo crisis

    Azeem Rafiq talks racism, cricket, and leaving Britain; Philippa Perry offers advice on a painful crush; why Rory Stewart quit politics; and the big British bamboo crisis
    Jun 15 2024
    The former cricketer discusses the ramifications of his decision to speak out about racism at Yorkshire; a reader has developed an intense crush on an unavailable work colleague; Boris Johnson and Brexit weren’t the only reasons Rory Stewart left politics; and Simon Usborne on the destructive impact of bamboo
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    47 mins
  • New series – Pop Culture with Chanté Joseph: Taylor Swift cultural icon or turbo-capitalist?

    New series – Pop Culture with Chanté Joseph: Taylor Swift cultural icon or turbo-capitalist?
    Jun 10 2024
    We are delighted to bring you the first episode in our latest series of Pop Culture with Chanté Joseph. Chanté (not a Swift fan) is joined by the writer Elle Hunt (is a Swift fan) to talk about why Taylor Swift is not just a pop sensation, bringing her billion-pound Eras tour to the UK, but has also managed to become a business icon. The pair also chat about whether or not one artist should even have that much influence in the first place. If you like the episode, please search for Pop Culture with Chanté Joseph and hit subscribe.
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    24 mins
  • A Guardian Blind Date happy ending, the boy who fled the Nazis, and Philippa Perry’s advice on an alcoholic father

    A Guardian Blind Date happy ending, the boy who fled the Nazis, and Philippa Perry’s advice on an alcoholic father
    Jun 8 2024
    The Guardian lockdown love story that ended in ‘I do’; the incredible story of Maxwell Smart, who lost his family in the Holocaust at 10 and avoided detection from the Nazis for two years; and Philippa Perry advises a reader not to invite his alcoholic father to his wedding.
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    42 mins
  • America’s premier pronatalists on having ‘tons of kids’ to save the world, Marina Hyde on the election campaign trail, and is doing nothing the secret of happiness?

    America’s premier pronatalists on having ‘tons of kids’ to save the world, Marina Hyde on the election campaign trail, and is doing nothing the secret of happiness?
    Jun 1 2024
    Rishi Sunak is so convinced he can’t win he’s promising any old mad thing, while the Lib Dems are deliberately falling off paddleboards – Marina Hyde on the election. The couple on a mission to make it easier for everyone to have multiple children – Elon Musk (father of 11) is a supporter. Few of us have the money to take a long pause from work – but, as Anita Chaudhuri discovers, even a day can make a difference
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    56 mins
  • Stephen Merchant on his ‘preposterous’ trajectory; the trouble with the Zoe nutrition app; and when does drinking become a problem?

    Stephen Merchant on his ‘preposterous’ trajectory; the trouble with the Zoe nutrition app; and when does drinking become a problem?
    May 25 2024
    Comedian, writer and actor Stephen Merchant on standup, fame and the pressures of cancel culture; testing the ‘world-leading science’ claims behind the Zoe nutrition app; and the point when writer Harriet Tyce realised she didn’t want to be remembered only as a drinker
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    42 mins