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This week, Rafael Behr and Professor Helen Thompson discuss her new book Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century. The book, which was released on the day Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, recounts three histories—one about geopolitics, one about the world economy, and one about western democracies. She explains how a confluence of different crises, building over many years, has created the current mood of global, epoch-defining disorder. It shows how much of this turbulence originated in problems generated by fossil-fuel energies, and it explains why, as the green transition takes place, the longstanding predicaments energy invariably shapes will remain in place. In light of her new book and the war raging in Ukraine, in this edition of Politics on the Couch Rafael and Helen discuss a wide-range of ideas and issues: Topics discussed: Was the Russian invasion of Ukraine an inflection point in history and how do we know if we're living through one? Do individuals and charismatic personalities shape history or merely express longer-running trends and bigger forces? Does Johnson have any ideology? If so, what is it? Can the year we're born can shape our optimism about the future? Has the pandemic affected the way citizens view making big sacrifices for a greater good? How can strong political identities be forged from adversity? Do Western liberal democracies have the capacity to drive through the change needed to make the green transition? Is China as an authoritarian state at an advantage? What lessons has the Ukrainian war taught us about energy policy and green transition? Helen's new book: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/disorder-hard-times-in-the-21st-century/9780198864981 Helen's Cambridge University page: https://www.polis.cam.ac.uk/Staff_and_Students/dr-helen-thompson Politics on the Couch has been chosen by Feedspot as one of the Top 25 UK Psychology Podcasts and Top 25 Political Science Podcasts on the web. https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_psychology_podcasts https://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts

Human beings routinely make terrible choices but humanity still achieves amazing things. How does this paradox work? And is it still working when technology seems to amplify the worst in us. In this episode, Politics on the Couch host Rafael Behr talks to Professor Steven Pinker about the constant struggle between evidence and emotion for control of the political agenda; whether truth and fact are winning the long war against superstition and falsehood, and why rationality always has the last word. Professor Steven Pinker is Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and the author of a number of highly acclaimed and prize-winning books about psychology, cognitive science, linguistics and history. His latest book Rationality: What it is; why it seems scarce; why it matters was published in September. https://stevenpinker.com/publications/rationality-what-it-why-it-seems-so-scarce-and-why-it-matters More about Steven Pinker: https://stevenpinker.com/biocv Other books by Steven Pinker mentioned in episode The Better Angels of our Nature https://stevenpinker.com/publications/better-angels-our-nature Enlightenment Now https://stevenpinker.com/publications/enlightenment-now-case-reason-science-humanism-and-progress A couple of references in this episode that might be useful as further reading. Michael Ignatieff’s book Fire and Ashes, about a failed career in politics https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/27/michael-ignatieff-fire-ashes-review Jonathan Rauch’s book The Constitution of Knowledge, about the crisis of trust in institutions https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/26/the-constitution-of-knowledge-review-jonathan-rauch-trump Politics on the Couch has been chosen by Feedspot as one of the Top 25 UK Psychology Podcasts and Top 25 Political Science Podcasts on the web. https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_psychology_podcasts https://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

