CG Podcast

Influential MP reveals astonishing insights on Covid Govt.

Graham Brady sits down with journalist Lucy Johnston to discuss his book "Kingmaker," detailing his unique perspective on British politics.
He highlights the negative impacts of pandemic measures, including £400 billion in public debt, NHS backlogs, and increased mental health issues among children. Brady criticized the arbitrary nature of lockdowns and restrictions, noting their ineffectiveness and the government's reluctance to change course. He recounted interactions with the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, emphasising inconsistencies in policy decisions and the suppression of dissenting scientific views. Brady also addressed the role of big tech in shaping public opinion and the need for nuanced debate on future pandemics.

The (Critical) Left during Covid: What happened?

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Geoffrey Shullenberger, an American cultural theorist and editor at Compact magazine, to discuss his latest book (edited with Elena Lange), Covid-19 and the Left: The Tyranny of Fear. We discuss how the political left, in America and Europe, responded to the pandemic both early on and as it unfolded. Despite some significant contributions in critical analysis, the majority of left-leaning thinkers were silent about Covid authoritarian tendencies. Why was this? And what happened? We explore these questions, and situate them in the broader historical changes within leftist thinking and culture that shaped how people reacted to fear, tribal identity and scientific evidence. We end by discussing the legacy of Covid on our cultural landscape.

What happened in California? Missing science and murky emergency laws during Covid

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Rajiv Bhatia, a Stanford primary care physician and former deputy health officer in San Francisco, California. Rajiv discusses his experience challenging the state of emergency in California on ethical and process grounds, including his communication with public health colleagues in the early days of the Covid pandemic. A veteran public health officer, Rajiv also discusses the alarming lack of basic epidemiological analysis in California at the time and the implications of this, as the pandemic evolved, for government policy blindspots and groupthink. We finish by reflecting on the future of pandemic response.

Covid Models: What can Philosophy teach us?

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Eric Winsberg, a professor of philosophy at the University of South Florida and British Academy Global Professor at the Department of History and Philosophy, University of Cambridge. Eric is the author (along with Stephanie Harvard) of a recent book, Models in Science and Decision-Making. We discuss his book and how philosophy can help us better understand how models are constructed under conditions of uncertainty, their role in guiding public policy, and how they are influenced by contested value judgements. We end by reflecting on some of the critical lessons from the Covid years for the future of infectious disease modelling and the governance of science.

Pandemic Panic: Civil Liberties in Canada during Covid

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Christine Van Geyn, a lawyer and the director of litigation at the Canadian Constitutional Foundation. Christine is the author (along with Joanna Baron) of the 2023 book, Pandemic Panic: How Canadian Government Responses to Covid-19 Changed Civil Liberties Forever. We discuss the most egregious civil liberties violations in Canada during Covid, the erosion of legal standards that accompanied them, and the implications of this for the future.

What has Covid science taught us about Medical Nihilism?

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Jacob Stegenga, a philosopher of science and medicine at the University of Cambridge. Prof. Stegenga is the author of the 2018 book, Medical Nihilism, which critiques the quality and completeness of evidence in medical interventions. We discuss medical nihilism in the context of the Covid pandemic and reflect on lessons for the future.

The Biomedical Empire during the Covid pandemic

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Barbara Katz Rothman, a professor of medical sociology and women's studies at City University of New York. Prof. Rothman is the author of the 2021 book, The Biomedical Empire: Lessons Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic. We discuss her latest book, birth and death during Covid, and different concepts of medical power. Can we really speak about biomedicine today as a global "empire"? And, if so, what are the implications of this for future pandemic response?

How many people did Covid lockdowns kill in Africa?

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Sosso Feindouno, a researcher based in France with FERDI (Foundation pour les Etude et Recherche sur les Development Internationale). Dr. Feindouno, along with colleagues, published a recent paper in Social Science and Medicine, where they modelled increases in excess mortality in Africa driven by the socio-economic consequences of lockdown in 2020. We discuss the paper, which is entitled Covid-19's Death Transfer to Sub-Saharan Africa, as well his views on how African scientists and policymakers experienced the pandemic and its policy responses. We end by discussing the role of international organisations in lockdown and what needs to change in future pandemic responses.

The Big Fail: What Covid revealed about a fractured America

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Bethany McLean, veteran journalist (Enron scandal and 2008 financial crisis) and contributing editor of Vanity Fair Magazine, to discuss her latest book, The Big Fail: What the Pandemic Revealed about Who America Protects and Who it Leaves Behind. The book, published in 2023 and co-authored with Joe Nocera, explores what went wrong in America during Covid and who, ultimately, is responsible. We discuss, among other things, what motivated her to write the book, the impact of the pandemic on the financial sector, and the legacy of Covid policies on the culture wars.

The Covid Leviathan in Italy

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Cristiano Cadagnone, professor of sociology at the University of Milan, to discuss his recent book, The Leviathan with the Feet of Clay. The book, written in Italian and published in February 2024, concentrates on the harms of Covid policies, the rhetoric of fear, and the ideology of scientism. We discuss Prof. Cadagnone's work during the pandemic and academic and media receptivity to his ideas in the broader context of the Italian state response. Finally, we touch on the upcoming Italian Covid Inquiry and what lessons he thinks have been learnt, and not learnt, for future emergency response in Italy.