PODCASTS/AUDIOBOOKS
When it Hits the Fan
This entertaining and informative current affairs podcast series, hosted by former Sun editor David Yelland and Simon Lewis who has been media adviser to many, including the late Queen and Gordon Brown, takes a look at the week’s biggest PR disasters. Using their combined decades of experience, Yelland and Lewis go behind the latest news stories to find out when, how and why things started to go wrong. In the opening episode the pair focus on Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan’s recent major faux pas, unwittingly caught on mic after a radio interview on the Government’s handling of the Raac concrete crisis; prince Harry’s arrival in the UK for a fleeting visit and Spanish football boss Luis Rubiales’ refusal to resign.
The Happiness Lab x Sesame Street Various platforms, review by Yvette Huddleston
The Happiness Lab podcast hosted by Yale professor Dr Laurie Santos has teamed up with the Sesame Workshop – the not-for-profit educational organisation behind the classic US TV programme Sesame Street. The aim of the podcasts is to find ways for parents and children to feel happier. Using some of the TV series’ iconic characters including Big Bird and others, the conversation is about how to improve emotional well-being all round. Some of the themes highlighted include simple strategies to employ in the regulation of emotions, the ups and downs of an average day, the ways in which we can banish negativity and how feeling grateful can help to lift your mood. Warm, inclusive and helpful – with plenty of valuable life lessons.
Pop Culture with Chante Joseph Various episodes, review by Yvette Huddleston
This excellent weekly series, hosted by writer and social commentator Chanté Joseph takes a deep dive into contemporary pop culture and the stories that everyone is talking about. In the opening episode of the latest series Joseph looks at the complex question of sustainable fashion and explores the controversial collaboration between Naomi Campbell and UK-based fast fashion retailer Pretty Little Thing. To unpick that partnership and discuss whether there is any hope for slow, sustainable fashion in the future, Joseph is joined by sustainability consultant Emma Slade Edmondson and fashion journalist Chloe MacDonnell. Other recent episodes have explored TV dating shows and how they affect our love lives, the influence of Caribbean culture on British music and the history of party holidays.
Nature Bang BBC Sounds, review by Yvette Huddleston
This charming series, hosted by Becky Ripley and Emily Knight, combines nature and philosophy, science and storytelling. It’s back for a new season and in the opening episode they explore the evolution of laughter. With at least 65 species having been identified as making ‘play vocalisations’, Ripley and Knight ask whether lions chuckle or chimpanzees giggle as they try to discover where human laughter originated. They are joined by UCLA biological anthropologist Sasha Winkler who shares some of her research findings around social behaviour in primates and Professor Sophie Scott, Director of the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL who talks about human laughter as a sophisticated tool of communication, its importance in social interaction – and how good it is for us.