Better Human Podcast

I am delighted to share a full chapter from the audio edition of my new book, Emergency State, read by me.  If you want to listen to the full audio book, you can download it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Emergency-State-Freedoms-Pandemic-Matters/dp/B0B1MV62XS/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1665417631&sr=8-1

Some reviews of the book:

'Superb... authoritative, thoughtful and terrifying in equal measure' - The Secret Barrister

'A riveting account of how our democracy was put under threat during the Pandemic and why we must never let the Emergency State - all-powerful but ignorant and corrupt - take over again' ― Lady Hale, former President of the UK Supreme Court

'A book that needed to be written - and nobody could have done it better' ― Joshua Rozenberg

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shocked the world, with daily reports and videos of atrocities. But can international law help? What are the laws of war, war crimes and crimes against humanity? And will anyone ever be prosecuted? I am joined by Tatyana Eatwell, barrister and joint head of the international practice team at Doughty Street Chambers. More at www.betterhumanpodcast.com

Where do human rights come from? In this special musical episode, I speak to Tom Blackmore, grandson of David Maxwell-Fyfe, the Nuremberg Trials prosecutor and founding figure in the modern human rights movement. As Europe again is at war, a timely reminder of how a previous generation saw human rights as the answer. For more see www.betterhumanpodcast.com

A bill is going through parliament which will make significant changes to judicial review - the means by which individuals can challenge unlawful decisions by public authorities. What is at stake and what will it mean for rights protection? I am joined by Kamla Adiseshiah and Pragna Patel. For more see www.betterhumanpodcast.com

This week, for Holocaust Memorial Day, I speak to the daughter of a Holocaust Survivor and the grandson of a senior Nazi and hear how they have come together to educate about the Holocaust. For more information www.betterhumanpodcast.com

The law of joint enterprise murder has been described as a dragnet because it can criminalise people on the very periphery of a crime. This week I am joined by Jan Cunliffe and John Crilly, two people who's life experiences have led them to campaigning against what they see as an unjust law. For more information and to support the podcast go to www.betterhumanpodcast.com 

The Windrush scandal is one of the most important and shocking in recent years, as British citizens were treated as if their citizenship never existed, losing livelihoods and sometimes, as you will hear in this episode, their very humanity. In this episode I speak to Ramya Jaidev co-founder of advocacy group Windrush Lives, and Anthony Williams, one of the victims of the scandal. For more resources go to www.betterhumanpodcast.com

Christine Burns has been one of the UK’s most successful campaigners for trans rights in recent decades. How did she play such an influential role in persuading governments and the courts to protect the rights of trans people? How did her personal trans journey impact on her advocacy? This conversation is not to be missed. You can go to www.betterhumanpodcast.com for show notes.

The Better Human Podcast is back after a break, and who better to return with than the indomitable Felicity Gerry QC. This is a conversation which ranges from joint enterprise to Shamima Begum to the role of the trouble-making lawyer. More details at www.betterhumanpodcast.com

We are increasingly used to the internet serving us the things it thinks we need. But what is the risk for our privacy if our data is being harvested and used to 'personalise' the experience? In the final episode of the mini-series we are joined by Dr Elif Kuskonmaz of the University of Portsmouth.

This podcast is part of a mini-series co-hosted with Susie Alegre, international human rights barrister, Associate at Doughty Street Chambers and Research Fellow at the University of Roehampton

This week we speak to Lorna Woods, Professor of Internet Law at Essex University, about how algorithms on the internet are 'personalising' the content we see and how this impacts on the rights to privacy and freedom of expression. 

This podcast is part of a mini-series co-hosted with Susie Alegre, international human rights barrister, Associate at Doughty Street Chambers and Research Fellow at the University of Roehampton

Albie Sachs is one of the world's most important living human rights jurists and freedom fighter. This fascinating interview between Adam Wagner and Albie Sachs was organised by JW3 supported by the Genesis Philanthropy Fund and is posted here with permission and thanks. Show notes at  www.betterhumanpodcast.com - and please don't forget to leave a review if you enjoy this! 

Can a computer judge a creative writing competition? Do automatically curated newsfeeds help or hinder free expression? How does creativity interact with rights protections? A fascinating and timely discussion with Brendan de Caires of Pen Canada, hosted by barristers Adam Wagner and Susie Alegre.

Show notes at www.betterhumanpodcast.com

Shamima Begum left for Syria to join ISIS when she was a child. Now, aged 21, the Supreme Court has confirmed she cannot return to appeal against the Home Secretary's decision to deprive her of her citizenship. Her case is complex and difficult, as is clear from this fascinating discussion with Sarah St. Vincent, Executive Director of Rights & Security International. You can read show notes at www.betterhumanpodcast.com

This podcast is part of a mini-series co-hosted with Susie Alegre, international human rights barrister, Associate at Doughty Street Chambers and Research Fellow at the University of Roehampton

This week we discuss freedom of opinion and how it interacts with freedom of speech. Our guest is Evelyn Aswad, a professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, an expert in the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of opinion. She is also on the Facebook Oversight Board and speaks on this podcast in a personal capacity

We are grateful to the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media for a grant through their Spotlight on AI and Freedom of Expression (#SAIFE) project to support this series.