In this episode Rafael Behr talks to Cambridge University political psychologist Dr Lee de-Wit about the problem with progressive arguments over patriotism, and Labour's constant struggle to connect with socially conservative voters. Links mentioned in this episode: Dr Lee de-Wit's Cambridge University homepage https://www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/people/lee-de-wit Arnold Kling's book https://cdn.cato.org/libertarianismdotorg/books/ThreeLanguagesOfPolitics.pdf Haidt and Moral Foundations Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_foundations_theory Tariq Modood's site http://www.tariqmodood.com YouGov poll on immigration https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2019/09/13/what-policy-do-british-voters-want-on-eu-immigration-is-there-a-hidden-consensus/ Dr Lee de-Wit's book http://eandtbooks.com/books/whats-your-bias/ Dr Lee de-Wit's recent article in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/11/politics-left-right-tories-advantage-labour Politics on the Couch has just been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top 25 UK Psychology Podcasts on the web. This is the most comprehensive list of Top 25 UK Psychology Podcasts on the internet and we're honored to have been selected! https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_psychology_podcasts This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Britain's vast colonial project, amassed over centuries and covering a quarter of the world at its height, is unavoidable in any discussion of race and identity in modern Britain. Or, at least, it should be, but the nation has, until recently, done a remarkable job of avoiding the subject. In this episode, Rafael Behr talks to Sathnam Sanghera about Empireland, his recent book that delves into that Imperial legacy, how it shapes our nation, our culture and defines so much of our politics to this day. Sathnam Sanghera has won multiple awards for his journalism in the Financial Times and the Times. His 2009 memoir, The Boy with the Topknot, was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award, as was his 2014 novel, Marriage Material. Empireland: How Imperialism has Shaped Modern Britain was published earlier this year to much acclaim. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Rafael Behr talks to Cognitive Scientist of Political Violence, Nafees Hamid, about what makes extremists tick and how to change their minds. Nafees discusses the conditions that push people towards extremist ideologies and whether a martyr's mind is wired differently to the rest of us. Along the way, Rafael and Nafees explore identity, sacred values, devoted actors, and how extremists can be walked back from acts of violence. Nafees Hamid is a Fellow at ARTIS International (https://artisinternational.org) and an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (https://icct.nl) in The Hague. His research focuses on the psychology of radicalisation and social fragmentation in Western countries. His methods include ethnographic interviews, survey studies, social network analysis, and psychology and neuroscience experiments with mostly Western members of extremist organisations, their friends and family, supporters of such networks, and the general communities from where they originate. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Rafael Behr talks to Matt d'Ancona about his new book: 'Identity, Ignorance, Innovation: Why the Old Politics is Useless - and what to do about it.' https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Identity-Ignorance-Innovation-by-Matthew-DAncona-author/9781529303995 They discuss why the 'liberal left' needs to adapt to a new politics that is being shaped much more by digital networks and identity politics than the older institutional forces. Matt joined The Sunday Telegraph in 1996 as deputy comment editor and columnist, before becoming deputy editor. He wrote a weekly political column in The Sunday Telegraph for a decade. He succeeded Boris Johnson as editor of The Spectator. In January 2015, d'Ancona joined The Guardian as a weekly columnist. He left the paper in 2019 to become an editor and partner at https://www.tortoisemedia.com He also writes columns for the Evening Standard, GQ and The New York Times. He is chairman of the liberal Conservative think tank, Bright Blue, a trustee of the Science Museum and a Visiting Research Fellow at Queen Mary University of London.

Rafael Behr talks to neuroscientist and author Tali Sharot about the optimism hard-wired into our thought processes, how it affects the way we look at the world – and what it means for politics. The conversation also covers the relationship between emotion and reason, how we should respect some of the more primitive parts of our brains, what messages work best to encourage people to act on climate change, and what connects sourdough and the hunt for a coronavirus vaccine. Tali Sharot is a professor at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, where she is Director of the Affective Brain Lab, and Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/research/experimental-psychology/person/dr-tali-sharot/Sheis the author of The Optimism Bias: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Optimism-Bias-were-wired-bright/dp/1780332637 and The Influential Mind: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Influential-Mind-Reveals-Change-Others/dp/0349140634/ This podcast is hosted by wwww.zencast.fm

Rafael Behr talks to author and comedian David Baddiel about his book “Jews Don't Count” – a closely argued polemic about the failure of progressive-left politics to treat antisemitism with the same moral rigour as is applied to other kinds of racism. The frank and at times raw conversation deals with the social and cultural dimensions of one of history's oldest prejudices, as well as the individual emotional and psychological components of a secular Jewish identity. They also talk a little bit about football. David Baddiel's book is published by TLS Books https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/jews-dont-count-david-baddiel-tls-books-extract/

