The Critic Podcast

In our latest Critic podcast, we peer over the pond to the American elections. Last night saw the first (and perhaps last) debate between Trump and Biden. Executive Editor Sebastian Milbank was joined by Will Upton, a former US Treasury official and an editor of the National Pulse, to talk about the sorry sight of a man far too frail to run for office. 

The publication of the Cass Review validated many of the concerns that “gender-critical” commentators and activists had expressed about transgenderism and transitioning. In this series, Jo Bartosch will explore how we got here — interviewing some of the people who helped to make it happen. In this episode, Jo speaks with Lord Moonie, a man of the left and a self-described “awkward sod” who resisted the rise of gender ideology and the medicalisation of children.

On the latest Critic election podcast, we're talking Tories. Sebastian Milbank is joined by Henry Hill, Deputy Editor of Conservative Home, and Fred de Fossard, Director of Parliamentary Affairs for the Legatum Institute, to discuss Conservatism past, present and future.  On the agenda are the credibility of the party manifestos, the possible collapse of the Conservative ground game, the likely result of a post-defeat leadership election, and the potential role of Reform as Tory nemesis. 

As populists make gains in the EU elections, and Reform rises in the polls in Britain, we ask if Europe's future, on both sides of the channel, is with the dissident right?  In our latest Critic election special, Sebastian Milbank is joined by Harrison Pitt, a Senior Editor at The European Conservative, and Political Commentator at the New Culture Forum, and by Sam Bidwell, a Parliamentary Researcher and freelance writer, to discuss the EU elections, Friday's TV debate, and whether populism can make the shift from insurgent movement to governing project. 

According to a recent report, 40 per cent of Labour voters can be descried as "blue values voters" — economic and social conservatives who want greater state investment in public services, but also law and order, migration restrictions and a patriotism from their political leaders.  In our first Critic election special, Executive Editor Sebastian Milbank is joined by Professor Adrian Pabst, a writer, academic and Deputy Director of the NIESR (National Institute of Economic and Social Research), and Liam Stokes, an experienced environmentalist and countryside campaigner, to ask if Starmer can take these voters with him, or if he's likely to leave them behind. 

The publication of the Cass Review validated many of the concerns that “gender-critical” commentators and activists had expressed about transgenderism and transitioning. In this series, Jo Bartosch will explore how we got here — interviewing some of the people who helped to make it happen. In this episode, Jo speaks to Keira Bell, who took the Tavistock’s Gender Identity Service to the High Court, and Paul Conrathe, a human rights solicitor who represented Bell.

The publication of the Cass Review validated many of the concerns that “gender-critical” commentators and activists had expressed about transgenderism and transitioning. In this series, Jo Bartosch will explore how we got here — interviewing some of the people who helped to make it happen. In this episode, Jo interviews the whistleblowing psychotherapy duo Marcus and Sue Evans about the scandals of the Tavistock Centre, the Gender Identity Development Service, and the problem of ideology in medicine.

The publication of the Cass Review validated many of the concerns that “gender-critical” commentators and activists had expressed about transgenderism and transitioning. In this series, Jo Bartosch will explore how we got here — interviewing some of the people who helped to make it happen. In this episode, Jo speaks to Stephanie Davies-Arai about children, safeguarding and her pioneering work founding Transgender Trend.

The publication of the Cass Review validated many of the concerns that “gender-critical” commentators and activists had expressed about transgenderism and transitioning. In this series, Jo Bartosch will explore how we got here — interviewing some of the people who helped to make it happen.  In this episode, Jo interviews Dr Michael Biggs, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College, about his early research into young people and gender medicine.

Josephine Bartosch is joined by Charlotte Gill to discuss silly academic research, the right to debate the apportioning of taxpayers’ money and our decadent intellectual culture.

An all star panel of Critic editors and contributors, chaired by deputy editor Graham Stewart, addressed the theme of the crisis in the universities. James Orr spoke about the narrowing of speech in the university, and the centralisation of increasingly politicised research at Oxford and Cambridge. Sebastian Milbank discussed the medieval origins of  the university, and its contemporary crisis of purpose. Charlie Bentley-Astor led us into the subterranean world of the modern conservative student, forced to live out their shameful beliefs in secret. And David Butterfield called for a return of the humanistic heart of academia. Our next event will be a discussion of transgenderism held in a central London venue. You can sign up to our mailing list here, to stay informed.

Emma B from Children of Transitioners joins Jo Bartosch to discuss growing up with a trans father and the material and psychological challenges that it can cause.

Lisa Townsend, Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner, joins Jo Bartosch to discuss attempts to have her removed from her position for opposing the principle of “self-ID”, and to talk about how ideology can damage institutions

Curator and critic Pierre d’Alancaisez joins Ben Sixsmith to discuss the delusions of the art world and the opportunities for independent creativity.