As mainstream space tourism grows ever more likely, New Yorker writer Nicholas Schmidle tells Niki Seth-Smith about life inside the new space race, as explored in his new book 'Test Gods'.  What motivates men like Bezos, Branson and Musk? How does the approach to risk in private business compare with that at NASA? And should we be looking to space at all, with so much unresolved here on planet earth? Plus, Nicholas reflects on fatherhood and masculinity, including the life of his father: a fighter pilot and Top Gun grad.

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**Recorded in August 2021**

Further reading:

'Test Gods: Tragedy and Triumph in the New Space Race' (2021), Nicholas Schmidle

'The Right Stuff' (1979), Tom Wolfe

'In Praise of Astronauts' (2013) Paul Sims for New Humanist magazine

Racism is not an externality to British policing but is integral to its history, says sociologist and ex-youth worker, Adam Elliott-Cooper. He tells Samira Shackle about the ideas behind his book ‘Black Resistance to British Policing’. Recognising racism as far more than just interpersonal or about prejudice alone, he connects it to colonialism and the state, and highlights the role of resistance - including by women of colour who have long championed justice and radical change.

Plus: why the tendency in the UK to see racism as "something that happens somewhere else"? What’s obscured when we talk about “knife crime”? And why must we insist on continuing to talk about whiteness?

Podcast listeners can get a year's subscription to New Humanist magazine for just £13.50. Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON

Hosts: Samira Shackle and Alice Bloch
Executive producer: Alice Bloch
Sound engineer: David Crackles
Music: Danosongs

Reading list:

‘Black Resistance to British Policing’ (2021) Adam Elliott-Cooper 

W.E.B Du Bois (1868-1963) collected works

‘Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order’ (1978) Stuart Hall et al.

‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’, (1972) Stanley Cohen 

‘There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack’ (1987) Paul Gilroy

‘Women, Race and Class’ (1981) Angela Davis 

Frantz Fanon (1925-1962) collected works 

‘And Still I Rise’ (2006) Doreen Lawrence

 ‘Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays’ (1950) George Orwell 

‘Leviathan’ (1651) Thomas Hobbes 

‘On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life’ (2012) Sara Ahmed

‘Assembly’ (2021) Natasha Brown

‘In Search of Whiteness’ (2017), Lola Okolosie for New Humanist magazine, with Vron Ware

What does it mean to contemplate 'motherhood' in a world that values some bodies - and some decisions - over others?  Behavioural scientist Pragya Agarwal tells Alice Bloch about her experiences as a woman of South Asian heritage - from abortion, to pregnancy, to surrogacy - and the social, historical and scientific factors that shape how we talk about motherhood. How have women been controlled and contained through history? And how does that continue, worldwide, today? 
 
A candid conversation about maternity and reproductive justice, asking what motherhood means in a world of inequality, prejudice and control.

Hosts: Alice Bloch and Samira Shackle
Exec Producer: Alice Bloch
Sound Engineer: David Crackles
Music: Danosongs
Image artwork: Ed Dingli
 
If you want access to more fresh thinking, why not subscribe to New Humanist magazine? Head to newhumanist.org.uk/subscribe and enter the code WITHREASON to get a whole year's subscription for just £13.50

Reading list:

'(M)otherhood: On the Choices of Being a Woman' (2021) Pragya Agarwal

Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias (2020) Pragya Agarwal

Alice Bloch, Review of 'Childless Voices' by Lorna Gibb (2019) New Humanist Magazine