Rafael Behr explores the causes of resistance to vaccine science and its links with far-right propaganda with Imran Ahmed, founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The chat ranges from the emotional vulnerabilities that lead people to take comfort from conspiracy theories to the political obligations on social media companies to help defend democracy from malevolent, weaponised lies. Along the way, Rafael and Imran touch on politics, psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, the scientific method, Hugo Boss's Nazi tailoring and some practical advice for dealing with toxic falsehood online. The two reports mentioned in the episode are Don't Feed the Trolls: https://www.counterhate.com/dont-feed-the-trolls And the Anti-Vaxx Playbook: https://www.counterhate.com/playbook Imran also mentions Ashli Babbit who was killed in the Washington DC Capitol riot: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/09/ashli-babbitt-capitol-mob-trump-qanon-conspiracy-theory And a Guardian report about the Tuskegee Study Imran discusses: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/08/guatemala-victims-us-syphilis-study Our podcast was recently chosen by Feedspot as one of the best 15 English-speaking political science podcasts in the world. https://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Host Rafael Behr answers some listeners' questions and looks ahead to the challenges facing the main political parties in 2021 as they try to navigate their way through a pandemic, levelling up, calls for Scottish independence and the reality of Brexit. Plus, reflections on the future for remainers and the prospects for a campaign to re-join the EU. Also features one book recommendation and a very extended metaphor about coral. Cultural Amnesia by Clive James https://uk.bookshop.org/books/cultural-amnesia-notes-in-the-margin-of-my-time/9780330481755 This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Host Rafael Behr talks to Dr Carol Tavris about the mental obstacles that stop us from admitting that we may have made a mistake. Dr Tavris is a pre-eminent social psychologist specialising in the field of cognitive dissonance and co-author of “Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)”, a seminal book on the subject that was recently updated to include a chapter on Donald Trump's support base. Carol has written articles, op-eds, and book reviews on a wide array of topics in psychological science for the TLS, Wall Street Journal, Skeptic magazine, Los Angeles Times, and many other venues. This episode was recorded just before Christmas 2020 and touches on some of the reasons why few people have changed their minds about their support for (or opposition to) the idea of Brexit, and why the reality in 2021 is unlikely to trigger mass conversions. Links to interesting stuff mentioned in this podcast https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/oct/23/sarah-silverman-apologises-after-louis-ck-masturbation-comments https://lincolnproject.us https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Festinger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_cult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_Aronson Amazon UK link to Carol's book Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts (2020 edition - updated and revised) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mistakes-Were-Made-but-Not/dp/1780666950/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JHS0EFOUNOK3&dchild=1&keywords=mistakes+were+made+but+not+by+me&qid=1609202077&sprefix=mistakes+were+%2Caps%2C285&sr=8-1 Amazon US link https://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-but-Third/dp/0358329612/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=mistakes+were+made+but+not+by+me+third+edition&qid=1591458464&s=books&sr=1-1 Our podcast was recently chosen by Feedspot as one of the best 15 English-speaking political science podcasts in the world. https://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Politics on the Couch host Rafael Behr talks to Professors Constantine Sedikides and Tim Wildschut of the University of Southampton, about the way people narrate the stories of their past, what they get from the process and the way political campaigns can exploit those feelings. Prof. Constantine Sedikides https://www.southampton.ac.uk/psychology/about/staff/cs2.page Prof Tim Wildschut https://www.southampton.ac.uk/psychology/about/staff/timw.page Nostalgia website https://www.southampton.ac.uk/nostalgia/ Our podcast was recently chosen by Feedspot as one of the best 15 English-speaking political science podcasts in the world. https://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts

In the aftermath of the US presidential election, Rafael Behr talks to Professor Drew Westen about different forms of charisma, the struggle to communicate liberal arguments to Republican voters and the symptoms of severe personality disorder exhibited by Donald Trump. Drew Westen is a professor in the Psychology and Psychiatry Department at Emory University, Atlanta Georgia. He is also a political consultant and author of the highly influential book "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation." Our podcast was recently chosen by Feedspot as one of the best 15 English-speaking political science podcasts in the world https://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts

In this bonus episode, podcast host Rafael Behr turns to his old friend and New York Times columnist Ben Smith for analysis of the state of US politics a week before the biggest election in living memory, and for reassurance that, maybe, everything is gonna be alright.

