Phillip Adams

Oxford historian and bestselling author of The Silk Roads Peter Frankopan joins Phillip Adams for a revelatory chat about how climate has contributed to the rise and fall of empires - and what this means for our future on a rapidly warming planet. First broadcast 9 March 2023

In May 1853, thousands of visitors flocked to London Zoo to enter the world’s first aquarium or “Fish House”. The aquarium was a complete novelty - an opportunity to observe the lives of fish up close. The development of the aquarium would forever change our relationship with the marine world. Guest: John Simons, historian and academic, author of “Goldfish in the Parlour: The Victorian Craze for Marine Life” Originally broadcast 1st February, 2023

Digital natives are discovering the different reading experience that magazines provide.

Oxford historian Peter Frankopan sits down in the studio with Phillip Adams to discuss his life, why we need to shift our Western-centric way of thinking and how history informs the moment of global chaos we find ourselves in.

Investigative journalist Joey Watson has spent the last three years trying to work out who the KGB mole in ASIO was - only to find out that there was likely a nest of traitors operating in ASIO during the cold war. Guest: Joey Watson, producer of the podcast series Secrets we Keep: Nest of Traitors

Finding a car park can sometimes seem a challenge, particularly in big cities, but could there actually be too many car parks in the world? Henry Grabar argues that there are many unintended costs and impacts of parking your car including making housing more expensive and having a negative impact on the environment. Henry Grabar: a staff writer at Slate who writes about housing, transportation, and urban policy. A 2024 Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Author of: Paved Para…

At a time when US security feels less assured, should Japan and Australia be forging stronger ties? Japanese author, playwright and translator Roger Pulvers says that while defence is an important arm of our relationship, we should also lean into our shared cultural and commercial interests.

Coups, assassinations, detentions and disinformation are just some of the tactics that have been used to undermine democracies. But who is behind them? A new research consortium is delving into the connections between politicians, think-tanks and private IT companies who they say are propping up reactionary forces around the world. And their work has drawn links between Israel, India and Mexico. Guest: David Adler, Co-General Coordinator of Progressive International and founder of its research…

It was largely the work of anthropology that altered our world views on race and culture – now backed thoroughly by genomics. So what can anthropology offer us today, to deal with the many problems we face as a human species? Guest: Wade Davis, Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. He’s also the former Explorer-in-Residence at National Geographic Magazine, photographer, film-maker and author of over 20…

Phillip Adams and philosopher Peter Singer sit down for a broad-ranging chat, contemplating everything from how far the animal liberation movement has come since the 1970’s, to why public debate has become so challenging, and the ethical conundrums posed by AI.