CounterpointStimulating debate with the British Council

Counterpoint interviewed by BBC's Jamilla Knowles for Pods and Blogs (3 Nov)

For most of my life, to hear talks by great thinkers, edgy debate, brilliant lectures, or the pick of world radio giving you profound insights into ideas that really matter all brought together into a portable gizmo was… well, the stuff of fantasy. How quickly we’ve moved from SciFi to WiFi. Now I can load up my mp3 player with interweb goodies, and with one stroke of its sleek obsidian surface transform any grim commute, household task, or long car journey into something that changes my view of the world.

So imagine how thrilled I was to be interviewed last night about our podcasts  for one of my favourite programmes, the BBC 5 Live’s Pods and Blogs by leading journalist in the field, Jamillah Knowles.  The Counterpoint team has worked so hard to produce our podcast series: Mark Erbel, Maria Arbiter, Ari Magnusson and Catherine Fieschi doing the interviews and then Ari and I getting them into shape for subscription and download.  We have really fresh new material. However, as Jamillah and I talked in her (to me enviably equipped) studio at BBC TV centre in London’s White City,  I realised just how much fabulous content the British Council has to offer,  but how much of it lies locked away.  A prime example is our collection of film at the BFI which Al Robertson and his fellow members of the Tuttle Club are blogging about.  I talked about how this material  is important in understanding British identity through a key historical period, but is now ready to be actively re-interpreted by a newly enfranchised audience of editors and film makers with new tools at their disposal. And we talked of much more besides. Have a listen…..

Download the podcast of the programme (right click and download)
go to the Pods and Blogs blog

Coming up next in our series will be social anthropologist, Henrietta Moore and we are hoping to get an interview with the author of Jihad vs. McWorld , Ben Barber on his visit to London. Check our podcast page for how to subscribe and download and sign up for our newsletter.