Rafael Behr speaks to social anthropologist Emma Crewe about parliament; what makes MPs tick, the psychological mechanisms they need to function in one of the country's weirdest workplaces - and their relationship with journalists. Professor Crewe, of SOAS, University of London, is the only anthropologist to have been based inside the Palace of Westminster, having spent years embedded in both the Lords and the Commons, enjoying uniquely privileged access to the inner workings of the legislature. You can read more about her research on parliaments and other topics at her Global Research Network on People and Parliaments website: www.grnpp.org or on her personal site www.emmacrewe.com Routledge will be publishing her latest book - 'An Anthropology of Parliaments: entanglements in democratic politics' in 2021. This podcast is hosted by https://wwww.zencast.fm

In this episode Rafael Behr speaks to celebrated Irish author and journalist Fintan O'Toole about their shared fascination with nationalism and the myths of foreign oppression that fired a very English revolution. Also featuring digressions on the Scottish independence movement, Irish attitudes to Brexit and the Italian Job. Fintan O'Toole is a historian, critic and cultural commentator; author of many books that range across questions of culture, identity, nationhood in Ireland and Britain. He is one of Ireland's most prominent and eminent political writers.

This week Rafael Behr talks to Tim Harford, BBC Radio 4's presenter of More or Less and FT columist, about his new book: How To Make The World Add Up. Tim Harford writes the Undercover Economist column for the FT and was previously an economics leader writer for the FT. He is also the author of seven books, including the million-selling, The Undercover Economist and before that, Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy. He is also a regular presenter for BBC radio. He was made an OBE in the 2019 new year honours list “for services to improving economic understanding. Link to buy the book: www.hive.co.uk/Product/Tim-Harford/How-to-Make-the-World-Add-Up--Ten-Rules-for-Thinking-Diff/25138829) If you have a questions, comments or suggestions for Rafael about the podcast please email potc@larchmontfilms.com If you enjoy this podcast do please like, share and review it. Phil (the producer) This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Host Rafael Behr looks ahead to a new political season that promises to be like none in recent memory and reflects on a lost summer of coronavirus denial, with some digressions on party conferences, Brexit and Cliff Richard. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This week Rafael Behr and Helen Lewis discuss social media's corrosive effect on politics and public discourse, and how we can all respond. Helen Lewis is a staff writer at the Atlantic, was deputy editor at the New Statesman, presents BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour, and is a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's News Quiz. She's written a book about the history of feminism, is ambivalent towards Twitter but likes the Sopranos and embroidery. Helen's new book - (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/16/difficult-women-history-of-feminism-11-fights-helen-lewis-review) Helen's newsletter - http://helenlewis.substack.com Helen's writing in the Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/author/helen-lewis Helen's lecture on the failure's of political journalism - https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/video/helen-lewis-failures-political-journalism This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This week, Rafael Behr talks to Bobby Duffy from The Policy Institute at King's College London about trust in the government during the Coronavirus pandemic and how our identities and cognitive biases affect who we trust in politics. Topics discussed in order 1-4 Fall-out from Dominic Cummings; Public health messaging during lock-down; Stats coronavirus tests it says it’s been carrying out; Bobby Duffy conversation starts 5-10 King's College new report; support for the government coming out of the lock-down; How identities influence how we view the government's response to the pandemic; Growth of tribal identities; Conflict extension theory; Potential for a culture war like the US? 10.30 Connections between leave/remain tribes and trust in how govt. is dealing with Coronavirus; National pride; Confirmation bias How do political identity and self-preservation interact? 14 How good are we at assessing risk? Emotional innumeracy 17.40 Good that we overestimate risk in such scenarios? System 1 v System 2 thinking Do politicians exploit our ‘faulty thinking’? 21 Do we understand reality more or less than the 1940s? 22 Deliberative democracy; What is it? Is it underused? 24 Eire using DD before their 2018 abortion referendum; Is context important? 29 Has trust in politicians declined recently? Is it rational not to trust politicians? 31 Do we suffer from rosy retrospection? Does identity come before people’s politics? 36 Progressives, facts and trust; Moral outlook and who we trust How Trump communicates trust via a distorted view of reality. 40 How will we look back at our unity at the start of the lock-down? room for optimism? optimism/uncertainty about how we come out of Coronavirus; generational conflict? 48 In conclusion 49 End https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/declining-confidence-in-governments-covid-response Perils of Perception