For more details see www.betterhumanpodcast.com

For more details see www.betterhumanpodcast.com

Lord Sumption has courted controversy by claiming that not all lives are of "equal value". In this timely episode Adam Wagner discusses the importance of older people's rights with Ken Bluestone, Head of policy and influencing at Age International and Geraldine van Buren, Professor of International Human Rights Law at Queen Mary University of London. The discussion was recorded just prior to Lord Sumption's comments but covers similar issues.

For show notes visit www.betterhumanpodcast.com

This week's guest is Meetali Jain, an international human rights lawyer and Legal Director at Avaaz. We discuss what disinformation is, how it spreads and whether it can be stopped. 

This podcast is the first in a mini-series co-hosted with Susie Alegre, international human rights barrister, Associate at Doughty Street Chambers and Research Fellow at the University of Roehampton. We are grateful to the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media for a grant through their Spotlight on AI and Freedom of Expression (#SAIFE) project to support this series.

For more resources and show notes go to www.beterhumanpodcast.com

This is the latest in my attempts to explain how the Covid-19 regulations work in England. I focus on Christmas Linked Households gatherings which are permitted in Tiers 1, 2 and 3 but not 4. In the second half I am joined by Dr Xand van Tulleken who discusses how to keep as safe as possible over Christmas. Most of this podcast is also available as a video on YouTube (where you can follow along with the regulations) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSDmC5E9TKg 

Show notes available at www.betterhumanpodcast.com

On 5 November, England is entering its second lockdown. In this video, I explain the complex new rules and how you can avoid getting a fine of up to £10,000 for breaching them.  

I have also put this up as a video podcast where you can follow along with the text of the regulations - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnCWpoUr6oE

For more resources see www.betterhumanpodcast.com  

This is not legal advice!

There is a bill going through the United Kingdom Parliament which will make it harder to prosecute soldiers for war crimes. Is it justified? How will it impact on human rights? And why now? I am joined by Sonya Sceats, Chief Executive of Freedom From Torture and David Allen Green, solicitor and legal commentator for a fascinating discussion.

Show notes are at www.betterhumanpodcast.com 

From Monday 28 September anyone in England who breaches Covid-19 self-isolation rules is subject to fines of up to £10,000 and a potential criminal charge. The rules are complex, have been passed into law with no Parliamentary scrutiny and join an ever-growing, and ever-more-complicated, set of coronavirus laws which regulate many aspects of our lives. In this episode I explain the law and how it works.

This podcast is also available in video format https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJxVenUfEzQ 

Show notes at www.betterhumanpodcast.com

Human rights can be illusory if you can't afford to claim them. For 50 years, law centres have been making human rights a reality and helping people experiencing crises to access a lawyer. In this episode, I am joined by  Peter Kandler, founder of the North Kensington Law Centre, Julie Bishop, Director of the Law Centres Network and Annie Campbell,  director of the North Kensington Law Centre. Show notes as always at www.betterhumanpodcast.com 

I am delighted to be joined again by lawyer and writer David Allen Green to discuss six months of lockdown laws, passed with almost no parliamentary scrutiny and imposing the most stringent restrictions on human rights since the Second World War. Can these be justified by even the most extreme public health crisis in decades? And if not, what is the alternative? You can read show notes at www.betterhumanpodcast.com. 

Nothing in this podcast is intended to suggest that people should not follow government coronavirus guidance or the legal regulations. 

What responsibilities do businesses have to protect human rights during the COVID-19 crisis? In the second part of this episode I am joined again by barrister Krishnendu Mukherji to discuss the Leicester garment industry revelations and how companies can prevent human misery in their supply chains during this tumultuous time. You can catch the first part here https://anchor.fm/better-human/episodes/30---Business-and-human-rights-eglbid and get the show notes here www.betterhumanpodcast.com

Every year, in every kind of setting where people are detained, thousands of visits take place to monitor for human rights violations. Those visits, to prisons, police cells, mental health hospitals, are by volunteers. In this episode I talk to four key players in the "National Preventative Mechanism" - Alison Thomson, ,Anne Finlayson, Dame Anne Owersand  Louise Finer who tell me about their work and why it matters. This interview was recorded before COVID-19 hit so I have added a short extra interview with Professor Sir Malcolm Evans,  Chair of the United Nations Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, who gives an update on how monitoring systems worldwide are working (or not) during the pandemic. More info at www.betterhumanpodcast.com

