CG Podcast

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.
 

How did school closures impact American children and teenagers?

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Nat Malkus, senior fellow and deputy director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, to discuss his latest research on the effects of school closures on American children and teenagers. Nat's research on chronic absenteeism was recently featured in a New York Times article, A Crisis of School Absences. We discuss the data on school closures, what is being done in the education sector to address these adverse consequences, and the lessons we have learnt for a future pandemic.
 
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Learning from the Swedish Covid "experiment"

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Swedish journalist, Johan Anderberg, to discuss his latest book, The Herd: How Sweden Chose Its Own Path Through the Worst Pandemic in 100 Years. Translated into English in 2022, the book explores the no-lockdown approach taken by Anders Tegnell, Sweden's state epidemiologist during the pandemic, and the influence of his long-term mentor, Johan Giesecke. We discuss what motivated Johan to write the book, how pandemic policies evolved in Sweden, and the key lessons the world should learn from the so-called "Swedish Covid experiment."
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The Covid legacy in Australia

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Prof. Shahar Hameiri, a political scientist from the University of Queensland, to discuss his latest book, The Locked-up Country: Learning the lessons from Australia's Covid-19 response. Published in 2023, the book explores the multiple governance failures of Australia's Covid response and locates these within their historical context, with particular reference to the regulatory state. We reflect on the authoritarianism of lockdown, the public desirability of Zero Covid and the legacy of the pandemic on society and politics in Australia and beyond.
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The lockdown experience in Italy

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Piero Stanig, Professor of Political Science at Bocconi University in Italy, to discuss his book, Lockdown Failure (Fallimento Lockdown). They explore the government response in Italy, the legacy of lockdown, and what to expect from the upcoming Italian government Covid Inquiry.
 
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The pandemic experience in Ireland

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Frank Armstrong, Editor of Cassandra Voices, an Irish public intellectual forum and online news source, to discuss the pandemic experience in Ireland and what we can expect from a possible Irish Covid Inquiry.
Frank has published numerous articles about the Covid-19 pandemic, including on topics like Zero Covid, lockdown, vaccine mandates, and media censorship. We discuss his cumulative knowledge of how the policy and scientific community responded to the crisis in Ireland and how the public interpreted events as they unfolded and in their aftermath today.

The state of the Canadian media during and after the Covid-19 pandemic

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Tara Henley, a well-known Canadian writer and podcaster, to discuss the state of the Canadian media during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tara recently published the 2024 Massey Essay, The Trust Spiral: Restoring Faith in the Media, in the Literary Review of Canada. We discuss her thought provoking essay, including why trust in the mainstream media in Canada has declined significantly in the last decade and what can be done about it.
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A crisis to worsen all crises?: living with lockdowns in the Global South.

In this episode Reva Yunus and Aleida Borges talk about the gendered aspects of a very ‘punitive’ pandemic response, especially in the Global South. Dr Aleida Mendes Borges also talks about the book, “Pandemic response and the cost of lockdowns. Global debates from humanities and social sciences”, which she co-edited with Peter Sutoris, Sinéad Murphy and Yossi Nehushtan. 
 
Who were the people who paid the highest cost of lockdown? This is the question that this conversation focuses on, serving as an urgent reminder of why lockdowns should never be repeated. Dr Borges offers insights into how the decontextualised, top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to handling the pandemic led to an ignorance of local resources, experiences and concerns. The socioeconomic impact on women received minimal attention despite their insecure economic status and higher vulnerability to such crises, and despite local and global voices pointing to the ‘shadow’ pandemic targeting women since the beginning of lockdowns. Challenges of cramped spaces, safety, poverty and ‘double shifts’ were ignored even as large sections of women workers were declared ‘essential’ workers who faced higher risks and earned lower wages. At the same time, the state used high levels of violence in many parts of the world reflecting a shift in the relationship between state power and citizens, especially marginalised groups. 
Dr Borges’ research at the Global institute for women’s leadership at King’s College London focuses on social policy, analysing it through a feminist lens. Reva Yunus is a Lecturer at the University of York and researches gender issues, poverty, precarity and schooling.