Freethinking with Laura Dodsworth

Olivia Hartley - how I became a freethinker

Olivia Hartley is a sub-editor and podcast interviewer at The Critic magazine. After she interviewed me last week for her podcast she told me that her thinking had completely changed while working there. Obviously, that meant I had to interview her too, to offer hope to humanity - nothing less! -  so we can answer the question, how do we stop thinking like the group and thinking independently? We chatted about some of her epiphanies and how she moved on from being a self-appointed 'Covid Marshall'.

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Her freethinking recommendation is '100 Nasty Women of History' by Hannah Jewell

Dr Zoe Harcombe and the 3 rules of good eating - they are not what you think!

I had a great conversation with Dr Zoe Harcombe about her trailblazing dietary advice. If you follow the NHS's Eatwell Guide the first think you should know is that Zoe calls it the Eat Badly Diet! We talked about eating to lose weight, food for optimum nutrition and how to stay healthy in the time of Covid and lockdown.

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Her website: https://www.zoeharcombe.com

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A freethinking challenge from Zoe is a rebuttal to the Netflix documentary, 'The Game Changers': https://www.crossfit.com/essentials/game-changers-zoe

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Please support more episodes of Freethinking at www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

 

Prof Ellen Townsend - how lockdown harms children

Professor Ellen Townsend leads the Self-Harm Research Group (SHRG) within the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham. She up Reachwell, to collect evidence and advocate for children and young people during lockdown. We talked about the impacts of Covid and lockdown on children and young people, how we move on from fear and help everyone get back to normal post-Covid.
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Her links:

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Research group: https://sites.google.com/view/self-harm-research-group/home

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Reachwell: https://reachwell.org/

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A study she mentions during the podcast: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2772834?utm_source=silverchair&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_alert-jamanetworkopen&utm_content=wklyforyou&utm_term=111320

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Please support more episodes of #Freethinking at Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

James Caspian - on the collective unconscious and culture conflicts

James Caspian is a psychotherapist interested in Jungian psychology. He has a practice in Sussex and in the North Pennines. He worked for a decade in a clinical setting with people undergoing gender transition, and was a trustee of the Beaumont Trust, a charity which helped 'trans' people of all descriptions. He trained the public sector and NHS staff in transgender awareness. He became caught up in the cultural conflicts of the 21st century when he was refused permission by his university to research detransitioners, and took the university to court, a case which is now going to the European Court of Human Rights. He has subsequently become an adviser to media and has taken part in many documentaries and interviews about transgender issues.

James and I talked about his 'controversial' planned research into detransition and more widely about a Jungian interpretation for the current cultural conflicts, covering the trans narrative, detransition, Covid, cancel culture and free speech.

 

His freethinking recommendation is 'The Undiscovered Self' by Carl Jung.

 

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Kat Campion-Spall- the feminist priest

Rev’d Kat Campion-Spall is a priest in the Church of England.  She was ordained in 2010 and currently serves as Associate Vicar in a church in central Bristol.  Kat was recently appointed Dean of Women’s Ministry in the Diocese of Bristol alongside her parish role.  This follows many years of working within and outside church structures towards the Church of England being a place where women can flourish in their ministry and fulfil their God-given calling. We talked about being reconciling feminism with being in the church, a feminist reading of the Bible, the right pronouns for God, and worship during lockdown.
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Her freethinking recommendation is 'Womanist Midrash: A reintroduction to the women of the Torah and the Throne' by Wilda C Gafney.
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Thinking is free but podcasts are not! Please support more in creating more episodes of #Freethinking at Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

Kirsty Brimelow - 'Our rights are being pulled away by stealth'

I interviewed Kirsty Brimelow QC in her Doughty Street Chambers. She has a stellar career in human rights, criminal and public law and a string of successes and awards. She become one of my early lockdown heroes when I read about her work in identifying and overturning wrongful convictions under the UK Lockdown regulations, starting with the very first conviction Marie Dinou. We talked about the UK’s Lockdown Regulations, what they mean for us, how the government keeps confusing law and ‘rules’/guidance and the public service she has undertaken by trying to overturn wrongful convictions. 

‘We have become too used to being a liberal democratic country and our rights are being pulled away by stealth.’

Kirsty Brimelow QC: https://www.doughtystreet.co.uk/barristers/kirsty-brimelow-qc
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Liberty in Lockdown: https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/september-2020/liberty-in-lockdown/ 
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Please support Freethinking on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/freethinking 

Stella O’Malley - on fear and fragility

Stella O’Malley is a psychotherapist, bestselling author (‘Cotton Wool Kids’, 'Bully-Proof Kids' and ‘Fragile’) and the presenter of the Channel 4 documentary ‘Trans - Kids: It’s Time To Talk’ and she works in private practice in rural Ireland. Her body of work about fear, anxiety and developing emotional resilience couldn’t be more relevant to 2020. In a long and fascinating conversation we talked about collective hysteria, becoming bored of fear, and what it’s like to be a sceptic in a society which increasingly values safety and belonging. I could have talked to her all day!
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Link: www.stellaomalley.com 
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Stella’s freethinking suggestion is her book 'Cotton Wool Kids'.
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Please support more episodes of Freethinking: http://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

Helen Cooke - building disability confidence

Helen Cooke is an expert in disability and graduate recruitment and she’s a wheelchair user. She works with organisations to provide them with the expertise to be disability confident in their strategy and recruitment. We talked about her background, from overcoming challenges like going to a school with no lift and needing to be carried up the stairs, to completing a half marathon, and her successful business that helps young people with disabilities. Although she describes herself as completely normal, she’s a remarkably resilient achiever.

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Links: https://www.myplusconsulting.com/

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https://myplusstudentsclub.com/

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Joanna Williams - Women vs Feminism

Joanna Williams is the author of 'Women vs Feminism',  'Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity'  and 'Consuming Higher Education, Why Learning Can't Be Bought'. She is a columnist for Spiked and writes regularly for The Times, The Spectator and American Conservative. She is the founder of the think tank Cieo and director of the Freedom, Democracy and Victimhood Project at Civitas. 

We had a refreshingly honest conversation about why she wrote 'Women vs Feminism', why the gender pay gap is complex, victim culture and why feminists should have a problem with masks. She's clear-thinking and courageous, not contrarian, and I recommend you listen to challenge your views on feminism.

 

Links:

https://www.cieo.org.uk/people/joanna-williams/ 

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Her freethinking recommendation: The book ‘The Rise of Victimhood Culture: Microaggressions, Safe Spaces, and the New Culture Wars’, (2018)  by sociologists Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning - really helps explain some of the cultural shifts taking place in society right now.

 

Thinking is free, but podcasts are not. Please support more episodes of Freethinking: http://www.patreon.com/lauradodsworth

Fergus the Forager - wild food experimentalist

Wild food experimentalist, course faciliator, forager, the ever-curious Fergus Drennan, aka Fergus The Forager, has been gathering and learning about wild plants, seaweeds, and fungi for over 40 years. Badger pizzle, a mermaid’s purse and squirrel milk featured on the menu of this Freethinking podcast.

Links:

http://fergustheforager.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/fergustheforager/
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His freethinking recommendation:

Think outside the box and consider the sexy wonders of seaweed. It really is sexy stuff! A red seaweed (found in a rare fossil record) dated to 1,200 million years ago, is understood to be the first sexually-reproducing organism EVER; whether or not the experience was also orgasmic, nobody knows.

https://fergustheforager.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/FergusDrennan-TheBushcraftJournal-Issue-9-1.pdf