Human rights are tools which protect everyone from beaches of aspects of their essential humanity. They are all the more important in times of crisis such as in the present day. In this talk I start with the five years in 1946-51 which created the modern human rights movement and show how the lessons understood by the movement's founders are exactly those which we need to understand most today in the age of Covid-19. This lecture was first given to Limmud Together. You can find the slides at www.betterhumanpodcast.com 

What is happening to migrants during the Covid-19 crisis? This conversation with Chai Patel from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants was both enlightening and worrying. The 'hostile environment' policy pre-existed Covid-19 but it made it harder to control the spread of the virus amongst migrant communities. We also discuss the disproportionate effect the virus is having on BAME communities, immigration detention and other aspects of the immigration system which are causing hardship during this crisis.

One of the largely untold stories of the Covid-19 crisis is that many courts in the UK have for the first time ‘gone online’. This is for good reasons - the justice system must continue even if we mostly cannot physically meet in court rooms. But there are huge risks to fair trials and open justice from this sudden mass experiment with online courts. My guests for this episode are Natalie Byrom from the Legal Education Foundation and Penelope Gibbs from Transform Justice. You can get show notes at www.betterhumanpodcast.com 

The response to Covid-19 is the key human rights issue in the world right now as states move to enforce ‘lockdowns’ of billions of people. In the UK the government has issued guidance on social distancing and emergency regulations which give the police  extensive new powers over people's everyday lives. In Part 2 of this episode, I speak to Kirsty Brimelow QC about the new 'lockdown regulations' and the criminal law, and then with Aswini Weererante QC and Sophy Miles about the impact of the new laws on people with mental health issues. You can read source materials and other links at patreon.com/betterhuman

I am delighted to be joined in this episode by Billy Bragg, singer and activist. Billy and I talk about his new book, the Three Dimensions of Freedom, and much else beside. What is freedom? What is it worth without accountability? And why is the sometimes toxic environment on social media so central to Billy's understanding of freedom in the modern world? Most importantly, can music change the world (the answer will surprise you)? 

The modern human rights system emerged from the flames of the Holocaust. Professor Philippe Sands QC has done as much as anyone to tell that story through the prism of his own tragic family history. In this discussion, recorded live at an even organised by Tzedek, we discuss how Philippe's wonderful book East West Street came to be written, why the lessons of the 1940s are still fundamentally important today and what we can do to honour them as living memory of the Holocaust disappears. 

The climate emergency is a human rights emergency. As global temperatures rise, along with sea levels, there is likely to be a profound effect on people's access to their basic needs such as food, water and clean air. In this week's episode, I speak to Molly Lipson and Tobias Garnett from Extinction Rebellion and Keina Yoshida, barrister and expert on human rights and the environment, about how the human rights and environmental activist worlds overlap and sometimes collide. More info on patreon.com/betterhuman

Professor Francesca Klug OBE and Jonathan Cooper OBE relate the fascinating inside story of how the UK passed its first modern bill of rights: the Human Rights Act 1998. In our current times of division it is inspiring to hear how cross-ideological consensus was built and practical solutions found to seemingly impossible problems. This was an amazing discussion and timely given the Conservative Party's commitment to "update" the Human Rights Act.

Will the Human Rights Act survive the next government? What other human rights issues are in the party manifestos? A conversation with Natasha Holcroft-Emmes. We have tried to pick out some of the main points from the manifestos but inevitably there is so much which could impact on human rights that the review is not comprehensive, but hopefully helpful for those considering who to vote for.

This is a fascinating and at times moving conversation with Jonathan Cooper OBE, a barrister who has been involved in some of the defining LGBT+ cases of recent times. We take a journey from 1967 when homosexual acts were partly legalised, through decades of state persecution of gay people, to highlight some of the landmark human rights cases which changed the law not just in the UK but across Europe. Jonathan shared both his professional and very personal experiences. It's quite a journey. As always, episode notes are at patreon.com/betterhuman

In societies based on human rights principles how can people still live in poverty? This episode is about an important but, in my experience, poorly understood area - social and economic rights. I interview the brilliant Professor Aiofe Nolan about the principles and politics behind the rights to food, social security, health and other rights which are essential to human flourishing, and surely just as important as so-called 'political' rights. So why aren't they more widely adopted?

You can find episode notes on www.patreon.com/betterhuman 

Welcome to a brand new podcast all about human rights presented by me, Adam Wagner. In this short introduction I explain the idea behind setting up the podcast. I think that in today's polarised and dangerous political times, human rights  can give us the lens we need to understand what's happening and make our societies better. Each episode will explore a key human rights issue with expert guests. 

More info and how to support the podcast: www.patreon.com/betterhuman